posted 11 October 2004 04:19 PM            

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"Because of the need to ensure that the next king was born to a woman of the purest royal blood and because the role of the Great Royal Wife was of the greatest importance to the succession, the ruling king was usually married to the Great Royal Daughter (who was customarily his sister and the eldest daughter of the previous king and his Great Royal Wife). Inheritance thus passed through the female line; to substantiate his claim to the throne and gain acceptance of his own son as the next heir, each royal heir presumptive had to marry the Great Royal Daughter...Even claimants who had only tenuous links with the main royal line could legitimatize their kingship if they married the royal heiress.
--Handbook to Life in Ancient Egypt, p87 by Rosalie David, Oxford

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This system was so much at the core of Kemetian political philosophy that it expresses itself in the legend of Isis (the ancestor-goddess of the Ancient Egyptians) and Osiris (the ancestor-god of the Ancient Egyptians); expressed by their very name/titles:

Osiris
Wosiri -- wose(scepter) + iri (to make, do, create, form, fashion, produce)
(I)Sit_Iri and/or Iri_(I)Sit -- sit(throne)
(EWB;dictionary; 83a,b) (see EWB;Osiris;Vol1;pp25-26)

Isis
Isi; Isi_t; Sit -- (throne)
also Auset; Aset

Thus it is clear; Osiris is portrayed as the fashioner or creator of political power and inheritance and Isis is political power and inheritance -- Kemetian dialectics...

European Revisionism

Since evidence of the Kemetian matriarchy is abundant, clear, and emphatic, why do we have statements such as this from Joyce Tyldesley in her book "Ramesses:Egypt's Greatest Pharaoh";

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"the old 'heiress princess' theory which stated that the right to rule was passed through the female line, compelling the crown prince to marry his heiress sister, is now discredited."

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To those familiar with this type of arrogant distortion, one would immediately recall a similar statement; "the old notion that the ancient Egyptians belonged to the Negro race is an error that has now been refuted." We are well aware of the reason behind that nonsense but why the equally 'ignorant' denial of the Kemetian matriarchy?
It is to allow the process of bending a theory to fit a particular ideology, in this case, the foreign infiltration of the Kemetian ruling class.

Despite the fact that it was forbidden by law for a female royal to marry a foreigner (due to the matriarchy and the rules of descent), if we deny its very existence, we can then have a 'Mitannian' Nefertiti, a 'foreign' Queen Tiye, or 'play games' with the lineage of the Ramessid's dynasty(19th ).

While there may have indeed been occasions where Kemetian tradition and laws were violated, it should certainly raise a red flag to any serious student of Kemetian history.
In other words, if you were to read somewhere that 'such and such' a Royal Queen was of foreign birth, you must immediately stop and say, 'hey, wait a minute, how is that possible?...

posted 11 October 2004 04:46 PM            

quote:

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Despite the fact that it was forbidden by law for a female royal to marry a foreigner (due to the matriarchy and the rules of descent), if we deny its very existence, we can then have a 'Mitannian' Nefertiti, a 'foreign' Queen Tiye, or 'play games' with the lineage of the Ramessid's dynasty(19th ).

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Problem is that the Ramesside lineage is not connected to the 18th dyansty lineage of Ahmoside or Thutmoside. 19th dyansty represents a break in the lineage because Horemheb was the one who appointed Rameses I pharoah and thus began the Ramesside line.

Don't know about Tiye but her father was possibly foregin,and we know her mother Thuya was an indigenous Upper Egyptian. Neferiti's father Ay was Egyptian,but some historians have doubts about her mother. Both Tiye and Nefertiti were commoners by birth. Neither one was raised up in the royal household.

posted 11 October 2004 06:02 PM            

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Queen Tiye, or 'play games' with the lineage of the Ramessid's dynasty(19th ).

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I've also noticed that this helps [wst] scholars avoid dealing with the implications of the many 'conspicuously southern Black' (Nubian) queens.

If you don't understand that Kemet was a matriarchy then this has no meaning.

If you do understand, then the meaning of the association between royal legitimacy and Upper Egyptian-Nubian Queens becomes quite clear. Reading most [wst] scholars it is clear that they either do not understand, or do not want their readers to know.

As in the Prophesy of Neferti:
Then a king will come from the South,
Ameny, the justified, by name,
Son of a woman of Ta-Seti, child of Upper Egypt. He will take the white crown,
He will wear the red crown;
He will join the Two Mighty Ones, One will build the Walls-of-the-Ruler, to bar Asiatics from entering Egypt;

Whether this is 'true' prophesy or post facto the question that is begged is,,, how can the son of a Nubian woman restore Egypt's integrity and honor? Why is there a perception (in the prophesy) that said integrity is violated by "Asiatics"?

posted 12 October 2004 01:51 PM            

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Originally posted by ausar:
Problem is that the Ramesside lineage is not connected to the 18th dyansty lineage of Ahmoside or Thutmoside. 19th dyansty represents a break in the lineage because Horemheb was the one who appointed Rameses I pharoah and thus began the Ramesside line.

Don't know about Tiye but her father was possibly foregin,and we know her mother Thuya was an indigenous Upper Egyptian. Neferiti's father Ay was Egyptian,but some historians have doubts about her mother. Both Tiye and Nefertiti were commoners by birth. Neither one was raised up in the royal household.

[This message has been edited by ausar (edited 11 October 2004).]

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Yes, Ausar, but where's your red flag, man?

Horemhab

By most accounts, Horemhab was one ruthless, treacherous s.o.b. who can be implicated in (what I suspect is one of the earliest occurrences of a military coup d'etat) the overthrow of the regime of Ikhnaton/Tutankhamen; the possible assassination of Tutankhamen; the betrayal of Ay; the elimination of the legitimate Upper Egyptian 19th dynasty and the establishment of the Lower Egyptian Seti/Ramessid 19th dynasty. -- this guy was something else...

