Hardjedef advised that the best sort of wife was “mistress of her heart”, someone who knew her own mind. Ptahhotep wrote: “Love your wife dearly, feed and clothe her, provide perfumes for her body, and gladden her heart as long as you live.” Ani recommended that a man should marry and have children while he was young and should not interfere in his wife’s efficient running of the household. Ankh-sheshonq said for even the poorest of men, “his wife is his family”.
A wife was the most important family member as vividly demonstrated in husband-and-wife statue groups (see this page and opposite). Though the wife was often depicted on a smaller scale, kneeling or standing by her husband’s side, the unity of the couple is emphasised by their closeness, with arms around waists or shoulders, or holding hands. Whatever the style chosen for these memorials for eternity, they were expensive funerary pieces which showed how much a man thought of his wife. In the centre of a false door stela, the tomb-owner may be shown facing his wife across an offering table, and the couple, sometimes with their children, appear on the door panels (see above and right). Middle Kingdom stelae commonly showed husband and wife seated side by side receiving funerary offerings from their son and surrounded by other family members. Similar scenes were painted in New Kingdom tombs.
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Denne historien er fra March / April 2021-utgaven av Ancient Egypt.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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INSIDE THE STEP PYRAMID OF DJOSER
Sean McLachlan explores the recently reopened interior of this iconic Third Dynasty Saqqara monument.
PER MESUT: for younger readers
She Who Loves Silence
Highlights of the Manchester Museum 29: An Offering by Queen Tiye for her Husband
Campbell Price describes an offering table with a touching significance.
Highlights Of The Manchester Museum 28: Busts Of Jesse And Marianne Haworth
Campbell Price describes the significance of two statue busts on display in the Museum.
TAKABUTI, the Belfast Mummy
Rosalie David and Eileen Murphy explain how scientific examination of the ‘Belfast Mummy’ is revealing much new information about her life and times.
Lost Golden City
An Egyptian Mission searching for the mortuary temple of Tutankhamun has discovered a settlement – “The Dazzling of Aten” – described as the largest city ever found in Egypt (see above). Finds bearing the cartouches of Amenhotep III (see opposite, top) date the settlement to his reign, c. 1390-1352 BC – making it about 3400 years old.
Jerusalem's Survival, Sennacharib's Departure and the Kushite Role in 701 BCE: An Examination of Henry Aubin's Rescue of Jerusalem
BOOK REVIEWS
Golden Mummies of Egypt: Interpreting Identities from the Graeco-Roman Period by Campbell Price
BOOK REVIEWS
Old And New Kingdom Discoveries At Saqqara
An Egyptian team working on a Sixth Dynasty pyramid complex near the Teti pyramid at Saqqara has made a series of important discoveries.
Map Of Egypt
What’s in a name? It is easy for us to forget that the names we associate with the pyramids – such as the Meidum Pyramid, the Bent Pyramid or the Black Pyramid – would have been meaningless to their builders.
