Some ambiance for this tale
Imagine your life as a... woman of ancient Egypt:
A great thing about being a woman in Egypt was that
unlike any other civilization during that time, woman had a lot more rights and
were given more opportunities to become independent in the household and
outside the household. However they were still plagued with their “womanly”
duties of cooking cleaning, baring children and looking over their helpless husbands
(helpless in a sense that they probably didn’t know how to clean let alone cook
a meal for themselves). Please do not judge me, this is just my interpretation of
how some guys even in the modern era can be! Not all guys are like that. Seeing
as Ancient civilizations tend to be based around male power structures and misogyny
I wouldn’t be surprised if that really was the case. To get a better
understanding of the lives of a woman during that era and to not be so dull by
just throwing out facts I shall tell you a story…
Fictional Story Time:
(Press Play Now on the video)
Figure 6: My Glorious Drawing of the fictional Amenset
Once upon a time there was a beautiful Egyptian girl
named Amenset (Figure 6) who lived in the town of Thebes. Unfortunately, she was born
into peasantry and spent most of her time assisting her father and mother in
their daily farm work. Whenever Amenset went out into the town to do errands
with her mother all the boys would stare at her. Funny thing was she never once
noticed or cared to notice. Amenset was different from most girls her age, she
was a dreamer. While other girls were preparing for marriage she was hoping for
a future in music. Her instrument of choice was the lute. She acquired a lute
during her many trips to the market. She had a knack for snatching things that don’t
belong to her or more commonly known as stealing. Whenever the opportunity came
around she would practice and compose songs. She had a natural gift and even
taught herself to play the lute. One morning while playing the lute she sensed a presence. “Hello, who is there? Show yourself!” says Amenset. Out from the
brush comes her mother who tells her that she has been listening to her play
for quite some time now. “You are really good, too good. You don’t seem to be
on the road to marriage from what it appears.” says her mother. “I know I’m
going to be ten soon but I see no appeal in marriage at all.” says Amenset. Her
mother nods and kisses her forehead, “all in due time my love.” Amem walks away
swiftly but with authority in her footing. Amenset sits and ponders about her
future, while she gently strokes the lute in an affectionate manner.
Epilogue:
Sadly Amenset did not get to live out her dream of becoming a musical performer, when she turned ten a boy took her hand in marriage. She instead
became Mistress of the House and bore children. However, out of the limited
jobs that women are allowed to have in Ancient Egypt being a musical performer
is one of them. Amenset just wasn’t so lucky.
Some of the rights women had were:
1 The ability to rent land
2 Own property and run it the way she
likes
3 Inheritance is passed from the mom to
the daughter
4 She is able to give out loans and get
interest from them
5 As a widow she is entitled to a third of
her husband’s stuff along with her own stuff.
If you’d like to see the full list head on over too: http://www.experience-ancient-egypt.com/ancient-egyptian-women.html
Fun Facts:
Some of the earliest
forms of prostitution were found back in ancient Egypt.
Women actually were
able to uphold almost all the same kinds of jobs like men but due to stricter
households many weren’t allowed to go outside the social norm.
King or should I say Queen
Hatshepsut was the only women pharaoh to be portrayed in Egyptian art as a
king. In many of her monuments she is wearing the famous false beard and is
shown bare chested with the lack of breasts.(Figure 7)
Figure 7: Colossal Kneeling Statue of Hatshepsut
Sources: http://www.womenintheancientworld.com/women_in_ancient_egypt.htm
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