Читать книгу The Historical Child - Oscar Chrisman - Страница 38

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We find the women having considerable power in ancient Egypt. They had full control of the home, as it appears that the husband entered the house of his wives, rather than the wives to have entered his. Royal authority and supreme direction of affairs were intrusted without reserve to women. The women went often into public, at some of the public festivals they were even expected to attend with their husbands. Even greater privileges were accorded to the women of the middle and lower classes as they often went and came as they liked.

Plurality of wives was allowed, except in the case of priests, who by law were permitted but one wife. Yet the Egyptians generally restricted themselves to one wife. Marriage of brother and sister was permitted and seemingly encouraged from a religious point of view.

Although in most cases they might not have had but one wife, yet they had concubines. These appear to have been obtained mostly in war or bought as slaves from foreign dealers, not for most part being native Egyptian women. These concubines were both white and black, but the black were used as domestics in the family. Sometimes the white concubine took a prominent part in the family, ranking next to the wives and children.

All the children born to a father were considered legitimate whether the offspring of a wife or of some other woman, but those who were born of a brother and sister in legitimate marriage took precedence of those whose mother was of inferior rank or a slave.

The people of old Egypt held strong opinions on the behavior of their women and so punished adultery very severely. A woman detected in adultery had her nose cut off, as it was thought this would be a severe blow to her charms and so make her less attractive. The man was condemned to receive a bastinado of one thousand blows. If a man used force toward a free woman he was very cruelly punished.