However , I rather doubt that he chose a family to begin this new dynasty from the peasantry (fellaheen) or the urban working classes or from the lesser ranking nobility or propertied classes. It is logical to assume that he would have chosen a family with sizable connections wouldn't you say? It usually works that way...

Tiye and Nefertiti

I )
If Tiye had a foreign father this would give credence to her being a commoner. But...

a) Was her elevation due in part with Amenhotep III's extreme infatuation with her? and...

b) How was the law therefore circumvented to make her a Queen-Mother? (her genealogical links to TaSeti, perhaps?)

II ) If Nefertiti became the Queen Royal and ultimately the Queen Mother, wouldn't her own mother be required to be at least tenuously related to the royal line?

These are anomalies which should be questioned and explored wouldn't you say?

posted 12 October 2004 03:21 PM            

1. Tiye's father was a overseer of chairoteers at Akhmin in Upper Egypt. Her mother Yuya was an Upper Egyptian women possibly from Waset[modern day Luxor]

2. Women in the pharaoh's harem with the title ornament of the pharaoh could often lead up to high positions. This is why you often had assasination attempts.

3. It's possible that Neferiti had some royal connection back to Sequenen Re Tao,but we do know her mother was possibly foregin.

posted 13 October 2004 01:57 PM            

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ausar:
Ramesses came from a a high position in the army .

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This would be consistent with General Horemhab's military coup...

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ausar:
You must remember that around this time most of the people in Egyptian armies were either Asiatics,Libyans[tamahou],or Nubians.

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which brings up an excellent and relevant question from sunstorm2004:
"... Why was the Kemetian army so often made up of foreign mercenaries? Why didn't they see this policy as a threat to their security?"

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ausar:
1. Tiye's father was a overseer of charioteers at Akhmin in Upper Egypt. Her mother Yuya was an Upper Egyptian women possibly from Waset[modern day Luxor]

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Yuya's being from Upper Egypt (the traditional seat of Kemetian royal legitimacy, re-established after the expulsion of the Hyksos and the establishment of the 18th dynasty) and her possible connection with TaSeti (royalty?) would be a major factor in establishing her own 'legitimacy'

quote:

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ausar:
2. Women in the pharaoh's harem with the title ornament of the pharaoh could often lead up to high positions. This is why you often had assassination attempts.

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I agree...

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ausar:
3. It's possible that Nefertiti had some royal connection back to Sequenen Re Tao,but we do know her mother was possibly foreign.

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posted 14 October 2004 08:35 PM            

I'm still reading it. There is also iconography of Nefertiti in her various braided hairstyles and Nubian wigs; also iconography showing Nefertiti with double pierced ears, like the mummy she found.

posted 14 October 2004 11:07 PM            

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Originally posted by ausar:
What does Fletcher say about Mutnodjmet? She is supposed to be the half sister of Neferiti according to some people.

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Not much, things like: "Queen Tiye appeared in such a crown, as did Nefertiti's sister Mutondjmet when she herself eventually became queen."

She has more to say about Tiye, Yuya and Thuya....

"Although Tiy is usually dismissed as a commoner, it seems unlikely that an unkown could have become Great Royal Wife, some have suggested that Yuya (Tiy's father) was Mutemwia's brother, which would make Tiye her niece. It would explain how Tiye attained great influence. It has even been suggested that Tiy is descendant from Ahomose Nefertari, since her name is a shortened verion of Nefertari. Early Egyptologists believed Yuya and Tuya (Tiy's parents) to be Syrian, but in fact the family came from Akhmim, between Amarna and Thebes."

She doesn't make much effort to document her observations, or always say where she gets her info, but, anyway...that's what she says.

I'll let you know if I find anything else from her on Mutondjmet.

posted 15 October 2004 01:18 PM            

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Originally posted by rasol:
From the new Fletcher book: Search for Nefertiti:
Perhaps most likely is that Nefertiti was the daughter of Tiy's brrother Ay, whose title 'God's Father' is often thought to mean 'father-in-law of the king'.

[This message has been edited by rasol (edited 14 October 2004).]

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posted 15 July 2005 06:23 PM            

http://witcombe.sbc.edu/menkaure/

THE QUEEN'S HUSBAND

A common assumption has been that the queen is Menkaure's wife, and that the position she occupies in the sculpture shows that she is subordinate to the pharaoh. Her more relaxed, naturalistic pose, the fact that her left foot does not extend as far forward as Menkaure's, the less rigid position of her arms, her open hands compared to his clenched fists, are believed to indicate her inferior rank within the rigorously hierarchic social organization of Egypt. Her pose has therefore been interpreted as that of passive, dutiful wife standing supportively next to her powerful husband. Especially recently, this interpretation of the queen has been challenged [see Nancy Luomala's article in the BIBLIOGRAPHY].

The queen's status, and that of all Egyptian women, but especially of those in the royal family, has been a matter of some debate. Women in Egypt seem to have enjoyed the same legal and economic rights as men, a situation which the Greeks, writing about the Egyptians, found very strange.

Herodotus, writing in the 5th century BCE and who had visited Egypt, lists among their contrary customs that "women buy and sell, the men abide at home and weave" (Book II, 35) [see Herodotus in the BIBLIOGRAPHY].

Diodorus of Sicily, who had visited Egypt some time between 60 and 56 BCE, writes that the Egyptians had a law "permitting men to marry their sisters" and adds that "it was ordained that the queen should have greater power and honour than the king and that among private persons the wife should enjoy authority over her husband" (Book I, 27) [see Diodorus of Sicily in the BIBLIOGRAPHY].

Such notions have contributed to the so-called "heiress" theory which argues that the right to the throne in Ancient Egypt was transmitted through the female line. A man, no matter what his status, be he the eldest son of the previous pharaoh or a commoner, became a pharaoh through his relationship to the queen. The pharaohship was legitimised through marriage to the "heiress" who was often the pharaoh's sister or his half-sister. It has been argued, therefore, that Ancient Egypt was a matrilineal society where power resided in the female line.

