Anth.446 Ppt. lecture-13: Everyday life in Ancient Egypt (by G. Mumford; 2014 Anth.446/646)

ANTH. 446 / 646:

Explorers / Mummies / Hieroglyphs:A thematic coverage of Ancient Egypt

Notes & images compiled by Gregory Mumford (2014)

Lect.-13: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt.

Egyptian Daily Life:

New Kingdom: Dynasties 18-20

Ca.1550 – 1069 BCE

Life cycle and education:• Pregnancy and birth

• Formal education

• Marriage

• Old Age

• Death & conception of the afterlife

New Kingdom Life-cycle:

1. Conception to birth

Conception (myths to reality):

• Egy. myths & stories portray varied

and odd notions regarding conception:

- E.g., NK Story of the Two Brothers:

Protagonist Bata = transformed into tree.

Tree = cut down at command of ex-wife,

Splinter enters her mouth during cutting,

She becomes pregnant & conceives a son

• More realistic concepts/descriptions:

- E.g., NK tale Truth and Falsehood:

Noblewoman spots a blind handsome

transient and pursues him:

“He slept with her that night, and knew

her with the knowledge of a man,

and she conceived a son that night.”

- E.g., NK Tale of the Doomed Prince:

King lacking a son begs the gods for one

“That night he slept with his wife, and

she [became] pregnant. When she had

completed the months of childbearing,

a son was born.”

Conception:

Conception and pregnancy:

Birth control, abortions, care, etc.:

• Egy. medical papyri are more realistic

in giving advice on encouraging

conception in cases of difficulties:

- Different methods suggested …

• Medical (and magical) texts also detail

various methods for:

a. Birth control

b. Abortions

c. Prevention of miscarriage

d. Detecting pregnancy (including some

sound techniques:

E.g., Taking pulse, observing skin and

eye colour, monitoring vomiting.

Birth control, abortion, care, etc.

Middle Kingdom

Kahun/Lahun

Medical texts:

Gynaecological papyrus

Pregnancy and birth:

Detecting pregnancy:

•More bizarre magical approaches to

detecting pregnancy and the gender of

an unborn child:

- “You shall put wheat and barley into

purses of cloth.

The woman shall pass water on it, every

day.

If both sprout, she will bear.

If the wheat sprouts, she will bear a boy.

If the barley sprouts, she will bear a girl.

If neither sprouts, she will not bear at all.”

• Another Egy. magical text prescribes:

“A crushed plant is mixed with milk of a

woman who has given birth to a boy.

If another woman drinks it and vomits,

she will give birth;

if she emits wind, she will never give

birth.”

Detecting pregnancy


Pregnancy aids:

• Pregnant women applied oil to prevent

stretch marks, with more affluent noble-

women using perfumed oils.

- Dynasty 18 special containers used for

such oil (for pregnant women).

E.g., Anthropomorphic pregnant figure

forming a container: pottery, calcite, etc.

= affiliated with pregnant hippopotamus

deity, Taweret (Thoeris), a protector of

women during pregnancy.

The vessel’s material, calcite, is also

believed to have additional beneficial

magical properties.

Pregnancy aids


Delivery of non-royal children:

• Childbirth occurs in a special area,

either “the confinement pavilion,”

or a special room in a house (e.g., DEM)

• The birthing pavilion is erected prior to

childbirth (and is used for two weeks).

Physical, pictorial, & written evidence:

• NK paintings portray the pavilion on

room walls in houses in the workmen’s

villages at Deir el-Medineh & el-Amarna.

• NK ostraca from Deir el-Medina also

portray such pavilions & pregnant and

nursing women within them.

- E.g., Pavillion (in garden/on roof?):

Vertical papyrus stalks creating supports

with screens of grapevine or convolvulus

tendrils.

Roof = reed matting.

Birthing non-royal children


Delivery of ROYAL children:

Royal birthing pavilion:

•Royalty are also shown using a similar

pavilion:

- E.g., Late Dyn.18 tomb of Akhenaten:

Princess Meketaten dies in childbirth &

a mourning scene is depicted beside such

a pavilion (body on an adjacent bier).

- The child survived, being held by a

nurse (accompanied by royal fan-bearers)

Birthing ROYAL children


Birthing-box for non-royal children:

Birthing box/room:

• Other less affluent people use a special

room, such as the “birthing-box” at

Deir el-Medineh, or a particular room

decorated with childbirth/nursing scenes:

• Deities protecting women during

childbirth:

a. Male dwarf-deity Bes:

affiliated with fertility & sexuality

b. Female hippopotamus deity, Taweret:

Protector of pregnant women

“She who removes the (birth) waters”

Birthing-box for non-royal children



Birthing box/room furniture:

• A bed with a mattress

a headrest

a mat & cushion

• A palm-stump stool

• Toiletries: mirror depicted

Other associated items (not depicted):

• Apotropaeic wands

• Confinement stool (wide opening in seat)

Birthing bricks in other/poorer? contexts:

• Birthing bricks (on which females

squatted during birthing process).

• One set of birthing bricks bear a hymn

to Meskhenet, who personified the

confinement chair.

Non-royal birthing-box furniture



Birthing process:

• There is little evidence for professional

“midwives” (see the Tales of Wonder).

• Older female relatives appear to aid in

birthing:

E.g., One placed behind and another one

kneeling before the woman during

childbirth.

• Some suggest that midwifery may have

been believed = an “impure” profession.

• There is some evidence for travelling

dancing girls associated with birth

ceremonies.

