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Everyday life in the middle kingdom of ancient egypt
Critically assess the role of women in ancient egyptian society
Ancient Egyptian cultures
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also provided a mode of transportation and communication between Upper Egypt, Lower Egypt, and surrounding areas. The Nile River was the greatest route for agricultural trade of crops such as wheat, corn, barley, and etc. The Egyptians were a spiritual people who believed the Nile flood was a gift from the gods and if they abided by a cosmic order they would continue to be rewarded. Moreover, these people were blessed with having natural barriers in addition to the Nile. These barriers included the dessert to the west and east, Cataracts (rapids) to the south of the Nile, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north. These strategic barriers made the Egyptians territory secure from invasions, but did not hinder them from trading with neighboring …show more content…
The successes during this period include but are not limited to a powerful monarchial authority, bureaucracy, absence of invasions, construction of temples and pyramids, and cultural and intellectual activity. One of Egypt’s greatest achievements would be the creation of the pyramids in the Old Kingdom. The pyramids were built with the help of ancient mathematics. The Egyptians developed knew methods to make their pyramids such as using angles and creating Pi. These pyramids were dedicated to the dead and represented a flourishing culture. The Egyptians became a skilled people with Artisans that displayed high standards of craftsmanship in using their hands to create beautiful works of art. Not only did this civilization make art but they created hieroglyphics, meaning “Priest-carvings” or “sacred writings” as well. The Ancient Egyptians were a dynamic group of people with an overwhelming amount of …show more content…
Fill her belly; clothe her back. Ointment is the prescription for her body. Make her heart glad as long as you live. She is a profitable field for her lord. You should not content with her at law, and keep her far from gaining control…. Let her heart be soothed through what may accrue to you; it means keeping her long in your house.
This excerpt from the “Instructions” proved the importance of women in Egyptian society. Women in this civilization kept their inheritance even after marriage, but were still not allowed to hold certain job positions. The Greeks, specifically the Athenians, had a different style of community. Their community was dominated by males who played the largest role in public affairs. Boys went to school at age six to learn math, reading, and writing while girls studied at home to become home makers. An excerpt from Poem on Women in Sherman exclaims:
Another is from a bee; the man who gets her if fortunate, for on her alone blames does not settle. She causes his property to grow and increase, and she grows old with a husband whom she loves and who loves her, the mother of a handsome and reputable family… Women like her are the best and most sensible whom Zeus bestows on
Conscious of the geographical region, Egyptians settled around the Nile, as the Nile provided substance (agriculture, irrigation, trading routes, etc.). The Egyptians noticed that the Nile would flood regularly, and exploited this natural flooding by building an irrigation system to support their agriculture, as well as their society. “Hymn to the Nile” depicts this prosperous age of agriculture, “Lord of the fish, during the inundation, no bird alights on the crops. You create the grain, you bring forth the barley, assuring perpetuity to the temples.” ("Ancient History Sourcebook: Hymn to the Nile, c. 2100 BCE."). However, the Nile might have contributed to the eventual collapse of ancient Old Kingdom Egyptian civilization. The Nile partially destroyed the society that it had once nurtured. A series of low or high floods over the course of a few years immensely impacted their agriculture, which in turn created epidemics of famine and civil unrest. The Egyptian civilization eventually prospered once more, only centuries later and with new social
For an example, it was quite acceptable for a man to commit adultery- however a woman was to remain chaste. The only exception to this was if the lover in question was a god. For some odd reason, it seemed that men were allowed to be philanderers while their wives stayed at home. This is evidenced in the Odyssey quite well- Odysseus the ?hero? is free to sample all the pretty ladies he cares to, whereareas Penelope his wife is expected to fend off all the suitors at home. Predictably, Penelope melts into his arms when she realizes it is her long lost husband without pausing to consider what he has done in his absence. This reaction portrays the unequal morals of Greek society regarding gender. Euripides?s Medea portrays women who are not quite as lucky as Penelope:
In Ancient Greece, women had little to no freedom in their lives. For instance, they had no role in politics, leaving that completely to men, were expected to stay indoors for the majority of their lives doing household work because they were under the control of a male relative, usually being their father or husband, and they were not allowed to study medicine. These standards were set by great writers such as Aristotle who wrote of women being inferior to men. He believed women were more emotional, which is why they would be useless in politics, and they were more deceptive and mischievous. Because only men were doctors, many women were dying during childbirth due to the fact that they felt uncomfortable about having a man handle their pregnancy.