The queen represented in the statue, therefore, was no mere wife. Her position and gestures should be interpreted not as indicating inferiority and submission, but signalling her legitimization of Menkaure as pharaoh. She is shown in the act of presenting him, indicating to the world that he is the man whom she is identifying and establishing as pharaoh. Her pose, in fact, deliberately imitates that of the goddess Hathor in the triad statues and with whom she is clearly intended to be identified. The statue itself is a representation of this act of confirmation, and perhaps even a record of part of an actual confirmation ceremony.

While anthropologists have had few problems with the "heiress" theory, Egyptologists have been troubled by what they see as a lack of supporting evidence. Arguments against matriliny and the existence of an "heiress" are the apparent lack of a title for such women (none of the recorded titles, such as "principal wife," "king's wife," "king's daughter," "king's sister," "king's mother," "god's wife," or "mother of god," "daughter of the god," appears to specifically define the position), and the fact that there is not a "heiress list", an unbroken line of descent of royal women similar to the "king list" for pharaohs (however, it should be noted with respect to the latter that the surviving king lists, such as the Turin Papyrus, were drawn up in much later periods when a patriarchal bias dominated). Some scholars have rejected the theory outright.

The issue has become politicized in recent years by feminists who believe that denial of the "heiress" theory and the notion that Ancient Egypt was a matrilineal society are prompted by patriarchal thinking which is unwilling to acknolwedge the possibility that women could have played such a powerful role in a well-established, highly-structured, and long-enduring civilization. Some feminists also use the case of Egyptian matrilinearity to support the argument that patriarchy is a relatively recent phenomenon and that women enjoyed a much higher status and played a much greater role in prehistoric societies.

The "heiress" theory was developed partially to explain the phenomenon, noted by Diodorus of Sicily, of brother-sister marriages in Egyptian royal family. This is a sensitive issue because it seems to imply an incestuous relationship. Some scholars believe that this was indeed the case and that royal marriages between brothers and sisters were consummated and children born. Others, however, have argued that the "marriage" was ceremonial and that there is no evidence of sexual relations between the queen and the pharaoh.

Certainly part of the problem from our standpoint is a proper understanding of what constituted "marriage" in Ancient Egypt and what was meant by the term "wife", or "husband." In surviving formal documents and texts there is no mention of any religious or legal ceremony by which a man's relationship with a woman was formalised in marriage in the modern sense of cohabitation and sexual relations. In fact, "to marry" seems to have meant little more than "to enter a household."

Records show that pharaohs had several "wives" of different standing within the royal bloodline. It would appear to be also the case that an heiress-queen could both be "married" to the pharaoh and also be married and have children with another man, a consort-king. The children of the pharaoh and his wives, and the children of heiress-queen and her consort-king, would all refer to the pharaoh as "father" and the heiress-queen as "mother." Evidence of this is the way that the pharaoh is always the "son" of his predecessor, even though there may be no physical link.

I believe the evidence in support of the "heiress" theory outweighs that against it. Once adopted, it can be used to clarify much of the present confusion surrounding royal relationships, inheritance, and pharaonic succession, especially during the period of the Old Kingdom when the great pyramids were built at Giza, and when the statue of Menkaure and his queen was carved.

Power in Ancient Egypt descended through the mother's side of the royal family. The queenship was a mortal manifestation of female power and the feminine prototype, while the pharaoh represented the power of the male and the masculine prototype. The roles of the male pharaoh and the female queen were interpreted as one element in a system of complementary dualities. Many Egyptian stories and folktales revolve around the need to reconcile opposites. It was seen as necessary to maintain a balance between the male and the female. Men are more visible in the historical record because they served as the public manifestation of the power of the (female) throne and as the administrative head of the kingdom.

An heiress-queen may, or may not, be married to the pharaoh. If she was closely related by blood, her "marriage" to the pharaoh was ceremonial. Occasionally, however, she would "marry" and establish as the new pharaoh a man from outside the royal family, which brought about the founding of a new dynasty and introduced new blood into the royal bloodline. Men in the royal family, though, had certain claims to the throne by right of birth and kinship to the heiress-queen who may be their mother, step-mother, sister, half-sister, or niece. But none of the pharaoh's own children would automatically be his "heir." Inheritance resided in the female progeny of the heiress-queen.

MATRILINY IN DYNASTY IV

Given the importance of the "heiress-queen", it may be presumed that it is she shown standing next to Menkaure in the statue. The woman is commonly identified as Khamerernebty II. But, was Khamerernebty II Menkaure's "heiress-queen"?

In order to answer this question it is necessary to reconstruct, as much as it is possible, the female line of descent through the 4th Dynasty. For the most part, I have followed the family relationships laid out by George Reisner (1931) [see BIBLIOGRAPHY], William Stevenson Smith (1955) [see BIBLIOGRAPHY], and Ahmed Fakhry (1959) [see BIBLIOGRAPHY], but have interpreted perceived relationships from a matrilineal perspective. It's a rather complicated history and the following section is dense with names and relationships; you can skip to the end for my conclusion if your not interested in this sort of thing.

First, a few words about the chronology and dating of the Dynasty IV. The order of succession of pharaohs in the Old Kingdom has been more or less established using "king lists", compiled mostly in the period of the New Kingdom, of which one of the most important was written on papyrus during the reign of Ramesses II (c. 1301-1234 BCE) and is now in the Turin Museum. The Turin Papyrus provides not only the order of succession but the length of reign, though the latter especially often seems fantastical. While a workable relative chronology can be established, an absolute chronology, the actual dates of a pharaoh's reign, remains imprecise.

The problem of dating has been exacerbated by the tendency among Egyptologists over the past twenty or thirty years to down-date earlier chronologies, which effectively lowered the founding of pharaonic Egypt, and the beginning of Dynasty I, to around 2955 or 2920 BCE, with Dynasty IV beginning around 2600 BCE. Since the late 1980s, however, following the analysis of eighty new carbon samples collected from the pyramids, it is now necessary to shift the entire chronology up by approximately 300 years or so. Dynasty I now begins around 3400 BCE (as it had done earlier before the down-dating trend), and Dynasty IV around 2900 BCE.

