6 For further references to Senenmut, consult Dorman, P.F. (1988), The Monuments of Senenmut, Kegan Paul, London.
Chapter 8 Religious Life and Death
1 Juvenal, Satire 15, quoted in translation in Lindsay, J. (1963), Daily Life in Roman Egypt, Frederick Muller Ltd, London: 113.
2 The New Kingdom Tale of the Destruction of Mankind tells how Re decided to eliminate all human life as the people were plotting against him. He created the ‘Eye of Re’, Sekhmet, who started the slaughter, but later repented of his hasty actions. In order to prevent Sekhmet from carrying out a wholesale massacre he mixed red ochre into beer; the goddess, thinking that the red liquid was blood, drank it and became too inebriated to continue her mission of death.
3 For further references to domestic religion consult: Pinch, G. (1983), Childbirth and Female Figurines at Deir el-Medina and el-Amarna, Orientalia 52: 405–14; Kemp, B.J. (1979), Wall Paintings from the Workmen’s Village at el-Amarna, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 65: 52–3.
4 Meskhenet’s unusual headdress, which is bound to her head by a circlet, has also been interpreted as two long palm shoots with curved tips.
5 Budge, W. (1910), Book of the Dead, Text II, Kegan Paul, London.
6 Ayrton, E.R. (1909), Untitled report in F.LI. Griffith (ed.), Egypt Exploration Fund Archaeological Report 1908–1909, Egypt Exploration Fund, London: 3.
Selected Bibliography
Many books and articles include information relevant to our understanding of the life of the Egyptian woman. However, this information tends to form only a minor part of a more general study, and there are very few works devoted exclusively to female-oriented topics. The references listed below include some of the more important and accessible publications with preference given to those written in English; all these works include bibliographies which will be of interest to those readers seeking more detailed references on specific subjects. More specialized references to points raised in the text have been included in the notes.
Female-oriented Archaeology
Cameron, A. & Kuhrt, A., eds. (1983), Images of Women in Antiquity, Croom Helm, London.
Clark, G. (1989), Women in the Ancient World, New Surveys in the Classics 21, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Desroches-Noblecourt, C. (1986), La Femme au Temps des Pharaons, Stock/Laurence Pernoud, Paris.
Lesko, B.S., ed. (1987), Women’s Earliest Records From Ancient Egypt and Western Asia: Proceedings of the Conference on Women in the Ancient Near East, Brown University, Brown Judaic Studies 166, Scholars Press, Atalanta.
Moore, H.L. (1988), Feminism and Anthropology, Polity Press, Oxford.
Pomeroy, S.B. (1984), Women in Hellenistic Egypt, Schocken Books, New York.
Watterson, B. (1991), Women in Ancient Egypt, Alan Sutton, Stroud.
Wenig, S. (1969), The Woman in Egyptian Art, translated by B. Fisher, Edition Leipzig, Leipzig.
Contemporary and Modern Observers
Atiya, N. (1984), Khul-Khaal: five Egyptian women tell their stories, American University in Cairo Press, Cairo.
Blackman, W.S. (1927), The Fellahin of Upper Egypt, Harrap, London.
Breasted, J.H. (1930), The Edwin Smith Medical Papyrus, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, translated by Oldfather, C.H. & Sherman C.L. (1933–67), Loeb Classical Library, New York.
Ebbell, B. (1937), The Papyrus Ebers, Levin & Munksgaard, Copenhagen.
Griffith, F.LI. (1898), Hieratic Papyri from Kahun and Gurob, Bernard Quaritch, London.
Herodotus, The Histories, translated by A. de Selincourt, revised with Introduction and Notes by A.R. Burn (1983), Penguin Books, London.
James, T.G.H. (1962), The Hekanakhte Papers and other early middle documents, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Lichtheim, M. (1973) Ancient Egyptian Literature I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms, University of California Press, Los Angeles.
Lichtheim, M. (1976) Ancient Egyptian Literature II: The New Kingdom, University of California Press, Los Angeles.
Lichtheim, M. (1980) Ancient Egyptian Literature III: The Late Period, University of California Press, Los Angeles.
Parkinson, R.B. (1991), Voices from Ancient Egypt: an anthology of Middle Kingdom writings, British Museum Press, London.
Rugh, A.B. (1986), Reveal and Conceal: dress in contemporary Egypt, American University in Cairo Press, Cairo.
Simpson, W.K., ed. (1972), The Literature of Ancient Egypt: an anthology of stories, instructions and poetry, Yale University Press, New Haven.
Strabo, The Geography of Strabo VII, translated by H.L. Jones (1932), Loeb Classical Library, New York.
