Wife and Mother
The ideal women in Medina was a married woman, she was expected to be an obedient, looked after the children and fulfilled all her duties as a skilful weaver, brewer of beer and cook.
A mother would often manage a household of up to 15 or more people: a husband and wife, widowed mother in law, unmarried sisters, and servants and up to 10 children.
The social stigma that was around at the time was the better the wife was the more the husband was encouraged to treat her fairly.
‘The ideal woman was an attractive and efficient homemaker who always supported and pleased her husband, as a mother she was patient and careful’ (Deir el Medina and Pompeii, M.Demovic and M.Hayse)
The most ideal thing a woman could do in Median society was to be a mother, the more children the more respect she was given.
A grateful child was told this: The instructions of Ani to: “double the food your mother gave you, support her as she supported you, she had a heavy load in you, but she did not abandon you… her breast was in your mouth for three years. As you grew your excrement disgusted…she was not disgusted. She kept watch over you daily in her house”
This quote supports the attitude that Median people had toward mothers and wives; they were respected in their society.
*Fig 7.2* women were the focus point in a lot of artworks in Median society, this picture depicts a leafy outdoor shelter
The walls of some homes were decorated with paintings of a mother nursing her child. See *Fig 7.3*
A mother would often manage a household of up to 15 or more people: a husband and wife, widowed mother in law, unmarried sisters, and servants and up to 10 children.
The social stigma that was around at the time was the better the wife was the more the husband was encouraged to treat her fairly.
‘The ideal woman was an attractive and efficient homemaker who always supported and pleased her husband, as a mother she was patient and careful’ (Deir el Medina and Pompeii, M.Demovic and M.Hayse)
The most ideal thing a woman could do in Median society was to be a mother, the more children the more respect she was given.
A grateful child was told this: The instructions of Ani to: “double the food your mother gave you, support her as she supported you, she had a heavy load in you, but she did not abandon you… her breast was in your mouth for three years. As you grew your excrement disgusted…she was not disgusted. She kept watch over you daily in her house”
This quote supports the attitude that Median people had toward mothers and wives; they were respected in their society.
*Fig 7.2* women were the focus point in a lot of artworks in Median society, this picture depicts a leafy outdoor shelter
The walls of some homes were decorated with paintings of a mother nursing her child. See *Fig 7.3*
Rights
In this ancient society women could own private property, as they were seen as equals in the eyes of the law, differing to Ancient Egyptian laws from Egypt herself.
In the cause of death of their husband, the wives inherited one third of their husband’s property and the rest was for the children, women were given the choice to leave their property to whoever they pleased
Business activities made women important in the eyes of ‘Nehet-en-Niwt (‘citizeness’) during the time that she was involved in business and legal matters.
In the cause of death of their husband, the wives inherited one third of their husband’s property and the rest was for the children, women were given the choice to leave their property to whoever they pleased
Business activities made women important in the eyes of ‘Nehet-en-Niwt (‘citizeness’) during the time that she was involved in business and legal matters.
Work outside the House
Women in the Deir-El Medinian society had an important role of work outside the house, covering all the duties for the village while the men were at work during their work cycle. They gathered and collected food and vegetables from the crops and from the fisherman at the Nile, ready to prepare food for themselves or for the return of their husbands and children.
During festivals, they were given the role of preparing the men's bonuses and the festival drink; beer. Women also took part in religious life as priestesses, singing and dancing for the Gods at festivals.
Considered servants to the guardians of the tombs, although considered just as equal, playing an important role of duty outside the house.
During festivals, they were given the role of preparing the men's bonuses and the festival drink; beer. Women also took part in religious life as priestesses, singing and dancing for the Gods at festivals.
Considered servants to the guardians of the tombs, although considered just as equal, playing an important role of duty outside the house.
Equality
Women and men were seen equal in the eyes of the law, they were able to own private property, inherit, make legal contracts and be punished equally with men.
Naunakhte: the widow of a scribe, inherited money from her father and husband, she was able to look after herself by disinheriting 4 of her 8 children that treated her badly.
Few women however could own their own tomb, they would often share one with their husband or close male relative.
Women also took part in religious life as priestesses, singing and dancing for the Gods.
Naunakhte: the widow of a scribe, inherited money from her father and husband, she was able to look after herself by disinheriting 4 of her 8 children that treated her badly.
Few women however could own their own tomb, they would often share one with their husband or close male relative.
Women also took part in religious life as priestesses, singing and dancing for the Gods.
The Unmarried Woman and the Stranger
Unmarried women and lower class workers were seen very differently to what married women were seen, they were usually seen as nude dancers, musicians and acrobats.
A tattoo on the women’s thigh of Bes, dwarf god of female sexuality and fertility, some scholars believe the tattoo was to depict that the woman was a prostitute *fig 8.1*
These depictions of women can tell us more about the ideal woman in the eyes of the man during that time, as these artworks were meant to be sexually appealing to men.
Source 8.1 ‘Beware of a women who is a stranger, one not known in her own town. Do not stare at her when she goes by, do not sleep with her [She is] deep water whose direction is unknown, such is a women away from her husband, ‘I am pretty she tells daily’, when she has no witness; She is ready to trap you, a great deadly crime...
