Female Ancient Egyptian People

Women could not have important positions in administration though there were women rulers and even women pharaohs.

Female ancient egyptian people. The first female physician in egyptian history as noted above is merit ptah beloved of ptah who lived c. Chief wife of pharaoh amenhotep iv who took the name akhenaten nefertiti is portrayed in egyptian art and may have ruled after her husband s death. The famous bust of nefertiti is sometimes considered a classic representation of female beauty. Roles of women in ancient egypt on the other hand even taking into account that the women of higher classes cannot be compared with those of the inferior ones the education of the woman was almost null.

An ancient egyptian woman was legally capax competent capable. 2900 bce definitely ruled as regent and possibly on her own. In short an ancient egyptian woman enjoyed greater social standing than many women of other societies both ancient and modern. Women at the royal court gained their positions by relationship to male kings.

However ancient egypt was a society dominated by men and was patriarchal in nature. Even their gods and goddesses were always getting up to filthy stuff. She was not the only woman of note from this time as the queen merneith c. In contrast an ancient greek woman was supervised by a kyrios male guardian and many greek women who lived in egypt during the ptolemaic period observing egyptian women acting without kyrioi were encouraged to do so themselves.

Indeed with the exception of adultery which was a serious no no ancient egyptians seem to have been totally cool with women doing whatever. The rulers of ancient egypt the pharaohs were almost all men. During the old middle and new kingdom ancient egyptian women mostly wore a simple sheath dress called a kalasiris. But that was totally wrong.

They had equal rights to men with regards to the property and in court cases but the average woman s focus was on a traditional role as wife and mother. Women in ancient egypt had some special rights other women did not have in other comparable societies. Some education could be given in the royal family but even among rich families women were illiterate. In this article i will review the role that women played in ancient egyptian civilization.

Women s clothing in ancient egypt was more conservative than men s clothing. The dresses were held up by one or two straps and were worn down to the ankle while the upper edge could be worn above or below the breasts. 2700 bce toward the end of the early dynastic period. Woman ruler of macedonia medallion depicting olympias queen of macedon.

Women in ancient egypt played an important role in many aspects of daily life and religion. Unlike previous rulers of egypt she and her husband worshiped just one god aten the sun god. But a handful of women also held sway over egypt including cleopatra vii and nefertiti who are still remembered today. According to ancient egyptian sexuality people back then weren t hung up on sex.

And they created the cult of aten. Prudish male victorian researchers though ancient egypt had prostitutes because obviously any women who were having sex out of wedlock must ve been working girls. Women at the upper echelons of society could reach the same level as men sometimes ruling the country and playing a prominent role in religious cults.