The Historical Child: Paidology; The Science of the ChildChrisman, Oscar
History
The Historical Child: Paidology; The Science of the Child
Chrisman, Oscar
Children; Manners and customs
The finer stools were very much as the chairs, of fine workmanship and
of rare woods inlaid with ivory. Some of the cheaper ones had solid
sides while others had three legs. They had footstools with open or
closed sides, covered with leather or interlaced string, as with the
chairs. They used couches, some of which were most beautiful in form and
workmanship. They used mats and carpets and rugs.
The tables of the Egyptians were round, square, or oblong. They were
generally made of wood, although some were of stone or metal. The
smaller tables often had but one support, in the center, while the
larger ones had three or four legs or were made with solid sides. In
sleeping, for the head they used a low half cylinder, usually of wood,
sometimes of pottery or stone, some of the wooden ones being made of
rare woods and ornamented. The poorer people slept on mats on the floor
but probably the wealthier people had bedsteads made in wicker form of
palm branches and some, perhaps, were of wood and bronze.
=Women and Marriage.= We find the women having considerable power in
ancient Egypt. They had full control of the home, as it appears that
the husband entered the house of his wives, rather than the wives to
have entered his. Royal authority and supreme direction of affairs were
intrusted without reserve to women. The women went often into public, at
some of the public festivals they were even expected to attend with
their husbands. Even greater privileges were accorded to the women of
the middle and lower classes as they often went and came as they liked.
Plurality of wives was allowed, except in the case of priests, who by
law were permitted but one wife. Yet the Egyptians generally restricted
themselves to one wife. Marriage of brother and sister was permitted and
seemingly encouraged from a religious point of view.
Although in most cases they might not have had but one wife, yet they
had concubines. These appear to have been obtained mostly in war or
bought as slaves from foreign dealers, not for most part being native
Egyptian women. These concubines were both white and black, but the
black were used as domestics in the family. Sometimes the white
concubine took a prominent part in the family, ranking next to the wives
and children.
All the children born to a father were considered legitimate whether the
offspring of a wife or of some other woman, but those who were born of a
brother and sister in legitimate marriage took precedence of those whose
mother was of inferior rank or a slave.
The people of old Egypt held strong opinions on the behavior of their
women and so punished adultery very severely. A woman detected in
adultery had her nose cut off, as it was thought this would be a severe
blow to her charms and so make her less attractive. The man was
condemned to receive a bastinado of one thousand blows. If a man used
force toward a free woman he was very cruelly punished.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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