Marriage in ancient Egypt
 
The family is the strongest bond and the basis of social life in ancient Egypt, which showed the strength of marital relations in Egypt, as the Egyptian took his wife to help him as a friend in life and conceive children, and this is evidence of the Egyptian’s purpose of placing women’s status in the cemetery, such as those found in the pre-family era. In its entirety, it indicates maternity and childbearing offspring.
Indeed, the marriage relationship got respect, and the marriage takes place between the same social class. We have not yet found or stumbled upon any brothers of any class, such as (nobles – mediocrity – plebeians) as King Cambyses asked: – Royal judges about whether the law allows whomever he wants to marry From his sister, they answered him in the negative, and this is permissible for the king only.
Special rules are applied to upper-class members, and it is within the royal family where a man may take more than one wife. It occurs mostly from cousins ​​and relatives, but marriages between brother and sister did not exist except between kings. The eldest daughter of the king marries her half-brother to preserve the royal bloodline.
Marriage traditions in ancient Egypt
So far, we have not found inscriptions or documents explaining the rituals and customs of marriage in ancient Egyptian society. Hence, scholars set general rules for the traditions of marriage, where marriage was carried out just for puberty, and this is what was stipulated by the rule and the teachings so that young people get married at an early age to form a family and maintain its cohesion, integrity, and distance from sin. The young man reaches and has a source for him to benefit from his strength. He thinks about marriage and forming a family, which is one of the basics of the progress of society and the existence of social cohesion between society. I also found religious motives for this marriage, which is for the children of the deceased to perform funeral rites for the parents.
“Marriage age”
Girls were prevalent among them, marriage at an early age, and the children of peasants usually married at the age of twelve. Most often, the prevalence was from the age of thirteen or fifteen, while the young men once found their source of livelihood from which they support their family.
Marriage and Celebration Contracts
There are no confirmed formal contracts from pre-modern times, as the first contract was found in 590 BC, and it is consistent with another contract dating back to the year 550 BC. The basic condition for the consummation of the marriage was the agreement or difference between the two families. The bride’s father was acting on her behalf in his book The Marriage Contract. Until the 17th century BC, the woman had the opportunity to participate in her marriage contract. Witnesses from relatives and neighbours attended this contract and registered their names in the contract …
Promises and pledges of a husband to his wife
He pledged to her weights of silver and gained as a dowry for the bride, and he pledged to her an amount of oil to his wife every month, a quantity of wheat every morning, a monthly salary for managing the house, and a salary for her adornment every year. A large wedding ceremony is held for the spouses to receive the blessings of relatives and gifts, and so the bride moves to her husband’s house, which is where his family is, to become the master of the house.
– The girl usually does not marry anyone other than her sex, and an example of this is found in the Amarna letters, where Amenhotep III refused the Babylonian king (Kadeshman Enlil the First) request to marry him from his Egyptian prince and said to him: “I have never sent his prince to anyone.”
“polygamy “
Polygamy was not limited to kings but according to a person’s ability and wealth, prevalent in the royal palace. An example of this was Ramses II, who had 7 main wives, the most famous Nefertari.
But among the common people, they were satisfied with one wife (Isis and Osiris). Therefore, Diodore of Sicily referred to polygamy among the Egyptians, saying: –
The priest in Egypt takes one husband, while the rest of the men take whatever wives they desire.
Here is a picture of a man and his two wives from the 18th family in Leiden Museum, Netherlands.