According to the Turin Papyrus, Sneferu [Snofru], the first pharaoh of Dynasty IV and the builder of the pyramids at Dahshur, reigned for 24 years. His successor, Khufu (Cheops), who is believed to have built the first of the great pyramids at Giza around 2570 BCE (now revised to c. 2870 BCE), reigned for 23 years, Khafre (Chephren), the builder of the second pyramid around 2530 BCE (now c. 2830 BCE), reigned for 25 years, and Menkaure, who built the third pyramid around 2500 BCE (now c. 2800 BCE), for 18 years. Dates put forward by different scholars for the statue of Menkaure and his queen currently span a period of 130 years, ranging from as early as c. 2600 to as late as c. 2470 BCE (or now c. 2900 to c. 2770 BCE).

Menkaure's heiress-queen, according to my own reconstruction of the female royal line, was probably the great granddaughter of Hetepheres I, the heiress-queen of Sneferu, the first pharaoh of Dynasty IV. Sneferu's parentage is unknown, though it is thought he may have been the son of Queen Meresankh I who may have been related through marriage to the family of Huni, the last pharaoh of Dynasty III. There are no records to show Sneferu was related by blood to the family of Huni. He evidently attained the position of pharaoh through his "marriage" to Hetepheres I, and he was sufficiently unconnected with the royal family of Huni to bring about a change in dynasty. Sneferu's consort-queens bore him numerous sons, among them Kanefer, Khufu, Ankh-haf, and possibly Rahotep (who married Nofret), and several daughters.

Meanwhile, Queen Hetepheres I married a consort-king and among their children were the daughters Hetepheres II and Meresankh II. When Sneferu died after 24 years on the throne, it was Hetepheres II, as the new heiress-queen, who "married" Sneferu's son Khufu (Cheops), making him the new pharaoh. Khufu's mother was probably Queen Henutsen. It seems clear from the tombs surrounding Khufu's great pyramid at Giza that other women in the royal family were also recognized as queens - his sisters (other daughters of his own mother), half-sisters (daughters of Sneferu's consort-queens) and, it would seem, even his step-mothers (Sneferu's consort-queens, such as Queen Merytyetes [Meritites] - and all were "married" to him.

When Khufu died after 23 years on the throne, Hetepheres II seems to have first "married" Kawab [Kewab], Khufu's son by a consort-queen (not Merytyetes, as has been suggested) and Hetepheres II's half-brother-through-heiress-marriage. However, no record survives of Kawab ever being pharaoh. It seems very probable that he died (possibly even murdered, it has been suggested), at which point Hetepheres II then "married" Radedef (also written as Dedefra), another of Khufu's sons by a different consort-queen, who became pharaoh and reigned for 8 years (according to the Turin Papyrus). In the meantime, Hetepheres II (and not another woman identified as "Hetepheres A") had joined in a consummated marriage with Ankh-haf, who was perhaps the son of Sneferu and a consort-queen.

I would suggest that their first-born daughter was Meresankh III (she is also thought, however, to be the daughter of Hetepheres II and her first "husband" Kawab). Meresankh III, as the new heiress-queen, "married" her uncle Khafre (Chephren), a "son" of Khufu and the builder of the second pyramid at Giza. As in the case with his father, Khafre also "married" his "sisters", including Queen Khamerernebty I, one of Khufu's daughters by a consort-queen.

At this point, the records used to reconstruct the chronology of succession at this time become unclear and contradictory. Khafre may have been succeeded directly by Menkaure, but there is also the possibility that one, two, or even three pharaohs (Bikheris, Thamphthis, and Seberkheres) may have sat on the throne for an unknown period after Khafre's death. Part of the uncertainty may be due to real problems of rivalry among the consort-queens and their respective sons which may have started with Hetepheres II's second "marriage", following the death of Kawab, to Radedef.

Radedef was a minor "son" of Khufu, of lesser rank than Khafre, and who, on assuming the throne, as if in rejection of that established by the Khufu at Giza, started a new royal cemetery at Abu Roash. When Radedef died, rather than making one his sons pharaoh, Hetepheres II's daughter, Meresankh III, "married" her uncle, Khafre, thereby restoring the dynastic line and returning the royal family to Giza. However, the "marriage" did not go uncontested, and Radedef's son, Bikheris, engaged in a struggle for the throne in which he may have been successful, perhaps becoming pharaoh at the death of Khafre.

Meresankh III was apparently still alive when Menkaure became pharaoh. Did he become pharaoh through "marriage" with her? Three of Menkaure's queens are buried in small pyramids next to his at Giza, but their names are unknown. Only the name of one of his queens is known, Khamerernebty II, Menkaure's full sister and daughter of Khamerernebty I. Circumstances would suggest that she was only a consort-queen, and not the queen of the female line.

In its unfinished state, the statue of Menkaure and his queen lacks any identifying inscriptions. The woman standing next to Menkaure has been identified as Khamerernebty II, but that is because hers is the only name we know among Menkaure's queens. According to the argument laid out above, it seems more likely that she is, in fact, Meresankh III.

An inscription over the door of Meresankh's tomb (discovered in 1927) records that she died in the first year of a unnamed pharaoh and was buried nine months later. It has been argued that the unnamed pharaoh was Menkaure's successor, Shepseskaf. From an examination of Menkaure's skeleton, it has been estimated that she died when she was a little over 50 years old.

