User:Alexha21/sandbox

Marriage in Ancient Egypt was far different that of the other ancients in many ways. Incest was not only normal in royal families, but was actually expected.a In Egyptian, the word brother itself held a different significance than they weight it holds in English. In Egyptian, the word for “brother and sister” had the same weight as “husband and wife” making this a completely average occurrence.a

From The Magic Book, we can see that a wife was not just to create sons, but treated more equally than we see from any other society at this time. This probably stemmed from societies outlook of women in Egypt. Women were not your typical submissive housewives, but actually contributed to society. They were not just seen at commodities to marry, but actually held positions as professional dancers, musicians, part of the staff in temple, and even helped with the harvests. Women were also depicted as divine as god-like figures were not only for men in this culture. This is unusual at this time but contributed to the higher status of women and the power they could have in society.

Due to the fact that women did hold power, they were also given more rights than women in other societies. For example, when marriage contracts were written up, women and men both had their own rights. Much like in American societies, the parents give the bride away to the groom. The female brings fixed property of value to the marriage while her father and her new husband decide where the new couple will live. If the either one of them took part in “wrong doing” toward one another, they would be penalized. She would lose the belongings that she had brought into the marriage. He would repay her dowry and an additional 1000 drachmas. Two out of three of these men had to agree with them. These marriage contracts were more equal than any seen anywhere else before and during this time.