CHAPTER TWENTIETH.
DAILY LIFE.
“How lived, how loved, how died she?” are questions that rise in the mind in thinking of these royal ladies of the past. Of their individual lives but few records remain, and it is from inscriptions and paintings on the tombs, especially of those of less prominence than the kings, we may gather something of the daily life of the queens.
“No nation of the earth has shown so much zeal and ingenuity, so much method and regularity in recording the details of private life as the Egyptians,” says Brugsch. The kings’ tombs chiefly celebrated their victories, the king riding forth in his chariot, or with his captives by the hair, in the act of slaying them, or the king—sometimes accompanied by the queen—making offerings to the gods, these are the favorite subjects for the artist’s pencil, but for the details of female life we must look elsewhere.
From the tomb of Ti, of the Fifth Dynasty sometimes called the Pepys of that period, and from the sepulchres at Beni Hassen, much has been learned of the domestic life. Ti was a favorite subject of the king’s, an official of high rank, and his wife a lady of noble birth, of kin to the royal house. So we have pictures of all the household arrangements, the feeding and preparing of animals for food, the tenants, male and female, bringing of the fruits of the earth to their master, and he himself, after the Egyptian manner, painted of larger size than his inferiors, going forth to fish and to hunt. Sometimes, but rarely, the women also accompanied their husbands on these expeditions.
A statue of Ti bears the same likeness as the figure in the tomb. It is that of a fine young man, with regular features, and the statue of his wife Nofre-hoteps, grand-daughter of a Pharaoh, was also found.
As has been said before, the women in Egypt had no such separate and secluded life as those in the Eastern countries, they appear to have mingled freely with their male relatives, and the queens acted as regents during the absence of their husbands, or the minority of their sons, or sometimes ruled in their own right, from the earliest times.
There were the apartments of the women or the king’s harem, but not in such an exclusive sense as in many other Eastern countries, nor was the chief official in charge invariably an eunuch.
The seat of government changed from time to time under the different dynasties, so that some of the queens lived chiefly in Memphis, some in Thebes, some in Tanis, and, among the later rulers, in Sais and Napata.
The palaces were not many stories in height, and had, sometimes, pylons and columns in front, the rooms were built round a succession of open courtyards, which were shaded by palm, orange, olive, fig and other trees, and they also had large and beautiful gardens with fountains, especially in the royal country villas. On the flat roofs the people passed many hours, and disported themselves under awnings, and slept there on rugs and mats. In the country the houses and grounds were usually surrounded by high walls. Large mansions stood detached and had doors opening on various sides, and before the columns or colossi, at the entrance, hung ribbons or banners, especially on festival occasions. Sometimes a portico had a double row of columns, with statues between, these were also colored, and, when not of stone, were stained to represent it. The walls and ceilings of the palaces were brilliantly painted. They were also at times inlaid or adorned with lapis-lazuli, which was a favorite stone, amber and malachite. In the royal establishments there were porticoes and vestibules, constructed with great splendor, numerous columns, walls glittering with jewels, and curtains of gold tissue.
Floors were of stone or composition, roofs with rafters of date palm, and transverse beams of larger palm. Stone arches have been found both of the time of Rameses III and Psamettichus. Rare woods were imported, and also demanded as tribute from foreign nations, conquered by the Egyptians, as well as gold, silver, precious stones and slaves.