Daily Life- Domestic Life | Global Posts & Tags

Laura Lupton-Smith

Marriage

The Ancient Egyptians usually married someone in their social class or in their extended family. They got to choose who they got to marry.
There was no formal legal or religious marriage ceremony but often a scribe would draw a contract showing that they were married.
A marriage for the Ancient Egyptians was when a man and a woman set up a household together; there was no wedding.
Divorce was legal and it happened when couples who lived together now wanted to separate. However, they were allowed to remarry.
The Egyptians were married at a very young age, usually around 12 for girls and 14 for boys.

Women’s Social Structure

A women’s social position depended on her father’s and then her husband’s social position.
Women in the Upper Class were usually wives of the nobility and the important government officials. They were responsible for running their house, raising their children and overseeing the servants. Those women did no manual work.
The Lower Class women were also responsible for raising their children but they were expected to cook, clean and make their family’s clothes. In busy seasons they had to work in the fields with their husbands

Women’s Rights

All women in Ancient Egypt could rent or own their own property and they could inherent whatever was left for them.
Women were always equal to men in the law. They always spoke for themselves in court.
Women were also entitled to give the judge their opinion and they could give charges to the guilty person or persons in court.

Child Life

Children in Ancient Egypt played games such as: leapfrog, tug of war and a very popular game called Senet. Senet was a game where players battled against forces of evil to reach the underworld kingdom of a God called Osiris.
Many Egyptian children died at a very young age often because of diseases.
Children in Ancient Egypt played with dolls, balls, and toy animals, like us in the United States.

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