Extract: Every society tries to define the natural and role of its women. The Egyptians were no different. The wife and mother was the ideal. The single woman was seen as an object of male pleasure, while the stranger was feared. Egyptian Women had a much richer and more varied life then the ideal suggests.
A tattoo on the women’s thigh of Bes, dwarf god of female sexuality and fertility, some scholars believe the tattoo was to depict that the woman was a prostitute *fig 8.1*
These depictions of women can tell us more about the ideal woman in the eyes of the man during that time, as these artworks were meant to be sexually appealing to men.
Source 8.1 ‘Beware of a women who is a stranger, one not known in her own town. Do not stare at her when she goes by, do not sleep with her [She is] deep water whose direction is unknown, such is a women away from her husband, ‘I am pretty she tells daily’, when she has no witness; She is ready to trap you, a great deadly crime...
Extract: Every society tries to define the natural and role of its women. The Egyptians were no different. The wife and mother was the ideal. The single woman was seen as an object of male pleasure, while the stranger was feared. Egyptian Women had a much richer and more varied life then the ideal suggests.
Images of Women in the Written and Archaeological Record
A common feature throughout many of the tombs was the imagery of an ideal woman through the men’s eyes.
*Fig 7.3* example of how women are depicted behind men and the woman was smaller in size to symbolise her supporting role in the daily life, theses mirrored the ideal women
Women were portrayed as sexually appealing in the artworks however this was only what the ideal woman was seen to be not necessarily what the women looked like.
John Romer Archaeological Investigation (Women in Median Society)-
Women in ancient Median Society were known or recognised as either:
1. Mistress of the Household- worked in the house taking care of the family and all their duties, they were looked up to and respected women who were married taking care of household of up to 15 people
2. Citizeness- these were usually unmarried women who went out into the village to work in various jobs, they were depicted in many artworks as slender and sexually appealing.
Marriages in Median society usually lasted around 5 to 7 years, what was discovered about the nature of the relationship that it was deeply sexual and the love that both male and female expressed for each other was on par with each other, this was understood through the love poetry of the time as both women and men expressed their love through poems showing deep love through both parties.
It was found that village women showed high status through the medical records that recorded on papyri as Egyptian doctors had paid a lot of attention to curing female disorders such as birth pain.
Village women gave birth to their babies with little privacy, as Birth in Egyptian translates to ‘on the bricks’ she delivered the baby by squatting over two columns of bricks.
Statues of the Gods of women and fertility were placed around the place where the woman was to have birth, the alter was also full of plant life to symbolise fertility
Archaeologist: Ernesto Schiaparelli- Tomb of Kha
In the season of 1906 Ernesto Schiaparelli and his 250 workers had been working for four weeks at the site of Deir el-Medina with little results to show for their relentless shift work until they came across a tomb. Kha's tomb's burial chambers had not been previously discovered because it had not been located beneath the tomb chapel as is usual, but rather within the hill opposite. The tomb and its contents reflected the owners' personal wealth, their particular position within the society and their life history. It suggests a picture of a prosperous, 18th dynasty home, packed away in preparation for re-use in the afterlife. He was buried with his wife Meryt what this reveals about women was their place in median society. This tomb depicts through artefacts and drawings the impotence of women, due to the fact that if women weren’t importance they would not be talked about in tombs and in artworks.
*Fig 7.3* example of how women are depicted behind men and the woman was smaller in size to symbolise her supporting role in the daily life, theses mirrored the ideal women
Women were portrayed as sexually appealing in the artworks however this was only what the ideal woman was seen to be not necessarily what the women looked like.
John Romer Archaeological Investigation (Women in Median Society)-
Women in ancient Median Society were known or recognised as either:
1. Mistress of the Household- worked in the house taking care of the family and all their duties, they were looked up to and respected women who were married taking care of household of up to 15 people
2. Citizeness- these were usually unmarried women who went out into the village to work in various jobs, they were depicted in many artworks as slender and sexually appealing.
Marriages in Median society usually lasted around 5 to 7 years, what was discovered about the nature of the relationship that it was deeply sexual and the love that both male and female expressed for each other was on par with each other, this was understood through the love poetry of the time as both women and men expressed their love through poems showing deep love through both parties.
It was found that village women showed high status through the medical records that recorded on papyri as Egyptian doctors had paid a lot of attention to curing female disorders such as birth pain.
Village women gave birth to their babies with little privacy, as Birth in Egyptian translates to ‘on the bricks’ she delivered the baby by squatting over two columns of bricks.
Statues of the Gods of women and fertility were placed around the place where the woman was to have birth, the alter was also full of plant life to symbolise fertility
Archaeologist: Ernesto Schiaparelli- Tomb of Kha
In the season of 1906 Ernesto Schiaparelli and his 250 workers had been working for four weeks at the site of Deir el-Medina with little results to show for their relentless shift work until they came across a tomb. Kha's tomb's burial chambers had not been previously discovered because it had not been located beneath the tomb chapel as is usual, but rather within the hill opposite. The tomb and its contents reflected the owners' personal wealth, their particular position within the society and their life history. It suggests a picture of a prosperous, 18th dynasty home, packed away in preparation for re-use in the afterlife. He was buried with his wife Meryt what this reveals about women was their place in median society. This tomb depicts through artefacts and drawings the impotence of women, due to the fact that if women weren’t importance they would not be talked about in tombs and in artworks.