The government of the Pharaohs resembled that of Napoleon, even to the incest. Very often the king married his own sisterโ€”occasionally his own daughterโ€”to preserve the purity of the royal blood. It is difficult to say whether this weakened the stock. Certainly Egypt did not think so, after several thousand years of experiment; the institution of sister-marriage spread among the people, and as late as the second century after Christ two-thirds of the citizens of Arsinoรซ were found to be practising the custom.94 The words brother and sister, in Egyptian poetry, have the same significance as lover and beloved among ourselves.95 In addition to his sisters the Pharaoh had an abundant harem, recruited not only from captive women but from the daughters of the nobles and the gifts of foreign potentates; so Amenhotep III received from a prince of Naharina his eldest daughter and three hundred select maidens.96 Some of the nobility imitated this tiresome extravagance on a small scale, adjusting their morals to their resources.
For the most part the common people, like persons of moderate income everywhere, contented themselves with monogamy. Family life was apparently as well ordered, as wholesome in moral tone and influence, as in the highest civilizations of our time. Divorce was rare until the decadent dynasties. The husband could dismiss his wife without compensation if he detected her in adultery; if he divorced her for other reasons he was required to turn over to her a substantial share of the family property. The fidelity of the husbandโ€”so far as we can fathom such arcanaโ€”was as painstaking as in any later culture, and the position of woman was more advanced than in most countries today. โ€No people, ancient or modern,โ€ said Max Mรผller, โ€has given women so high a legal status as did the inhabitants of the Nile Valley.โ€97 The monuments picture them eating and drinking in public, going about their affairs in the streets unattended and unharmed, and freely engaging in industry and trade. Greek travelers, accustomed to confine their Xanthippes narrowly, were amazed at this liberty; they jibed at the henpecked husbands of Egypt, and Diodorus Siculus, perhaps with a twinkle in his eye, reported that along the Nile obedience of the husband to the wife was required in the marriage bond98โ€”a stipulation not necessary in America. Women held and bequeathed property in their own names; one of the most ancient documents in history is the Third Dynasty will in which the lady Neb-sent transmits her lands to her children.99 Hatshepsut and Cleopatra rose to be queens, and ruled and ruined like kings.
Sometimes a cynical note is heard in the literature. One ancient moralist warns his readers:
Beware of a woman from abroad, who is not known in her city. Look not upon her when she comes, and know her not. She is like the vortex of deep waters, whose whirling is unfathomable. The woman whose husband is far away, she writes to thee every day. If there is no witness with her she arises and spreads her net. Oh, deadly crime if one hearkens!100
But the more characteristically Egyptian tone sounds in Ptah-hotepโ€s instructions to his son:
If thou art successful, and hast furnished thy house, and lovest the wife of thy bosom, then fill her stomach and clothe her back. . . . Make glad her heart during the time thou hast her, for she is a field profitable to its owner. . . . If thou oppose her it will mean thy ruin.101
And the Boulak Papyrus admonishes the child with touching wisdom:
Thou shalt never forget thy mother. . . . For she carried thee long beneath her breast as a heavy burden; and after thy months were accomplished she bore thee. Three long years she carried thee upon her shoulder, and gave thee her breast to thy mouth. She nurtured thee, and took no offense from thy uncleanliness. And when thou didst enter school, and wast instructed in the writings, daily she stood by the master with bread and beer from the house.102
