Predynastic Mortuary Report

restricted the age limit when people could become married. However, for the most part, a common age to get married was fourteen, as this was the age in a girl’s life when she began her menstruation cycle. In the realm of marriage, there was no required legal or religious ceremony. Also, there were no clothing that was special for the bride, no changing of the bride’s name and also no exchanging of rings to indicate the act of marriage itself. This meant that it was only after a girl physically left the protection of her father's house and entered her new home with her husband that she became universally acknowledged as a wife. This meant that the female’s new husband did not become the wife’s new legal guardian in and shape or legal regard.
Also, Suzanne Onstine states “the analysis of Predynastic mortuary data indicates that women and men enjoy a similar social status and that their burials showed no clear indication of patriarchy” (Onstine, 2010, p.5). When analyzing art text and archaeological records throughout ancient Egypt, it is evident that the differences in social status between individuals are evident in almost all products of its ancient culture. Men were distinguished by the type of job they held in the textual record. Hower, in comparison, women were also frequently identified by giving the name and titles of their husband or father, from whom, presumably, they derived their social status. The advancement of the equality between sexes in ancient Egypt can be seen in the legal arena where both women and men could act on their own and were responsible for their own actions. This is in sharp contrast with some other ancient societies, for example in Ancient Greece, where women were not allocated the agency towards legal identity, were not allowed to be in possession of property and, in order to participate in the legal system, they had to work in correspondence through a male figure that was socially close in relation to her, which was usually a close make relative such as her brother, husband, father or son. In contrast to this, Egyptian women were able to use their own name when it came to acquiring, owning, and disposing property of their possession. Contracts could also be entered into by using their own name, and they could also initiate civil court cases, and in the same notion, be sued for doing so. In addition, in ancient Egypt, women also had the agency to serve as witnesses in court cases, on juries, and witness legal documents. However,