• Deir el-Medineh texts mention “wise

women” (who practice divination)

• The husband appears absent from the

birthing process (but box = in front room)

Non-royal “mid-wives”



Birthing process:

• Mothers depicted virtually naked with a

collar & girdle

• Their hair specifically stands out from the

head with a cone tied with cord.

(Suggested hair = bound loosened in

sympathetic magic hastening birth proc.).

• Has female assistants with similar garb &

hairstyles: aiding with toilet & feeding.

Figurines:

• Some “concubine” bed-figurines have

similar hairstyles, but most have full wigs

• Fertility figurines portraying

a. Female lying on a bed

b. Female and infant lying on a bed

• Also featured in burials, perhaps carrying

concept of fertility into afterlife.

Non-royal “mid-wives”


Protective rites during childbirth:

Childbirth spells:

• Magical rites occur during childbirth,

which is considered a dangerous time:

i.e., High infant mortality rate, etc.

• E.g., Childbirth spell for recitation:

Dwarf-deity Bes is sent by sun-god Re:

“Come down, placenta, come down,

come down! I am Horus who conjures

in order that she who is giving birth

becomes better than she was, as if she

was already delivered …

Look, Hathor will lay her hand on her

with an amulet of health!

I am Horus who saves her!”

• The instructions specify reciting the spell

four times over a Bes amulet placed on

the brow of a woman experiencing

difficult child labour.

Protective spells for children


Protective rites during childbirth:

(Pre-NK) childbirth magical aids:

• The “apotropaeic” wand, sometimes &

erroneously called a “magical knife”,

is made of calcite, faience, “ebony”, etc.

• 150+ examples from Dynasties 11-17.

NK childbirth magical aids:

• A house from el-Amarna has produced

items associated with childbirth and

fertility, placed in a cupboard under the

stairs:

a. Limestone stela showing a girl and an

adult woman worshipping Taweret.

b. A naked female figurine with hairstyle

comparable to birthing-box hairstyles

and large breasts.

c. Two painted pottery bed-figurines.

Protective magic for children


“Midwife” activities during childbirth:

(MK-SIP) references to “midwifery”:

• Papyrus Westcar: “Tales of Wonder”

(or: ‘King Cheops & the magicians’).

• Details visit of 4 deities, Isis, Nephthys,

Meskhenet, & Khnum, disguised as

travelling musicians, to a priest’s wife,

who is having difficult labour (triplets):

• Khnum carries a birthing stool.

Upon meeting the husband and talking to

Him, they mention their experience in

Childbirth and are permitted to enter:

“And they entered into the presence of

Reddedet. Then they locked the room on

her and on themselves.

Isis placed herself in front of her,

Nephthys behind her,

and Hekert hastened the childbirth.”

“Midwife” activity in childbirth:




• Isis then said: ‘Do not be strong in her

womb in this your name of Wosref.’

This child slipped forth upon her hands

as a child one cubit long, …

They washed him, his umbilical cord was

cut, and he was placed upon a cushion

on bricks.

Then Meskhenet approached him, and

she said: ‘A king who will exercise the

kingship in this entire land!’

Khnum caused his limbs to move.”

(two more royal births follow same seq.)

“Now these goddesses came forth after

they had delivered this Reddedet of the

three children, and they said: ‘May you be

pleased, Rewosre, for there have been

born to you three children.’”





• “And he said to them: ‘My ladies,

what can I do for you? Please give this

corn (i.e., grain) to your birthing-stool

bearer,

and take it as a payment for making beer.’

And Khnum placed the sack on his back.”

...............

“Reddedet cleansed herself in a

purification of fourteen days, and she said

to her maidservant: ‘Is the house

prepared?’

She replied: ‘It is outfitted with

everything except for jars (for beer-

making) for they have not been brought.’

• Text alludes to general birthing practices,

despite its relating supernatural events.



End of birthing confinement:

Birth celebrations:

• It appears that birthing confinement

lasts about two weeks (14 days)

with a feast and celebration carried out

at its termination.

• The mother is dressed and prepared by

her assistants for re-entering life.

• Presumably friends and relatives would

attend the celebration, which would

likely be designed according to means:

Royal birth celebrations:

• The Tale of Wonders (Papyrus Westcar)

also refers to singing, music, dancing,

and exultations, that would be for the

birth of a king.

Childbirth celebrations:


2. Infancy to

prepubescent childhood

y

Naming:

Naming infants in private homes:

- A child apparently receives its name at

birth.

- The mother normally provides the name:

E.g., NK hymn: “… his mother who

made his name.”

Naming and name-types vary:

a. No immediate connection:

- Amenhotep “Amun has proven to be

gracious”

b. Implied connections:

- Wersu “Big/Great is he”

perhaps referring to a (helpful?) deity.

c. Named after physical attributes:

- Pakamen “The Blind One”

d. Occupations (of father?/etc.):

- Pakapu “The Birdcatcher”

Naming the newly born:

y

Naming:


e. Foreign derivation (via parentage):

- Pakharu “The Syrian”

- Panehsy “The Nubian”

(Old Testament Pinehas [I Samuel 1:3])

f. Inheriting names of parents & grand-

parents:

- Panehsy may simply indicate someone

whose father, grandfather, or more distant

ancestor, had been a “Nubian.”