It is likely that this high status of woman arose from the mildly matriarchal character of Egyptian society. Not only was woman full mistress in the house, but all estates descended in the female line; โ€even in late times,โ€ says Petrie, โ€the husband made over all his property and future earnings to his wife in his marriage settlement.โ€103 Men married their sisters not because familiarity had bred romance, but because they wished to enjoy the family inheritance, which passed down from mother to daughter, and they did not care to see this wealth give aid and comfort to strangers.104 The powers of the wife underwent a slow diminution in the course of time, perhaps through contact with the patriarchal customs of the Hyksos, and through the transit of Egypt from agricultural isolation and peace to imperialism and war; under the Ptolemies the influence of the Greeks was so great that freedom of divorce, claimed in earlier times by the wife, became the exclusive privilege of the husband. Even then, however, the change was accepted only by the upper classes; the Egyptian commoner adhered to matriarchal ways.105 Possibly because of the mastery of woman over her own affairs, infanticide was rare; Diodorus thought it a peculiarity of the Egyptians that every child born to them was reared, and tells us that parents guilty of infanticide were required by law to hold the dead child in their arms for three days and nights.106 Families were large, and children swarmed in both hovels and palaces; the well-to-do were hard put to it to keep count of their offspring.107
Even in courtship the woman usually took the initiative. The love poems and letters that have come down to us are generally addressed by the lady to the man; she begs for assignations, she presses her suit directly, she formally proposes marriage.108 โ€Oh my beautiful friend,โ€ says one letter, โ€my desire is to become, as thy wife, the mistress of all thy possessions.โ€109 Hence modesty, as distinct from fidelity, was not prominent among the Egyptians; they spoke of sexual affairs with a directness alien to our late morality, adorned their very temples with pictures and bas-reliefs of startling anatomical candor, and supplied their dead with obscene literature to amuse them in the grave.110 Blood ran warm along the Nile: girls were nubile at ten, and premarital morals were free and easy; one courtesan, in Ptolemaic days, was reputed to have built a pyramid with her savings; even sodomy had its clientele.111 Dancing-girls, in the manner of Japan, were accepted into the best male society as providers of entertainment and physical edification; they dressed in diaphanous robes, or contented themselves with anklets, bracelets and rings.112 Evidences occur of religious prostitution on a small scale; as late as the Roman occupation the most beautiful girl among the noble families of Thebes was chosen to be consecrated to Amon. When she was too old to satisfy the god she received an honorable discharge, married, and moved in the highest circles.113 It was a civilization with different prejudices from our own.
รัฐบาลของฟาโรห์คล้ายกับของนโปเลียน แม้แต่การครอบครัว บ่อยกษัตริย์แต่งงานตน sisterโ€ "บางครั้งเขาเอง daughterโ€"เพื่อรักษาความบริสุทธิ์ของราชตระกูล เป็นการยากที่จะพูดว่า นี้ลดลงหุ้น แน่นอนอียิปต์ไม่ได้ไม่คิดอย่างนั้น หลังจากทดลอง หลายพันปี สถาบันกระจายน้องสาวแต่งงานใน หมู่คน และปลายเป็นศตวรรษที่สองหลังจากพบพระคริสต์สองในสามของประชาชนของ Arsinoรซ เพื่อจะฝึก custom.94 พี่คำ และน้องสาว ในบทกวีของอียิปต์ มีความสำคัญเหมือนกันเป็นคนรัก และรักใน ourselves.95 นอกจากน้องสาวของเขาฟาโรห์ที่มีฮาเร็มอุดมสมบูรณ์ พิจารณาไม่เพียงแต่ จากภายในกิจการและผู้หญิง แต่ลูกสาวของขุนนางที่และของขวัญของ potentates ต่างประเทศ Amenhotep III ได้รับจากเจ้าของ Naharina ลูกสาวคนโตของเขา และสามร้อยเลือก maidens.96 ของขุนนางเลียนแบบความฟุ่มเฟือยนี้เคอบนมาตราส่วนขนาดเล็ก ปรับปรุงมารยาทของทรัพยากรของพวกเขาFor the most part the common people, like persons of moderate income everywhere, contented themselves with monogamy. Family life was apparently as well ordered, as wholesome in moral tone and influence, as in the highest civilizations of our time. Divorce was rare until the decadent dynasties. The husband could dismiss his wife without compensation if he detected her in adultery; if he divorced her for other reasons he was required to turn over to her a substantial share of the family property. The fidelity of the husbandโ€”so far as we can fathom such arcanaโ€”was as painstaking as in any later culture, and the position of woman was more advanced than in most countries today. โ€No people, ancient or modern,โ€ said Max Mรผller, โ€has given women so high a legal status as did the inhabitants of the Nile Valley.