command extended beyond the management of the house, and the regulation of domestic affairs.

It is, however, remarkable that the royal authority and supreme direction of affairs were entrusted without reserve to women, as in those states of modern Europe where the Salic law has not been introduced; and we not only find examples in Egyptian history of queens succeeding to the throne, but Manetho informs us, that the law, according this important privilege to the other sex, dated as early as the reign of Binothris, the third monarch of the second dynasty.*

In primitive ages, the duties of women were very different from those of a later and more civilised period, and varied of course according to the habits of each people. Among pastoral tribes they drew water t, kept the sheep, and superintended the herds as well as flocks. As with the Arabs of the present day, they prepared, both the furniture, and the woollen stuffs of which the tents themselves were made; and like the Greek women they were generally employed in weaving, spinning, and other sedentary occupations within doors. Needle-work and embroidery were a favourite amusement of the Grecian women; in which it is highly probable the Egyptian ladies also occupied much of their time; and we have positive evidence, from the sculptures, of numerous

* Vide suprà, vol. i. p. 26.

+ Gen. xxiv. 15. Exod. ii. 16. As at the present day.

Gen. xxiv. 20., and xxix. 6. 9. Rachel, and also Zipporah and her six sisters, kept their father's sheep. Andromache fed the horses

females being employed in weaving and in the use of the distaff. But Egyptian women were not

kept in the same secluded manner as those of ancient Greece; who, besides being confined* to certain parts of the house, called the yuvaixwvityS, or women's apartments, most remote from the hall of entrance, and generally in the uppermost part of the building, were not even allowed to go out of

* Often not allowed to pass from one part of the house to the other without leave: thus Antigone asked that of her mother, in Euripides' Phoeniss. v. 88. This could not have been the case in Egypt, as we find from Potiphar's wife so constantly meeting Joseph; and from her having" called the men of her house." Gen. xxxix. 14. and 11.

doors without a veil *; as in many Oriental countries at the present day. Newly married women were almost as strictly kept as virgins; and, by the laws of Solon, no lady could go out at night without a lighted torch before her chariot, or leave home with more than three garments. They were guarded in the house and abroad by nurses, and sometimes by old men and eunuchs; and the secluded life they led was very similar to that imposed upon females among the modern Moslems. But the Egyptians treated their women very dif ferently, and in a manner much more worthy of a civilised people; and, if the accounts of ancient authors are sometimes unsatisfactory, and even contradictory, on this head, the sculptures assist us to form our conclusions, and to decide in their favour. At some of the public festivals women were expected to attend, not alone, like the Moslem women at a mosque, but in company with their husbands or relations; and Josephus † states, that on an occasion of this kind, "when it was the custom for women to go to the public solemnity, the wife of Potiphar, having pleaded ill health, in order to be allowed to stay at home, was excused from attending," and availed herself of the absence of her husband to talk with Joseph.

Their faces were covered, but the veil was thin enough to be seen through. It was not, therefore, like the boorko of modern Egypt, which has two holes exposing the eyes, but rather like that of the Wahabees, which covers the whole head and face. The Jewish women also wore a veil; and in Solomon's Song one complains that her veil had been taken from her. C. v. 7. Conf. Genes. xxiv. 65.

*

Diodorus informs us the Egyptians were not restricted to any number of wives, but that every one married as many as he chose, with the exception of the priesthood, who were by law confined to one consort. It does not, however, appear that they generally took advantage of this privilege; and Herodotust affirms that throughout Egypt it was customary to marry only one wife. It is easy to reconcile these statements, by supposing that Diodorus speaks of a law which permitted polygamy, and Herodotus of the usual custom of the people; and if the Egpytians were allowed to take more than one wife, we may conclude, from the numerous scenes illustrative of their domestic life, that it was an event of rare occurrence.

Polygamy is permitted to the Moslem, but it is neither reputable to have more than one wife, nor to divorce her without very cogent reasons; and though no objection can be made when there is no family, it is required, even in this case, that her wishes, and those of her parents, should be consulted; and many marriage contracts stipulate that the wife shall have no partner in the hareem. With much more reason, then, may we conclude that among the higher classes of Egyptians a similar custom prevailed, which will account for no instance of two consorts being given in the sculptures.

Vide

The Jewish chief priest was allowed but one wife, and he could only marry a virgin. Levit. xxi. 13. Every Copt priest, at the present day, is forbidden to marry again on the demise of his wife. Gibbon, ii. c. xv. p. 318., on the opinions of the early fathers respecting second nuptials.

Herodot. ii. 92.

But a very objectionable law, which is not only noticed by Diodorus*, but is fully authenticated by the sculptures both of Upper and Lower Egypt, was in force among them from the earliest times, the origin and policy of which it is not easy to explain. Diodorus supposes that the custom-the marriage of brother and sister-was owing to, and sanctioned by, that of Isis and Osiris; but as this was purely an allegorical fablet, and these ideal personages never lived on earth, his conjecture is of little weight; nor, indeed, would such a circumstance be sufficient to account for so strange a law.

In the time of the patriarchs, as in the case of Abraham and Sarah ‡, and among the Athenians, an Egyptian colony, it was lawful to marry a sister by the father's side, not, however, if born of the same mother; but that this restriction was not observed in Egypt, we have sufficient evidence from the marriages of several of the Ptolemies.

Though the Egyptians generally confined themselves to one wife §, they, like the Jews and other Eastern nations, both of ancient and modern times, scrupled not to admit other inmates to their hareem,

• Diodor. i. 27.

†The same occurs in the Greek mythology. Jupiter and Juno were brother and sister.

Jovisque

Et soror, et conjux." Virg. Æn. i. 50.

Vide Hor. iii. Od. iii. 64., and Homer Il. xvi. 432.

Gen. xx. 12. "She is my sister: she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife." § The Jews were generally contented with one wife, though a plurality was permitted also by their laws. 1 Kings, xi. 3. Like other Oriental people, the Egyptians buried their wives in the same tomb