posted
Most sources tell me that ancient Kememou (spelling?) women worked mostly in the home, but I've read somewhere on this forum that this is a Victorian myth, and that women really worked on the rooftops. Also, I've seen one ancient image where a woman works alongside a man. Is the "Kememou women worked within the home" thing really true or at least partly so, or is the whole thing a brain bug?
Posts: 7082 | From: Fallbrook, CA | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
^^Okay I don't know about the "rooftops" thing, but even though the home was considered the domain of women, in Egyptian society (unlike other contemporary societies in the Near-East) women were not restricted to it. All evidence shows that women took active participation outside the homes as well.
Tomb paintings show women working the fields alongside men in the lower classes, and women out with their husbands on boating and hunting trips etc. We know that women not only owned their own properties but even ran businesses with the most striking example coming from Herodotus's account of the marketplaces being predominantly run by women (as can be seen in other parts of Africa today). As well as working in the temples as priests, we even have evidence of female judges and even doctors!
Posts: 26280 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
True talk, Djehuti. In Nigeria (where I'm from), more than 90% of the market traders are women and I know this pattern can be seen in the rest of the west african countries. They, however, are "in charge" of the home by tradition (i.e. taking care of children, home environment etc), though they are most often not limited to the home and generally are quite entrepreneural.
Posts: 3423 | From: the jungle - when y'all stop playing games, call me. | Registered: Jul 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
A Tribute to Mrs. Mubarak By Zahi Hawass, Egyptologist
In 1993, I was contacted by Dr. Farkhunda Hassan and asked if I would put together a book about the role of women in Ancient Egypt. The book was to be presented by Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak at the Women's Conference scheduled to be held in China later that year.
Mrs. Mubarak wanted to convey the fact that women enjoyed a privileged status during the time of the Pharaohs. Many were more empowered than women of the 20th century. Women in Pharaonic Egypt were entitled to inherit property and divorce their spouses, and also held important positions in society. Many were doctors, and there is even evidence of a woman judge. Women also had a large measure of influence on the building of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, as well as being involved with astronomy, calculating the position of the ancient monuments, advising the Pharaoh on the forces of nature and how to maximise crop productivity. Tomb paintings from the Old Kingdom show women overseeing the carving of statues which were placed on the walls of the tombs of deceased family members.
I was initially apprehensive about writing the book, knowing that Mrs. Mubarak is a graduate of the American University in Cairo (AUC) and that she would expect nothing less than a text which reflected the high standard of excellence she demands of herself. This would require an enormous amount of research in a field that was not the focus of my doctorate in Egyptology, i.e. the archeology of the Old Kingdom. Up until that point in 1993, I had concentrated my academic and field work on discovering and analysing the amazing culture which had produced the Pyramids for which Egypt is renowned the world over.
Luckily, I had the time to devote myself to the project. After the initial research on the status of women in Ancient Egypt, it was clear that there was an underlying methodology defining their role. It appears that in most cases women worked closely with men, but in positions that permitted only a few, i.e. four, to assume the actual function of ruler. In addition to this period, women occupied influential roles in society from pre-dynastic times, right through the late period before Christianity. My research indicated that men were unable to rule without women, as the legitimacy of the Pharaoh, in part, came from his relationship with the women in his family.
The Osiris myth is an important indicator of the status of women in ancient times. After his death at the hands of his hateful brother Seth, it was Osiris's wife Isis who restored him to life. Osiris was revived to such an extent that he was able to sire a son, Horus. Isis taught Horus to rule, and his representative on earth, the Pharaoh, brought order to the world. Through her actions, Isis allowed the ancient life of the gods to be continued on earth, which in turn affected the quality of the Pharaoh's terrestrial existence. In an interesting postscript to the Isis story, Horus avenged his father's death by killing his uncle Seth. This myth is evidence of the fact that Egypt would never have achieved its glorious status without Isis.