(E.g., Few people with name “Smith” are

actually [black]-Smiths today).

g. Words/names uttered at birth:

- Thutmose / Dhutimose “Thoth lives”

- Mersure “May Re love him”

- Aneksi “She belongs to me” (= mother)

h. Honorary names (deceased husband):

- Yotesankh “Her father lives”


y

Naming:


i. Naming by on-lookers:

- Senetenpu “It is our sister”

j. Adopted/altered name (rare):

- Gem-ni-hi-amnte

“I found her on the West Bank”

(i.e., a purchased young Syrian slave-girl,

whose original name was prob. changed).

k. Naming after the birth-date:

- Mutemwia “Mut is in the bark”

(i.e., birthed during procession of deity)


Birthdays:

Possible acknowledgement of birthdays:

Dynasty 21 Late Period onwards:

• Egyptians appear to know their actual

birth dates:

- E.g., Dyn.21 stela records age at death,

to the day, of a man and his daughter.

New Kingdom possible birthdays(?):

- An artisan misses a workday on the

day of “his feast” (perhaps an allusion to

his birthday? celebration)

- Other references to “his feast of [deity]”

or ‘his feast of his daughter” suggest

another event than a birthday.

Acknowledgement of birthdays?:

Raising young children:

Raising infants in private homes:

Mothers normally breast-fed infants:

- The Instruction of Any alludes to a long

period of breast-feeding:

“When you were born after your months,

(your mother) was still yoked to you,

her breast was in your mouth for 3 years.”

A New Kingdom text mentions a mother

who “… is constantly nursing her son,

and her breast is in his mouth every day.”

Wet-nurses:

- These women are more frequently seen

in elite households, but are also known

in the village at Deir el-Medineh in the

late Ramesside period.

- One wet-nurse is paid 30½ deben-worth:

3 necklaces of jasper, an ivory comb, a

pair of sandals, 1 basket, 1 block of wood,

and a half-litre of fat. (1 deben =90 g. Cu)

Breast-feeding infants:



Wet-nurses:

- Highly respected in elite families

- Some are depicted on stelae alongside the

daughters of an elite couple, at the same

scale as the daughters (i.e., equal rank),

but are placed at the end of the row.

- E.g., Mayor Paheri of el-Kab portrays

three wet-nurses alongside his three

daughters: i.e., one per daughter.

Nanny:

- A nanny (“attendant:; “servant”) is also

a related special female post, but not as

prestigious:

E.g., NK Story of the Two Brothers.

The queen’s son is provided with a

wet-nurse and nannies.

Hired wet-nurses (and nannies):



Wet-nurses:

- Selected through their ability to feed

more than one child: i.e., their own child

(or children) and the child/children of

their patron(s).

- Prescriptions for enhancing milk flow:

E.g., Rubbing back with oil in which a

fish was cooked.

- Advice for discerning good & bad milk:

Bad milk stinks like fish; good milk

smells like crushed aromatic plants.

- Prescriptions for infant’s healthy sleep:

Crushing papyrus plant tips and mixing

into milk of a mother who has had a son.

The latter ingredient is considered

especially potent in many medications.

Hired wet-nurses:


Raising infants in royal homes:

Wet-nurses:

- Teye, a wet-nurse of Nefertiti, aided the

rise of her husband’s career through her

close ties to the royal children.

- Her husband, Ay, became a Commander

of the Chariotry, and rose in rank steadily

under Kings Akhenaten, Smenkhkare, &

Tutankhamun, and even ascended the

throne when Tutankhamun had no heirs.

Male “nurses”:

- Of note, male nurses/tutors also adopt

the same (female) title “wet-nurse,”

retaining the hieroglyphic determinative

that symbolizes a woman suckling a baby

ROYAL wet-nurses:



Breast milk containers:

- Dynasties 18-19 had yielded over a dozen

female-shaped, ceramic containers, with

black-painted details and 11-17 cm high.

- The containers hold about a 1/10th litre,

equivalent to a single breast-feeding.

- Most of the milk containers show a

female holding a child (not suckling),

which is sitting or lying on the woman’s

lap, or is carried on her back.

- The female is portrayed squatting, as in

the hieroglyph for breast-feeding.

- Her neck has a rising moon amulet, for

promoting greater milk supply.

- Babies are normally nursed on laps.

Toddlers nursed standing up (normally

goddesses depicted suckling the king).

Breast milk containers:



Young infants:

- Most depictions show Egyptian women

carrying infants on an arm, hip, or in a

sling at the front.

- Infants are rarely portrayed being carried

on the backs of Egyptian women (they

usually use a sling in such cases).

- Carrying children on one’s back is more

frequently shown for foreign women:

Nubians, Libyans, and Syrians.

Caring for infants:



Dangers to young infants:

- Infant mortality was high in pharaonic

Egypt: many infections, illnesses, etc.

- Deir el-Medineh contains over 100 child

burials on its western slope: Qurnet Murai

- These children were placed in:

a. Storage jars

b. Baskets

c. Boxes

d. Coffins

- Stillborn infants received poorer burials,

having only 1-2 small vessels with food.

- Instruction of Any: “Do not say:

‘I am too young to be taken away’,

for you do not know your death.

When death comes he steals the infant

from the arms of his mother,

just like him who has reached old age.”

Potential dangers to infants:


Raising children in private homes:

Protecting young infants and children:

- The Egyptians applied various amulets to

protect children from potential dangers:

- Many different types occur, and it is

uncertain which specific types were

favoured for newly-borns:

E.g., The Eye-of-Horus is a probable apt

guardian amulet, protecting its bearer

from the “evil eye”

- In the New Kingdom, but especially in

the 3IP-Late Period, protective spells =

written on papyrus and folded tightly,

tied, and placed in a small cylindrical

container around child’s neck:

E.g., wood and metal (including gold).

- Preserved examples were still tied, not

being viewed by the bearer.

