Women’s Rights in Marriage in Ancient Egypt
June 2025 | Vol. 13.6
By Alison Wilkinson
The ancient Egyptian concept of “marriage” was a social — rather than religiously- or state-ordained — establishment. No single word directly translates to “marriage”, “to marry”, or “to be married”. However, the Egyptian language had various terms and phrases to indicate a marital union:
iri m Hmt “to make as a wife”
iw m Hmt “to be a wife”
iw m hy “to be a husband”
aq r pr “to enter into a house”
grg pr “to set up / establish a house(hold)”
Hms i-r-m / m-di “to sit / live together with”
These hint towards the social and functional aspects of marriage in ancient Egypt. The first three indicate the state of being married. The last three indicate the physical situation of a marriage: cohabitation. Non-royal marriages were monogamous. Herodotus records in Book 2 of his Histories, “…each Egyptian taking to himself, like the Greeks, a single wife” (2.92). The monogamy of ancient Egyptian marriage is also reflected in the living situation. The “Stato Civile” from New Kingdom Deir el-Medina is a sequence of census documents recording the members of households in the village: each household is only listed with one wife (Hmt). Another indication of monogamous relationships is restricted sexual partnership, made evident by cases of adultery, and associated with inheritance.
Pair Statue of the Lady of the House Rennefer and the Overseer of Craftsmen Neferkhawet, c. 1478 – 1450 BCE. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012.411.
The House(hold) and Children
The wife was an essential figure within the household; she was the “Lady of the House” (nbt pr), second only to her husband. The wife was necessary for the creation of a household (grg pr) as well as a vital part of expanding the household through childbirth. The Instructions of Ani (New Kingdom) states this clearly: “Take a wife while you are young, that she make a son for you”. Procreation of children was a primary concern of marriage; children represented the reciprocity of Egyptian culture: when they are young, the parents provide for them; when they are adults, they provide for the aging parents and oversee their eventual funerary cult. Those who struggled or were unable to conceive turned to gods with prayers for children.
The wife was not a servant to her husband that could be mistreated and abused. Instead, she was to be treated as the vital part of the household that she was. The Teaching of Ani (New Kingdom), instructs a man:
Do not control your wife in her house,
when you know she is efficient;
Don’t say to her, ‘Where is it? Get it!’
when she has put it in the right place.
Let your eye observe in silence
Then you recognize her skill;
It is a joy when your hand is with her.
The text known as the Teaching of Ptahhotep, from the earlier Middle Kingdom, also echoes this sentiment: “love your wife with ardor, fill her belly, clothe her back, ointment soothes her body. Gladden her heart as long as you live, she is a fertile field for her lord”. These lines portray an ideal of how a wife should be treated, instructing the man to keep her happy and healthy, with the goal that a woman in good health would bear a child.
Papyrus Leiden 371 (New Kingdom) shows a historically genuine relationship which correlates with the treatment of wives as described in the above Teaching Literature. The papyrus records a Letter to the Dead from a widower to his late wife; he writes to her: “I did not allow that you should suffer against anything I did as your husband”.
As a mother, she is to be respected. Teaching literature from the Middle Kingdom to the Ptolemaic Periods exalts mothers as reliable caretakers and confidantes. The Instruction of Ani (New Kingdom) says of a mother: “She kept watching over you daily, with bread and beer in her house”. In the Demotic text Instructions of Onqsheshonqy (Ptolemaic Period) it is advised: “The mother is the one who gives birth; the way is the one who gives a friend”.
A wife’s life was not bound to the confines of the house. Women made regular appearances at local markets; buying and selling objects was within their normal power. Papyrus Lansing (P. British Museum 9994) portrays this social norm: “His wife has gone down to the merchants and found nothing for barter”. Depictions of markets upon tomb walls also show women partaking in selling goods such as fruit, vegetables, food and drink, and cloth. Several receipt and transaction documents from Deir el-Medina record women buying and selling goods and wares. This economic role of women may have been an extension of their household responsibilities (e.g. extra foodstuffs or material for weaving). However, this could also extend the family income, or reinforce a woman’s own economic independence within the household.
Funerary evidence shows the wife not only kept her title (nbt pr) and status after death, she also had the right to the same eternal afterlife as her husband and an equal share of the tomb. The woman was entitled to her own grave, funerary gifts, and equipment. Some women had the wealth to create exceptional pieces, such as the shabti of the Lady of the House (nbt pr) Sati (Brooklyn Museum 37.123E) which, in terms of quality, has been described as equaled only by the contemporary shabti of Ptahmose, High Priest of Amun (Cairo Museum CG 48406).