โ€97 The monuments picture them eating and drinking in public, going about their affairs in the streets unattended and unharmed, and freely engaging in industry and trade. Greek travelers, accustomed to confine their Xanthippes narrowly, were amazed at this liberty; they jibed at the henpecked husbands of Egypt, and Diodorus Siculus, perhaps with a twinkle in his eye, reported that along the Nile obedience of the husband to the wife was required in the marriage bond98โ€”a stipulation not necessary in America. Women held and bequeathed property in their own names; one of the most ancient documents in history is the Third Dynasty will in which the lady Neb-sent transmits her lands to her children.99 Hatshepsut and Cleopatra rose to be queens, and ruled and ruined like kings.Sometimes a cynical note is heard in the literature. One ancient moralist warns his readers:Beware of a woman from abroad, who is not known in her city. Look not upon her when she comes, and know her not. She is like the vortex of deep waters, whose whirling is unfathomable. The woman whose husband is far away, she writes to thee every day. If there is no witness with her she arises and spreads her net. Oh, deadly crime if one hearkens!100But the more characteristically Egyptian tone sounds in Ptah-hotepโ€s instructions to his son:If thou art successful, and hast furnished thy house, and lovest the wife of thy bosom, then fill her stomach and clothe her back. . . . Make glad her heart during the time thou hast her, for she is a field profitable to its owner. . . . If thou oppose her it will mean thy ruin.101And the Boulak Papyrus admonishes the child with touching wisdom:Thou shalt never forget thy mother. . . . For she carried thee long beneath her breast as a heavy burden; and after thy months were accomplished she bore thee. Three long years she carried thee upon her shoulder, and gave thee her breast to thy mouth. She nurtured thee, and took no offense from thy uncleanliness. And when thou didst enter school, and wast instructed in the writings, daily she stood by the master with bread and beer from the house.102It is likely that this high status of woman arose from the mildly matriarchal character of Egyptian society. Not only was woman full mistress in the house, but all estates descended in the female line; โ€even in late times,โ€ says Petrie, โ€the husband made over all his property and future earnings to his wife in his marriage settlement.โ€103 Men married their sisters not because familiarity had bred romance, but because they wished to enjoy the family inheritance, which passed down from mother to daughter, and they did not care to see this wealth give aid and comfort to strangers.104 The powers of the wife underwent a slow diminution in the course of time, perhaps through contact with the patriarchal customs of the Hyksos, and through the transit of Egypt from agricultural isolation and peace to imperialism and war; under the Ptolemies the influence of the Greeks was so great that freedom of divorce, claimed in earlier times by the wife, became the exclusive privilege of the husband. Even then, however, the change was accepted only by the upper classes; the Egyptian commoner adhered to matriarchal ways.105 Possibly because of the mastery of woman over her own affairs, infanticide was rare; Diodorus thought it a peculiarity of the Egyptians that every child born to them was reared, and tells us that parents guilty of infanticide were required by law to hold the dead child in their arms for three days and nights.106 Families were large, and children swarmed in both hovels and palaces; the well-to-do were hard put to it to keep count of their offspring.107Even in courtship the woman usually took the initiative. The love poems and letters that have come down to us are generally addressed by the lady to the man; she begs for assignations, she presses her suit directly, she formally proposes marriage.108 โ€Oh my beautiful friend,โ€ says one letter, โ€my desire is to become, as thy wife, the mistress of all thy possessions.โ€109 Hence modesty, as distinct from fidelity, was not prominent among the Egyptians; they spoke of sexual affairs with a directness alien to our late morality, adorned their very temples with pictures and bas-reliefs of startling anatomical candor, and supplied their dead with obscene literature to amuse them in the grave.110 Blood ran warm along the Nile: girls were nubile at ten, and premarital morals were free and easy; one courtesan, in Ptolemaic days, was reputed to have built a pyramid with her savings; even sodomy had its clientele.111 Dancing-girls, in the manner of Japan, were accepted into the best male society as providers of entertainment and physical edification; they dressed in diaphanous robes, or contented themselves with anklets, bracelets and rings.112 Evidences occur of religious prostitution on a small scale; as late as the Roman occupation the most beautiful girl among the noble families of Thebes was chosen to be consecrated to Amon. When she was too old to satisfy the god she received an honorable discharge, married, and moved in the highest circles.113 It was a civilization with different prejudices from our own.
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