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The Family
The Egyptian family was a small, independent unit
consisting of father, mother, and children, although it was
sometimes extended to include unmarried or widowed female relatives.
The financial position of women and children was protected by law,
and even after marriage women retained ownership of their own
property. If a woman’s husband divorced her, she kept her own
property and he had to pay her compensation. Bigamy and polygamy
were rare among commoners, and consanguineous marriages outside the
royal family were very infrequent before the Greco-Roman Period.
Marriage Great consideration was given to women. The wisdom texts instructed husbands to love, feed, clothe, and seek to please their wives. Being a wife was regarded as a woman’s main role in society, and a man was advised to marry as soon as he acquired property and when he had reached the age of twenty so that he could have children while he was still young. Outside the royal family it was not customary to have arranged marriages, although parents obviously hoped their children would make suitable alliances, and it was the duty of the older people to introduce young girls to reputable bachelors. At the betrothal there would have been an exchange of gifts, but there is no record of wedding rites or religious celebrations; probably, as in Islam, marriage was primarily a legal ceremony. When he took a wife a man became head of his household, and his wife became “mistress of the house.” They had equal legal rights and joint ownership of property within the marriage; after death, the wife could expect the same eternal life as her husband and an equal share in his tomb. When the couple died, their property was divided between their children in their will. There was no family name as such, but each individual had a personal name to which his or her father’s name was added in any official documentation (X son of Y). In the funerary texts the name of one or both parents was given (X son of Y, born to the mistress of the house Z). . Household Arrangements Legal documents provide insight into family units. At the pyramid town of Kahun archaeologists found some of the earliest known examples of particular types of documents. There are deeds that record the transfer of property from one person to another and include some types of will and marriage settlement. There seems to have been quite a degree of flexibility in these arrangements. For example, one man (an architect) left all his property and his Asiatic slaves to his brother, while the latter in turn transferred all this property to his wife, who could pass it on to any of their children. Official lists of individual households also survive from Kahun, and these give the names of the family members, their serfs (servants), and slaves. It is interesting to observe that the names of female slaves and their children are included, but not male slaves, probably because they worked (and were listed) elsewhere at the building sites or as soldiers or clerks. One list included the head of a household, his wife, a grandmother, and three of his father’s sisters, while another indicates that households were combined when the male head of one household died, thus demonstrating how guardianship and accommodation of unmarried female relatives was achieved. . Children and Pregnancy The Egyptians appear to have been devoted to their families and to have loved their children. Scarcity of cultivatable land, however, probably prompted them to consider contraceptive measures to limit the size of their families. Again, from Kahun, there is a famous medical papyrus containing gynecological prescriptions and various tests to ascertain sterility, pregnancy, and the sex of unborn children, as well as prescriptions concerned with fertility and contraception. Similar examples occur in other medical papyri. Barrenness was considered a great personal tragedy for a couple, and if a wife could not bear children a female slave was sometimes brought to the household. If she then produced children they could be given full legal rights of inheritance when the father died. Pregnancy and childbirth were surrounded by great physical dangers, and many women died in childbirth or shortly afterward, while infants frequently did not survive the first few months of life. . Eldest Son When a man died, his eldest son inherited the obligation to bury his father with the correct rites and also perhaps to place his statue in the local temple so that he could continue to receive benefit and spiritual sustenance from the rituals performed there. The family was also expected to continue to place food offerings at the tomb in perpetuity, although this duty was frequently delegated to a special priest (ka servant). In return for a continuing income from the deceased’s estate, this man and his descendants were expected to perform the rites forevermore, although in reality this was often neglected. . Slaves It is clear from extant legal documents that “slaves” were part of some households, but the definition of a slave in the Egyptian context differs from that of the modern world. No one in Egypt was completely devoid of legal rights, although some people were legally owned by others who could sell them, hand them over to a third party, or rent them out, as well as officially emancipate them. The king, the temples, and private individuals were in charge of substantial numbers of slaves who labored on building sites, in the workshops, and in the fields, as well as in private households. These included various categories such as Egyptian peasants, convicted criminals, and, in later times, prisoners of war brought back from foreign campaigns. However, it would be wrong to conclude that these tied workers played a crucial role in the organization of the country. The pyramids of the Old Kingdom, for example, would have been constructed entirely by local serf labor. In fact, there were no true slaves in ancient Egypt, since these individuals could own property and dispose of it as they wished. They could also own land and pass it to their children; the men could marry free women; and if they reached a certain level of prosperity they could employ their own servants. Nevertheless, although some achieved a good standard of living, their freedom of movement was always restricted. .
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The Family
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