Protecting infants/children




- NK protective spell from Deir el-Medineh

against catching a cold:

- The spell is said to be decreed by a deity

(here Osiris, who spoke to his vizier: Geb)

Spell:

“Erect your mast, unfold the sail, depart

for the Iaru-fields! (idealized afterlife here)

Take with you the male and female

possessor, the male and female dead,

who are before the face of Anynakhte,

Son of Ubekht (the boy’s mother),

together with the fever and the cold

and all bad and evil things,

when they have come to him for 3 days.”

- Later texts list many harms and miseries

that they promise to prevent.

= Oracular amuletic decrees on papyrus.





East Berlin Papyrus with spells:

- “Spell for a knot for a baby:

‘Are you warm in the nest?

Are you hot in the bush?

Is your mother with you?

Is there no sister to fan you?

Is there no nurse to afford protection?”

Let there be brought to me pellets of gold,

balls of garnet, a seal with a crocodile-

(figure) and a hand to slay and to dispel

the ‘Sweet One’ (= female demon),

to warm the body and to slay his male or

female enemy of the West (netherworld).

You will break out! This is a protection”

The spell is to be recited over the various

items mentioned. It is then “to be made into

an amulet and put to the throat of the child”





- Other magic/spell promises include

a. Ensuring safe delivery of infant

b. Protecting against children’s diseases

(i.e., = conceived as demons):

E.g., Male or female demons are stated to

sneak into houses with their faces averted

to minimize recognition:

The spell asks a series of questions,

anticipating various actions by the demons,

and protects against such actions in the

answers:

The written spell is accompanied by

various protective ingredients:

Clover, garlic, honey, a fish-tail, a cow’s

jawbone, and the back portion of a Nile

perch.




Dressing & grooming infants/children:

- Pictorial sources and 3-dimensional

representations form the main source, but

are unreliable owing to circumstances of

a. Status overriding age: e.g., an elite in

different stages in life.

b. Conservative conventions and general

stereotypes maintained in temples and

tombs.

- Physical remains of clothing provide a

minimal check against the art.

New Kingdom:

- Children are depicted as both clothed and

nude in NK art (vs. earlier conventions of

showing pre-pubescent children naked).

- Infants/babies are always portrayed nude

(in depictions & statuary), while some

scholars suggest existence of swaddling.

Clothing infants/children




- Tomb wall and stelae depictions from

Deir el-Medineh tend to portray children

in an unclothed state.

- In a scene of Anherkhew the Younger’s

children, the boy lacks any clothing, etc.,

while the daughters are naked, but sport

different age-specific hair-styles and

jewellery: earrings, collars, bracelets,

armlets, and anklets.

- In other NK scenes, daughters of the same

age group may be clothed or naked, even

in the same scene:

E.g., Tomb of Sennedjem (TT.1)

Some wear festival clothing: pleated robe

Hence, it appears in NK DEM nudity

was acceptable until reaching puberty,

with boys being more frequently naked.





- The New Kingdom cemetery at Gurob

has yielded a pair of linen sleeves from a

child’s garment (Tomb 25).

- Despite their mostly unworn appearance,

the sleeves were not made as a funerary

offering, but had been removed from a

tunic (remnants of stitching at the top).

- Another set of children’s sleeves in the

Manchester Museum contains part of the

main garment.

- Sleeves are listed separately in laundry

lists from DEM and were attached during

colder winter months.

- el-Amarna has yielded children’s clothes

from the workmen’s village: small neck-

holes (1980s excavations).



Raising children in royal homes:


- The Amarna princesses are often shown

naked in pictorial and 3-dimensional

portrayals, or have diaphanous gowns.

- The differences in hairstyles reveals age-

differences between the princesses:

i.e., Hair-lengths and style.

- It is likely that the princesses in reality

wore garments of various types, especially

in cold winter weather in Egypt.

- Although Egyptians did not appear to

find nudity shameful, Amarna art tends to

portray more nudity in the royal family

than conventional pharaonic royal art.

- However, the apparent pseudo-nudity in

the diaphanous garments is probably an

exaggeration of the fineness of the linen.

Clothing ROYAL infants/children



Dressing & grooming royal children:

- Of note, Tutankhamun’s tomb has yielded

a robe made for him as an infant, complete

with a shawl and scarf.

- A hieratic docket on the robe dated it to

year 7 of Akhenaten, which equates to the

general birth year of Tutankhamun.

- It may represent a formal presentation

robe, like a modern “christening robe”

- It reveals signs of wear/usage.

- The unusual and high status form of this

garment is underscored by the estimated

3000-hours (9 months) to produce it.

- It is an adult-sized “bag-tunic” of 1.64 by

1 m, but the neckhole fits only a newborn.

- Very fine workmanship along the hem.




Dressing & grooming royal children:

- Tutankhamun’s collection of clothing

from his tomb included about 50 items of

children’s clothing, plus other items from

later in his reign (i.e., teenage years).




Pharaonic hairstyles for children:

- Most Egyptian children in the pharaonic

period are shown with a braided plait on

the right side of the head, with the

remaining hair either kept short or shaved

clean.

- The plait is shown normally curled at its

bottom end.

- The mummified remains of several boys

confirm that such side locks were indeed

worn (i.e., not an artistic convention).

New Kingdom hairstyles:

- A NK fashion modifies this to display a

wide growth of hair on the right, as a

variant of the smaller right side-lock

(which still continued in the NK).

Hairstyles for children



New Kingdom hairstyles (cont.’):

- In Anherkhew’s tomb painting, he shows

his male and female children with a

similar hairstyle:

a. A single curled side-lock for the son

and two youngest daughters

b. Two curled small side-locks for the

two older daughters.

- A Dynasty 19 tomb of Pashed (TT.3)

shows an odd hairstyle with three tufts of

hair on the side and top of a young

grand-daughter’s head.

