The Couple in Ancient Egyptian Art

The civilisation of ancient Egypt was largely the chaos, life and death, god and goddess. Each product of its geographical situation along the aspect of life in ancient Egypt carried elements river Nile. The Egyptians called their land Kemet, that were both male and female, passive and “Black Country” – a reference to the muddy strip active, good and bad. of land on the banks of the river – in contrast The dominant colours of this ancient to Deshret, “Red Country” – the unending, arid pharaonic world are also the main colours in desert. This contrast between water and drought Egyptian pharaonic art: blue skies, golden sun- was the fertile breeding ground for the emer- rise, red sunset, ochre desert, and green river gence of a totally unique culture, based on a pre- banks are reflected in most of the astonishing cious equilibrium of opposites, a “unity in dual- paintings, statues, jewellery and reliefs that have ity”: Kemet and Deshret, day and night, order and come down to us through thousands of years.

1. The Priest Tenti and his wife, Limestone, Egypt (findplace unknown), Old Kingdom, ca. 2400 BC (© Ägyptisches Museum Berlin). Holding hands, the woman leading the way, Tenti and his wife are walking harmoniously along the same path of life, towards the much desired here- after. The typical colours of ancient Egyptian art are to be found here in the dual tones of ochre and yellow of the skin: dark for the man and light for the woman (also reflecting the fact that the women mainly worked in house whereas the men laboured on the fields).

102 2. Statue of a Man and his Wife, Limestone, from Giza/Egypt, Old Kingdom, ca. 2300 BC (© Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim). In this common type of small statues of the late empire, the man is the main figure. The role division in the couple is represented by a difference in height between husband (biggest) and wife (smaller). This is further enhanced here because of the misproportion between the two figures: although the husband is sitting on a block-like stool, he remains bigger than his wife, who – in accordance with her social role – is standing slightly behind him on a lower socle. Their bodies do not touch each other, but the wife’s holding her arm behind her husband’s back is an indication of their marital relationship. On the front and top of the two pedestals are written the name of the man, Ie-em-hetep, and his lowly rank, “royal acquain- tance”, while his wife Anch-Hathor is referred to as “his beloved spouse”.

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3. The Royal Scribe Amenemopet and his wife Hathor, Wood, from Thebe/Egypt, New Kingdom, ca. 1280 BC (© Ägyptisches Museum Berlin). Often, though not always, Egyptian women enjoyed the same legal and economic rights as the Egyptian men, an indication of which can be found in this statue of Amenemopet and Hathor of the early Ramesses period. Both husband and wife are wearing the same sumptuous garments and are decorated with richly ornamented wigs. Although the husband is slightly bigger than the wife, both are sitting equally on the same bench and their arms are crossed behind their backs, as a sign of mutual support and affection.

An important part of this pharaonic art and his- the middle and upper classes). Two typical types torical inscriptions alludes to or represents topics of contracts were one in which the husband largely such as marriage and family. The traditional core contributed to the financing of the household, or of the family consisted of the father, the mother another in which the wife paid everything c.q. in and their unmarried children. Others, for instance which she benefited from an alimony in case of grandparents or needy family members, could need or divorce. also be included in this core unit. Generally, in Insofar as no economic or political reasons the different forms of art, the father figure is rep- were involved (mariages de raison ou d’état), mar- resented as the “chief” or the head of the family, riage in ancient Egypt could be easily contracted behind whom his wife stands (see illustration 2). and just as easily dissolved. It was based mainly On the other hand, women in ancient Egypt often on a mutual wish by both partners to live together – although not as a rule – had a high degree of and found a family. Marriage was therefore largely independance – at least for that time in that part a secular institution without religious ceremonies of the world. Indeed, the other two statues illus- or festivities. However, since it generally offered trated in this article show Egyptian women in a higher degree of security, most Egyptian women leading roles or couples in which the wife seems married and created a family, but they remained to be playing a dominant, or at least protective visible in the Egyptian society, working along- part, offering assistance to her husband. side their husbands in the fields or engaged in The Egyptian woman’s rights extended to all the social activities. Less frequently, a woman would legally defined areas of society. As far as marriage remain single or hold a prominent office, such as was concerned, she could appear as a contracting “governor”, priestess, judge or healer. partner in a marriage or a divorce settlement (although this seems to have been the privilege of Dominique van Haelst

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