According to one reconstruction of the chronology of Dynasty IV, Menkaure was pharaoh for 18 years. Although carved late in Menkaure's reign, in preparation for his tomb complex, the statue now in Boston was perhaps conceived as representing a moment at the beginning of his pharaohship, when his claim was being legitimized or confirmed or established by the woman standing next to him. At that point in time, Meresankh III would have been in her early thirties, which looks about right for the woman in the statue.

posted 16 July 2005 03:51 AM            

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...Certainly part of the problem from our standpoint is a proper understanding of what constituted "marriage" in Ancient Egypt and what was meant by the term "wife", or "husband." In surviving formal documents and texts there is no mention of any religious or legal ceremony by which a man's relationship with a woman was formalised in marriage in the modern sense of cohabitation and sexual relations. In fact, "to marry" seems to have meant little more than "to enter a household...

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A weak standpoint, considering the following, which have been noted:

Women in Egypt

The Egyptian woman enjoyed the same legal and economic rights as the Egyptian man, and the proof of this is reflected in Egyptian art and historical inscriptions. This is not to say that Egypt was an equal society. It was not. Legal distinctions in Egypt were based much more upon differences in the social classes, rather than differences in gender. Rights and privileges were not uniform from one class to another, but within the given classes, and equal economic and legal rights were accorded to both men and women.

WOMEN'S LEGAL RIGHTS

The Egyptian woman's rights extended to all the legally defined areas of society. From the bulk of the legal documents, we know that women could manage and dispose of private property, including: land, portable goods, servants, slaves, livestock, and money (when it existed), as well as financial instruments (i.e., endowments and annuities). A woman could administer all her property independently and according to her free will…

Under Egyptian property law, a woman had claim to one-third of all the community property in her marriage, i.e. the property which accrued to her husband and her only after they were married. When a woman brought her own private property to a marriage (e.g., as a dowry), this apparently remained hers, although the husband often had the free use of it. However, in the event of divorce her property had to be returned to her, in addition to any divorce settlement that might be stipulated in the original marriage contract.

A wife was entitled to inherit one-third of that community property on the death of her husband, while the other two-thirds was divided among the children, followed up by the brothers and sisters of the deceased. To circumvent this possibility and to enable his wife to receive either a larger part of the share, or to allow her to dispose of all the property, a husband could do several things:

• In the Middle Kingdom, he could draw up an imyt-pr, a "house document," which was a legal unilateral deed for donating property. As a living will, it was made and perhaps executed while the husband was still alive. In this will, the husband would assign to his wife what he wished of his own private property, i.e., what he acquired before his marriage. An example of this is the imyt-pr of Wah from el-Lahun.

• If there were no children, and the husband did not wish his brothers and sisters to receive two-thirds of the community property, he could legally adopt his wife as his child and heir and bequeath all the property to her. Even if he had other children, he could still adopt his wife, so that, as his one of his legal offspring, she would receive some of the two-thirds share, in addition to her normal one-third share of the community property.

• A woman was free to bequeath property from her husband to her children or even to her own brothers and sisters (unless there was some stipulation against such in her husband's will).
  

One papyrus tells us how a childless woman, who after she inherited her husband's estate, raised the three illegitimate children who were born to him and their female household slave (such liaisons were fairly common in the Egyptian household and seem to have borne no social stigma). She then married the eldest illegitimate step-daughter to her younger brother, whom she adopted as her son, that they might receive the entire inheritance.

Source: Courtesy of Saxakali, Women in Ancient Egypt

Posted earlier here: http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/Forum8/HTML/001524.html

Also...

• Marriage:
  The ancient Egyptians were the first people who stated marriage laws in the world. They regarded marriage as a civil and legal relationship. Marriage in ancient Egypt was a religious imposition. The ancient Egyptian laws organized the marriage relationship and indicated all rights and duties for the couples. Many of the old marriage contracts have been found, and they were registered and signed by three officers. The ancient Egyptian laws gave the right of divorce to women as well as men. The wife was respected greatly, and she had high prestige. The couple had a lot of chances to get to know each other before the engagement; for example, in the temples or at the common feasts. There was a custom in the Egyptian family which allowed the adult daughter to welcome the guests who came to visit her parents. The ancient Egyptians knew the engagement before getting married, and its customs were similar to the engagement customs in Egypt's countryside nowadays. It started by the suitor's parents visiting to his fiancee's house to get her family approval to complete this marriage and reaching an agreement, which contains two main items: an amount of money, called Mahr, paid by suitor to his fiancee's family to help them prepar the furniture of their daughter and a valuable jewelry gift, called Shabka, given by the suitor to his fiancee. The value of this gift depended on the financial and social levels of the suitor"s family. When the two parties completed the agreement, they fixed an appointment for the engagement party. Most of relatives and friends attended the party in one of the common banquet halls, which was decorated with several kinds of flowers and lights. The fiancee wore the engagement dress which was simpler than the wedding dress and its color was blue or pink while the groom put on the finger of his fiancee a ring, the ancient Egyptians gift to the old and new world, which was a symbol of immortality. In addition, the groom gave his fiancee the valuable jewelry gift had agreed on before. During the party, the attendands ate and drank several kinds of food and drinks. When the house of the new family became ready, the two families fixed an oppointment of the wedding party. The night before wedding day, the relatives, the friends and the neighbors got together to celebrate "the Henna Night". The women went to the bride's house, while the men went to the groom's house. At the bride's house the women danced and sang all night while the bride wore a pink dress made with silk or cotton fibers, and her hands and feet were bleached with henna. Meanwhile, the men danced and sang all night at the groom's house, and the groom wear an expensive clean suit. The next day, the marriage contract was signed and registered by priest in the temple in the attendance of the couple and most of their families and friends.After sun set, the wedding party started, and the couple wore their best dresses and jewelry. The bride was transferred to her new house on a horse or a camel with a musical band, and the attendants sprayed the cortege with green wheat as a symbol of fertility. Several kinds of cooked meats as well as vegetables and fruit were prepared for the attendants, who danced and sang with music all night. In the morning, the wife's mother and her sisters visited her and gave her some food. The wife's friends and relatives visited her after seven days from the date of her wedding party, and they offered gifts and some food, while she gave them some sweets and fruits. Ancient Egyptian marriage customs are the most effective marriage customs in Egypt's history although Egypt has been exposed to many civilization, such as, Greek, Roman and Islam.

