Family Life.
It is frequently said that the test of a nation's civilization is the position accorded to woman. Applying this test to Egypt, her civilization would rank well with nations of modern times as well as with those contemporaneous with her. From the earliest times of which we have record, Egyptian women were the companions and trusted counsellors of their husbands. During the New Empire it was the boast of one of the Ramessides that any woman might go alone and unveiled as far in any direction as she wished, confident that she would not be accosted nor disturbed.
Two customs prevailed in ancient Egypt that are contrary to the moral standards of our day: one was the practice of a brother marrying his sister; the second, a husband having more than one wife. Early peoples did not regard these practices in the light of modern opinion. The Hebrews, for example, frequently took two or more wives, and the same habit obtained among the Babylonians and Assyrians. Among pastoral tribes of the present day this custom survives. In all cases, one woman was regarded as the legitimate wife, and her children were heirs to their father's estate, while children by his other wives might or might not be recognized by the father as his heirs, according to his pleasure. As a rule, only the well-to-do Egyptian could afford the luxury of two wives, so that polygamy was not common among the lower classes. There seems to have been little friction in the Egyptian household between the several wives. Stories have come down to us of women who cared enough for other wives of their husbands to name children for them. Certain marks of honor were the right of the first wife and were conceded as a matter of course.
The marriage of those close of kin was quite usual. The word sister in Egypt came to be used interchangeably for wife or sister. In this land it appears to have frequently resulted that a boy and girl, brought up in the same family, having similar ideas and interests, married and lived happily together in their married life.
Multifarious were the duties of a wife of the middle class. She cared for the family, spun and wove, sent the little ones to school and took them a lunch at mid-day. She drew water at the nearest pool, ground corn into meal and made the meal into cakes; she drove the cattle to pasture and collected the fuel. What did not this mother do? It is little wonder that from lack of care and nourishment, large numbers of children died before they became ten years of age. Those who lived were indeed the survival of the fittest, and aside from a disease of the eye—brought on by the glaring sand and burning sun—they were generally healthy and equal to any hardship. Marrying young, women were often grandmothers at thirty. Although they faded early, they did not suffer in their position in the family on that account. Great respect was shown them while they lived, and after their death they were worshipped—for the Egyptian always worshipped his ancestors. Believing that the soul lived on, it might work harm for the surviving relatives and friends unless appeased with marked consideration. This desire to escape possible harm by satisfying the departed appears to have been the strong motive inducing ancient peoples to worship the dead.
Tourists Scaling the Great Pyramid.
The children were left with the mother until almost four years of age. Dolls and other toys found buried in the tombs with little ones show that they, in those far away times, were quite like children who have lived since. When four, they were sent to an elementary school. If at ten the son had evinced any special ability that would justify educating him, he was put into a school maintained by the priests. Here he was trained for a scribe unless his early promise was borne out by rapid progress, in which case he was educated for the priesthood. If by the age of ten he had given no special evidence of ability, he was taught a trade.
The old idea that caste was strongly marked in Egypt is not only misleading but untrue. Class distinctions were closely drawn in Egypt, as they are today, even in America. The average child born in the slums of a city seldom comes to importance. The son of a day laborer rarely marries into the wealthy or so-called "old families." The reason for this is not so much that there is objection in America to the humblest born rising to any height, but that the opportunities for progress to one born into such surroundings are few. It was somewhat similar in Egypt. Chances for rapid advance were by no means as favorable then as now, but nevertheless, there are many cases on record where men attained high official position in spite of great social disadvantages.