5 facts about the women of ancient Egypt that are hard to believe
Miscellaneous / / April 03, 2023
It's time to find out how the inhabitants of that time treated girls with tattoos and why the pharaohs married their daughters.
1. Egyptian women got tattoos to increase their fertility
On many female mummies of ancient Egypt, scientists discovered well-preserved tattoos. Usually they looked like patterns of dots applied to the lower abdomen and in the abs.
It is assumed that the ladies were tattooed as a sign of protection: it was symbol the god of the hearth Bes. The latter was a faithful companion and assistant to the mother goddess Taurt and helped women to successfully give birth. And drawings from dots applied to the hips and lower abdomen were supposed to contribute to a successful pregnancy.
For a long time, scientists believed that only women in ancient Egypt were allowed to get tattoos.
But in 2018, archaeologists found first mummified a man who also had patterns of the god Bes from dots. And scientists can’t understand why this guy was awarded such an ornament. Perhaps he had something to do with the cult of fertility. Or trying to have a baby.
Well, or this unfortunate person had a parasitic disease called schistosomiasiswhich caused him to urinate with blood. ancient egyptians believedthat this is a peculiar form of menstruation. And they thought that such men could even become pregnant. Perhaps it was because of this that the tattoo artists made an exception for the poor Egyptian.
2. A woman in Egypt could make a good career
Women in ancient Egypt did a lot of housework. They prepared food, weaving, grinding grain, tidying up - in general, they did everything that is usually expected from a housewife. But some ladies chose a more progressive path and began to earn a living.
For example, very common among women was sealer profession. The point is that in Ancient Egypt have not yet invented such a useful thing as a lock, and locking something - a door, a window, a drawer - was a very non-trivial task.
Female officials with special seals sealed important rooms, houses, and containers for a small fee, and to open them again, an Egyptian would have to break the seal.
Even more girls became brewers - in fact, it was a typical female profession for Ancient Egypt.
The Egyptians adored beer, and it was not only a way to improve mood a little, but also an important dish in religious rituals, as well as a good source of calories.
ancient drink reminded rather a fermented porridge made from crumbled wheat or barley underbaked bread and date juice. The liquid was first drunk through a straw, and then the thick was eaten from the bottom. Beer was so valued by the Egyptians that sometimes they were paid with workers.
Another area where Egyptian women sometimes made a career is medicine. For example, one physician named Peseshet, who lived about 2,500 years ago, was chief physician, dentist and obstetrician at the court of the Fourth Dynasty of the pharaohs of Egypt.
Girls could also dedicate yourself singing, dancing, acting, or getting a position as a seer or tattoo artist at the temple.
And, finally, an Egyptian who belonged to the royal family could even become a pharaoh. But there was a problem: only a man could become an intermediary between the gods and people.
Therefore, queens like Hatshepsut or Neithhotep, without further ado, changed clothes in men's clothes, attached the traditional ceremonial beard and officially declared themselves youths. In this form, they were captured by sculptors for history.
The courtiers were tolerant of this. If a man can menstruate, so the pharaoh may well be a woman. In the end, everyone has their own shortcomings.
3. Egyptian women had the original pregnancy test
Even 3,000 years ago, women sometimes needed to make sure they weren't pregnant. And the ancient Egyptians had a pretty effective way to do this: they urinated on barley or wheat seeds and compared their growth rate with a control group.
If the irrigated cereals sprouted faster, it meant that the woman was pregnant. And this is quite scientific justification: Steroid hormones estrogens contained in urine stimulate plant growth.
Modern scientists supposethat such a method could determine the presence of pregnancy in 70–85% of cases. Not bad for the level of development of science and technology that the Egyptians were content with.
True, women in the same way hoped define and gender of the child: supposedly oats should grow faster if it's a boy, and wheat if it's a girl. But that's not how grains work, of course.
4. Property in ancient Egypt was inherited through the female line
In most ancient cultures, property was inherited from a father to his sons. But in Egypt, ownership passed through the female line, from the mother to her daughters.
This was logical, because motherhood was much easier to confirm than paternity: the pharaohs had not yet had time to invent DNA tests.
A man disposed of land, movable and immovable property while his wife was alive, to whom everything is according to the law and belonged. And after her death, everything went to her daughters, in the absence of those - to her sons.
In fact, the entire state was transferred from one pharaoh to another through the female line. marriage to heir to the throne gave her husband the right to rule the kingdom, but he could not bequeath it to his children, who still did not know where they came from.
Therefore, in order to retain power, the pharaohs had to be smart. And rulers regularly got married on their daughters, so that after the death of their mothers, no outsider steals the kingdom.
For example, Ramesses II, after the death of his wives Nefertari Merenmut and Isitnofret, married two older daughters at once. And Tutankhamun is on his cousin, Princess Ankhesenamun. The age of the wife did not matter at all: marriage could be concluded with both elderly ladies and baby girls.
5. Husbands could give their wives into debt slavery
We already mentionedthat slaves were not used in the construction of the pyramids, because only free people could perform such a sacred action. They believed that in this way they serve the gods and win a warmer place in the afterlife.
But this does not mean that there was no slavery in Egypt at all. For example, captured prisoners could get into it, but not only. More with the Egyptians existed debt slavery, more like serfdom. If a person was not able to pay his bills, he could go into voluntary service.
But the most cunning debtors themselves did not sign up as slaves, but sent their wives. Apparently, a woman in this situation was considered something of a pledge.
Wives of such negligent husbands worked creditor until the debt is repaid. Actually, slavery in Egypt was quite peculiar. So, slaves could still own property, make deals, and some enterprising ladies even married a new owner, became part of the family and thus gained freedom.
Also the Egyptians existed a separate type of slavery, when a person served his master, and in return he was guaranteed a successful transition to the afterlife Duat after death. But only male slaves were allowed to do it.
Women sometimes paid some money for their work, but they could not deserve the journey to the Duat. What is more important - material wealth in this world or bliss in the next, decide for yourself.
Read also🧐
- 6 Facts About Cleopatra That They Won't Teach in School
- How to move to Egypt: detailed instructions
- 5 Mysteries of Ancient Egypt That Science Hasn't Solved Yet