Ancient Egyptian MarriageAs with most ancient cultures, marriage was a necessity. The Ancient Egyptian marriage was no exception. Staying unmarried earned people judgment and unattractive titles from society back then. And since people then didn't live too long (with a few exceptions), they got married and started families at a young age. Girls were ready for their reproductive duties right after getting their first periods. I believe this was the case until not too long ago in many parts of the world. The funny thing is, arranged marriages were not as common as you might think - many people fell in love and chose their mates. They must have been mature beyond their years to do so at such a young age! In fact, some couples were so in love throughout their marriage that they asked to have an "afterlife" reunion painted on their tomb walls in hopes of meeting again after death. I find this quite touching. Many love letters and professions of love were discovered, leading to the belief that romance was just as important back then between couples as it is now.
Arranged and Incestuous Ancient Egyptian MarriageStill, there are some aspects of Ancient Egyptian marriage that are not so romantic! Men were not only allowed to have concubines, but having one showed off a man's wealth and status too. And to make matters even weirder, the concubine lived in the same house as the wife... oh dear!And of course an even more outlandish practice was the arranged incestuous marriage between brother and sister (and sometimes father and daughter). This was mainly restricted to the elite and royal families, as a political maneuver to keep the power within the family. Non-incestuous arranged marriages were more widely practiced (although like I said, not as common as you'd think). Most of the time, marriages were between people of equal status and wealth, whether arranged or not. Usually the parents of the spouses-to-be made all the agreements beforehand, and that was that. However, many couples did actually fall in love post-matrimony.
The ProcedureMarriage back then was easier, with much less formality. After the agreement, the bride has to move from her parents' house to her new husband's. There wasn't much "paperwork" like contracts or records - at least not until much later on in ancient Egyptian history.There were no formal wedding ceremonies, just a small procession when the bride was being moved to her new home (if even that). Of course there were probably some informal celebrations with drink and food, the ancient Egyptians loved to party! Once settled in, duties were pretty much divided into: household administration, child-bearing and rearing for the woman; working and providing for the man. Neither of which was easy. Egyptians had very large families and many children. The food had to be cooked from scratch too. And the manual labor was hard with long working hours in harsh weather. It really was a life of toiling and effort. Still, they loved it and enjoyed it. But then comes a time in many relationships when it's just not worth the effort to stay together anymore...
Divorce a la Ancient EgyptThere were as many reasons for divorce back then as there are now. Some common ones include just not getting along, infertility of one partner, adultery, etc...Adultery was frowned upon and many times penalized by society. For a woman it could have been dangerous as well, ending in violence or death for her mistakes. Usually though, the couple would just divorce and move on. Once an ancient Egyptian marriage ended, what would usually happen is that the ex-wife just moves back to her parents' home with all her belongings. She was not only allowed to keep all that she brought into the marriage with her, she had many other rights that can be considered quite "liberated" for the ancient times. Click here to read about ancient Egyptian women's rights. There were no formal divorce contracts as such; all that was needed to finalize the event was just to deal with any shared property or dowry. The people were allowed to remarry and have more children. Life would just go on normally. No fuss no muss.
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