Shabti of the Lady of the House Sati. Faience, c. 1390-1352 Brooklyn Museum 37.123E. Image courtesy Brooklyn Museum. CC0.
Property and Inheritance
Legal documents known today as “marriage contracts” or “marriage documents” appear relatively late in Egyptian history, first attested in 879 BCE. Over one hundred of these documents have survived to present day; the large majority date to the Ptolemaic Period. While the contract can be written from the perspective of the woman towards her husband, the vast majority were made by a man to a woman. There are three modern classifications of marriage documents:
Type A: sX n Hm.t “document of/for” a wife”
Type B: HD n ir Hm.t “money of/for becoming a wife”
Type C: sX n sanx “document of provisions (literally “cause to live”)”
While the specific inclusions and formats of these documents may differ, the overarching purpose is to outline the husband’s guarantee to support his wife and children. In addition, it established the couple’s children as legal heirs.
An essential aspect of these marriage contracts is the outline of 2/3 to 1/3 split of conjugal property of a husband and wife respectively: “And Ι [the husband] give to you [the wife] the 1/3 (part) of all and everything which will be between me and you from this day onwards” (P. Hauswaldt 6, 219 BCE). Property could include land and structures, as well as “moveable property” such as servants, livestock, currency/metals (copper and silver), grains, documents, and household items. The family property comprised different shares: the private property of the husband (goods inherited from his parents), the private property of the wife (goods inherited from her parents), and their joint property (goods acquired by both of them together). Only the property acquired together was considered as 2/3 to 1/3 split. The personal property acquired prior to the union would return to the original party upon divorce (see below).
This division of marital property was established well before the appearance of these formal documents. An ostracon from Deir el-Medina (O. DeM 764) explicitly lays out the rules of this division: “If there are small children, make the property into three parts: one for the children (Sriw), one for the man (aHAwty), and one for the woman (st-Hmt). If he would be in charge of goods of the children, give to him the 2/3 of all goods, while the 1/3 is for the woman”. This document identifies that 1/3 of the husband’s total 2/3 derives from his role as the steward of the children’s share until they were old enough, making his larger share theoretically temporary.
View of the ancient site of Deir el-Medina from the Southwest. Photo by Olaf Tausch, CC-By-SA 3.0
New Kingdom legal texts record the enactment of women’s legal claims to their 1/3. The Will of Naunakhte from the Ramesside Period demonstrates a woman’s complete control over her share of the property. The document records the property distribution of the Townslady Naunakhte to her children. Some of her children have not treated her well in her old age, so she denies them any inheritance from her; the document records: “List of her children of whom she said: They shall not enter into the portion of my 1/3, (but) they may enter into the 2/3 of their father”. A later addendum records how the document was implemented when one of the disinherited children tried to claim his mother’s property – thus demonstrating the legal strength of Naunakhte’s will.
If there are no children between the husband and wife and the husband dies, the widow may inherit all of the property. The Will of Kebi (P. UC 32037) and the Will of Wah (P. UC 32058) specify that the wife was to be the sole heir of the childless couples. However, as is often the case in ancient Egypt, the circumstances that were recorded in writing are likely against the normal conditions. Papyrus Ashmolean Museum 1945.96 (= P. Adoption), a similar text claiming the wife as the sole heir, also identifies why this document had to be made: “If (any of) these siblings of mine come forth and confront her after my death of tomorrow or after tomorrow, he shall say: ‘I shall give up this portion of my brother!’”. This indicates that upon the death of a childless husband, the late-husband’s siblings have a claim to his property over the wife’s claim. If the widow was to inherit all of the marital property, the husband had to specify this — the act of recording in writing would allow the widow to bring out the document in any case of contest.
In such legal records as the wills of the Middle Kingdom to the marriage contracts of the Late and Ptolemaic Periods, the woman acted on full authority as an active party within the legal proceedings. She did not need a male (e.g. father or brother) to represent her. Egyptian women were full participants in the Egyptian legal system.
