Fig. 28 Bronze mirror
mirrors came to be regarded as far more than a simple aid to achieving beauty. The oval mirror, with its inexplicable ability to show a virtual image and reflect and concentrate light, became associated with the religious concepts of life, creation and regeneration and, to a lesser extent, was also connected with the gods of the sun and the moon. The decorated handles of the mirrors reflected these mystical overtones, and often depicted either a papyrus or lotus stalk, representative of creation and reproduction, or the head of Hathor, the personification of love, beauty and fertility.
Even though mirrors must certainly have been used by both men and women they appear to have held a particular significance for women. Tomb illustrations suggest that wealthy ladies treated their mirrors as stylish accessories, carrying them around in a special protective mirror-bag designed to be worn over the shoulder. Tradition decreed that these women should be portrayed with mirrors carefully positioned underneath their chairs. Mirrors became an important element in illustrations representing childbirth, formed one of the standard offerings made by upper-class women to Hathor of Dendera, and were commonly included among female grave goods. All this implies that the mirror itself was regarded by the Egyptians as an obvious symbol of femininity or fertility. Indeed, it has even been suggested that the many illustrations of women at their toilette, all of which involve the use of mirrors, may well have a hidden ritual or sexual significance which is now unfortunately lost to us.
6
The Royal Harem
Beware of the woman who is a stranger in your town. Do not stare at her as she goes by, and avoid sexual intercourse with her. Such a woman, away from her husband, is like deep water whose depth is unknown.
Prudent advice from the New Kingdom Scribe Any
The harem is a concept largely unknown in both ancient and modern western culture. However, the image of the exotic Turkish-style seraglio, a secluded and closely guarded pleasure-palace filled with scantily dressed concubines idling away their days in languid preparation for their sultan’s command, has become an integral part of our western fascination with the mysterious east, a fascination which stretches from the temptingly decadent orientalist paintings of the nineteenth century along the Road to Morocco and beyond. Most inappropriately, it is this vision of a haven of oriental hedonism and secret sensual delights which has heavily influenced our interpretation of the evidence for and against the role of the harem in Egyptian society.
Early excavators fully expected to find Ottoman-style harems in Egypt and so find them they did, ruthlessly classifying almost all single and otherwise unexplained females as either concubines or courtesans in need of male protection. On this shaky basis of dubious identifications and outright guesswork the concept of the wildly polygamous Egyptian society grew to become firmly entrenched in the public imagination, influencing the interpretation of new archaeological finds. It is only in the past few years that egyptologists, aided by new archaeological, linguistic and anthropological research, have come to realize that their understanding has been seriously warped by these preconceived ideas and ingrained assumptions. We now know that there was no direct Egyptian equivalent of the traditional seraglio described above and no widespread tradition of either polygamy or concubinage; the royal harem of the pharaohs certainly did exist, but as a very different place to the high-class brothel of our imagination.
If you wish to retain the friendship of the household which you enter either as a master, a brother or a friend, whatever you do, beware of approaching the women.
Old Kingdom scribal advice
Although the overwhelming majority of Egyptian men remained monogamous, officially restricting themselves to one wife at a time, all householders could find themselves in the position of providing a home for a varied assortment of unmarried or widowed sisters, daughters, aunts, mothers-in-law and mothers. Consequently, the private women’s quarters of any sizeable household or palace could reasonably be classified as a harem, the term being used in its modern sense to refer to either the group of ladies or to their accommodation without any necessary implication of sexual bondage. The king, in his role as head of the royal family, had the duty of supporting a relatively large group of queens, princesses and concubines together with their numerous children, nurses and personal attendants. This group of women constituted the royal harem.
Unfortunately, we do not know how the Egyptians themselves referred to these households of women. During the Old and Middle Kingdoms the term ipet nesut was used to describe a vague but obviously female-based royal institution. This term is now conventionally translated as ‘Harem of the King’, although the exact meaning of ipet is by no means certain and it may well prove equally valid to interpret the ipet nesut as the ‘Royal Women’s Quarters’, the ‘Royal Apartments’ or even the ‘Royal Granary’ or the ‘Royal Accounts Office’.1 Following the traditional translation, various male officials have been identified as ‘Overseer of the Harem’; as this identification rests solely on the interpretation of the word ipet, it may be incorrect. In a similar fashion, the ladies of the royal court who bore vague and non-explicit titles such as ‘Royal Ornament’ or ‘Sole Royal Ornament’ have conventionally been interpreted as royal concubines. However, this is a translation which again reflects the preoccupations of the early egyptologists; it is now clear that the ‘Sole Royal Ornaments’ were eminently respectable First Intermediate Period ladies who were often also priestesses of Hathor, while the more general title of ‘Royal Ornament’ was used to describe the ladies-in-waiting attached to the 13th Dynasty court.