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**Gender Roles in Ancient Egypt**
Hi everyone, I’m Paige Besinger and I’m a senior majoring in anthropology. At this point I think my focus in anthropology will be in bioarchaeology. The topic for my wiki project is going to be about ancient Egyptian gender roles. I selected this topic because in the future I hope to work with mummies or human skeletal remains and the Egyptians left anthropologists so much to work with in terms of human remains, written texts, buildings, ect. Because of all these material and human remains it’s possible to paint a fairly clear picture of what ancient Egyptian gender roles were like. I’ve always thought gender roles and relations were really interesting even if my main interest isn’t in cultural anthropology. Also, I think it's really cool that ancient Egyptian women had basically the same legal rights as a man. I hope this wiki turns out well and that everyone enjoys the project.

Here are two websites that have been helpful in learning more about gender roles in ancient Egypt and I feel are pretty legitimate sources of information.

[|__http://www.umich.edu/~kelseydb/Exhibits/WomenandGender/intro.html__]

[|__http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/womneg.htm__]

This is a statue/figurine of the Goddess Mut who was “identified with the mother of ruling kings.” I feel it represents how respected women were in ancient Egyptian society because their religious beliefs included the worship of many different goddesses. [] Bronze; Ptolemaic period (332-30 BCE); 17.6 cm h.; Source: A. C. Hoskier, 1925; Kelsey Museum 4677

Module 7

List of Key Words ~gender roles ~domestic and social life of women ~power and legal rights of women ~important women in ancient Egypt (Hatshepsut, Cleopatra VII, Sobekneferu) ~female influence in religion ( Isis/Aset, Hathor, Mut)

I would like my wiki project to include all of these topics. I'm hoping to create a complete picture of gender roles in ancient Egypt with a particular focus on the role of women in society. I feel that it's important to focus on multiple aspects of the lives and roles of women in the society.

Module 8

"The floodplains along the Nile constitute an important but as yet little utilized series of laboratories for the comparitive study of the origins and interaction of ancient civilizations."

“Kerma: The Rise of an African Civilization,” Bruce G. Trigger, __The International Journal of African Historical Studies__, Vol. 9, No. 1. (1976), pp. 1-21.

Module 9

Pnina Galpaz-Feller
Near Eastern Archaeology Vol. 67, No. 3 (Sep., 2004), pp. 152-161 Published by: The American Schools of Oriental Research
 * ISSN: 10942076
 * ===URL: []===

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"In biblical Israel, the traditional view was that adultery was a violation of the covenant between the people and their god. The fact that there is no official code of law from ancient Egypt has generally not facilitated direct comparisons of this culture with biblical Israel. Also, because the severity of punishment in Egypt for adultery was generally far less than that suggested by the legal codes of Babylon or biblical Israel, the assumption has always been that adulterous behavior was not publicly censured. Egyptian documents, however, clearly indicate that the act was regarded as a moral failing and a source of community discord. In that way, the perceptions of adultery known from ancient Egyptian literature parallel the attitudes represented in biblical passages dealing with adultery more than has been heretofore suggested. The treatment of specific cases relating to the consequences of adultery in ancient Egypt, over a period of several centuries, are examined in this article in order to shed light on some of the similarities noted to the biblical traditions."======

Module 10

Well the article I found to be quite interesting was “the King Herself” by Chip Brown. It discusses the reign and life of “King” Hatshepsut who was s strong female ruler of ancient Egypt. This articles relates perfectly to my topic of gender roles in ancient Egypt because it discusses many of the gender related problems she faced when asserting her right as the heir to the throne of Egypt. In another article by John Ray the duality of a pharaoh being "a combination of a human element and a divine counterpart"(Ray NP) was discussed which in turn caused me to comtemplate the additional duality of being a human female trying to assert her right as a divine male. I also find it fascinating that she took control of the kingdom for her underage step-son as a regent but because she was “the king’s firstborn daughter” and “only Hatshepsut, not her stepson, had a biological link to divine royalty”(Brown NP) she was able to maintain control of the throne for twenty-one years. In addition to her taking control from her stepson she went to great lengths to be depicted as masculine in hieroglyphs “with the striped nemes headdress and uraeus cobra, symbols of a king.”(Brown NP) She then later went on to have herself depicted without any female traits since in ancient Egypt it was believed that a woman could not adequately fulfill the position of a king. It’s suggested that for this reason she had herself carefully described in texts as God's Wife of Amun rather than the King’s Wife in order to assert her power and right as the legitimate heir to the throne. However, considering that "Egyptian society gave remarkable freedoms and legal rights to women -- far more than in the rest of the Near East or in the classical world"(Ray NP) it's not hard to understand just how Hatshepsut could reign as Pharaoh for so long and do such as sucessful job as such.

Below is a picture taken at the three-tiered mortuary temple in-between the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens known as Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple. In the photo are statues of Hatshepsut with very masculine traits but then again she did wear a false beard so her subjects would take her seriously as a ruler.

[|Hatshepsut's Temple]

Articles from Academic Search Premier Database

Brown, Chip. //The King Herself//. National Geographic; Apr2009, Vol. 215 Issue 4, p88-111, 24p

Ray, John. //Hatshepsut.// History Today, 00182753, May94, Vol. 44, Issue 5

- Module 12

[|google link - Temple of Hatshepsut]

This is a model reconstruction of Pharaoh Hatshepsuts temple. This google link ties in perfectly with my topic of powerful women in ancient Egypt and ancient Egyptian gender roles. Other information that might be helpful to readers would be additional maps or photos.

Module 13

[|The Ancient Egyptian Queenship as an Icon of the State]

This article written by Lana Troy tied into my topic quite nicely. It discussed different dichotomies found within ancient Egyptian society as well as female influence. I find that the article illustrates the importance of women in Egyptian society by pointing out the power of the female goddesses.

Troy, Lana. //The Ancient Egyptian Queenship as an Icon of the State.// NIN: Journal of Gender Studies in Antiquity; 2002, Vol. 3, p1-24, 24p, 10 Black and White Photographs

Module 14

[|Walking Alone Forever, Following You Gender and Mourners' Laments from Ancient Egypt]

The article I found was on gender differences found in mourners roles in ancient Egypt. It discusses the importance of wives/mothers and children to ritual and cultural process of mourning deceased family members. This article helps to further illustrate the social roles and importance of women in ancient Egypt. It also briefly discusses how is some instances of tomb dipictions the wife is shown with her husband rather than just him alone as is typical. This additionally highlights the importance of women and wives in their society.

Sweeney, Deborah. //Walking Alone Forever, Following You Gender and Mourners' Laments from Ancient Egypt//. NIN: Journal of Gender Studies in Antiquity; 2001, Vol. 2, p27-48, 22p