posted
I once read the comic "Nofret" which is about a Minoan princess visiting ancient Egypt. Her sister married the Pharaoh.
But also in real life some foreign royalty came to marry Egyptian kings. Well known is Ramses IIs marriage to the Hettite princess Maathorneferure (her Egyptian name). One can wonder how life was for a foreigner and how she adapted to Egyptian customs and protocol?
Are there any indications how common marriages with outsiders were in different periods in AE, both among nobility but also among commoners?
Statue of Maathorneferure, wife of Ramesses II at Tanis, Egypt.
The comic Nofret by Sussi Bech
-------------------- Once an archaeologist, always an archaeologist Posts: 2691 | From: Sweden | Registered: Mar 2020
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^ Marriages with foreigners was not uncommon in certain areas of Egypt and in certain periods. The areas in particular are in the Delta and neck of the Delta which was settled by Asiatics and in Upper Egypt from Aswan to Nekhen which was settled by Nubians. The periods of course corresponding with influxes of these foreigners.
Of course as explained in the above threads, there was a degree of xenophobia which was a common sentiment in the ancient world. The Egyptians viewed themselves and their nation as central in the cosmos and representative of Maat (order) whereas foreigners represented Isfret (chaos). However, as long as foreigners assimilate into Egyptian culture they achieve a sort of conversion into Maat. Marriage was an important part of this naturalization process.
From the available documents there seems to have been a gender bias depending on social status-- with foreign wives being taken by elite men especially royals as part of political alliances, whereas foreign husbands were taken by common women since these men were usually mercenaries or guards in service to the elites.
-------------------- Mahirap gisingin ang nagtutulog-tulugan. Posts: 26295 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Having multiple wives is a common practice among various African groups throughout history. But it required having the resources to support them. And even in these traditional systems, there was a ranking system for the wives. In the case of the Pharaohs, they basically gave rise to the idea of harems as a result of all the wives they eventually took on. The difference between these harems and the other traditional marriage customs, was the political aspect of certain marriages. So while a Pharaoh could have multiple wives, only those of certain lineage could give birth to the next heir to the throne. And this is compounded by the fact that this often included incest. So while there may have been diplomatic marriages to various foreign women, we don't really know how many of those marriages produced any offspring and what the roles of these wives and their offspring were after the pharoah died and a new ruler came to the throne. Case in point, Ramses had upwards of 80 children and we dont know if that is all of them or only the ones from the ranking consorts.
As for the general population, unless they were really wealthy, generally they did not have multiple wives and you see this clearly from the tombs. And for the most part we only know of one wife for the average person in the ancient Nile valley. And there isn't a lot of obvious evidence in many cases of how many of these women (or even men) were of foreign extraction.
Overall the most preferred of the "foreign" women seemed to be those from the South as seen in numerous examples from the Middle and New Kingdom.
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Herodotus tells about the Cyrenaean princess Ladice who married the Egyptian Pharaoh Amasis II. Seems it is a story that easily could be made into a film (instead of yet another Cleopatra film).
quote: Ladice or Ladice of Cyrene (Greek: Λαδική, fl. 548 BC to 526 BC) was a Greek Cyrenaean princess and was a member of the Battiad dynasty. She married the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Amasis II. When Amasis died in 526 BC, she returned from Egypt back to Cyrene.
Family Ladice was the daughter of the fifth Greek Cyrenaean king Battus III and Greek Cyrenaean queen Pheretima. Her brother would be the future sixth Greek Cyrenaean king Arcesilaus III. Although her maternal grandparents are unknown, her paternal grandparents were the fourth Greek Cyrenaean king Arcesilaus II and Greek Cyrenaean queen Eryxo. Although her father is considered to have been Battus III, Herodotus suggests that from other accounts her father could have been Arcesilaus II or Critobulus, one of the leading Greek Cyrenaean citizens. She was born and raised in Cyrene.
Marriage After 548 BC, she married pharaoh Amasis II as his fourth wife.
Before Ladice's marriage with Amasis took place, her father made an alliance with the pharaoh to protect Cyrenaica from the local Libyan population and its aristocracy. Amasis, as a token of his goodwill and friendship with Battus, wanted to marry a Greek woman from Cyrenaica and Battus allowed him to select any woman whom he wanted to marry. Amasis chose Battus' daughter Ladice. Ladice and Amasis married in Cyrene.
When Ladice married Amasis, she became a member of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt. Ladice is not well known in ancient Egyptian history and her name has not been found on any monuments from the time. Nor is she mentioned on any Egyptian inscriptions from the period. However, her marriage to Amasis encouraged cultural and trade interactions between Egypt and its neighbours in the Mediterranean.
According to Herodotus, it was said that when Amasis and Ladice returned to his palace in Sais, Egypt, their marriage, for a while, was not consummated. Every time Amasis went to bed with Ladice, he was unable to have intercourse with her, although he did with his other wives. Amasis thought that Ladice might have bewitched him and formally accused Ladice. If she was found guilty, the punishment would have been the death penalty. She denied the charge, but to no effect. So Ladice made a silent prayer to the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite. If Aphrodite could save her life and her marriage, she would dedicate a statue to her in Cyrene. The goddess answered her prayer and her marriage was consummated and the pharaoh fell deeply in love with her. Amasis withdrew his accusation against Ladice. Ladice ordered a statue to be made in the image of Aphrodite and she sent the statue to Cyrene, where it was placed looking outward from the city. The statue was still there in the time of Herodotus.
posted
As Doug pointed out, Egyptian kings had many wives in their harems and marriage to foreign wives were part of alliance with foreign nations. Not surprisingly, Egyptian kings intermarried with foreigners the most during the New Kingdom when Egypt was an empire that annexed foreign lands mainly the Levant and Nubia.
Ramesses II for example had the highest number of Asiatic wives.
As for nonroyals it seems the opposite case-- Egyptian women marrying foreign men. We see for example foreign men who serve either as soldiers or paid laborers who marry Egyptian women as a way for their social mobility.
Asiatic man with Egyptian wife
Nubian man with Egyptian wife
Perhaps the most well known example is found in the Bible where the Hebrew Joseph who was purchased as a slave and went from house servant to pharaoh's court official married Asenat daughter of the high priest of Heliopolis.
So what of foreign kings marrying Egyptian princesses? Strangely, I have not heard of any historical evidence of this outside of the Bible (Hagar to Abraham and an unnamed daughter of pharaoh to Solomon). Note Funny letter from Enlil I king of Babylon To Amenhotep III and Tut's widow Ankhesenamun's letter to the Hittite prince who was later assassinated!
-------------------- Mahirap gisingin ang nagtutulog-tulugan. Posts: 26295 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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