  Nowadays, the marriage customs in the Egyptian countryside are similar to the ancient customs, but in the city the picture is quite different, where the couple has many chances to get to know each other at university, work, clubs and other public places. However, the engagement agreement between the families still includes the two main items: the "mahr" and "shabka";furthermore, the engagement party is quite similar to the engagement party in Ancient Egypt.

  Source: http://www.zawaj.com/weddingways/egypt_customs.html

  Adultery in Egypt was wrong. Women got the worst punishment for adultery - a man might just be forced into a divorce, but a woman could conceivably be killed for that crime. In the Tale of Two Brothers, the adulterous wife was found out, murdered and her body was thrown to the dogs.

  Unmarried women, on the other hand, seem to be free to choose partners as they so desire, and enjoy their love life to its fullest.

  Source:TourEgypt.net
  

Posted earlier here: http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/Forum8/HTML/001457.html

posted 16 July 2005 05:08 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Djehuti:
Supercar, did you read the rest of it?

It basically is suggesting that the statue represents the royal woman presenting her husband as the new pharaoh, by fact that it is her husband!

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posted 19 July 2005 08:21 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Djehuti:
any other replies to this finding?..

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posted 09 August 2005 01:24 PM            

Well here is another one to add:

Barbara S. Lesko is a professor and researcher on ancient Egypt and the Near-East and her specialty is on women who lived in those societies. She has written several books on the topic. This is one of them:

The book gives a fascinating layout on the history of goddess figures in Egypt from their prehistoric origins all throughout dynastic times and the late period with the beginning of Christianity.

Here are excerpts.

Out of Africa

There is much evidence from ancient Egypt contradicting the opinion commonly held by historians that all women of all earlier cultures were relegated to the private sphere. In pharaonic times Egyptian women were regularly called up to do national service, as were men. In religious life women were active participants in the cult, serving in many ranks of the clerical hierarchy, and certainly did not require a male to mediate between them and a deity. Similarly, Egyptian women were independent legal persons and did not need a male cosignatory or legal guardian. They were free to earn wages and make purchases in the marketplace. Ancient Egyptian women owned and had complete control over both movable and immovable property such as real estate. This right could not be claimed by women in some parts of the United States as late as the 1960s.
The independence and leadership roles of ancient Egyptian women may be part of an African cultural pattern that began millennia ago and continued into recent times. In the 1860s the famous Dr. David Livingstone wrote of meeting female chiefs in the Congo, and in most of the monarchical systems of tradional Africa there were either one or two women of the highest rank who occupied a postion on a par with that of the king or complementary to it.
Anthropologist wh ohave studied tribs and records of early travelers and missionaries tell us that "everywhere in Africa that one scrapes the surface one finds ethno-historical data on the authority once shared by women." Recent work with traditional African societies has revealed that both men and women were recognized as having important roles in the public sphere. Thus it is not too surprising to find that in Egypt in several excavated cemeteries from the early cultural periods the richest tombs were those of women. In another grave at Badari (grave no. 3740) a woman was buried with a weapon that was commonly used in sacrife, a "knobbed mace-head of pink limestone," as well as a slate cosmetic palette. These were valuable objects and indicated high status as well as wealth.
If prominent roles for females were the norm for many African societies and for this reason show up already in ancient Egypt, perhaps there are other indications of an African cultural heritage pertinent to our study. Early Egyptologists, such as E.A. Wallis Budge and Flinders Petrie, seemed to be reluctant to credit much cultural development to the indigenous inhabitants of the Nile Valley and were quick to attribute the arrival of agriculture and important deities to the incursion of western Asiatics into the region. However, the most recent research indicates that Egyptian agriculture was started in the western oases centuries before the agriculturalists migrated east toward the Nile Valley. Such a bias against the creativity of an African culture is reflected even by more recent writers and scholars such as E.O. James who did not consider Africa pertinent for his study of the pancultural cult of the mother goddess. He claimed that even the sun god of the Egyptians, Re, was and import from the cloud-covered eastern Mediterranean, a claim unsubstantiated by any evidece (James provides none) and illogical for the sun-drenched land of Egypt. It might be argued that the sun's heat was a destructive force and the sun would be more appreciated in a cooler and damper climate, but the harmful aspect of the sun was seldom acknowledged later in Egypt and its benign aspect more emphasized. The sun's disk is frequently encountered in Egyptian religious iconography, and the sun god Re was the supreme diety in the pantheon during much of pharaonic history.
Recently the archaeologist Barry J. Kemp has considered some of these early claims for the importance of cultural importations and argues for an Upper Egyptian origin for Horus, the falcon god of the sky, which had been proposed by others as an Asiatic import. Kemp also realitically points to the "unlimited agricultural potential" of the Egyptian landscape in which the sustenance of a settled life by the growing of crops found nothing bu encouragement and could have developed naturally.
It is most helpful to search among surviving Nilotic tribes, such as the Dinka of the White Nile, to gain insight into the material and spiritual life of the early predynastic Egyptians. The Dinka, who were studied intensively by anthropologists during the first half of the twentieth century, were a herding society that did some farming an a little hunting. Their value system and social life revolved, to a large extent, around their cattle, which provided them with food, drink, and clothing as well as inspiration in song and dance. While ther ewere rich pasture-lands along the riverbanks, during floods the herds had to be moved to the unsettled savanna at a higher elevation. Human settlements were on outcroppings that kept villagers dry.
Although the Dinka tribespeople interviewed by the anthropologist Godfrey Lienhardt professed a belief in a supreme divinity, they also had clan divinities, which often took the emblem of a particular animal. As the Dinka explained it, if a clan took a giraffe or an elephant as its clan divinity, it did not mean that divinity was present in all such animals, but it did require that such animals be treated with respect. The divinity represented by the animal is one and apart: so if by some great tragedy all the giraffes were to be exterminated, the spirit of ancestral Giraffe would endure and would help to protect the clan. Thus it was not the individual animal member but the concept Giraffe that belonged to a wider class of powers. "It seems that the Dinka themselves often think of them as acquired by chance-- a chance association, though an important one, between the founding ancestor of a clan and the species, which then becomes the clan divinity of all his descendants.
Because the surviving emblems from predynastic Egypt show falcons, cows, hippopotamuses, and gazelles, and among the names of the first kings of the historic period are Catfish and Scorpion, and later dieties appear as crocodiles, lionesses, vultures, and ibises, it is tempting to see here the vestiges of early clan divinities. The prehistoric schematic clay figurines of human shape (and of both sexes) with arms gracefully raised and bent inward, usually above the head but sometimes positioned more forward, bear a striking resemblance to the Dinka photographed by Leinhardt. In these photographs the Dinka dance with just such curved, rasied arms. According to Lienhardt, the Dinka are portraying the sweeping horms of a "display ox." So important and central to their socieity are the cattle they keep, that Dinka youths are reported, when sitting by themselves alone with their herd, as holding their arms extended and curved in just this position. This could explain why the few predynastic figurines that appear to be seated still exhibit this formation of the arms.