There isn’t enough literature from this time period from the lower and middle classes of society, and the view of women we have comes from writings of the upper class males. As much of an enigma that the women of Athens were, it is clear that “women were for the most part legal nonentities,” (O’Neal 117) that were denied any association and participation in the intellectual life of their city. The women were not involved in getting an education, and never learned to read or write. O’Neal writes, “The principal spokesmen of fifth century Athens, Pericles and Thucydides, disdained Athenian women.” (O’Neal 117) Based on their writing, and on surmountable evidence, it can be assumed that women had only two roles in Athens - a wife, or a mother. A girl was ideally married at 14 or 15 years of age, and there was necessity that the bride was a virgin, otherwise she was shamed and sold into
From the role of the wily seductress, to the submissive housewife, to the raging warrior, women were a focal point of Ancient Greek works. Although they are often looked over and considered, the roles they played in their culture were undeniably important. Women may have been thought to have far less worth than a man, however, their undeniable power and influence in Greek society cannot be overlooked. The substantial position they held is verified in numerous texts of the era, including the works of Homer, Virgil, and Ovid.
Like the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians also believed in god and goddesses and was one of the first to develop their unique writing system called hieroglyphics. Egyptian’s also were the first to construct triangular pyramids with magnificent tombs to bury their dead pharaohs and queens. These pyramids were very comparable to the ziggurats built by the Mesopotamians. The Egyptians unlocked more access when they started using papyrus to make paper in order to communicate. They also inven...
Essay The Mayans and Egyptians have a lot of similarities and differences. The Egyptians highest peak of civilization was during the New Kingdom. The Mayans reached their highest peak in A.D. 250-900. As most of us know, Egypt is located in the northeastern part of Africa, while the Mayans were located in what would now be Guatemala.
Semonides of Amorgos (c. 625 B.C.) An Essay on Women ( lines 10-12) Semonides of Amorgos. “Women.” c. 7th cent. B.C.E. Trans. Diane Arnson Svarlien. Web. 7 Oct. 2014
Greek women, as depicted as in their history and literature, endure many hardships and struggle to establish a meaningful status in their society. In the Odyssey, Penelope’s only role in the epic is to support Odysseus and remain loyal to him. She is at home and struggles to keep her family intact while Odysseus is away trying to return to his native land. The cultural role of women is depicted as being supportive of man and nothing more. Yet what women in ancient Greece did long ago was by far more impressive than what men did.
According to page 263, Athenian women were treated differently than mn. First of all, girls did not go to school. Instead, they helped out around the house and were taught by their mothers to cook, clean, spin thread, and weave cloth. Not only did girls help out around the house, but they also learned ancient secret songs and dances for religious festivals. Surprisingly, wealthy girls can become married by the young age of 15. But, there father has to choose who she has to marry. On the other hand, the poor girls have more of a choice to choose who she wants to marry. Lastly, this shows the success of the city state because if the men were always training, there would not be anyone to take care of the houses and crops, which is why the woman did all of the chores. In conclusion, the woman took care of the houses while the men were training.
It is easy to find out that in these works, women are supposed to follow their subordinate roles and to take care of the housework. In most of the literature in ancient time, the patriarchal family structure which focus more on great importance. Women take important responsibilities in family. The female plays a important role in raising children and taking care of the household.
When most people think of Ancient Egypt they think of Pyramids. To construct such great monuments required a mastery of architecture, social organization, and art that few cultures of that period could achieve.
The Old Kingdom of Egypt (c. 2613-2181 BCE) is otherwise called the 'Age of the Pyramids' or 'Age of the Pyramid Builders' as it incorporates the colossal fourth Dynasty when King Sneferu idealized the craft of pyramid building and the pyramids of Giza were developed under the lords Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. The verifiable records of this period, the fourth sixth Dynasties of Egypt, are rare and students of history respect the historical backdrop of the time as actually 'written in stone' and to a great extent structural in that it is through the landmarks and their engravings that researchers have possessed the capacity to build a history. The pyramids themselves hand-off sparse data on their developers, yet the morgue sanctuaries manufactured adjacent and the stelae which went with them give lord's names and other imperative data. Further, engravings in stone discovered somewhere else from the time record different occasions and the dates on which they happened. At long last, the tomb of the last ruler of the fifth Dynasty, Unas, gives the primary Pyramid Texts (expand works of art and engravings inside the tomb) which shed light on the religious convictions of the time. The old Sumerians, the "dark headed ones," lived in the southern piece of what is currently Iraq. The heartland of Sumer lay between the Euphrates and Tigris waterways, in what the Greeks later called Mesopotamia.
One theory proposed by archaeologist Mark Lehner, who has written many books, and has thirty years of experience excavating in Egypt, came up with a theory that the pyramids were built by well-fed, skilled Egyptian workers who lived in a nearby city chosen by Pharaoh having only the best for construction of the pyramids. The pharaoh wanted only the best workers for these sacred structures, as back then they were considered very spiritual and religious.
The pyramids of Egypt are fascinating, however, they remain to be a mystery. The well-built architecture is located in Giza, Egypt, on the west bank of the Nile River. The pyramids of Egypt are the oldest and only surviving member of ancient wonders. It is also the pride and one of the most important factors in Egyptian culture.