Ancient Egyptian Marriage

 More abundant are divorce cases that also deal mostly with property settlements. Marriage was the normal and most desirable state for Ancient Egyptians of both genders and all social classes. Athenian men evinced little respect or affection for women and delayed marriage until well into their thirties, but most Egyptian men were eager to follow the advice of the wisdom literature urging them to take a wife while still young so they could found a household and raise a family.

 Most men were married by the age of twenty to girls who might have been as young as fifteen. There was an age difference, but usually not more than two or three years. When examining ancient reliefs and statues, it is easy to assume that the ancient Egyptians marriage was similar to the institution today, but beyond these visual cues, there is little in the way of documentation to support this conclusion.  

No documentary evidence of marriage ceremonies, whether real or marriage as a concept has been found. Usually there was a big party associated with the union of two persons, but we think it was just a social affair and has no real religious or moral implications.Traditionally, the term Hemet has been translated as “wife”, but it is probably more accurately “female partner”.  

The legal and social implications of the word are unclear. Interestingly, the word salvation is the male counterpart in Hemet, but seems to have been rarely used. However, this is probably due to the funerary text most often be associated with men, and thus the female partner is known and defined by her husband.

After the 26th dynasty, the bride seems to have had more to say in her future husband, and we find sentences in marriage contracts that indicate a more defined.  In addition, the tradition of marriages brother / sister or father / daughter has been mostly confined to the kingdom of Egypt, at least until the Greek period. In tales from Egyptian mythology, the gods of marriage between brothers and sisters and fathers and daughters were common in the early periods, and Egyptian kings to perhaps felt it was a royal prerogative to do the same .  

However, there are also theories that marriages brother / sister may also have strengthened the king’s claim to rule. It was not uncommon among ordinary people get married parents.   Marriage between cousins, uncles and nieces were quite common in Egypt before the Greek period. Interestingly, after the arrival of Greek, a study found that 24 percent of marriages among the common people were brother / sister relationship. Marriages were usually between persons of the same class, but seems to have been little consideration given to race or nationality, even. It was not unusual for a northern Egypt to marry a Nubian, or someone, even another country.