Ancient Egyptian marriages were equal partnerships, divorces were quite common












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            * Ancient Egyptian marriages were equal partnerships, divorces were quite common
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            Unfortunately, we don’t know if Egyptians in love exchanged presents on special occasions;

            hand, we have a relatively good idea of how Ancient Egyptian marriages worked. PhDr. Hana 
            [ URL "http://egyptologie.ff.cuni.cz/?req=doc:Vymazalova&lang=en"] ., of the Czech Institu
            of the CU Faculty of Arts, told us more.

            Wedding brochures often repeat the story that the engagement ring has its origins in Ancie
            there any evidence of this?
            Marriage and the starting of a family were highly desirable for Ancient Egyptians. We can 

            to this in Ancient Egyptian maxims (or collections of wisdom for life), for example: “marr
            yet young so that she might bear you a son.” Elsewhere the father of the bride is advised 

            daughter a wise, rather than a rich, husband.
            When negotiating or agreeing a marriage with the family of the bride, the future husband c
            or even promise them for the future. These gifts could, however, take various forms; there

            for example, gifts of silver
             
            How significant a ceremony was marriage in one’s life? Do we have any information on marri

            A wedding was an informal, more private act, which was probably accompanied by a family ce
            Contracts regulating the conditions of the relationship, especially with regard to propert
            documented for ‘normal’ marriages. These documents were generally only written down when t

            was not working and they were supposed to cover the division of shared property of inherit
            offspring. So-called marriage contracts, setting in advance the property rights of the fut
            documented from the Late Period.

            Do we know what relationships were like amongst ‘normal’ Egyptians?
            Ancient Egyptian marriages were equal partnerships where the man and woman shared a househ
            to conceive children. Both partners could dispose of their property as they wished, inheri

            property or divorce. Egyptian women were, therefore, neither dependent on nor subordinate 
            husbands. Divorces were quite normal and did not stop either party from marrying again.
            In what way were royal marriages different from those of ‘normal’ Egyptians?

            Unlike normal marriages, a royal wedding was a formal affair accompanied by the appropriat
            Kings would have several wives, of whom, however, only one – the great royal wife – would 
            ceremonial and ritual roles. Royal weddings could also be a guarantee of loyalty when the 

            a wife from an important family, or gave his daughter in marriage to a dignitary. From the
            New Kingdom onwards, monarchs also contracted diplomatic marriages with foreign princesses
            international relations.

            What was the Ancient Egyptians’ attitude to polygamy and marriages between siblings?
            Apart from the monarch, for whom it was normal to have several wives, it is difficult to s
            this phenomenon was. Even if several wives are documented for one man, it isn’t easy to de

            these were concurrent or consecutive marriages, be it due to divorce or death. However, it
            concurrent marriages to more than one woman were not very common.
            While marriages between full siblings were rare in Egypt, marriage within one’s extended f

            relatively common. Things were different in the royal family, where marriages are document
            siblings and, rarely, father and daughter. In this case, however, apart from efforts to re
            the narrow family circle, such unions could also have been inspired by Egyptian myths and 

            the divine siblings Isis and Osiris, or Nephthys and Set.                                 
            PhDr. Hana Vymazalová, Ph.D. is engaged in the study of the development of the Ancient Egy
            interested in the mathematics of Ancient Egypt, its development and practical use in scrib
            3rd millennium BC. Since 2006 she has participated in archaeological surveys in Abusir, Eg