- This hairstyle, which is unusual for

Egyptians, is more common for Nubian

children: i.e., cross-cultural borrowings.

- The side-lock may be worn until puberty,

with hair length being another indicator.

Hairstyles for children



New Kingdom royal hairstyles:

- The mummified remains of a Dynasty 18

and Dynasty 20 prince reveal side-locks:

- The Dynasty 18 mummified child may

represent a son of Amenhotep II, and

was about 11 years old at his death.

- The Dyn.20 mummified prince may be a

son of Ramesses III, and died ca.5 years.

- Of note, the side-lock is not entirely

limited to children, but appears amongst

some priests in the royal mortuary cults

at Thebes in the New Kingdom:

= Sem-priests, who would normally be

the eldest son of the person for whom

they performed such a duty in private life.

- These specialists portrayed themselves

like sons of the king in his mortuary cult.

Hairstyles for ROYAL children



New Kingdom royal hairstyles:

- Amarna princesses display side-locks of

varying length.

- In one royal scene:

a. the eldest princess has a wide mop of

hair.

b. The middle princess has a shorter hair

length (quite visible)

c. The youngest/smallest princess has

no hair: i.e., bald.

Hairstyles for ROYAL children


Raising children in private contexts:

Daily life of pre-pubescent children:

- Naturally life varied from the poorest to

wealthiest non-royal households.

- In general, middle to upper class children

are shown or noted in texts as:

a. Keeping/playing with pets

b. Having/playing with toys

c. Participating in games with other

children

d. Role-playing in a slow transformation

into adult life: helping with chores.

Daily life of children




Children’s – adult’s household pets:

a. Dogs common pet

b. Cats common pet

c. Birds common pet

d. Monkeys common pet

e. Gazelles less common pet (wild)





Children’s toys are sometimes harder to

distinguish from “cultic” items:

a. Many toys from Middle Kingdom

b. Possibly a wooden boat model on

wheels from a NK tomb at Gurob.

BUT = delicate and more ornamental.

- Most children did not attend any school,

and learnt by role-playing and/or helping

their parents:

a. Farming

b. Workshops

c. Home

- More boys would be trained in specific

schools (e.g., scribes) versus girls, while

non-formalized (parental) training would

be provided to both genders: F-F & M-M.




Daily life of modern rural Egy. children:

Boys:

- Age 3+ boys are sent on errands

boys feed farm animals

- Age 7+ boys begin helping in more

important tasks

- Age 12+ boys essentially tilling the fields

Girls:

- 3+ girls also dispatched on errands;

Helping with household tasks:

Food preparation; poultry; sheep.

- 7+ girls aid in bread-baking and getting

fuel for the oven

- 12-14+ entering into marriageable age

Both genders:

- Expected to look after younger siblings,

but especially girls.

(Modern) daily life of children



Children role-playing in daily life:

- In pharaonic Egypt, depictions occur of

young children imitating their parents in

a broad range of roles:

E.g., Dyn.18 tomb of Ramose (TT.55):

- Girls amongst adult female mourners at

funerals: naked girl mimicking an adult

female mourner

E.g., NK stela (Turin):

- Two sisters kneeling before an offering

stand with their mother(?) depicted as the

recipient.

- Their gestures are being imitated by a

younger brother.

- A naked infant girl also imitates her older

sisters/seniors.

Children’s role-playing in daily life




E.g., New Kingdom proverb:

- “You shall not spare your body when you

are young; food comes about by hands,

provision by the feet.”

- This quote is accompanied by a scene of

girls tending to their younger brothers

and sisters, also carrying them in a sling.

E.g., New Kingdom fieldwork scenes:

Many boys, and some girls, are shown

aiding in agricultural scenes.

E.g., Dyn.18 Tomb of Djeserkareseneb:

A boy and girl help pick up grain and

place it in baskets.

E.g., Dyn.19 Tomb of Ipuy (DEM):

A boy chases birds away from a heap of

grain.





- E.g., NK (Dyn.18) agricultural scenes:

Young boys aiding in ploughing

- New Kingdom text mentions a vineyard

crew consisting of:

a. 7 men

b. 4 adolescents

c. 4 old men

d. 6 children

- E.g., Dyn.18 Tomb of User (TT 260):

a. Naked girl arranges pillows on a chair,

supervised by an elderly servant.

b. A girl makes a bed with fresh linen.

Elite households:

Note: In elite households, servants did the

work that a poorer household owner’s

children would have done.





- Despite the more serious economic role

children began to fulfil in society, tomb

scenes of daily life also show them

playing and avoiding work in various

settings.

E.g., Dyn.18 Tomb of Menna (TT69):

a. Two girls quarrel in a farm field

b. One girl examines another girl’s foot

(i.e., removing a thorn?)

E.g., Dyn.18 Neferhotep (TT49):

In a procession of servants leaving King

Ay’s garden house, the end of the group

contains a nanny drinking, whilst her two

charges tease the gate-keeper who shakes

a stick at them.




Children playing games in daily life:

- In particular, the Old –Middle Kingdoms

yield many depictions of children playing

a wide range of games.

- The New Kingdom has a few illustrations

of similar activities, but is not as rich in

genres as earlier periods.

E.g., Hatshepsut Red Chapel at Karnak:

- Illustrates acrobatics performed by girls

similar to game themes in earlier periods.

E.g., Deir el-Medineh ostracon:

- A wrestling scene of young soldiers is

a more professional rendition of earlier

scenes of youngsters wrestling for fun.