The Primeval Cow Goddess

Although Baumgartel believed the Badarian conical-bottomed figurines with raised arms were images of humans, not dieties, she saw the image of a bovine fertility goddess in some of the pottery of the succeeding Upper Egyptian cultural phase (ca. 4000 B.C.), the Amratian/Naqada I culture. There is a vase dating from the end of Naqada I "on the exterior of which are represented in relief a human head flanked by two cow's horns and a pair of arms holding the breasts which descend from the rim of the vase behind the head." Other vases from the period are known which also show arms holding breasts. Such artifacts have been used to argue for a maternal or fertility goddess in the prehistoric period. In my opinion, this concept would also fit in with the flora- and fauna-engraved female figurines described above.
There are still those (not only some Egyptologists) who charge that the idea of a prehistoric and widely venerated mother goddess (suggested by the hundreds of so-called Venus figurines found across Europe) is merely a fantasy. It is obvious, however, that the female role not only of giver of birth (life) but also of sustainer of early life would naturally have had a profound impact on the earliest humans. Of course, their world was populated by all sorts of forces, many life threatening, which needed to be recognized and propitiated, and this calls into doubt the concept of a lone goddess or even a supreme mother goddess dominating all other divinities. The more explicit evidence from Asia Minor and southern Europe and other Neolithic cultures suggests that a similar very early African or Egyptian earth mother or mother goddess is surely possible even if it is not substantiated by physical evidence in Egypt and even if she was not venerated alone.
Archaeological and anthropological datat from the ancient Near East and Africa suggests that when and where the female principle was venerated, it often assumed aspects of the cow. The cow is a domesticated animal; it can stand anywhere at anytime in history as the very image of the homestead, of settled agricultural life--- an image evoking warmth and security. The cow is surely th embodiment of nurturing motherhood. Gentle with her young and sharing her milk with humans as well, the cow is venerated even today in herding societies throughout the world. In Sri Lanka, for instance, a milk-overflowing ceremony invokes the goddess who stands for matrilineal kinship, mother's blood, bodily health, an integration of community.
The earliest clear representation of a cow goddess is found on a slate palette of the Gerzean Period that bears a relief of a cow's head facing forward and five stars just above the tips of the horns. Hornung suggests she is to be equated with Bat, the cow icon of Upper Egypt. Baumgartel thought this was the first representation of the sky as a deity, and surely the stars do suggest a celestial goddess. Meret-Weret, known from the historic period's literature but often appearing as a precursor to the sky goddess Nut, is another possibel identity for thsi starry head.
The curved cow horns are reminiscent of the lunar crescent, but there was no moon goddess in pharaonic Egypt. However, the crescent moon, as I have seen it in Luxor, hanging low over the western hills with points turned upward, certainly evokes a celestial bovine's horns. Thus we may have in this early rendition of a sacred cow one of the few hints of a moon goddess who might have flourished as far back as the Neolithic or early Chalcolithic but who disappeared, or was suppressed during the early historic period. From the archaeological evidence it is clear that not one but several religious cults were established long before the Two Lands were unified and a documented Egyptian history began.
In about 3100 B.C., when the Upper Egyptians celebrated what may have been their final victory over the delta and united Egypt into a strong kingdom of the Two Lands, they placed the cow (or possibly water buffalo) goddess of Upper Egypt, Bat, prominently at the top of both sides of a large commemorative sheild-shaped slate. This palette with its relief schenes commemorating the victoryu of King Narmer and the Upper Egyptians---known today as the Narmer Palette---is an important historic and artistic monument. Given her dominant position on both sides, it seems that the goddess, who promoted th ebirth of humans, now presided over the birth of a nation.
With the absence of texts from Egypt's prehistoric period we cannot understand all the nuances of the early goddess's meaning for her people, but in the literature of Egypt's historical period, as we shall see presently, the image of the cow goddess is prominent and she has many important roles to play. James suggested that not until animal husbandry was practiced and the role of the male found to be essential in breeding was a male divine role imagined. This, if true, would give primacy to the cow clain divinity but would not explain the presence of other animal divinities unless they were predated by only one (female animal) divinity from a time too early to have provided any artifactual evidence.
Clearly goddesses did not have exclusive command of humanity's loyalty or fear, however. The same rich female's grave that contained the slim male figure also contained an ivory carving of an animal, later identified with the god Seth, and in the next cultural phase, the Gerzean period, pot paintings indicate that a multitude of cults flourishing before 3200 B.C The buff pottery of the Gerzean age with its red line paintings gives us the best insights into the culture of the late predynastic period. Various deities known from later times are suggested by the totems portrayed. Among the divine symbols are the harpoonlike spear of phallic symbol of the fertility god Min, the falcon of Horus, who was later known as a sky god, and the crossed arrows of the goddess Neith. While large female figures are found on a number of Gerzean pots, a large male ithyphallic figure is depicted, adjacent to the totem for Min, on at least one pot known to me (found in a grave at Ballas). Thus the male role in fertility was probably recognized in Egypt contermporaneously with the female.
