region. Priests were responsible for keeping the Gods happy so that the Nile flood and there was a good harvest. They spent their time performing rituals and
ceremonies to the God of their temple. Scribes were the only people who could read and write and responsible for keeping records. The ancient Egyptians
recorded things such as how much food was produced at harvest time, how many soldiers were in the army, numbers of workers and the number of gifts given to
the Gods. Soldiers were responsible to protect the country. Many second sons,
including those of the Pharaoh often chose to join the army. Soldiers were allowed to share riches captured from enemies and rewarded with land for their
service to the country. Craftsmen were skill workers such as - pottery makers, leatherworkers, sculptors, painters, weavers, jewellery makers, shoe makers,
tailors. Groups of craftsmen often worked together in workshops. Farmers worked the land of the Pharaoh and nobles and were given housing, food and
clothes in return. Some farmers rent land from nobles and had to pay a percentage of their crop as their rent. There were no slave markets or auctions in Ancient
Egypt. Slaves were usually prisoners captured in war. Slaves could be found in the households of the Pharaoh and nobles, working in mines and quarries and in
temples.
2.3.5 Household Environment in Egypt
Arendt, the author of The Human Condition 1990, says that a family is central in traditional and contemporary Egyptian society p. 28. The system in the
family in the ancient Egypt is patriarchal and hierarchal. There are some cultures
or traditions which is very different between ancient and modern Egyptian society. In ancient Egyptian society, men hold the highest position in the
household, the younger have to respect to older people, children have to respect the parents or older people, and women have to respect men. Arendt adds that the
father holds the authority and responsibility, and expects respect and he does not want someone to complain for every one of instructions p. 29. Men control
everything in the household. They forbid the wife to have a job outside the house. The wife’s job is to take care of the house works, children, and husband.
2.3.6 The Status of Women in Egyptian Society
Seawright 2010 states that “the status of women in ancient and modern Egyptian society is in contrast” p. 311. The explanation about it as follows.
2.3.6.1 The Status of Women in Ancient Era
Seawright 2010 explains much about the status of women in ancient Egypt. They are as follows. Egyptian women had a free life, compared to the
contemporaries in other lands. They were not feminists, but they could have power and position if they were in the right class. They could hold down a job, or
be a mother if they chose. They could live by themselves or with the family. They could buy and sell to their heart’s content. They could follow the latest fashions or
learn to write if they had the chance. They loved and laughed and ate and drunk. They partied and got sick. They helped the husband, they ran the household. They
lived a similar life to that of their mother and grandmother in accordance with maat, the natural order of the universe.
The ancient Egyptian women in general were free to go about in public; they worked out in the fields and in estate workshops. They could manage and
dispose of private property, including: land, portable goods, servants, slaves, livestock, and money as well as financial instruments. A woman could administer
all her property independently and according to her free will. She could conclude any kind of legal settlement. She could appear as a contracting partner in a
marriage contract or a divorce contract; she could execute testaments; she could free slaves; she could make adoptions. She was entitled to sue at law.
Marriage was a very important part of ancient Egyptian society. Some people said that marriage was almost a duty to get married. Husbands could marry
more than one wife, and people of close relations, such as first cousins, brothers and sisters, could also wed one another. There was no age limit as to when people
could be married, but generally a girl did not get married until she had begun to menstruate at about the age of fourteen. Some documents state that girls may have
been married at the age of eight or nine, and a mummy of an eleven years old wife has also been found. Marriage required no religious or legal ceremony. There
were no special bridal clothes, no exchange of rings, no change of names to indicate marriage, and no word meaning wedding.
A girl became universally acknowledged as a wife after she physically left the protection of her fathers house and entered her new home. The new husband
in no way became the new wifes legal guardian. The wife kept her independence, and still kept control of her own assets. Although the husband usually controlled
any joint property obtained during the marriage it was acknowledged that a share