Children’s playing in daily life


3. Puberty

(rites of passage)

Puberty & rites of passage:

Childhood – adulthood:

• Circumcision is a very plausible rite of

passage for Ancient Egyptian boys,

but the exact age in which it occurred

remains unconfirmed.

• A late Old Kingdom scene depicts the

rite, using anaesthetic and blade.

• No evidence for female circumcision in

Ancient Egypt (clitoridectomy).

• Dynasty 18 scene of the circumcision of

the divine king and his ka (spirit-double).

• Dyn.18: Thutmose III asks Useramun how

long it has been since his circumcision,

during(?) his promotion to Vizier:

“30 years ago, O’Pharaoh, my Good Lord”

If he had been 12, he would then be in

his early 40s, an appropriate age to be

vizier.

Rites of passage

Puberty & rites of passage:

Childhood – adulthood:

• Recent X-raying has demonstrated that

circumcision was performed on Kings

Ahmose and Amenhotep I.

• The phallus hieroglyph is shown as

circumcised.

• An earlier First Intermediate Period text

notes on person being “… circumcised

together with 120 men.”

• Unfortunately, much data is lacking.

• Circumcision is still a major rite of

passage in Islamic Egypt.

Rites of passage

Dynasty 18: Luxor Temple

Temp. Amenhotep III

Royal circumcision of the

King and his ka (spirit-double)


5. Formal Schooling

(a smaller segment of the

population & mostly boys)

Formal education:

Some state professions needed schools:

• There is relatively little information on

formal schooling, which includes:

a. Scribes (read; write; math; etc.)

b. Artists (including some literacy)

c. Draughtsmen(including some literacy)

d. Sculptors (including some literacy)

e. Physicians

f. Professional soldiers, etc. (+ scribes)

• The New Kingdom, however, yields

sufficient information to get a general

notion of formal schooling.

• Most formal schooling was aimed at a

relatively small segment of the population,

and consisted mainly of males/boys.

• Women/girls did not receive much formal

schooling (some exceptions in nobility).

Formal schooling

Formal education:

General formal schooling:

- Began between 5/6 and 10 years of age

- Depending on the individual and training

school.

E.g., Bekenkhons in Dyn.19 outlines his

training High Priest (temp.Ramesses II):

a. Spent 4 years in primary school near

Mut Temple (beside Karnak Temple).

b. Pursued 11 years as an apprentice in the

royal stables (learning administration).

c. First 4 years as a simple priest in Amun

Temple (under his father’s supervision)

d. 39-year rise through temple hierarchy

until he became High Priest of Amun.

e. 27 years as High Priest of Amun.

Total of 85 years training & career,

Perhaps 5/6 at beginning of training.

Formal schooling

Formal education:


Dyn.18 Instruction of Any:

- A mother sent her son to school to learn

how to write (i.e., primary school).

- She looked after him daily, feeding him

bread & beer: i.e., he went to day school

(at court, children stayed in the palace).

- “Pay attention to your offspring, bring

him up as your mother did you.”

Primary schools existed at:

a. Mut Temple

b. Back of Ramesseum

c. Poss. a school near/in Deir el-Medineh

Some NK women apparently received

training in reading & writing (ref.):

- E.g., Some noblewomen depict scribal

kits under their chairs in tomb scenes.

- Letters from & between women, etc.

Formal schooling

Formal education:


NK copy of FIP description of schooling:

“I have placed you at school with the

children of the magistrates in order to

instruct and teach you in this profession

with promotion prospects.

I will tell you how it goes with a student,

when they call him:‘Awake! At your place!

Your chums already have their books

before them. Lay your hand at your

clothes, put your sandals right!”

You have to bring your exercises daily.

Be not idle! …

They say: ‘Three plus three …’

On another happy occasion you grasp the

meaning of a papyrus roll …

Formal schooling

Formal education:


NK copy of FIP description of schooling:

“You begin to read a book, you quickly

make calculations.

Let no sound of your mouth be heard;

Write with your hand,

read with your mouth (i.e., recite aloud)

Ask from those who know more than you,

and don’t be weary.

Spend no day of idleness,

or woe to your body.

Try to understand what your teacher wants,

listen to his instructions.

Be a scribe!

‘Here I am, you will say,

every time he calls you.”

Formal schooling

Formal education:


NK schooling:

- The word for “school” uses the glyph for

a “building,” but classes may have taken

place in the open as no obvious structures

have been found in excavated temples.

- “House of instruction” may indicate only

the institution not the teaching facilities.

- Students began writing on wooden tablets

coated in gesso reusable like school slates

- Stone slabs & ostraca = used for practice.

New Kingdom training program:

- First learnt hieratic in words & sentences

- Learning by memorization & copying

- First schoolbook =early MK: Kemit

- Memorized classic MK: E.g., Sinuhe.

- Later looked at NK texts (as apprentices?)

- Spec. training as apprentices: e.g. medicine

Formal schooling


4. Post-pubescent

adulthood

(teens / pre-marriage)

Transition to adulthood/careers:

The populace in general:

• This period represents a time in which

teenage boys and girls began taking more

and more responsibilities in their lives:

E.g., Apprenticeships and training until

approximately 20 years under fathers,

mothers, or formal schooling.

• The New Kingdom witnesses both

provision of occupations based on merit,

and the inheritance of one’s father’s post.

• Most of the population probably stayed

within their family’s traditional

occupation; e.g., farming.

• However, the military in particular did

provide a means for acquiring wealth,

quick promotion, and change in social

status during the empire period.

Adolescence to full adulthood

Clothing conventions in adults:

Non-royalty:

• In general, most people appear clothed

after reaching puberty, especially females,

with various exceptions to this gen. rule:

• Tomb scenes will portray the main

couple clothed, but will portray some

naked adults amongst the secondary

figures:

E.g., Fishing and fowling scenes

conducting work that could otherwise

ruin clothing.