The Egyptologist Jaroslav Cerny believed that anthropomorphism in the portrayal of deities developed whe intellectual rather than purely physical qualities became most valued by people. This he connected with the flowereing of civilization; "Gods, to whom a high degree of power and intelligence was attributed, were, therefore, bound to assume human form. Humans, both men and women, ar portrayed on Gerzean pot paintings. Among the portrayals of brids, landmasses, and huts or shrines, many Gerzean pots have a female figure, usually with arms raised as in the pottery figurines, who is portrayed on a larger scale thatn other closely associated female and male figures. Baumgartel interpreted the major female figure as the great mother goddess, and others are equally convinced. However, because there is often more than one female figure and a number of smaller figures portrayed, the concept of a goddess and her lover/son that is found in other cultures (and suggested by Baumgartel and, more recently, by Hassan) does not quite fit. Again, the presence of a lone ithyphallic male figure on other pots argues persuasively for both male and female deities concerned with fertility and not a simgle dominant female deity.
It is just as legitimate---if one wanted to build on this very tenuous evidence---to suggest that the larger female in the vase paintings is a human, perhaps a politically important person. Indeed, in historic period art, the more important figure, whether in a family or a national scene, whether human or divine, is portrayed on a larger scale. The frequent prominence of a female figure in the Gerzean paintings could indicate a goddess, a priestess, or a chieftainess; nothing more can be said with certainty. There is no absolute evidence for a prehistoric monotheism, whether based on a female or male principle. Indeed, Hassan believes strongly in the "complementarity of the male and female principles" in the mythic thought of predynastic Egyptians. The recognizable totems of that age give ample evidence of both male and female deities. As in historic times, the earliest inhabitants of the Nile valley seemed to have preferred a multiplicity of choices.
Also it should be recalled, but seldom is, that deities themselves (as opposed to their standards or totems) were very rarely portrayed by Egyptian artists until much later, not at first in tombs, not very extensively in sculpture, only in royal contexts, and not until the Middle Kingdom in representational art associated with commoners. Egyptologists who have not even considered the possibility of political importance, or temporal power (such as clan leaders or priestesses for such female figures), perhaps have been biased by the patriarchal societies in which they themselves live. They also reveal a lack of familiarity with African political history, as known from later periods. Numerous regions in sub-Saharan Africa have experienced generations of rule by females, and Egypt's southern neighbor, the kingdom of Meroe, exhibited this at its height in the last millenium B.C.
Female leadership in society or in cults certainly does not rule out female deities; just the opposite would be expected. It will be seen that the queens of the First Dynasty had close ties to the goddess Neith, whos presence is documented by representations of her totem in the late prehistoric period. They incorporated her name in theirs and oversaw her cult. No doubt at her original cult center, the town later known as Sais, this goddess was supreme, and some might have claimed "alone." It was when the many petty city-states became consolidated into one nation that the multitude of cults had to be sorted out.
What happened when civilizaiton and Egyptian state developed in about 3100 B.C.? Hassan suggests the following interpretation of events. The predynastic myths and rituals, concerned with birth, death, and resurrection, had been associated with goddesses. Now these goddesses' sacred powers were absorbed by the male leaders of the consolidated state of the First Dynasty. The early state "was mostl likely not the result of a single battle, but the culmination of wars and alliances, as well as fragmentation and re-unification over a period of at least 250 years." The few major kingdoms that emerged between 3400 and 3200 B.C. included, among others, Naqada and Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt and Sais in the delta. Each locale had its own principle diety (Seth at Naqada, Horus at Hierakonpolis, and Neith in Sais in these cases). But as a unified state was created from local or "tribal" (to use Hassan's term) societies, so too a shift in emphasis from local deities to national cosmic gods was necessitated. Early women had found their power in kinship-based relations, but their roles were now undermined by the emergence of a nonkinship organization, composed of male-dominated political groups related to defense and economic activities "beyond the traditional (territorial) domain of females."
Now too occurred a "transition from a focus on female-linked vegetation and regeneration cults to male-linked myths and rituals of legitimation." The king took on, as a reflection of his cosmic role, the "guaranteeing of prosperity, the orderly transition of the seasons, and plentiful harvests." There was no more need for a goddess of the herds or a mother goddess of the earth who assured bountiful crops. The king himself woudl uphold Maat, the divine order of the universe, and assure that all was well in Egypt. Divine kingship became the cornerstone of the Egyptian state, and the king was given a divine genealogy by the priests of Heliopolis, the chief cult center of the sun god, Re. The king found himself equated with Horus, the great god of the sky, revered for centuries by the town whose leaders took credit for the unification of the Two Lands. Myths now provided "a cosmic rationale for the rule of a male king and hereditary succession."
The old goddesses could not be ignored, however. That would have been dangerous, since it was necessary for them to legitimize the king. He is affiliated with the Two Ladies, the vulture goddess Nekhbet of El-Kab in Upper Egypt an the cobra goddess Wadjet of Buto in the delta or Lower Egypt. They would protect him as divine mothers or serve him as nurses, just as would the bovine goddess Gat, who appeared on the top of the Narmer Palette. Later Isis, the throne, an Hathor, the divine genealogy of the king personified, would nurture and protect and even revive the king when dead. Hassan suggests that the god Osiris gained the "funerary role of the goddess" when he became god-king of the dead. Nut the sky goddess developed out of the earlier Mehet-Weret, as will be seen shortly. Over the centuries the goddesses found themselves with new roles but with staying power as well, because the theologians of the sun god and the priests of the king were not the only worshippers in the land.

posted 04 September 2005 01:03 PM            

Notice how she criticizes those scholars don't take such an approach but instead create all sorts of problems by denying the obvious and undeniable.

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