Civil and Savage Life Compared. 



Birch, in speaking of the first dynasty, says : 

 " The Egyptian woman appears always as the 

 equal and companion of her father, brethren, and 

 husband. She was never secluded in a harem, 

 but sat at meals with them, had equal rights 

 before the law, served in the priesthood, and even 

 mounted the throne." Rawlinson, writing of 

 the Egyptian of the same period, says : " With 

 a prudent self-restraint, not often seen among 

 Orientals, he limited himself to a single wife, 

 whom he made the partner of his cares and joys, 

 and treated with respect and affection." (" His- 

 tory of Ancient Egypt.") 



Mr. Westermarck writes : " All the state- 

 ments we have from the ancient world seem to 

 indicate that polygamy was an exception. . . . 

 In ancient Egypt, as we may infer from the 

 numerous ancient paintings illustrative of 

 domestic life in that country, polygamy was of 

 rare occurrence, and Herodotus expressly affirms 

 that it was customary for the Egyptians to marry 

 only one wife." 



What a contrast to the domestic life of three 

 or four thousand years later, after Egypt had 

 survived the Old and Middle Empires, and, 

 after a military age, was fast declining ! 

 After the death of Ptolemy Euergetes, "the 

 Egyptian Empire, being governed either by 

 weak monarchs, or wicked monsters, quickly 

 declined, and from that time makes no con- 

 spicuous figure in history, except in the de- 

 pravity of some of its Kings, in which indeed, it 

 may vie with any nation." 



Consanguinous marriages were very common ; 



i 37 