E.g., Naked dancers and singers in royal

and private entertainment.

• In general, however, it is more accurate

to view clothing as a norm for most NK

post-pubescent Egyptians, especially in

cold winter months, whilst adult nudity is

acceptable in various circumstances and

professions.



Royalty:

• Tutankhamun’s tomb has yielded many

linen garments from his young adult stage

in life:

- Belts

- Scarves

- Caps

- Headdresses

- 30 pairs of gloves

- Many fine undershirts/tunics

- 100+ triangular-shaped loincloths

- Ornate state robes (no signs of wear!)

- Bronze scale-armour tunic

- Leather scale-armour tunic



Royalty:

• Tutankhamun’s tomb has yielded many

linen garments from his young adult stage

in life:

- Belts

- Scarfs

- Caps

- Headdresses

- 30 pairs of gloves

- Many fine undershirts/tunics

- 100+ triangular-shaped loincloths

- Ornate state robes (no signs of wear!)

- Bronze scale-armour tunic

- Leather scale-armour tunic



6. Married adult life

(post late teens/early 20s)

Kinship:

Egy. perceptions regarding kin & society:

Age at marriage:

• Elite males generally got married around

the age of 20,

• Usually when he had completed training

for a career and had begun to support

himself.

• Females often married after reaching

puberty, between 12-14 years of age.

• A Dyn.26 text records the marriage of an

older man to a prepubescent female

(consummation upon reaching puberty).

Kinship:


Arranging marriages & contracts:

• Males wishing to marry apparently

approached the father of the woman in

question.

• In situations where a father was deceased,

the mother or uncle would negotiate the

marriage.

• Marriage contracts would be negotiated,

apparently, with the contract being held by

an independent party: often in a temple

archive:

E.g., Late Period (536 BC) marriage

contracts yield signatures of both male

and females.

Kinship:

Egy. Perceptions regarding kin & society:

Marriage and kin ties:

• The extant texts lack sufficient data for

marriage preferences for the majority of

Ancient Egypt’s population.

i.e., cousins? Etc.?

• Autobiographical texts emphasize a male’s

particular concern for the welfare of his

parents and siblings.

• Such texts also stress the importance of the

relationship between fathers and their sons.

Kinship:


Marriage partners:

• Aside from royal marriage arrangements in

the New Kingdom, there is relatively little

written data on non-royal wedding rites.

• In general, most non-royal people practiced

monogamy, including successive marriages:

i.e., High mother-infant mortality rates

multiple marriages over time.

In Dynasty 12 to early Dynasty 18, if not

later, many males indicate maternal filiations

to distinguish themselves from half-siblings

and to establish inheritance claims from

their mothers (and fathers).

• Egyptian kings, and some elite, practiced

polygamy throughout the pharaonic period:

i.e., multiple wives (at one time).

Dyn.19: Yuni and wife Renenutet

Asyut: mortuary statue 84.5 cm high

Kinship:


Marriage partners:

• Aside from royal marriage arrangements in

the New Kingdom, there is relatively little

written data on non-royal wedding rites.

• In general, most non-royal people practiced

monogamy, including successive marriages:

i.e., High mother-infant mortality rates

multiple marriages over time.

In Dynasty 12 to early Dynasty 18, if not

later, many males indicate maternal filiations

to distinguish themselves from half-siblings

and to establish inheritance claims from

their mothers (and fathers).

• Egyptian kings, and some elite, practiced

polygamy throughout the pharaonic period:

i.e., multiple wives (at one time).

Kinship:


Marriage partners and dependants:

• Non-royal persons could and did marry

multiple official wives if they could afford

to maintain them.

• Second wife’s title may = hbsw.t

• However, the husband could apparently

have sexual relations with unmarried

female dependants within his household.

• In contrast, it is adultery with married

women that = prohibited, especially in

order to maintain inheritance rights.

• Kings often married secondary queens

(concubines), and appear to have provided

at least some with estates, administrators,

etc., for their material support.Dyn.18: Tomb 181 of the Two Sculptors

- Painted wall scene of mourning women

- Some = relatives; others = professionals

-Palace residence intended

for Princess Meritaten

(eldest; palace for senior

princess/queen).

-Theorized as her place of

“refuge” following belief

she had fallen from favour.

-many jar sealings bearing

her name

-wall-paintings with scenes

of marsh life.

-possibly zoological garden

Dyn.18: Akhenaten

Kinship:


Close Kin marriages:

• Late Period texts indicate that marriage was

permitted between:

(a). Cousins

(b). Uncle and niece

(c). Half-brothers and half-sisters of the

same father, but different mothers.

• Uncertain if this pertains to pharaonic

period non-royal marriages.

• Full brother-sister marriages are known for

royalty in the pharaonic period, but was

very rare amongst commoners.

• This is better known for Ptolemaic rulers

when it becomes common within the ruling

family.

Kinship:


Establishment of a household:

• Amongst the less affluent populace, the

bride often moved into her husband’s

parent’s household (patrilocal marriage).

• In some cases, a husband would move

into his wife’s parent’s household

(i.e., matrilocal marriage).

• Literary texts advised men to establish their

own households (neolocal marriage),

recognizing the difficulties normally

associated with residing with one’s in-laws.

• A common female title is:

MK+: “Mistress of the House” nb.t pr.t

NK+also: “His beloved sister” sn.t-f mr.t-f

NK also: “Citizen” ‘nkh.t n niwt

• Typical lower to middle class house sizes

reveal that most households focused on the

nuclear family (plus a few dependants).A. K. Capel and G. E. Markoe (eds.)