The main point here is that research and field work turned up new information about women and their influential role in Ancient Egypt. Much of this material had never been published, which meant it was a chance to publish information about court life and the rights of women for the 3,000 years during which Egypt was the centre of the world.
The book was entitled Silent Images: Women in Pharaonic Egypt. The Ministry of Culture published the work and Mrs. Mubarak took it to the International Women's Conference in China. AUC later republished the book in English, and it was also published in Italian and Japanese. Mrs. Mubarak was the inspiration and director of a project which resulted in a book that is considered an important work in the field of Egyptology. This month the Arabic edition of my book will appear under the title The Lady of the Ancient World.
In the ancient world, Egypt stood out as a land where women were treated differently.
...but the Egyptians themselves, in most of their manners and customs, exactly the reverse the common practices of mankind. For example, the women attend the markets and trade, while the men sit at home and weave at the loom... The women likewise carry burdens upon their shoulders while the men carry them upon their heads... Sons need not support their parents unless they chose, but daughters must, whether they chose to or not." -- Herodotus
Women and Law
In marriage, assets acquired together by the couple were shared - a wife was entitled to a share of these communal assets. She could pass on her own assets, and her share of the marital assets, to her children as she saw fit.
"I am a free woman of Egypt. I have raised eight children and have provided them with everything suitable to their station in life. But now I have grown old and behold, my children don't look after me any more. I will therefore give my goods to the ones who have taken care of me. I will not give anything to the ones who have neglected me." -- Lady Naunakhte's Last Will and Testament
A husband could even pass the full amount of his assets on to his wife (rather than his siblings or children) in his will. He could even adopt his wife to make sure that his siblings could not inherit his assets - she was then entitled to both the wifely portion of his goods, as well as the potion given to his children!
"My husband made a writing for me and made me his child, having no son or daughter apart from myself." -- Nenufer, Wife of Nebnufer
posted
Yes, women in ancient Egypt enjoyed an exalted status. Asiatic women generally did not have such exalted status. The only exception I know of is the Patriarchal narratives, where women have an exalted status as in Egypt.
1. Matriarch #4 Rachel is generally known for her great beauty. "Rachel was shapely and beautiful." Genesis 29: 17 Not as well known is the fact that Rachel did not stay inside doing her hair and nails. No, beautiful, shapely Rachel was a shepherdess, working with the sheep and goats. "Rachel came with her father's flock; for she was a shepherdess." Genesis 29: 9
2. All four Matriarchs are aggressive and assertive, and are lauded therefor. It is Sarah who publicly orders Abraham to exile Ishmael, so that Abraham's sole heir will be Sarah's blood son Isaac. Rebekah has her younger twin son Jacob dress up in older twin son Esau's clothes, so that Isaac will be induced to choose Jacob, who is Rebekah's choice, to be Patriarch #3, rather than Isaac's favorite son, Esau. Matriarch #3 Leah is equally audacious, impersonating her younger sister Rachel so that Leah, rather than Rachel, becomes Jacob's main wife #1. Sarah, Rebekah and Leah, each of whom is assertive and aggressive to a fault, are all given the ultimate Hebrew honor of being buried at Hebron.
Note also that Patriarch #3 Jacob/"Israel", as a young man, is famous for staying home and stirring the soup with his mother (Genesis 25: 29), rather than being an outdoorsman and hunter like his older twin brother Esau. Jacob is also well known for being lame by the time he became the junior "co-regent" Patriarch in Canaan with his father, Isaac. "The sun rose upon him [Jacob] as he passed Penuel [on his way to Canaan], limping on his hip…, since Jacob's hip socket was wrenched at the thigh muscle." Genesis 32: 32-33
3. No other part of the Bible portrays women in such a progressive way. No other part of the Bible shows as great a familiarity with Egypt, either. All this indicates that the Hebrew author of the Patriarchal narratives must have been intimately familiar with Egypt, having lived there as a guest worker for quite a few years, where he imbibed Egypt's progressive view of women.