Divorce
Demotic marriage contracts (Late Period to Roman Period) contain divorce clauses; these clauses mention two motives for marital separation:
“If I [the husband] divorce you (as) a wife, be it that I hate you, be it that I prefer another other than you.” P. Louvre 2433 li. 3 (252 BCE)
A variation of this statement appears in marriage contracts as early as the first known from 879 BCE. In addition, this is known from both male and female parties. The female records:
And (if I) [the wife] divorce you (m.) (as) a husband, be it that (I) hate you (m.), be it that (I) desire another for me other than you.” P. Berlin 3078 li. 3-4 (492 BCE)
This makes clear that a woman had the same right as a man to divorce.
The “official” act of divorce was dividing the 1/3 to 2/3 marital property. This division of property had to be witnessed by an official third-party; in the New Kingdom, this was the Qenbet (i.e. citizen’s court). Papyrus Turin 2021 (New Kingdom) records the process of a remarriage in which the man had to settle property with his ex-wife before he could officially begin the conjugal property with his new wife. The document records the divine father Amenkhau’s union and joint-property with his new wife Ineksunedjem; but first, Amenkhau had to make the following statement about his first wife, Tatjara:
“I settled (with) her [Tatjara, the first wife,] in front of the Qenbet of the temple. I divided the 2/3 against the 1/3 from everything which I acquired with her as I entered into the house of the Townslady Ineksunedjem.”
In order to “legally” remarry, Amenkhau had to specify that he had been previously married, and that the property had been settled. This final act of settling the property with his first wife Tatjara completes the termination of this first marriage and opens the way for Amenkhau to create new property with his new partner, Ineksunedjem.
P. Turin 2021 col. I-II., a legal document recording Amenkhau’s union and joint-property arrangement with his new wife Ineksunedjem. Museo Egizio, Torino. CC0.
Demotic marriage documents (Late Period to Roman Period) further specify the rights of women upon divorce. In the case of divorce, the husband had to return to the wife all of the property which she had brought to the marriage, or property of equal value. The man may also be required to pay a fee if he divorced the woman (this fee may be forfeit if the woman initiated the divorce herself). In addition, the man was commonly required to pay a form of maintenance until she could acquire another source of livelihood, likely in another husband. This was due to the economic disadvantage of a single woman (in a system that did not regularly employ women). Women had the right to pursue new partners after divorce. In the Demotic divorce document, P. BM EA 10074, the man vows: “I have divorced you (as a) wife….If Ι find you with any man in the world, Ι shall not be able to say to you (any more): ‘You are (my) wife’ It is I who say to you: ‘Take to yourself a husband!’”
In the case of divorce, there is evidence to suggest that the woman did not receive guardianship over dependent children. In the Middle Kingdom Will of Wah, Wah designated a man named Geb as the idnw “deputy” – likely meaning tutor or guardian – of his son in the case of his death. While not a case of divorce, it is notable that the wife of Wah (although granted all of his goods and property) was not designated the guardian of Wah’s son. The New Kingdom “Stato Civile” provides further evidence in the records of children in a household with the same father but different mothers — this may indicate that the first wife died, or that the man kept the children after divorce, then had additional children in a subsequent marriage.
Alison Wilkinson is a PhD candidate of Egyptology at Johns Hopkins.
Further Reading:
Eyre, C.J. 2007. “The evil stepmother and the rights of a second wife.” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 93, 223-243.
Fellinger, R. 2022. “Women’s participation as contracting parties as recorded in Demotic documents for money from Ptolemaic Upper Egypt: a case study of change?” In Ayad, M.F. (ed.), Women in ancient Egypt: revisiting power, agency, and autonomy, 311-330. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.
Johnson, J.H. 2022. “Women in Demotic (documentary) texts.” In Ayad, M.F. (ed.), Women in ancient Egypt: revisiting power, agency, and autonomy, 331-349. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.
Muhs, B.P. 2017. “Gender relations and inheritance in legal codes and legal practices in ancient Egypt.” In Peled, I. (ed.), Structures of power: law and gender across the ancient Near East and beyond, 15–25. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
Pestman, P.W. 1961. Marriage and matrimonial property in ancient Egypt: a contribution to establishing the legal position of the woman. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Toivari-Viitala, J. 2013. “Marriage and divorce.” UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2013 (February). 1-10.
Toivari-Viitala, J. 2001. Women at Deir el-Medina: a study of the status and roles of the female inhabitants in the workmen’s community during the Ramesside period. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten.
How to cite this article:
Wilkinson, A. 2025. “Women’s Rights in Marriage in Ancient Egypt.” The Ancient Near East Today 13.6. Accessed at: https://anetoday.org/ancient-egypt-marriage/.
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