Watson, H. (1992), Women in the City of the Dead, Hurst & company, London
History and Geography
Aldred, C. (1973), Akhenaten and Nefertiti, Brooklyn Museum, New York.
Baines, J. & Malek, J. (1980), Atlas of Ancient Egypt, Facts on File, New York.
Brovarski, E., Doll, S.K. & Freed, R.E., eds. (1982), Egypt’s Golden Age: the art of living in the New Kingdom, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Emery, W.B. (1961), Archaic Egypt, Penguin, London.
Gardiner, A. (1961), Egypt of the Pharaohs, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Hayes, W.C. (1953), The Scepter of Egypt Vol I: from earliest times to the end of the Middle Kingdom, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Hayes, W.C. (1959), The Scepter of Egypt Vol II: the Hyksos Period and the New Kingdom, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Kemp, B.J. (1989), Ancient Egypt: anatomy of a civilization, Routledge, London.
Daily life
Bourriau, J. (1988), Pharaohs and Mortals: Egyptian art in the Middle Kingdom, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
James, T.G.H. (1984), Pharaoh’s People: scenes from life in Imperial Egypt, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Janssen, R.M. & Janssen, J. (1990), Growing Up in Ancient Egypt, The Rubicon Press, London.
Manniche, L. (1987), Sexual Life in Ancient Egypt, Kegan Paul International, London.
Morenz, S., Egyptian Religion, translated by A. Keep (1973), Methuen, London.
Spencer, A.J. (1982), Death in Ancient Egypt, Penguin Books, London.
Stead, M. (1986), Egyptian Life, British Museum Publications, London.
Wilkinson, A. (1971), Ancient Egyptian Jewellery, Methuen, London.
Index
Figures in bold refer to a picture caption on that page.
Abana, 29, 30, 77
abortion, 62, 69
Abu Simbel, 203
Abydos, 87, 128, 181, 214, 215, 250, 273
acrobats, 110, 154, 160, 161–2
administrators, female, 123, 124–5
adoption, 43–4, 71, 136, 205
adultery, 60–62
Africa, trade routes to, 11
afterbirth, 74–5
Afterlife and Book of the Dead, 65 clothing in, 163 delights of, 19, 88, 264–5 entrance by examination, 265–6 food in, 101–3 furniture in, 270 games in, 145 jewellery in, 171–2, 174 journey to, 265, 267 King in, 215, 269 materialistic approach to, 261 re-uniting of couples in, 57 ‘second death’ in, 76 sex in, 63 tomb figure paintings and, 23 women in, 272
agriculture dependent upon the Nile inundation, 5 flourishing economy, 100 importance of, 87–8 inherited right to work land, 46 women in, 124, 137
Aha, King, 193, 194 see also Menes, King
Ahhotep, Queen, 199–200
Ahmose, King (founder of 18th Dynasty), 11, 199, 200
Ahmose, Queen, 221
Ahmose, Scribe, 134
Ahmose (son of Abana), 29–30, 77
Ahmose Nefertari, Queen, 155–6, 200, 204, 244
Akhenaten, King, 89, 95, 186, 200, 202, 223, 232, 233, 235–7 see also Amenhotep IV, King
Akhetaten, 89, 232 see also Amarna
Akhmim, 200
Alcandara, 240
Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, 8, 13
Amarna
, 7, 46, 87, 90, 91–2, 107, 157, 184, 186, 232, 236, 256, 257 see also Akhetaten
Amarna Boundary Stela, 103, 231
Amarna period, 162, 233
Amen (a god of Thebes), 51, 57, 204, 205, 211, 220–21, 227, 232, 244, 246–7, 248, 250, 251 First Prophet of, 206 Third Prophet of, 77
Amen-hir-Khapshef, 203
Amen-Re, 210
Amenemhat I, King, 10, 188, 189
Amenemhat III, King, 219
Amenemhat IV, King, 219
Amenhotep I, King, 167, 200, 221
Amenhotep III, King, 6, 185, 186, 198, 200, 201
Amenhotep IV, King, 200, 202, 231–2 see also Akhenaten, King
Amensis/Amense, 230
amulets, 32, 72, 79, 80, 159, 160, 172, 173, 258, 263
Anath (war-goddess), 254
Anatolia, 2
ancestors bond with, 15, 255 tombs of, 143, 255
Aneksi, 77
Anen, Second Prophet of Amen, 201
ankh sign, 192
Ankhes-Merire, Queen (first wife of King Pepi I), 195
Ankhes-Merire, Queen (second wife of King Pepi I), 194–5
Ankhesenamen, Queen (previously Ankhesenpaaten), 76, 202–3
Ankhmahor, Royal Architect, 150
Ankhnesneferibre, last God’s Wife of Amen, 206
Ankhsheshonq, Scribe, 35, 46, 50, 51, 55, 63, 71, 118
anklets, 173, 174
Antigone, 212
Antylla province, 112
Any, Scribe, 104, 112
Apophis, 257
apprenticeships, 14, 115, 121
archaeological evidence, bias in, 7, 261
Archaic Period (1st and 2nd Dynasties), 9, 181, 183, 193, 194, 204, 264
arithmetic, 114, 115
army, 12, 83, 114, 124, 126, 208–9
artisans, 7, 14, 91, 92
artists, 14, 120, 138, 143, 161, 215
Ashtoreth, 254
Ashurbanipal, 12
Asia, 11, 127
Assyrians, 12
Astarte (Canaanite goddess), 162, 254
Aswan, 2
Aten, the, 232
Athenaeus, 112
Athene, 254
Athens, 38
autobiography, 29–30, 274
Ay (husband of Ankhesenamen), 203
Ba, the, 267
Babylon, 13
Babylon, King of, 185, 186, 201
Babylonian law, 38
bangles, 174
banquets, 53, 99, 101, 103, 109–12, 111, 218
barbers, 157–8
barter, 137–41
Bast (cat-headed goddess), 144, 251, 254
Bat (fertility goddess), 173
bathrooms, 147–8
batons, magic, 259–60
Bay (‘Great Chancellor of the Whole Land’), 239
beads, 170, 173–4, 273
beans, 108, 109
Bedouin, 109
bedrooms, 95–6
beef, 103, 104
beer, 103, 105, 112–13, 138, 141, 142, 250, 263, 265
Beni Hassan, 125
Berlin Medical Papyrus, 33
Bes (dwarf god), 72, 129, 130, 160, 257, 258, 259
bilharzia, 148
Binothris, King, 211
Bint-Anath, 203
birds, 89, 108, 143
birth cycle of birth, death and rebirth, 5, 63 divine, 73 multiple, 75 see also childbirth
birth bower, 73, 257
birth rate, 71
birthing-bricks, 258, 259
birthing-stool, 73, 74, 258
Black Land, 2, 5, 220
Blackman, Winifred, 71–2, 80, 89, 160, 245–6, 258
board games, 145
boats, 5, 143–4, 167–8, 215, 251, 262
Book of the Dead, The, 65, 265, 266
boys circumcision of, 150 education of, 14, 81, 115–18 enlisting in army, 83 introduction to work, 14, 18 preferred to girls, 68–9
bracelets, 173, 174
bread and death, 105, 263 as payment, 103 at markets, 141, 142 free distribution of, 250 making, 25, 90, 97, 102, 104, 105, 141 offered to the gods, 103–4, 105
breastfeeding, 32, 78–9, 253
brewers/brewing, 82, 90, 112–13, 138
bribery, 41, 136, 238
brothels, 135, 180
Bubastis, Nile Delta, 144, 251, 254
building, 10–11, 31, 138, 172, 208, 229, 240, 242
bureaucracy/bureaucrats, 14, 87, 89, 103, 115, 124, 141, 205, 208, 228, 243
burial grounds, 126, 215, 272 mounds, 194 see also cemeteries
burials associated with royal tombs, 181–3 evidence from, 7, 30–31 fashionable, 267 of children, 71–2, 75–6 royal, 171, 195
Cairo, 10
calendar, and magical portents, 260
Cambyses, 13
cartouches, 191, 205, 216, 219, 219, 220, 229, 231, 236, 237
cats, 144
cattle, 106, 141
cemeteries, 46, 128, 182–3, 187, 267, 272–3 see also burial grounds
chapels, 255–6
charms, 79, 80, 154, 173, 245, 246, 258, 260, 263
Cheops, King, 174, 183
childbirth, 71–6, 78, 130, 149, 154, 160, 178, 235, 244, 253, 257–60, 262 see also birth
childcare, 80, 83, 161
childlessness, 68, 70–72, 173, 245–6
children affection of parents towards, 66–8, 75, 80 and dowry, 54 and parents’ divorce, 58 and parents’ funerals, 271 and parents’ status, 66 as property, 38 as slaves, 79 boys’ greater status, 68–9 death of, 51, 57, 71–2, 79, 245 illegitimate, 62 illnesses, 79–80 marriage, 51–2, 81 naming of, 68, 76–7 portrayed as nude, 161 Roman women unable to act as guardian of, 39 royal, 184, 185 segregation in play, 124 toys of, 80 working, 123
circumcision, 150
civil service/servants, 12, 14, 114, 122, 124, 208, 209, 225, 227
civil unrest, 6, 10, 188, 190, 199, 213, 216, 239
class system, 39
cleaning, house, 94–5
cleanliness, 93, 146–8
Cleopatra VII, Queen, 13, 17
climate, 1, 6, 146, 152, 153
clothes, 53, 156 and semi-nudity, 161–2 and sexuality, 27 as charm for childbirth, 258 dresses, 165–6, 168–70, 168 dyeing, 164–5 folding, 165 foreign, 46 Hatchepsut depicted as wearing masculine, 223, 224, 236 in Amarna period, 233 materials, 164 mourning, 132, 133 pleating, 165, 169, 170, 233 prices, 166–7 problems in use of evidence, 163–4 theft of, 167 tight (sheath), 24, 168–9, 168, 170 washing, 93–4 white, 23, 93, 165, 169, 170, 264
Code of Hammurabi, 38
Coffin Texts, 260
coffins and decomposition of body, 267 and music, 126 and ‘Opening of the Mouth’ ceremony, 269 and ‘second death’, 76 body awaits burial in, 269 canine, 144 desecration, 237 interment in, 273 miniature, 75 price of, 140 robbing from, 172
collars, 171, 174
colours, protective powers of, 173, 260
conception, 33, 54, 69, 71
concubines, 27, 60, 125, 160, 179, 180, 181, 185, 190
contraception, 32, 51, 62–3, 78, 121
cooking/cooks, 18, 82, 97–9, 98, 108, 109, 123
corvée, 136–7
cosmetic boxes, 96, 159
cosmetics, 146, 152, 153, 159–60
cottage industries, 138
cotton, 164
court cases, 37, 40–42
court officials, 89, 181, 184
courtesans, 179, 217
cowrie shells, 173–4
Crete, 2
cults, 8, 122, 144, 162, 192, 232, 243, 244, 246, 247, 249, 253–7, 274
currency, lack of, 139, 140–41
ursive hieratic, 117
cursive hieroglyphic, 117
Cyrus II, King, 13
dancing, 25, 110, 124, 126, 127–8, 135, 154, 160, 161–2, 173–4, 257, 269
dead, the bread offered to, 105 communication with the living, 274–5 Ka and Ba spirits’ need to return to the body, 267
death and cycle of birth, death and rebi
rth, 5, 63 as a constant threat to family security, 261 efforts to avoid, 263 Egyptians’ apparent obsession with, 17 Hathor as goddess of, 254 of spouse, 56–7 second, 76 women expected to supervise the dying, 262–3
death-jewellery, 171–2
deben, 140, 166–7
Dedi (a widow), 274
Deir el-Bahri, 195, 222, 223, 226, 227, 229
Deir el-Medina, 7, 41, 59, 61, 73, 85, 86, 90, 91, 107, 119–20, 120, 131, 138, 149, 167, 244, 247, 249, 255, 256, 257, 271
demotic, 117
Demyosnai, 271
Dendera, 254
dental problems, 31, 151
deodorants, 148
depilatory equipment, 147
desert, 2, 5, 28, 144, 151, 171, 187, 272, 273
Deshasha, 21
Diodorus Siculus, 61, 107, 112, 152–3
Discorides, 70
division of labour, 122–3, 124, 137
divorce, 38, 50, 54–62, 71
Djau, vizier, 195
Djehutynefer, 90
djellaba, 166
Djer, King, 181, 194
djeryt, 270
Djoser, King, 194
doctors, 14, 31–3, 69–70, 71, 79
dogs, 144, 181
domestic work, 18, 91 and lack of women’s education, 15 and tomb paintings, 123 constant demand for, 134 hard physical, 83 occurring outdoors, 84, 89 wife normally responsible for all, 82
Dorchia, 217
dowry, 38, 54, 186
draughtsmen, 120, 138
Dream Book, 260
dress, see clothes
dresses, 165–6, 168–70, 168
dressmakers, 138
dwarfs, 181
dyeing, 164–5
earrings, 175
earth mother, 251, 253
Ebers Medical Papyrus, 32–3, 62, 148, 151, 152, 155
Edfu, 250
Edjo (cobra goddess), 256–7
education, 14, 81, 114–21
Edwin Smith Papyrus, 31
Egyptian Empire, 11, 12, 156, 248, 251
Elizabeth I, Queen, 211
embalming/embalmers, 23, 155–6, 266, 268 see also mummification
embalming houses, 66, 151, 268–9
Emery, Professor W. B., 102–3, 182
Eretosthenes, 217
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