The incredibly positive view of aggressive, assertive women in the Patriarchal narratives, unique in the Bible and other Asiatic or European literature prior to very modern times, must be resulting from the model of Egypt. I know of no non-Egyptian text prior to very modern times that has as progressive a view toward women as does the Patriarchal narratives, which not coincidentally stands out as being a rare non-Egyptian text that shows such a great, intimate familiarity with fabulous New Kingdom Egypt.
4. And speaking of New Kingdom Egypt, Akhenaten commissioned all those memorable portraits, in Years 16 and 17 of his reign, of a young pharaoh, Smenkhkare, whose wife is always pictured with him, often with the young pharaoh's wife (Akhenaten's daughter Meritaten) standing up and bustling around doing things, while Smenkhkare is so often sitting down or leaning heavily on a staff. It is very clear from those many images coming out of Amarna that Akhenaten trusted his daughter Meritaten to be able to administer Egypt, after Akhenaten's death, far more than Akhenaten ever trusted his lame full-brother/son-in-law, the unimpressive Smenkhkare. This very positive view of Meritaten as an aggressive, assertive woman is redolent of Amarna, the 18th Dynasty, Egypt, and the Patriarchal narratives. Such a progressive view of women is rare in Asia or Europe until very modern times.
posted
^^Jim, just to let you know, there is evidence that Asiatic societies once held women in high status and may have even been matriarchal. We have archaeological materials as well as even documented records that goddess worship was more popular not just in Mesopotamia but also in the Levant during early times than people think and that women had high status.
This matriarchy began during Neolithic times but it have lasted into the early Bronze Age and even later in rural communities. Unfortunately of course these societies were soon converted into patriarchy.
Posts: 26280 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged |
1. Asherah was a popular goddess. Asherah is not in the Patriarchal narratives. The rest of the Hebrew Bible was composed in the 1st millennium BCE. There are many veiled, but very brief and uneventful, references to Asherah in the rest of the Hebrew Bible.
The Hebrews often had household gods, even after Judaism was well-established in the 1st millennium BCE.
2. But the earliest Hebrew village settlements, in the mid-12th century BCE in southern inland Canaan, are remarkable for one main thing: there is never a statue of any god. That distinguished the early Hebrews from everyone else except Akhenaten.
The early Hebrews had no statues of any gods, including no statues of Asherah.
3. The Patriarchal narratives are only one strand of what, many centuries later, became full-blown Judaism. But the Patriarchal narratives were always there, from day #1. The Patriarchal narratives go all the way back to the early Hebrews’ tent-dwelling days in the mid-14th century BCE (at the time of Amarna). There is never a time when the Hebrews are in villages that the Patriarchal narratives are not already around, and known.
4. The cite seems less than objective when it grandly opines as follows:
“Monotheistic, patriarchal narratives have largely enslaved the human consciousness for 3 000 years or more.’
(a) The Patriarchal narratives, meaning what is now the last 40 chapters of the received text of Genesis, go back 3,350 years.
(b) The Patriarchal narratives did not “enslave the human consciousness”. On the contrary, there is a more positive view of aggressive, assertive women in the Patriarchal narratives than in any non-Egyptian text prior to very modern times.
(c) The rest of the Bible, both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, is a different story.
5. The fundamental premise of both the cite, and of your own comment, seems to be that women fare better in societies that have a goddess as the chief deity. History does not bear out that romantic notion. Women did better in Egypt than anywhere else. Egypt did have some important goddesses, such as Isis and Hathor. Yet Osiris and Horus and Ra and Amen were more important, and were viewed as being males. YHWH seems like a male figure in the Patriarchal narratives, and women fare very well there. Women in the modern West have good status, in a largely secular society. Elsewhere throughout history, there were many fertility goddesses for many different cultures, but the women in those cultures did not fare nearly as well as the women of ancient Egypt, the Matriarchs, and women in modern secular cultures.
posted
^^Actually, Asherah was mentioned in the Old Testament but the name as well as Ahstoreth (Astarte) were used as general names for goddess cults by the Hebrew Patriarchs. They also used the word 'boshet' (shame) as an epithet for these cults indicating the contempt they had for such cults.
