The role of women in ancient Egypt
The great women of Ancient Egypt, queens and princesses who modified, built, improved, enriched, and evolved the history of the great pharaohs.
Egyptian women undoubtedly played an important role in the society of that time, and we can say that their social position was one of the best among the ancient civilizations contemporary with it: in fact, they enjoyed the same rights as men even though their social status was determined by that of their fathers, first, and husbands, later.
The evidence we have relates to the situation of women who belonged to the Egyptian elite since in the wall representations of funerary monuments the story told is always inherent in the lives of pharaohs and thus of queens, princesses, nobles and women of high status, while the role of poorer women is not fully known: the only source, albeit fragmentary, is given to us by some scenes in these same depictions where we also find images of ordinary women as they perform domestic tasks, reap and grind grain, brew beer, dance or play instruments. A woman's work depended precisely on her social position: from nurturer (but only those belonging to the noble class could be nurturers of the children of kings), to baker, brewer, miller, gardener, musician, dancer, singer, weaver, spinner, grain-harvester and many other varied trades, but they were in fact excluded from public office, which remained a male prerogative, with a few exceptions.
It is noticeable from these wall representations that female figures are always depicted according to ideal canons of beauty, that is, youthful images of pure beauty, where the hips and breasts, the areas of the body associated with motherhood, are emphasized, while the woman in her mature years, with a face marked by time and a less slender body, is very rarely depicted: it is strange to see how there is no iconographic difference between mother and daughter, between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, between grandmother and granddaughter, but they are all depicted young and beautiful, in an ideal dimension, out of time.
We know that queens and princesses lived in reserved apartments in the royal palace, the legendary harems, a Turkish term adopted in the Arab era, which loosely denotes what in Ancient Egyptian culture was actually called opet, meaning "creation," an area of the royal palace connected with creation because it was the place where queens gave birth to the children of kings who were then raised and educated there according to strict royal rules.
Many Greek travelers, including Herodotus, have left written sources documenting the freedom of action, independence and responsibility enjoyed by Egyptian women of the wealthier classes: they could own landed property, be active in business dealings, bequeath or inherit, enter divine temples, participate in the cult of the dead, and all independently, without the need for a male figure. Most importantly, they had the same legal standing as men and could even appear in court unaccompanied, in full right and freedom, to answer before the judge as a defender or plaintiff.
Powerful and free, the Egyptian woman exercised her activity mainly in the private sphere, as the "Lady of the House" that is, the one who took care of the home, and as a wife. In fact, the main role was that of wife and therefore mother: each woman bore up to eight children, a large number but one dictated by necessity, since infant mortality was very high and the king's wives, above all, had the burden of bearing many children to the pharaoh, for dynastic reasons. Queens, wives of the incumbent pharaoh, undoubtedly enjoyed every right and could cooperate alongside their husbands in the difficult task of ruling the country: some of them even became absolute queens of Egypt, that is, pharaohs, ruling with great skill, ability and wisdom.
Ordinary women and queens then, women who differed in social background and culture, women who were illiterate and educated, women who were simple and noble, who were united by the freedom to decide their own future, the architects of their own lives: surely the Egyptian woman was the first woman in the societies of the ancient world to be so emancipated, setting a great example of civilization and culture, unfortunately often forgotten today.
