![]() This distinction between the legal status of women in ancient Egypt and their public or social status is of major importance in understanding how the Egyptian system actually worked. ![]() This reference to contending with one's wife in court clearly indicates that women had legal rights and were willing to fight for them. Thus will you make her stay in your house. Keep her from power, restrain her-her eye is her storm when she gazes. Gladden her heart as long as you live she is a fertile field for her lord.ĭo not contend with her in court. When you prosper and found your house and love your wife with ardor, fill her belly, clothe her back ointment soothes her body. For instance, in the literary text entitled "The Instructions of the (Vizier) Ptahhotep," preserved in Middle Kingdom and later copies, a man's wife is seen basically as a dependent, of whom it behooves him to take good, and loving, care: ![]() The great disparity between the social and legal status of women can be observed in both documentary and literary materials. ![]() That women very rarely did serve on juries or as witnesses to legal documents is a result of social factors, not legal ones. They could enter into contracts in their own name they could initiate civil court cases and could, likewise, be sued they could serve as witnesses in court cases they could serve on juries and they could witness legal documents. This is in sharp contrast with some other ancient societies, e.g., ancient Greece, where women did not have their own legal identity, were not allowed to own (real) property and, in order to participate in the legal system, always had to work through a male, usually their closest male relative (father, brother, husband, son) who was called their "lord." Egyptian women were able to acquire, to own, and to dispose of property (both real and personal) in their own name. 2477 B.C.).īut in the legal arena both women and men could act on their own and were responsible for their own actions. Thus the New Kingdom literary text entitled "The Instructions of (a man named) Any" state, "A woman is asked about her husband, a man is asked about his rank."įunerary statuettes of a husband and wife from the tomb of Nykauinpu from Giza (Dynasty 5, ca. But most women did not hold jobs outside the home and consequently were usually referred to by more generic titles such as "mistress of the house" or "citizeness." Women were also frequently identified by giving the name and titles of their husband or father, from whom, presumably, they derived their social status. In the textual record, men were distinguished by the type of job they held, and from which they derived status, "clout," and income. Differences in social status between individuals are evident in almost all products of this ancient culture: its art, its texts, its archaeological record. Rom our earliest preserved records in the Old Kingdom on, the formal legal status of Egyptian women (whether unmarried, married, divorced or widowed) was nearly identical with that of Egyptian men. Women's Legal Rights in Ancient Egypt by Janet H.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |