Ancient Egyptian Marriages
Although many marriages were arranged by families, we know from poetry that ancient Egyptian spouses did love and respect one another. Even though Egyptian women in ancient times were considered the subordinate sex, they could inherit, control or dispose of property in their own names, and could sign contracts. Their career options were limited to working as a servant, weaver, laundrywoman, shop manager, mourner, singer, dancer, musician, prostitute, or doing secondary priestly functions in the temples. From the poetry analyzed in class, one gains a sense that Egypt was predominantly a patriarchal society. The poems suggest that women were used as
In "The voice of the turtledove speaks out," the speaker may be a man's mistress who does not want to leave "his bed" (292). The wife would then adopt these children as her own. Widows and widowers often married for a second or third time. The contract was between the husband and wife. The speaker is informing their partner that even though there is something lacking in their relationship, he or she will not leave the other no matter what. They did include clauses such as a provision for the payment of alimony if the husband later insisted on a divorce. However, in the poem "My heart is not yet happy with your love" (292), there is a mutual consideration between the man and woman in regards to their love life. Monogamy was then the norm for most ancient Egyptian marriages. Polygamy was very rare because few men could afford to support two wives and two families. A woman who failed to give her husband a son might be divorced, or the husband would take a concubine and have children by her. The brother-sister or father-daughter alliances often mentioned in novels were atypical and usually entered into only by the pharaohs. It was more of a private agreement to cohabit. Matches between relatives such as first cousins and between 10uncles and nieces were common as they kept assets within the0 family. Some believe that the first people in the world to make marriage laws were the ancient Egyptians.
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