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Mistress of the House, Mistress of Heaven
Mistress Of The House, Mistress Of Heaven is the title of the first-of-its-kind exhibit catalogue that explores the full spectrum of women's lives and pursuits in both historical and artistic milieus through Pharaonic Egypt's history. It focuses on the women of Egypt from all levels of society. Inspired by the book, many researches were done on women's rights and role in the society.It was discovered that Egypt treated its women better than any of the other major civilizations of the ancient world. In ancient Egypt, the role of women was equal to men. The female principal was a redeeming and positive factor. All males deities had females as equal counterpart. Equality was part of the divine order. Merits of both genders were necessary, and both were complementary rather than superior to each other. This equality was shown in ancient monuments as well as ancient texts and is illustrated in all social aspects of the ancient culture.

Women as Deities:

The two deities Nut and Isis were powerful ancient goddesses. Their place of birth is Nubia and they existed by 4000 BC [Their story shows an example of gender complementarity in relationships. The twin divinities god Shu and goddess Tefnut were the first couple created. Together, they produced Geb, the god of earth and Nut, the goddess of sky. The sky was the female principle of the world, because it conceals the fertile element as the life giving light. Once the universe was formed, Nut had a creative power that separated earth from water, put the sun in the sky, and created gods and humans (Monges, 1993). Nut represented the female image of the universe as she protected and resurrected the dead, and saved souls. People admired her love and nurture. As a mother, she gave birth to her son Osiris as Isis. Isis, so called ”the giver of life” was the most powerful and famous deity. Her story is one of earliest myths. Isis gave an example of gender complementarity. By the power of her love she prevented her child’s death, after he has been bitten by a scorpion. This myth informed society that queens and women could be equally powerful and competent as men, and that they are of great importance (Monges, 1993).

Royal Women and Queens:

Royal women in Ancient Egypt derived their importance from their relationship to the king. King’s wives, mothers and daughters were royal women. Only king’s wives and mothers were recognized as queens and these wore a headdress as an attribute to queenship and divinity. There were candidates for queenship and only one was chosen to be queen. Not all queens were of royal origin. Often a king married his royal sister which prevented the problem of family conflicts and some kings married foreign princesses. These were often diplomatic marriages (Robins, 1993). Females were of great importance because the crown was only transmitted through female line The descent and inheritance of throne went through the female line. The presentation of royal women is as expression of their official role as a representative of the royal element in the divine queenship. This manifestation of a feminine prototype was used to present queenship as a female-male composite and had a symbolic function, as images functioned as bearers of abstract matters through the Egyptian history, and language was an extension to that imagery (Ward, 1990). Queens were important ritually but they had economic independence, and loyal men serving them, which provided them with a power base. However some queens were more powerful than others. For example, Ahhotep II,king Ahmose’s mother played a crucial role in the stirring events when Ahmose conquered Nubia and drove the Hyksos out of Egypt, e.g. she looked after the soldiers. She was a queen of real power. Also, Ahmose Nefertari - Ahmose’s wife and half-sister -, was involved in building projects, and was participating in its performance and dedicated  ritual offerings. Hatshepsut, Thutmose II’s wife acted as a regent for Thutmose III, as he came to throne as a boy (Robins, 1993).She controlled the affairs of the land and is the world’s greatest female monuments builder, especially in Thebes, where she had constructed a terraced mortuary temple, known today as Deir el-Bahari. The temple is well-known for the scenes showing the divine birth of the queen, and an expedition to the land of Punt ("Hatshepsut"). Her title “god’s wife”, and later “mistress of the two lands” gave her power. She abandoned the titles of a queen and justified herself as a ruler/king. She gained the throne due her strong character that made her break traditions and occupy the throne for more than a decade (Ward, 1990). After her death the name and the memory of the ruling queen were persecuted. Her image and her name were destroyed on many monuments, and her name was removed from king lists ("Hatshepsut"). Another important queen was Nefirtiti - the wife of Akhenaten. She is the often showed on the monuments in temples and tombs, She was important to the Aten religion and people could address prayers directly to the queen. She sometimes wore kingly crowns and became her husband’s co-regent (Robins, 1993).

Marriage in Ancient Egypt :

Marriage was a very important part of the ancient Egyptian society. Most marriages were economically advantageous and arranged (Robins, 1993). There is no record anywhere of an actual marriage ceremony. A couple were considered married when they began to live together. There were no special bridal clothes, no exchange of rings, no change of names to indicate marriage, and no word meaning wedding. There was no age limit as to when people could be married, but generally a girl did not get married until she had begun to menstruate at about the age of 14 ("The Status of Women in Egyptian Society"). Monogamy seems to have been the norm for the most of the country. Husbands could marry more than one wife, and people of close relations (first cousins, brothers and sisters, etc.) could also wed one another. Divorce was common, and could be initiated by women. Common Reasons were “dislike of one’s wife” or the wish to marry another woman (Robins, 1993).

Women’s Rights in Marriage:

A woman had claims to up to one-third of all the community property in her marriage. By marriage contract, her husband’s property settled upon her. The house and securities become hers and the husband became dependent upon his wife (Ward, 1990). Men could sell only with authority of the wife,. On the death of a husband the woman inherited two-thirds of their community property ("The Status of Women in Egyptian Society" )

Fertility and Childbirth:

Childbearing was the main purpose of marriage. Infertility was a possible reason for divorce (Robins, 1993). A fertile woman was considered a successful woman. By becoming pregnant, women gained the respect of society approval from their husbands, and the admiration of their less-fortunate sisters and sterile friends. This is because men needed to prove their "manliness" by fathering as many children as the possibly could. ("The Status of Women in Egyptian Society.")

Women in the household:

The common title for non-royal women was "mistress of the house". They were waiting for the husband at home, in charge of household affairs ("The Status of Women in Egyptian Society"). Women tended to work more indoors and men outside. An elite women’s role was to organize and oversee activities. She did not get her hands dirty; actual work was carried out by servants. On the other hand, women from lower classes were busy with food preparation, weaving, childbearing, and jobs as servants outside. Women occupied the harem, which included the mother, grandmother or any unmarried women such as female servants or slaves (Robins, 1993).

Women Outside the Household:

Free and independent as we know the women, since pyramid period, the demotic papyri show it to us from a more startling point of view. The humorous drawing of Herodotus where he says women did all trading and marketing, while men stayed home was not proven by evidence (Edwards & O’Nell, 2006). A distinguishement between occupations of men and women existed. There was a desire to keep women out of the government and politics. Outside the bureaucratic world, daughters of literate families could have been taught to read and write, however they could never hope to hold office. Women of high status were ranked as stewards in charge of storehouses and supplies of food, and postings related to weaving, dancing and singing. The occupations of servants were baking, milling, spinning, weaving, and cutting grain. Women sometimes occupied grades of priestesses in temples. Generally, an ideal division of labor based on gender existed (Robins, 1993).

Economic and Legal Position of Women:

When the Greeks conquered Egypt in 332 B.C.E., Egyptian women were allowed more rights and privileges than Greek women, who were forced to live under the less equal Greek system. Women could manage, own, and sell private property, which included slaves, land, portable goods, servants, livestock, and money. Women could resolve legal settlements. Women could conclude any kind of legal settlement. Women could appear as a contracting partner in a marriage contract or a divorce contract; they could execute testaments; they could free slaves; women could make adoptions. Women were entitled to sue at law. ("The Status of Women in Egyptian Society") However, the system was biased in favor of men, so women’s rights were not always protected. They were in danger of being mugged or raped (Robins, 1993). The disparities between people's legal rights were based on differences in social class and not on gender (Edwards & O’Nell, 2006).

References





<"Hatshepsut." Digital Egypt for Universities. UCL, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2014. >







<"The Status of Women in Egyptian Society." The Role of Women in Ancient Egypt. Cornell, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.>