Friday, June 25, 2010

Women in Pharaonic Egypt

Asharq Alawsat (Zahi Hawass)

When we talk about the grand history of [Egypt] which extends more than fifty centuries into the past, we find ourselves continually speaking about the ancient Egyptian man, whether this is ancient Egyptian engineers who built temples and pyramids, the ancient Egyptian doctors who carried out the first medical operations in human history, or the ancient Egyptian artists who carved huge statues and inscribed hieroglyphics on the walls of temples and tombs. However we rarely find mention of ancient Egyptian women, as if this great civilization was built by men alone, and as if ancient society was comprised solely of men, which of course is something that is completely untrue.

Yes, there is a clear injustice regarding how the role that was played by ancient Egyptian women in building this ancient civilization is portrayed in comparison to how the role of men is portrayed; however what is strange is that this injustice is a product of modern research and did not exist within ancient Egyptian society.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How ironic! Hawass has shown nothing but contempt for women, both past and present, in the media. Then again, he is also an anti-semite who likes to talk about how much he does for Jewish monuments in Cairo. It would be hard to find a bigger hypocrite.

AliceG said...

Applause to Anonymous. Couldn't have said it better myself.