Dancing for Hathor · Women in Ancient Egypt by Graves-Brown, Carolyn -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Title Page Contents Illustrations Preface Chronology Introduction 1 Rich women, poor women 2 Changing worlds

The Golden Age The Great Mother Goddess The status and role of Predynastic women Inequality and the rise of the state Women’s status and the growth of agriculture Women’s status from the Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom Queens of the Old Kingdom Administrative titles Priestesses of Hathor Women textile workers Women in trade Did women’s status decline from the Old to the Middle Kingdoms? Later periods

3 Reversing the ordinary practices of mankind

The dangerous temptress and the passive wife Women, weapons and warfare Domestic violence Women, the law and property Adultery and divorce Crime and punishment Housewife Was ancient Egypt a matrilineal society? Were women considered to be sex objects?

4 Birth, life and death

Education, literacy and scribes Age and sexuality Menarche and menstruation Coming of age and marriage Polygamy Contraceptives and abortion Phallic votives and fertility figurines Pregnancy and childbirth Motherhood Widows and old age

5 Women’s work

Women serving women Conscripted labour Agriculture Textile production Women and trade The ‘wise women’ Prostitution Doctors and midwives Nurses and tutors Hairdressers and perfumers Treasurers Vizier Women and the court Women deputizing for their husbands Women and the temple Servants of the God Henut God’s Wife of Amun and Divine Adoratrice Priestess singers and Meret The Chantress Singers in the ‘interior’ Khener and dancing Women and funerals The role of music and dance Impersonating Hathor

6 Sexuality, art and religion

Sexuality and the erotic Sexual identity The creative power of the male Homosexuality Androgyny Were the Egyptians prudes? Ostraca and the Turin Papyrus High art and coded messages Tattoos, sex and dancing girls Day beds and public celebration of sexuality The erotic body Love poetry Women and rebirth The power of the erotic

7 Queens and harems

Queenship Symbols of queenship The queen as Hathor Divine birth Incest and the heiress theory Royal polygamy The ‘harem‘ of Mentuhotep II Institutions of women in the New Kingdom: ipet-nesw and per-khener Medinet-Gurob (Mi-wer) Royal children Diplomatic marriages ‘Harem plots’ The harem plot of Rameses III Female kings Ahmes Nefertari (Ahmes/Ahmose Nefertari) (c.1570–1506 BC) Hatshepsut (c.1470–1458 BC) Nefertiti (c.1390–1340 BC) Cleopatra VII (c.69–31 BC) Egyptian attitudes to women in power 159

8 Goddesses

Nut Neith Isis and Nephthys Hathor Drunkenness The Return of the Distant One

Conclusion Glossary Notes Bibliography Index Plate Section eCopyright