Women in Ancient Egypt:

Ceremonies and Legalities

In a theocratic society such as ancient Egypt, where all land literaly belonged to the King, and with a hierarchical structure from the top down, the family was still a societal institution to be counted with.

No matter where on the social ladder you lived, getting married was important business in ancient Egypt. Why? Apart from the obvious ones, the simplest reason was that having children meant chances for survival increased. Death rate for mother and child was high and Despite this there were no marriage or bethrotal ceremonies as we know them today, but the decision to form a pair was most likely celebrated with all due festivites from both sides of the parties involved and encompassed as much colorfulness as the social level and economy would admit. Unfortunately not much information about the ins and outs of these plesantries has come down to our day, but some papyrii give us a glimpse of the legalities surrounding the affair.

From the 7th century and through the Late Period, a marriage contract about property and economics was often drawn up among the elite between a woman´s father and the husband. It stated the year of the ruling king, names of the husband and wife, names of their parents, the husband´s occupation or origin. Then the name of the scribe who drew up the contract and the names of the witnesses. Then came the details of the settlement.

Royal marriages were most likely celebrated with a great deal of pompous attention and ceremony. Kings often married several women, foreign princesses and the like, for political reasons. It was also a reason to give lavish banquets and offerings to the gods, and also exchange of gifts to the bride´s father, who might be an important possible foreign ally in coming days.

The Shep-en-Sehemet

Among commoners, there was sometimes a gift to the bride mentioned in these marriage contracts, called 'shep-en-sehemet'. It is suggested that this gift was originally a payment to the bride´s father, as a compensation for taking his daughter away. They were often drawn up after several years of 'marriage' when the success and validity of the marriage had been proven by one or preferrably several children.

Confusing Wifely Titles

The word for wife was 'hemet' which is known from the Old Kingdom. In the middle of the 18th Dynasty, it was often substituted by 'senet', meaning sister or other female collateral. 'Hemet' was still used in hieratic, meaning wife, whereas 'senet' never seemed to have had that meaning. From the Middle Kingdom there is the word 'hebsut'. Sometimes women are referred to as both 'hemet' and hebsut'. There is also the word 'ankhet en niut' which seems to denote a married woman, along with 'nebet per'. These titles differ according to where they appeared; 'Hebsut' were seldom used in monumental contexts but could appear as 'hemet' in tombs, on stelae or statues. Likewize with ankhet-en-niut (citizenness) from New Kingdom, who appeared in hieratic material, and 'nebet per' (mistress of the house) who were frequent on monumental contexts.

Pregnancy Tests

If children were produced, the marriage was considered as successful. Accordingly the foremost duty of a married woman was to have as many children as possible (the death rate was high) and to take care of them and the home.

There are pregnancy tests described in several medical papyrii. Taking the pulse was one test, examine the condtion and the color of the skin of the woman was another, and there was one in which the effect of urine on pots of barley and emmer weat, would tell wether the child would be a boy or a girl. The woman was to urinate on these daily, and if the barley sprouted ifrst, she would have a girl. If the emmer wheat sprouted first, thei child would be male. And if they did not sprout at all, then she was not pregnant.

Birth Bricks

Women gave birth squatting on two large bricks, so called Birth bricks, which were personified as the goddess Meshkhenet. And from the New Kingdom onwards, there seems to have been built or erected a small room either on the roof of the regular house, or a sort of pavillion in the garden, a so called 'birth bower'. where the woman giving birth were taken, and where she spent the first weeks with the newborn infant, other women waiting upon her. This is shown on ostraca from Deir-el-Medina.

Purification Period

After a woman had given birth to a child, she was expected to go through a period of purification, maybe for a couple of weeks, before she could join society again. This time she spent in the aforementioned birth bowers or birth rooms, where often the walls were decorated with Tawaret and Bes, protectors of mothers and their newborn child. Childhood was full of dangers and to somewhat protect the child, it was named immediately afther birth.