Kinship:


Family household:

• A household could also include the female

relatives, unmarried children, and other kin

related to the male house owner.

E.g., Dyn.12 census lists from Kahun reveal

that the household of Snefra contained:

1. Snefra himself

2. His mother (widowed?)

3. His grandmother (widowed?)

4. His wife

5+. His children

• Working class houses measured

a. 70 sq. m at Deir el-Medineh (Dyns.18-20)

8.4 x 8.4 metres.

b. 20-100 sq. m. at el-Amarna (Late Dyn.18)

4.5 x 4.5 10 x 10 metres.

Kinship:


Maintaining a marriage:

• Egyptian literary texts advise husbands

a. to respect wives in their household,

b. to love their wives

c. to keep wives from power

• Husbands are also cautioned against

rejecting wives through infertility:

Adoption of children is known.

• “The Mistress of the House” controlled the

household, but also often appears to be

conversant with husband’s business

according to some texts and depictions:

E.g., Dr. el-Medineh ostraca reveal wives

taking care of their spouse’s business during

their absence (also eldest son/daughter).

E.g., Peasant women appear to aid their

spouses in the fields.

E.g., Queens ruled as regents for infant sons

Kinship:


Sanctity of Marriage:

• The sanctity of marriage, however, appears

to have been very important in Anc. Egypt.

• Literary texts assert the wrongs of males

committing adultery with married women.

• Papyrus Westcar & the Instructions of Ani

note that both adulterers would receive the

death penalty (in theory; see Dr.el-Medineh)

--Excepting a raped married female.

• Other punishments include:

Male castration, 100 strokes, cutting off the

nose, or hard labour (Deir el-Medineh).

• The texts represent the rights & view of the

wronged husband, while neglecting the

alternate viewpoint of the wronged wife.

• Hence, Ancient Egyptian society was often

quite androcentric (i.e., male-biased).

Kinship:


Marriage contracts and divorce:

• (Late Period) marriage contracts are often

established after children are born.

• The contracts outline the wife’s rights

and the children’s rights, both during the

marriage & especially in the case of divorce

• Both males and females could request a

divorce and marry another partner.

• Some marriage contracts mention an

amount to be paid by the husband if he

divorced his spouse –if innocent of adultery.

šp n shm.t.

• Other marriage contracts record the amount

or nature of the dowry that the bride had

provided to her husband, which would be

returned if he divorced her:

-An innocent wife got 1/3 of husband’s items

-2/3 of husband’s items left to the children.

Kinship:


Marriage contracts, rights, and divorce:

• Women had control over the materials they

obtained or inherited:

E.g., They could determine what and how

much to leave to their children,

including favorite children. i.e., the

division did not have to be equal.

• For wives committing adultery (“the great

sin/crime”), they forfeited all their rights to

the husband: E.g., Lost her dowry.


7. Old Age

Old Age:

• Ideally live to 110

• Generally well-cared for in old age

• Age and wisdom is venerated

• Respect for elderly (men and women)

• Ideally eldest son, or other children,

provide for the burial.

• Belief in the dead being able to affect

the lives of the living:

E.g., Letters to the Dead

• Some people known to have lived into

their 90s in Ancient Egypt

Kinship:


Preparing for an afterlife together:

• The husband’s duty to care for his wife

during life was transferred into the afterlife

as well.

• Most MK-NK tomb chapels, statuary, and

burial chambers portray spouses together.

• Burial chambers are frequently cut to fit

two sarcophagi and two sets of coffins.

• Tomb scenes also often depict children,

expressing a desire to continue family life

into the next realm.

• Sons often include their parents & relatives

in banquet scenes on tomb walls.

• Early Dyn.18: spouses at banquet separately

• Late-Dyn.18: spouses seated side-by-side

(Amarna period influence on art).Stela on Yuni-Renenutet statuette back:

Metiay & Yia honouring their parents

Male & female end-goal: to reach the Fields of Iaru and live happily ever after …

Grain

= food

Flax =

clothes

Kinship:


Preparing for an afterlife together:

• The husband’s duty to care for his wife

during life was transferred into the afterlife

as well.

• Most MK-NK tomb chapels, statuary, and

burial chambers portray spouses together.

• Burial chambers are frequently cut to fit

two sarcophagi and two sets of coffins.

• Tomb scenes also often depict children,

expressing a desire to continue family life

into the next realm.

• Sons often include their parents & relatives

in banquet scenes on tomb walls.

• Early Dyn.18: spouses at banquet separately

• Late-Dyn.18: spouses seated side-by-side

(Amarna period influence on art).Stela on Yuni-Renenutet statuette back:

Metiay & Yia honouring their parents


7. Inheritance

Kinship:

Inheritance:

• Although many male officials required the

king’s approval to pass their office to their

sons, such nominations do occur in the

New Kingdom (and other periods).

• Such jobs frequently stay within the control

of a single family for generations.

• Other occupations involve the on-the-job

training of a son to replace his father

eventually.

• However, in some high ranking posts the

king appoints his own qualified candidates:

E.g., Amenhotep II

E.g., Amenhotep III through Tutankhamun.

• Royal sons often served in the military,

and receive fairly consistent training

should the heir apparent not survive to

ascend the throne.

Anth.446 Ppt. lecture-13: Everyday life in Ancient Egypt (by G. Mumford; 2014 Anth.446/646)

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Transcript of Anth.446 Ppt. lecture-13: Everyday life in Ancient Egypt (by G. Mumford; 2014 Anth.446/646)