Dancing for Hathor
Women in Ancient Egypt
Description:... Ancient Egypt is renowned as a sophisticated---and very distant---civilization where the ancient Egyptians worshipped a vibrant pantheon of gods and built some of the most elaborate monuments in human history. Yet, at the same time, ancient Egypt seems strangely familiar. Women, as well as men, went to work, made fun of those in authority, drank too much, and made fools of themselves.
Even the ancients thought Egypt and its women unusual: Herodotus, the Greek historian claimed that the Egyptians in their manners and customs seem to have reversed the ordinary practices of mankind. For instance, women attend market and are employed in trade, while men stay at home and do the weaving...
The goddess Hathor, the most important goddess of ancient Egypt, in many ways exemplified contradictions in the way ancient Egyptian women were considered. She was a goddess of love, beauty and gentleness, but at times she could also be a blood-lusting monster. Hathor was also a goddess of worlds not quite our own, and perhaps the ancient Egyptians also saw their women as other-worldly?
Carolyn Graves-Brown tells the story of the women of ancient Egypt, from goddesses to dancing girls, queens to housewives and offers a reconstruction of this most exotic and intriguing, yet oddly familiar, society.
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