A religion reflects a society just as much as a society reflects its religion. The prevalence of goddess cults can be viewed as being an outcome of women's high status more than the other way around-- that women had high status because of such religious beliefs.
My main premise for citing that article was to show the extent of matriarchal influence from the Neolithic. Matriarchy seems to correlate strongly with the so-called Neolithic "Revolution". With the domestication of plants came permanently settled communities which then brought about more cultural advancement and sophistication such as urbanization and industries. Before the Neolithic, humans lived as hunter-gatherers with men doing the hunting of animals while women did the gathering of plants. So who else first domesticated plants but women? What women's status was before the Neolithic is not entirely certain but judging by the female figurines found from that era, many scholars think women were still respected. Although it gets clear that females gained greater leverage with the Neolithic phase (Graves of females tended to be more elaborate and richly decorated than those of males in many Neolithic centers). It should also be pointed out that the early goddesses played more important roles than just presiding over "nature" and the all too clichéd "fertility". They also presided over the more complex and refined areas of human society that agricultural fertility brought about i.e. urbanization and industries. Thus these were also goddesses of cities and of civilized society itself. In fact, the early Hebrew narratives even described cities as "women" and their walls as "wombs" who enclose its children/citizens. Indeed an accurate reference to Neolithic spiritual thought during that time. There are many hints in the Old Testament of there being conflict between matriarchal societies and patriarchal ones as there was between pastoral nomads and settled agriculturalists.
How patriarchy came to develop or even dominate many of these advanced societies that were once matriarchal is still unclear. The pastoralist nomad theory alone seems doubtful since there are various pastoral nomadic societies in Asia and especially in Africa where women maintained signifanct roles and high positions.
I no way suggested that just because a society worshipped a chief deity that was female meant that its women fared well. In Babylon where Ishtar was a chief deity, women still had poor positions in society, and the most misogynistic of the ancient Greeks-- the Athenians, held Athena as their chief deity.
Egypt as a society indigenous to the Nile had many elements found in other parts of Africa-- some matriarchal while others not so much. Like the Near East Egypt experienced a Neolithic phase where some scholars believed was more matriarchal as they claim from the abundance of female figures and female depictions on pottery and rock paintings. Neith is believed to have been the chief deity of the Delta during pre-dynastic times. As for the Valley during the same time, some think it was Hathor. The supreme deity throughout much of the dynastic era was the sun god Ra but in his earliest references he was depicted as being androgynous (like many supreme deities in Africa). It is during dynastic times that we start to see a shift to a patric or male-centered culture though not totally patriarchal in that women are suppressed. We can see this in the rise of male deities like Ausar (Osiris) which happens to be agricultural yet whose power lies in his death and resurrection (which happens virtually all males who take on the traditionally female role of agriculture). And of course we also see the institution divine-kingship or Pharaoh which is held almost exclusively by men. Despite all of this women still maintained significant roles in society. Ausar had his Aset (Isis) just as Amun had his Mut.
As for the Hebrew God YHWH, there is evidence that he once had a female counterpart or consort that eventually faded. Regardless it seems the more the religion progressed, it did away with giving YHWH masculine attributes alone. In fact, the New Testament seems to give the Hebrew God more feminine attributes that can be more clearly seen in the Kabalah with the 'Sheikhina' aspect of Godhead. And that ultimatley God is without sex just as the Arab god Allah is.
Modern secular society, specifically the West tries to and has indeed made success in giving women more opportunities and privileges but we must remember that 'Western' culture does have its roots in patriarchy which is why the West still has alot of hangups when it comes to women which is why sexism is still a problem here.
Posts: 26280 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic