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‘Blood is thicker than water’ Non-Royal Consanguineous Marriage in Ancient Egypt An exploration of economic and biological outcomes
Archaeopress Egyptology 29
Joanne-Marie Robinson
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Non-royal consanguineous marriage in Ancient Egypt An exploration of economic and biological outcomes
Joanne-Marie Robinson
Archaeopress Egyptology 29
Archaeopress Publishing Ltd Summertown Pavilion 18-24 Middle Way Summertown Oxford OX2 7LG www.archaeopress.com
ISBN 978-1-78969-543-4 ISBN 978-1-78969-544-1 (e-Pdf) © J-M Robinson and Archaeopress 2020 Cover image: Reproduced courtesy of the British Museum © The Trustees of the British Museum. Fragment of painted stone tomb-wall, Anhurkhawy and son, Theban Tomb 359, Deir el-Medina, BM EA 1329
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To my husband, Stephen, and to the memory of my family
Contents Acknowledgements������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ x Abbreviations�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xi Glossary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xii Ancient Egyptian Chronology����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xiv Papyri and ostraca����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xv Chapter 1 Ancient Egyptian marriage and kin terms, definitions of consanguinity and consanguineous marriage������������������������������������������������������������� 1 Introduction�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1 Exploring non-royal consanguineous marriage: aims, limitations and hypotheses������� 2 Ancient Egyptian marriage������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 3 Age at Marriage��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 6 Ancient Egyptian kin terms������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 6 Consanguinity and consanguineous marriage����������������������������������������������������������������������� 9 Defining consanguinity������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 9 Categories of consanguineous marriage������������������������������������������������������������������������� 10 Definitions of incest����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 11 Incest avoidance: the incest taboo����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 12 Identifying genetic markers for consanguinity in human remains��������������������������������� 13 Methodology and structure���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 15 Chapter 2 Consanguinity in historical context: evidence from select sources for consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt, the Near East, Greece and Rome �������17 Introduction������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 17 Consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt������������������������������������������������������������������������� 18 Royal consanguineous marriages������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 18 Non-royal consanguineous marriages���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 19 Roman Period���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 19 Ptolemaic Period����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 23 The Pharaonic Period��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 25 Late Period and Third Intermediate Period������������������������������������������������������������� 26 New Kingdom���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 28 Middle Kingdom����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 30 Polygyny and polyandry���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 33
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Evidence for consanguineous marriage outside ancient Egypt���������������������������������������� 34 Judaism: degrees of prohibited marriage����������������������������������������������������������������������� 34 Athens, Sparta and Rome: marriage, law, and degrees of prohibition����������������������� 35 Christianity: degrees of prohibited marriage���������������������������������������������������������������� 36
Consanguineous marriage in Zoroastrianism���������������������������������������������������������������� 38 Consanguineous marriage in Arabia and Islam������������������������������������������������������������� 39 Current religious regulation of first cousin marriage�������������������������������������������������� 39
Conclusion���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 41 Chapter 3 The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods as economic strategies in non-royal consanguineous families�����������������������������������������������������������������������42 Introduction������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 42 Terms of reference: matrimonial goods, gifts and dowry�������������������������������������������� 43
Ancient Egyptian private property, laws of inheritance, and matrimonial goods��������� 43 Ancient Egyptian inheritance law����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 44 The Will of Naunakhte������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 46 Trial at the Temple of Wepwawet in Siut����������������������������������������������������������������� 46 The Adoption Papyrus������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 46
Ancient Egyptian gifts at marriage���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 47
Inheritance law and dowry in Mesopotamia, classical Greece and ancient Rome��������� 48 Mesopotamia����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 48 Classical Greece������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 50 Ancient Rome���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 51
Consanguineous marriage: response to, or reaction against, laws of succession?�������� 54 Consanguineous marriage as an economic strategy in ancient Egypt: land consolidation, inheritance and matrimonial goods������������������������������������������������������������ 56 Protection against disintegration of land ownership: continuity, loss and acquisition���� 56 Consanguineous marriage: financial commitments, family expectations and timing of transfers�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 58
Case study: Marriage, consanguinity and economics in Ptolemaic Pathyris������������������ 60 Ptolemaic Pathyris and family archives�������������������������������������������������������������������������� 60 Comparisons between marriage settlements and other economic transactions����� 61 Categories of consanguineous marriage������������������������������������������������������������������� 62
Requirements and financial commitments in demotic marriage settlements �������������� 63 John Rylands demotic marriage settlements����������������������������������������������������������������� 64 Comparisons between financial commitments and unusual features within them66 Potential implications in the value of marriage settlements in the Archive of Pelaias and the Archive of Horos������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 68 ii
Consanguineous and non-consanguineous economic transactions in the Archive of Pelaias and the Archive of Horos�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 70 Texts and transactions in the Archive of Pelaias����������������������������������������������������������� 71 Texts and transactions in the Archive of Horos������������������������������������������������������������� 72 Consanguineous economic transactions in the Archive of Horos������������������������������ 74 The woman’s matrimonial goods, modern dowry and the economics of consanguinity��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 75 Case study summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 77 Conclusion���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 78 Chapter 4 Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts: family interrelationships, occupations, offspring, and expectations of altruism and reciprocity �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������80 Introduction������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 80 Terms of reference: altruism and reciprocity���������������������������������������������������������������� 82 Number of consanguineous marriages, networks of interrelated families and types of cousin marriages������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 83 Consanguineous families and interrelated networks��������������������������������������������������� 84 Preferences and outcomes of jural and affective ties in marriages between parallel and cross cousins������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 85 Occupations within consanguineous marriages in Deir el-Medina: occupation of husband, husband’s father, and wife’s father���������������������������������������������������������������������� 90 Offspring of consanguineous marriages and numbers of known children in their family trees�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 92 Economic transactions in Deir el-Medina and expectations of altruism and reciprocity in consanguineous families�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 95 Gift-giving���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 96 Debts and credit������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 97 Informal object exchange and barter������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 99 Family transfers and expectations�������������������������������������������������������������������������� 100 What affects willingness to give and expectation to receive?����������������������������������������� 102 Legal bodies and regulatory mechanisms in Deir el-Medina������������������������������������ 102 The local court (ḳnbt)������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 102 The oracle�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 104 Social networks and informal controls on behaviour������������������������������������������������ 105 Trust and cooperation between families related by consanguinity and affinity �������� 107 Altruism, trust and trustworthiness amongst family members ������������������������������ 107 Sliding scales of altruism and reciprocity in Deir el-Medina������������������������������������ 110 Reputation formation and trustworthiness in Deir el-Medina��������������������������������� 111 Conclusion�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 112 iii
Chapter 5 Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage: prevalence, impact and perceptions of abnormality in ancient Egypt��������������������115 Introduction���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 115 Reported congenital anomalies in mummified and skeletal remains in ancient Egypt���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 116 Consanguineous marriage: ancient evidence and modern biological outcomes��������� 117 Consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt���������������������������������������������������������������� 117 Congenital anomalies and morbidity in infancy and childhood reported at increased frequency in modern consanguineous families���������������������������������������� 117 Consanguinity and non-syndromic cleft lip/palate (CL/P) and cleft palate (CP)�������� 118 Characteristics of cleft lip/palate and cleft palate and their reported incidence in modern and ancient populations����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 119 Cleft lip/palate and cleft lip in ancient Egypt�������������������������������������������������������������� 121 Consanguinity and intellectual and developmental disorders��������������������������������������� 125 Characteristics of intellectual and developmental disorders and their reported incidence in modern and ancient populations������������������������������������������������������������ 127 Attitudes towards intellectual and developmental impairment in ancient Greece�� 128 Attitudes towards intellectual and developmental impairment in ancient Egypt 131 Functioning and adaptive ability, accommodation of impairment, and provision of care�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 136 Infant survival and functioning and adaptive behaviour associated with nonsyndromic orofacial clefting������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 136 Infant survival and functioning and adaptive behaviour associated with intellectual and developmental disorders�������������������������������������������������������������������� 137 Accommodation of impairment and provision of care for non-syndromic orofacial clefting and intellectual and developmental disorders in ancient Egypt������������������ 139 Cleft lip and cleft lip and palate������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 139 Intellectual and developmental disorders������������������������������������������������������������� 140 Perceptions of health, sickness and disability in ancient Egypt������������������������������������� 142 The medical papyri����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 143 Therapeutic dreams and ritual bathing������������������������������������������������������������������������ 144 Cemeteries and intramural burials�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 146 Physical abnormalities in iconography ����������������������������������������������������������������������� 148 Funerary ritual: renewal, protection and sustenance������������������������������������������������ 150 Consanguineous marriage and the provision of support networks������������������������������� 151 Conclusion�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 153
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Chapter 6 Conclusion������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������155 Appendix 1 Table of probable or possible non-royal consanguineous marriages from select sources���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������158 Appendix 2 Details of consanguineous and affinal links between consanguineously married couples in Deir el-Medina (see chapter four, table 4.3 and figure 4.1) ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������175 Marriage number 1: Anhurkhawy (i) and Henutdjuu (i)�������������������������������������������������� 175 Marriage number 2: Nebmehyt (iii) and Henutmehyt (iv)����������������������������������������������� 175 Marriage number 3: Buqentuf (i) and Iyi (iii)��������������������������������������������������������������������� 175 Marriage number 4: Iyernutef (ii) and Tabaki (i)��������������������������������������������������������������� 176 Marriage number 5: Amennakht (x) and Tarekhanu (i)��������������������������������������������������� 177 Marriage number 6: Pashedu (ii) and Tanodjemethemsi (ii)/Nodjemhemsiset (i)������ 177 Marriage number 7: Nekhemmut (i) and Webkhet (vi/viii)�������������������������������������������� 177 Marriage number 8: Khnummose (i) and Henuwati (i)/(ii)��������������������������������������������� 178 Marriage number 9: Ipuy (viii) and Henutmire (i)������������������������������������������������������������ 179 Marriage number 10: Penrennut (i) and Tadehnetemheb (i)������������������������������������������ 179 Marriage number 11: Khons (vi) and Taweretemheb (ii)������������������������������������������������� 180 Appendix 3 Number of known children in the eight family trees in which there are consanguineous marriages ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������181 Notes to Appendix 3��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 182 Bibliography�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������184
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List of Figures Figure 1.1: Categories of consanguineous marriage. Source: after Hamamy et al., Consanguineous Marriages, Pearls and Perils: Geneva International Consanguinity Workshop Report, 2011: 844������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 11 Figure 2.1: Numbers of probable or possible non-royal consanguineous marriages in ancient Egypt allocated to historical periods (reported in select sources, see Appendix 1)�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 20 Figure 2.2: The seven degrees of relationship from a common ancestor based on the civil Roman system. Source: Schwimmer, https://umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/ anthropology/tutor/descent/cognatic/civil.html (1998). Accessed 4.10.2016�������������� 36 Figure 2.3: The four degrees of relationship from a common ancestor based on canon law. Source: after Schwimmer, https://umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/ tutor/descent/cognatic/canon.html (1998). Accessed 4.10.2016������������������������������������� 37 Figure 2.4: Current global prevalence of consanguineous marriage. Source: Courtesy of Global Consanguinity website (www.consang.net), copyright Alan Bittles 2015. Map constructed by Michael Black������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 40 Figure 3.1: Comparison between the woman’s goods and the man’s gift committed in marriage settlements in the Rylands demotic papyri. The figures at the bottom of each column are the values in silver deben�������������������������������������������������������������������������� 67 Figure 3.2: Percentage comparison of the woman’s goods in the Archive of Pelaias and the Archive of Horos. The figures at the bottom of each column are the values in silver deben�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 69 Figure 3.3: Types of documents belonging to family members in the Archive of Pelaias. The archive contains 12 demotic and 11 Greek texts (plus P. Ryl. Dem. 30 which is linked to the archive)��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 71 Figure 3.4: Texts and transactions associated with family members in the Archive of Pelaias.���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 71 Figure 3.5: The Archive of Horos contains 34 demotic, 25 Greek and one bilingual texts. Nineteen of the transactions in this archive are between consanguineous family members and/or their affines������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 73 Figure 3.6: Number of economic transactions between families or individuals related through consanguinity, or related through affinity to consanguineous family, in the Archive of Horos. Source for document types in the Archive of Horos: Vandorpe and Waebens, 2008: 131������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 73 Figure 4.1: Consanguineous marriages in Deir el-Medina and their links through consanguinity and affinity to other first cousin marriages, 19th–20th dynasties��������� 90 Figure 4.2: Number of marriages and offspring in family trees with one or more consanguineous marriages (gen. = generations)����������������������������������������������������������������� 93
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Figure 5.1: Cleft lip (cleft premaxilla) (young child): A normal (with dotted lines outlining the premaxilla), B incomplete unilateral left cleft, C complete left unilateral cleft, D bilateral cleft, E midline cleft, F agenesis of the maxilla - wide cleft. Source: Redrawn by author after Barnes, Atlas of Developmental Field Anomalies of the Human Skeleton: A Paleopathology Perspective, 2012: 28��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 120 Figure 5.2: Cleft lip (premaxilla) with cleft (maxillary) palate (young child): A normal (with dotted lines outlining the premaxilla), B incomplete left cleft lip with unilateral left cleft palate, C unilateral left cleft lip and palate, D bilateral cleft lip and palate, E midline cleft lip and palate, F agenesis of the premaxilla with wide midline cleft palate. Source: Redrawn by author after Barnes, Atlas of Developmental Field Anomalies of the Human Skeleton: A Paleopathology Perspective, 2012: 29.�������������������������������������������� 122 Figure 5.3: Large bilateral cleft of the central and posterior area of the palate, adult female, X group, Ballana Culture, Nubia, AD 400–600. Photograph courtesy of Roger Forshaw������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 124 Figure 5.4: Frontal view of the 25th dynasty skull with midline cleft lip and absence of incisor teeth. The white area is the crown of the right canine lying horizontally across the middle line below the nasal spine. Source: Derry, 1938, Two Skulls with Absence of Premaxilla, Journal of Anatomy, 72, part 2, plate 1, figure 1. Reproduced courtesy of the Journal of Anatomy������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 124 Figure 5.5: Profile view of the 25th dynasty skull with the mandible in position. The upper teeth have been caught between the teeth of the mandible and have been pushed upwards and inwards because of the reduced size of the palate. Source: Derry, 1938, Two Skulls with Absence of Premaxilla, Journal of Anatomy, 72, part 2, plate 1, figure 3. Reproduced courtesy of the Journal of Anatomy������������������������������������������ 125 Figure 5.6: Axial CT scan showing bony cleft in midline (straight white arrow). A wad of resin-soaked linen was put over the right side of the child’s nose to restore the natural facial contours (curved white arrow). Copyright: American Roentgen Ray Society, 2002����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 126 Figure 5.7: A volume-rendered shaded-surface-display CT image showing a midline cleft lip. Source: Hoffman and Hudgins, Head and skull base features of nine Egyptian mummies: evaluation with high-resolution CT and reformation techniques, American Journal of Roentgenology, 2002, 178 (6): 1373, figure 11, A and B. Copyright: American Roentgen Ray Society, 2002��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 126 Figure 5.8: Funerary stela of Roma the doorkeeper, dedicated to the goddess Astarte, 18th dynasty. The depiction of Roma’s physical condition could indicate poliomyelitis, talipes equinovarus, and/or cerebral palsy. Reproduced courtesy of Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Photograph: Ole Haupt��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 149 Figure 5.9: Attendants in the tomb of Baqt I, Middle Kingdom. The feet of the figure in the centre of the lower register suggest talipes equinovarus, while the figure to the left appears to have kyphosis and the figure to the right may be a dwarf. Redrawn by author after Newberry, Beni Hasan, 1894, Part 2, tomb no. 29, south wall, plate 32��� 149
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List of Tables Table 1.1 Summary of basic kin terms used across historical periods, their extended meanings using Euro-American terminology, and kin types. Sources: after Franke, Kinship, 2001: 245-46; Lustig, Kinship, gender and age in Middle Kingdom tomb scenes and texts, 1997: 45; Price, Archaism and filial piety: an unusual Late Period pair statue, 2016: 493, note k; Robins, The relationships specified in Egyptian kinship terms of the Middle and New Kingdoms, 1992: 204; Willems, A description of Egyptian kin terminology of the Middle Kingdom, c. 2000–1650 B.C., 1983: 153–65������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 7 Table 1.2 Biological relationships (using Euro-American terminology) and genetic relationships. Source: Bittles, Consanguinity in Context, 2012: 6����������������������������������������� 10 Table 2.1: Incidence of consanguineous marriages in the Roman census returns in Egypt. Sources: Bagnall and Frier, The Demography of Roman Egypt, 2006: 128; Scheidel, Measuring Sex, Age and Death in the Roman Empire: Explorations in Ancient Demography, 1996a: 11������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 20 Table 2.2: Number of funerary stelae on which it is possible to determine genealogical indications and where the wife is called ‘his wife’ or ‘his sister’. Source: Černý, Consanguineous Marriage in Ancient Egypt, 1954: 25��������������������������������������������������������������� 26 Table 2.3: Number of funerary stelae on which it is possible to identify both parents or mother only. Source: Černý, Consanguineous Marriage in Ancient Egypt, 1954: 27������������� 30 Table 2.4: Current religious regulation of first cousin marriage. Source: Bittles and Black, Consanguineous Marriage and Human Evolution, 2010b: 196��������������������������������������� 40 Table 3.1: Genetic relationships between consanguineous family members. Source: after Bittles, Consanguinity in Context, 2012: 6��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 63 Table 3.2: Archive owners and money and goods committed in the Rylands demotic marriage settlements from Pathyris. Sources: Vandorpe and Waebens, Reconstructing Pathyris’ Archives: A Multicultural Community in Hellenistic Egypt, 2009: 156–58; Pestman, Marriage and Matrimonial Property in Ancient Egypt, 1961, Chart A (deeds of type A); Griffith, The Adler Papyri, 1909, Vol. 3: 130–63���������������������������������������������������������������������� 64 Table 3.3: Different valuations of the man’s gift and the woman’s goods in P. Ryl. Dem. 20������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 66 Table 3.4: Money and goods committed in the marriage settlements in the Archive of Horos, son of Nechouthes. Sources: Griffith, The Adler Papyri, 1909: 89-93, 99-101; Pestman, Marriage and Matrimonial Property in Ancient Egypt, 1961, Chart A (deeds of Type A)��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 69 Table 3.5: Economic transactions between consanguineous family members and their affines in the Archive of Horos, son of Nechouthes. The family relationship and genetic relationship to Horos are listed according to each transaction�������������������������� 74
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Table 4.1: Number of consanguineous marriages as a percentage of the overall number of known marriages in Deir el-Medina between the 19th–20th dynasties. Sources: Based on family trees nos. 1–47, Davies, Who’s Who in Deir el-Medina, 1999; Bierbrier, The Late New Kingdom in Egypt, 1975: 30��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 85 Table 4.2: Preferred cousin marriage in order of priority amongst mainly urban Muslim and Christian Egyptians. Numbers 2 and 3 for women were often considered interchangeable. Source: Rugh, The Family in Contemporary Egypt, 1986: 111������������������� 87 Table 4.3: Consanguineous marriages in Deir el-Medina and consanguineous and affinal links between couples. See Appendix 2 for notes detailing the consanguineous and affinal links illustrated in this table and figure 4.1. Sources for family trees: Davies, Who’s Who in Deir el-Medina, 1999; Bierbrier, CdE 59, 1984: 208-10; H.T.B.M Part 10, 1982: 27; The Late New Kingdom in Egypt, 1975: 30-35. Spelling of names and the roman numerals identifying individuals follows Davies 1999������������������������������������������������������� 89
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Acknowledgements This book has evolved from doctoral research conducted at the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology at the University of Manchester. My grateful thanks to Andrew Chamberlain and Rosalie David for their guidance, support and encouragement at all times. I have enjoyed and been stimulated by the many constructive conversations we have had together. I would also like to express my appreciation to Glenn Godenho and Keith White for their time, consideration and thoughtful comments. My thanks also to Angela Thomas and Joyce Tyldesley for their advice and support. I am grateful to Leire Olabarria for her encouragement and valuable comments on kinship and family. My thanks to Campbell Price for his careful reading of the Deir elMedina material and his constructive comments, and my thanks to Lena Tambs for her advice on social network theory. I am grateful to Roger Forshaw and Iwona KozieradzkaOgunmakin for the thoroughness of their reading on the chapter of biological outcomes of consanguinity and for their encouragement, and to Konstantina Drosou for her guidance in relation to ancient DNA research. My thanks to Alan Bittles for his thoughtful reading and comments on biological and socioeconomic outcomes of contemporary consanguineous marriage. I am grateful to Paul John Frandsen for his support and interest in this research and to Roberta Mazza for providing the opportunity to discuss my research on the Archives of Pelaias and Horos at the John Rylands Research Institute. My thanks to Thomas Christiansen for his guidance on texts now accepted as part of the Archive of Horos and for his help on demotic and Coptic terms for ‘madness’, and also to Jonathan Featherstone for his advice on Arabic terms for ‘madness’. My gratitude to the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology for travel and study awards and to the current and former staff and research associates at the KNH Centre for their support throughout this research. The editorial staff at Archaeopress have patiently guided the production of this book and I am especially grateful to David Davison and Ben Heaney. Finally, my deep gratitude to my parents and family for all that they have given me. My special thanks to my husband, Stephen, for his constant friendship, patience and encouragement, without him I could not have carried out this research.
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Abbreviations BF
Bagnall and Frier, The Demography of Roman Egypt, 2006, 1994, Cambridge
BM EA
British Museum Egyptian Antiquities
CdE
Chronique d’Égypte
CG
Catalogue Général des Antiquités Égyptiennes du Musée du Caire
CJ
The Codex of Justinian
CTh.
The Codex of Theodosius
Dig.
The Digest of Justinian
Inst.
The Institutes of Gaius
HTBM
Hieroglyphic texts from Egyptian stelae, etc., in the British Museum, Parts 1-11, London.
IFAO
Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale
JE
Journal d’Entrée (Cairo Museum)
KRI
Kitchen Ramesside Inscriptions, Historical and Biographical, 8 Vols, Oxford
Laws
Plato, Laws
LL
Laws of Lipit-Ishtar
LH
Laws of Hammurabi
MK
Middle Kingdom
MDAIK
Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abt. Kairo
NBL
Neo-Babylonian Laws
MAL
Middle Assyrian Laws
OBT
Old Babylonian Tablets (Tell Rimah)
OED
Oxford English Dictionary
RT
Rowlandson and Takahashi, Journal of Roman Studies 99, 2009:104-39
UCL
University College London
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Glossary1 affinity: related through marriage agnatic: see patrilineal cognatic: related by genealogical ties without particular emphasis on patrilineal or matrilineal connections cross cousin: child of a father’s sister or mother’s brother ego: the individual who forms the central reference point in a kinship diagram endogamy: inmarriage, marriage to an individual within a defined social group, category, or range exogamy: outmarriage, marriage to an individual outside a defined social group, category, or range extended family: a unit composed of two or more nuclear families related by descent or marriage (may be residential or a domestic group/s) kin group: a social group based on kinship ties kin term: a category that groups together a unique set of kinship relationships, or kin types kin type: a unique, uncategorised kinship relationship levirate: a rule or custom whereby a widow preferably marries a brother of her deceased husband matrilateral: related through a mother, mother’s side matrilineal (uterine): related by tracing common descent exclusively through female ancestors and descendants matrilocal residence: a norm which requires the husband, at marriage, to leave his family to live with, or nearby, his wife’s family neolocal residence: establishment of an independent household nuclear family (biological): a resident unit consisting of parent/s and offspring, as defined by English language usage 1
Glossary sources collated from Hendry 2016, Schusky (compiled glossary) 1972, Schwimmer 2003b.
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parallel cousin: child of a father’s brother or mother’s sister partible inheritance: an inheritance system which subdivides a person’s property amongst all his/her children patrilateral: related through a father, father’s side patrilineal (agnatic): related by tracing common descent through male ancestors and descendants patrilocal residence: a norm that, upon marriage, requires the woman to leave her family to live with, or nearby, her husband’s family polyandry: marriage involving one woman to more than one man polygamy: marriage of a person to more than one spouse polygyny: marriage involving one man to more than one woman stem family: a family formed when only one child (usually a son) remains resident with his/ her parents and the others set up new households taboo: something prohibited, often because of association with a wider system of classification, that may be related to ideas of pollution, or to the notion of sacred in any society uxorilocal residence: rule that, upon marriage, a man moves into his wife’s household virilocal residence: rule that, upon marriage, a woman moves into her husband’s household
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Ancient Egyptian Chronology Early Dynastic Period 3000 – 2890 1st dynasty 2890 – 2686 2nd dynasty Old Kingdom 2686 – 2613 3rd dynasty 2613 – 2494 4th dynasty 2494 – 2345 5th dynasty 2345 – 2181 6th dynasty 2181 – 2160 7th and 8th dynasties First Intermediate Period 2160 – 2025 9th and 10th dynasties 2125 – 2055 11th dynasty (Thebes only) Middle Kingdom 2055 – 1985 11th dynasty (all Egypt) 1985 – 1773 12th dynasty 1773 – after 1650 13th dynasty 1773 – 1650 14th dynasty
Third Intermediate Period 1069– 945 21st dynasty 945 – 715 22nd dynasty 818 – 715 23rd dynasty 727 – 715 24th dynasty 747 – 656 25th dynasty Late Period 664 – 525 525 – 404 404 – 399 399 – 380 380 – 343 343 – 332
26th dynasty 1st Persian Period 28th dynasty 29th dynasty 30th dynasty 2nd Persian Period
Ptolemaic Period 332 – 30 Roman Period 30 – AD 395
Second Intermediate Period 1650 – 1550 15th dynasty 1650 – 1580 16th dynasty 1580 – 1550 17th dynasty New Kingdom 1550 – 1295 18th dynasty 1295 – 1186 19th dynasty 1186 – 1069 20th dynasty Source: Shaw, The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, 2003: 481-89 (abridged). Dates are BC unless otherwise stated.
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Papyri and ostraca Abbreviations of Greek and demotic documentary papyri follow Duke University’s Checklist of Editions of Greek, Latin, Coptic and Demotic Papyri, Ostraca and Tablets at: https:// library.duke.edu/rubenstein/scriptorium/papyrus/texts/clist.html. Deir el-Medina ostraca and papyri are indexed in the Deir el-Medina database at: http:// dmd.wepwawet.nl. The database provides publications and a concordance for other numbers associated with each entry. BGU Aegyptische Urkunden aus den Königlichen (later Staatlichen) Museen zu Berlin, Griechische Urkunden. CPR Corpus Papyrorum Raineri O. DeM Ostraca Deir el-Medina O. Brit. Mus. Ostraca British Museum P. Adl. The Adler Papyri, Greek texts ed. E.N. Adler, J.G. Tait, F.M. Heichelheim. Demotic texts ed. F.Ll. Griffith. Oxford 1939. P. Amh. The Amherst Papyri, Being an Account of the Greek Papyri in the Collection of the Right Hon. Lord Amherst of Hackney, F.S.A. at Didlington Hall, Norfolk, ed. B.P. Grenfell and A.S. Hunt. London. P. Ashm. Catalogue of the Demotic Papyri in the Ashmolean Museum P. Berl. Leihg. Berliner Leihgabe griechischer Papyri P. Bib. Nat. Papyrus Bibliothèque Nationale P. Brit. Mus. Catalogue of the Demotic Papyri in the British Museum P. Brux. Papyri Bruxellenses Graecae P. Cair. Service des Antiquités de l’Égypte, Catalogue Général des Antiquités Égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Die demotischen Denkmäler. P. Carlsb. The Carlsberg Papyri P. Chic. Haw. Oriental Institute Hawara Papyri: Demotic and Greek Texts from an Egyptian Family Archive in the Fayum (Fourth to Third Century B.C.), ed. G.R. Hughes and R. Jasnow with a contribution by J.G. Keenan. Chicago 1997. P. Choach. Survey The Archive of the Theban Choachytes, P.W. Pestman. Leuven 1993. P. Ehevertr. Ägyptische Eheverträge, ed. E. Lüddeckens. Wiesbaden 1960. (Äg. Abh. 1) P. Fam. Tebt. A Family Archive from Tebtunis, ed. B.A. van Groningen. Leiden 1950. (Pap. Lugd. Bat. VI).
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P. Fay. Fayum Towns and their Papyri, ed. B.P. Grenfell, A.S. Hunt and D.G. Hogarth. London 1900. P. Flor. Papiri greco-egizii, Papiri Fiorentini P. Gebelen Heid. Die demotischen Gebelen-Urkunden der Heidelberger Papyrus-Sammlung, ed. U. Kaplony-Heckel. Heidelberg 1963. P. Gen. Les Papyrus de Genève P. Giss. Griechische Papyri im Museum des Oberhessischen Geschichtsvereins zu Giessen, ed. O. Eger, E. Kornemann, and P.M. Meyer. Leipzig-Berlin 1910—1912. P. Grenf. II. New Classical Fragments and Other Greek and Latin Papyri, ed. B.P. Grenfell and A.S. Hunt. Oxford 1897. Nos. 1—113. P. Hausw. The Hauswaldt Papyri, ed. J. Manning. Sommerhausen 1997. (Dem.Stud. XII). P. Hawara Demotische Urkunden aus Hawara, ed. E. Lüddeckens, with R. Wassermann and for the Greek, R.W. Daniel. Stuttgart 1998. P. Heid. Veröffentlichungen aus der Heidelberger Papyrussammlung P. IFAO Papyrus Grecs de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale. Cairo. (Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale du Caire. Bibliothèque d’Étude). P.Kron. L’Archivio di Kronion, ed. D. Foraboschi. Milan 1971. P. Lips. Griechische Urkunden der Papyrussammlung zu Leipzig P. Lond. Greek Papyri in the British Museum P. Lonsdorfer Papyrus Lonsdorfer I, ed. H. Junker. Vienna 1921. P. Ludg. Bat. Papyrologica Lugduno-Batava 19, E. Boswinkel, E. Pestman, Textes grecs, démotiques et bilingues. Leiden 1978. P. Mich. Michigan Papyrus P. Mil. Papiri Milanesi. I, fasc. I, ed. A. Calderini. Milan 1928. 2nd ed. S. Daris, 1967. (2nd ed. is Vol. I of Pubblicazioni dell’Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Contributi, Serie Terza, Pubbl. di “Aegyptus,” I). P. Oxy. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Published by the Egypt Exploration Society in GraecoRoman Memoirs. London. P. Phil. Dem. A Family Archive from Thebes. Demotic Papyri in the Philadelphia and Cairo Museum from the Ptolemaic Period, M. El-Amir. Cairo 1959. P. Ryl. Catalogue of the Greek and Latin Papyri in the John Rylands Library, Manchester. Manchester. I, Literary Texts, ed. A.S. Hunt. 1911. Nos. 1-61. P. Ryl. Dem. Catalogue of the Demotic Papyri in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, ed. F. Ll. Griffith. Manchester 1909. P. Select. Papyri Selectae, ed. E. Boswinkel, P.W. Pestman and P.J. Sijpesteijn. Leiden 1965.
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PSI Papiri greci e latini. (Pubblicazioni della Società Italiana per la ricerca dei papiri greci e latini in Egitto). Florence. P. Stras. Griechische Papyrus der Kaiserlichen Universitäts- und Landes-bibliothek zu Strassburg, ed. F. Preisigke. Leipzig. P. Tebt. The Tebtunis Papyri. London. P. Vind. Worp Einige Wiener Papyri, ed. K.A. Worp. Amsterdam 1972. SB Sammelbuch griechischer Urkunden aus Ägypten
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Chapter 1
Ancient Egyptian marriage and kin terms, definitions of consanguinity and consanguineous marriage Introduction This book aims to explore and assess the potential economic and biological outcomes of marriage in ancient Egypt between kin biologically related beyond the level of sibling and half-sibling. When consanguineous marriages are discussed in Egyptological literature, studies often focus on brother-sister marriages recorded in census returns from Roman Egypt, or on royal sibling marriages amongst the ruling Ptolemies.1 Sibling marriages in Egypt also attracted historical attention, for example, early in the 1st century AD, Philo of Alexandria claimed Egyptians were free ‘to marry any sister of every degree whether they belonged to one of their brother’s parents or both’ (De specialibus legibus, 3. 23). However, evidence is comparatively rare in ancient Egyptian sources for marriages between siblings (genetically first-degree relatives who share fifty percent of their genes) and half-siblings (genetically second-degree relatives who share twenty-five percent of their genes) (see Černý 1954: 23-29). Marriages between more distant biological kin, such as first or second cousins, were likely to be more commonplace amongst non-royal families in all historical periods, but are difficult to identify in the historical record. This is the first time that evidence for non-royal consanguineous marriage has been collated from select sources from the Middle Kingdom to the Roman Period and a process created to investigate the potential economic and biological outcomes of these unions. I argue that for some families, and under certain conditions, consanguineous marriage was a preferred economic strategy in terms of gifts given at marriage and in inheritance, and that families who married consanguineously may have received greater levels of intra-familial support without the expectation of reciprocity. Although there may have been adverse biological outcomes arising from recessive gene disorders in the offspring of consanguineous marriages, I propose that these physical or cognitive anomalies were not distinguished from other medical disorders in the general health environment of ancient Egypt. This research primarily focuses on ancient Egyptian documentary and archaeological sources, including human remains, and is informed by research on consanguinity from a range of disciplines including anthropology, demography, economics, genetics and pathology. The working definition of consanguineous marriage used throughout this research is that defined by clinical geneticists: unions contracted between cousins biologically related as second cousins or closer biological kin (Bittles 2001b: 89; see also table 1.2). This 1 For example, Ager (2005:1-34); Bagnall and Frier (2006: 127-34); Bixler (1982: 264-73); Hopkins (1980: 303-54); Scheidel (1996a: 9-51).
1
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ definition is a modern concept applied to biological relationships and used here as a tool to categorise marriages between close family members. Ancient Egyptian kin terms have equivalent kin types in Euro-American terminology – father, mother, son, daughter, sister, brother, husband, wife – and Egyptians used their kin terms, or compounds of them, to denote relationships equivalent to the biological relationships defined in clinical genetics. However, these kin terms were more than one-to-one equivalences due to the wide fluidity and flexibility in the use of Egyptian kin terms and the range of individuals included in kinship groups, as well as diachronic change in their application (Franke 2001: 245-48; with particular reference to the Middle Kingdom, see Franke 1983; Olabarria 2020a: 63-71). The extended use of kin terms in ancient Egypt, and the flexibility of their application for biological and non-biological kin, is one of the reasons why consanguineous marriages are not only difficult to determine, but also open to misinterpretation to a modern reader. While this research specifically examines the potential outcomes of consanguineous marriage, there is no evidence to suggest that Egyptians categorised marriages as specifically consanguineous or otherwise. However, most families are likely to have been aware of marrying individuals with whom they had a close biological relationship. Bureaucratic requirements sometimes dictated the naming of family and household members and by the time of the Roman census returns the names, ages, parentage and professions of all household residents were listed, led by the declarant, although the amount of details given varied according to locality (Bagnall and Frier 2006: 22-25).2 In comparison, the data in the Ptolemaic tax-lists refers back to the household-head (predominantly a male) who is identified by his patronymic, so that the father’s relationship to the children is attested, but a woman is named as his wife, and not as mother of the children (Clarysse and Thompson 2006: 324, 328).3 Even though these administrative documents are potentially valuable for constructing genealogies (albeit limited by the information requested), the fragmentary nature of the finds still challenges the identification of consanguineous marriage. Sometimes, there is the fortuitous survival of a family archive, such as the Archive of Horos, son of Nechouthes, who lived in Ptolemaic Pathyris, which allows the prosopographic construction of a family and their economic transactions (see chapter three). Beyond the administrative and legal texts, some individuals or families displayed preferences for recording genealogies, for example, in the tombs at Deir el-Medina discussed in chapter four, and used in combination with surviving formal and informal documentary sources, probable biological relationships between families in the village can be identified. Exploring non-royal consanguineous marriage: aims, limitations and hypotheses The idea for this research arose from the high number of consanguineous marriages reported in the Roman census returns from Egypt. The quality of the evidence indicating sibling marriages, the estimated scale of the unions, and their apparent social acceptability has attracted scholarly debate since the late 19th century. Two major pieces of research on the census returns by Hombert and Préaux (1952) and Bagnall and Frier (2006, 1994) Bagnall and Frier (2006: 57) use Kertzer’s (1991: 156) definition of a household: ‘group of coresidents, people who live under the same roof and typically share in common consumption’. 3 Clarysse and Thompson (2006: 301) found that 49 out of 427 households were headed by women. 2
2
Ancient Egyptian marriage and kin terms are part of the extensive literature on this rarely documented practice.4 While sibling marriages constitute 16.5% of 121 marriages listed in the census returns, there are also four half sibling marriages and two first cousin marriages, although Scheidel (1996b: 322) believes the incidence of first cousin marriage is probably ‘massively underestimated’ as the parents of the spouses would need to live in the same house to be listed. Surviving sources from the historical periods reviewed in this study suggest marriage predominantly amongst first cousins, although this assessment is affected by the limitations discussed above. However, the existence of non-royal consanguineous marriages led me to question why marriages between close relatives were preferable amongst some families and, in particular, what economic advantages and adverse biological outcomes may have resulted from these unions? The research presented in the book examines the following three hypotheses: i.
consanguineous marriage mitigates the fragmentation of moveable and immoveable property, and alleviates pressure on families in terms of the timing and amount of gifts given in marriage and in inheritance – examined in the context of economic transactions in family archives from the Ptolemaic garrison town of Pathyris. ii. families related consanguineously have more flexible terms of reciprocity and a greater willingness to act altruistically than non-consanguineous families – examined in the context of economic transactions in the New Kingdom workmen’s village of Deir el-Medina. iii. congenital anomalies and morbidity in infancy and childhood resulting from consanguineous marriage were not distinguished from other health conditions by the ancient Egyptians, and individuals with physical abnormalities or cognitive disorders were neither socially excluded nor considered ‘disabled’ – examined in the context of orofacial clefts and intellectual and developmental disorders, which are recorded at increased frequency in consanguineous marriages. Ancient Egyptian marriage Much of the evidence for marriage settlements dates from the Late Period onwards in the form of legal documents recording economic arrangements, drawn up by some families at marriage or after marriage. Although the majority of evidence for family law appears in demotic and Greek documents from the Late Period, Johnson (1996: 180) believes they reflect many of the social and legal assumptions of earlier periods, commenting that even though many scholars treat later stages of Egyptian history as ‘polluted’ by foreign contact, Egyptian culture remained strong and became more visible through post-New Kingdom documents. Johnson has also contributed extensively to studies on aspects of marriage and legal arrangements, including Middle Kingdom ἰmyt-pr documents (1999: 169-72); ‘annuity contracts’ drawn up in settlement of marriage and/or marital property (1994: 113-32); private property envisioned in marriage and inheritance demotic documents (2015: 2494 For example, see Frandsen (2009: 36-60); Hopkins (1980: 303-54); Huebner (2007: 21-49); Modrzejewski (1964: 52-82); Parker (1996: 362-76); Remijsen and Clarysse (2008: 53-61); Rowlandson and Takahashi (2009: 104-39); Scheidel (2004: 93-108, 1995: 143-55, 1996a: 319-40); Shaw (1992: 267-99); Thierfelder (1960).
3
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ 65); sex and marriage (2003: 149-59), and the legal status of women in ancient Egypt (1996: 175-86).5 In the absence of evidence for legal processes to formalise a marital union (outside economic arrangements) or religious sanctioning of marriage in ancient Egypt, marriage was the cohabitation of two people with the intention of creating a household and raising a family; it was a private matter, unrecorded by the state, although the union may have been marked by a family celebration (see Allam LÄ: 1162-63; Johnson 1996: 179; Pestman 1961: 6-7; Théodorides 1976: 19-21; Wilfong 2001, 340-41). In relation to Deir el-Medina in the Ramesside Period, Toivari-Viitala (2001: 84, 90) notes that marriage was likely to be commonplace and the institution familiar enough not to require ‘elaborate written explanations’; she does, however, remark on different ways that men and women could live together rather than being descriptively polarised as formally married or informally co-habiting.6 Marriage could be ended by the death of a partner, or separation initiated by either partner and, subsequently, property was allocated according to customary law governing separation and inheritance, both of which could be a source of family conflict (see chapter three). Since evidence for types of household residence for married couples is fragmentary, the summary below draws on evidence from a range of chronological periods. Although the Instructions of Ani (6, l. 6), a New Kingdom literary text, state: ‘Build a house or find and buy one’ (Lichtheim 1976: 139), the advice represents an elite ideal rather than an everyday guide for conduct. The marital home may have been neolocal, patrilocal or matrilocal depending on family circumstances; its domestic composition may have included biological and nonbiological kin; and its structure may have been nuclear (or smaller), stem, or extended, with an inherent fluidity subject to changing conditions (Allam LÄ: 1167; Kóthay 2001: 34952; Moreno Garcia 2013b: 1042-44, 2012: 4; Spence 2013: 84-86; Toivari-Viitala 2001: 86-87; Willems 2015: 467-71). Huebner (2013a: 48) notes that documents from the Roman Period in Egypt, particularly the census returns, indicate predominantly patrilocal residence, although a family without a son may choose matrilocal residence to bring a male into the household; neolocal residence appears to be the exception in this period (see also Bagnall and Frier 2006: 121-22; Rowlandson and Takahashi 2009: 122; see Clarysse and Thompson 2006: 295-96, for predominantly patrilocal marriage in the Ptolemaic tax-registers). Terms used to describe marriage and the creation of a household are well summarised by ToivariThere are numerous other discussions on aspects of marriage and family that include Allam 1981: 116-35 (historical summary of marriage settlements and divorce terms); Allam, LÄ: 1162-81 (overviews of marriage and divorce), LÄ: 104-13 (family structure and function); Galpaz-Feller 2008: 231-53 (widows in Biblical culture and ancient Egypt); Huebner 2013a (family in Roman Egypt); Kanawati 1976: 149-60 (marriage and polygamy); Kóthay 2006: 151-64 (widows and orphans); Lesko 1996 (women’s private and public life); Lesko (ed.) 1989 (women’s records from ancient Egypt and western Asia); Lesko 1988: 163-71 (perception of women in Egyptian wisdom literature); Lippert 2013: 1-20 (overview of inheritance); Rabinowitz 1953: 91-97 (parallelisms between Egyptian marriage contracts from 4th century BC and in Jewish sources); Simpson 1974: 100-05 (polygamy in Middle Kingdom Egypt); Théodorides 1976: 14-55 (marriage status, adoption, divorce and adultery); Toivari-Viitala 2013: 1-17 (marriage and divorce); Wilfong 2009: 164-79 (gender in ancent Egypt); Wilfong 2001: 340-45 (marriage and divorce); Wilfong 1997 (women and gender); Yiftach-Firanko 2003 (Greek marriage documents in Egyt). General publications on women that cover discussions on marriage and divorce include: Graves-Brown 2010; Janssen and Janssen 1990; Robins 1993; Tyldesley 1994; Watterson 2011. 6 Toivari-Viitala (2001: 84-85) suggests there were different types of socially recognised unions in Ramesside Deir el-Medina, involving different rights and obligations that can be categorised as marriage. 5
4
Ancient Egyptian marriage and kin terms Viitala for the village of Deir el-Medina (2001: 70-83, for divorce, 90-95) and Pestman (1961: 9-11, for divorce 58-79); terms for marrying or marriage include: grg pr – to found a house (or family) ‘ḳ r pr – to enter a house ḥms ἰrm – to sit with ἰrἰ m ḥmt – to make as a wife ἰw m ḥmt – to be as a wife rdἰ n A B m ḥmt – to give A to B as a wife ἰrἰ h3y – to make as a husband (used in later periods as proof of divorce, Pestman, 1961: 9 n.8). Married couples had legal duties towards each other and their offspring in terms of property brought into the marriage, acquired during marriage, and rights over its disposal. An example of the limitations placed upon personal and shared property in marriage is illustrated in the Will of Naunakhte from 20th dynasty Deir el-Medina. Since parents could not alienate their children’s right to inheritance without the permission of their offspring, Naunakhte draws up legal documentation to exclude several of her children from receiving a share of her inheritance, although she cannot alienate the children’s rights of inheritance to their father’s property (see Černý 1945: 29-53; Eyre 2007: 240-41; Pestman 1982: 173-81, 1961: 162-64). The economic commitment of resources at marriage, and the impact of a man’s second marriage upon the allocation of these resources, is explored in detail by Eyre (2007: 223-43); as is the role of adoption as a means to secure financial security and social position in the context of the Ramesside Period Adoption Papyrus (Eyre 1992: 207-21), and legal indictments arising out of accusations of adultery (Eyre 1984: 92-105). Families of married couples also carried legal responsibilities towards each other; for example, P. Leiden 373a, a demotic text dated 131 BC, documents a marriage settlement in which the husband’s mother agrees to honour her son’s obligations in relation to the repayment of the wife’s maintenance contract (if the son should fail to repay): That which he will not carry out for you in respect of them in accordance with every word which is above (and) in accordance with the documents which are above, I will carry out for you, comp[ulsorily, without] delay. P. Leiden 373a (P. Dem. Memphis 6) l. 7, Martin, Demotic Papyri from the Memphite Necropolis, 2009: 139. Pestman (1961) has produced a seminal work on marriage and matrimonial property, which is a valuable source for analysis of demotic marriage settlements (as is Lüddekhens (1960) classic study on these texts). Allam (1981: 116-35) provides a useful overview on the status of marriage and divorce from the Pharaonic period to late antiquity, arguing that the fundamental notion of marriage as ‘un acte sociale soumis seulement au driot coutumier’ was maintained in Egypt (1981: 135).7
7
See also Allam (1997a: 89-97) for civil and legal obligations of marriage.
5
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Age at Marriage Limited evidence suggests marriage from the age of 14 for women and around 20 for men (Pestman 1961: 4–5). The Instructions of Ankhsheshonq, dated to the Ptolemaic Period, advise a man to: ‘Take a wife when you are twenty years old, that you may have a son while you are young (11, l. 7, Lichtheim 1980: 168). In a petition dated to the 26th dynasty, Petiese relates how he refused to give his daughter in marriage as she was too young: ‘Her time is not yet come; become a priest of Amonrasonter and I shall give her to you’ (P. Ryl. 9, 8.11, reign of Psamtik I Wahibre); the following year the suitor became a priest and permission to marry was given (Pestman 1961: 8-9). A stela in the British Museum (BM EA 147, 42 BC) details the life of Tjaiemhotep, from which it is possible to calculate that she married at the age of fourteen, while P. Ryl. 16 (152 BC) documents a marriage that took place when a woman was around eighteen years of age. Based on census returns from the Roman Period in Egypt, the median age for marriage was around 17.5 years for women and early twenties for men, with a mean gap in age of 7.5 years (Bagnall and Frier 2006: 111-21). Ancient Egyptian kin terms There are six basic kin terms constituting the core of ancient Egyptian kinship terminology used to categorise family relationships (table 1.1) and a wider set of terms designating kin groups, many of which display diachronic development; kin terms are also used for individuals or groups who are not biologically related (see Bierbrier 1980: 100-07; Franke 2001: 245-48, 1983: 322-24; Olabarria 2020a: 63-72, 2018: 62-63; Robins 1992: 197-217; Willems 1983: 153-65). From the position of Ego, the individual to whom the kinship categories are referred, a set of relationships can be constructed using compounds of the basic kin terms, for example, s3t nt s3t – daughter of the daughter, sn.f (n) mwt.f – his brother (of) his mother (the kin terms are in juxtaposition or connected with a genitive). In addition, basic kin terms can have extended meanings, so that a daughter (s3t) can also be a daughter of Ego’s offspring (granddaughter) or a wife of Ego’s son (daughter-in-law); in certain contexts that infer rank s3/s3t could also be junior to Ego (Campagno 2009: 1-3; Franke 2001: 245; Lustig 1997: 45). In the New Kingdom, s3/t was sometimes replaced by šrἰ/t in everyday use (Willems 1983: 153). Relations created through marriage were termed ḥmt (wife) and h3y (husband); rarely, šm and šmt were used to denote parents-in-law, and reciprocally son- and daughter-in-law (Franke 2001: 245, Willems 1983: 153). By the 18th dynasty the term snt had become interchangeable for wife (and reciprocally sn for husband) (Černý 1954: 25). There is no specific Egyptian word for parents but, as Olabarria (2018: 63) comments, the absence of a term for parents does not indicate the absence of a concept and may instead point to distinct maternal and paternal groups.8 Discussing the use of sn/snt during the Ramesside Period in Deir el-Medina, Bierbrier (1980: 104-06) found it had widespread use as a term for nephew/niece by blood or marriage as well as denoting affines in the same generation without blood-ties, but remarks that the absence of genealogical data may actually obscure blood ties. The tomb of the sculptor Nakhtamun (ii) (TT335) is an example of a kin term’s multiple use: sn is used for a brother, 8 Price (2016: 493) describes the pairing on Late Period statues of ἰtw and mwwt with the meaning of male and female ancestors, or forebears in general.
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Ancient Egyptian marriage and kin terms Table 1.1 Summary of basic kin terms used across historical periods, their extended meanings using Euro-American terminology, and kin types. Sources: after Franke, Kinship, 2001: 245-46; Lustig, Kinship, gender and age in Middle Kingdom tomb scenes and texts, 1997: 45; Price, Archaism and filial piety: an unusual Late Period pair statue, 2016: 493, note k; Robins, The relationships specified in Egyptian kinship terms of the Middle and New Kingdoms, 1992: 204; Willems, A description of Egyptian kin terminology of the Middle Kingdom, c. 2000–1650 B.C., 1983: 153–65. Basic kin terms*
Extended meaning using Euro-American terminology
Kin type**
mwt
mother, grandmother, mother-in-law, ascendant (also ancestor in the Late Period alongside ἰt)
M, MM, FM, WM
ἰt
father, grandfather, father-in-law, ascendant (also ancestor)
F, FF, MF, WF
s3
son, grandson, great-grandson, son-in-law, descendant
S, SS, DS, SSS, DH
s3t
daughter, granddaughter, daughter-in-law, descendant
D, DD, SD, SW
sn
brother (including half-brother), uncle, cousin, nephew, brother-in-law, friend, colleague (husband from 18th dynasty)
B, MB, FB, FBS, MZS, MBS, FZS, BS, ZS, ZH, WB, WMB?
snt
sister (including half-sister), aunt, cousin, niece, sister-in-law, friend (wife from 18th dynasty)
Z, MZ, FZ, FBD, MZD, MBD, FZD, ZD, BD, WZ, SW?
ḥmt
wife
wife to Ego
h3y
husband
husband to Ego
Legend: M = mother, F = father, S = son, D = daughter, B = brother, Z = sister W = wife, H = husband * s3/t and sn/t are counted as two basic terms **These are the uncategorised relationships used by anthropologists when referring to the contents of kinship categories (Schwimmer: https://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/ tutor/kinterms/kinterms2.html Accessed 6.4.2016).
a brother-in-law, and three nephews (Naktamun (ii) is the father of the wife, and uncle of the husband in cousin marriage number six, table 4.3; Nakhtamun (ii) also has a niece and nephew in cousin marriage number four, table 4.3). It is not always possible to construct kin relationships in texts, stelae or tomb inscriptions as kin terms may not be accompanied by names, titles and scenes that help clarify relationships. Olabarria (2020a: 66) notes that in addition to missing captions, sometimes the names and titles given might be ‘indicative but never conclusive of a relationship’, and determining identity is further complicated by applying possessive suffix-pronouns to several individuals in the same inscription. 7
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ There is a body of published research on kin terms and kinship, many of which are period specific. Olabarria (2020a) has analysed the presentation of kinship in the First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom, focusing particularly on the changing dynamics of kinship during one’s life and how forms of relatedness are communicated, with particular reference to stelae from Abydos North Offering Chapels. Olabarria (2020a: 192) points out the flexibility of ancient Egyptian kinship, noting that inclusion in kin groups was not only ‘substance’ (such as blood or bodily fluids),9 but membership of a group could be ‘actively sought and constructed’. While some aspects of the kinship system may have been less subject to change than others, the result was a ‘complex interplay between ‘fixed’ and ‘variable’ characteristics…the balance of these two poles may shift depending on, for example, the role played by the state’ (Olabarria 2020a: 201). Using more than two thousand primary sources, Franke (1983) conducts a detailed study on Middle Kingdom kin terms and kin groups (see 154-77 for application of basic kin terms). Willems (1983: 152-68) focuses on the Middle Kingdom in his discussion of primary kin terms and the difficulties of identifying their extended meanings. Lustig (1997: 43-65) also focuses mainly on the Middle Kingdom in her analysis of kinship, gender and age (First Intermediate Period sources are also included). Bierbrier (1980: 100-07) discusses terms of relationship used in Deir el-Medina, while Toivari-Viitala (2001: 194201) specifically discusses terms denoting mother, daughter/female child in the context of a study on women in this workmen’s village. Robins (1979: 197-217) examines terms of relationship predominantly in the Middle Kingdom with evidence drawn mostly from private monuments; her work also includes some New Kingdom material but excludes Deir el-Medina sources. Using an analysis of mainly Theban tombs, Whale (1989) examines the representation of family in private tombs of the 18th dynasty (in particular, see the study on 239-75). Allen (2009) argues in favour of a matrilineal structure in the organisation of family and society in ancient Egypt. Finally, summaries providing overviews of kin terms and kinship groups in ancient Egypt include Campagno (2009: 1-8) and Franke (2001: 24548). The changing pattern of relatedness in ancient Egypt means that groups cannot be fitted into preconceived and static categories. Approaches to determining relatedness are culturally specific and while biological kin are recognised and associated with certain duties and obligations, other kin groups arise, remain or change due to specific circumstances, as Olabarria (2020a) convincingly discusses in her work on Middle Kingdom kinship. Holy (1996: 9) points out that kinship is the differential between rights, duties, roles and statuses so that kinship is ‘recognized as the difference that makes a difference’. Carsten’s (2004: 9) also aptly describes kinship as more than ‘given’ with its received rights, rules and obligations, but as a ‘realm of new possibilities’. In the debate between kinship defined by reproduction and kinship defined by terminological space within a culture (for example, is someone 9 (i) For a discussion on bodily substance and it deployment in kinship studies, see Carsten (2011: 19-35, 2004: 131), who argues for the mutability and transferability of substance that can change and accrue through life. (ii) Olabarria (2018: 88-113) suggests that one of the ways of understanding ka, the vital essence of the living and the dead, is in the context of substance. Olabarria proposes that funerary rituals, maintained by some members of the kin group from generation to generation (traditionally by the eldest son), create and perpetuate relatedness through the provision and sharing of food and sustain the essence of the ka amongst the kinship group.
8
Ancient Egyptian marriage and kin terms called cousin purely because he/she trades specific goods?), Read (2001: 114) believes that kinship is a question of understanding which conceptual framework is appropriate at any given time: ‘not whether genealogically framed reference is somehow more real and the terminologically framed reference is ‘metaphoric’’ Commenting on the interpretation of kinship, James (2011: 8) notes that kin terminologies used by social anthropologists arise from ethnographic research connected to a particular imagined view of society as a whole, and that the language defining kin depends on the underlying grammar of a particular group; the result could be that kin terms used in real life might mask genetic relationships more than they reveal them. This range of possibilities exists within the interpretation of kinship in ancient Egypt – in some circumstances the biological ties of kin may not be any more real than the constructed ties of kin; duties and obligations arise, remain or change; and the fluidity of kin terms may lead to incorrect interpretations as to who may or may not be kin, although the context of the textual sources is constructive in suggesting interpretations of consanguineous relationships. Consanguinity and consanguineous marriage This section begins with definitions of consanguinity leading into an overview of categories of consanguineous marriage and levels of biological and genetic relationships up to the level of second cousin (using Euro-American terminology). Defining consanguinity The condition of being of the same blood; relationship by descent from a common ancestor; blood-relationship. (Opposed to affinity, i.e. relationship by marriage.) OED, 2018 A consanguine is someone who is defined by the society as a consanguine, and ‘blood’ relationship in a genetic sense has not necessarily anything to do with it, although on the whole these tend to coincide with most communities of the world…Once we accept that consanguinity is a socially defined quality, the definition of kinship holds. Fox, Kinship and Marriage: an Anthropological Perspective, 1967: 34-35. As a working definition, unions contracted between persons biologically related as second cousins (F ≥ 0.0156) are categorized as consanguineous. Bittles, A Background Summary of Consanguineous Marriage, 2001a: 2. Consanguinity can be defined as descent from a common ancestor, or a society may define consanguinity irrespective of biological relationship, or because of biological relationship. When it is classified from the perspective of clinical genetics, the arbitrary limit of second cousin has been selected because the ‘genetic influence in marriages between couples related to a lesser degree would usually be expected to differ only slightly from that observed in the general population’ (Bittles 2001a: 2).10 A union up to the level of second cousin or closer is the most common definition equivalent to a coefficient of inbreeding (F) 0.0156 in their offspring (see figure 1.2) (Bittles 2001b: 89).
10
9
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Table 1.2 Biological relationships (using Euro-American terminology) and genetic relationships. Source: Bittles, Consanguinity in Context, 2012: 6. Biological relationship
Genetic relationship
Coefficient of relationship (r)
Coefficient of inbreeding (F)
Parent-child
First-degree
0.5
0.25
Second-degree
0.25
0.125
First cousin
Third-degree
0.125
0.0625
First cousin once removed
Fourth-degree
0.0625
0.0313
Second cousin
Fifth-degree
0.0313
0.0156
Second cousin once removed
Sixth-degree
0.0156
0.0078
Seventh-degree
0.0078
0.0039
Sibling Half-sibling Uncle-niece Double first cousin
Double second cousin
Double third cousin Third cousin
Genetic relationships are classified in terms of coefficient of relationship (r), which measures the proportion of genes each individual has in common, and a coefficient of inbreeding (F), which expresses an individual’s level of consanguinity and indicates the risk of recessive gene disorder (Bittles 2012: 6-7) (table 1.2).11 Categories of consanguineous marriage In genetic studies consanguineous marriages are traditionally classified from the husband’s perspective. In addition to sibling and half-sibling marriages, there is a range of categories that define cousin and uncle-niece marriage. In a first cousin marriage a man can marry any of his four different cousins. They are his father’s brother’s daughter, his mother’s sister’s daughter, mother’s brother’s daughter, and his father’s sister’s daughter. Further classifications of consanguinity include marriages between double first cousins, uncles and nieces and aunts and nephews, first cousins once removed, and second cousins (Denic et al 2010a: 741). This range of consanguineous unions is shown in figure 1.1 (for more complex pedigrees of consanguineous marriages, see Hamamy et al. 2011: 844).
11 See Woods et al. (2006: 889-96) for examples of greater than expected levels of homozygosity in individuals with recessive gene disorders, who are the offspring of first cousin marriages in communities where consanguineous marriage is frequently practised.
10
Ancient Egyptian marriage and kin terms
Legend: mother
cross first cousin
double first cousin
father
brother
cross first cousin
sister
son
maternal parallel first cousin
uncle-niece
first cousin once-removed
daughter
paternal parallel first cousin
second cousin
Figure 1.1: Categories of consanguineous marriage. Source: after Hamamy et al., Consanguineous Marriages, Pearls and Perils: Geneva International Consanguinity Workshop Report, 2011: 844.
Definitions of incest Incest: Sexual intercourse between two persons who are related by a real, assumed or artificial bond of kinship that is regarded as a bar to sexual relations. Where sexual relations are forbidden, but not because of kinship, they may be called mismating. Schusky, Manual for Kinship Analysis, 1972: 91. For the ‘grisly horror of incest’ is not a universal characteristic of all heterosexual offences with kinswomen and the wives of kinsmen. The reactions to a breach vary within and between societies. Goody, A Comparative Approach to Incest and Adultery, 1956: 304. Within anthropology, the term incest is used when a kinship bond that bars sexual intercourse is broken; what is considered incest depends on the rules of different kinship groups and, in turn, these laws are shaped by religion, law, politics, economics or other aspects of the culture (Schusky 1965: 2). The term derives from incestum and was used in
11
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Rome to refer generally to polluting or unchaste behaviour, including sexual intercourse with proscribed family members and with Vestal Virgins, the Roman priestesses of Vesta (Archibald 2001: 13, see also Shaw 1992: 269-70). In a study of pollution and purification in early Greek religion, Parker (1996: 97) points out that the word miasma implies pollution, but incest is never referred to as miasma. Endogamous marriage was more common in Greek city-states and Shaw (1992: 270-71) refers to the normality of marriages between cousins, but highlights reduced levels of acceptability with closer biological kin, finally leading to sexual relations between siblings that were treated with revulsion. Greek sensitivities towards first-degree sexual relations are reflected in The Laws by Plato: the Athenian argues that unwritten laws and the force of public opinion restrain parents from sleeping with sons or daughters, and men from intercourse with attractive siblings (Laws, 8. 838a-b) (see pages 35-36 for further discussion on marriage prohibitions in classical Greece and ancient Rome). In ancient Egypt there is no evidence that the term incest existed in any legal sense, and the term cannot be applied to the sibling unions for which evidence exists, for example, royal 18th dynasty marriages or sibling marriages in the Roman census returns. Frandsen (2009: 9) raises the interesting point that the category of bwt, incorporating evil, chaos and things taboo, did not include sexual unions between immediate family members.12 If the term incest is used within this research the nature of the relationship will be qualified, as will the perspective from which it is being discussed. There is also no indication in ancient Egypt for laws proscribing or prescribing specific unions; it appears, as Allam (1977: 89-97, LÄ: 1162-63) discusses, to be a private family matter that carried civic and legal obligations. Franke (1983: 343) also comments on the difficulty of determining rules governing marriage, noting that the range of kin covered by the term sn/t (brother/sister) means that virtually all collateral relatives fall into this category, thereby obscuring possible clues as to whether there were proscribed or permitted unions. Incest avoidance: the incest taboo Various theories have been presented to explain behaviour that avoids, or rules that proscribe, sexual relations between close biological kin.13 For the purposes of this section on incest avoidance, incest refers to sexual relationships with first-degree relatives (parent/ child/sibling). In a theory first presented by Westermarck (1891: 320-21), children reared together from an early age express sexual indifference leading to mutual sexual aversion (also likely to For a study on bwt in body in life and after death, with particular reference to Old and Middle Kingdom funerary texts, see Frandsen (2002: 141-74). 13 (i) Darwin (1876, 1868) propounded that natural selection instinctively favours sexual liaisons outside closely related biological groups to avoid the deleterious effects of inbreeding, while Freud (1919: 1-29) stated that the strength and danger of desire creates prohibitions against mating with close family. See Levi-Strauss (1969 [1949]) for the ‘alliance theory’: sexual prohibitions amongst close family members require men to find marriage partners outside their immediate family and in return women are exchanged into their group, creating alliances to reinforce kinship systems, reduce conflict and encourage trade. (ii) Alvarez et al. (2015: 474-83), assess the potential impact of inbreeding on the fertility of 30 marriages in the Darwin-Wedgewood dynasty (Charles Darwin was married to his first cousin Emma Wedgewood, and three of his wife’s brothers were also married to cousins). 12
12
Ancient Egyptian marriage and kin terms be exhibited between parents and offspring living in close association).14 Research carried out by Shepher (1983: 59, 1971: 295) on 2,769 married couples in 211 kibbutzim led him to conclude that children reared in a kibbutz developed sexual aversion from close proximity, but his proposals have since been challenged (for example, Shor and Simchai 2012: 1509-13, 2009: 1811-37). Similar testing of the Westermarck effect was conducted in Wolf ’s (2005: 76-92, 1993: 157-75, 1970: 503-15, 1968: 864-74, 1966: 833-98) extensive research on sim–pua (little bride) marriages in Taiwan, in which the future bride for a son is adopted into the family – the female may range from several days to three years of age. Wolf ’s (1993: 159, 1970: 511-14) survey of demographic records reveals that sim-pua marriages were more likely to result in divorce by a factor of 2.5 to 1, and exhibit reduced total fertility of twenty five percent compared to marriages arranged between adult children reared separately.15 Wolf suggests that females introduced into the household under the age of three develop sexual inhibitions, but at the time of their introduction the males were usually over three years of age, beyond the period in which they would develop sexual aversion. A study of the Westermarck effect by Walter and Buyske (2003: 353-65) focuses on first cousins raised in proximity in Morocco for the first seven years of childhood and their mate choice beyond adolescence. Their results concluded that females showed greater sexual aversion at maturity than males with whom they had co-socialised, possibly indicating that females display increased inbreeding avoidance because they bear greater consequences from inbreeding depression (Walter and Buyske 2003: 363). Theories related to the Westermarck effect and sim-pua marriages have been considered in relation to the sibling and half-sibling marriages recorded in the Roman census returns, with studies noting that although the indifference theory exists in many cases, it is not always valid (for example, Hopkins 1980: 307-09; Middleton 1962: 611; Scheidel 2004: 99101, 2002: 42-44, 1996a: 330-31; Shaw 1992: 276).16 Identifying genetic markers for consanguinity in human remains The recovery of, and accessibility to, uncontaminated DNA that is viable for genetic testing could potentially determine whether the parents of one individual are consanguineously related. However, the availability of retrievable and uncontaminated DNA in mummified and skeletal remains is one of the main obstacles in achieving valid results.17 DNA typing can currently be used to test documentary evidence that indicates possible consanguinity in family groups; for example, Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht are two 12th dynasty males from Deir Rifeh cemetery who are now in the Manchester Museum. Their coffin inscriptions indicate that they may have shared the same mother, but an alternative See Fox (1962: 128-50) for discussion on incest motivations and behaviour. ‘Minor marriages’ were common in parts of mainland China until the mid 1940s and in Taiwan until the early 1930s (Wolf 1993: 159). 16 See Leavitt (2007: 393-419) for further debate on the Westermarck theory, arguing against close proximity as the determining factor of sexual aversion. 17 Hawass et al. (2010: 638-47) state that genetic fingerprinting allowed the construction of a five-generation pedigree of Tutankhamun’s immediate lineage, enabling them to identify consanguineous links. This research, however, has drawn criticism and the reliability of the genetic data has been questioned (for example, see Lorenzen and Willerslev 2010: 2471; Marchant 2011: 404-06). 14 15
13
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ hypothesis is that they were adopted and a study reported in 2014 did initially confirm the adoption hypothesis (Matheson et al. 2014: 39-47). Following further investigation, the first successful typing in Egyptian mummies for both mitochondrial and Y chromosomal DNA was conducted on Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht. Using teeth extracted from each mummy, Drousou et al. (2018: 793-97) demonstrated that the brothers belonged to mitochondrial haplotype M1a1 and shared two private SNPs, suggesting a shared maternal relationship; although the Y chromosome sequences were less complete, they displayed sufficient variation to indicate that Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht had different paternal lineages. While mitochondrial haplotype M1a1 suggests Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht shared a maternal relationship, other degrees of relationship to each other were possible, such as cousin or uncle-nephew through the matrilateral line. However, the combination of DNA results with inscriptional evidence on their coffins relates them to the female KhnumAa as their mother. Drousou et al.’s study achieved its aim to identify consanguineous links between the two brothers; however, further research on their DNA would be needed to establish the viability of determining possible consanguineal links between the two fathers and the shared mother of Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht (without requiring the bodies of the parents themselves). Although DNA studies on ancient Egyptian human remains are currently limited, for reasons described above, it is technically possible to find genetic markers of clinical consanguinity between individuals whose union produces offspring. In 2014 a complete genome sequence was determined from a finger phalanx found in the Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia, belonging to a Neanderthal woman thought to be at least 50,000 years old (Prüfer et al. 2014: 43-49). The DNA typing established that her parents had an inbreeding coefficient of 0.125 which suggests that they may have been half-siblings with a common mother, or possibly uncle/niece, aunt/nephew, grandfather/granddaughter or grandmother/grandson (Prufer et al. 2014: 45, see also table 1.2, page 10). Further texts conducted by the study determined that close mating was common amongst this female’s recent ancestors. In the context of DNA testing in modern populations and reporting requirements, McGuire et al. (2012: 1040-46) discuss methods to determine consanguineal ties between the parents of children with congenital anomalies, including intellectual and developmental disorders. They report that analysis of parental samples is not required to identify consanguineously related parents. When parts of chromosome pairs are the same as each other (one copy of each pair of chromosomes is inherited from the father and the other copy from the mother) there are two possibilities: If only one chromosome is involved, then the cause could either be uniparental isodisomy (meaning the child inherited two identical copies of a chromosome from one parent and no copy of the same chromosome from the other parent), or distant consanguinity… If multiple chromosomes are involved, then the parents must be blood relatives of one another. McGuire et al. Identifying consanguinity through routine genomic analysis: reporting requirements, 2012: 1040-41.
14
Ancient Egyptian marriage and kin terms While the quality of modern DNA samples allows for genomic sequencing, as did the specific environmental conditions in the Denisova Cave in Siberia, with advances in DNA retrieval it may be possible in future to determine levels of clinical consanguinity within ancient Egyptian families and communities. Methodology and structure An overarching theme in this research is the difficulty in securing firm evidence for consanguineous marriage beyond the census returns from Roman Egypt. This is further compounded by the fragmentary nature of the sources and their extensive historical spread. Allam (LÄ: 1164) believes that examination of available documents inevitably gives the impression that marriage among blood relatives was not uncommon. Franke (1983: 342-43), however, is more cautious in his conclusions, noting the lack of secure evidence for consanguineous marriage and the difficulties presented by the complicated system of kinship in determining whether certain types of kin marriages were preferred or not (with specific reference to the Middle Kingdom). In response to this, Eyre (1992: 218 and n.68) proposes that the scarcity of evidence for ‘marked exogamous practice’, the use of kinship terminology for affinal relatives and application of the term ‘sister’ for ‘wife’ (from the 18th dynasty), and the bilateral pattern of inheritance, suggest that pharaonic Egypt ‘was every bit as endogamous as mediaeval and early-modern Egypt’. The first step in this book’s research process was to identify reported consanguineous marriages in select sources, including legal, administrative and personal documents, inscriptional evidence in funerary contexts, and sources drawn from family archives. The available evidence dictated the direction of subsequent research. I chose the Ptolemaic town of Pathyris and Ramesside Deir el-Medina not only because evidence indicated consanguineous marriage in their communities, but also because additional evidence from papyri and ostraca allowed an investigation of economic transactions and their associated networks and, for Deir el-Medina in particular, evidence of personal interactions that illustrated trust, trustworthiness and conflict. After assessing and listing select sources for consanguineous marriages, the research develops in three stages, each accompanied by a relevant case study and the resulting discussion is informed, where appropriate, by studies on modern consanguineous marriage drawn from disciplines outside Egyptology, including demography, economics, anthropology and pathology. These studies are used to gain insight into the issues under review and introduce theoretical possibilities; the limitations of their application are addressed individually in each case study. The first stage of the research evaluates laws and customary practice related to inheritance and gifts given at marriage in ancient Egypt, and for comparative purposes in the neighbouring regions of Greece, Rome and Mesopotamia, on the premise that partible inheritance may be one of the factors that encourages consanguineous marriage. I have used a bilingual family archive from Ptolemaic Pathyris as a case study in this first section as it not only allows an evaluation of amounts agreed in demotic marriage settlements between known consanguineous (at the level of first cousins) and non-consanguineous 15
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ relatives, but also allows an evaluation of preferences within consanguineous families to conduct economic transactions between each other. The discussion on the timing and amount given at marriage and in inheritance is informed by demographic and economic studies on modern consanguineous marriage. The second section uses prosopographic research from Deir el-Medina to analyse interrelationships of marriage and affinity between couples thought to have married consanguineously. Occupations of males within consanguineous families are explored to examine whether status and wealth may have been consolidated within these families. Numbers of offspring are also calculated (as far as is possible given the extant sources) to assess whether consanguineous families may have had more or less offspring than families not known to be consanguineous. Once the scope of probable networks of interrelated families has been established, this section examines the participation of consanguineous families in known economic activities within the village, such as gift-giving, ‘open credit’, and barter, on the premise that families related consanguineously are more likely to behave altruistically towards each other, or with reduced expectations of reciprocity. The resulting discussion is informed by studies in anthropology and experimental economics. The third and final research section uses clinical studies on current biological outcomes of consanguinity to establish the most frequently reported congenital outcomes of consanguineous marriage. Using these results, I surveyed congenital outcomes reported in palaeopathological studies of ancient Egyptian human remains to determine if any of the congenital anomalies identified in the ancient record are amongst those most frequently reported in modern clinical studies. Allowing for the rarity of congenital anomalies in skeletal or mummified remains (for reasons detailed in chapter five), cleft lip and palate, and cleft lip, were identified as case studies from ancient Egypt. Intellectual and developmental disorders (IDD) are also reported at increased frequency amongst the offspring of consanguineous marriage, however, conditions included in this category and their interpretation is debatable in a modern context, and cannot be applied as a blanket term in ancient Egypt (or in other ancient societies). I have, however, used definitions of conceptual, social and practical skills classified under IDD to investigate limitations that may have been placed on an individual’s functioning and adaptive abilities. A bioarchaeology of care methodology has been applied to determine what inputs of care, if any, might be needed or given by families and/or communities, and to question whether families related consanguineously had the resources and support networks to meet any increased requirements of caring. In this work I am not arguing for consanguineous marriage to be the consistent marriage of choice within some families or communities, or for it to have an unbroken historical continuity as a culturally preferred practice; nor am I suggesting that powerful clans were created through non-royal consanguineous marriage to create a ‘republic of cousins’ whose interests and influence overrode those of the state (see Tillion 1983), although at different social levels influential interrelated families did exist. I argue that at certain times and under certain conditions – occupational, medical, political and environmental – consanguineous marriage was a preferred choice by some families, and within some communities, for its economic outcomes and social support networks. 16
Chapter 2
Consanguinity in historical context: evidence from select sources for consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt, the Near East, Greece and Rome Introduction This chapter examines evidence for consanguineous marriages in ancient Egypt and regions of the ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean, and discusses rules governing marriages between biological and affinal kin. It ends with a summary of the evolution and diversity of prohibitions related to marriage arising from Roman rules and practice and their later spread into Europe. The chapter begins by listing evidence diachronically from select sources for royal and nonroyal consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt, and describes the context in which this evidence was found. A short summary of royal consanguineous marriage is listed separately to the more detailed evidence indicating non-royal consanguineous marriage. Since the majority of evidence for non-royal consanguineous marriage is found in the Roman and Ptolemaic Periods, the discussion begins with these periods and moves retrospectively to the Middle Kingdom. Select sources for consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt are examined since it is beyond the scope of this research to list all known or suspected consanguineous marriages in documentary and archaeological sources (see Appendix 1 for a list of non-royal consanguineous marriages). The second half of the chapter introduces evidence for consanguineous marriage beyond Egypt. It begins with a summary of Biblical incest prohibitions in the Book of Leviticus, followed by practice and laws governing close-kin marriages in classical Greece and Rome, and the evolution of canon and civil law related to prohibited marriages arising out of the Roman model. Types of marriages permitted (and reportedly practised) by members of the Zoroastrian religion in Persia are also briefly reviewed. This overview ends with the custom of close-kin marriage in Arabia prior to the spread of Islam, and current incest prohibitions within Islam. This summary of consanguineous marriages in regions (and religions) outside Egypt combines an examination of the evidence for accepted sibling, half-sibling and cousin marriage with a summary of laws related to prohibited degrees of consanguinity in marriage (depending on authors, their preferred terms and the context of the discussion, this is also referred to as prohibited degrees of kinship or relationship, or as incest prohibition). When the term consanguineous is used in this second section it refers to biological kin and the levels of relatedness it implies are clarified within the text. By placing ancient Egyptian consanguinity into historical context, this section aims to show the cultural and historical spread and continuity of consanguineous marriage and the associated diversity of permissible and prohibited unions. 17
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt Evidence from the Roman census returns (1st –3rd centuries AD) indicates the practice of sibling and half-sibling marriage, however, there is scarce evidence of sibling marriage amongst non-royals from earlier periods of Egyptian history. There is, however, limited evidence of consanguineous marriage, outside sibling and half-sibling unions, from the Middle Kingdom onwards, primarily in funerary contexts and documentary sources. Royal consanguineous marriages The greatest concentration of full and half-sibling royal marriages dates from the New Kingdom. Pharaohs of the 18th dynasty believed to have married their sisters are Tao II, Ahmose I, Amenhotep I, Tuthmosis II, Amenhotep II, and Tuthmosis IV; it is also thought that Ramesses II 18 and Merenptah of the 19th dynasty may have married sisters or halfsisters (Dodson and Hilton 2004, 124-27, 132-35, 160-61, 177). Father-daughter marriages are more controversial with perhaps the most famous example being Ramesses II, who possibly married three of his daughters, although they may have only fulfilled a ritual role; in the tomb of Bintanath (QV71), however, he is represented with an adult daughter titled ‘King’s Daughter of his Body’ (but this could be a royal grandchild) (Dodson and Hilton 2004: 169; Robins 1993: 29; Tyldesley 2000: 134, 152).19 Sibling marriages are often the focus of academic debate and reasons for their practice in Egypt include distancing the royal family from ordinary subjects, thereby instilling supernatural qualities in royal rulers; sibling marriages may also have been conducted in imitation of the myth of Osiris and Isis to consolidate divine status (see, for example, Bixler 1982: 268-72; Middleton 1962: 608-11; Robins 1993: 27). Following the death of Alexander of Macedonia in 323 BC, a dynasty of Macedonian kings ruled Egypt under the family name Ptolemy; at least seven, and perhaps eight, of the thirteen ruling Ptolemies were married to sisters or half-sisters, including Ptolemy VIII who married his sister and the daughter of his sister/wife (Hölbl 2001: 195).20 Ager (2005: 4) remarks that sometimes we cannot know for certain how inbred a ‘particular Ptolemy, Arsinoë or Kleopatra might be’ due to uncertainty over his or her parentage. Following Ptolemaic tradition, the marriage between Cleopatra VII and her younger brother, Ptolemy XIII, was probably a requirement of their father’s will but may never have actually taken place (Hölbl 2001: 231). Pomeroy (1984: 17, 23-25) points out that the marriages of Ptolemaic siblings secured power for women as co-rulers and led them to be accepted as legitimate sole sovereigns, and characteristics signalling dynastic power and exclusivity for male rulers, such as the repetition of names, was adopted by female queens through the name Cleopatra (alongside their increasing prominence in the visual arts). In a consideration of the complexities surrounding sibling marriage perpetuated by the Ptolemies, Ager (2005: 1) 18 Henutmire may be the sister or daughter of Ramesses II, for example, see Dodson and Hilton (2004: 161); Brand (2000: 346). 19 (i) Tyldesley (2000: 134-36) lists four daughters who became wives of Ramesses II: Bintanath, Meritamen, Nebettawi and Hentmire; see also Tyldesley’s discussion on pharaoh-daughter marriages as symbolic or real. (ii) There is controversy surrounding the proposal that Akhenaten married two of his daughters (see Dodson and Hilton 2004: 148; Reeves 2001: 161, 1999: 93-94). Allen (1991: 74-85) presents the complexities of interpretation surrounding Akhenaten and his successor, including the possibility of Akhenaten having two sons who married their sisters. 20 For genealogies in the Ptolemaic dynasty, see Hölbl (2001, Stemma 1-3).
18
Consanguinity in historical context comments that although no single theory can be attributed to their incestuous pattern, it served as a ‘dynastic signature which highlighted their singularity and, above all, their power’.21 Non-royal consanguineous marriages This section provides evidence of non-royal consanguineous marriages drawn from select sources; it is presented diachronically beginning with the Roman and Ptolemaic Periods and continuing retrospectively to the Middle Kingdom. Roman Period The census returns documenting brother-sister marriage in Roman Egypt are amongst the clearest evidence of full- and half-sibling marriage in antiquity. Consanguineous marriages are also recorded in, or adduced from, legal contracts, administrative papyri, wills and personal correspondence, but as Middleton (1962: 606) points out, ‘the technical character of the census with their indisputable precision’ remains the most reliable source. From the 1st century AD Roman census returns required all men and women resident in each household to be listed, thereby allowing the modern collation of genealogical data. Analysis of the Roman census returns by Bagnall and Frier (2006: 127) has revealed that 20 out of 121 recorded ongoing marriages were between brother and sister – one in six of all marriages – and overall one fifth were consanguineous marriages (see table 2.1).22 Four of the census returns document full-sibling or half-sibling marriages over two generations (145.Ar.9, 159.Ar.4, 159.Ar.11, 187.Ar.4) and one, which is not a census return (P. Amh. 2.75), documents sibling marriage down three generations (Grenfell and Hunt 1901: 91; Hopkins 1980: 322; Scheidel 1996a: 11 n.15 and 16). Three quarters of the census returns are from the Arsinoite and Oxyrhynchite nomes in Middle Egypt and the majority of the consanguineous marriages occur in the Arsinoite nome (Bagnall and Frier 2006: 6, 129-30). Almost half the returns are from metropoleis – 149 out of 300 – and of those 86 are from Arsinoe and 36 from Oxyrhynchus; with the exception of a possible prior brother-sister marriage (71-Ox-1), there are no attested sibling marriages in Oxyrhynchus although sibling marriages are indicated in other documents from Oxyrhynchus (Bagnall and Frier 2006: 56, 130 n.71).23 21 Another example of the singularity of dynasty is seen in the royal sibling marriages that took place in the 4th century BC when the Hecatomnid dynasty governed Caria; the region had been incorporated into the Achaemenid Empire in 545 BC. The most famous member of this dynasty is Mausolus, one of the five children of Hecatomnus, for whom the Mausoleum in Helicarnassus was built. When Mausolus came to the throne he married his full sister, Artemesia, and their marriage was childless. Artemesia succeeded her husband briefly; at her death her brother Idrieus ascended to the throne and married his sister Ada and their marriage was also childless. After the death of Idrieus, Ada ruled briefly before being driven from power by her brother Pixodarus, the final son of Hecatomnus, who married outside the family. All the sibling marriages were monogamous and Carney (2005: 84-85) believes their short-term focus was the maintenance of a prominent public profile within and beyond their region (including the building of the Mausoleum), combined with a memorable legacy of their rule, in the knowledge that their power would always be dependent on the will of the Persian king. 22 (i) Three hundred returns written on papyri have survived with the vast majority from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. Bagnall and Frier (1994: xv) identified nearly 1100 registered persons, as well as the sex of more than 1000 and the age of more than 700. (Bagnall and Frier’s 2006 edition of The Demography of Roman Egypt contains a supplement of new material published after the first edition.) (ii) In their study on the census returns in Roman Egypt, Hombert and Préaux (1952: 149-53) also discuss the prevalence of, and possible reasons for, sibling marriage. 23 (i) See Bagnall and Frier (2006: 56-57) for the distribution of the census returns. (ii) Scheidel (1996a: 11) also lists 173-Ar-21 (P. Stras. 8. 768, 174/5 AD) as a paternal half-sibling or possibly sibling marriage with two sons.
19
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’
Figure 2.1: Numbers of probable or possible non-royal consanguineous marriages in ancient Egypt allocated to historical periods (reported in select sources, see Appendix 1). Table 2.1: Incidence of consanguineous marriages in the Roman census returns in Egypt. Sources: Bagnall and Frier, The Demography of Roman Egypt, 2006: 128; Scheidel, Measuring Sex, Age and Death in the Roman Empire: Explorations in Ancient Demography, 1996a: 11.
Urban
Village
Number from Arsinoite nome
16.5
13
7
17
4
3.3
3
1
3
First cousin
2
1.7
1
1
1
Non-kin
95
78.5
26
69
59
Total
121
100.00
43
78
80
Level of kinship
All Marriages
Percentage
Brother/sister
20
Half-sibling
Distribution
20
Consanguinity in historical context Where the ages of husband and wife are preserved in the census returns, there is a smaller difference in age between consanguineous married couples – average 5.4 years in 19 marriages – compared to non-consanguineously married couples – average 8.3 years in 58 marriages where the ages of both spouses are preserved (Bagnall and Frier 2006: 131; Scheidel 1996b: 323, presents an age difference of 5.8 – 6.5 years). The majority of consanguineously married couples had offspring; one couple of siblings had eight surviving children, amongst whom two siblings married each other and had two infant male offspring (187.Ar.4; for numbers of offspring, see Scheidel, 1996a: 14, table 1.4).24 Using the census returns, Bagnall and Frier (2006: 109) estimate that Egyptian life expectancy at birth was probably between 22-25 years of age. However, taking into account high mortality at birth and in infancy, and then in advanced years (typically 50 plus), an individual living to 20 years may expect to survive a further 30 years or more, meaning that fewer would die between the ages of 20-30 (Chamberlain 2006: 47-49, 52-54). Hopkins (1980: 304) states that around 40 percent of families would have had both a son and daughter surviving to marriageable age, and applying the rates of consanguineous marriage in the census returns, this suggests that one third of young males married sisters of marriageable age in preference to females outside the nuclear family (Scheidel 1996b: 322). Huebner (2007: 21-94) discusses sibling marriage in the context of adoption, arguing that some marriages considered to be biological unions were more likely to be marriages between an adopted son or daughter, a widespread strategy in the ancient eastern Mediterranean. However, Remijsen and Clarysse (2008: 53-61) and Rowlandson and Takahashi (2009: 104-39) challenge this theory, arguing for biological sibling marriages in the Roman Period. Scheidel (1995: 155) argues that the practice of sibling marriage is not a distinct cultural trait peculiar to Greek urban settlers, since native Egyptian names linked to sibling marriage in Thelbonthon Siptha in the Prosopite nome (southwest Nile Delta) indicate that first degree consanguineous marriages were neither recent colonial practices nor confined to Hellenised environments.25 Included above in the census returns are two first cousin marriages, the first is 201Ar-10 (P. Tebt. 2.480, AD 203) and the second is 187-An-2 (PSI 12.1227, AD 188), which belongs to the Philosarapis archive from Tebtunis. There is possibly another first cousin marriage in the Archive of Philosarapis between Didyme (AD b.47/48) and Herakleides (AD 40-114), but this is dependent upon the identity of both fathers (Rowlandson 2016: 341, 334 n.55). In an analysis of the quantifiable data from Roman Egypt, Scheidel (1996b: 321-22) comments that the numbers of first cousin marriages were probably ‘massively underestimated’ since the format of the returns required that the parents of both spouses lived in the same house.
24 See Scheidel (1996a: 11-15) for analysis of age-specific incidence of consanguineous marriage, number of offspring, and birth intervals between surviving offspring. 25 Three out of 12 unions were sibling marriages in Thelbonthon Siptha, but Scheidel (1995: 154-55) warns against adding these to the Arsinoite census evidence to argue that sibling marriage was a feature of Lower Egypt; furthermore, Scheidel advises against using non-census evidence of consanguineous marriage to evaluate a pattern of regional distribution of sibling marriage. For Thelbonthon Siptha, Bagnall and Frier (2006: 130 n.74) list 173-Pr-5 and 173-Pr-10 as current brother-sister marriages, 173-Pr-17 as a former brother-sister marriage, 173Pr-10 (same household as above) as a probable former brother-sister marriage, and 173-Pr-13 as a possible former brother-sister marriages (these latter three are listed as doubtful by Rowlandson and Takahashi 2009: 138).
21
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Apart from the census returns there is a small and varied group of references to sibling marriages dating in range from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD; they include three birth returns, one report of a death, two claims for privileged status, two wedding invitations, two marriage settlements, one deed of divorce, one sale of a crop, one legal petition, one petition to an official, one administrative complaint and one epikrisis of a young man (Hopkins 1980: 32124; Huebner 2007: 23; Scheidel 1996a: 10-11 n.11).26 These and additional sources indicating probable and possible full and half-sibling marriages are listed by Rowlandson and Takahashi (2009: 131-39) in their study of brother-sister marriage and inheritance strategies in the Graeco-Roman Period (the authors comprehensively list 95 Roman Period marriages, including current, former, probable and doubtful unions; see Appendix 1). An important point raised by Remijsen and Clarysse (2008: 57-58) and further discussed by Rowlandson and Takahashi (2009: 119) is that sibling marriages occur in families with an average size of 2.53 sons and 1.63 daughters, and the same pattern is found outside the census documents, indicating that families who married consanguineously had further children to extend the family by marrying non-consanguineously.27 The actual biological relationship between husbands and wives named in documents outside the census returns cannot be stated with certainty. Dickey (2004: 154 n.42) suggests that the use of sister (snt) as a term for wife may be an adoption by Ptolemaic Greeks of the Egyptian custom (see pages 26 and 28). In AD 212 Roman citizenship was extended to free citizens of Egypt under the Constitutio Antoniniana and as a result the traditional tolerance towards native customs was replaced by the implementation of measures against brother-sister marriage.28 Bagnall and Frier (2006: 127) point out that there are few surviving census returns from the 3rd century AD and it is likely that sibling marriage in Egypt went into decline under Roman rule, and when Christianity became prominent in the 4th century AD. As Scheidel (1995: 323) notes, a decrease in sibling marriage from the early 3rd century AD is hard to test as the frequency of census returns declines sharply. In AD 535/6 the emperor Justinian I issued edicts against sibling and uncle-niece marriages (‘unlawful marriages’) in Mesopotamia and Osrhoene, with edicts issued again in AD 566 by Justin II with reference to Mesopotamia, Osrhoene and Euphratensis, but there is no mention of similar edicts being issued in Egypt (Giardina 2000: 411; see Lee 1988: 403-05 for Roman edicts).29 Giardina (2000: 412) notes that while marriage to cousins was not considered acceptable in the west from the time of Theodosius I (AD 379–95) (who banned the practice although his son Arcadius repealed this ruling in
26 (i) P. Oxy. 38:2858 (AD 171); P. Petaus 1-2 (AD 185); P. Oxy. 43.3137 (AD 295); PSI 9.1064.2 (AD 129); P. Amh. 2.75 (AD 161-168); P. Tebt. 2.320 (AD 181); P. Oxy. 3.524 (2nd century AD); P. Oxy. 1.111 (3rd century AD); BGU 1.183 (AD 85); P. Vindob. Warp. 5 (AD 168); P. Kron. 52 (AD 138); P. Tebt. 2.379 (AD 128); P. Tebt. 2.317 (AD 174/5); BGU 3.983 (AD 138-161); P. Oxy. 43.3096 (AD 223-4); PSI 5.457 (AD 268). (ii) The practice of identifying the mother’s identity in Greek papyrus documents came into use in the first century AD (Huebner 2007: 27). (iii) See also Frandsen (2009) for a detailed discussion on evidence for sibling and close-kin marriages in ancient Egypt and Persia. 27 Rowlandson and Takahashi (2009: 114 n.55) point out that the literary debate in the Ptolemaic story of Setne I (P. Cairo 2.30646) suggests that families with few offspring considered the limitations presented by siblings marrying each other. 28 See Strong (2005: 31-41) for a consideration of the response of the Roman government to sibling marriages in Egypt, regarded as incestuous in Roman Law. 29 See Lee (1988: 403-22) for a discussion on consanguineous marriage in Late Antique Mesopotamia.
22
Consanguinity in historical context the east in AD 405), there was less resistance to cousin marriage in the Byzantine East and even at the time of Justinian I marriage between cousins was legitimate in Byzantium. Ptolemaic Period The Egyptians also made a law, they say, contrary to the general custom of mankind, permitting men to marry their sisters, this being due to the success attained by Isis in this respect, for she had married her brother Osiris... Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 1. 27.1. Writing in the 1st century BC, Diodorus Siculus presented sibling marriage as an Egyptian custom rooted in the myth of Isis and Osiris, although papyrological evidence to support the claim in the Ptolemaic Period is rare, with the exception of royal marriages. A range of Ptolemaic papyri have been presented as possible proof of brother/sister marriage: Huebner (2007: 23a n.15) refers to two sibling marriages recorded on a Ptolemaic tax payment (P. Tebt. 3.1.766, 147/136 BC) and a marriage settlement (SB 12.11053.2-3, 267 BC?); Bussi (2002: 3, 20) lists the two papyri above alongside a receipt for repayment of a debt (P. Grenf. 2.26.3-8, 14, 103 BC). Clarysse and Thompson (2006: 332) believe that P. Tebt 3.1.766 is almost certainly a full sibling marriage, but SB 12.11053.2-3 refers to the marriage of a nephew and niece, while reference in P. Grenf. 2.26.14 to the ‘wife and sister Pnephis’ possibly refers to two different women. Rowlandson and Takahashi (2009: 131) present eight probable or possible cases from the Ptolemaic Period, including those noted above. They suggest that P. Tebt. 3.1.766 is reasonably probable as it refers to ‘my sister and wife (ἀδελφῆς μου καὶ γυναικὸς)’ and they also include a stela from Memphis as reasonably probable (BM EA stela 184, 50/49 BC); they categorise the remaining six examples in their list as possible sibling or half-sibling marriages. Although only one of the sibling marriages is linked to a tax payment (P. Tebt. 3.1.766), the Ptolemaic census returns suggest intermarriage within families. The census information enabled the creation of tax-lists providing demographic data for certain towns and villages, however, only men were required to list their parentage to determine tax levies. The census documents the adult population, their occupations and associated tax liabilities, and the functioning of the tax system; surviving texts are mainly from the Arsinoite nome (the Fayum), but there are also lists from the Lykopolite, Oxyrhynchite and Herakleopolite nomes in the Nile valley (Clarysse and Thompson 2006: 3). Despite the limited listing of parentage on the tax-lists, Clarysse and Thompson (2006: 331-32) note that the homonymy or near-homonymy of spouses and in-laws not only indicates family naming traditions in extended families but also points to consanguineous marriages connecting these families. Out of 814 couples, 22 (2.6%) have near homonyms, which Clarysse and Thompson (2006: 332) believe cannot be attributed to mere chance, arguing that ‘all this points to intermarriage within the same family and/or occupational group, a phenomenon which is also attested in family archives of this period’. One of the groups of archives to which Clarysse and Thompson (2006) refer is the Embalmers’ Archives from Hawara containing extensive papyri belonging to four families of mainly Egyptian undertakers, revealing marriage, divorce and remarriage within the 23
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ same families over successive generations.30 Uytterhoeven’s (2009: 376-78) study on life and death in Hawara during the Graeco-Roman Period details one first cousin marriage (P. Hawara Lüdd. 12, 100 BC) and one referred to in P. Hawara Lüdd. 13 (99 BC); two possible first cousin marriages (P. Hawara Lüdd. 15, 93 BC (possibly a half-sibling marriage); P. Cairo 3.50129 and SB 6.9297, 86 BC), and one possible half-cousin marriage (P. Chic. Haw. 9, 239 BC). There are two confirmed marriages between half-siblings (P. Chic. Haw. 1, 365/364 BC; P. Hawara Lüdd. 13, 99 BC) and one possible marriage between half-siblings (P. Hawara Lüdd. 16a, 92 BC) – these are all from the same father and different mother. There is also a marriage between a woman and her patrilateral half-uncle (P. Chic. Haw. 2, 331 BC) (Uytterhoeven 2009: 373). I have included P. Chic Haw. 1 (365/364 BC), the earliest halfsibling marriage, in this Ptolemaic section as it belongs within the Hawara Embalmers’ Archives. Complex pedigrees of relationships were created in Hawara through intermarriage, for example, two married first cousins referred to in P. Hawara Lüdd. 13 (99 BC) dissolve their union and then marry partners who are a brother and a sister. In another intricate set of family relationships, the husband named in P. Hawara Lüdd. 13 (99 BC) marries his first wife, who may be his half-sibling; when the husband marries his third wife, she is possibly the daughter of his first wife (and half-sibling) with another man (Uytterhoeven 2009: 376). Alongside marriages between interrelated families, the husband and the wife’s father often shared similar occupations and status, thereby consolidating professional ties, suggesting that marriages in the Hawara Undertakers’ community were driven by economic motives to retain property and income within each extended family (Uytterhoeven 2009: 382). Family archives from the garrison town of Pathyris in Upper Egypt also illustrate complex degrees of interrelationships between families, including two first cousin demotic marriage settlements in the Archive of Horos, son of Nechouthes – two daughters of one brother marry sons of two other brothers (P. Adl.14, 97–96 BC; P. Adl. 21, 92 BC, these marriages are discussed in detail in chapter three). Further evidence of intermarriage is found in a Theban archive belonging to a family of pastophóroi: an uncle-niece marriage is documented in P. Phil. Dem. 14 (264 BC, daughter of the husband’s sister) and in P. Phil. Dem. 25 (223 BC) a man marries his first cousin once removed (Djeho (ii) was his grandfather and her greatgrandfather) (El-Amir 1959: 61-64, 115-19, 117 figure 1; Pestman 1961, Chart A, nos 15 and 21).31 The 32 documents in this Theban archive are thought to belong to two families (317– 217 BC) connected to each other through marriage, and further connected to four families whose texts are in the Louvre and British Museum, which extend the family history back to the Persian Period (El-Amir 1959: 22). Intermarriage amongst families linked by occupation is also found in the archive of the Theban Choachytes or ‘water-pourers’ (80 Greek and demotic texts, 2nd century BC).32 Documents belonging to the family of Hasos and Horos 30 Uytterhoeven (2009: 393-94) notes that most of the undertakers were literate in demotic and some also wrote dockets in Greek; however, not all were bilingual, for example, P. Ashm. 1.22 (106 BC) contains an appeal to a third person for assistance as they were unable to write Greek. 31 Pastophóroi were cult officials who played a public role in the temple communities and received some form of tax privilege in period C of the salt-tax (Clarysse and Thompson 2006: 181). El-Amir (1959: 118) comments on the varied role played by the pastophóroi in Theban contracts, indicating that they could sell or lease tombs, organise liturgies, be charged with funerary offerings and the general upkeep and protection of tombs. 32 After embalming, the body was handed to the choachytes for burial and the (paid) provision of food offerings
24
Consanguinity in historical context indicate that Omnophris, the brother of Horos, married his niece who was 17 years younger than her husband (Pestman 1993: 20, Family B; see also Mairs and Martin 2008/9: 24-26). Judging by membership of the choachyte association, Pestman (1993: 9) estimates the community averaged 50 adults and an unknown number of young children, commenting that the group members ‘painstakingly stuck together’ by usually marrying someone within their community. Finally, a marriage settlement documenting property arrangements in the God’s Seal-bearers’ Archive from Memphis (P. Dem. Memphis 6/P. Leiden Dem. 373A/ P. Eheverträge 37, 131 BC) was originally considered by Lüddeckens (1960: 215 n.519) to be a possible uncle-niece marriage, but Thompson (1988: 280 n.2) rejects this suggestion (for details of the settlement see Carey 2009: 137-42; Pestman 1961, Chart B, no. 6).33 The Pharaonic Period There are no census returns from the Pharaonic Period comparable to those from Roman Egypt from which to draw evidence of consanguinity, although there are rare early examples of counting people, and sometimes animals. For example, the royal annals of the Old Kingdom refer to numerous censuses, probably first instituted in the 2nd dynasty as a dating system (replacing the naming of years after specific events) cataloguing the country’s wealth (ṯnwt), including people, cattle and agricultural production (Wilkinson 2000: 64).34 A more localised household listing is found in P. Petrie 1.3-5 from 12th dynasty Kahun, detailing the changing generational pattern in the household of the soldier Hori (Collier and Quirke 2004: 110-15; Griffith, 1898:19-25; see Kemp 1994: 158, for a reconstruction of three stages in the household of Sneferu-Hori). By the New Kingdom there is reference to census activity in the self-presentation of high officials, for example, the vizier Rekhmire in the reign of Tuthmosis III is described in his tomb (TT100) as being ‘in charge of the listing of the people’, and Tjanouni, a scribe attached to the army in Thebes under Tuthmosis IV, relates in his funerary biography (TT74) how he oversaw a nationwide census of people and animals (Clarysse and Thompson 2006: 13; Demarée and Valbelle 2011: 92, 1987: 41). The localised household lists (Stato Civile) that have survived in a fragmentary state from the Ramesside workmen’s village of Deir el-Medina originally documented approximately seventy households. In practice, how widespread and frequent census activity was in all periods of Egyptian history is hard to identify, and particularly so outside urban centres (Lacovara 2016: 205).35 The majority of evidence for non-royal consanguineous marriage in the Pharaonic Period is adduced from genealogical references in funerary contexts and supplemented by documentary sources, particularly the ostraca and papyri from Deir elMedina that aid a prosopographic reconstruction of genealogies within the village.
and libations. The choachytes had numerous tombs on the Theban west bank at their disposal, some of which accommodated large numbers of mummies such as TT157, a New Kingdom tomb which was ‘ownerless’ when the Theban choachytes appropriated it for burial (Pestman 1993: 7-8). 33 Cannata (2009: 57-58) observes that the title ‘god’s seal-bearer’ refers to mortuary priests taking on the combined role of choachyte and lector-priest in the Memphite and Hawara areas; the title is not attested in the Theban necropolis. 34 From their institution in the 2nd dynasty, the census appears to be recorded every second year until the pattern was changed in the fifteenth year of Sneferu’s reign (Wilkinson 2000: 145). 35 See Demarée and Valbelle (2011: 88-98, 1987: 33-49) for a summary of population surveys from Pharaonic Egypt.
25
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’
Table 2.2: Number of funerary stelae on which it is possible to determine genealogical indications and where the wife is called ‘his wife’ or ‘his sister’. Source: Černý, Consanguineous Marriage in Ancient Egypt, 1954: 25. Conclusions based on genealogical indications
Wife called ḥmt.f
Wife called snt.f
Source
No. of stelae
Total no. of marriages
Berlin
31
37
24
13
–
Paris, Musée Guimet
13
26
11
15
–
Louvre
37
57
28
29
–
Leyden
46
83
42
41
–
British Museum
104
135
62
67
6
Cairo
127
152
59
93
–
Total
358
490
226
258
6
In 1954 Černý assessed evidence for non-royal sibling and half-sibling marriages from 358 funerary stelae dating from the First Intermediate Period to the 18th dynasty, focusing particularly on this timespan since proper names were often followed by parentage, usually the mother’s name, occasionally the father’s name, and sometimes the names of both parents. The stelae selected by Černý documented 490 marriages amongst which 226 had genealogical indications (see table 2.2). Furthermore, the wife was referred to as ḥmt.f in 258 marriages and as snt.f (his sister) in six marriages, but indications of sibling marriages in this latter group were discounted by Černý (1954: 28) since they belonged to the 18th dynasty. Using Theban tomb inscriptions, Černý (1954: 28) concludes that the change in appellation from wife to sister began during the reign of Tuthmosis III, with its first use in TT24, although Whale (1989: 251) believes it may have been used earlier in TT127 in the reign of Hatshepsut. Marriages considered by Černý as possible or probable sibling or halfsibling unions are discussed diachronically below, alongside evidence for consanguineous marriage from other sources. Late Period and Third Intermediate Period A family tree constructed with information from a marriage contract (P. Lonsdorfer 1, 364 BC) and a cession document (P. Cairo 50150 and 50155, 380-362 BC) presents a consanguineous marriage in the first generation and, in a later generation, an inheritance conflict between two half-brothers, sons of two second cousins married at some point to the same woman. It is a useful illustration of the potential for complex interrelationships within families: in effect, the half-brothers (who have a child each by the same mother) share the same grandmother who is the mother of the husband in the marriage contract. P. Lonsdorfer 1 (364 BC) from Edfu documents the consanguineous marriage between a halfsister and half-brother born of the same father (Junker 1921: 11; see also Pestman, 1961, Chart A, no. 10; Rowlandson and Takahashi 2009: 131, no. ii). The cession document, also
26
Consanguinity in historical context from Edfu, details the renunciation of rights of succession by one half-brother in favour of the other (Cruz-Uribe 1985: 41-49).36 Frandsen (2009: 39-41) discusses a possible father-daughter marriage based on inscriptions on the base of a statue of the Chief Doorkeeper Djedhor (Chicago Institute Oriental Museum 10589, 326 BC). While Young (1965: 69-70) believes this was a father-daughter marriage, this is discounted by Sherman (1981: 85 n.10) not only on the grounds that the name Djedhor was commonplace in the Late Period, but also because father-daughter unions are unknown amongst non-royal Egyptians. Frandsen (2009: 41) raises an interesting point that may have a bearing on the veracity of this union: the marriage took place during the rule of the Achaemenids (Second Persian Period) when unions between parents and children may have been acceptable within Zoroastrian religion, although evidence at this time for parent/child marriages within Zoroastrianism comes primarily from Greek and Roman sources whose accuracy is questioned by scholars (see page 38). Two further possible consanguineous unions from the 26th dynasty at Bahariyah Oasis are discussed by Frandsen (2009: 38-9). The first is that between a son and daughter – Pedisi and N’as – of the ‘High Priest of Khonsu and Priest of Horus’ Pedastart and his wife TaneferBast (i). The marriage was first identified by Fakhry (1942: 98) after constructing a family genealogy using inscriptions on a range of monuments at Bahariyah. Athough Fakhry (1942: 89, 149) originally concluded that the sibling marriage of Pedisi and N’as resulted in two offspring named Tanefer-Bast (ii) and Thaty, who also married each other, he modified his original interpretation in the same excavation report to state that Pedisi and N’as were only second cousins. Commenting on the family of Pedastart over thirty years later, Fakhry (1974: 132) illustrates the family tree and again it appears that Pedisi and N’as are a sibling marriage although Fakhry does not discuss this union, but does specifically mention that the siblings Tanefer-Bast (ii) and Thaty are married. Kitchen (1986: 224-25, 231) and Bierbrier (1975: 92-93, chart 22) note consanguineous marriages amongst dignitaries and prominent members of the priestly class during the 23rd dynasty at Thebes. One is the marriage of Hormaakheru, son of Nesamun (ii) a prophet of Mont, to Ankhes, daughter of Hahat (ii) a prophet of Mont (these are members of the family of Bessenmut, see Kitchen, 1986: 224-30). According to Kitchen’s (1986: 225) genealogy these are full cousins whose fathers are brothers, but following Bierbrier’s (1975, chart 22) genealogy their consanguineous ties fall between full and half cousins since their grandfather married two first cousins. The next cousin marriage is in the family of Montemhat between Pediamun (i) and Babai (i), the son and daughter of vizier Khamhor A and his brother vizier Nesmin A (Bierbrier 1975, chart 23A; Kitchen 1986: 231); in turn, the 36 Cruz-Uribe (1985: 41-49) discusses P. Cairo 50150 and 50155 (380–362 BC) in detail and has constructed a family tree combining the cession text and the marriage contract. From Cruz-Uribe’s translation it is evident that a woman acting on behalf of one of the half-brothers renounces rights to a property in favour of the other halfbrother – these brothers share the same mother. What is interesting is that the man who owned the property is the father of the son who has lost the case and Cruz-Uribe (1985: 47) suggests that the judgement may have been decided on the basis of the mother’s marriage contract. The conflict between half-siblings is not dissimilar to that recorded in the Siut archive (see page 46).
27
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ influential families in which both of these marriages appear are also linked to each other through marriage (Bierbrier 1975: 92-95; Kitchen 1986: 230-33).37 Černý (1954: 23) considers one inscription, dated to the 22nd dynasty, a definite instance of sibling consanguinity; this is found on a stela from the Serapeum at Memphis belonging to the family of a Libyan mercenary chief settled in Egypt (HTBM, 1906:388). It tells how Padeese, son of Takelot ‘the great chief of Me’, had a son whose mother Taere was a daughter of Takelot ‘the great chief of Me’. Since this example is specifically tied to a Libyan family in Egypt, Černý (1954: 24) questions the extent to which it can be used as evidence of consanguineous marriage in other classes or during other Egyptian historical periods. New Kingdom In a study of the representation of family in 93 private tombs dated to the 18th dynasty, primarily from Thebes, Whale (1989: 253) believes that cousin marriage was likely to be more widespread than evidence suggests. The lack of filiation and extended kinship terms that may be responsible for masking cousin marriage might, according to Whale (1989: 253), also obscure that it was not uncommon for a man to marry her sister on the death of his wife, for example TT127, El-Kab 3, TT84, TT96. The interchangeable nature of snt and ḥmt and the circumstances in which it applies also varies within 18th dynasty tombs. For example, Whale (1989: 253) points out that in TT100, TT96, TT29, TT17 and TT295 the wife is called snt.f while the mother of the owner, in the role of the father’s wife, was called ḥmt.f, but in TT100 the tomb owner’s wife was both snt.f and ḥmt.f while the wives of previous generations were called ḥmt.f. Whale (1989: 259) believes that the evolution of the interchangeable snt/ḥmt originates in the reign of Hatshepsut–Tuthmosis III when a sister-in-law or a cousin who was also a wife was termed snt, and thereafter it became a common title for wife. Although 13 probable or possible cousin marriages have been identified by Whale (1989: 253-54), she notes that, in the main, these unions depend on shared names or elements of names; additional supporting evidence is the representation of relations on both the maternal and paternal sides of the family (TT82), or the prominent role given to a wife may be attributable to consanguinity (TT295, TT127). The cousin marriages listed by Whale (1989: 253-54) are found in the following Theban Tombs: 15, 83, 127, 39, 82, 24, 18, 99, 96 and 295, suggesting that in TT82 there may have been three cases of cousin marriage, alongside strong evidence to indicate an uncle-niece marriage (Whale 1989: 67, 254). One tentative cousin marriage suggested by Whale (1989: 99) is in TT53, but it depends on the identity of a shared relative of the owner and his wife.
37 See Kitchen (1986) and Bierbrier (1975) for the complex sets of interrelationships that appear amongst the ruling families, prominent officials and priests in the Third Intermediate Period. In the context of filiation formulae and genealogical lists, Olabarria (2020: 133) makes reference to the extensive genealogies created by elite families on monuments of this period as a means of legitimising and attesting their power.
28
Consanguinity in historical context A possible 18th dynasty father-daughter marriage has been presented by Metawi (2013: 221-32) based on inscriptions related to Iryneferu and his wife Mutakhet on a pair statue in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (N 129), a pair statue in the British Museum (EA 29) and a funerary cone (UCL 37516). On the Egyptian Museum statue Mutakhet is referred to as ‘beloved’ and ‘mistress of the house’ but no kin terms are given, on the British Museum statue as ‘his daughter’ and on the UCL funerary cone as ‘his wife’. Accepting that this is a father-daughter marriage, it would appear that the six female figures identified as s3t.s on the side of Mutakhet’s chair (N 129) are her daughters by her father (Metawi 2013: 225, 229-30). Bierbrier (1975: 8, 12, charts 2, 3) highlights a possible cousin marriage dated to the 19th/20th dynasty and two probable uncle-niece marriages dated to the 20th dynasty. The tomb of Amenemopet (ii) (TT148) may record a marriage between a prophet of Mont, himself the son of the mayor of Thebes, Paser (i), to the daughter of Paser’s sister. Both the uncle-niece marriages are from the tomb of Setau (EK4, Porter and Moss, 1962 [1937]: 18182): the first is between Nesiamun (v), High Priest of Nekhbet at El-Kab, who marries his niece Henutbener, daughter of Setau, First Prophet of Nekhbet, the second indicates that the brother of Nesiamun (v) married Shedemsebat, the sister of Henutbener; in effect two brothers married two nieces who were also sisters. In his study on consanguineous marriage, Černý (1954) also reviewed the Deir el-Medina household lists (Stato Civile), although now fragmentary, but originally documenting approximately seventy households, beginning with the head of each household followed by the names of each inhabitant and their parentage. Demarée and Valbelle (2011: 74) point out that the low number of children listed in each household (1-3) contrasts with the larger numbers of offspring known from funerary texts (see Appendix 2) and may be accounted for primarily by child mortality, but also by the workmen’s children leaving the village in search of employment. Out of the extant remains, 11 married couples and their respective parents were identified by Černý (1954: 29) and all the names are different, indicating that the married couples could not be half-brothers or half-sisters. There are an additional 10 couples where only the names of the fathers of the husband and the wife are identifiable, and they are all different, leading Černý (1954: 29) to suggest that, at best, the couples could be half-siblings; for the remaining couple the names of the fathers are different but the mother’s name may be the same for both spouses, although this is difficult to ascertain. Frandsen (2009: 38) also discusses a possible brother-sister marriage from Deir el-Medina, first raised by Černý (1973: 138, see genealogy) although unverified by Davies (1999: 73, 171 and chart 8) who remarks that the husband, Amenwa (i), may be the son-in-law of Huy (vii) who is married to the daughter of Huy (vii), and is not his son. Overall, Černý (1956: 29) concludes that there is no firm evidence to support sibling or half-sibling marriage in Deir el-Medina, a position supported by Davies (1999) in his prosopographic study of Deir el Medina. Evidence for cousin marriage appears to be more reliable in the village of Deir el-Medina with ten probable first cousin-marriages and an aunt-nephew (or cousin) marriage, however, some of these unions are based on securing identities of certain individuals, an issue addressed in chapter four. Based on the prosopography of Deir el-Medina, Davies (1999: 117, 160) suggests two further possible marriages: one aunt-nephew (or possibly 29
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ cousin) and one cousin. The networks of consanguinity and affinity linking members of consanguineous families in Deir el-Medina, details of offspring resulting from these unions and occupations associated with their families are also analysed in chapter four. The family trees in which these marriages appear can be found in Charts 3-5, 7-9, 11-14, 21, 22, 24, 2729 (Davies 1999) and Bierbrier (1984: 208-10, 1975: 30). Middle Kingdom Černý (1954: 27) identifies 490 marriages in his review of 358 stelae from the First Intermediate Period to the New Kingdom and out of these marriages only four stelae provide the names of both parents alongside the names of the husband and wife, but none share the same name. The names only of the mothers of the husband and wife are recorded on 95 stelae (see table 2.3). Černý (1954: 27) suggests that in the absence of the father’s name, some of the spouses in the 95 stelae naming the mother only may have been half-siblings, but this is only a possibility. However, Louvre C44 and BM EA 363 may be evidence of halfsibling or full-sibling marriage since the name of the mother of both spouses is the same, but this is tempered by the common occurrence of these names in the Middle Kingdom – Sithathor on Louvre C44 and Wahka on BM EA 363 (Černý 1954: 27). Fischer, (1957: 231 n.47) mentions another possible case of sibling marriage based on Cairo stela 20144 and BM EA stela 236 – although these stelae may postdate the 13th dynasty – proposing that the individual ‘Ỉg3i-ḥtp who is named on both stelae is the same ‘Ỉg3i-ḥtp who appears on earlier 13th dynasty stelae (Frandsen 2009: 38, lists this as a half-sibling marriage). Černý (1954: 25-26) identifies two more possible Middle Kingdom sibling marriages: one indicated on stelae Louvre C16, C17, C18 dated to the 12th–13th dynasties and the other on stela Berlin 13675 dated to the 13th dynasty (see also Millard, 1976: 24-25). The Louvre stelae belong to the ‘reporter of the Vizier Senwosret’ and on all three stelae Senwosret is seated facing his wife who is variously referred to as: ‘his wife, the lady of the House Deto’ (C16), ‘the lady of the House Deto’ (C17), and ‘his sister, the lady of the house Deto’ (C18). Table 2.3: Number of funerary stelae on which it is possible to identify both parents or mother only. Source: Černý, Consanguineous Marriage in Ancient Egypt, 1954: 27.
Source
No. of marriages
Names of both parents of husband and wife named (different)
Berlin
37
Paris, Musée Guimet
Mothers only named Names different
Same names
1
7
–
26
–
3
–
Louvre
57
–
17
1
Leyden
83
1
10
–
British Museum
135
1
28
1
Cairo
152
1
30
–
Total
490
4
95
2
30
Consanguinity in historical context Černý concludes that Deto has to be accepted as a real sister since the scribe would have been aware of her identity and status, believing a mistake in the inscription is unlikely, although it is a possibility. On the Berlin stela the wa‘ab priest Efnaierson is reciting an offering formula to ‘his daughter of his sister Bab’, who is also ‘his sister of his mother Iymeru’. Černý (1954: 26) concludes this could be Efnaierson’s real daughter with his sister through the same mother, Iymeru, or given the lack of terms for distant relationships the woman to whom offerings are being made really is his niece (Franke 1983: 60 agrees that this is probably a niece rather than a sister, although Robins 1979: 207 n.2 believes this is a daughter). There is a similar example in which a nephew is referred to as son on stela Musée Guimet C5 l. 8: ‘his beloved son, son of his brother of his (own) mother’ (Černý 1956: 26). The majority of the remaining evidence for consanguineous marriage presented here is selected from Millard (1976: 21-39), but since Middle Kingdom stelae tend to omit naming the father of the owner’s wife, and often the name of the owner’s father, it is impossible to draw firm conclusions. Commenting on changes in filiation formulae, particularly in the Middle Kingdom, Olabarria (2020a: 132) points out that this has been used to express ‘changes in the social fabric’, but warns against drawing these conclusions since the listing of the mother’s name in filiation formulae is a convention and that filiation through the father is also commonly found. In general, Middle Kingdom stelae display an increasing number of people whose relationship to the owner is indicated through a range of kinship terms and filiations, and while many are not biologically related they are still considered part of different kin networks linked to the owner (Olabarria 2020a: 29). In an extensive study of kinship in the Middle Kingdom using source material from stelae, graffiti, statues, papyri and grave inscriptions, Franke (1983: 342) concludes there is no safe evidence for cousin or uncle/niece marriages, but cannot say with certainty that it did not exist as there must have been exceptions. Franke (1983: 342) notes the difficulty of commenting on endogamy or exogamy since we are not aware of strict rules related to kinship groups that might define them as endogamous or otherwise. The complicated system of kinship in which the terms sn and snt encompass a wide range of collateral kin is the reason why Franke (1983: 343) believes it is challenging to state whether certain types of kin marriage are permitted or not, but argues there is unlikely to be any preference in ancient Egypt for parallel or cross cousin marriage, or even for marriage between (biological) kin or non-kin. In a PhD dissertation examining approximately 1500 Middle Kingdom stele, Millard (1976: 469, Excursus A) found that only 225 stelae had sufficient names and relationships listed to include them in her analysis of names reused within Egyptian families, pointing out that in some cases even two or more sisters shared the same name (using snt as a biological sister, although it can apply to a wider range of female kin), or that some names were used by males and females. Millard (1976: 487) and Robins (1979: 210, figure 1) believe that sometimes the appearance of unusual names on stelae may suggest biological ties not otherwise indicated by the use of kin terms. Overall, the reuse of names, the absence of names for both sets of parents, interpretations based on the positions of figures in stelae, and the extended use of kinship terms requires caution in assuming consanguineous marriage. However, Millard (1976: 41) notes that there may be more first cousin marriages that have been unavoidably 31
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ unrecognised in her survey but, based on the evidence she collated, Millard estimates consanguineous marriages did not exceed five percent of all marriages. I have only included a selection of the consanguineous marriages listed by Millard, focusing on those that seem possible and excluding those that are doubtful (or unlikely, such as parent-child marriage). Possible half-sibling or sibling marriages presented by Millard (1976: 24-28) and predominantly based on recurrence of names within families include BM EA 238 (HTBM 3, plate 15), BM EA 830 and BM EA 566 (HTBM 4, plate 36-7), stela Louvre C 179 (Mus. Louvre, 1886, plate 35), stelae Cairo CG 20025 (Lange und Schäfer 1902: 29-33) and CG 20161 (Lange und Schäfer 1902: 189-91). A further group of close unions are included in Millard’s (1976: 23-30) study, although a cautious approach is required because of the possibilities of interpretation and for this reason most of the tentative half-sibling or sibling marriages presented are not listed in Appendix 1. Millard’s (1976: 36-39) research also includes a group of possible uncle/niece and aunt/ nephew marriages as well as first and second cousin marriages. Amongst them, stelae BM EA 131 and BM EA 129 may indicate a parallel cousin marriage in which the mothers are sisters (Millard 1976: 39, 139-42, see also Franke, 1983: 80-81, for an interpretation of this genealogy). The paternal and maternal grandmothers of the owner of stela Florence 2564 share the same name possibly implying the owner’s parents were parallel cousins, born of two sisters (Millard 1976: 38; Franke 1983: 91-92 discusses the use of snt.f mwt.f on this stela as aunt or great-aunt). Stela Cairo CG 20051 may indicate that the paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother of the stela’s owner were cousins, born of two (half?) sisters. Although the names of the sisters are not unusual (S3tr‘), the names of their children (Ḥkki and Ḥkkἰnἰ) are unusual which leads Robins (1979: 210, figure 1) to suggest the two women named S3tr‘ were siblings, their children were cousins, and in turn the children of these two cousins married each other. In effect, the parents of the owner of the stela may be second cousins. Millard (1976: 38) also supports the possibility of a second cousin marriage in stela Cairo CG 20051 and, furthermore, suggests that the owner and his wife may have been related in some way since the name Ỉkἰ occurs frequently in the family. Robins (1979: 210, figure1), too, notes that although the names Ỉkἰ and S3tḥtḥr are common names, the frequency at which they appear on stela Cairo CG 20051 might suggest a consanguineous family; in contrast, Franke (1983: 85) is more cautious in identifying evidence for consanguineous marriage within this family. Combining the genealogies of stela Cairo CG 20043 and CG 20681, Millard (1976: 3637) proposes a marriage between an aunt, T3-ntt-nἰ, and nephew, W3ḥ-k3, in which the wife is the half-sister of his mother, however, Willems (1983: 163) does not interpret a consanguineous marriage in this stela (the genealogy of Stela CG 20681 only is discussed by Franke 1983: 86, and mapped by Robins 1979: 202 n.10 and 214, figure 8). Further possible consanguineous marriages in Middle Kingdom stelae listed by Millard (1976: 36-39) include one aunt-nephew marriage, two uncle-niece and five cousin marriages, one of which is a marriage between a ruler of the fourteenth nome, Ukh-hotp, and his first cousin Mersi (Blackman 1914: 12-13; see Appendix 1 for Middle Kingdom marriages).
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Consanguinity in historical context Polygyny and polyandry Although there is no evidence to suggest polygamy within consanguineous families, I have included below a brief summary of discussions related to polygamy. Of course, the practice of polygyny and polyandry regardless of whether one or more wives or husbands were consanguineous, would further divide inheritance rights to property but may also introduce new wealth and social networks into families (as would divorce and remarriage, see chapter three). Kanawati (1976: 149-60) presents 16 possible examples of polygyny in the Old Kingdom, noting that polygyny seems to be the exception rather than the rule and probably connected with a man’s financial status. Simpson (1974: 100-05) considers 13 Middle Kingdom cases of men being associated with more than one wife, but points out that the nature of the documentation raises questions as to whether this is polygyny or remarriage due to divorce or death. Simpson also raises the possibility of polyandry highlighting two ‘doubtful’ cases: the lady Menkhet in stelae Louvre C 3 and C 1 in the reign of Sesostris I, and the lady Khu in stela BM EA 571 (HTBM 2, plate 16, 12th dynasty). Metawi (2013: 173-74) and Millard, (1976: 63) also highlight an unusual case of a husband marrying two sisters, following the death of one sister (Cairo Museum CG 20105, late 11th/early 12th dynasty). Following his detailed study of kinship in the Middle Kingdom, Franke (1983: 340) concludes that polygamy was probably limited to wealthy families and there are no sources to support its practice outside these elite groups.38 It is not unusual to find evidence for men or women having married twice due to death or divorce, for example, stela Cairo CG 20045 (Middle Kingdom) names a son and daughter born to a current wife, and a further son and daughter born to a different mother, indicating the husband had two wives; furthermore, the affiliation on the stela implies that the owner’s wife had four half-sisters with whom she shared the same father (Millard 1976: 77-78). Again, in stela Carlsberg A684 (AEIN 965, Middle Kingdom) it appears that two daughters are from the current marriage and the two daughters described differently as s3t ḥmt.f are his wife’s children from a previous marriage (Millard 1976: 257-58). In her study of kinship in New Kingdom Theban tombs, Whale (1989: 249-50) discusses five tombs in which more than one wife is represented with the tomb owner (TT127, 39, 96, 88 and 295) and TT96 is unique in that three wives are represented in the tomb, two may have been sisters, although there is no evidence to suggest they were concurrent (see Whale 1989: 146, 150-51). Drawing from evidence in one or more tombs, Whale (1989: 248-49) assesses a further 10 cases which may indicate the tomb owner or a male relative had more than one wife or children by another woman. Remarriage also occurred in the workmen’s village of Deir el-Medina and Davies (1999: 176) suggests that one of the sculptors, Qen (ii), may have been sufficiently wealthy to have had two wives concurrently; occasionally the sons of Qen (ii) are named with both of his wives, but it is difficult to ascertain which of the children are affiliated to each wife and whether this was indeed a polygynous marriage.
38 Scheidel (2009: 280-91) addresses legal and social norms requiring monogamy amongst ancient Greeks and Romans, in contrast to men’s polygynous relationships beyond the nuclear family. For Graeco-Roman monogamy and polygamy, see also Scheidel (2011: 108-15).
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ El-Amir (1962: 103-07) considers that the wording of certain demotic marriage contracts allows the simultaneous existence of more than one wife, for example, wording within P. Cairo 30601 (230 BC) could be translated as ‘and marry another woman beside thee…’ (see Pestman, 1961, Chart A, no. 17, for details of the marriage contract). El-Amir (1962: 105-06, 1959: 30) also examines five other possible indications of polygyny, including the interpretation of ḥmtw in the Petition of Peteesi (P. Ryl. 9, 9.20, reign of Darius I) as reference to wives and not female household members, and the case of Paret, in the Archive of the Theban Choachytes, who may have had as many as three wives (P. Phil. Dem. 2, 314 BC; P. Phil. Dem. 7, 287 BC; P. Phil. Dem. 9, 287 BC) (see pages 24-25 for consanguineous marriage in this archive). In a detailed examination of marriage and matrimonial property, Pestman (1961: 3 n.6) concludes that polygamy is rare and provides a case of a possible example of polygyny in P. Mayer A 13c (ll. 6-7): ‘the citizeness NN, the wife of NN (and) the citizeness NN, his other (kt) wife, in total 2’, however, Pestman believes one woman may be divorced as the word kt is used in another marriage contract – P. Hausw. 15 (217-6 BC, Edfu) – in the context of remarriage. Evidence for consanguineous marriage outside ancient Egypt This section summarises evidence for consanguineous marriage in the ancient Near East, Greece and Rome, including the categorisation of consanguineous marriage and the variety and development of prohibitions regulating its practice. This section ends with an overview of current religious regulation of first cousin marriage. Judaism: degrees of prohibited marriage Within the Hebrew Bible, incest prohibitions are addressed to men and the Book of Leviticus (18:6-18 and 20:10-21) forbids sexual relations with a range of female kin including mother, step-mother, sister, sister-in-law, granddaughter, aunt, daughterin-law, and step-daughter. A marriage is, however, permissible with a sister-in-law if the man’s first wife is dead (levirate marriage). Marriages are not prohibited between cousins of any degree of relationship (the patriarchs Isaac and Jacob married their cousins), with nieces, or with a mother’s brother’s wife (Archibald 2001: 21, 25; White and Jorian 1992: 454-55; Prewitt 1981: 90, figure 1, 92; Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1972: 1052). There is also no express rule forbidding marriage to a daughter, but this may be inferred through the prohibitions preventing marriage with a step-daughter or daughter-inlaw (Catholic University of America 1967: 193a), while Ziskind (1988: 100-01) suggests this omission, which he refers to as ‘the daughter gap’, is not significant given that incest is not addressed comprehensively in Near Eastern legal collections. Carmichael (1995: 146-47), however, allows for the permissibility of incest in the Hebrew Bible when the ancestors of the Israelites are viewed in the light of their milieu, for example, Abraham’s marriage to his half-sister Sarah reflected a ‘deficient’ social and cultural environment, therefore practices related to incest prohibitions condemned by the lawgiver have to be read in the context of harmful environments in which they may have been practised.39 39 For a discussion on the Genesis narrative of Abraham’s marriage to his half-sister Sarah, see also Hepner (2003: 143-55).
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Consanguinity in historical context Athens, Sparta and Rome: marriage, law, and degrees of prohibition In Athenian law there were few prohibited relationships: siblings could marry if they were born of different mothers, uncles and nieces could marry, as could adoptive siblings (Pomeroy 1997: 34-35, see also Just 1989: 76-82). In Sparta, the rule regarding the mutual parent of half-siblings was reversed to that of Athens, so that half-siblings of the same mother but different fathers were permitted to marry (Hopkins 1980: 331). Even though patrilateral or matrilateral half-sibling marriages were permitted in ancient Greece, depending on location, Huebner (2007: 43-44) believes that such marriages were rare based on documentary evidence. In her study of incest, Archibald (2001: 13) reports that there was no formal punishment for incest between full-siblings or parent/child unless it injured a third party, noting that in Sophocles’s play, Oedipus, the eponymous character is exiled for patricide and not for incest. However, Plato’s Laws (8. 838a-b) clarify that unwritten law forbids sexual unions and marriages between siblings: 40 Whenever any man has a brother or sister who is beautiful, so too in the case of a son or daughter, the same unwritten law is most effective in guarding men from sleeping with them either openly or secretly, or wishing to have any connection with them, – nay, most men never so much as feel any desire for such connection. Laws, 8. 838a-b. Outside unions between siblings and matrilateral half-siblings in Athens, Just (1989: 79-80) notes that there were no rules governing endogamous marriage nor apparent preferences between different categories of biological kin, as evidenced by marriages between patrilateral and matrilateral parallel and cross cousins, as well as more distant relations. In his discussion on Roman law, the writer Cicero (1st century BC) comments on the absence of written law prohibiting incest, or ‘defilements’, in the 5th century BC, but notes that ‘reason did not begin to be a law precisely when it was written, but when it arose’ (De Legibus, 2. 9.22). In his writings on oratory and the orators, Cicero refers to a case of incest being tried in court in his lifetime, implying that this is now a capital crime (Brutus, 122). Writing in the 2nd century AD, Gaius, a Roman jurist, states that marriages are forbidden between parents and children, grandparents and children, full siblings, half-siblings, and adopted siblings if they have not been emancipated and were still legally related (Inst. 1.59, 1.61), however, marriage remained illegal between an emancipated child and a member of an older generation (Grubbs 2002: 137). Although aunt-nephew and uncle-niece marriages had been prohibited, Roman law was changed to accommodate the marriage of the emperor Claudius to Agrippina, the daughter of his brother, so that a man was allowed to marry the daughter of a brother but not the daughter of a sister (Inst. 1.62, Grubbs 2002: 138).41
40 In Laws 8.838c Plato comments on audience awareness that dramatic characters such as Oedipus inflict death upon themselves as punishment for intercourse between family members. 41 See Grubbs (2002: 136-86) for prohibited and non-legal unions in Roman law, and Grubbs (2015: 115-41) for a discussion specifically on illegitimacy and incest.
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Figure 2.2: The seven degrees of relationship from a common ancestor based on the civil Roman system. Source: Schwimmer, https://umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/ descent/cognatic/civil.html (1998). Accessed 4.10.2016.
In Rome in AD 295, Diocletian and Maximian clarified the laws on incest, defining the prohibited degrees of relationship: a man was not permitted to marry his daughter, his sister’s daughter or granddaughter, his aunt, stepmother, stepdaughter, mother-inlaw, or daughter-in-law, nor could a woman marry her equivalent male relatives (for commentary on Diocletian’s ruling, see Grubbs 2002: 140-41).42 The fact that the laws on close-kin marriage were clarified to this extent might suggest that endogamy was common in Rome. Goody (1983, for marriage prohibitions, see 4863) has argued that Christianity brought about a radical change in marriage prohibitions and in the structure of the family, however, Shaw and Saller (1984: 432) believe that biologically close-kin marriages are not generally regarded as a characteristic of Roman family formation. In AD 438, legislation issued under Theodosius extended incest prohibitions further to the seventh degree in the civil Roman system (see figure 2.2) and in AD 533, in the Digest of Justinian, incest laws were combined with other aspects of marriage law.43 In her study of Roman marriage, Tregiarri (1991: 38) comments on the complexity of incest in the works of Roman jurists, with the result that ignorance of the law or the degree of kinship constituted grounds for acquittal, although the marriage would become invalid and the children illegitimate (1991: 38). Christianity: degrees of prohibited marriage In AD 692 the Council of Trullo (Quinisext Council), convoked by Justinian II, met at Constantinople to resolve differences arising between the Eastern and Western Christian Churches, although it was convened without papal authority. The canon law on marriage drawn up at Trullo integrated three sources – scripture, patristic customary law and Byzantine-Roman civil law – and included the prohibition of marriage between cousins, which formed the law of marriage for the Eastern Churches (Heith-Stade 2010: 18).44 In the eighth century this was extended to prohibition up to the sixth degree of Wagemakers (2010: 337-54) discusses the accusations of incest, infanticide and cannibalism levelled against Christians in the early centuries AD, partially based on ignorance and partly on polemic, but using familiar topoi that were also employed against other groups considered capable of destabilising society. 43 Marriage between first cousins was amongst the prohibitions that were introduced under the Law of Theodosius (CTh. de incest. 3. 3.12). For incest laws in relation to marriage laws, see Justinian Dig. 23. 2.8 (marrying a sister); 23. 2.39.1 (marrying a sister’s great-granddaughter, that is marrying someone in the position of parent to her would constitute incest); 23. 2.54 (marrying a sister); 23. 2.68 (marrying a female ascendant or descendant). 44 Heith-Stade (2010: 18-19) argues that law on marriage in the canons of the Council of Trullo – ‘the first law of marriage independent of Byzantine-Roman jurisdiction in the Eastern Orthodox Churches’ – arose out of the need 42
36
Consanguinity in historical context Figure 2.3: The four degrees of relationship from a common ancestor based on canon law. Source: after Schwimmer, https:// umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/descent/ cognatic/canon.html (1998). Accessed 4.10.2016.
consanguinity, following the Roman model, and not long afterwards the seventh degree was also forbidden (Addis et al. 1960: 214). Many Eastern Orthodox Churches still prohibit marriage to the sixth degree in direct lineal descent. Canon law in the Western Church also adhered to prohibition up to the seventh degree of consanguinity, but this was interpreted differently to the Eastern Church and Roman law. The prohibition on marriage to kin was extended twice as far by counting seven steps from ego to the common ancestor (and affinity through marriage to the fourth degree). At the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 this was reduced to the fourth collateral degree and remained the principal marriage law of the West from the 13th–16th centuries (Addis et al. 1960: 214) (see figure 2.3). Catholic canon law was revised again at the Council of Trent (1548–1563) and adopted by Catholic countries. The Council of Trent did not change existing marriage prohibitions, but now required the absolute separation of those who had previously married within the prohibited degrees of kinship, and marriage by informal consent alone was no longer permitted (Sperling 2004: 70-71). With the rise of the Protestant movements in the 16th century, Catholic canon law was adapted to three main Reformation models: Lutheran, Calvinist and Anglican. While all three models acknowledged the contractual element of marriage, legal authority no longer lay purely with the Church and to differing degrees fell under state authority (Witte 2012: 154). Church of England (Anglican) canon law represented an abridged version of the biblical prohibitions on marriage found in Leviticus (18:6-18 and 20:1021). Anglican incest prohibitions, alongside those of other Protestant churches, excluded restrictions on cousin marriage and this Anglican biblical model is still found is some regions of the Unites States of America (Schwimmer 2003b; see Ottenheimer 1996: 38-39 table 3, for consanguineal and affinal marriage prohitions according to state).45
to create an official ecclesiastical common law in response to political and legal conditions in the provinces that had come under Muslim rule. 45 Ottenheimer (1996: 35-36) notes that before 1860 none of the 33 states in the Union had civil regulations prohibiting first cousin marriage, while 21 states prohibited affinal relations from marrying before 1861, and currently 12 of the 50 states (in addition to the District of Columbia) still maintain affinal prohibitions. Ottenheimer (1996: 37) remarks that since the mid-19th century the prohibitions on cousin marriage have increased in contrast to the reduction in marriage between affines; 31 states now have proscriptions against cousin marriage.
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Consanguineous marriage in Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism came to prominence under the Persian dynasty of the Achaemenids (550– 331 BC), but for this period there is very little that can be drawn from Iranian evidence for sexual relations and marriage within the nuclear family, and generally for the early history and practice of Zoroastrianism (Bigwood 2009: 312).46 Amongst the early nonPersian sources commenting on sexual unions between close family members is Strabo (Geography, vol. 7, 16. 4.25) referring to the customs of the Magi in Arabia Felix: ‘One woman is also wife for all… they also have intercourse with their mothers; and the penalty for an adulterer is death, but only the person from another family is an adulterer’ (16. 4.25). Caution is needed in approaching Greek and Roman testimonies in the Achaemenid era as they may be expressions of prejudice used as a tool to highlight Persian ‘barbarity’ or pagan immorality, and so became stories frequently repeated but rarely questioned (for example, Bigwood 2009: 312, 320, 329; see also Wagemakers 2010: 337-54 for Roman attitudes to groups considered destabilising elements). Later texts from the Sassanian Period (AD 224–651) belong to a time when Zoroastrianism exerted state influence in Iran. Pahlavi (Middle Persian) Zoroastrian religious and legal writings clarify that khwēdōdah, or next-of-kin marriage, includes marriage to mother, daughter, sister, or half-sister (Bigwood 2009: 312, see n.7 for texts; Frandsen 2009: 68). In the Sassanian Period there is also evidence of khwēdōdah not only from Greek, Roman, Syrian and Armenian sources, but also in Chinese, Indian and Tibetan Buddhist texts, as well as non-Buddhist Indian, Arabic and Chinese sources (Bigwood 2009: 312; Frandsen 2009: 90-115; Scheidel 1996b: 325; Silk 2008: 439-46).47 Zoroastrian religious writings from the Sassanian Period imply that incestuous unions improve purity of race, compatibility of spouses, affection for children, and confer religious blessings and properties to the individual and the community (Bigwood 2009: 312; Frandsen 2009: 70-81; Gelder 2005: 3637; Scheidel 1996b: 326; Silk 2008: 444-45). While evidence shows that close-kin marriage was encouraged by the priesthood and was likely to have occurred, its prevalence remains open to question and, additionally, in later Zoroastrian sources support for unions between immediate family members appears to be treated cautiously (Bigwood 2009: 312; Gelder 2005: 37, 51; Scheidel 2002: 38-39). Consanguineous marriage in Arabia and Islam In a discussion of incest and inbreeding, Gelder (2012) points out that the alleged closekin marriage practices of Zoroastrians are a recurrent theme in Muslim texts, serving to differentiate ‘them’ from ‘us’. There is, however, no direct evidence that Zoroastrians practised nuclear marriage in the time of Islam, and although there may have been rare occurrences, by the tenth century AD the closest kin that Zoroastrians married were first 46 In her discussion on consanguineous endogamy in Mesopotamia in the Neo-Babylonian Period (c.600–480 BC), with particular reference to a family archive from Sippur, Waerzerggers (2002: 319-42) argues that consanguineous marriage was likely to have been more widespread than previously attested. 47 For a detailed consideration of evidence for khwēdōdah in Persian and non-Persian sources, including Greek, Roman, Armenian and Arab writers, see Frandsen (2009: 60-129); see Gelder (2005: 39-77) for discussion on polemics between Magian and Arab sources. Gelder (2005: 37) notes that majūs was the term used by Arabs in the Islamic Period to describe all followers of Zoroastrianism.
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Consanguinity in historical context cousins (Boyce 2002: 54). In pre-Islamic Arabia the preferred union was between parallel cousins (father’s brother’s daughter) and closer degrees of relationship were considered improper. The marriage of the prophet Muhammad to his cousin Zainab bint Jash, the former wife of his adopted son, is recorded in the Quran (Surah 33:37-40). The Quran (Surah 4:23) lists laws governing marriage prohibitions for Muslims based on consanguinity, affinity, and fosterage: Forbidden to you (O believing men) are your mothers (including stepmothers and grandmothers) and daughters (including granddaughters), your sisters (including full sisters and half-sisters), your aunts paternal and maternal, your brothers’ daughters, your sisters’ daughters, your mothers who have given suck to you, your milk-sisters (all those as closely related to you through milk as through descent), your wives’ mothers, your stepdaughters – who are your foster-children, born of your wives with whom you have consummated marriage; but if you have not consummated marriage with them, there will be no blame on you (should you marry their daughters) – and the spouses of your sons who are of your loins, and to take two sisters together in marriage (including a niece and her aunt, maternal or paternal) – except what has happened (of that sort) in the past. Female kin that fall into the prohibited categories are called mahram (mahārim, pl.), which Gelder (2005: 4) translates as ‘unmarriageable members of the family’, noting that there is no Persian or Arabic word for incest. In developing rules related to relationships that were forbidden and allowed, Gelder (2012) points out that Muslim theologians were careful to show that Quranic rules governing marriages sat comfortably within existing Arabic tradition, except for the new prohibition that a man could not marry his father’s wife, nor be married to two sisters simultaneously. New inclusions prohibited marriage to a wet nurse on the grounds that the relationship created is almost the same as the blood relationship to a mother (see Gelder 2005: 93-96).48 Current religious regulation of first cousin marriage Due to their historical legacy, prohibitions on consanguineous marriage vary between and within religious traditions. In practice, first cousin marriage is the most common type of consanguineous union and recent consanguinity estimates suggest that 10.4% of the world’s population are married consanguineously, with over 1000 million individuals living in countries where 20-50%+ of marriages are consanguineous (Bittles and Black 2010a: 1780, 2010b: 193, 2010c: 737; Chisholm and Bittles 2015: 1-4; see Bittles 1998: 3-66 for global estimates and figure 2.4 for global prevalence). In their overview of Consanguineous Marriage and Human Evolution, Bittles and Black (2010b: 196) have created a table detailing the regulation of first cousin marriage in major religious traditions (see table 2.4).
48 See Gelder (2005: 78-121) for Islamic incest regulations. Gelder (2005: 94) suggests prohibition related to the milk-relationship may be connected to the Westermarck thesis (see pages 12-13).
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’
Figure 2.4: Current global prevalence of consanguineous marriage. Source: Courtesy of Global Consanguinity website (www.consang. net), copyright Alan Bittles 2015. Map constructed by Michael Black. Table 2.4: Current religious regulation of first cousin marriage. Source: Bittles and Black, Consanguineous Marriage and Human Evolution, 2010b: 196. Religion Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Hinduism
Branch
Regulation
Ashkenazi
Permissive
Sephardi
Permissive
Greek and Russian Orthodox
Proscribed
Coptic Orthodox
Permissive
Roman Catholic
Diocesan dispensation required
Protestant
Permissive
Sunni
Permissive
Shia
Permissive
Ibadi
Permissive
Indo-European
Proscribed
Dravidian
Permissive
Buddhism
Permissive
Sikhism
Proscribed
Confucianism/Taoism
Partially permissive
Zoroastrian/Parsi
Permissive
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Consanguinity in historical context Conclusion Although the full extent of consanguineous marriage in the ancient world is difficult to gauge, extant evidence suggests that marriage involving various degrees of consanguinity was practised and/or permitted. Where this occurs in an absence of prohibitions related to marriage, it would appear that customary practice regulated acceptable levels of biological kinship between a husband and wife, for example, non-royal sibling or half-sibling marriage is rare in ancient Egypt (outside the Roman Period). While first cousin marriage may have been more widespread in ancient Egypt, comparatively few references exist given the range of years under review, but I would argue this is not because of its rarity, but because it was an accepted level of kinship within marriage. There are no official requirements for couples to name their parentage before the Roman census returns, so earlier references to paternal and maternal parentage are more random and might occur on legal documents, such as marriage contracts, or in funerary genealogies. The combination of bureaucratic requirements, customary practice and limitations of kinship terms complicates the search for evidence of consanguineous marriage, but it is possible that consanguineous marriages were regularly interspersed with non-consanguineous marriages, or they may have been favoured within some families or communities (bearing in mind that the term consanguinity is being used in this context to categorise biological relatedness and that the Egyptian understanding of kin relatedness was more variable). The following chapter explores economic factors influencing the choice of consanguineous marriage and the likely outcomes of these unions, focusing particularly on partible inheritance and gifts exchanged at marriage in ancient Egypt. This leads to a case study on consanguineous marriage as an economic transaction in the Ptolemaic garrison town of Pathyris where there is textual evidence for marriages between first cousins. Through examination of the demotic family archive in which these consanguineous marriages appear, chapter three considers the impact of consanguinity on financial settlements made at marriage. This leads to an analysis of economic transactions between families in Pathyris related through consanguinity and affinity and a subsequent discussion on the potential advantages of economic transactions between these related families.
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Chapter 3
The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods as economic strategies in non-royal consanguineous families Introduction This chapter assesses the potential economic advantages of non-royal consanguineous marriage over non-consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt in relation to family inheritance and gifts given at marriage. It is based on the hypothesis that consanguineous marriage mitigates the fragmentation of moveable and immoveable property, and alleviates pressure on families in terms of the timing and amount of gifts given in marriage and in inheritance. Using evidence from family archives in the Ptolemaic Period, this chapter proposes that families who marry consanguineously may favour economic transactions with relatives to whom they are related. The chapter is divided into two parts; using documentary evidence the first section explores and compares inheritance laws and financial transactions at marriage in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, classical Greece and ancient Rome (regions where there is evidence for consanguineous marriage). The research then considers whether ancient Egyptian inheritance laws and customary economic practice at marriage make it more advantageous for families to marry consanguineously than in these other regions. Documentary sources dating from the Middle Kingdom onwards are used to examine a range of scenarios related to marriage, family wealth and inheritance, including evidence for changed and contested wills, contracts of sale or division of family property, and other texts from family archives. How these scenarios are, or might be affected by consanguinity and affinity, are considered. The second section of the chapter is a case study of demotic marriage settlements and other economic transactions in consanguineous and non-consanguineous families in the Ptolemaic garrison town of Pathyris in Upper Egypt. The term ‘marriage settlement’ is used in preference to ‘marriage contract’ as these demotic documents reflect a consensus between two parties, marking the first stage of the marriage (but not necessarily committed in writing) (Pestman 1961: 11). Using documents from family archives, this case study explores how consanguinity might affect goods and money committed in these settlements, and suggests how these commitments might be influenced by marriage and inheritance strategies. The amounts committed within ten marriage settlements, two of them between sets of first cousins, are analysed in detail and reasons for similarities and differences are presented. Finally, if marriage is considered an economic transaction, then analysing the same family archives from Pathyris, texts suggest there may be preferences amongst consanguineous families to transact economically amongst themselves, including through marriage. 42
The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods Terms of reference: matrimonial goods, gifts and dowry When describing matrimonial goods listed in ancient Egyptian marriage settlements they are termed here as ‘goods of the woman’ (nkt.w n s.ḥmt) and ‘gift of the man’ (šp n s.ḥmt) in keeping with translations used by Pestman (1961). This chapter avoids the generalised use of the term ‘dowry’ due to its range of cross-cultural interpretations. In their seminal work on bridewealth and dowry, Goody and Tambiah (1973: 17-22, 62-64) use the word ‘dowry’ interchangeably to describe a range of same-direction giving: a gift to the bride, to the new husband and wife as a conjugal unit, a pre-mortem inheritance, or a payment. When I have used the term ‘dowry’ in relation to Greek, Roman and Mesopotamian goods, gifts, property or payment brought by the woman into the marriage, it follows its use by scholars who are referenced in this chapter. A transfer of assets from the man’s family (and kin) to the woman’s family (and kin) are called bridewealth by Goody and Tambiah (1973: 1-2, 61), but when the recipient is ultimately the bride herself, they apply the term ‘indirect dowry’.49 Bell (2008: 5) clarifies brideprice as a payment that does not involve wealth-assets.50 Within this chapter, terms to describe matrimonial transfers by the man to a woman in cultures outside ancient Egypt follow the terms used by the scholars who are referenced. Finally, I have tried to clarify, where possible, concepts associated with marriage transactions by using guidelines assigned by Bell (2008: 18) to distinguish gifts from payments, and inheritance from gifts and payments, but available ancient Egyptian evidence does not always make this distinction. Ancient Egyptian private property, laws of inheritance, and matrimonial goods Any discussion of the importance of land in terms of inheritance and goods given at marriage is predicated upon ownership or long-term tenure of land. Evidence of legal practice in texts indicates that private property did exist, it could be owned collectively and be transferred by individuals (Moreno García 2013a: 258; Théodoridès 1971: 292). In addition to the management and control of large plots of temple estates and other institutional land, often enacted through transfer to high officials, there always existed in Egypt small privately owned arable plots around houses, or in gardens. In theory, all the land of Egypt was under the control of the Pharaoh, whether it was controlled by royal or temple institutions, or by village families (to claim all land was owned by pharaoh is oversimplified, for example, see Eyre 2015: 710; Manning 2005: 3-4). Even when land was leased from temples, such as those leases recorded in the 20th dynasty Wilbour Papyrus, there are indications that this was considered a hereditary practice (Kemp 1994: 310; Janssen 1986: 362, 365, see also Jelínková 1957: 45-55, 1959: 66, for a Ptolemaic sale of inherited property to a cousin). There is also land granted by the king and inherited by family, for example, the Inscription of Mes, written in the reign of Ramesses II, records a family dispute and refers to a gift of land given to a family ancestor for military service three centuries earlier (Gardiner 1905; for an overview see Théodoridès 1971: 310-11). 49 Goody and Tambiah (1973: 3) highlight a set of distinctions within the categories of bridewealth and ‘indirect dowry’: payments may be returned at death or divorce, they may be fixed or variable, and the timing of their delivery may vary. 50 Bell (2008: 4-5) describes brideprice, as distinct from bridewealth, as a marriage payment made as a result of transferring products of work; he uses the example of a poor family reducing their consumption in order to supply a marital gift, rather than reducing the value of their estate by transferring wealth assets.
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Moreno García (2013a: 260), however, raises an important point in relation to inheritance rights in institutional land transferred to elite individuals; in return the individual usually endows this land to temples or cults and receives an income from it. Mostly, texts indicate that private property was a collective family affair, but when rights over disposal of endowments are limited to an individual, for example KRI 3.336-41 (reign of Ramesses II), it enhances personal interests and strengthens institutional ties. By forbidding or limiting the involvement of collateral relatives in ownership or disposal of endowed land, the owner and often his direct descendant (‘son to son, heir to heir’, KRI 5.227, year 2 Ramesses III) develop powerful patronage links with state bodies rather than extended kin, thereby increasing personal gain and enabling temples to become ‘elite building-tools’ (Moreno García 2013a: 260). Allowing for the exclusion of collateral kin in certain endowments, across all periods of Egyptian history the transmission of property across or down the generations of the same family was common and may not have required any form of written documentation. Even in the Ptolemaic Period there are few surviving examples of property conveyance compared to the numerous documents detailing leases, tax receipts and petitions regarding disputes over land; as with documents recording inheritance disputes or allocations, it may be that land transfer documents only record unusual cases (Manning 1995: 249).51 What Manning (1995: 258, 260) does note in his exploration of land transfer documents and which has particular bearing on the discussion within this chapter, is that available Ptolemaic texts recording land transfers unequivocally show movement of property within families, a sign of the wish for the rightful heirs to receive family property and therefore the relative lack of property transfer documents may be a reflection of unwillingness to sell family property. The level of economic transactions between family members is discussed in greater detail in this chapter’s case study, using the example of the Ptolemaic Archive of Horos, son of Nechouthes, in the garrison town of Pathyris. Ancient Egyptian inheritance law Husband and wife each have the right to independently own property and independently inherit from their own consanguineous families, but husband and wife do not inherit from each other according to customary laws of succession (Pestman 1969: 59; Théodoridès 1971: 292). Egyptian customary law does, however, allow spouses to inherit property or goods if this wish is legally recorded with an ἰmyt-pr (‘that which is in the house’). First appearing in the Old Kingdom, this document allows the transfer and disposal of private property outside the normal laws of succession, either within or beyond the family (Logan 2000: 49-73). The ἰmyt-pr is also the method by which property is temporarily transferred to the wife, but will eventually devolve to the children of the marriage (see, for example, P. Kahun Manning has discussed private ownership of land in detail. To summarise, absolute control was theoretical and land controlled by the Ptolemies was geographically limited; large estates were given to Greeks and Egyptians, the latter outnumbered Greeks as landholders; temple-managed estates had been in the hands of temples for many dynasties and were only re-donated by the Ptolemies; finally, many Egyptians took leases on cleruchic land. In effect, the Ptolemies did not alter the ancient regime of property ownership, but created institutions to capture tax revenue from arable production and from the leasing and selling of property (Manning 2003a: 182, 1995: 23839).
51
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The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods 1.1 ll. 7-10, 12th dynasty, although the ἰmyt-pr could also be retracted (P. Kahun 7.1 l. 20, 12th dynasty) (Johnson 1999: 169-72; Théodoridès 1971: 304-06).52 If joint property is acquired during the marriage, two thirds belong to the husband and one third to the wife (Pestman 1969: 73), although as Eyre (2007: 230) points out there is the expectation that the father takes a financial responsibility within this two-third allocation.53 In principle, children have rights to three sets of inheritance: the independently owned property of the mother and that of the father, and the joint property of the parents. On his father’s death, the eldest son was considered the head of the family, the preferential heir, traditionally responsible for the administration of the estate and handling of his parent’s burial and funerary cult, although the responsibility may not necessarily be given to an eldest son (Eyre 2007: 228, 231; Johnson 1996: 183-84; Pestman 1969: 65 and n.2).54 In the ten demotic marriage settlements from the Rylands and Adler papyri (analysed on pages 64-70), the eldest son is named as the appointed heir in seven, administering the estate of behalf of the other heirs: P. Ryl. Dem. 22, 27, 28 (contract invalid?), 30, 37 and P. Adl. Dem. 14, 21 (both Adler settlements are first cousin marriages within the same family). All the children are appointed heirs in P. Ryl. Dem. 20, and all the children born before the marriage and during the marriage are named as heirs in P. Ryl. Dem. 16. The beginning of the statement regarding heirs is missing from P. Ryl. Dem. 38.55 The normal lines of succession are complicated by death or divorce resulting in a second marriage and the subsequent birth of children, but the rights of the children from the first marriage cannot be relinquished or alienated without legal recourse; in fact, children have rights to their parents’ property even before the death of their parents (Pestman 1969: 59-61). This is witnessed in the story of Setne I (P. Cairo 2.30646, early Ptolemaic) who already has children but is charmed by a woman who entices his possessions from him, but since Setne’s children have guaranteed rights of inheritance under Egyptian law he (i) P. Rylands 11 (284 BC) documents a sale of a whole property by a husband to a wife in return for care during his life and attending to his burial arrangements after death. However, the deed does not transfer property rights to her through a statement of no-title (sẖ n wy) but serves more as an annuity of care for the husband (see Pestman, 1961: 122-23). Nevertheless, when her husband needed to use the family house as security for a debt, his loan was not effective until she released her claim to avoid a declared interest in the property. (ii) Johnson (1999: 169 n.1) points out that the ἰmyt-pr documents are often regarded as wills but they do not always relate to the transfer of property at or in relation to death, preferring to use the term ‘(land-) transfer document’. 53 (i) The breakdown of one third to mother, father and children is clarified in O. DeM. 764, probably 19th dynasty (Eyre 2007: 230; Toivari-Viitala 2003: 87-96). In relation to the husband’s allocation of two thirds, P. Turin 2021 + P. Geneva D 49 (rt. 2.11) implies the husband is free to ‘do as he wishes with his possessions’, but as Toivari-Viitala (2003: 94 n.31) points out, this freedom is limited to the choice of inheritance allocations to children. (ii) The right of women to own property in marriage, to independently acquire property and inherit property enabled women to become wealthy in their own right. Over a 200-year span in the Roman Period village of Socnopaiou Nesos in the Fayum, one third of the village’s real estate may have been owned by women, although women during this period had fewer public financial liabilities than men (Hobson 1983: 315). 54 Lippert (2013: 2) points out that in early periods of Egyptian history succession may have been granted to a sole (male) heir, presumably with a duty to care for dependent relatives, but by the New Kingdom the eldest son, or the main heir, is the estate’s caretaker responsible for the equitable allocation of profits. 55 In a study of the use of the term 3bt from the Old to Middle Kingdoms, Willems (2015: 463) believes 3bt can be understood in a legal context that denotes a property owning group, consisting of a single mother and father (not grandparents and other lineal ascendants) and consanguineal offspring, which corresponds to the pattern of Egyptian inheritance, so while each 3bt is distinct they inevitably overlap with each generation. 52
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ demands that they sign a deed to alienate their rights (Lichtheim 1980: 135).56 Even though children have the legal right to partible inheritance, unless otherwise alienated, this not always fulfilled. For example, in P. BM 10845 (late Ptolemaic) two children, abandoned by their father on his second marriage, pray to the gods for help since their father refuses to support them using the matrimonial goods brought by their now deceased mother (see Hughes 1969: 43-54). Examples of legal intervention to change, challenge or circumvent laws of succession are documented in three famous cases described briefly below: the Will of Naunakhte (P. Ash. Mus. 1945.97; P. DeM 23, 25; P. Ash. Mus. 1945.95, 20th dynasty), the records of a trial at the Temple of Wepwawet in Siut (P. Brit. Mus. 10591 rt., 170 BC), and the Adoption Papyrus (P. Ash. Mus. 1945.96, reign of Rameses XI, 1107–1077 BC). The Will of Naunakhte The papyri detail a mother’s decision to legally exclude four of her eight children from inheriting her personal property as they had not cared for her properly; those excluded are three daughters and one son, although she does give a partial gift to one of these daughters. Naunakhte inherited property from her father, acquired property through her first (childless) marriage, and acquired rights to a third of the shared property of her second marriage. She did not, however, have the power to exclude the rights of the eight children to two thirds of their father’s property, or any other property owned by him (Černý 1945: 29-53; Donker van Heel 2014; Eyre 2007: 240-41; Pestman 1982: 173-81, 1961: 162-64). Trial at the Temple of Wepwawet in Siut The trial records a family dispute from Siut that focuses on the land of two half-brothers bequeathed to them by their dying father, two thirds to the elder and one-third to the younger. The wife of the elder brother claims that all the family land belonging to her fatherin-law and his first wife had been promised to her as part of her marriage settlement – it served as security for her maintenance. This was the land her husband had a right to through the laws of succession and which could not be given away to the son of a different woman without full assent. The wife’s claim was not upheld on the grounds that her husband had legally alienated his right to one third of the inheritance due to him in favour of his halfbrother (Allam 1990a: 24-26; Donker van Heel 2014: 73-80; Eyre 2007: 227-29; Johnson 1996: 181-82; Manning 2010, Appendix: 207-16; Shore and Smith 1959: 52-60; Thompson 1934). The Adoption Papyrus The text is a statement by Rennefer, the wife of Nebnefer, stating that her husband has legally adopted her as his daughter, thereby granting her rights to all that he possesses since the couple are childless. This statement may have served as an introduction to the Texts documenting legal action are witness to the fact that rights to inheritance, or claims upon inheritance, are not easily relinquished. For example, in P. Vienna D 12003 (648 BC) and D 12004 (660 BC) a brother and sister legally relinquish their claims to shares in an estate rightfully bequeathed to their half-brother and his young siblings; these are all members of a choachyte family in Thebes (Malinine 1973: 192-208).
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The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods second part of the papyrus in which the husband and wife jointly state that they bought a slave girl. The statement then reverts back to Rennefer’s voice as she relates how she brought up the slave girl’s three children. We then learn that Rennefer’s younger brother married one of the slave girl’s daughters and that Rennefer has granted freedom to this girl and her two siblings. Furthermore, Rennefer now adopts her younger brother and the three freed children of the slave woman. In short, this newly adopted family now have full rights of succession according to Egyptian law (Allam 1990b: 189-91; Cruz-Uribe 1988: 220-23; Donker van Heel 2014: 80-87; Eyre 1992: 207-21; Gardiner 1941: 23-29; Johnson 1996: 183). The question as to whether consanguineous marriage can help insulate the family from conflict, or at least limit conflict, can be raised in relation to the Will of Naunakhte, the family dispute from Siut and the Adoption Papyrus described above. The existence of these texts indicates two important and interrelated factors; firstly, the cases may be the exception to the rule by the fact they are documented and, secondly, they emphasise the importance of partible inheritance. This chapter argues that ties created through consanguineous marriage may help to bind a family together without access to legal recourse, and that much legal documentation demonstrates the means by which families resolve disputes without necessarily fragmenting their landholdings, although fragmentation is sometimes inevitable. In his analysis of the laws of ancient Egyptian succession, Pestman (1996: 7175) notes that even when there are deviations in the natural progression of property inheritance, sometimes by as much as a generation, in time property usually returns to children within the family. Ancient Egyptian gifts at marriage The earliest surviving written marriage settlement, detailed by Pestman (1961: Chart A, nos 1-4; Lüddenkens 1960: 10-11) is a demotic text dating to 879 BC (P. Berlin 3048 vs. l. 1-21/Eheverträge 1). While demotic marriage settlements from the Late Period onwards are specific as to the goods given by the woman and the gift of the man, earlier financial practices and agreements related to marriage are more speculative, although forms of gift-giving at marriage are found in New Kingdom texts from Deir el-Medina (ToivariViitala 2001: 61-69). A deed may be drawn up, or agreed, in view of the marriage to confirm financial commitments, payment due to the wife in the event of repudiation, and stipulations related to property on behalf of the wife or children.57 This deed, called sẖ n ḥmt (wife’s deed), can be drawn up at marriage or later since its contents relate to the law of property in connection with the marriage; it is a unilateral statement drawn up by the husband that becomes legally effective when the wife accepts the terms of the deed (Pestman 1961: 21-32). In all the marriage settlements examined in this chapter’s case study the value of the goods brought by the woman to the marriage are consistently larger than the gift brought by (i) Up to the 26th dynasty (664–525 BC) the woman is given in marriage, usually by her father, but sometimes by a widowed mother, or an uncle; in turn, the man reaches a consensus with the representative of his future wife’s family. The first deed in which the man speaks directly to the woman is dated from 536 BC, P. Berlin 13614 (Pestman 1961: 11-13).
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ the man; however, the man’s financial costs lie in his commitment to maintain his wife during the course of the marriage. The matrimonial goods brought by the woman remain her property, although the man has the right to administer and dispose of these goods.58 In the event of divorce the full value of the woman’s marriage goods is returned to her, or the full value as stated in writing, whether or not this was actually given (for example, P. Adl. Dem. 14, 97/96 BC; for a detailed discussion on matrimonial goods, see Pestman 1961: 90-114). In earlier demotic contracts the wife has the right to administer the gift from her husband, the šp n s.ḥmt, and dispose of it during marriage. The wife has to return part of the šp n s.ḥmt in the event of her initiating divorce, but the husband has to pay in excess of his original gift should he initiate the divorce (for example, P. Hausw. 16, 217/216 BC). In later settlements the man’s gift is a fictitious amount (for example, P. Adl. Dem. 14, 97/96 BC). Its value lies in the financial commitment, as it is the amount given to the woman in the event of her husband ‘repudiating’ or divorcing her, but the wife usually, though not always, receives part of the value should she initiate the divorce (Pestman 1961: 110-13). Property gained prior to marriage, that is not part of the marriage agreement, continues to be owned independently, and the wife has a claim to one third of property acquired during marriage (for example, P. Ryl. 37, 176–135 BC).59 It could be argued that the combination of independent ownership, joint property ownership, the return of a woman’s matrimonial goods and the release of the husband from maintenance allows for greater financial freedoms of partner choice in marriage. But this must be assessed in combination with partible inheritance that ultimately reduces land holdings with each generation, unless moveable and immoveable property are introduced through marriage. This combination of economic freedom and the legal divisibility of family property is considered on pages 56-60 in relation to consanguineous and non-consanguineous marriage. Inheritance law and dowry in Mesopotamia, classical Greece and ancient Rome Mesopotamia60 Under Mesopotamian law, only sons (or grandsons) could inherit the paternal estate and male family members were financially responsible for women; if this was not possible, provision was made for women in the form of a gift, or as a yearly or monthly allocation (Stol 1995: 134-35). Women recorded as recipients of inheritance shares in the pre-Sargonic and Old Babylonian Periods were probably unmarried and would ultimately bequeath their shares to male family members; if there were only female offspring a man could adopt a son as heir, or marry an adopted son to his daughter and appoint him heir (Stol 1995: 134).61 Depending on the type of contract they are variously described as nkt.w n s.ḥmt, ḥd n ἰr ḥmt, or s’nḫ, translated respectively as goods of a woman, money to become a wife, and (capital) causing (a wife) to live (Pestman 1961: 91, 102, 107-08). In all types of demotic marriage agreements, whether specified in writing or not, the husband commits to his wife’s maintenance (food and clothing), usually in money, oil and corn, although clothing is substituted for money in P. Bryce (260 BC) (Pestman 1961: 144-50). 59 If a wife initiates a divorce, she may forfeit her right to one third of the property acquired during marriage (for example, P. Hausw. 14, 217/216 BC). 60 Allowing for localised variations, Westbrook (2005: 1-2) argues that the underlying structure of the legal systems of the societies of the ancient Near East are the same, drawing on the legal traditions of Mesopotamia in the third millennium and spreading out to the cities and states of the eastern Mediterranean. 61 Lafont (2003: 544) refers to two Middle Assyrian sources (OBT 105:8-10 and OBT 2037) as evidence for daughters 58
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The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods Male heirs inherited equally although the eldest son administered the estate and received an extra portion; sons born of parents who remarried were also considered primary heirs and shared equally, however, by the Neo-Babylonian Period texts show that sons of the first marriage received two thirds of the inheritance (LL 24, LH 167, c.1900 BC; NBL 15, 7th century BC; Oelsner et al. 2003: 939; Westbrook 2003: 395-96, 398).62 As in ancient Egypt, division of an inherited estate may be left undivided with heirs as joint owners, but as Westbrook points out (2003: 396), in Mesopotamia property might be undivided for generations to foil creditors with claims on the whole estate, or on debts linked to one of the heirs. Heirs also have a mutual responsibility to maintain the land and Middle Assyrian Law (MAL B4, 1400–1000 BC) states that an heir forfeits his land rights to his brother after taking his share of harvest but failing to cultivate the undivided land (Lafont 2003: 542). Discussing the scarcity of direct evidence related to the occupancy of land shared by kin, Ellickson and Thorland (1995: 356) note that the rules they generate are likely to be informal and based on custom. Dowry in Mesopotamia is a gift from the bride’s father to the bride, to which gifts from other sources might be added, and could be considered a voluntary pre-mortem inheritance.63 The husband has the right to control and administer the dowry but must return its value to the wife’s family on termination of the marriage; in the event of the woman dying only her children could inherit or it would be restored to her father if she died childless (Westbrook 2005: 3, 2003: 942).64 Although not legally required, and before the Neo-Babylonian Period, the husband-to-be would have secured his wife with a payment to her father, and this betrothal payment would also be returned in the event of the marriage ending (Westbrook 2005: 2, 6 n.19; Wunsch 2005: 2).65 Girls married between the ages of 14-20, although they may have been betrothed from a much younger age, and boys married between 26-32 years of age (Roth 1987: 737).66 A widow could become head of household if her children were still young and maintain control over her dowry and remarriage, in contrast to Athens where a widow with young children was required to return to her father’s house (Stol 1995: 132-33; Westbrook 2005: 4). sometimes inheriting equally with sons, however, this is put into doubt by Oudshoorn (2007: 265) who believes the necessity of documentation indicates daughters were not heirs based on intestate succession. Texts from the city of Nuzi (14th century BC) show that a father could adopt a daughter as a son to retain family property; this strategy also avoided the risk of an adopted son married to a daughter, transferring wealth to his original family. For a detailed study on the legal position of daughters in ancient Near Eastern laws of succession, see Oudshoorn (2007: 251-98). 62 In the Old Babylonian Period sons were the primary heirs, but in their absence the following order of inheritance by default applied: grandsons, daughters, a son by a prostitute, brothers of the deceased, but not his widow (Westbrook 2005: 395; see also Lafont 2003: 543, for order of succession in the Middle Assyrian Period). In 14th century Nuzi, the eldest son received double shares while remaining sons received equal amounts, or allocations according to their rank in the family, although the intestate laws of succession could be altered with a will (Zaccagnini 2003: 600). 63 In the ancient Near East, as in classical Greece, dowry was customary and while it would help to secure an economically good marriage it was not a legal requirement (Blundell 1995: 115; Westbrook 2005: 3). 64 A gift received from the husband during the marriage could be kept by a widow, whether or not she had children, but retained by the husband if she should predecease him (Westbrook 2003: 398). 65 In the Old Babylonian Period the betrothal gift was paid in silver, possibly a fixed price paid in instalments, and in preceding Sumerian times it was paid as food intended for the wedding banquet (Stol 1995: 126). 66 Most marriage contracts were oral and written agreements were probably drawn up because of particular financial interests (Stol 1995: 125).
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Children born of the marriage had rights of succession to the dowry, but litigation texts show how difficult it could be to extricate the dowry of a deceased and childless wife from her husband’s estate, a possibility that resulted in families delaying the transfer of the dowry until the birth of children (Wunsch 2005: 4). While a widow with children acquired usufruct on her dowry, she did not have the right to independently use the principle to conduct personal business. Wunsch (2005: 4-7) and Stol (1995: 133) highlight other avenues by which women could use capital to engage in business, such as a personal allocation or ‘cash box’ or ‘basket’ in her dowry, gifts received from her mother not tied to dowry, or the gift of income from property. It is thought that dowries consisted mostly of moveable property and were not documented, although tablets in the ‘Nuzi texts’ (14th century BC, Kingdom of Arraphe) record land or houses given as dowry by the woman’s father or guardian; a counter-dowry of moveable property was given by the woman to her father or guardian. For example, Tablet HSS 5.76 lists a field given by a father to his daughter and a return gift from the daughter to her father of a sheep, pig, piglets, one pair of shoes and one textile; this text also secures inheritance of this dowry for the female descendants of the woman (Justel and Lion 2014: 39-41).67 Stol (1995: 127) notes that the marriage of a girl from a poor family in the texts from Nuzi resembles a sale, while other texts from the city prove that poor families ceded daughters to others who would eventually arrange their marriages. In Nuzi it was cheaper to adopt a girl at a lower price than pay ‘the price of a bride’ and women transferred in this way were often married to slaves (Postgate 1979: 95-97; Stol 2016: 308-09, 2005:127). Classical Greece All Greek states practised partible inheritance although the allocation of shares to sons was usually larger than that given to daughters and women were less likely to inherit land or houses than their male siblings but, as Foxhall (2013: 91-92) remarks, this may reflect the preferred allocation of economic resources. For example, women are rarely named as landowners in Athenian documents, but in 4th century BC Sparta almost two-fifths of land was owned by women, largely acquired through dowries (Aristotle, Politics 2. 1270a). Land is not necessarily fragmented at succession and to what extent, if any, inheritors divided their patrimony varied according to family and estate size, urban and rural location and custom (Caseau and Huebner 2014: 6). There are almost no documented examples of the disinheritance of a child, suggesting this was difficult to execute legally or socially (Foxhall 1989: 29). Generally, Greeks regarded their property as held in trust for future households and rights of personal disposal were limited for everyone in Athens. While Plato (Laws 6. 776b) describes Greek families transmitting property and livelihood ‘like a torch, from one generation to another’, this is not so much a prolonged line of purposeful consanguineous succession but what Foxhall (1989: 28 n.32) describes as the ‘recreation’ not the ‘continuation’ of households (kinship relations were rarely traced back beyond cousins sharing the same great-grandfather).
67
HSS 5 text in Excavations at Nuzi I: Texts of Varied Contents’, Chiera, E. 1929.
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The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods The timing of the delivery of inheritance for men and women varied according the circumstances of the family. While some women received their pre-mortem inheritance in the form of dowry committed at betrothal, they may be kept waiting until the family could afford to transfer the gift (see Orations, 41. 3-5 ),68 while a son in Athenian society might receive part of his inheritance at his marriage or at his father’s 60th birthday (Huebner 2014: 101; Foxhall 1989: 32-33). The obligation towards family property and household was preserved in the status of epiklēros given to a sole heiress in Athens.69 She was expected to marry her father’s closest male relative, thereby protecting the family estate and transmitting it through her children; even when the only daughter inherited her father’s debts, the male next of kin was still obliged to marry her or provide a dowry sufficient to attract a husband (Pomeroy 1995: 60-61).70 Commenting on the likelihood of a girl becoming epiklēros, Golden (1985: 10 and n.8) offers an estimate of one in seven fathers dying without male heirs, although a man could adopt a son during his lifetime or by will (Roy 1999: 12).71 The proportion of a man’s estate represented by the woman’s dowry is reported to range from under ten percent to over twenty percent, with some poorer families enlisting financial help from the extended family (Blundell 1995: 115). The husband has the right to administer the dowry and to spend the income it produces, but in the event of divorce the dowry must be returned to the woman’s father or guardian, irrespective of who initiates the separation. The dowry was the woman’s financial protection and, for some, it was a family investment used by the father to secure a politically or financially advantageous marriage. Even though citizen women were not given legal rights, women with sizeable dowries could also personally wield considerable economic influence and particularly so if a woman’s dowry was greater than her husband’s patrimony (Blundell 1995: 116; Foxhall 1989: 32-44). Immigrant Greek women in Egypt during the Ptolemaic Period benefited from the Egyptian legal tradition giving them freedom to personally acquire and dispose of property, and agree to marriage settlements without the authority of a kyrios (male guardian). As Greeks and Egyptians intermarried, Rowlandson (2004: 152-53) notes how many people were ‘bi-cultural’, moving between the two systems of law and exploiting them to their own advantage.72 Ancient Rome Under rules of intestacy in ancient Rome all children inherited the paternal estate, as did women married cum manu (under the husband’s legal control) and grandchildren by sons; Demosthenes, Orations, Private Cases: ‘An unknown pleader against Spudias in the matter of a marriage portion’. Blundell (1995: 120) remarks that the tendency to find a spouse within the extended family, even outside the epiklēros system, probably arose from a ‘traditional loyalty towards one’s kinsfolk’. 70 In Sparta, the laws related to epiklēroi only applied to unmarried girls, and in the city-state of Gortyn, an epiklēros could liberate herself from the duty to marry a kinsman by relinquishing part of her inheritance (Lacey 1968: 20203; Pomeroy 1995 [1975]: 60-61). 71 Writing on adoption in the ancient world, Huebner (2013b: 525) notes that in eastern Mediterranean societies the majority of adoptees were infants and young children, with male adoption being more common; in contrast, the adoptee was usually a young man in Rome and Athens. 72 Evidence of dual Greek and Egyptian names, and use of both legal systems is demonstrated in Ptolemaic bilingual family archives, such as the archives of Dryton and Pelaias, both resident in the garrison town of Pathyris (Vandorpe and Waebens, 2009: 47-48, 148-58; Vandorpe 2002; Vierros 2008: 73-87). For an overview of bilingual papyrological archives, see Clarysse (2010: 47-72). 68 69
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ in the absence of offspring the man’s closest agnatic relatives were next in succession (Table 5, Twelve Tables, 451-–450 BC, Saller 1994: 163). While women inherited equally under intestacy, their power as testators was restricted to ensure family property returned to the agnatic line, but by the mid first century BC rules of succession had widened beyond agnatic kin (Gardner 1991: 163-64; Saller 1994: 165).73 However, it was not until the second century AD that women progressively gained freedoms to bequeath property to cognatic kin, allowing children to make first claim if their mother died intestate and for mothers to inherit from their deceased children (Gardner 2011: 375; Grubbs 2002: 219).74 Saller (1994: 164) observes that although most propertied Romans drew up testaments with unequal divisions, they were expected to make responsible and equitable decisions and heirs could legally challenge wills they deemed unfair. The expectation of equal allocation and the reasoning for a son receiving a larger share is seen in the Digest of Justinian where a father asks his daughter ‘not to be angry because I shall have left a more substantial inheritance to your brother, who, as you know, will be sustaining great burdens and will be discharging the legacies I have made above’ (Dig. 31. 34.6). In a review of final wills, Champlin (1991: 114) highlights the preference for larger allocations in favour of males in the Late Republic and Early Empire detailing proportions such as threequarters to a son and one-quarter to a daughter (Dig. 32. 27.1) or half to a son, one third to a sister and one sixth to a mother (CJ, 3. 28.12).75 However, allocations made in wills have to be considered in the light of daughters receiving a pre-mortem inheritance as dowry. Widows rarely inherited from husbands, but the return of dowry and its use during her lifetime was the most common bequest by husbands (Polenen 2002: 174). Families living in Upper and Middle Egypt in the Roman Period, including many of Greek origin or of mixed Greek and Egyptian marriages, followed indigenous laws of succession in which all children inherited equally and had to agree to alienate their rights of inheritance (Huebner 2014: 101). Drawing on epigraphic material, Saller (1987: 21-34) and Shaw (1987: 30-46) conclude that age at first marriage is late teens for non-elite Roman women and late twenties for nonelite men. Epigraphic study by Scheidel (2007: 389-402) supports these ages for non-elite marriages, although he finds the late teens estimate for women more difficult to test. Earlier ages are given by Lelis et al. (2003: 20-21) who notes that it was common in Rome for men to first marry aged 17-20, and for women to first marry aged 12-16, but marriage customs varied amongst regions of the Roman Empire. As the result of the death of a spouse, or The laws of intestacy are based on Table Five of the Twelve Tables and in the absence of agnatic kin, clansmen of the same nomen inherited. The Twelve Tables also made provision for written wills whereby the testators could choose their heirs (Saller 1994: 163). 74 Second century AD senatorial decrees also allowed mothers to inherit from their deceased children, but prior to these changes a deceased child’s property passed to the father and or the closest agnatic kin. Prior to the second century AD, a deceased mother’s property also passed to her husband or paterfamilias (father or male head of estate), even if she willed it to her children, and he would be trusted to transfer the property when the children reached adulthood or on his death (Grubbs 2002: 219). 75 (i) Hopkins (1983: 77-78) points out that there is no indication in Roman literature that the younger son was normally ‘underprivileged’ or the eldest son ‘especially privileged’. (ii) Dig. 32. 27.1: ‘Pompeius Hermippus appointed his son Hermippus heir to three quarters and his daughter Titiana heiress to a quarter of his estate. And he left them each legacies, to be taken in advance, of certain lands. Besides this, he directed that if Hermippus were to die without issue, another possession should be given to his daughter’. 73
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The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods because of divorce, second marriages were not uncommon. Champlin (1991: 105-06) notes that life expectancy evidence supports the proposition that wills were made at an early age and inheritance strategies developed in written wills to deal with the complex possibilities raised by death.76 Although life expectancy is estimated from 20 years into the 30s (Frier 2001: 144-46; Frier 2000: 788-89; Hopkins 1966: 263-64; Scheidel 2012: 118), this is based on average life expectancy at birth which takes into account high mortality in the early years of life and in old age (typically 50 years or older), so an individual who lives to 20 years could expect to survive a further 30 years or more (Chamberlain 2006: 47-49, 52-54, see also Appleby 2018: 146). In addition to the death of a partner, or divorce from them, Saller (1994: 171) highlights reasons for the many strategies employed to transmit property, including numerous legal formulae to ensure inheritance by children, the extension of succession to non-agnatic kin, and perpetuities granted to freedmen. In the earliest form of Roman marriage a wife was cum manu, ‘in the hand of her husband’ – her property passed to him and remained with him; in the Republican Period marriages were increasingly sine manu, giving the woman rights to property, including her dowry as she is part of her natal family (Mousourakis 2012: 101-03). The Roman dowry (dos), given by the woman’s father (or paterfamilias) and intended for her maintenance,77 was transferred to the husband and became his property to administer and use, but at divorce or death it could be reclaimed by the wife (or her paterfamilias) (Treggiari 1991: 327, 323-24). In a discussion on the economics of Roman marriage, Frier (2012: 7, 3) describes the dowry as an ‘income-generating fund’ operational only during the marriage and its payment, or return, was customarily spread out over three years (it might not only take several years to repay, but could also take several years to initially find the agreed amount).78 The transfer and acceptance of dowry was not essential but it indicated legal marriage (as opposed to concubinage); the status of women without dowry is uncertain and Treggiari (1991: 323) highlights the importance of dowry as an institution when even slaves transferred a ‘quasi-dos’ to their partners (slaves were not allowed married status). Estimates suggest that thirty percent of married women were widows; while older women may have married twice or more, many poorer widows without dowry would have found it hard to remarry (Curchin 2001: 538; Krause 1994: 73, 93; Hemelrijk (1996: 509-11) suggests thiry percent is a high estimate and should be treated cautiously). The woman’s right to paternal inheritance, and return of dowry at divorce or widowhood, meant that many women owned and managed property independently; also, the considerable size of dowries given to women of wealthy families leads Saller (1994: 217) to suggest endogamy within status groups as families created and reinforced dynastic alliances (see also Betzig 2002: 371-73).79 For a detailed discussion on laws of succession and dowry, see Saller (1994: 155-224). The dowry could consist of any or all of the following: cash, moveable and immoveable property (Treggiari 1991: 323-24). 78 If the husband’s mismanagement endangered the dowry, the wife could demand security against its return, or sue for its return, during the marriage (Frier 2012: 12). On death or divorce, a deduction of one sixth of the dowry could be made on grounds of the wife’s misconduct, and one-sixth for maintenance of each child up to half of the dowry’s value (for example, see Dillon and Garland 2015: 305). See also Frier and McGinn (2004: 73, 170-92) for reasons under which the dowry becomes invalid and for conditions of its return. 79 The husband or wife can initiate a divorce although a wife cum manu would need her husband’s consent so that 76 77
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Consanguineous marriage: response to, or reaction against, laws of succession? The first part of this chapter set out to examine ancient Egyptian inheritance laws and customary economic practice at marriage and consider whether these laws and practices make it more advantageous for families to marry consanguineously in ancient Egypt than in other regions. In all the historical periods and regions discussed above, the secure transmission of property, and its associated economic outputs, across and down generations is a common and expected feature. Women in all the regions above, subject to conditions, receive matrimonial goods and maintain the right of their return at divorce, while the husband has rights to administer and use them; and either through inheritance and/or dowry women personally own, or have usufruct of, wealth that might consist of money, moveable and immoveable assets. However, there are many degrees of difference due to terms and freedoms applying to rank, wealth, marital status, sex, age, and even geographical location, some of which have been mentioned above, but not all can be assessed in the scope of this discussion. What has been presented is a summary of practices that may have varied cross-regionally and chronologically within the historical periods described here. There is evidence for consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, classical Greece and ancient Rome, but we do not know its extent. The argument here is based on the assumption that consanguineous marriage did not happen in every family, nor did it happen in every generation; more surviving documentary evidence would be likely if either of these scenarios were true. However, based on the hypothesis that consanguineous marriage was used by some families as an economic strategy, then customary tradition either makes it more viable for families to marry consanguineously (or on a wider scale for endogamy to be favoured) as property was traditionally shared amongst offspring, or the opposite may apply in that consanguineous marriage may be a reaction to laws that were more divisive in relation to property. So much surviving documentary evidence relates to individuals or groups who are sufficiently important to record their affairs, or of public interest to be recorded, and who have enough wealth to afford legal documentation or lengthy legal cases. Alongside them are the less wealthy families whose marriages and economic activities are unrecorded or recovered in fragmentary evidence, such as the ostraca from Deir el-Medina (see chapter four). Might some poor families be equally as motivated as more affluent families to choose consanguineous marriage? Substantial matrimonial goods are a form of investment in the wider family, a transfer of assets but not an economic loss to the family; a poor family’s assets are also retained and the advantage of the marriage may not be in landholdings but in labour. Of course, the advantages of non-consanguineous marriage include the extension of labour networks and social contacts, and the accumulation of wealth and prestige. I suggest that the consolidation of property for landed families, or protection from poverty for families with few assets, were major motives for consanguineous marriage. They were he would bring about the divorce, a wife in patria potestas would need her father’s consent and he would initiate proceedings, and a wife whose father was dead could act unilaterally, sui iuris (Treggiari 1991: 442-44, for a detailed discussion on divorce, see 435-82).
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The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods motives shaped primarily, but not exclusively, by the laws of inheritance and a frequent subsequent outcome, the transfer of matrimonial goods. To understand why laws of succession might favour consanguineous marriage, inheritance laws applied in the regions discussed above need to be teased apart and briefly summarised. Firstly, in Mesopotamia inheritance passed through the male line; women who inherited were probably unmarried and their property bequeathed to agnatic family (Stol 1995: 134). In Athens, direct inheritance of land by women was relatively rare, but an only daughter was important to the transference of property (and resulting stability of the oikos – the family, house and land); the only daughter filled the gap in the male line by ensuring her father’s property was inherited by his grandsons (Blundell 1995: 119). In contrast, under laws of Roman intestacy all children inherited the paternal estate, but most Romans drew up wills allocating larger shares for sons than daughters. However, propertied Romans were expected to draw up responsible and equitable will allocations and part of a woman’s pre-mortem inheritance was as dowry (Saller 1994: 164-65). Under the system of partible inheritance in ancient Egypt, children have equal rights to their parents’ property even before the death of their parents, rights that cannot be relinquished or alienated without their permission (Pestman 1969: 59-61). On the basis of laws of succession, it appears that sons and daughters in Egypt have the most secure and equitable access to property, but when succession is more tightly controlled through the agnatic line, is it because the perceived risk of property division and loss are greater or is it more of a reflection of female status? A simple answer might be that the higher the number of people with inheritance rights to property the greater its chance of fragmentation, but it presupposes that women have the right to buy, sell and own immoveable assets. If this is the case, then consanguineous marriage is a means by which the possibility of fragmentation becomes reduced since economic transactions and their outcomes are contained within the family. But even when inheritance is passed through the male line, sons may choose not to cooperate in estate management and assert their rights to dispose of shared landholdings or houses. Laws of succession solely down the agnatic line might also presuppose that women are passive partners in the marriage, but for some the matrimonial gift or dowry brought substantial value to the husband’s estate. Even though the husband’s rights to administer and use dowry existed in all the regions discussed above, its withdrawal and reclamation by the wife (or the wife’s family) could be economically detrimental to the husband’s income (and other members of the household). In consanguineous marriage, the transfer of matrimonial goods or dowry becomes a transfer of assets from one family branch to another, not a transfer that weakens the income of the extended family. This is a basic framework to argue for consanguineous marriage in certain contexts, but there are many complex scenarios that affect marital choices and outcomes: families may have little or no wealth, lines of succession are complicated by infertility, death or remarriage, families break down through divorce and disagreements. It is not possible to say with certainty that consanguineous marriage was used as an economic strategy in ancient Egypt more than its neighbouring regions, but the law of partible inheritance and the greater freedom given to own, buy and dispose of property might mean that some 55
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ families chose consanguineous marriage as a preferred economic strategy.80 However, the very same economic freedoms given to women may also give them the independence to marry outside the family networks. Consanguineous marriage as an economic strategy in ancient Egypt: land consolidation, inheritance and matrimonial goods This section discusses the advantages of consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt in relation to the consolidation of family property, in particular land, and the timing and amount of transfers in marriage and inheritance. The financial strengths and weaknesses inherent in marriage between and beyond consanguineous family are also considered. Protection against disintegration of land ownership: continuity, loss and acquisition While there are examples of land remaining within families for generations, for example, a parcel of land in the Philosarapis archive from Tebtunis (AD 89–224),81 it would be naïve to state that family ownership of land remains immune to social, environmental and political change for many generations. Also, while consanguineous marriage may be used as an economic strategy to consolidate property ownership, members of families who do not marry consanguineously might also work cooperatively to avoid the disintegration of plots of agricultural land.82 The Philosarapis archive reflects the rise and fall of economic assets within a family and includes a good illustration of five auroras of family land being held undivided down three generations – from parents to two sons and then on to five cousins.83 As far as we currently know, the majority of the marriages in the family of Philosarapis are non-consanguineous, although there may have been two first cousin marriages, one of which was childless (Rowlandson 2016: 341, 334 n.55). Even the closest consanguineous unions do not guarantee family cooperation and property consolidation. The will of Kronion (P. Kron. 50, 138 AD), a farmer from Tebtunis, reveals the father’s anger at the squandering lifestyle of his elder son who is married to his sister, one of two sibling marriages in this family.84 The marriage contracts, written in Greek (i) For women acting as independent parties with family relatives and outside the family (as far as it is possible to determine), see Allam (1990a: 1-34); the evidence is drawn primarily from demotic documents where women participate in a range of legal transactions including sales and purchases of immoveable property and granting or receiving loans. (ii) Scheerlinck (2011-12: 165-276) examines appeals by women related to inheritance appeals and acts of violence in the Ptolemaic Period, concluding that women may present themselves as victims, but their appeals display apparently independent power to gain and protect property and undertake legal action. 81 See: www.trismegistos.org/archive/192. Accessed 18.5.2017. 82 For example, P. Phil. Dem. 1 (318/317 BC); the house of Pagonis is inherited by his two daughters and around sixty years later it belongs to his granddaughters and is still undivided (P. Phil. Dem. 15, 259 BC). 83 The family archive was kept by four successive generations of archive keepers. The two sons of Philosarapis made the land more economically viable by keeping it undivided, and in the next generation five first cousins kept part of the estate (five auroras) undivided at Kerkesoucha Orous as evidenced by a land lease in which they are named as owners (P. Fam. Tebt. 44 and 45, 181–190 AD) (Rowlandson 2016: 343 n.74). 84 Yiftach-Firanko (2003: 101) believes that Kronion’s divorce from his sister Taoreneuphis (in which their father acts as his daughter’s kyrios), and their father’s subsequent disinheritance of his son Kronion, was primarily motivated to protect Taoreneuphis’s (and her family’s) property when her brother’s creditors demanded repayment of his debt. 80
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The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods (although the family probably spoke Egyptian), document sizeable dowries brought by both daughters to their sibling marriages (Rowlandson 1998: 127-28; Lewis 1983: 72-73).85 The elder brother, however, recklessly used his wife’s dowry and conducted an extramarital affair; feeling ‘wronged’ by his son, the father reduced his son’s inheritance. Two and a half months after completion of the will, the divorce between the elder son and his sister was finalised, with the husband agreeing to repay his sister’s dowry (P. Kron. 52, 138 AD). The example of Kronion may be unusual as it details sibling marriages and one divorce, but is interesting in that both daughters brought large dowries directly into their own families. This is not a wealthy family, so the large dowries may have reflected convention, perhaps a public sign of their assets, or a mark of the financial independence of each wife; whatever the reason, the dowry returned directly to the family and the father took legal action to protect the family assets from Kronion the Younger, a reckless son, brother and husband. There is an indication from other sources that families endeavoured to protect their assets from division or loss. One strategy, as evidenced in texts from Ptolemaic Hawara, was to divide houses into nominal fractions as opposed to physical divisions, for example, P. Brit. Mus. 10606 (93 BC) refers to two shares out of five in a house ‘which is without division’. These shares are usually allocated to family members, although Muhs (2008: 189) notes that women rarely appear, suggesting they received their inheritance as a marriage annuity, thereby reducing the number of divisions. Over time, fractions of houses could be reunited as families sold shares to each other (for example, P. Hamburg 12, P. Hawara Lüdd. 9A and 9B, 118 BC), or through marriage alliances.86 One example of a house in Hawara becoming whole again is found in two marriage settlements, of the same woman, recorded in P. Chic. Haw. 6 (259 BC) and then in P. Carlsb. 34 and P. Chic. Haw. 9 (239 BC). The woman’s first husband commits two thirds of his house as security for her marriage annuity; following the death of her husband the woman then marries his nephew and, in turn, he commits the remaining third of the property as security to his new wife (Muhs 2008: 190). Such a marriage may have served to consolidate property, but might also reflect familiarity with, and trust in, a known family. In an examination of patterns of inheritance and domestic organisation amongst Egyptian and Greek families in Roman Egypt, Huebner (2014: 101, 2013: 124-40) concludes that rural families often held property jointly and undivided, while children who inherited in urban contexts often divided property immediately. Using the outcomes of Huebner’s study in Roman Egypt and the example of virtual fractional ownership of houses in Ptolemaic Hawara, it could be argued that in earlier periods married brothers, sisters and their extended families in rural villages and smaller towns also continued to live in close proximity into adulthood, a scenario that might encourage cousin marriage to consolidate property ownership, although we cannot assume continuity of practice over millennia (see Kemp 85 For the family archive of Kronion, son of Cheos, see: http://www.trismegistos.org/arch/archives/pdf/125.pdf. Accessed 8.1.2017. 86 Muhs (2008: 190) remarks that marriage amongst close family members would be a tactical means of reuniting fractions, but is only aware of reference to one consanguineous marriage in Ptolemaic Hawara and the agreement does not mention divided property (P. Hamburg 7, 99 BC (P. Hawara Lüdd. 13); Muhs proposes that this cession contract refers to a second cousin marriage. Uytterhoeven (2009: 376-7) identifies a half-sibling marriage in this cession contract alongside reference to a first cousin marriage. See also pages 23-24 and Appendix 1 for consanguineous marriages in Ptolemaic Hawara.
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ 1994: 306-08; Kóthay 2001: 349-68; Moreno García 2012: 3-4).87 At different stages, it would be reasonable to suggest that family members married non-consanguineously, perhaps through personal choice or because of family conflict, to combat poverty or to advance property acquisition; it is also in keeping with Egyptian custom to marry outside the family to access patronage links and associated labour networks. Irrespective of whether families married consanguineously or not, family numbers would also have been reduced through child and adult mortality and infertility. Taking into account the above factors, in villages or small towns networks of families will be created through a mixture of consanguinity and affinity, combining long-resident families with new families or individuals entering or leaving the community. The impact of this type of interrelated network on expectations of reciprocity, acts of altruism and resolution of community conflict is explored in the next chapter. Consanguineous marriage: financial commitments, family expectations and timing of transfers Given the legal nature of economic transactions, particularly inheritance and commitments at marriage, consanguineous unions may affect the expectation of financial commitments, the fulfillment of financial obligations and the timing of transfers. How these effects might be felt within a small Ptolemaic community is examined using family archives in this chapter’s case study. The summary below is a brief introduction to the actuality of the woman’s goods and the expectations inherent in their delivery and return within consanguineous families. The detailed description and precise value of the woman’s moveable and immoveable matrimonial goods in demotic marriage settlements would indicate that these goods were actually given to the man around the time of the marriage settlement, although P. Brit. Mus. 10607 (186 BC) indicates that some of the woman’s matrimonial goods have been received and the remainder will be given at a future date. P. Hausw. 14 (208 BC) details a copy of the woman’s goods outside the sealed deed in addition to the list inside the deed; sometimes the woman’s goods are copied onto separate lists and, as Pestman (1961: 97) points out, these readily available lists serve as a kind of aide mémoire. As discussed above, the man’s marriage gift may originally have had value and been transferred to the woman, but in later demotic contracts this gift was only due at divorce (see pages 64 and 69 for specific lists of male and female matrimonial goods). Even in consanguineous marriages (P. Adl. Dem. 14 and 21), we know that these goods are committed and their return guaranteed. At the time of Huebner’s study the population of Roman Egypt is estimated at 5-7 million; levels not achieved again until 19th century Egypt (Frier 2000: 814; Scheidel 2001: 242-48). Population estimates for the dynastic period have been placed at 4.9 million in 150 BC, 2.9 million in 1250 BC, 2 million in 1800 BC, at 1.6 million in 2500 BC and at 0.87 million in 3000 BC (Butzer 1976: 83). Sampling the town of Mainehes, whose households are listed in one of the Ramesside robbery papyri, Kemp (1994: 306-08) suggests an average of six people per household; this would include a nuclear family and perhaps servants or slaves, and more if poorer relatives or those receiving patronage from households are included. In a study of household composition, Koltsida (2007: 12) also estimates an average of six people in a medium house in the New Kingdom town of Deir el-Medina. Clarysse and Thompson (2006: 315) found that two-adult households were most common in Hellenistic tax registers, 75% of which were married couples; the average size of a Greek family was 4.4 and the average size of an Egyptian family was 4.0. See also Koltsida (2007: 11-12) for a summary of evidence relating to house size and numbers of occupants in ancient Egypt. 87
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The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods However, consanguineous marriages may have carried advantages in relation to the amounts committed and the timing of their delivery, particularly in relation to land. In a study of the economics of modern day consanguineous marriage in Bangladesh, Do et al. (2013: 904-18) found that the requirement for a large dowry is diminished in consanguineous marriage, inasmuch as the families act as agents investing in joint projects. When the dowry serves as a pre-mortem inheritance it is easier for a couple marrying nonconsanguineously to request transfer of committed assets at marriage rather than enforce their receipt at the death of the woman’s parents at some point in the future. But if a marriage takes place within a consanguineous family, there are inherent mechanisms to ensure the delivery of inheritance at the death of one or both parents. In addition, the authors of the study also found that consanguineous families are less likely to sever links with each other (for further details, see pages 75-76). Although there are other modern studies on the economics of dowry and brideprice and their changing patterns (for example, Anderson 2007: 151-74; Bossen 1988: 127-44; Botticini and Siow 2003: 1385-98), there is little research on the economics of consanguineous marriage, which is why the model analysed and evaluated by Do et al. (2013) is particularly useful in the context of this discussion and in this chapter’s case study. However, there are potential weaknesses in its application to ancient Egyptian marriages and, in particular, those featured in the case study. In Bangladesh, the costs of dowry can be economically debilitating on poor families, but less so on extremely poor families who have few assets to lose (Alam and Khuda 2014: 306), and the changing values of dowry and bridewealth also fluctuate according to exogenous economic and political shocks (Chowdhury et al. 2017: 1-56). In ancient Egypt, we do not know the relative value of matrimonial goods in relation to the family’s overall wealth, nor do we know how much has been personally inherited by the woman and how much has been given by her family, nor to what extent the woman’s goods serve as a partial or full pre-mortem inheritance. We also do not know how political or environmental conditions affected amounts committed in these contracts, although evidence suggests these exogenous factors strengthened ancient Egyptian social networks built around the core and extended family (including individuals that were part of the kinship group, but not necessarily related through consanguinity or affinity, see Moreno García 2016: 499-500; 2013b: 1042-44). In Bangladesh, the cost of marriage includes the substantial expense of the wedding celebrations (Alam and Khuda 2014: 306), but there is no evidence from ancient Egypt to indicate lavish wedding celebrations; only the consensus, a transfer of assets and giving of gifts may have marked the celebration (Toivari-Viitala 2001: 61-69; Pestman 1961: 6-11). In summary, we do not know whether the woman’s matrimonial goods in ancient Egypt are a financial burden upon the family, as dowry can be in Bangladesh, but if they are burdensome they might be alleviated through consanguineous marriage, as this appears to do for many families in Bangladesh (Do et al. 2013: 904-18). This chapter’s case study also focuses on families who have sufficient wealth for a daughter to include land in their matrimonial goods and who can afford the cost of legally documenting the marriage. While we do not know to what extent the woman’s matrimonial goods in ancient Egypt represent their inheritance, in the context of partible inheritance a pre-mortem inheritance may 59
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ serve as a form of quit claim, thereby alleviating the pressures placed on land divisibility (Bell 2008: 12). Allowing for the considerations above, the model by Do et al. (2013) used in the Pathyris case study below can provide an insight into potential financial advantages for families marrying consanguineously. After analysing marriage contracts as economic exchanges, the case study then explores whether families who marry consanguineously might also prefer to conduct economic transactions with relatives linked to them by consanguinity and affinity. Finally, further advantages created through marriage alliances may include increased status and power, access to resources and labour networks, preservation of existing property and social stability, as well as a set of rights and duties incumbent on both sets of families (Goody: 1976: 13-18; Moreno García 2016: 488-89, 2012: 6). A full discussion on how these aspects might be embodied in marriage agreements in ancient Egypt is not possible within the scope of this chapter, although the creation of family networks and access to their resources is observed in the case study and further explored in chapter four alongside rights and obligations, particularly expectations of reciprocity and altruism. Case study: Marriage, consanguinity and economics in Ptolemaic Pathyris The John Rylands Papyrus Collection holds eight catalogued demotic marriage settlements from the Upper Egyptian town of Pathyris. Ranging from 176–89 BC, they detail money and wheat committed by the husband to the wife, and money and goods brought by the woman into the marriage. In the garrison town of Pathyris many families were interrelated and regularly conducted business transactions with each other. Texts from the Rylands papyri are explored here alongside the Adler papyri in the context of marriage and other economic transactions from Pathyris to compare financial commitments made at marriage, to offer suggestions as to how consanguineous marriage might affect these financial commitments, and to assess whether preferences exist for economic transactions in general amongst consanguineous families. A study of the papyri in family archives from Pathyris, informed by current research on economics and consanguinity, offers an insight into a range of options and advantages created through consanguineous marriage. Ptolemaic Pathyris and family archives The garrison town of Pathyris in Upper Egypt is notable for the amount of demotic and Greek papyri dated to the Ptolemaic Period that have been found at this site. As such, these Pathyrite papyri provide a valuable context for understanding the economic dealings of the town’s inhabitants, including the economic transactions documented in the eight demotic marriage settlements in the John Rylands Collection.88 A detailed prosopography of Pathyris, compiled by Vandorpe and Waebens (2009), reveals a high level of interrelatedness through birth or marriage amongst the families documented in the surviving archives. Even where there is no indication of consanguinity or affinity amongst the parties in the contracts, it is possible to identify preferences of certain families to conduct business with For demotic papyri from Pathyris see Griffith 1909, Vol. 1, pls 64, 68, 73–75, 78, 83 (demotic texts), Vol. 3: 130–63 (translations), 265–91 (transliterations). All subsequent references to Rylands demotic papyri, abbreviated to P. Ryl. Dem., are taken from this edition.
88
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The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods each other. The documents found at Pathyris have been divided into a series of archives: official, military, temple, and family; the marriage contracts fall into the family archives (Vandorpe and Waebens 2009: 93-199). Although there is evidence of settlement on the site of Pathyris from the Predynastic Period in Egypt (pre–3000 BC),89 the town received an influx of military settlers during the reign of Ptolemy V Epiphanes following the large-scale Theban revolt that occurred between 207–186 BC. The town went into decline again in 88 BC, a year marked by rebellion in the Thebaid region.90 The majority of soldiers that settled in Pathyris were of Egyptian descent, although some of the inhabitants took an additional Greek name according to their military or government positions. Greek and demotic papyri have been found in Pathyris and while local Egyptians adopted the Greek language for contractual or bureaucratic purposes, they did not change their native traditions (Vandorpe and Waebens 2009: 47). The marriage contracts under review are written in demotic with the earliest dating from c.176–135 BC and the latest is dated 89 BC (see table 3.2). The other economic transactions from Pathyris discussed in this paper are written in demotic or Greek. Comparisons between marriage settlements and other economic transactions In order to examine how consanguinity might affect marriage transactions in the town of Pathyris, this case study approaches the papyri in four stages. Firstly, the amount of money and goods committed by the husband and wife in the eight marriage settlements in the Rylands demotic papyri is examined.91 Secondly, the amount of money and goods committed in five of these Rylands demotic marriage settlements is compared to two demotic marriage settlements from Pathyris that are part of the Adler papyri collection.92 The two marriage settlements in the Adler papyri belong to the Archive of Horos, son of Nechouthes. It is known that the named parties in both these Adler papyri are first cousins (Griffiths 1939: 4-5),93 but they are also related to a family that appear in five of the eight marriage settlements in the Rylands papyri: these five marriage settlements are associated with the Archive of Pelaias, son of Eunous (alias Nechouthes).94 This second stage explores whether there are any marked differences between the amount of money and goods committed in the Adler papyri marriages, which are known to be consanguineous, compared to the five marriages in the Archive of Pelaias in the Rylands papyri where there is no direct evidence of consanguinity between the partners. 89 In the Pharaonic Period the earliest name for the town was I҆nrty or Two Rocks. From the 12th dynasty (1985– 1773 BC) the town was also known as Pr-Ḥwt-Ḥr or House of Hathor, which developed into the name Pathyris by the Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BC). The Arabic name for this site is El-Gebelein, meaning Two Mountains. For a summary of the site’s settlement and its different names, see Marochetti (2013). 90 The great Theban revolt and subsequent rural unrest are analysed by Manning (2003a: 164–71). 91 There is a total of ten catalogued demotic marriage settlements in the John Rylands collection: eight are from Pathyris, one from Thebes (P. Ryl. Dem. 10, 315 BC), and one fragment without provenance (P. Ryl. Dem. 42, c.221–152 BC) (Griffith 1909, Vol. 1, pls. 48 and 83; Vol. 3: 114–15, 167). 92 The edition used is by Adler, Tait, and Heichelheim (eds Greek texts), Griffith (demotic texts), 1939. All subsequent references to Adler demotic and Greek papyri, abbreviated to P. Adl. Dem. and P. Adl. Gr., are taken from this edition. 93 For a possible brother-sister marriage in Pathyris, see P. Grenf. 2.26.3-8 (103 BC) in Appendix 1. 94 One of the five marriage settlements, P. Ryl. Dem. 30, is linked to the archive but does not belong within it (Vandorpe and Waebens 2009: 158).
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ The third stage of approaching the papyri is to compare the marriage settlements belonging to the Archive of Pelaias, son of Eunous (alias Nechouthes), with all the other economic transactions within this archive. The aim is to explore whether Pelaias’s family show any preference for conducting economic transactions with consanguineous relations. Not all the papyri from this archive have been found and, as such, the outcomes of this comparison will be limited by the surviving documents.95 Finally, in the fourth stage the marriage settlements belonging to the Archive of Horos, son of Nechouthes, are similarly explored in the context of all the economic transactions within this archive. The Archive of Horos, son of Nechouthes, is regarded as the only ‘closed find’ known from Pathyris; it is thought that the jar which contained the papyri had remained intact when it was sold to Lord Adler in 1924.96 However, a few papyri belonging to this archive have appeared in different collections, perhaps indicating the jar was not intact, or there may have been a second jar (Vandorpe and Waebens 2009: 127-28). If the archive of Horos in the sealed jar has not been tampered with, the analysis of the economic transactions might offer a more accurate assessment of the level of transactions between consanguineous family members. If families frequently choose economic transactions amongst people to whom they are consanguineously related, might this also imply a preference amongst certain families for consanguineous marriage? There are three elements in the marriage settlement that are likely to be affected by the level of consanguinity between the parties involved. They are the gift of the man to the woman (šp n s.ḥmt), the goods brought by the woman into the marriage (nkt.w n s.ḥmt), and the division of inheritance. The final section of this chapter focuses particularly on the goods brought by the woman into the marriage and how the timing of their delivery, and the amount committed before (or received after) marriage might be affected by consanguinity. While it is not directly comparable, current research on economics and consanguinity can offer insight into economic influences upon the choice of marriage partner, the credibility of ex-ante and ex-post commitments made by the bride and her family, and the long-term financial impact of consanguineous marriage. Categories of consanguineous marriage Couples who marry consanguineously share a proportion of genes in common, this is called the coefficient of relationship. The husband and wife in a first cousin marriage have 12.5% of their genes in common, whereas second cousins have 3.13% of genes in common. When the level of consanguinity in economic transactions from Pathyris is explored later, the results will be expressed as percentages reflecting the coefficient of relationship. Table 3.1 lists the proportion of genes shared in common between family members up to the level of second cousin. The two marriages attested in the Archive of Horos are between first cousins (P. Adl. Dem. 14 and P. Adl. Dem. 21).
95 96
For a description of the archive of Pelaias, see Vandorpe and Waebens (2009: 148-54). In July 2012 the Adler Papyri were acquired for the Papyrus Carlsberg Collection.
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The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods
Table 3.1: Genetic relationships between consanguineous family members. Source: after Bittles, Consanguinity in Context, 2012: 6. Biological relationship
Coefficient of relationship
Parent-child, sibling
50%
Half-sibling, unle-niece, aunt-nephew, double first cousin
25%
First cousin
12.5%
First cousin once removed
6.25%
second cousin
3.13%
Requirements and financial commitments in demotic marriage settlements All the marriage settlements discussed in this chapter fall into a type of contract classified by Pestman (1961: 21-52) as a Type A deed and contain some or all of the following elements:97 • • • •
money and sometimes wheat given by the man to the woman; goods brought by the woman into the marriage and their value; payment due if the woman is repudiated by the husband; in the event of repudiation, the wife’s right to a proportion of the shared property.
While the man does not hand over his gift, except in the event of repudiating his wife, the woman does give her goods to the husband at marriage (see n.99). He has the right to use them and dispose of them, but must return goods of an equivalent value, or the original goods, in the event of the dissolution of the marriage (Pestman 1961: 98). We only have evidence of a small sample of marriages as not all marriages were recorded, and those that were recorded did not stipulate moral expectations but dealt practically with financial arrangements should the marriage result in divorce. It is likely that what is contained in the demotic marriage (and divorce) settlements found from the Late Period of Egypt onwards builds more fully on elements of family law from much earlier periods of Egyptian history (Johnson 1996: 180-81).98
Pestman (1961: 21-52) divides demotic marriage settlements into three groups: types A, B and C. Types B and C are generally termed ‘annuity’ settlements in which the wife brings a sum of money that is managed by her husband and serves as her maintenance. 98 (i) For a consideration of the continuity of ancient Egyptian family law, and its social and moral assumptions, see Johnson (1996: 180-81). (ii) Greek marriage documents of the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods could be written to mark ekdosis, the giving away of the woman in marriage (or more rarely, auto-ekdosis), and include details of the dowry’s delivery (YiftachFiranko 2003: 41-45). Alternatively, a document is drawn up to record the husband’s receipt of the dowry (phernê) (for an overview of dowry in Graeco-Roman Egypt, see Yiftach-Firanko 2003: 175-82). A document was not needed for a marriage to be valid, so while many marriages of Greeks in Egypt were likely to be agraphos gamos (unwritten marriage), an engraphos gamos (written marriage) could be drawn up to secure an aspect of material affairs related to marriage (Yiftach-Firanko 2003: 45, 259-60). Commenting on the act of marriage, (Yiftach-Firanko 2003: 53) remarks that the handing over of the wife to the husband, whether recorded of not, marked the creation of the marriage. 97
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ John Rylands demotic marriage settlements Out of the eight Rylands marriage settlements from Pathyris, four belong to the Archive of Pelaias, son of Eunous (alias Nechouthes), and one is linked with it. One marriage settlement is linked to the Archive of Psenenoupis, son of Horos, and it is not known to which archive the remaining two settlements belong. All the Rylands marriage settlements from Pathyris are listed in table 3.2, alongside the archive owner, the value of the man’s gift and the value of the woman’s goods. There is uncertainty over the validity of P. Ryl. Dem. 28 belonging to a woman called Takoibis. Pestman (1961: 99) believes that the lack of signed witnesses on this contract does not make it invalid as similar marriage settlements have been found without signatories; in contrast Vandorpe and Waebens (2009: 152) regard this settlement as invalid. A second marriage settlement (P. Ryl. Dem. 30), also belonging to Takoibis, is linked with the Archive of Pelaias, but this may belong in another archive as women’s marriage settlements were usually held by the bride’s family (Vandorpe and Waebens 2009: 152). Table 3.2: Archive owners and money and goods committed in the Rylands demotic marriage settlements from Pathyris. Sources: Vandorpe and Waebens, Reconstructing Pathyris’ Archives: A Multicultural Community in Hellenistic Egypt, 2009: 156–58; Pestman, Marriage and Matrimonial Property in Ancient Egypt, 1961, Chart A (deeds of type A); Griffith, The Adler Papyri, 1909, Vol. 3: 130–63. Rylands papyrus text number
Family archive
Value of the man’s gift (šp n s.ḥmt)
Value of the woman’s goods (nkt.w n s.ḥmt)
P. Ryl. Dem. 37 176–135 BC
Unknown
25 deben (+1/3 property and 25 deben*)
600 deben
P. Ryl. Dem. 16 152 BC
Archive of Pelaias
400 deben 10 artabas wheat (+1/3 property and 30 deben*)
1210 deben 30 artabas wheat 1 deben silver 1 1/3 pieces gold
P. Ryl. Dem. 20 116 BC
Archive of Pelaias
100 deben 10 artabas wheat
2170 deben 10 artabas wheat 1 deben 3 kite silver 1 1/3 pieces gold
P. Ryl. Dem. 22 112 BC
Archive of Pelaias
100 deben 5 artabas wheat
860 deben 15 artabas wheat 3 kite silver
P. Ryl. Dem. 27 107–101 BC
Archive of Psenenoupis
100 deben 10 artabas wheat (30 deben*)
830 deben ?10 artabas wheat
P. Ryl. Dem. 38 103–91 BC
Unknown
X
935 deben 5 artabas wheat
P. Ryl. Dem. 28 91 BC (?invalid)
Archive of Pelaias
100 deben 5 artabas wheat
1200 deben
P. Ryl. Dem. 30 89 BC
?Archive of Pelaias 100 deben 5 artabas wheat
785 deben
* Payment and share of joint property committed to the wife if the husband should divorce her
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The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods The money and goods committed are valued in a variety of ways in the Pathyrite marriage settlements. At the time of these contracts, the man’s gift (šp n s.ḥmt) is usually a notional amount of currency and wheat committed in the event of the marriage dissolving and not given to the woman unless she is repudiated by her husband (Pestman 1961: 14-15).99 In addition, the earlier settlements – P. Ryl. Dem. 37 and P. Ryl. Dem. 16 – also assign the woman one third of the property acquired during the marriage should the husband leave her. There is no evidence to confirm whether the man’s gift is given to the woman should she choose to leave her husband; however, the inclusion of the šp n s.ḥmt in these Type A settlements is important as it is a legal element that brings about the marriage (Pestman 1961: 20). In contrast to the terms of the man’s gift, the woman actually brought personal goods into the marriage. These goods usually included money, wheat, jewellery, personal items, and a valuable piece of clothing called ἰnšn, which is sometimes translated as a shawl.100 The total value of the woman’s goods is given in copper deben and artabas of wheat, although sometimes individual pieces of gold or silver jewellery are itemised separately and valued as gold or silver (see tables 3.3 and 3.4). In order to assess the differences between financial commitments made in the settlements, the value of the money and wheat committed is standardised in silver deben in figures 3.1 and 3.2. To establish the relative worth of the money committed, the value of silver deben is assessed below in relation to the cost of wheat and land, and the potential productivity of land, from the end of the second century BC to the beginning of the 1st century BC. Although the money committed in the marriage settlements under discussion is in copper deben, in the earliest marriage settlements it was listed in silver deben. One silver deben was equivalent to 20 silver drachmas or 5 silver staters, an equivalence that remained stable from the 6th century BC to the end of the Ptolemaic Period (Reden 2007: 49). While the value of silver remained stable, copper was devalued three times during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. In order to standardise the value of money committed, the following ratio of silver to copper deben has been applied in this chapter (Pestman 1961: 14): 183-173 BC 1:120, 173-130 BC 1:240, after 130 BC 1:480. All the marriage settlements, except P. Ryl. Dem 37, also specify an amount of wheat measured in artaba; although the size of an artaba varied over time, thirty litres appears to be the most common amount in the Ptolemaic Period (Bingen, 2007: xi). Reden’s (2010: 151-52) analysis of wheat prices shows that they remained fairly stable over a period of 200 years (c.270–70 BC) and, judging from available data, the relation of wages to grain prices remained equally stable. Pestman (1961: 148) gives one artaba of wheat a value of The man’s gift only had significant value in the 25th and 26th dynasties (Pestman 1961: 14). Originally the man’s gift was given to the bride’s father, then to the wife herself, but by the time of these settlements the šp n s.ḥmt is only given to the wife in the event of divorce; the amount of šp n s.ḥmt also becomes formulaic depending on the region, the temple where it is written or the form used by the scribe (Pestman 1961: 13-20). 100 Translated as ‘shawl’ by Pestman (1961: 94–95) and ‘scarf’ by Griffith (1939: 91, 100). 99
65
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’
Table 3.3: Different valuations of the man’s gift and the woman’s goods in P. Ryl. Dem. 20. Total value of financial commitments in artabas of wheat/silver deben/arouras of land/ land productivity in P. Ryl. Dem. 20 The rates used are: Rate of copper deben to silver deben 1:480 One artaba of wheat = 0.21 silver deben One aroura of land = 1.55 silver deben Potential productivity of land: 10 artabas per aroura Man’s gift
Total gift in artabas of wheat
Total gift in silver Total gift in deben arouras of land
Potential productivity of land in artabas of wheat
100 copper deben and 10 artabas of wheat
11
2.3
1.48
14.8
Woman’s goods
Total goods in artabas of wheat
Total goods in silver deben
Total goods in arouras of land
Potential productivity of land in artabas of wheat
6.62
4.27
42.7
2170 copper deben 31.5 and 10 artabas of wheat*
* Two additional items not given value equivalents in this contract appear to be an archaic form of valuation: 1 deben 3 kite of silver and 1 1/3 pieces of gold.
0.21 deben of silver. Using an exchange rate of 20 silver drachmas to one silver deben, this would place a value of 4.2 silver drachmas on one artaba of wheat. If one artaba of wheat is sown, it is likely to produce around 10 artabas of wheat per aroura, depending on the quality of the land and on seasonal inundation (Criscuola 2011: 172).101 The cost of land prices in Pathyris between 111–91 BC has been studied by Monson (2008: 121) who has produced a mean price of 31 silver drachmas per aroura.102 Using 31 silver drachmas per aroura as the average price of land, and an exchange rate of 20 silver drachmas to 1 silver deben, the average cost of one aroura of land between 111–91 BC is 1.55 silver deben or 744 copper deben (at a value of 1:480). As an illustration of how the conversions described above can be applied to the contracts, P. Ryl. Dem. 20 is given as an example (table 3.3). Comparisons between financial commitments and unusual features within them When the value of the woman’s goods and the man’s gift are standardised across the marriage settlements in the Rylands demotic papyri, financial committments made by women are consistently larger than those of men. However, the man’s gift is understandably lower in the light of his commitment to maintain his wife as part of the marital agreement (Pestman 1961: 145). When the value of the man’s gifts is compared there is, as expected, An aroura is a unit of land measurement of 2,756 square metres (Bingen 2007: xi). This figure is a notional conversion rate, based on the Pathyrite contracts, of one silver drachma to 300 bronze drachmas, although the figure fluctuates according to other conversions (Monson 2008: 121).
101 102
66
The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods
Vvalue standardised in silver deben
Rylands Demotic Papyri Comparison between the woman's goods and the man's gift 16 14 12 10
8 6 4 2 0
Woman's goods Man's gift
P. Ryl. Dem. 37
P. Ryl. Dem. 16
P. Ryl. Dem. 20
P. Ry. Dem. 22
P. Ryl. Dem. 27
P. Ryl. Dem. 38
P. Ryl. Dem. 28
P. Ryl. Dem. 30
5
11.43
6.62
4.94
3.82
2.99
2.5
1.63
0.2
3.8
2.3
1.25
2.3
0
1.25
1.25
Figure 3.1: Comparison between the woman’s goods and the man’s gift committed in marriage settlements in the Rylands demotic papyri. The figures at the bottom of each column are the values in silver deben.
little variation in the size of this gift (see figure 3.1). It is most frequently 1.25 silver deben or 2.3 silver deben; the difference is due to whether the amount of wheat committed is 5 or 10 artabas. The only exceptions to the formulaic amount of the man’s gift are P. Ryl. Dem. 16 – the largest gift with a value of 3.8 silver deben – and P. Ryl. Dem. 37 with the smallest value at 0.2 silver deben (the value of the man’s gift for P. Ryl. Dem. 38 has not survived). When the woman’s goods are standardised in these same settlements all the amounts vary, but there are no remarkable differences except for P. Ryl. Dem. 16 with a larger value of 11.43 silver deben (see figure 3.1). Why might certain contracts be noticeably different in terms of the man’s gift or the woman’s goods? P. Ryl. Dem. 16 is a contract belonging to a woman called Sebtitis and there is no known consanguinity between either party. Sebtitis comes from a local family of priests, it is her second marriage and we know from the assignment of heirs in the contract that she already has a son from this second marriage. Why did Sebtitis ask for a higher šp n s.ḥmt than normal? Could it be that alongside the goods returned to her from her first marriage, Sebtitis has also brought an inheritance or additional assets and in return she has asked for a higher gift from her second husband? Even so, her goods are unusually large and this might be a sign that the family into which she is marrying is trusted, perhaps related to her and that sufficiently strong familial influence is already in place to ensure goods would be returned in the event of a marital breakdown. 67
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ By comparison, a low šp n s.ḥmt is committed in P. Ryl. Dem. 37, but we do not know to which archive this contract belongs as the names have not survived. Perhaps they were not a prosperous family, although they could afford a settlement to be drawn up. Perhaps they were consanguineous and a lower šp n s.ḥmt has been agreed in the knowledge that maintenance is guaranteed, or family bequests are likely to appear after the marriage. P. Ryl. Dem. 37 is also interesting as this is the second highest amount of goods brought by a woman, even though the man’s goods were the lowest of all the settlements. Did she bring goods that she owned personally alongside a sizeable (pre-mortem) inheritance in the knowledge that she was marrying someone trusted by her family and who had adequate economic backing to support her? Finally, the smallest amount of goods is brought by a woman called Takoibis who appears in P. Ryl. Dem. 30 and in P. Ryl. Dem. 28. Her first marriage settlement, P. Ryl. Dem. 28, is thought to be invalid as there are no witnesses to the settlement and two years later she is party to another marriage settlement to a different man. She brings fewer goods to this second marriage and they also vary from those documented in her first marriage. If P. Ryl. Dem. 28 was invalid, why are there different goods listed in the two settlements?103 Takoibis might have been given a completely different set of goods back at the end of her first marriage. Might she bring a small amount of goods to the second marriage (or possibly this is her first valid marriage) because she is related to her in-laws and they do not expect high value goods as they know she will receive family gifts or bequests in the future? Two of the marriage contracts in the Rylands demotic papyri are not linked with any known archive (P. Ryl. Dem. 37 and P. Ryl. Dem. 38), while one is linked to the Archive of Psenenoupis (P. Ryl. Dem. 27). If the marriage settlement is included, there are four texts in the Archive of Psenenoupis, a family of priests in Pathyris (Vandorpe and Waebens 2009: 198).104 In contrast, the Archive of Pelaias has 23 texts; it is this range of texts that allows a more detailed exploration of the economic transactions within this archive. The number of marriage settlements in the Archive of Pelaias also enables a comparison with the two marriage settlements in the Archive of Horos, son of Nechouthes (which contains a total of 60 texts). Potential implications in the value of marriage settlements in the Archive of Pelaias and the Archive of Horos The two marriage settlements in the Archive of Horos, son of Nechouthes, are known to be consanguineous. The two daughters of Horos marry their first cousins – the sons of two of Horos’s brothers. We know that the marriage settlements in the Pelaias archive are not between first cousins, but we cannot say with certainty that some of these marriages are not distantly consanguineous as there is insufficient documentary evidence to trace the genealogies further back. Are there any differences between financial commitments made at marriage between families who are known to be consanguineous at the level of This was noted by Pestman (1961: 99 n.2) who does believe that this was a valid contract. Vandorpe and Waebens (2009: 198) remark that as this is Psenenoupis’ marriage settlement it would normally be kept by his wife’s family, so it is uncertain whether it belongs to this archive. The other texts in the Psenenoupis archive are P. Ryl. Dem. 18 (with tax receipt P. Ryl. Gr. 2.250), P. Ryl. Dem. 31, and BGU 3.993. 103 104
68
The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods Table 3.4: Money and goods committed in the marriage settlements in the Archive of Horos, son of Nechouthes. Sources: Griffith, The Adler Papyri, 1909: 89-93, 99-101; Pestman, Marriage and Matrimonial Property in Ancient Egypt, 1961, Chart A (deeds of Type A). Papyrus collection and text number
Family archive
Value of the man’s gift (šp n s.ḥmt)
Value of the woman’s goods (nkt.w n s.ḥmt)
P. Adl. Dem. 14 97–96 BC
Archive of Horos First cousin marriage
100 deben 10 artabas wheat
1585 deben 10 artabas wheat 1 deben 1 kite silver 1 1/3 pieces gold
P. Adl. Dem. 21
Archive of Horos First cousin marriage
10 deben 5 artabas wheat
2065 deben 1 deben silver
Archive of Pelaias and Archive of Horos Comparison between the woman's goods and the man's gift
Vvalue standardised in silver deben
92 BC
16 14 12 10
8 6 4 2 0
Woman's goods
Man's gift
P. Ryl. P. Ryl. P. Ryl. P. Ryl. P. Ryl. P. Adler P. Adler Dem. 16 Dem. 20 Dem. 22 Dem. 28 Dem. 30 Dem. 14 Dem. 21 11.34 3.8
6.62 2.3
4.94 1.25
2.5
1.25
1.63 1.25
5.4 2.3
4.3
1.07
Figure 3.2: Percentage comparison of the woman’s goods in the Archive of Pelaias and the Archive of Horos. The figures at the bottom of each column are the values in silver deben.
first cousins (that of Horos in the Adler demotic papyri) and families that we know from the available prosopography of Pathyris were not married to first cousins (that of Pelaias in the Rylands demotic papyri)? Both families are fairly prosperous, they are engaged in documented business activities and nearly all the male family members were active soldiers or reserve soldiers (Vandorpe and Waebens 2009: 133-34, 153-54). The families in these two archives are also related as Horos’s grandfather (Phibis) is Pelaias’s great-grandfather, that is, Horos is a first cousin once removed to Pelaias. The money and goods committed in marriage settlements in the Archive of Horos are listed in table 3.4, and their value is standardised in silver deben and compared with the archive of Pelaias in figure 3.2. 69
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ The value of the gifts given by the husband in P. Adl. Dem. 14 is 2.3 silver deben, similar to the man’s gift that often appears in the archive of Pelaias, but P. Adl. Dem. 21 is less at 1.07 silver deben. There does not appear to be anything notably unusual in comparisons between the value of the wife’s goods in the Archives of Horos and Pelaias; with the exceptions of P. Ryl. Dem. 30 (discussed above) and P. Adl. Dem 21; in both archives the wife is committing money and goods that are approximately two to three times more than the husband’s gift. There is, however, a difference between the amounts brought into the marriage by the two sisters in P. Adl. Dem. 14 and 21. If the sisters’ goods represent gifts or inheritance from their parents, has Senmenches, the sister in P. Adl. Dem. 21, accepted goods from her parents of a lesser value than her sister Taesis in P. Adl. Dem 14? The two sisters may have accepted these differences with equanimity, or the goods given by their parents may have been equally distributed but we are not seeing this documented in the contract? Furthermore, Senmenches has accepted the lowest man’s gift at 1.07 silver deben; is this a sign of trust in the cousin she is marrying? The right of a woman to own and trade in property (or other assets) in ancient Egypt means that she could attain independent financial standing (Johnson 1996: 177); the goods that she brings into a marriage may not only represent what she wants to commit (or her parents want her to commit), but also what she is willing to risk as her husband has the right to use and dispose of these goods. What we are seeing overall in the marriage settlements might be different negotiations from families of varying wealth, and what we are not seeing are other assets not named or committed in the contracts. It could be that it is here, in what is not recorded in writing, that the difference lies in economic transactions between families related consanguineously and non-consanguineously. The risks of making financial commitments in marriage, and the levels of trust invested in the delivery of financial commitments, are discussed later in this paper with reference to modern studies on economics and consanguinity. Consanguineous and non-consanguineous economic transactions in the Archive of Pelaias and the Archive of Horos If the marriage settlement is considered an economic transaction between individuals and their families, might there be a preference for interaction with consanguineous family members in the other economic transactions in the Archives of Pelaias and Horos? Figure 3.3 details the type of documents contained in the Archive of Pelaias; the texts have been divided by Vandorpe and Waebens (2009: 156-58) according to the family members by whom they were kept and these groupings are used here. Altogether there are 23 certain texts and the marriage contract (P. Ryl. Dem. 30) linked to this archive but not belonging within it. The Archive of Pelaias has been broken up and so we are only getting a partial view of family transactions compared to the Archive of Horos that is regarded as a ‘closed find’ where the texts have remained intact (although there may be a further pot of documents as several other texts have been identified, see n.109).
70
The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods Texts and transactions in the Archive of Pelaias
Figure 3.3: Types of documents belonging to family members in the Archive of Pelaias. The archive contains 12 demotic and 11 Greek texts (plus P. Ryl. Dem. 30 which is linked to the archive).
Figure 3.4: Texts and transactions associated with family members in the Archive of Pelaias.
71
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Figure 3.4 shows that the names of all parties are known in the 23 certain texts that belong to the Archive of Pelaias.105 Three of the texts belonging to the businesswoman Nahomsesis relate to different stages of an initial loan followed by a property acquisition when the property placed as security was ceded to Nahomsesis.106 The texts were also checked to determine whether certain families regularly carried out economic transactions with each other, but there were only two different transactions with the same family in the Nahomsesis group, and two within the Nechouthis and Tapremithis group.107 After deducting two of the three texts that belong to different stages of the same transaction, and deducting a will (P. Ryl. Dem. 17), a search of the family tree of Pelaias and his ancestor Panechates was conducted to determine if there is any known consanguinity between the parties in the remaining 20 texts.108 The search did not reveal any direct links through birth or marriage, however, since it is not possible to recreate all the family trees associated with all the named parties there might well be consanguineous links within these economic transactions. Texts and transactions in the Archive of Horos The same research method was applied to the Archive of Horos, which has 60 texts (37 more than the Archive of Pelaias) and ranges across 45 years from 134–89 BC (19 years less than Archive of Pelaias).109 As the Archive of Horos is regarded as a ‘closed find’, a more detailed appraisal can be gained of the type of transactions and the relations between named parties. In their listing of this archive Vandorpe and Waebens (2009: 138-41) have italicised the names of close family members of Horos and the majority of the documents relate directly to Horos or are between parties related to Horos. My examination of the texts showed that out of a total of 60 texts the names of both parties are known in 50 transactions, and 11 texts have been deducted as they relate to the history of a sale or to the same transaction (see figure 3.5).110 In the remaining 39 texts only P. Adl. Dem. 4 is missing one name in a group of names. A search of the family tree of Horos and of his ancestor Panechates was then carried out.111 Nineteen, or 49%, of the economic transactions 105 P. Ryl. Dem. 16, 17 (with Greek tax receipt P. Ryl. Greek. 2.249), 20, 22, 23, 28, 29, 33, 34, 36; P. Amh. Gr. 2.46, 2.47, 2.48, 2.50. 2:51; MDAIK 21, (1966) p.142 number 2; BGU 3.996, 3.999, 3.1000; P. Ludg. Bat. 19.6, 19.7a, 19.7b, P. Gebelen Heid. 23. The archive is listed in Vandorpe and Waebens (2009: 156-58). 106 P. Lugd. Bat. 19.6, 19.7a and 19.7b. 107 BGU 3.996 (house purchased in trust) and P. Amh. Gr. 2.47 (loan of wheat); P. Ryl. Dem. 29 (land sale) and 36 (oath). 108 See Vandorpe and Waebens (2009: 155) for family tree and Appendix chart. 109 P. Adl. Dem. 1–30, P. Adl. Gr. 1–21, P. Ryl. Greek 4.581, Pap. Lugd. Bat. 19.5 (demotic and Greek), P. Cornell 4 (Greek), P. Mil.1.1 2 (Greek), Enchoria 19–20 (1992/93), p. 78, no. 28 (wood), Enchoria 19–20 (1992/93), p. 79, no. 29 (wood) (demotic), P. British Library, Additional MS 56920 ined. (demotic). The archive is listed in Vandorpe and Waebens (2009: 138–41). Two texts, P. Cairo 2.30652 and SB 20.14198, originally listed as uncertain in Vandorpe and Waebens (2009: 141), are now considered part of the archive of Horos; personal communication, Thomas Christiansen 2015. 110 P. Adl. Dem. 28 and P. Adl. Gr. 10, 13, 16 relate to the history of a land sale (Horos is named in P. Adl. Dem 28 and P. Adl. Gr. 16); P. Adl. Gr. 7 is a copy of P. Mil. 1.1 2 and SB 20.14198 is a cession document related to this sale; P. Adl. Dem. 8 is the likely cession relating to P. Adl. Dem. 7; P. Adl. Gr. 12 and 14 are a land sale and cession document; P. Adl. Gr. 15 and P. Adl. Dem. 19 and 20 relate to a loan, an oath and a cession; P. Adl. Gr. 1 and 18 probably belong to the legal history of land purchased by Horos. Out of these fifteen texts ten have been deducted. Three other texts are measurement receipts and a further one is thought to be a sale contract; all four have been deducted under ‘parties to contract known’ as only Horos is named. 111 See Vandorpe and Waebens (2009: 136–37) for a family tree of Horos and the Appendix chart for the family tree of Panechates.
72
The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods
Number of texts
Archive of Horos texts from 134-89 BC 70 60 50 40 30
20 10 0
Texts from 134-89 BC
Total number of texts
Parties to contract known
60
50
Texts deducted: related to history of sale or same transaction 11
Total texts where parties known 39
Transactions between family members 19
Figure 3.5: The Archive of Horos contains 34 demotic, 25 Greek and one bilingual texts. Nineteen of the transactions in this archive are between consanguineous family members and/or their affines.
Document types in the Archive of Horos:
51% 20 texts
Sale contracts 53% Loan contracts 24% Other 12% Temple oaths 5% Lease contracts 3% Marriage contracts 3%
49% 19 texts
Transactions between consanguineous family members or members related by affinity to consanguineous family Transactions between family members with no known consanguinity Figure 3.6: Number of economic transactions between families or individuals related through consanguinity, or through affinity to consanguineous family, in the Archive of Horos. Source for document types in the Archive of Horos: Vandorpe and Waebens, 2008: 131.
involved family members who were related by consanguinity or by affinity, having married a consanguineous relation (see figures 3.5 and 3.6).112
112
Some of these texts also include non-consanguineous parties: P. Adl. Dem. 4, 17, and P. Adl. Gr. 20.
73
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Consanguineous economic transactions in the Archive of Horos113 Do these results imply that some families had an almost equal preference for consanguineous economic transactions, including marriage? Also, there must be other business activities, partnerships, negotiations and arrangements that were not committed to writing. Table 3.5 illustrates the contractual relationships between family members in the Archive of Horos, and the coefficient of relationship in terms of their level of consanguinity to Horos. Table 3.5: Economic transactions between consanguineous family members and their affines in the Archive of Horos, son of Nechouthes. The family relationship and genetic relationship to Horos are listed according to each transaction.113 Adler texts Consanguinity in relation to Horos Gr. 2
Mother, three brothers, aunt (and uncle through marriage)*
Coefficient of relationship to Horos 50%, 50%, 50%, 50%, 25%
Gr. 7
Mother and brother*
50% 50%
Gr. 8
Mother and brother**
50% 50%
Dem. 14
Daughter and nephew**
50% 25%
Dem. 21
Daughter and nephew**
50% 25%
Dem. 13
Brother and first cousin once removed (descending)**
50% 6.25%
Gr. 3
Brother*
50%
Gr. 11
Five nephews*
25%, 25%, 25%, 25%, 25%
Dem. 25
Nephew*
25%
Dem. 4
Brother of uncle through marriage (affine)*
Uncle’s wife 25%
Dem. 5
Brother of uncle through marriage (affine)*
Uncle’s wife 25%
Dem. 7
Uncle through marriage and his 6 brothers (affines)*
Uncle’s wife 25%
Dem. 12
Brother of uncle through marriage (affine)*
Uncle’s wife 25%
Dem. 17
Nephew, uncle, two first cousins and first cousin 25% 25% 12.5% 12.5% 6.25% once removed (descending)* (?Horos party to oath)
Dem. 23
First cousin *
12.5%
Dem. 24
First cousin *
12.5%
Dem. 9
First cousin (and her husband) and four first cousins once removed (descending)**
12.5% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25%
Dem. 15
First cousin once removed (descending)*
Gr. 20
?First cousin once removed (ascending)*
6.25% 6.25%
* Horos is one of the parties in the contract ** Contract between parties related to Horos 113
First cousin ‘descending’ or ‘ascending’ refers to younger and older generations respectively.
74
The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods The closest level of clinical consanguinity is between the mother, daughters and brothers of Horos at a coefficient of 50% and the most distant level in terms of clinical consanguinity are first cousins once removed at 6.25%. Seven of these nineteen transactions involve Horos’s immediate family; the transactions might be a way in which the family moves and distributes inheritances or gifts. It is also of interest that five transactions document business activities involving six to eight parties (Horos included), an indication of family related by blood or affinity acting cooperatively in business dealings and perhaps using these transactions as a means of keeping family property intact.114 Nine of the transactions are sale contracts specifying land or property and one is a family agreement regarding a vineyard.115 Some of these sales may reflect Horos’s aim to restore his family property and avoid its eventual disintegration, or they may reflect Horos’s aim to accumulate his own property;116 whichever is the case, the consanguineous marriages of his two daughters are likely to have consolidated family property. While some of the transactions in the archive record loans made, we do not always have documentation for repayment or cession and it could be that such demands were not always made.117 Were financial buffers being constructed? Perhaps repayment was not demanded on one transaction, but there might be an expectation of reciprocity at a later date in times of need. If there is a preference for consanguineous marriage in the family of Horos, and perhaps in other families in Pathyris, how might money and goods brought into the marriage by the woman and financial commitments made by the man be influenced by the level of consanguinity within the family? Even though there are equal inheritance rights for all children within Egyptian law, commitments made in the marriage contract may be affected by the allocation of inheritance received, by an agreed portion becoming due at death, or on the timing of the division of family property .118 While the man’s gift, the woman’s goods, and the assignment of heirs all need consideration in the light of the marriage contract and how it might be affected by arrangements within the consanguineous family, it is the woman’s goods that will be under discussion in the final section of this chapter. The woman’s matrimonial goods, modern dowry and the economics of consanguinity In order to gain insight into how consanguinity might influence the value of the woman’s goods brought into marriage, reference is made here to a research paper on dowry and the economics of consanguineous marriage in contemporary Bangladesh (Do et al. 2013: 114 In P. Adl. Dem. 22, we also see Horos and five of his family cooperatively repaying a debt to a family with whom there are no known consanguineous links. 115 P. Adl. Dem. 7 (land), 13 (palm grove), 17 (land transfer oath), 23 (land); P. Adl. Gr. 3 (land and palm grove), 7 (palm grove, a copy of P. Mil. 1.1 2), 8 (palm grove), 11 (pigeon house), 20 (land); and P. Ryl. Dem. 9 (family agreement). 116 Vandorpe and Waebens (2009: 134) suggest that Horos’s land purchases were designed to increase his personal property. In contrast, in a review of the Adler texts, Préaux (1939: 394-95) believes that Horos tried to avoid the partition of family assets by restoring their father’s land, divided through inheritance between the brothers. 117 P. Adl. Dem. 4, 5, 12, 25 are loans and P. Adl. Dem. 15 and P. Adl. Gr. 2 are cessions for something placed or purchased in trust. P. Adl. Dem. 24 is a lease contract and P. Adl. Dem. 14 and 21 are marriage settlements. 118 The eldest son might be given an extra share to carry out his parents’ funerary arrangements and administer the family estate (Manning 2003b: 839–41).
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ 904–18).119 The authors based their paper on the premise that marriages are frequently marked by significant dowries or a transfer of assets from the woman and suggest that the enforcement mechanisms to deliver financial commitments are stronger in consanguineous families. The model they use is one of families acting as agents investing in a joint project (a model that could be applied to the demotic marriage settlements under discussion). In summary, Do et al.’s paper tests the idea that consanguinity is a cheaper way for families to deal with dowry costs in a rural marriage market. Their data comes from 4,364 households in 141 villages in Matlab, Bangladesh; this area is described by the authors as relatively isolated with a predominantly agricultural society. The cohort under review is described as ‘85% or more’ Muslim and the remainder are Hindu (Do et al. 2013: 909). Dowry is a customary transfer from the bride’s family to the groom and retrieval of dowry at divorce can be subject to negotiation, but its return is not guaranteed. Dowry is not a legal element of the Islamic marriage contract, but is commonly observed in Bangladesh.120 The authors argue that once a commitment to marriage is made it is costly to sever these links and one family might want to take financial advantage of the other. Insisting on before the event (ex ante) payments is preferable when after the event (ex post) payments may not be credible. However, if there is trust between the parties and knowledge that promises made are likely to be kept, particularly as there are enforcement mechanisms in place through consanguinity, then there is less pressure to insist on before the event payments. A study by Mobarak et al. (2019: 427) in Bangladesh and Pakistan supported the findings of Do et al. (2013: 904-18) in the trust and enforceability of delivery of dowry after marriage amongst families who marry consanguineously, particularly when families are constrained by credit or liquidity. Do et al. (2013) tested four predictions that produced the following outcomes: a.
Dowry levels are lower in consanguineous marriages. Women are 6% –7% less likely to bring a dowry, suggesting consanguinity and dowry are sometimes substitutes; b. Bequests or gifts to daughters are larger when they marry close kin; women are 4% more likely to bring an inheritance; c. Consanguinity is more prevalent in environments with more severe credit constraints;121 d. Consanguineous unions are less prevalent among wealthier unions as families have sufficient wealth to look outside the kin group to extend credit and social networks, and diversify genes (but this also works in the opposite direction as wealthy families may want to consolidate their assets and maintain privileged status, see Bittles 2012: 64-65). This 2013 case study, based on evidence from Bangladesh, has been chosen as it deals directly with the economics of consanguineous marriage. The discussion presented here is not suggesting that the prevalence of cousin marriage in the modern Middle East reflects unbroken continuity with ancient Egypt and neighbouring regions. 120 In Islam, a woman maintains ownership rights to personal property she has brought into the marriage, including her family inheritance (Quran 4:7). In Hinduism, a woman has ownership rights to moveable property voluntarily presented to the bride from family and friends, called stridhan, which remain the wife’s absolute property after marriage (Section 14, Hindu Succession Act 1956). 121 Mobarak et al. (2013: 1845-71) found that following the construction of flood protection embankments in Bangladesh, families whose properties were protected were less likely to marry biological relatives than unprotected families, who promised ex-post payments as a form of credit for dowry demands. 119
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The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods How might the results from Bangladesh provide insight into the financial commitments made in Pathyris? First of all, the families in Pathyris live in fairly close physical proximity and in some instances their lands border each other, for example P. Adl. Gr. 11 and 13. It is the physical and social proximity of consanguinity that makes it easier to apply enforcement mechanisms to financial commitments. We also see consanguineous families acting cooperatively in economic transactions, for example, P. Adl. Dem. 17 and P. Adl. Gr. 2, enabling family members to capture more marital product due to the business arrangements they engage in cooperatively. This also carries advantages in terms of land tenure as it avoids the division of productive land. An economic outcome of consanguineous unions to consider is the potential of the daughter who is marrying to contribute long-term to the family income. If the daughter moves away from her parents to live with her in-laws, the parents are less likely to capture the full marital product of the couple (Do et al 2013: 907). However, if the woman marries consanguineously, moving away from her natal home but still living in close proximity, she can continue to participate in the family’s economic output. The timing and amount of the bequests and gifts might also change. For example, if a marriage settlement stipulates that all children born of the union receive equal inheritance shares (for example, P. Ryl. Dem. 16), a consanguineous marriage might allow greater flexibility and trust between families in the delivery of inheritance or allocation of gifts to a daughter. Finally, if a married son is more likely to reside patrilocally, the daughter who has moved away cannot commit to handling the parent’s assets in the same way as a male sibling (Botticini and Siow 2003: 1386). However, if the parents are investing in a consanguineous network, such as the first cousin marriages in the Adler papyri, they might still continue to give regular gifts or bequests to their daughter after marriage if the predictions by Do et al. (2013: 908-09) are applied. Case study summary There are no known consanguineous marriages in the Archive of Pelaias, son of Eunous, and two attested consanguineous marriages in the Archive of Horos, son of Nechouthes. Although we have valuable genealogical data from Pathyris, it is not possible to provide detailed family trees for all individuals named in these archives. When the demotic marriage contracts in the Archives of Pelaias and Horos are compared, a few notable differences in money and goods committed allow the suggestion that some couples may be related consanguineously. However, the difference between consanguineous and non-consanguineous marriages might lie in what we are not seeing – the personal assets that are not recorded, the willingness of consanguineous couples to risk greater financial commitments because of family trust, to promise more after marriage because of family enforcement mechanisms, or to bring less into the marriage in the knowledge of future family gifts or bequests. There is no known evidence in the Archive of Pelaias, son of Eunous, for consanguineous economic transactions (including marriage) but the archive is incomplete. In contrast, the Archive of Horos, son of Nechouthes, is regarded as a ‘closed find’ and therefore allows a more accurate appraisal and shows an almost equal preference for economic transactions between families related through consanguinity, or related by affinity to consanguineous family members. On this evidence in the Archive of Horos, this chapter proposes that 77
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ consanguineous marriage was a preferred option within some families in Pathyris. Social proximity, reinforced by ties of consanguinity, carried economic and social advantages, but social distance also carried advantages by extending social, credit and labour networks. Using the results of current research on consanguinity and economics, perhaps in Pathyris the choice of a marriage partner was limited by credit constraints at one end of the spectrum, by family prosperity at the other, and thirdly by the number of siblings in the family and their choice of residence after marriage. We may only have documented evidence for two first cousin marriages in Pathyris, but in this town where there is evidence of interrelatedness through consanguinity and affinity, there may well be many more undocumented consanguineous marriages. While this case study focuses on economic transactions amongst families related through the clinical definition of consanguinity, there will also be more complex pedigrees of relationship that develop through generations. Two outcomes might result: one is that the inhabitants of Pathyris might be more related in terms of clinical consanguinity than the documents reveal; the second outcome, and probably more relevant to the inhabitants of this town, is that consanguinity carried economic benefits. Perhaps marriages up to and beyond the level of second cousin brought families not only into the network of consanguinity, but also into the network of kinship, bringing with it a range of economic and social benefits. Conclusion This chapter’s analysis and discussion was based on the hypothesis that consanguineous marriage avoids the fragmentation of moveable and immoveable property, and alleviates pressure on families in terms of the timing and amount of gifts given in marriage and in inheritance. The research considered whether ancient Egyptian inheritance laws and customary economic practice at marriage made it more advantageous for families to marry consanguineously and used summary comparisons with Mesopotamia, classical Greece and ancient Rome, where there is varied, although sometimes limited, evidence for consanguineous marriage. This chapter proposes that retention of wealth amongst propertied families and protection from poverty amongst families with few assets may be central motives for consanguineous marriage in all regions, but this does not preclude families from other socioeconomic backgrounds choosing consanguineous unions. Within Egypt, more than the other regions reviewed, the application of partible inheritance and the requirement for heirs to alienate their inheritance rights may result in a preference for consanguineous marriage amongst some families. Furthermore, ties created through consanguineous marriage can bind a family, enabling private resolution of disputes over shared landholding, although surviving legal texts prove that family conflict and land fragmentation was sometimes inevitable. The equitable share of parental property under Egyptian laws of succession, combined with the rights of men and women to own, buy and sell property may, however, lead to greater financial freedom in the choice of marriage partner. This is a basic analysis, and marriages and succession in all regions discussed above are influenced by rank, wealth, geographical location, age, sex, and changes in the law over time. Family conflict, health and demography, access to labour networks and patronage links, alongside political and climatic change, are also likely to affect marital choices. 78
The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods What has been captured in this chapter’s case study are the economic exchanges amongst families in a Ptolemaic town where many of the families are interrelated and where there is evidence for two consanguineous marriages within the same family. All the families are sufficiently wealthy to record their business and marriage transactions and many in this garrison town share similar economic backgrounds. An examination of ten marriage settlements does not reveal any major differences in the value of matrimonial goods transferred between families related consanguineously and non-consanguineously, although the differences may lie in unrecorded transactions and in the timing and delivery of financial commitments. Using the marriage contract as an economic transaction between individuals and their families, this chapter assessed whether there might be a preference for interaction with consanguineous family members in other economic transactions in the Ptolemaic Archives of Pelaias and Horos. There were no indications of preference for economic transactions amongst individuals related by consanguinity and affinity in the Archive of Pelaias; this result was likely to have been affected by the limited number of surviving texts and their chronological span – 23 texts dated from 152–88 BC. The Archive of Horos, in which there are two consanguineous marriages, offered greater opportunity for analysis as it is considered a ‘closed find’ (although several texts not found in the original sealed pot have since been included in this archive) – 60 texts dated from 134–89 BC. Analysis of the Archive of Horos shows that almost half of the economic transactions conducted by this family are with relatives related through consanguinity, or with individuals related by affinity to a consanguineous member of the family. In summary, this chapter proposes that consanguineous marriage creates economic gain through inheritance and the exchange of matrimonial goods. Families who marry consanguineously may benefit from the timing and delivery of marriage gifts and property due through inheritance. Economic commitments made at marriage may be delivered expost in the knowledge that family enforcement mechanisms are in place to ensure their fulfillment, including the delivery of inheritance due at the death of one or both parents. Parents of children marrying consanguineouly, such as the first cousin marriages in the Adler papyri, might still continue to give regular gifts or bequests to their children in the knowledge that they are investing in a family network over which they have an element of control. For poorer families, consanguineous marriage may alleviate or reduce the expectation of gifts committed in marriage and the economic gain may be in the retention of labour networks, if the family continues to live in close proximity. Finally, the choice of consanguineous marriage may fluctuate according to social and economic change and family health, and through a mixture of consanguinity and affinity family networks are created in villages or small rural towns, to which are added new families or individuals entering or leaving the community. The impact of this type of interrelated network on expectations of reciprocity, acts of altruism and resolution of community conflict is explored in the next chapter.
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Chapter 4
Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts: family interrelationships, occupations, offspring, and expectations of altruism and reciprocity You should not ignore your neighbours (on) the days of their need, and they will surround you in [your moment?]. You should not celebrate your festival without your neighbours, and they will surround you, mourning, on the day of burial. …You should not be hard-headed in fighting with your neighbours; your helpers [will fall?...] O. Petrie 11, C6, 7, 9; Hagen, The Prohibitions, 2005: 144. Introduction The Prohibitions, a didactic text from Deir el-Medina, contains lines stressing the interdependency of neighbours and reflects the importance of reciprocity. Ostraca found in the village also imply the existence of an open credit system, whereby parties to transactions delay the repayment of goods loaned in favour of neighbourly goodwill; in addition, notes were made of gifts received in the expectation of future reciprocity. But how different were economic and social obligations placed on family members? Evidence indicates eleven consanguineous marriages in Deir el-Medina alongside a complex network of interrelated families across many generations. Current research on reciprocity and altruism suggests families are more likely to act altruistically – the closer the kin, the greater the trust and the lower the expectation of reciprocity, while non-family members are more likely to trust transactions if punishment mechanisms are in place (for example, Ackerman et al. 2007: 369, 372; Ben-Ner and Kramer 2011: 216-21; Vollan 2011: 14-25). Using current case studies and documentary evidence from Deir el-Medina, this chapter examines the hypothesis that families related consanguineously have more flexible terms of reciprocity and a greater willingness to act altruistically than non-consanguineous families, and suggests that altruism, combined with innate trust, helped consanguineous families in Deir el-Medina create support networks to combat debt and resolve conflicts. Using the prosopography of Deir el-Medina, the chapter begins by listing the identity of 22 individuals thought to have married consanguineously and explores familial networks between each set of couples to determine to what extent they might also be related to each other through consanguinity or affinity. The choice of matrilateral (related through mother) or patrilateral (related through father) partner is also examined to assess how this choice might influence jural and affective ties between families. The family trees of each of the consanguineous couples is then explored to assess whether there is a preference
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Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts to marry amongst families who share professions, possibly indicating consolidation of family status and property. The family trees of each of the consanguineous couples are also analysed to determine whether the number of children born to consanguineous parents differs from the number born to parents not known to be consanguineous. All of these assessments are affected by the fragmentary nature of the documentary sources, by the interest (or otherwise) that families had in recording their genealogies, by abbreviated lines of succession in inscriptions and by ambiguous kinship terms. The information from which the prosopography of Deir el-Medina is drawn is also weighted by the dating of ostraca and other inscribed material. Haring (2006: 261) states that there is little documentation from the early 19th dynasty followed by an increase in documentation as the dynasty progressed – 200 non-literary ostraca are dated to the reign of Ramesses II (many from the latter part) while less than 50 ostraca date to the reign of Seti I – written records continue to increase into the 20th dynasty before entering a sudden decline in the late 20th dynasty.122 The unpredictable nature of survival alone may not account for these variations in numbers; they may also indicate less commitment to written documentation in the first half of the 19th dynasty, followed by a rapid increase in private and legal texts and, subsequently, a decline in the later 20th dynasty, possibly due to the use of papyrus which is more fragile (Haring 2003: 255). The unusually high levels of literacy in Deir elMedina combined with privileged access to monumental forms of commemoration, due to the technical and artistic skills of the workmen, makes Deir el-Medina unique compared to other ancient Egyptian villages; we are, therefore, provided with a more complete picture of village life than can simply be attributed to the chance survival of textual and archaeological evidence. The second part of this chapter begins by summarising the range of known economic activities amongst the villagers of Deir el-Medina, particularly the practices of giftgiving,123 ‘open credit’, object exchange and barter. A selection of textual sources relating to economic exchanges is used to explore whether known consanguineous families are involved in transactions and to assess generally the types and character of the transactions between families and between non-related villagers.124 By placing informal economic activities within the social and legal context of the village, factors affecting the willingness Janssen (1992: 82) remarks on high levels of literacy and semi-literacy in Deir el-Medina and proposes a level of 40%, excluding external service staff serving the community. Sweeney (1993: 523) states that around 470 letters survive from Deir el-Medina and 14% are sent by or addressed to women (see page 106). For a discussion on written records and oral practice in Deir el-Medina, see Haring 2003: 249-72. 123 The acquisition of material goods or commercial exchange can be framed wihin gift-giving and gift-exchange in the ancient world; for example, see Carla and Gori (2014) for a range of contributions on the interrelatedness of wealth, performance and status in the mechanisms of gift-giving in ancient economies. See Mauss, The Gift (1966 [1925]), for a seminal discussion on the custom and function of gift exchange. For an examination of the theory of gift-giving, see Wagner-Hasel (2014: 51-69). 124 (i) See Eyre (2015: 707-25) for a general discussion on the challenges of interpreting micro- and macroeconomics in ancient Egypt, suggesting that micro-economics might be meaningfully analysed through personal economics, combining quantitative and qualitative data. Eyre (2000: 15-17) also highlights the inconsistency and problems of interpretation between what is represented in state bureaucratic records, which can be read as official ideals, with the reality of small-scale social and economic activities. (ii) Deir el-Medina ostraca and papyri referenced in this chapter are indexed in the Deir el-Medina database at: http://dmd.wepwawet.nl. The database also provides a concordance for any other numbers associated with each entry. 122
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ to give and the expectation to receive are explored and, ultimately, do the obligations of reciprocity become a burden upon families? Within this setting the economic and social advantages of consanguineous marriage can be assessed. I argue that the ties of blood and affinity created through consanguineous marriage might lessen the burden of reciprocity and encourage altruism within family networks. Furthermore, what is considered a satisfactory exchange in terms of reciprocity is likely to be affected by the nature of the ties of those involved in the exchange. In terms of the expectation of reciprocity, I propose that a sliding scale may have existed between immediate families, their relatives, neighbours, and work colleagues. Ultimately, acts of reciprocity benefit the cohesiveness of the village social network and transactions such as gift-giving and ‘open credit’ are likely to have protected the overall stability and wellbeing of the inhabitants of Deir el-Medina.125 Terms of reference: altruism and reciprocity Reciprocal altruism was the term given by Trivers (1971: 35) to describe acts of mutually beneficial behaviour between non-relatives on the basis that individuals help others who have cooperated with them in the past, or help those who are likely to reciprocate in the future. West et al. (2007: 420) note that alternative names such as reciprocity or reciprocal cooperation are used to describe reciprocal altruism. Fehr and Fischbacher (2003: 785) argue that in contrast to reciprocity (motivated by long-term self-interest) and reputationbuilding cooperation (thereby improving the likelihood of future coalitions), there is also strong reciprocity. Strong reciprocators are more likely to carry out altruistic punishments to prevent unfair actions or behaviour or punish by ceasing interactions.126 However, if there are no mechanisms in place to deter individuals who do not cooperate or reciprocate, then the presence of strong reciprocators cannot prevent the breakdown of cooperation. The decisive factor in group cooperation is the belief that most members of the group are willing to cooperate and reciprocate (Fehr and Fischbacher 2003: 787).127 In the context of economic anthropology, Sahlins (1972: 175-77) categorises three types of reciprocity: generalised reciprocity refers to transactions commonly assumed to be altruistic and although there is a ‘diffuse’ obligation to reciprocate, the timing, amount and quality of the return is unspecific; balanced reciprocity is a term loosely applied to transactions which expect returns equivalent in ‘worth or utility’ within a short and finite timeframe;128 and negative reciprocity applies when individuals endeavour to make a gain at another’s expense (haggling is one of the most ‘sociable’ forms). 125 See Granovetter’s (1985: 481-510) seminal work on the embeddedness of economic action in social relations, which argues that economic activities are not ‘atomised’ or driven in the pursuit of self-interest, but are affected by interpersonal relationships. 126 In altruistic punishment an individual is willing to make a personal loss to prevent unfair actions or behaviour, whereas repeated interactions will cease in individual punishment (Fehr and Fischbacher 2003: 785, 787). 127 See West et al. (2007: 415-32) for a discussion on the semantic variation and confusion over terms used in research on cooperation: terms such as reciprocal altruism, weak altruism, strong reciprocity, altruistic punishment, mutualism and mutual benefit. 128 Bell (1991: 260) challenges the notion of a balanced exchange when two dissimilar parties are mutually satisfied with an exchange of incommensurable goods and services, pointing out that an ‘exactly’ balanced exchange can only be achieved when ‘similar people are exchanging similar objects’. See also, Sahlins (1972: 176) on perfectly balanced reciprocity.
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Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts Altruistic behaviour is summed up by Ben-Ner and Kramer (2011: 216) as a willingness to sacrifice one’s resources so that others may benefit, ‘representing a trade-off between one’s self-interest and regard for others’.129 Kin altruism, as defined by Hamilton (1964: 1-17), benefits the evolutionary fitness of biologically related kin at the expense of the actor (the generality of inclusive fitness has been challenged, for example, see Veelan et al. 2017: 176230).130 Hamilton (1970: 1218-20; 1964: 14-16) describes altruistic acts as one of four social behaviours assessed by the cost or benefit to the actor and the recipient. While altruism is costly to the actor but beneficial to the recipient, selfishness is beneficial to the actor but costly to the recipient, mutualistic behaviour is beneficial to both, and spiteful behaviour is costly to both (see also Pradel 2008: 9). There is also debate as to whether altruism is linked to short- or long-term gains and whether the individual ultimately benefits from their actions (for example, see West 2007: 420-22).131 Sober and Wilson (1998: 31-34) suggest that an act is altruistic if it is beneficial to recipients at the expense of the actor, who does not expect any reward, although there may be unexpected future returns. In this chapter I am using the definitions of altruism summarised above by Ben-Ner and Kramer (2011) and Sober and Wilson (1998) and the definition of reciprocity developed by Trivers (1971). Number of consanguineous marriages, networks of interrelated families and types of cousin marriages A complex network of interrelationships is established when the family trees of the husbands and wives in the eleven known consanguineous marriages in Deir el-Medina are traced. This indicates consanguineous ties not only amongst collateral relatives of their generation, but also amongst relatives of generations in ascendancy and descendancy. I have used the term ‘known’ marriages or ‘known’ children with the caveat that these names are normally associated with particular marriages and their family trees (in particular, see Davies 1999), although it cannot be stated with certainty that these marriages are consanguineous. There is the possibility of a further consanguineous marriage between an uncle and a niece, but as Davies (1999: 160) points out this requires the acceptance of a ‘tenuous’ explanation; Davies (1999: 117) also mentions a possible cousin marriage between the offspring of two brothers, although two of the names are fragmentary.132 These latter two examples are not included Research by Oda et al. (2014: 208) found that an individual’s personality traits affected their levels of altruism and the degree to which these traits differ varied according to the recipient; conscientiousness was associated with altruism only towards family, agreeableness with altruism only towards friends or acquaintances, and openness with altruism only towards strangers. 130 Veelan et al. (2017: 205-07, 214-15) found that being related as kin was not a sufficient criterion on its own for cooperation to evolve; cooperation and altruism evolve when there is discrepancy between those who provide opportunities for cooperation and those who are in competition. 131 Pradel (2008: 10) highlights two camps that explain human altruism on different grounds: the individual-level theory may at first seem detrimental to the individual but individual fitness benefits exist; the group-level adaptionist theory posits that altruistic individuals benefit the group but harm themselves and never receive reward, but since the group benefits then group-level mechanisms evolve to prevent altruism from extinction. See also Pradel (2008) for a detailed study of explanations for the evolution of human altruism. 132 There is a possibility that Anhotep (i) married his niece Mahi (ii). For this to apply, Neferabu (i) was married to Ta-Isis (i), as listed on Chart 11 in Davies (1999), their daughter Mahi (ii) then married Anhotep (i), the brother of Neferabu (i) (her paternal uncle) who appears on Chart 11 in Davies (1999). However, as there is uncertainty over the identity of the woman called Mahi, the wife of Antotep (i) is listed as Mahi (iii) on chart 11 (Davies 1999), and Davies (1999: 160) remarks that ‘debate must be postponed’ until further evidence comes to light. The possible cousin marriage is between Amennakht (xviii) and the lady Iues[…], a daughter of To (i) and Amen […] (Davies 1999: 117, chart 9). 129
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ in the analysis that follows, but they are listed in Appendix 1. Details of eleven marriages and the level of consanguineous and affinal interrelationships are summarised in table 4.3 in chronological order according to the approximate dates for each of the consanguineous marriages, followed by a diagram illustrating the consanguineous and affinal networks between the group of eleven marriages (see figure 4.1). The occupations of the fathers of the consanguineously married couples and of the husband in each union are listed in table 4.4 to assess whether a pattern emerges in terms of marriage preferences. Finally, Appendix 3 indicates the number of children born to parents who married consanguineously compared to families within their family trees, and compared to other consanguineous marriages and their genealogical trees. This data is constructive as it demonstrates family size and the potential for complex pedigrees of relationships – and the subsequent mutual obligations this might signify, although it does not necessarily imply that more distant relations considered each other part of their kinship group. The data also shows that some consanguineous couples did have offspring, but does not allow accurate comparisons to be drawn between numbers of offspring within and between family trees due to the fragmentary nature of the sources. Consanguineous families and interrelated networks Eleven probable or possible consanguineous marriages can be identified in the context of the prosopography of Deir el-Medina,133 which appears a relatively low number compared to the overall population living in the village during the Ramesside Period (the population is estimated at 100–200 people in the 19th dynasty and at 190–370 during the reign of Ramesses IX, see Toivari-Viitala 2001: 4-5 and n.55). Most of the available data for constructing genealogies comes from the 19th–20th dynasties and not all individuals can be identified with specific family trees. In Who’s Who in Deir el-Medina, Davies (1999) has reconstructed 47 family trees: my counts of villagers listed comes to 1029 and of all named inhabitants, including those not associated with known family trees, comes to 1446. When the number of known marriages in Deir el-Medina – 188 – is compared to the number of known consanguineous marriages – 11 – it shows that approximately six percent of marriages were consanguineous (see table 4.1). Given that data on marriages within Deir el-Medina is incomplete, that there are difficulties of interpretation, and there is no data from similar communities with which to compare, it is impossible to say if six percent of marriages being consanguineous is a high or low percentage within a village setting in ancient Egypt. Taking into account the difficulties in reconstructing relationships from fragmentary data, I decided to investigate the links of consanguinity and affinity between each of the consanguineous couples to explore See table 4.3 and Appendix 1 for detailed notes on the marriages. Marriages numbers eight, nine and ten depend upon the correct identification of certain individuals: number eight is dependent upon Henuwati (ii) being identified with Henuwati (i) and the husband Knummose (i) being identified with Mose (viii), son of Anuy (ii); number nine is dependent upon Nebnefer (xv) being identified with Nebnefer (xxiii), son of Khons (v) making Ipuy (viii) and Henutmire (i) first cousins although this is not recognised as a cousin marriage in Davies (1999: 51 and chart 8); number ten is dependent upon Nakhtmin (iii) being synonymous with Nakhtmin (i). Marriage number five may be an aunt-nephew marriage, or possibly a second cousin marriage, depending on whether the wife, Tarekhanu (i), is the daughter of Amennakht (xi) and Henuteriunu (i) or their granddaughter.
133
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Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts
Table 4.1: Number of consanguineous marriages as a percentage of the overall number of known marriages in Deir el-Medina between the 19th–20th dynasties. Sources: Based on family trees nos. 1–47, Davies, Who’s Who in Deir el-Medina, 1999; Bierbrier, The Late New Kingdom in Egypt, 1975: 30. Number of consanguineous marriages between the 19th–20th dynasties in Deir el-Medina Number of people on 47 family trees
1029
Number of known marriages (including twice married)
188
Number of known consanguineous marriages
11
Consanguineous marriage as total of number of known marriages
6%
whether there are underlying networks of familial relationships. If a small number of consanguineous marriages shows intricate and wide-ranging links of interrelationship within the group, then if a larger set of data were available there is a possibility that higher numbers of consanguineous marriages (and interrelatedness generally) may be indicated than the current prosopography allows. The results are shown in table 4.3 and figure 4.1. It appears that each of the consanguineous couples is related to at least one or more of the other couples, for example, Anhurkhawy (i) and Henutdjuu (i) in marriage number one are related to two couples by consanguinity and four further couples by affinity, while Khnummose (i) and Henuwati (i/ii) in marriage number eight are only related to one couple through consanguinity. Preferences and outcomes of jural and affective ties in marriages between parallel and cross cousins In table 4.2 the types of cousin marriage follow the classifications described on page 11: a marriage between the children of two brothers or two sisters is a parallel cousin marriage, a marriage between the children of a brother and sister is a cross cousin marriage. The kin type, listed in brackets, is the terminology used by anthropologists to describe relationships prior to their classification in a particular system, so that in ancient Egypt a female cousin might variously be called s3t nt snt.f (daughter of his sister), s3t nt sn.f (daughter of his brother); and a male cousin would be referred to as s3 n snt.s (son of her sister), s3 n sn.s (son of her brother) and so on; cousins also referred to each other as brother or sister. Again, caution is needed in assuming first cousin relationships in textual sources since snt and sn also refer to female and male collaterals generally, so the argument for cousin marriage in Deir el-Medina is supported as far as possible through detailed prosopography. Of the eleven consanguineous marriages in Deir el-Medina, it appears that eight are between the children of two brothers – father’s brother’s daughter (FBD) marriages; two are between the children of a brother and his sister –father’s sister’s daughter (FZD) marriages and one is possibly between an aunt/nephew or it may be a second cousin.134 With such limited data it is not possible to draw conclusions on preferred types of marriages within Deir el-Medina, however, modern studies on the differences in preferences for cousin marriages between men and women and the reasons for these choices may help to shed 134 Father’s brother’s daughter (FBD) is also the type of marriage documented in P. Adl. Dem. 14 and P. Adl. Dem. 21 discussed in the case study in chapter three.
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ light on possible scenarios, but research conducted in modern Egypt is limited by different socio-religious contexts. Murdock’s (1957: 687) world ethnographic sample of 210 societies that permit/approve of first cousin marriage shows that only 6% preferred parallel cousin marriage, while 42% permit/approve symmetrical cross cousin marriage (Arab societies exhibit an explicit preference for patrilateral parallel cousin marriage, Rugh 1984: 111). It is worth noting that while the majority of consanguineous marriages in Deir el-Medina are patrilateral parallel cousin marriages (albeit, eleven marriages is a relatively small number from which to draw conclusions), this is in contrast to the cousin marriages identified by Whale (1989) in 18th dynasty private Theban tombs (see page 28); out of nine marriages where it is possible to identify patrilateral or matrilateral kin, six are probable matrilateral cross cousin marriages (mother’s brother’s daughter, MBD). The material I am using to consider modern gender preferences in cousin marriage is drawn from the Egypt Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) 2014, data collected by Shawky (2011), and outcomes of a research project carried out by Rugh (1984), an anthropologist focusing on the family in contemporary Egypt. Overall, Rugh (1984: 2-4) investigates factors permitting a country-specific concept of family to emerge and remain stable over a long period of time, noting that a unique set of geographical and climatic conditions have created a fairly homogeneous and stable agricultural economy (although population movements to cities have weakened agricultural ties). Rugh (1984: 2-3) argues that these agricultural conditions require the cooperation of small groups with clearly defined land rights and, frequently, it is family kin groups that are the most stable. While Rugh highlights the environment as one of the determining factors for the emergence of a stable concept of family, other variables such as religion, law, politics and economy will have shaped social structure. Using evidence of land tenure, Eyre (1997: 367-69) also argues for historical continuity between the Egyptian population and agricultural production (with the most important modern change being demographic), while noting the risks of assuming an ‘essentially unchanging’ Egypt. The EDHS 2014 notes that 31% of ever-married women report that their current or most recent husband was a blood relative and over 50% of these consanguineous marriages were to first cousins (EDHS 2014: 91). In all recorded age groups ranging from 15-49 years in the EDHS 2014, more women married relatives through their father’s side (patrilateral marriages) than through their mother’s side (matrilateral marriages). For example, in the 20-24 age group, with a cohort of 3,055 ever-married women, 10.9% of women were married patrilaterally to a first cousin and 6.8% were married matrilaterally (EDHS 2014: 92).135 Consanguineous marriage is more common in rural than urban areas – almost 50% of marriages in rural Upper Egypt are consanguineous, and just under 25% are consanguineous in urban areas, with the lowest percentage (18%) in urban Lower Egypt. (EDHS 2014: 91-92). A separate study, conducted by Shawky et al. (2011: 157-63) with a cohort of 10,000 couples, reports a 35.3% rate of consanguineous marriage amongst which 86% were to first cousins (2010 data); the highest percentage of consanguineous marriages were in Sohag in Upper The EDHS 2014 reports a trend for increased age at first marriage, for example, 33% of women aged between 45-49 years were married by age 18 compared to 17% of women aged between 20-24 years at the time of the survey (2014: 93). For full details of age at first marriage and median age at first marriage by background statistics, see EDHS 2014: 92-94.
135
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Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts
Table 4.2: Preferred cousin marriage in order of priority amongst mainly urban Muslim and Christian Egyptians. Numbers 2 and 3 for women were often considered interchangeable. Source: Rugh, The Family in Contemporary Egypt, 1986: 111. Preferences for type of cousin marriage For the man
For the woman
1. Father’s brother’s daughter (FBD)
1. Mother’s sister’s son
2. Father’s sister’s daughter
2. Mother’s brother’s son (MBS)
(FZD)
(MZS)
3. Mother’s brother’s daughter (MBD)
3. Father’s brother’s son
(FBS)
4. Mother’s sister’s daughter (MZD)
4. Father’s sister’s son
(FZS)
Egypt (42.2%) and the lowest in Assiut in Middle Egypt (21.7%), while Cairo reported 36.1%. Shawky et al. (2011: 161) note that consanguinity was marginally higher amongst Muslims than Christians. While Arab societies tend to prefer patrilateral parallel cousin marriage above all others, Rugh (1984: 111) has reported differences between men and women on what is considered the preferred or ideal marriage amongst first cousins. Table 4.2 illustrates the results of Rugh’s interviews with mainly urban Muslim and Christian Egyptians from lower socioeconomic communities.136 Rugh (1986: 110-12) remarks that through male marriage preferences men derive more jural assets, they strengthen their patrikin, and their personal and economic interests and activities are focused in the residences of paternal relatives. The term jural in this context refers not only to the legal obligations defined through civil or religious law, such as rights to property or supporting a wife and children, but also includes social obligations that carry authority in the family network. Female marriage preferences are derived more from affective relations shaped by personal and emotional involvement that can change over time between kin and non-kin, often reflected in acts of goodwill, generosity, moral or financial support – such acts do not necessarily require reciprocation within families (Rugh 1986: 91-94, 111-13). In summary, Rugh (1986: 111) points out that the traditional Arab preference for patrilateral marriage is likely to reflect male authority and decisionmaking within society and consolidates wealth within the husband’s family. The female preference for matrilateral marriage reflects a more informal and less authoritarian set of relationships within the family itself and strengthens matrikin. In ancient Egypt it is not possible to make such direct connections between marriage choices and gender, authority and decision-making, nor between the demarcation of social or legal spheres between men and women. For example, rules regarding inheritance also impact upon marital choices and in Islamic law a woman receives half as much as her brother/ brothers, or half the legacy if she is an only child (Quran 4.11), while partible inheritance in ancient Egypt offered greater freedom of movement and choice of partner, but may have increased risk of property fragmentation (see chapter three). Choice of residence on or after marriage may have been influenced by levels of relatedness between 136
In Islam, uncle-niece marriages are proscribed by law (Quran 4.23).
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ families, but economic practicalities are equally as likely to have governed these decisions. In Deir el-Medina house sizes were dictated by population numbers and the walls enclosing the village, although some houses were constructed beyond it. Koltsida (2007: 12) estimates that the number of people living in a medium-sized Deir el-Medina house is between 5–8 with an average of six people, which could include parents, two or three children, and one or two relatives, which would give an allocation of 8–10 square metres per person (see also n.87). Even if extended families did not live next to each other, the layout of Deir el-Medina still allowed them to live in close proximity. In a discussion on historical demography, Chamberlain (2006: 52) points out that household size is dependent on a range of factors including conjugal versus extended family, age at marriage of offspring, and population density; ethnographic observations of agricultural communities and historical rural census returns show a median household size of five people. This figure has to be considered in the light of high infant mortality in antiquity and, as Chamberlain (2006: 52) notes, estimates of total fertility and completed family size are often much higher.137 What might be constructive to draw from the modern demographic and anthropological studies summarised above are male and female preferences for types of cousin marriage, preferences possibly reflected in the results of table 4.3. For example, a marriage to a father’s brother’s daughter could consolidate professional links and enhance job opportunities and status in the Deir el-Medina community, and is the most common type of marriage amongst the known consanguineous marriages in the village. If women’s preferences are applied, then marriage to a mother’s sister’s daughter possibly strengthened a network of affective ties, enhancing informal emotional and economic support amongst families. McDowell (1999: 40-41) comments on the importance of support networks amongst women in Deir el-Medina, and although women could inherit, own or generate personal wealth, many were largely supported by husbands or fathers, or relied on the goodwill of family and friends (see also Eyre 2007: 238).138 This does not imply that women could not, or did not, act independently regardless of their marital state. For example, we know that Menatnakht (i) inherited from her mother Naunakhte (i) and possibly married twice, being party to a property settlement drawn up at the start or end of her second marriage, and that she participated in barter and gift-giving (Davies 1999: 255 outlines possible scenarios in Menatnakht’s life; see also Toivari-Viitala 2001: 238). The networks between the families of consanguineous couples illustrated in figure 4.1 gives an indication of the potential for consolidating both jural and affective ties, and also suggests that beyond the groups of families linked by consanguinity, a highly complex social network of business and personal ties emerged in Deir el-Medina.
Using data from the Roman census returns in Egypt, Bagnall and Frier (2006: 145) estimate that the Total Marital Fertility Rate (TMFR) was close to nine children; ‘TMFR is the number of children born to a woman who from age 15-50 gives birth at the average rate for women her age’. 138 In the Deir el-Medina village census (Stato Civile), a woman is recorded as living in her husband’s house, and later recorded as a resident in her married son’s house (he does not have children) (Demarée and Valbelle 2011: 6, 35). See Sweeney (2006: 135-53) for a study of occupations open to women in Deir el-Medina as they grew older and an assessment of their capacity to support themselves. 137
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Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts
Table 4.3: Consanguineous marriages in Deir el-Medina and consanguineous and affinal links between couples. See Appendix 2 for notes detailing the consanguineous and affinal links illustrated in this table and figure 4.1. Sources for family trees: Davies, Who’s Who in Deir el-Medina, 1999; Bierbrier, CdE 59, 1984: 208-10; H.T.B.M Part 10, 1982: 27; The Late New Kingdom in Egypt, 1975: 30-35. Spelling of names and the roman numerals identifying individuals follows Davies 1999. Marriage Type of marriage: Number CC = cross cousin PC = parallel cousin FBD = father’s brother’s daughter FZD = father’s sister’s daughter
Names of husband Related through Approximate Date and wife consanguinity (c) or affinity (a) to marriage/s no/s
1
CC his father, her mother are brother and sister FZD
Anhurkhawy (i) Henutdjuu (i)
8 (c) 10 (c) 6 (a) 2 (a) 10 (a) 4 (a)
2nd half of reign Ramesses II
2
PC fathers are brothers FBD
Nebmehyt (iii) Henutmehyt (iv)
1 (a) 6 (a)
2nd half of reign Ramesses II
3
PC fathers are brothers (FBD)
Buqentuf (i) Iyi (iii)
5 (c) 11 (a)
year 49 Ramesses II
4
PC fathers are brothers FBD
Iyernutef (ii) Tabaki (i)
6 (c) 7 (c) 1 (a)
possibly year 40 Ramesses II or end 19th dynasty
5
aunt-nephew or second cousin
Amennakht (x) Tarekhanu (i)
3 (c) 11 (a)
end of 19th dynasty
6
CC his father, her mother are brother and sister FZD
Pashedu (ii) 4 (c) 1 (a) Tanodjemethemsi 7 (a) 2 (a) (ii)/ Nodjemhemsiset (i)
year 2 Merenptah – Siptah (possibly from year 63 Ramesses II)
7
PC fathers are brothers FBD
Nekhemmut (i) Webkhet (vi/viii)
4 (c) 11 (c) 9 (c) 6 (a)
Ramesses III (possibly 2nd half of reign of Ramesses II)
8
PC ? fathers are brothers FBD
Khnummose (i) Henuwati (i/ii)
1 (c)
Seti II – year 24 Ramesses III (possibly early Ramesses IV)
9
PC ? fathers are brothers FBD
Ipuy (viii) Henutmire (i)
11 (c) 7 (c)
year 14 Ramesses III – year 12 Ramesses IV
10
PC ? fathers are brothers FBD
Penrennut (i) Tadehnetemheb (i)
1 (c) 1 (a)
reign of Ramesses IV
11
PC fathers are brothers FBD
Khons (vi) Taweretemheb (ii)
7 (c) 9 (c) 3 (a) 5 (a)
post-year 3 Ramesses V – before year 15 Ramesses IX
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’
Legend:
linked by consanguinity
linked by affinity
Number in the square corresponds to marriage numbers in table 4.3 Number in small circle corresponds to known number of children Figure 4.1: Consanguineous marriages in Deir el-Medina and their links through consanguinity and affinity to other first cousin marriages, 19th–20th dynasties.
Occupations within consanguineous marriages in Deir el-Medina: occupation of husband, husband’s father, and wife’s father Senior positions within the gang of workmen were usually hereditary and, if possible, the sons of ordinary workmen also succeeded to their father’s role, but competition was high and not every son was guaranteed employment in the necropolis workforce (McDowell 1999: 228). There was room for professional mobility within the gang and also into the gang from outside, for example, the scribe Ramose (i) transferred to the workforce from a scribal post as ‘treasury chief ’ in the memorial temple of Tuthmosis IV in western Thebes; he is thought to have adopted a son from ‘outside’, Qenhirkopshef (i), who then followed in his footsteps as a scribe (Davies 1999: 79, 81). The numbers of workmen in the gang fluctuated according to royal building requirements, so the completion of royal tombs during the reign of Ramesses II reduced the workforce to around 30 men and the expansion of building work during the reign of Ramesses IV resulted in the workforce being doubled from 60 to 120 men (Davies 1999: xix). In the eleven consanguineous marriages all the fathers of the husbands and wives came from Deir el-Medina and table 4.4 lists the occupations of these men alongside the husbands in each consanguineous marriage. The aim was to assess whether the married couples were 90
Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts
Table 4.4: Occupations within consanguineous families in Deir el-Medina: occupation of husband, husband’s father and wife’s father. Source: drawn from data within Davies, Who’s Who in Deir el-Medina, 1999. Marriage Husband’s title Husband, son of Wife, daughter of Approximate dates Number 1 Anhurkhawy (i) Qaha (i) Kel (i) 2nd half of reign Ramesses II chief workman chief workman workman (husband chief workman post-year 40 Ramesses II – undated Merenptah) 2 Nebmehyt (iii) Amenmose (vii) Amennakht (xxi) 2nd half of reign Ramesses II workman workman workman 3 Buqentuf (i) Nakhy (iii) Amennakht (xi) year 49 Ramesses II workman workman (‘chief workman (‘chief craftsman’)** craftsman’)** 4 Iyernutef (ii) Ipuy (i) Neferronpet (ii) possibly year 40 Ramesses II sculptor sculptor sculptor or end 19th dynasty Amennakht (xi)?* end 19th dynasty 5 Amennakht (x) Buqentuf (i) deputy chief workman workman (‘chief workman craftsman’)** 6 Pashedu (ii) Hehnekhu (ii) Nakhtamun (ii) Year 2 Merenptah – Siptah workman workman sculptor (possibly from year 63 Ramesses II) 7 Nekhemmut (i) Khons (ii) Khabekhnet (i) Ramesses III (possibly 2nd chief workman workman workman half of reign of Ramesses II) (husband chief workman, year 11 Ramesses III – year 15 Ramesses III) 8 Khnummose (i) Anuy (ii) Nebamentet (i) Seti II – year 24 Ramesses III workman workman workman (possibly early Ramesses IV) 9 Ipuy (viii) Neferhor (i/vi) Nekhemmut (vi) year 14 Ramesses III – year 12 ?chief workman workman chief workman Ramesses IV 10 Penrennut (i) Nakhtmin (iii) Amenemone (ii)/ reign of Ramesses IV workman workman (iii) workman Nekhemmut (vi) Nebnefer (xv) post-year 3 Ramesses V – 11 Khons (vi) chief workman workman before year 15 Ramesses IX deputy chief (husband deputy chief workman workman(?), year 8 Ramesses VI/VII – year 8 Ramesses IX) * Dependent on aunt-nephew marriage in which the wife, Tarekhanu (i), is the daughter of Amennakht (xi) and Henuteriunu (i). ** For the title ‘chief craftsman’ attributed to the fathers in marriages 3 and 5 (who are in the same family), see Davies (1999: 64). Marriage 8 is based on the father of Khnummose (i) being synonymous with Mose (viii), son of Anuy (ii), but if Pashedu’s (i) father is synonymous with Mose (iv), then his father is chief workman Anakhtu (ii), however, Davies (1999: 41) believes this is unlikely. Marriage 9 is based on Bierbrier’s (1975: 30-35) genealogy, whereas Davies (1999: 51) believes Neferhor is the son of Ipuy (iii) as opposed to Khons (v). Marriage 10 is dependent upon Nakhtmin (iii) being synonymous with Nakhtmin (i), son of Huy (iii), see Davies (1999: 212). Marriage 11 is dependent upon Nebnefer (xv) and Nebnefer (xxiii) being synonymous, see Davies (1999, chart 7).
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ the offspring of men in similar positions of authority and whether their marriages were the means by which hereditary positions were consolidated, alongside family property and influence. In all the marriages except numbers five, seven, nine and eleven, the husband and his father shared the same role: in marriage number one both were chief workmen, in number four both were sculptors, and in marriages two, six, eight and ten both were workmen. Number three is slightly unusual as the husband and fathers are workmen, but both fathers were given the title ‘chief craftsman’, and the son of this marriage is the husband in marriage number five with the title deputy chief workman, while his wife’s father may be the same ‘chief craftsman’ who appears in marriage number three (if this is an aunt-nephew marriage, or possibly the wife’s grandfather in a cousin marriage); whichever this may be, there is an implication that senior roles were consolidated within this family. Although the father of the husband in marriage number seven was a workman, the husband became a chief workman and the wife’s father (the husband’s uncle) was a workman. In marriage number nine the husband was possibly a chief workman while his father was a workman, however he marries the daughter of a chief workman (his uncle), probably consolidating family influence. The occupations of the husband and his father in marriage number eleven is not markedly different, while the husband is deputy chief workman, his father is chief workman. A pattern, however, emerges in marriages seven, nine and eleven as they are all members of the family of Sennedjem (i) and in each marriage at least one of the fathers, or a son, is a chief workman. Overall, the pattern that develops amongst the husbands and their fathers is consistent with what might be expected generally in the community. It would be exceptional in a father’s brother’s daughter’s marriage (FBD) if the husband, his father and his wife’s father were all chief workmen, as this would imply that two brothers were both in the most powerful and influential positions at a similar time. In all cases the wife’s father either occupied the same position as the husband and his father or held a less senior role with the exception of number nine – the wife’s father is a chief workman, her husband is possibly a chief workman and her husband’s father was a workman, however, they all belong to the family of Sennedjem (i) discussed above. In marriage number six, the wife’s father is a sculptor, a skilled role amongst the workman, but the specific role amongst the workmen of her husband and his father is unknown. Offspring of consanguineous marriages and numbers of known children in their family trees Following on from the complexity of structure that seems to underlie a relatively small number of marriages, I wanted to assess the number of children that evidence suggests were born from each union. Ideally, it would be interesting to calculate if consanguineous couples have more or less children than non-consanguineous unions, but this is impossible given the nature of the sources. However, I think it is viable to compare the known number of children from consanguineous marriages with those from marriages that are not known to be consanguineous not only to determine if any unusual pattern emerges, but also to show that a low or zero number of children appearing is not unusual 92
Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts
Figure 4.2: Number of marriages and offspring in family trees with one or more consanguineous marriages (gen. = generations)
when examining ancient evidence (the same difficulties appear to a lesser extent in demotic archives, but analysis is always limited by uncertainty over exact numbers of offspring). Appendix 3 shows that out of the identifiable offspring of the consanguineous marriages, two had six children (marriage number seven may have had seven), two had four, one had two, four had one, and two had zero. There is nothing inconsistent when these figures are compared to the number of offspring of other marriages within their individual family trees, or in relation to other family trees. For example, there are nine generations in the family of Qaha (i), which comprises 27 marriages and 62 children, with numbers of offspring per marriage ranging from zero to 11 – the known consanguineous marriage had six children. Likewise, the ten generations in the family of Sennedjem (i) comprise 28 marriages and 57 children whose offspring from marriages range from zero to nine children, and the offspring of the three known consanguineous marriages number six, four and zero. There are smaller family trees, for example, Huynefer (ii) (marriage number ten) which comprises seven marriages and 30 children and produces a higher average number of children per marriage (4.3) than the family of Sennedjem (i) (2) or the family of Qaha (i) (2.3); this is also the highest ratio of all the marriages (see figure 4.2). However, no firm conclusions can be drawn due to the chance survival of sources, but 93
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ the mean number of children born to each marriage – 2.8, with a median figure of 2.7 – is consistent with the composition of families living in Deir el-Medina houses assessed by Koltsida (2007: 12). This exercise also illustrates the unpredictability of data that can reveal the genealogies of some families in detail while relationships between others are barely known. For example, comparatively detailed genealogies of the families of Baki (i), Huynefer (ii), Sennedjem (i), and Kasa (i) can be pieced together through the prosopography of Deir el-Medina (two of the consanguineous marriages occur in the families of Huynefer (ii) and Sennedjem (i). However, as Davies (1999: xxiii, 21) and McDowell (1992a: 107) point out, most families in Deir el-Medina did not have an interest in recording genealogies, although there are exceptions such as Anhurkhawy (ii) who enumerated five generations of his family in his tomb (TT359; his grandfather Anhurkhawy (i) married his cousin Henutdjuu (i), see marriage number one, table 4.3). The influential descendants of the scribe Amennakht (v) also took pride in their ancestry as witnessed in their graffiti on the cliffs in western Thebes (McDowell 1992a: 107, see also Davies 1999: 105-18 and chart 9, for the family of Ammenakht (v)). The appearance of a family name repeated every other generation indicates that names were at least remembered within the families up to the level of grandparents (or similar degrees of relationship) while distant relatives fell into the general classification of ancestors, although usually still strongly associated with collective family memory and identity in household cults and funerary contexts (Moreno Garcia 2010: 20-21; see Demarée 1983: 28290 for 3ḫ ἰḳr n R‘- stelae; see Harrington 2004: 71-88 and Meskell 2002: 120-21 for ancestor busts found in Deir el-Medina; see McDowell 1992a: 106-08 for family archives kept for legal and economic purposes, and dating events during the villagers’ own lifetimes by recollection of shared events). Does the apparent lack of interest in genealogy imply a lack of interest in the centrality of the family and its legacy? I think a set of interstitial contexts exists in the village of Deir el-Medina that influences the allegiances and obligations within families, between neighbours and with state officials. Campagno (2014: 20) describes the ‘multiplicity of social logics operating simultaneously’ in a discussion on patronage practices during the First Intermediate Period and earlier. At a micro-level this same multiplicity probably existed in Deir el-Medina. The family consolidated influence and wealth through marriage, hereditary occupations and shared resources, but families did not create powerful hereditary ‘clans’ in the village, so neighbours were valuable economic and social allies (as well as sources of conflict).139 In turn, as workers in the royal necropoleis, villagers were allied to the state through networks of employment and duty; and further networks of extended family, employment and patronage would have existed between the villagers of Deir el-Medina and communities closer to the Nile.140 The conditions that led certain P. Salt 124 details Amennakht’s (vii) letter impressing upon the vizier his suitability for the position of chief workman. Amennakht’s (vii) brother, Neferhotep (ii), previously held the post and Amennakht (vii) implies he was unfairly passed over in favour of the current chief workmen Paneb (i); to reinforce his claim Amennakht (vii) lists Paneb’s (i) many failings and wrongdoings. Not all the charges may be true, but they did arise out of animosity between the two men (see Davies 1999: 33-34; Černý 1929: 243–58; McDowell 1999: 191). 140 (i) The villagers were served by a network of outside personnel (smdt n bnr), paid for by the state, including water-carriers, woodcutters and laundrymen, with some families of personnel working for the villagers down several generations (Muhs 2017: 121-22). For a detailed study on the structure and roles of service personnel in 139
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Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts families to choose a consanguineous marriage may have been fluid: for some a conscious choice to consolidate wealth and status, but not so for others, who may have been related by consanguinity and affinity merely through complex degrees of relationship within the close-knit structure of the village. While the workers at Deir el-Medina were relatively well-paid, they, too, were affected by morbidity and mortality that might affect a family’s income and leave individuals dependent upon their kin; for example, the draftsman Pay (i), struck by blindness, writes to his son Prehotep (i) requesting support: ‘Do not turn your back on me – I am not well. Do not c[ease] weeping for me because I am in the [darkness?...]’ (O. Berlin 11247; McDowell 1999: 55-56, no. 27; Wente 1990: 142 no. 185).141 The villagers were also subject to political and environmental shocks, such as the hunger caused by failure in food supplies that led to the strikes recorded in the Turin Strike Papyrus in the reign of Ramesses III: ‘The prospect of hunger and thirst has driven us to this; there is no clothing, there is no ointment, there is no fish, there are no vegetables’ (P. Turin Cat. 1880; Egerton 1951: 140; Frandsen 1990: 178). According to testimony in the Late Ramesside Tomb Robbery Papyri (investigations recorded during the reigns of Ramesses IX, X and XI), starvation also drove villagers to plunder tombs: ‘This inner coffin is ours (?). It belonged to some great person (?). We were hungry and we went and brought it away, but be you silent… (P. Brit. Mus. EA 10052, Peet 1930: 152, plate 31, l. 7).142 The combination of social logics operating in the village, combined with susceptibility to external factors and the unpredictable personal circumstances of each family could explain why families moved in and out of consanguineous marriages as needed, why many families did not have a particular interest in recording family lineages, or perhaps marrying close family members did not carry a particular importance for some individuals or families. Economic transactions in Deir el-Medina and expectations of altruism and reciprocity in consanguineous families This section explores gift-giving, debts and credit, informal object exchange and barter, primarily amongst Deir el-Medina residents and occasionally also involving service personnel from outside the village. The Deir el-Medina workmen were paid through a system of state redistribution, with higher rations allocated according to seniority in the gang. Grain was delivered on a monthly basis with other goods such as water, bread, fish, vegetables, beer, cakes and fuel delivered on a more regular basis. More irregular deliveries of items such as oil, meat, natron and garments were received from high officials. Excess Deir el-Medina, see Gabler (2018). (ii) See McDowell (1994: 41-59) for contact between the village of Deir el-Medina and the outside world; for evidence of foreigners living in the village, see Ward (1994: 61-85). 141 Discussing evidence of developmental anomalies in skeletal remains, Austin (2014: 234) notes that the resultant physical limitations would have prevented the affected individuals from being active in the workforce and also probably affected their physical functioning in informal village activities, but their presence in Deir el-Medina indicates that they were members of the community who may have received care, if required. 142 (i) During an interrogation to account for ownership of silver in P. Brit. Mus. EA 10052 we hear the following: ‘I got it in exchange for barley in the year of the hyenas when there was a famine’ (Peet 1930: 153, pls. 31-32, l. 7-8). Collier et al. 2010: 242-47) discuss a section of P. Brit. Mus. EA 10052 identified after Peet’s 1930 publication. (ii) See Winand (2018: 127-52) for a study on scribal standardisation and variation in the Late Ramesside Tomb Robbery Papyri, including P. Brit. Mus. EA 10052.
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ from goods received as rations alongside items such as furniture or textiles produced by the villagers, or the exchange of particular skills, were used in barter or gift-giving (Mandeville 2014, in particular, 83-110 for recipients of rations and quantities).143 The economic transactions discussed here raise questions as to how consanguinity might influence the nature of the exchange and the expectations arising from it. Finally, examples of family transfers are provided which indicate a picture of mutual family commitments, expectations (and failures), whether in receipt of moveable and immoveable property, or general care and support. Gift-giving Janssen (1997: 55-86, 1982: 253–58) has classified a set of texts in the Deir el-Medina corpus as lists of gifts given at celebrations, the majority of which date from the 20th dynasty.144 The lists, recorded by the recipient of the gifts, comprise mainly of foodstuffs although household goods are also named. Bread is listed in almost every entry, sometimes in large quantities, such as 30 sš loaves brought by Henshene (O. IFAO 1322 + O. Varille 38 + O. Cairo CG 25705, l. 8). Other gifts include beer, cakes, vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, flowers, wreaths, rushes (for example, O. DeM 222), and O. Cairo CG 25624 + O. Cairo CG 25365 also mention boxes, sandals, baskets and possibly a folding stool. The named guests are a mixture of men and women although women feature more frequently than men (see table 1, Janssen 1997: 83); for example, 33 women and three men are listed in O. IFAO 1322 + O. Varille 38 + O. Cairo CG 25705, in contrast, O. DeM 222 lists at least 25 men and three women. In a study of feasts at Deir el-Medina, Jauhiainen (2009: 262) proposes that larger quantities of food may indicate a party celebrating a public feast while fewer gifts may indicate a private feast or a small gathering at a public feast.145 In terms of the relationships between guests at these celebrations, I would agree with Janssen (1997: 59, 61, 67) that the contributors of large amounts of comestibles are likely to be relatives helping the host cater for the feast, or possibly influential members of the community contributing to the feast. Within this celebratory context it seems natural that gifts brought by relatives might be recorded (i) Mandeville (2014) has conducted a detailed study of wage accounting at Deir el-Medina. See also Černý 1973: 107, 112-13, 236, 246 for workmen’s grain rations; the scribes’ rations of grain were usually half that of the foreman, see 224; see also 176-77 for rations given to female servants. Ostraca listing rations, deliveries and extra allocations include O. Cairo CG 25608, O. Medelhavsmuseet MM 14126, O. Berlin 11238, O. Gardiner 59, O. DeM 46, O. Cairo CG 25504. For a summary of New Kingdom redistributive networks, see Muhs 2016: 115-27. (ii) McDowell (1992b: 195-206) considers evidence for farming by the villagers of Deir el-Medina, concluding that agriculture on a significant scale cannot be proven but remains probable. 144 (i) Janssen (1997: 55-86) discusses nine lists in detail, as they are in a fairly complete state, and lists a further 13 that are fragmentary (see 56 n.a): IFAO 1322 + O. Varille 38 + O. Cairo CG 25705; O. DeM 134; O. DeM 222; O. DeM 643; O. Cairo CG 25624 + 25365; O. Cairo CG 25660 + O. Cairo JE 37649; O. Petrie 31; O. Faulkner 1; O. Berlin P 14328 (O. Or. Inst. Chicago17005, complete but not discussed by Janssen as it is dated to the 19th dynasty; fragmentary lists: O. DeM 282; O. DeM 666; O. Cairo CG 25650; O. Turin N. 57010; IFAO 1026; O. IFAO 1242; O. IFAO 1308; O. IFAO 1329; O. Gardiner 178; O. AG 63; O. Prague H 24; O. IFAO 1329; O. Louvre E 3262b. (ii) Bleiberg (1996: 117-23) assesses the official exchange of gifts (ἰnw) between individuals of different status from the Old to New Kingdoms, a custom resulting from a social obligation to transfer goods to a political or religious institution, which was subsequently obliged to redistribute the goods on the basis of kinship, friendship, status, or hierarchy. 145 Jauhiainen (2009: 258 and 259 n.4) includes one list consisting of four texts that were not originally in Janssen’s group: O. Berlin P 1120 + O. IFAO 177 + 178 + 179, which documents about nine men and possibly three women giving a range of foodstuffs at a feast, but O. DeM 282 (which was on Janssen’s list) has been excluded as it is a list of commodities. 143
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Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts alongside those of neighbours as a way of remembering friends’ generosity with a view to reciprocation at a future feast. The recipient of the gift is rarely mentioned, making it difficult to establish whether consanguineous or affinal relations are the givers and receivers of gifts. One list mentions Minkhau bringing gifts home, which would indicate he was the recipient, but there is no apparent link between Minkhau (i) or (ii) and the consanguineous families in table 4.3. O. Cairo CG 25624 + 25365 col. 2. l. 3 mentions gifts given to Tasaket, but she does not appear to be linked through marriage or affinity to four named individuals bringing gifts.146 The children of the first cousin marriage between Nekhemmut (i) and Webkhet (vi/viii) (marriage number seven, table 4.3) appear in O. IFAO 1322 + O. Varille 38 + O. Cairo CG 25705 as bringers of gifts, as does the sister of Ipuy (viii) and cousin of Henutmire (i) (marriage number nine, table 4.3), however, the presence of these women is not unexpected amongst this list of 33 village women. The recording of gift transactions and their social context stands slightly apart from ‘open credit’, barter and other types of economic exchanges discussed below.147 For families, gift giving might indicate supportive networks, and for villagers reciprocal networks, or possibly the structural value and function of the exchange might be the same irrespective of consanguinity, but the obligations created though gift and/or ‘open credit’ exchanges may have placed financial pressures upon families or neighbours who were unable to reciprocate. How these financial burdens might be eased within a sliding scale of reciprocity is addressed on page 110-11. Debts and credit It is not unusual in Deir el-Medina to find ostraca noting that goods of one person are with another person: the phrase used to describe this placement of goods is nty m-dἰ or nty m-‘ (‘which are with’, literally ‘which are in the hand’) (Janssen 1994: 129-36). Examples of this type of transaction include O. Gardiner 204, which records 10 items worth 76 deben ‘which are with’ the chantress of Amun Shedytemduat (i) and notes on the ostraca record her gradual partial repayment of the debt with a different range of commodities. Goods of a much lesser value are listed on O. DeM 428 that records objects of Hay ‘which are with’ the doorkeeper Khaemwese; they include services, such as feeding an ox for four months and stringing a bed alongside sandals, oil and fruit, which total seven deben. O. Petrie 51, however, is unusual, as goods belonging to Amenemone are with six different people including two chief policemen, two scribes and a woman whose status is unknown; Janssen (1994: 130) believes that this (temporary?) placement of one individual’s goods amongst a group of people is unique. Further ostraca recording goods placed with another person are 146 Given this this ostraca is dated year 27 of Ramesses III, this is likely to be Tasaket (ii) who is also mentioned in O. IFAO 1322 + O. Varille 38 + O. Cairo CG 25705, as the daughter of Merutmut. Davies (1999: 56 n.722) notes this may be Merutmut (ii) the wife of Neferhor (i)/(vi); if the latter case is applied then Tasaket (ii) is the sister of Ipuy (viii) and cousin of Henutmire (i) in marriage number nine on table 4.3. 147 Jauhiainen (2009: 262-64) discusses lists that record the transfer of goods at feasts or family celebrations that, unlike the gift-giving lists above, are written by the giver and record transfers made on a range of occasions. For example, O. DeM 952 records goods by one man to mark the birth of another man’s daughter, and continues to list goods transferred on three subsequent days that presumably also mark this birth celebration. Jauhiainen (2009: 263) remarks that these texts may be similar types of transactions that are written from different perspectives – the giver and the receiver.
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ discussed in detail by Janssen (1994: 129-36) who terms this type of exchange ‘open credit’ suggesting that most of the village inhabitants were the debtors or creditors of several others.148 The ostraca are witness to individuals crediting others with goods or services, a note is made of their value and in time the debtor gradually repays (some or all of the debt) with goods of a similar value. In order to effect these transactions, the creditor or the debtor might borrow from others so a chain of economic obligations is created. I have not discerned any of the couples married consanguineously in these ‘open credit’ ostraca, although close relatives of these couples appear in some of them. For example, in O. Gardiner 204 the workman Penniut (i), who is probably the son of Khnummose (i), is owed 76 deben by Shedytemduat (i) (Bierbrier 1984: 221; Davies 1999: 41, 260-61; Janssen 1994: 130); this Penniut (i) is the son of Khnummose (i) and Henuwati (i/ii) in marriage number eight (figure 4.3). We see the workman Khnummose (i) again in O. Gardiner 162 in which a debt of 66 deben is owed to him by the chief policeman (Medjay) Nebsmen (iv), son of the lady Raia (iii), who tentatively may be the daughter-in-law of Khnummose (i) (Davies 2001: 261 and n.724; Janssen 1994: 131). If this is the case, we see the workman Pennuit (i) crediting Shedytemduat (i) with goods worth almost seven times the average monthly wage of a workman, and in another we see the son of Raia (iii) (the chief policeman Nebsmen) possibly being credited with goods by his mother’s father-in-law Khnummose (i) (marriage number eight) that are equivalent to six months of a workman’s average wage. The goods credited in O. Brussels E 6311 are with Huy (iii/vi/vii/ix), the son of Huynefer (ii/ iv). This is the cousin of Henutdjuu (i) and Anhurkhawy (i) in marriage number one (Davies 1999, charts 3, 4). We learn from the text that Huy may have been taken to court due to his unwillingness to pay a debt, and Janssen (1994: 132) wonders whether the Huy of this text is the same Huy who appears as a debtor in O. Cairo CG 25572. Huy (iii/vi/vii/ix) who appears in O. Brussels E6311 is also the grandfather of Penrennut (i) and Tadehnetemheb in marriage number ten. What appears from these ostraca, if these links with the consanguineous families are correct, is that members of these families are variously debtors or creditors (some to high amounts of deben), which would not be unusual within Deir el-Medina, but as far as I can find the only possible example of open credit arrangements between members of the same families are in O. Gardiner 162 (66 deben).149 I agree with Janssen (1994: 136) that these ‘open credit’ ostraca are a reflection of ‘generalised reciprocity’ within the village, but how might families related consanguineously interact economically within this context? The need to document larger amounts, such as 76 deben O. Aberdeen (rt.); O. Brussels E. 6311; O. Cairo CG 25572; O. Gardiner 33; O. Gardiner 162; O. Gardiner 194; O. Gardiner 204; O. DeM 261; O. DeM 402; O. DeM 428; O. Nash 4; O. Petrie 51; O. Varille 24; O. Gardiner 56 (purchase of 29 pieces of wood with 14 people involved in its purchase, which may have been a straightforward exchange). P. Cairo 65739, found outside Deir el-Medina in TT 48 at El-Khokha, may also record an ‘open credit’ transaction; it relates to a legal case that lists goods ‘bought’ or ‘brought’ (ἰnἰ) to purchase a slave and from whom they were acquired, although Eyre (2015: 714) remarks it is unclear whether the list records receipts or loans. 149 I cannot secure the identity of the two parties – Ammenakht and Neferhotep – in O. Dem 402 (Janssen 1994: 132). In the family in which there is a consanguineous marriage between Henutdjuu (i) and Anhurkhawy (i) (marriage number 1), two men named Amennakht and Neferhotep appear as brothers, as well as their grandfather and great-grandfather being named Neferhotep (Davies 1999, chart 6). Within another family there are four cousins called Amennakht, as well as one uncle, one grandfather and one cousin called Neferhotep (Davies 1999, chart 9). A similar pattern with these shared names occurs in other families. 148
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Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts in O. Gardiner 204 or 102 ½ deben in O. Nash 4, are understandable whether parties involved are related as family or not, but why smaller amounts such as loaves of bread and a mntjar of beer (O. Gardiner 194) need to be recorded are more challenging to understand.150 Janssen (1994: 136) remarks that borrowing of basic staples was generally not recorded, so why list these smaller comestible items? Perhaps they serve as an aide mémoire amongst some villagers, but these lists might be better understood if certain individuals were more active than others in intricate networks of ongoing exchanges accumulating to relatively sizeable credits and debts. Also, ostraca may be produced as supporting legal evidence if a debtor fails to repay (for example, O. Cairo CG 25572), or perhaps documented debts are forwarded if a debt is being transferred. We do know that financial tensions existed within families, for example, the deposition of the scribe Qenhirkhopshef (O. Cairo CG 25725 + O. IFAO inv 137 + O. Louvre E 3259) relates his daughter’s refusal to return a garment loaned by him during her illness, subsequently he sent further goods but considered the value of alternative items being returned by his daughter was inadequate.151 The text implies a mixture of willingness to care for a family member and a level of expected reciprocity combined with a contentious family relationship. Discussing the case of Qenhirkhopshef alongside the transfer of goods from parents, Toivari-Viitala (2001: 109-10) raises an interesting point that women’s goods are often defined as ‘property received from the father’, indicating a specific type of economic transaction recognised by the villagers. Families related consanguineously (provided they were not in conflict with each other) might be more liberal in their expectations of reciprocity, even if a note is made of credited goods, repayment might be laid aside for the benefit of the wider family. Alternatively, goods might be given as acts of altruism between relatives, the implications of which are discussed on page 107-11. Informal object exchange and barter Informal object exchange is one of trust between individuals; it relies on goods of a certain standard being exchanged for goods of an equal standard with a value mutually agreeable to both parties (Reinstein 2014: 87). Since the villagers of Deir el-Medina lived in close proximity to each other, deceiving a friend or neighbour in exchanges would jeopardise the opportunity for future exchanges and mutual understanding would be weakened (see Reinstein 2003: 87-88, for equilibrium and reputation in the relationship of exchange between two individuals). Alongside informal object exchange between neighbours or friends, other types of exchange were conducted in the village: the first was pure barter where one or more items were directly exchanged for another (or others), the second was money barter where an agreed value was set on the goods exchanged using different units of account, including sniw of silver, deben of copper and khar of grain (Janssen 1975a: 546, 101-11). As Ezzamel and Hoskin (2002: 354) point out, exchanges in Deir el-Medina were conducted in a fairly ‘closed’ market so whether object exchanges were conducted house The capacity of a mnt jar is uncertain and may have varied (Janssen 1997: 57 n.c). (i) Austin (2014: 109-14) discusses in detail the expectations placed upon family members as caregivers and textual evidence illustrating the providers and receivers of care. (ii) This is unlikely to be the scribe Qenhirkhopshef (i), the first husband of Naunakhte, as their marriage is thought to be childless (for the Will of Naunakhte, see Černý 1945: 29-53; Eyre 2007: 240-41; Pestman 1982: 173-81, 1961: 162-64). 150 151
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ to house or bartered in public places, there were likely to be repeated economic encounters that allowed a margin of tolerance between the low value goods exchanged (below 10 deben), as gains or losses were accepted as part of the ‘reciprocity game’. While tolerance might be acceptable for small amounts that were often left unrecorded, more valuable transactions were carefully documented.152 For example, O. BM 50737 records an exchange between two children of Naunakhte: Khatanub (i) purchases a bed valued at 19 deben from Qenhirkhopshef (iv) and gives items of equivalent value in return (Janssen 1975a: 525, concludes the price of a bed ranged between 12–25 deben). O. Gardiner 204 records Shedytemduat (i) buying a range of items, including a bed, from the workman Pennuit (i), but having exchanged items worth 54 deben she still owed him 22 deben (Toivari-Viitala, 2001: 125).153 This latter example is unusual in that it is one of the largest debts recorded at Deir el-Medina, given that 11 deben was the average workman’s monthly wage in the village (Janssen 1975a: 533-34). O. Gardiner 204 is also discussed under the section ‘Debts and credit’ as it appears to fall between barter and a debt. Finally, O. Černý 19 seems to be a transaction conducted under pressure of events: the draftsman Pay (i) instructs his son to obtain two faience hearts and incense saying, ‘I shall pay to their owner all that he shall demand for their price’ (ll. 3-4); Janssen (1975a: 510) points out that this is not purchase but barter since the buyer requires other commodities and is willing to pay with whatever objects the seller wants. Family transfers and expectations There are sometimes uncertainties as to whether ostraca record gifts, object exchange or a type of family agreement, for example, in O. DeM 587 two (half?) siblings make a series of transfers accompanied by overtones of dissatisfaction as to whether this constitutes an equal exchange; Toivari-Viitala (2001: 111) suggests the brother may have been supporting his sister and the valuation of the goods was to some extent symbolic. There is no doubt that there were rights and obligations expected from family members, but certain demands may be more a reflection of the character of the husband and wife, highlighting a lack of the normal level of support expected amongst families. For example, the anger of a husband named Merymaat over the failure of his in-laws to supply provisions, which he considers customary, is seen in a letter from Merymaat’s wife to her sister requesting food (O. Prague 1826):154 ‘I will divorce you’, he keeps saying… ‘Now your mother does nothing for you’ he keeps telling me and says ‘Although you have brothers and sisters they don’t take care of you’, he keeps telling me in arguing with me daily. Wente, Letters from Ancient Egypt, 1990: 147-48. 152 See Janssen (1975a: 494-509) for seven fixed formulae related to transactions (including objects said to be ‘which are with’ discussed on pages 97-99 above), and an eighth rarely used category of expressions for transactions. 153 I cannot find evidence for a relationship through consanguinity or affinity between Shedytemduat (i) and Pennuit (i). 154 (i) Davies (1999: 158, chart 11) lists Merymaat (i), a woodcutter, but no wife is named so he may be unconnected to Merymaat in O. Prague 1826. Merymaat’s (i) brother, Anhotep (i), may have married his niece (see n.132). (ii) The kinship implications of this ostraca are discussed by Olabarria (2020b).
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Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts The transfer of food and goods between family members is recorded in O. DeM 119 with Nebneteru’s (i) request to his mother to send him bread and other provisions, or Ankhau’s (i) letter to his daughter asking for food to be sent to the riverbank every ten days (O. DeM 324).155 A father’s concern for a daughter-in-law is illustrated in O. Petrie 61 in which Haremwia (i) promises Tenetdjeseret, his daughter-in-law, the use of his storeroom in the event of her husband, the workman Baki (ii), repudiating her. This text presents two points of interest, firstly it appears that Haremwia (i) is offering a place of security as marital separation may leave Tenetdjeseret in a weak financial position (Toivari-Viitala 2001: 45, 94), and secondly, Haremwia (i) has rights of ownership of a storeroom (presumably including rights of succession) (McDowell 1990: 123-24): …You are my good daughter. If Baki throws you out of the house, I will act. … You will dwell in the portico in my storehouse, because I am the one who built it, and no one in the land will throw you out of there. McDowell, Village Life in Ancient Egypt, 1999: 42, no.17. Why would Haremwia (i) feel a duty towards his daughter-in-law?156 There is no evidence to suggest that his son Baki (ii) is related to his wife through consanguinity, although Baki’s cousin is in a consanguineous marriage: Haremwia (i) is the brother of Tuy (i) who is the father of Anhurkhawy (i) in marriage number one (table 4.3). It is possible that Tenetdjeseret brought few goods into her marriage and her biological family cannot support her, or may no longer be alive, or perhaps her husband failed to return her goods or squandered them, so her father-in-law is responding out of duty and concern. We do know that wives were customarily entitled to one third of marital property, for example, in O. Gardiner 55 vs. a husband states that two thirds of joint property was allocated to him and one third to his wife; the husband then confirms that his share is for his present wife and her children (see chapter three for the potential intra-familial complications caused by divorce and the allocation of property, or death and disputed rights of succession): As for the equipment which he gave, the 2/3 given to me when he divided…with their mother. Her part…with her, for herself. As for all, all of the things which are in my house, they are for my wife and her children. Indeed it is she who brought it. O. Gardiner, 55 vs., Toivari-Viitala, Women at Deir el-Medina, 2001: 94: 113-14. Contention between a brother and his siblings is recorded in O. Petrie 16 (6 rt.–6 vs.), in which a son claims rights of inheritance since his siblings failed to help with their mother’s burial.157 Two brothers mention their mother arguing over what may be an inheritance See Toivari-Viitala (2001: 97-110) for a discussion on property received from parents, including inheritances and subsequent disputes. 156 See Toivari-Viitala (2001: 199 n.145) for reference to daughter-in-law (šrἰt) in this context. For Haremwia (i) as father of Baki (ii), see Davies 1999: 11 n.121 and chart 1. McDowell 1999: 42, no. 17 refers to Tenetdjeseret as Horemwia’s daughter, not daughter-in-law, and notes that Tenetdjeseret’s relationship with Baki is uncertain, but she may be his wife. If Tenetdjeseret is Horemiwia’s daughter, it would not be unusual that he should offer her a place to live should Baki ‘throw’ her out. 157 This case is sited by the claimant in P. Bulaq 10 who defends his right to his father’s inheritance against the siblings of his father, since he has taken responsibility for his father’s burial. The verso of P. Bulaq 10 illustrates the expected line of succession as Hay (iii)/(v) divides his property between four sons and a daughter. Hay (iii)/(v) had inherited the property from his father, who in turn had inherited it from his father (see Janssen and Pestman 1968: 149-52). Hay (iii)/(v) is the uncle of Penrennut (i) and Tadehnetemheb (i) in marriage number ten (table 4.3). 155
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ in O. C. Campbell 17, but it is unclear whether the disagreement relates to one third of the property legally due to the wife or whether she is managing her deceased husband’s share on behalf of their children (McDowell 1993: 22-23; see also Toivari-Viitala 2001: 106-07).158 O. Louvre E 2425 is a more direct example of property transmission whereby Nebanmentet hands over a share due to his sister, while O. Gardiner 272 records a statement made by the husband in marriage number seven (table 4.3) before his wife and witnesses to confirm that their son has made full payment to his siblings to settle inheritance rights. Further affairs of this cousin marriage are recorded in O. DeM 112 in what may be the will of Nekhemmut (i) or his wife Webkhet (vii/viii) listing equal shares of immoveable property amongst their children. Finally, the grandfather of Pashedu (ii) and Tanodjemethemsi (ii) (marriage six, table 4.3) draws up an ἰmyt-pr document naming the beneficiaries as his wife, two daughters, two sons, and a male called Neferemsenut (O. DeM 108) (for family names in the will, see Davies 1990: 223-24; for texts referring to property transmissions, see Toivari-Viitala, 2001: 98-99). Overall, textual sources present a picture of mutual family commitments, expectations (and failures), whether they are in the receipt of food, household goods, funerary provision, immoveable property, or general care and support. These expectations, including legal obligations, occur alongside acts of reciprocity between villagers who may not be biologically related but who live and work in close proximity. Given the complexity of obligations at all levels amongst the villagers, might duty to family be given priority inasmuch as families may be more likely to behave altruistically to each other, or be less demanding in their expectations of reciprocity? What affects willingness to give and expectation to receive? The social logics within Deir el-Medina involves interplay and collaboration between families, neighbours or working colleagues, many of whom conducted activities reliant on trust, reciprocity or altruism, although individuals did misuse the system, for example, Huy and Khaemseba contesting a debt in O. Cairo CG 25572.159 The extent to which regulatory mechanisms, social networks and family contexts are likely to shape the villagers’ willingness to trust economic transactions, or possibly to act altruistically, is explored in this section. Legal bodies and regulatory mechanisms in Deir el-Medina The local court (ḳnbt) The membership of the secular court at Deir el-Medina – the ḳnbt – varied but usually included a captain of the gang,160 an outside official, such as a scribe of the vizier, and ordinary workmen; in session they were known collectively as ‘officials of the court’ (srw n ḳnbt) and although they could not enforce decisions, the level of respect commanded by 158 McDowell (1993: 25) remarks that the two correspondents addressing each other as sn does not necessarily mean they are brothers and they may be collateral relatives. 159 Glynos and Howarth (2007: 133) describe how social logics ‘enable us to characterize practices in a particular social domain, say the practices of consumption and exchange within an economy, or an entire regime of practices’. The authors (2007: 140) summarise social logics as aiming to capture ‘the ‘patterning’ of social practices where such practices are understood in this regard as a function of the contextualized self-interpretation of key subjects’. 160 ‘Captains of the gang’ included chief workmen, scribes and chief draftsmen (Černý 1973: 231-43).
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Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts the court combined with villagers’ witness to its proceedings placed some social pressure to conform, however not everyone abided by the decisions reached (McDowell 1990: 117, 171-72). The litigants appearing at the ḳnbt were all connected to the necropolis (workmen, smdt n bnr and police), but the claimants were all from Deir el-Medina, possibly due to the fact that the workmen had sufficient income to act as creditors and pursued debts owed by their peers, or by poorer personnel such as water-carriers (McDowell 1990: 151). While many cases focused on contested ownership of property or unpaid debt, charges related to sexual misdemeanours were also presented before officials. In the following case officials (srw) are mentioned as opposed to the ḳnbt – P. DeM 27 documents how Merysekhmet (iii), the son of wealthy draftsman Menna (i), is accused twice of adultery and merely sanctioned on both occasions by taking an oath to behave, although the claimant originally received 100 blows for bringing the name of Merysekhmet (iii) into disrepute.161 There are other legal transactions such as oaths or business transactions that could be witnessed by individuals but, as McDowell (1990: 145) points out, when disagreements arose over oaths or business dealings they approached the ḳnbt. One court case, documented in O. Cairo CG 25572, combines ‘open credit’, trust and deceit, regulatory bodies and spiritual intervention; ultimately the conflict is officially resolved although it may have resulted in a level of personal animosity. The text itself is a good example of social logics in action and provides a useful context for understanding how economic affairs of individuals or families are intertwined in the functioning of village institutions. There is uncertainty in O. Cairo CG 25572 as to whether objects of Khaemseba are with (nty m-‘) Huy, or that objects of Huy are with Khaemseba, in either case the accused denies on oath that they possess objects belonging to the other man. Subsequently the ḳnbt delivers 100 blows to extract the truth. Huy (or Khaemseba) returns to the ḳnbt the following week reporting that a ‘manifestation of a god has come about’ (rt. l. 16), implying he is guilty of the charge. Depending on the ostraca’s interpretation, the defendant may have been falsely accused and the plaintiff admits his guilt (for different readings, see Janssen 1994: 131-32, 1975b: 293; McDowell 1990: 179-80). In this case, we are first of all presented with evidence for open credit or an agreed transfer of goods, through one or two sets of hands. The accusation, whether true or not, hinges on trust and when that trust breaks down the parties move their dispute to a decisionmaking body, the ḳnbt. Even after receiving one hundred blows, the accused still denies the charge on oath, which probably causes increased friction amongst the individuals and families involved. It then appears that the accused had a crisis of conscience, whether 161 McDowell (1990: 115, 175) remarks that in the early stage of this case the magistrates did not conduct a hearing but reacted in anger by giving the servant a beating for questioning the behaviour of Merysekhmet (iii); Janssen (1975b: 295) also comments on this case as a example of ‘class justice’ reflecting the social difference between the claimant and the defendant. For an overview of women appearing before officials in relation to sexual misconduct and domestic disputes, including wife-beating (for example, O. Brit. Mus. 65938), see Toivari 1997: 163-66. McDowell (1990: 152) notes that women appear at the ḳnbt less frequently than men, usually appearing as defendants rather than claimants, for example, for theft (O. Brit. Mus. 65930; O. Gard. 166), non-payment of debt (O. Cairo CG 25725 + O. IFAO 137 inv + O. Louvre E. 3529) and neglecting a sick relative (O. Petrie 18) (see also Toivari-Viitala 2001: 132-35). Tanodjemethemsi (ii), the wife from cousin marriage number six, was accused of theft and her case cited as a legal precedent at a later criminal trial held at Deir el-Medina (O. Nash 1, vs. 9-10) (Davies 1999: 224-25). McDowell (1990: 152) suggests that the relatively few appearances of women at the ḳnbt might be due to women being less involved in larger economic transactions.
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ under pressure from other villagers or not. The defendant’s claim that ‘a manifestation of god’ (b3w) came about is the means by which the accusation could be retracted.162 Janssen (1994: 136) points out that O. Cairo CG 25572 indicates misuse of the system of trust in the village – trying to acquire goods but refusing to reciprocate. While it does highlight manipulation of trust in an economic transaction, I find it interesting that two men (no evidence indicates they are closely related) eventually found a means to reconcile an event that could create a negative impact on the villagers if unresolved. What the case seems to reflect is a relatively close-knit and mutually dependent set of villagers, even though they had their bullies and troublemakers, such as the much-discussed foreman Paneb (i) (for example, P. Salt 124; P. Turin 1880, rt. 4, 1-16a; see Bierbrier 1982: 29, 107-08, 1978: 138-40; Černý 1929: 243-58; McDowell 1999: 190-93). Although levels of consanguinity cannot be proved for many of the exchanges discussed, I propose that families related through consanguinity and affinity may have had greater levels of altruism and lower expectations of reciprocity amongst themselves (the fatherdaughter conflict in O. Cairo 25725 + O. IFAO 137 inv + O. Louvre E. 3529 may be unusual). I suggest that families also extended this goodwill to others in the village to whom they were not closely related, creating a sliding scale of expected reciprocity and, perhaps, a limited level of altruism outside the family. The oracle Oracular pronouncements at Deir el-Medina were given at public processions or at specific locations by a deified form of Amenophis I, processed on a palanquin carried by eight workmen officiating as lay wa’ab priests. Decisions were sought for personal matters and property ownership disputes were brought before the oracle rather than the ḳnbt. As McDowell (1990: 118, 125-27) points out, this is not surprising as the village houses, tombs, and huts in the Valley of the Kings were ultimately the property of the pharaoh and the oracle carried the authority of a deified pharaoh.163 Responses to petitions were given in the affirmative or negative by moving the statue backwards, forwards or sideways (interpreting the perceived movements of the statue), by pointing to a particular text, and occasionally it is said to speak (see O. Brit. Mus. 5625 and O. Gardiner 4).164 The oracle had to be trusted to be effective in the village and decisions made by the oracle needed public support to be enacted, so it is unlikely the oracle was considered open to manipulation; McDowell suggests the bearers may have acted on auto-suggestion, personally responding to the rights or wrongs of the case and feeling they were moved by the god (McDowell 1990: 110-11). The dispute in O. Cairo CG 25572 related to moveable property while disputes over immoveable property ownership were resolved using the oracle, or sometimes referred 162 See Borghouts (1982: 3-6) for references to b3w in four non-religious Deir el-Medina texts where b3w appear as a manifestation of a transcendental being/s that instill a sense of fear. 163 Private property did exist in the village and huts built by the workmen could be inherited, for example, O. DeM 586 documents two women receiving equal shares in what appears to be an inheritance; one daughter succeeds to three storehouses, a hut, a pyramid and a small shrine (see McDowell 1999: 176, no. 131). 164 The features, mechanics and questions placed before the oracle are discussed in detail by Černý (for example, 1972: 49-69, 1942: 13-24, 1935: 41-58, 1927: 159-203); see also McDowell (1990: 107-141).
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Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts to the vizier or higher authorities outside the village; the oracle was also used for smallscale disagreements and valuations (McDowell 1990: 118).165 All the regulatory mechanisms within Deir el-Medina are likely to have included individuals who knew each other to some extent. While the ḳnbt involved direct human contact in enacting a legal decision, in theory the oracle was removed from human interference. Perhaps the oracle was a means of interpersonal conflict resolution since the potential for disagreement or blame was reduced by removing decision-making to a deity, and particularly so for families where disputes over property could be emotionally and financially destructive (see O. Berlin 10629 for an inheritance dispute between a mother and daughter).166 The oracle might also be chosen when challenging more powerful individuals, for example, the daughter of the scribe Amennakht (v) is accused of theft by the sculptor Qaha (iv/v?) in O. Gardiner 4, but there is uncertainty whether this appeal for justice is chosen to avoid Amennakht’s (v) influence on the ḳnbt or through lack of evidence, however, the daughter was found guilty by the oracle (McDowell 1999: 181-82; Sweeney 2008: 159).167 An individual refusing to accept an oracular pronouncement may have been pressurised by villagers into accepting, but as McDowell (1999: 174, 1990: 127) remarks, the oracle represented the consensus of the villagers so if bystanders doubted the justice of the god’s pronouncement they, too, would be reluctant to support the judgement. An example of an oracular decision being contested is found in O. DeM 133, which records a dispute over delivery of a donkey; the policeman Amenkha is the middleman in the transaction who refuses three times to accept the oracle’s decision, even swearing his innocence to the ‘entirety of the gang’ after the third oracular pronouncement. Workmen of the gang were only finally convinced of his guilt when the defendant, Pawekhed the water-carrier, took an oath before them that he had delivered the donkey to Amenkha (McDowell 1990: 137).168 Social networks and informal controls on behaviour Levels of interrelatedness, shared activities, physical proximity of the villagers and the geographical location of Deir el-Medina on the west bank of Thebes, distanced from Nile settlements, would have resulted in an overarching social network on the level of the village, within which smaller social networks would have interacted, for example, with sub-groups of work colleagues, neighbours and families. Discussing the influence of propinquity on social networking, Kadushin (2012: 14, 18) notes that those who live closely together tend to share characteristics such as values and social statuses, which is more 165 (i) The vizier and other external authorities also dealt with criminal activities, such as assault, punished by time spent stone-cutting (P. Geneva MAH 15274 vs. 111, l. 1-3) or the theft of a copper chisel which eventually led to the discovery of a stolen hoard of copper objects (O. Nash 1) (see McDowell 1999: 186-88, and 1990: 187-234 for a detailed discussion of cases handled by external authorities). (ii) McDowell (1990: 118) states there are four or five fragmentary cases related to moveable property that were placed before the oracle. 166 See Sweeney (2008: 161-63) for a commentary on O. Berlin 10629. See O. Cairo CG 25725 + O. IFAO 137 + O. Louvre E. 3529 for a father and daughter dispute before the ḳnbt. 167 (i) This may be the well-known scribe Amennakht (v), although Davies (1999: Chart 9) lists him as having nine sons but no daughters, or the scribe Amennakht (xv) (Davies, 1999:109), and the sculptor may be Qaha (iv) or (v) (Davies 1999: 20, 186). 168 In a study on gender and oracular practices, Sweeney (2008: 158, 164) tabulates 102 people mentioned in ostraca addressed to the oracle, of which eight are female; women’s involvement appears to be related to property whereas men’s cases are wider-ranging including questions over promotions and wages.
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ than being ‘in the same place at the same time’ – they are co-present in that they share a social relationship within the context of a social structure.169 The cohesiveness of the group/s in the network/s is one of the ways in which the inhabitants of Deir el-Medina could unite in the face of disruption or turmoil, for example, at the village level we see the cohesive action taken by the villagers documented in the Turin Strike Papyrus; or at the level of village sub-group, we witness letters sent to friends following disagreements that appeal to the strength or longevity of mutual friendship, for example, P. DeM 4 and 5 (see page 107). Moody and White (2003: 106) remark that ‘collectivity is structurally cohesive to the extent that the social relations of the group hold it together’ and I propose that it is the collectivity of the interconnected social groups within the village, including interrelated families, which act as the first line of regulatory mechanisms in the face of personal and professional conflicts. While the ḳnbt and the oracle were formal bodies for conflict resolution and third-party punishment, many family disagreements would have been resolved internally. In a study of women’s correspondence from Deir el-Medina, Sweeney (1993: 523-4) calculated that 14% of letters and communications from Deir el-Medina are addressed to women or written by women; within this 14% group, 86% consists of correspondence between men and women, usually focusing on some type of disagreement in which they are involved (see also Toivari 1997: 155-60). For example, O. DeM 587 records the effort of Paser to resolve an ongoing disagreement with Thutwia, his sister/half sister, or O. DeM 562 documents Kar’s letter to Menumose in which she reproaches him for not reciprocating after having taken some of her goods, additionally pointing out that she is sick and should not be abandoned (although the text implies a mutual dependency, I cannot find any known consanguineous links between Kar and Menumose and it may be that consanguinity is not the structuring principle of this relationship). In correspondence between men, Toivari (1997: 159) notes a strong desire to settle informal disputes through dialogue, for example, O. Berlin 10627 is a letter of reproach from an anonymous author to the scribe Nekhemmut170 chiding him for his bad moods and frugal behaviour, and O. DeM 303 documents the draftsman Prehotep’s (i?)171 complaint to the scribe Qenhirkopshef (i) that he treats him like a donkey, only calling upon him when work is needed. Even at a level of friendship, or the exchange of favours or information, a norm of reciprocity is still expected to maintain balanced friendships. The importance of reciprocity in friendship is reflected in the Instructions of Ani (7–9): ‘Befriend one who is straight and true. One whose actions you have seen. If your rightness matches his, the friendship will be balanced’ (Lichtheim 1976: 138). Sweeney (1998: 112-13) has discussed ‘friendship and frustration’ in Deir el Medina and while some letters such as P. DeM 6 reflect irritation 169 Within social sciences there are three types of networks: ego-centric which connects with a certain individual; sociocentric which are networks within a ‘box’, such as workers in the same company; and open system networks in which the boundaries that limit them are unclear, such as the elite in a country (Kadushin, 2012: 17). Kadushin (2012: 21) also describes four types of relationships within networks: firstly, none at all; secondly, A relates to B; thirdly, B relates to A; fourthly, A and B relate to each other, which is the relationship of reciprocity or mutuality. 170 This may be the temple scribe Nekhemmut (ii), but Davies (1999: 50 n.636) believes there is no evidence to suggest this is the childless scribe Nekhemmut who appears in O. Berlin 10627. 171 This is possibly Prehotep (i) mentioned as the ‘draftsman of Amun’; the draftsman Prehotep (i) may also be synonymous with the draftsman Rehotep (Davies 1999: 151, 77).
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Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts that the recipient will not cooperate, Sweeney concludes that letters such as P. Dem 4 and 5 are more than expressions of resentment or accusation that draw attention to negative behaviour, they are also ways to effect reconciliation and restore the reciprocity of friendship: What will I do? Please write to me the offence [I] did [against you via] the policeman B[asa]. Now if it is only to me that you don’t send anything whatsoever, really this is a rotten […] day. won’t ask anything from you. A man is happy when he is with his old eating companion. Possessions are good new, but friends are better old. P. DeM 4, rt. 7 – rt. 12, Sweeney, Friendship and Frustration, 1998: 108. I concur with Toivari (1997: 156) that informal channels appear to exist to resolve disputes over interpersonal obligations, channels that are also indicative of an accepted system of social control within the village. Janssen (1994: 136) echoes this position when he remarks that social controls in the village would have put a ‘brake on excess egotism’ without the ability to eradicate it completely, so although economic transactions may have taken a while to be reciprocated, positive relations were preferred to short-term gain.172 Trust and cooperation between families related by consanguinity and affinity Families in Deir el-Medina may have acted more altruistically towards each other, but the complexity of social networks within the village possibly resulted in acts of generosity or support not purely defined by biological or affinal ties.173 This section begins with modern research investigating levels of trust and trustworthiness between individuals considered kin and non-kin and observes the impact of biological relatedness on altruistic and reciprocal behaviour, and on willingness to sanction family members. The possibilities and limitations of using modern studies to understand economic and personal transactions in Deir el-Medina are also assessed here. I then propose the existence of a sliding scale of altruism and reciprocity, noting that reciprocity may also become a burden, and end by examining the importance of reputation formation in developing trust in future reciprocity and how this might have functioned in Deir el-Medina. Altruism, trust and trustworthiness amongst family members A study conducted by Vollan (2011: 14-25) in nine rural communities in Namibia and South Africa tested levels of trust and trustworthiness between family members, friends and unrelated villagers and may offer insight into the interactions that took place in Deir el-Medina. The study also tested the willingness of a third party, such as a judge or 172 Eyre (2016: 163-79) discusses the presentation and acceptance in ancient Egypt of ordered reciprocal processes as essential to the functioning of social relationships, and in contrast personal vendettas and feuds are presented as indecorous. Eyre (2016: 171, 178-79) remarks on the difficulty of accessing legal retribution in ancient Egypt – enforcement of legal decisions through government hierarchies or through local councils required influence and patronage, so while the temptation to personally retaliate may have been present, local ‘pecking orders’ and patronage networks were key to low-level social organisation. 173 See Granovetter (1985: 490) for trust in economic transactions through repeated interactions and personal experience.
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ community leader, to interfere in family disagreements by sanctioning family members. I am not suggesting that this model can be directly transposed onto Deir el-Medina, since factors such as duty to the pharaoh, patronage and social networking in a tight-knit and interrelated community also come into play. Ancient Egyptian attitudes towards sanctioned and unsanctioned violence also affect the application of modern studies on sanctioning individuals in an ancient Egyptian context, inasmuch as punishment was normal in legal contexts. For example, 100 blows were given to the accused during testimony in O. Cairo CG 25572; or punishment in warfare, for example, the dismemberment of Syrian prisoners in the 18th dynasty tomb of Horemheb (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden).174 Sanctions also governed interpersonal violence – who had the right to punish and to what extent? – such as the master’s right to punish or defend a servant from abuse by others, for example, P. Genève D 187 (see Hue-Arcé 2017a: 177-78). The study by Vollan (2011) is unusual in experimental economics as it focuses on biologically related kin, exploring encounters between family and friends and investigating the effect of punishment by a third party.175 Vollan (2011: 17) applies the following four hypotheses to encounters between family and friends: (i) family members determine the baseline behaviour for trust and trustworthiness in that they should be more trusted than unrelated villagers;176 (ii) reciprocity is less important amongst kin;177 (iii) using Hamilton’s kin selection theory (1964: 1-52, parts 1 and 11) the higher the level of the coefficient of relationship, the greater the level of altruism (for coefficient of relationship, see page 10); (iv) punishment of a family member by an outside third party is least effective amongst family members since no notable behavioural change is expected as they already behave more altruistically towards each other than to family or friends. In summary, Vollan (2011: 20-22, 24) found that family members treated each other with more trust and trustworthiness than unrelated villagers, and levels of trust increased with levels of relatedness (amongst kin, trust increased when dealing with the household head). 174 For an assessment of violence in Egyptian sources, including preternatural violence in religious texts, see Muhlestein (2015: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9661n6rn Accessed 14.4.2018). For gender and violence, see Matić (2017: 103-21, in the context of Nefertiti smiting her enemies) and Hue-Arcé (2017b: 133-50, in the context of violence against women in Graeco-Roman Egypt). 175 Other research using natural groups, as opposed to induced groups, to study group identity and enhanced cooperation include Ruffle and Sosis (2006: 147-63) who found that increased cooperation between Israeli kibbutz members, as opposed to anonymous outsiders, is shaped by in-group membership interaction. Bernhard et al. (2006: 217-21) studied variation of punishment within and across two tribes in Papua New Guinea, each with their own network of cooperation and gift-giving. The study showed that individuals carrying out third-party punishments were more willing to punish if the violator did not belong to their ‘in-group’. 176 In a discussion on social support networks, Agneesens et al. (2006: 434, 439) argue that reliance on partners, biological kin, friends and other acquaintances varies according to the type of support sought, although the results might be affected by culture-specific factors. In a study of the psychology of human kin recognition, Park et al. (2008: 224) suggest that since kin recognition systems are fallible, humans might respond at cognitive, emotional, and behavioural levels to non-kin in the same way as they would to kin. 177 Ackerman et al.’s (2007: 369, 372) study notes that the provision of resources to a friend derives fitness benefits dependent on reciprocity, while the provision of resources to a family member derives fitness benefits irrespective of reciprocity, however, they found that psychologically women are more likely to respond to their friends as they would to kin.
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Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts While ties of trust between friends were not significantly less, they were more fragile and only reached similar levels to trust between families when third-party punishment was present. Third parties were also reticent to intervene in intrafamilial family conflicts or to enforce punishments on family members as they believed different norms applied within family contexts. Even though family members trusted each other more, the expectation of trust was less when interacting with family members, leading Vollan (2011: 26) to conclude that the reduction in expectations of trust was because family members behaved more altruistically without expecting reciprocity.178 Does the unusual case presented in O. Bodleian 253 reflect an example of trust and punishment between family and unrelated villagers? In O. Bodleian 253, a father named Telmont (Tener Monthu) requests an oath, witnessed by village authorities, to be drawn up to protect his daughter in her union with a man called Nekhemmut. …Make Nakhte-em-Mut take an oath of the lord, l.p.h., saying ‘I will not abandon (netja) his (lit. ‘my’) daughter’. Oath of the lord, l.p.h., that he swore: ‘…if I go back on my word and abandon (netja) the daughter of Tener-Monthu in the future, I will receive 100 blows and be deprived of all the property that I will acquire with her’. McDowell, Village Life in Ancient Egypt, 1999: 33, no.7. The Telmont named in this text may be the father of Hathor (ix) whose husband was Nekhemmut (vi), in turn, this couple are the parents of Khons (vi) (cousin marriage number eleven) and Henutmire (i) (cousin marriage number nine) (table 4.3). It is interesting that Telmont made his future daughter’s husband swear to fairly strict sanctions should he abandon her; it is possibly a guarantee exacted when two families are suspicious of each other, and certainly suspicious of an individual’s intentions (suggesting a lack of intrafamilial enforcement mechanisms). McDowell (1999: 33) remarks that the demands of this oath are exceptional and perhaps a unique example of a covenant created at marriage. It is not unusual, however, to secure terms over property in the event of divorce (see Toivari-Viitala 2001: 94), and although I am not aware of property agreements between the couples married consanguineously in Deir el-Medina, they may well have existed. Ben-Ner and Kramer (2011: 216-21) combined a study on levels of altruism between kin and unrelated individuals alongside an investigation of the extent to which personality affects willingness to act altruistically. Rather than using interrelated kin as in Vollan’s (2011) study, this research used the ‘dictator game’ in which individuals were given roles: 178 Ben-Ner and Halldorsson (2010: 65) explore conceptual issues surrounding trust and trustworthiness, noting that trust reflects an expectation or belief that party A invests in party B, so in varying degrees A expects that: ‘(1) B will not take advantage of the situation to make a gain while imposing a loss on A, (2) B will not act maliciously towards A, (3) B will be willing to make small sacrifices for A, and (4) B is competent to act favorably towards A’. These elements of trust vary according to situation, context and individuals. When levels of trust are not absolute then other means might also be applied, such as a written contract for loan of a larger amount of money. BenNer and Halldorsson (2010: 65-66) point out that trustworthiness has four parallel aspects to trusting, which are also variable between individuals and contexts; expectations of trustworthiness are based on social norms so there is room for discretion in what constitutes trustworthy behaviour. Thielmann and Hilbig (2014: 61-65) also found that an individual’s expectations of trustworthiness in others is based on the individual’s native level of trustworthiness and cooperation.
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ kin, collaborator, competitor, and neutral based on their similarity/relationship to the subject. The results showed that individuals were most altruistic towards kin and their generosity was unaffected by personality traits; next in line were collaborators, followed by neutrals, and least altruism was shown to competitors – the personality traits of these last three groups all had a significant effect on willingness to act altruistically.179 Might this study offer an insight into levels of tension or animosity amongst the villagers, particularly but not exclusively outside kin networks? One of the most striking examples of personal animosity combined with competitiveness is the Amennakht (vii)/Paneb (i) conflict in P. Salt 124 that lists accusations including theft, multiple adultery and violence (see Černý 1929: 244-46). Davies (1999: 36) remarks it is generally agreed that Paneb’s (i) sudden disappearance from administrative records is because of the many charges documented in P. Salt 124; amongst them are the following: …Penēb debauched the citizeness Tuy, when she was wife to the workman Ḳenna, he debauched the citizeness Ḥunro, when she was with Pendua, he debauched the citizeness Ḥunro, when she was with Ḥesysenēbef; so said his son. (rt. 2, ll. 2-3)… …And he plundered the place of the Pharaoh. The people who passed near by in the desert saw the stone-cutters, when they were standing working on top of the work of the Pharaoh, and they heard voices. (rt. 2, ll. 7-8) Černý, Papyrus Salt 124 (Brit. Mus. 10055), 1929. Sliding scales of altruism and reciprocity in Deir el-Medina Alongside kin altruism defined by Hamilton (1964: 1-17), which benefits the evolutionary fitness of biologically related kin, there is also reciprocal altruism (reciprocity) described by Trivers (1971: 45-54) and Fehr & Fischbacher (2003: 788-89), which involves making sacrifices for individuals who are unrelated, yet who are likely to reciprocate with at least as much support, but it does involve the ability to recognise these potential partners. I propose that the types of economic transactions reflected in Deir el-Medina ostraca may reflect a sliding scale of trust and trustworthiness, beginning with altruism amongst close family members, followed by limited altruism and flexible terms of reciprocity between more distant family and friends, in which there is reduced emphasis on the contractual nature of the exchange (although notes may be made of the value of goods or gifts received). The next descending level is general reciprocity, more strictly defined since a specific return is expected on goods at some point, even though it relies on trust. But is it possible that reciprocity becomes a burden if the recipient cannot reciprocate in the long-term? In a modern assessment of the suppressive function of reciprocity, Offer (2012: 790, 799-800) observes that poverty weakens participation in social support networks since reciprocation is difficult, resulting in a voluntary withdrawal or exclusion from the immediate exchange community. When families in Deir el-Medina became financially and 179 In an investigation of personality and kin by Osiński (2009: 377), reciprocity amongst non-kin is positively associated with agreeableness and negatively associated with neuroticism, but reciprocity with kin was less affected by differences in social agreeableness and more affected by social norms that operated irrespective of social distance. Social distance influences the willingness of individuals to share goods and resources with others and social discounting is a measure of how generosity decreases across social distance (Jin et al. 2017: 1).
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Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts emotionally vulnerable through poverty and/or morbidity or mortality, the expectations of reciprocity may have remained unfulfilled, and at this point support networks within consanguineous families might have lessened the burden of reciprocity through altruistic acts (unless they, too, were too poor or unwilling to participate).180 The lowest level on the sliding scale of trust and trustworthiness is pure barter or money-barter, which appear to be direct transactions involving goods of (near?) equivalent value (see Janssen 1975: 54245 for inexactitude in relation to fixed prices; see Ezzamel and Hoskin 2002: 353-54 and Ezzamel 1997: 663, 573 for exactitude of prices).181 In addition to the giving or exchange of goods that had ‘monetary’ value or object value, a sliding scale of reciprocity probably also existed for acts of neighbourly goodwill as described in the Prohibitions (O. Petrie 11, vs. 6, 7, 9). I believe that family were more likely to be altruistic to other family members in terms of goodwill gestures, such as offering free labour or practical and emotional support in times of need. Trusted friends or neighbours were probably also supported but with an expectation of reciprocity: ‘You should not ignore your neighbours (on) the days of their need, and they will surround you in [your moment?]’ (O. Petrie 11, vs. 7). I am not, however, suggesting blanket levels of altruism and reciprocity according to biological and affinal kin, friends and colleagues, since personal animosities would have intruded upon generosity or willingness to transact. Reputation formation and trustworthiness in Deir el-Medina Finally, I will examine the importance of reputation formation in the context of Deir elMedina transactions. Fehr and Fischbacher (2003: 787) note that indirect reciprocity experiments show that individuals with a history of willingness to help others (with no obvious direct reciprocity) are significantly more likely to receive help themselves, leading the authors to suggest that the desire to gain a reputation drives the donor’s behaviour.182 The goods that appear to be given as gifts in the texts discussed on pages 96-97 may be the means by which reputation is formed or consolidated and trustworthiness is secured. Reinstein (2014: 89) discusses prestige and reputation in ancient and modern societies as valuable in themselves (in addition to being instrumental in influencing others and accessing better treatment in a variety of spheres) and describes the consumption of gifts as a direct way to ‘eat our reputation’.
180 (i) Social support networks created through patronage may also provide a safety net in financially critical periods for individuals or families. However, families or individuals who lost property and found themselves indebted may have become the serfs of others (see Moreno Garcia 2016: 498-99, 2012: 5). (ii) Research by Menjivar (2000: 33) found that the resilience of social networks based on kinship becomes strained under extreme poverty. 181 Ezzamel (1997: 663, 573) argues that the development of accounting systems established ‘metrics of quantity and quality’ that rendered reciprocal transactions calculable and visible; this system of accountability with its methods of monitoring and calculating also gave the appearance of conformity to expected values, inputs and outputs. 182 Wedekind and Milinski (2000: 850-52) also note that individuals sometimes act altruistically to other nonrelated individuals, knowing that a return is unlikely, however, in the long term the act enhances their status and reputation, in turn this affects assessments by others who may consider the individual in future interactions. See also Milinski et al. (2001: 2495-501).
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Might the villagers of Deir el-Medina be ‘eating’ their reputation in the types and amount of food given? We know that chief workmen and scribes or their wives sometimes brought large quantities of food, for example, Tawere(et)emheb (iii), wife of the scribe Amennakht (v), was one of the largest donors in O. DeM 134, yet at another feast her gift of one jar of beer was consistent with the smaller amounts brought (O. DeM 643). In contrast, detailed gifts listed in O. DeM 222 do not appear to be determined by the seniority of the 25 guests whose names have survived: while the chief workman Anhurkhawy (ii) brings six assorted items, the scribe Amennakht (v) only brings two loaves, but interestingly the workman Bakenamun (i) brings ten items – is the reason for his generosity to enhance his reputation? On other occasions the amount given may reflect a close relationship between host and guest, for example, Henshene (who Janssen (1997: 58, note k) suggests may be the daughter of the well-known female Naunakhte) brings 30 sš loaves, at least three times as much as other guests (O. IFAO 1322 + O. Varille 38 + O. Cairo CG 25705, l. 8). We do not know the full context for these celebrations, so it may be that senior figures in the community are consolidating their reputation, or perhaps we are witnessing acts of reciprocity or intrafamilial altruism. Toivari (1997: 156, 162, 164) mentions reputation in the context of male-female interpersonal disputes. Referring to O. DeM 439 vs., in which a woman warns a man to take note of his wife’s adulterous behaviour, Toivari (1977: 156) suggests that gossiping was a means of ‘facilitating the flow of reputational information’ and is a frequent mechanism of informal social control in small interrelated communities. From an economic perspective, trustworthiness in transactions was important in reputation formation, but we know from complaints about extramarital relations (for example, P. Salt 124, P. DeM 27, O. DeM 439) that sexual conduct also contributed towards the diminishing or consolidation of reputation. Conclusion Using documentary evidence from Deir el-Medina and current research on economic sociology and anthropology, this chapter examined the hypothesis that families related consanguineously have more flexible terms of reciprocity and a greater willingness to act altruistically than non-consanguineous families, and argues that altruism, combined with innate trust, helped consanguineous families in Deir el-Medina create support networks to combat debt and resolve conflicts. The chapter began with an analysis of the prosopographic data from Deir el-Medina published by Davies (1999) and Bierbrier (1984: 208-10, 1975: 30-35) to determine the number and type of consanguineous marriages in the village, networks between families in which the marriages occurred, occupations of the husband and the fathers of each consanguineously married couple, and the number of offspring from each union compared to the number of offspring associated with each of their family trees. The second part of the chapter summarised evidence for gift-giving, debts and credit, informal object exchange and barter, and provided examples of family transfers and expectations. Factors affecting the willingness to give and the expectation to receive were explored through formal and informal regulatory structures within the village. Finally, levels of trust and cooperation between families related by consanguinity and affinity were examined to assess whether 112
Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts consanguineous families in Deir el-Medina were more likely to behave altruistically towards each, or with fewer expectations of reciprocity, than to villagers outside their family networks. Out of 188 known marriages spanning up to 10 generations between the 19th–20th dynasties, six percent of marriages are considered consanguineous based on available evidence, with the majority of unions between the children of two brothers. Eight out of eleven are FBD (father’s brother’s daughter) marriages that may have consolidated professional links between families, thereby enhancing job opportunities and status in the Deir el-Medina community. Marriages through the female side of the family, such as mother’s sister’s daughter, are not indicated in the known textual sources in the village, but they are likely to have strengthened affective ties between families. The population of Deir el-Medina is estimated at 100-200 people in the 19th dynasty and at 190-370 during the reign of Ramesses IX, so at any one time there may have been around 6-22 consanguineous marriages in the community, however, the close-knit nature of the village probably resulted in a larger number of consanguineous unions. When the consanguineous and affinal links between eleven consanguineous marriages are analysed, a network of ties emerges with some consanguineously married couples being linked to as many as six other families in which there are consanguineous marriages, although one married couple only links consanguineously to one family in this network. This indicates consanguineous and affinal ties not only amongst collateral relatives of their generation, but also amongst relatives of generations in ascendancy and descendancy. In the eleven consanguineous marriages all the fathers of the husbands and wives came from Deir el-Medina and in six of the eleven marriages the husband and his father shared the same role of workman (in one of these marriages both were sculptors). In four marriages there was at least one chief workman (and sometimes two) – either the husband, his father or the wife’s father – three of these marriages belonged to the family of Sennedjem (i). In the remaining marriage the husband was a deputy chief workman while the wife’s father was a workman with the title ‘chief craftsman’. The choice of marriage partner may be the means by which hereditary positions were consolidated, alongside family property and influence. Overall, the pattern that develops amongst the husbands and their fathers is consistent with what might be expected generally in the gang of workmen. Numbers of offspring born from the consanguineous unions varied from zero to six and with available evidence there is nothing to indicate that consanguineously married couples had a different rate of childbirth to non-consanguineous couples. Using totals for the number of marriages and children born in the family trees in which there are consanguineous marriages, the average number of children born from each marriage ranges from 2–4.3, and overall the mean number of children born to each marriage is 2.8, with a median figure of 2.7. This is consistent with data presented by Koltsida (2007: 12) for the composition of an average-sized household in Deir el-Medina. Many of the low-value economic transactions in the village were unrecorded, but evidence from documented gift-giving lists, notes of debts and credit, and evidence of informal object exchange and barter suggests a general level of trust and trustworthiness in economic 113
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ transactions, backed by formal mechanisms such as the ḳnbt and the oracle. Informal networks of social control would have influenced family interactions and also impacted on behaviour and reputation formation in business dealings amongst the villagers. Textual sources related to economic interactions indicate a complexity of reciprocal obligations operating at all levels within the community, although conflicts within families and between villagers prove that some expectations of reciprocity were unfulfilled. However, it is likely that levels of trust and cooperation increased with levels of relatedness, with families acting altruistically towards each other without necessarily expecting any immediate return. I propose that the types of the economic transactions reflected in the Deir el-Medina texts reflect a sliding scale of trust and trustworthiness, beginning with altruism between close family members, followed by a combination of limited altruism and flexible terms of reciprocity between more distant family and friends. The next descending level is general reciprocity that relies on an element of trust, but a specific return is expected at some point; finally, there is direct exchange of goods of equivalent value. In effect, consanguineous families (and extended families) were probably better able to survive economically due to their willingness to act altruistically and their flexible terms of reciprocation, particularly when members were financially vulnerable or in need of support. However, patronage networks that emphasised duty and reciprocity, with their concomitant influence, also operated alongside or beyond family networks providing optional (or for some the only) support system. We know from textual evidence that levels of trust, social cohesion and social control in economic and personal interactions encouraged community reciprocity, which ultimately protected the overall stability of the Deir el-Medina inhabitants.
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Chapter 5
Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage: prevalence, impact and perceptions of abnormality in ancient Egypt Introduction Congenital anomalies are reported in mummified and skeletal remains from the Early Dynastic to Roman Period in Egypt. While these anomalies are reported far less frequently in the ancient record than the modern record, this is probably due more to the survival of human remains than the biological reality. In current clinical studies, certain congenital conditions and morbidity in infancy and childhood are observed more frequently in consanguineous families (with parents biologically related as second cousins or closer). This chapter assesses evidence for potential biological outcomes of consanguinity in ancient Egypt and considers the burden of care, if any, that these physical abnormalities and cognitive disorders may have placed on family and community. Medical conditions associated with consanguinity are also assessed in the wider context of health, sickness and perceptions of disability in ancient Egypt. This chapter is based on the hypothesis that congenital anomalies and morbidity in infancy and childhood resulting from consanguineous marriage were not distinguished from other health conditions by the ancient Egyptians and that individuals with physical abnormalities or cognitive disorders were neither socially excluded nor considered ‘disabled’. The research in this chapter is informed by archaeology, palaeopathology, textual sources and iconography alongside current clinical studies in consanguinity, orofacial clefting and intellectual and developmental disorders. The chapter begins by presenting evidence for congenital anomalies in the Egyptian palaeopathological record; it then lists commonly associated biological outcomes of consanguinity in modern populations and considers their identification in ancient Egyptian human remains. However, not all outcomes of consanguinity, such as cognitive disorders, can be identified in physical remains and these disorders usually impact primarily upon healthy family members in terms of time and resources invested in less able kin. Two types of congenital anomalies are examined: intellectual and developmental disorders (IDD), and non-syndromic orofacial clefts (cleft lip with or without cleft palate, and cleft palate); the latter are amongst the most commonly reported outcomes of consanguinity which are detectable on skeletal remains, and for which there is limited evidence in ancient Egypt. The physical impact of IDD and orofacial clefts on the individual and the social impact on the family are examined using a bioarchaeology of care analysis. This is followed by a discussion on the perception of disability in ancient Egypt and the acceptance, or otherwise, of physical difference with reference to medical papyri, iconography and burials. Finally, with reference to current consanguineous studies, this chapter offers suggestions as to ways in which ancient Egyptian families who married consanguineously might provide a support network capable of accommodating increased physical and mental needs. 115
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Reported congenital anomalies in mummified and skeletal remains in ancient Egypt Congenital conditions reported in mummified and skeletal remains include various forms of dwarfism (skeletal dysplasia) (Kozma 2008: 3104-09),183 spina bifida occulta,184 spina bifida cystica (Boano et al. 2009: 481-87), hydrocephalus (Missori et al. 2010: 1837), orofacial clefts (Derry 1938: 295-98), cerebral palsy (Nerlich et al. 2010: 113-16), osteogenesis imperfecta (Gray 1969: 106-08), bilateral congenital hip dislocation (Spigelman and Bentley 1998: 6-12), congenital hypothyroidism (Naunton 2009), congenital atrophy of a kidney (Gordetsky and O’Brien 2009: 476-79), and congenital spontaneous amputation (Finch 2012: 111-24). There are, however, congenital conditions such as cognitive impairment that do not leave a physical trace and an understanding of its presentation and reception in ancient societies depends on historical textual sources and on inferences from modern clinical studies. In clinical genetics a range of congenital anomalies and morbidity associated with childhood and infancy are noted more frequently in consanguineous families; some are reported in national studies while others have been observed in geographic and/or religious isolates (for example, Becker et al. 2001: 8-13; Kelley 2002: 318-26; Zlotogora 1995: 32-37).185 The term ‘congenital anomaly’ used in this chapter follows the World Health Organisation definition: ‘Congenital anomalies are also known as birth defects, congenital disorders or congenital malformations. Congenital anomalies can be defined as structural or functional anomalies (for example, metabolic disorders) that occur during intrauterine life and can be identified prenatally, at birth, or sometimes may only be detected later in infancy, such as hearing defects’. World Health Organization, Fact Sheet Number 370, updated September 2016. The search for congenital anomalies in ancient remains has to be placed in the overall context of the identification of disease or impairment and its prevalence in different populations. Most human remains are skeletal and disabling conditions only affecting soft tissue cannot be identified, or conditions affecting parts of the skeleton may not be found in fragmentary skeletal remains; furthermore, evidence for deformed/diseased skeletons may not be representative of the sample, or individuals with impairments may be buried separately (Roberts 2000: 46-49). Even though mummified remains offer potentially greater scope for identification of disabling conditions affecting soft tissue, this is still limited by the survival of soft tissue in the mummification process, the type of medical condition, and the effect of embalming on soft tissue may lead to an incorrect diagnosis. For example, ochronosis was originally suggested in 1961 for the appearance of radiopacity of the See also Kozieradzka-Ogunmakin (2011: 200-06) for a report of multiple epiphyseal dysplasia in an Old Kingdom skeleton, there is only one other report of this type of short-limb dwarfism from ancient Egypt (Kozma 2008: 3105-06). 184 Spina bifida occulta, a common anatomical variant and rarely a pathological condition, is observed relatively frequently in ancient Egyptian palaeopathology (for example, Hussein et al. 2009: 613-27; Parr 2005: 257-61; Sarry El-Din and El-Banna 2006: 200-207). See also Kumar and Tubbs (2011: 19-33), for a review of terminological errors and discrepancies in the palaeopathological diagnosis of spina bifida. 185 Even if marriages take place outside the clinical definition of consanguinity, in small isolated communities members may be related to some degree, see Bittles (2012: 8-9). 183
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage intervertebral disk similar to the pattern seen in living ochronosis patients (Simon and Zorab 1961: 384-86). Following later investigation it was found that the embalming resin in which natron was embedded gave a black colour to the disk space (see Aufderheide and Rodriguez-Martin 1998: 112; see also Aufderheide 2011: 75-80, for soft tissue taphonomy). Consanguineous marriage: ancient evidence and modern biological outcomes This section provides a brief background to consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt and is followed by a summary of congenital anomalies and morbidity in infancy and childhood reported at increased frequency in consanguineous marriages. Consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt The census returns from Roman Egypt have revealed the highest level of documented sibling marriage in antiquity (Bagnall and Frier 2006: 127-33). There is, however, no evidence to suggest that sibling marriage was common in non-royal marriages from earlier periods of Egyptian history, but there is limited evidence for cousin marriage and uncle/ niece marriage, for example, the marriage of two sisters to their first cousins in P. Adl. Dem. 14 and 21 from the Ptolemaic town of Pathyris in Upper Egypt (Adler et al. 1939: 4-5) (see pages 68-70). Given the close-knit nature of Egyptian village life, it is likely that endogamy was practised to some degree (for example, see Clarysse and Thompson 2006: 332; Eyre 1992: 218 n.68; Lesko 1994: 23), and if intermarriage amongst some local families occurred across and down generations then the degree of biological relationship between a husband and wife may be consanguineous. Congenital anomalies and morbidity in infancy and childhood reported at increased frequency in modern consanguineous families Consanguinity principally influences the incidence of rare recessive disorders although there are congenital anomalies and disorders of infancy and childhood that are significantly, but not consistently, associated with consanguinity and endogamy (Bittles 2012: 160-61). Congenital anomalies that are commonly reported at increased frequency in the offspring of consanguineous unions are congenital heart defects, non-syndromic orofacial clefts, and neural tube defects;186 causes of morbidity commonly recorded in infancy and childhood are non-syndromic intellectual developmental disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders,187 mitochondrial disorders, non-syndromic childhood deafness, and visual defects188 (Bittles Although studies appear to suggest a strong association between neural tube defects and consanguinity, Bittles (2012: 150) points out that the most convincing evidence for this association is noted in rare syndromic disorders that include neural tube defects. Bittles (2012: 152) also notes the challenges in positively linking non-syndromic orofacial clefts and consanguinity. 187 The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5 2013, 5th edition) has clustered six categories under neurodevelopmental disorders: intellectual and developmental disorders, communication disorders, autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, learning disorders, and motor disorders. Neurodevelopmental disorders form one of 20 diagnostic chapters. For comment on classification and criteria changes of DSM-5, see Reiger et al. (2013: 92-98). Gambrill (2014: 13-36) criticises the idea of ‘mental illness’ on which the DSM-5 is based, claiming it obscures environmental factors in the cause and treatment of ‘mental illness’. See also Drake’s (2015: 283-84) discussion on alternative models of mental health to the biomedical model. 188 Congenital glaucoma, bilateral retinoblastoma, the autosomal recessive forms of retinitis pigmentosa and congenital cataracts have all been associated in a range of studies on parental consanguinity (Bittles 2012: 142-43). 186
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ 2012: 119-21, 138-60; Hamamy et al. 2011: 841-47; Sabbagh et al. 2014: 501-13; Shawky et al. 2013: 161-63; Shawky and Sadik 2011: 69-78; Sheridan et al. 2013: 1350-59; Sutton and Alford 2011: 37-42, 107-13; Tadmouri et al. 2009: 6-17). Limited studies on dental metric anomalies associated with consanguinity indicate an impact on dental occlusion, overjet, overbite and vertical bite (Bittles 2012: 118-19, 145, Hart el al. 2000: 95-101; Lauc et al. 2003a: 27378, 2003b: 301-08).189 Hamamy et al. (2011: 845) report that the appearance of congenital anomalies in the offspring of first cousin marriage is estimated to be 1.7 – 2.8% higher than the background population risk. In an appraisal of 17 studies comparing major congenital outcomes of first cousin marriage to non-consanguineous marriage, Bittles (2012: 146-47) records a 4.1% mean excess level of congenital defects and a median excess level of 3.3%. A meta-analysis of 64 studies in 14 countries across four continents concluded that first cousin marriage is linked to a mean increase of 3.7% in all causes of mortality from 28 weeks gestation to 8-10 years of age, while a further study gave an additional median risk of 3.3% for birth defects (Bittles 2012: Table 9.3; Chisholm and Bittles 2015: 1-2; Small et al. 2017: 436). A meta-analysis of 41 reports on consanguineous marriage reported younger age at marriage and greater fertility, measured as total live births, compared to nonconsanguineous marriages (Chisholm and Bittles 2015: 3).190 The challenges presented by linking consanguinity with disorders of adulthood are discussed by Bittles (2012: 162-77) who has listed the following age-related disease states in which links to consanguinity are possible or have been indicated: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, various cancers, behavioural and psychiatric disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disease, Alzheimer’s disease, tuberculosis, leprosy, multiple sclerosis, infertility, and coagulation disorders. Bittles (2012: 176-77), however, notes that data related to common diseases of adulthood are often confusing or contradictory with inadequate controls for non-genetic variables. Consanguinity and non-syndromic cleft lip/palate (CL/P) and cleft palate (CP) In 2014 a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies reporting consanguinity in relation to non-syndromic orofacial clefts (NSOFC) concluded that there was almost twice the risk of a child being born with NSOFC if there was parental consanguinity (Sabbagh et al. 2014: 501-13). This 2014 review noted that studies in which the level of consanguinity was included, and where individual results could be ascertained, a stronger association with NSOFC in infants born of first cousin marriages was revealed. The following reports illustrate a range of results indicating positive or neutral associations between consanguinity and CL/P and CP. A study on the incidence of orofacial clefting in the Northwest Frontier of Pakistan amongst 61,156 live births reported a higher incidence of consanguineous marriage amongst the parents of children with CL/P and CP compared In an appraisal of 258 skulls and dentition of ancient Egyptians, Miller (2008: 66) notes that 16.7% exhibited Class 2 occlusion, remarking that this type of occlusion is a feature of New Kingdom royal mummies, particularly in the 18th dynasty. Miller points out that this could be a genetic predisposition arising from royal consanguineous marriages, although Class 2 occlusion may have been caused by oral habits such as thumb sucking. 190 See also reviews of consanguinity and child health in Bittles and Black (2010c: 737-41); Bittles (2003: 571-76); Saggar and Bittles (2008: 244-49). 189
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage to parents of matched controls (32% and 18% respectively), with first cousin marriages implicated more than second cousin marriages (Elahi et al., 2004: 1153-54).191 In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, consanguineous marriages were identified in the parents of 56.8% of 1171 cases of CL/P and CP, while family history of CL/P and CP was more likely to be positive for individuals whose parents were consanguineous (Ravichandran et al. 2012: 541-46). In contrast, a review of 807 cases of CL/P and CP, also carried out in Riyadh, indicated that the parents of 54.4% of cases had consanguineous marriages whereas the remainder were nonconsanguineous, leading the authors to conclude that no clear link could be made between orofacial clefts and consanguinity in their region (Aljohar et al. 2008: 592-96). A study of the incidence of oral clefts in Iran amongst 11,651 live births indicated that the risk of CL/P or CP increased to 10.7:1000 live births amongst the offspring of consanguineous parents compared to 2.14:1000 in the general background population (although the study does not define the level of relatedness to qualify as consanguineous) (Jamilian et al., 2007: 174-76). Other examples of reports of a positive association between consanguinity and CL/P and CP include studies in Palestine (Zlotogora 1997: 472-75) and Lebanon (Kanaan et al. 2008: 36772).192 A review conducted in South India of 1247 patients with CL/P, CP and CL reported that 47.2% were the offspring of consanguineous marriages, with males predominating in all types of clefts (Rajeev et al 2017: 3-8). Characteristics of cleft lip/palate and cleft palate and their reported incidence in modern and ancient populations Cleft lip with or without associated cleft palate (CL/P) and cleft palate (CP) are amongst the most common birth anomalies worldwide and their occurrence differs amongst sexes, populations and ethnicities (Marazita 2012: 264). Approximately 70% of CL/P and 50% of CP are considered non-syndromic in that they are isolated conditions with no apparent cognitive or structural anomalies, and CP is more likely to be syndromic than CL/P (Burg et al. 2016: 67; Marazita 2012: 263-83).193 CL/P and CP are distinct entities due to disturbances associated with different morphogenetic fields (Barnes 2012: 25-26, 32; 1994: 171, 184).194 Elahi et al. (2004: 1151-53) reported that 20% of individuals with CL/P and CP manifested associated identifiable syndromic or non-syndromic anomalies. The report did not include data from homebirths and did not give a separate breakdown for CL/P and CP. 192 A study by Sivertsen et al. (2008: 423-24) of 2.1 million children born in Norway between 1967–2001 showed the occurrence of CP to be 56 times greater, and the occurrence of CL/P to be 32 times greater, amongst first-degree relatives (siblings or parent/offspring) although the risk of recurrence within families was not notably related to the severity of the defect nor was it related to a higher incidence of CP/P or CP in mothers compared to fathers (the report focused on the recurrence of CL/P and CP within families and did not identify how many families in the review were married consanguineously). A study by Grosen et al. (2010: 164-65) of 6,776 children born between 1952-2005 in Denmark reported the relative risk of CL/P to be 17 times higher amongst first-degree relatives than the risk observed in the background population. Grosen et al. (2010: 164-65) note that the risk decreased amongst second-degree relatives (four times higher) and amongst third-degree relatives (three times higher) and report a similar risk pattern for CL only and CP. 193 Although fifteen types of orofacial clefts have been annotated, all are rare except for CL/P and CP (Marazita 2012: 263-83). 194 Barnes (1994: 171) describes cleft palate as follows: ‘Developmental delay in the descent of the primitive tongue from the nasal region slows the change in direction of the palatal processes. This upsets the timing of their development and their approach to one another’. Barnes (1994: 184) describes cleft lip as follows: ‘Cleft lip develops when one or both of the maxillary prominences fail to unite with the premaxillary prominence… The more severe the clefting between the maxilla and premaxilla (particularly with bilateral clefting), the more likely it is for there to be a secondary cleft in the palate as well’. The timing and extent of developmental delay affects 191
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Figure 5.1: Cleft lip (cleft premaxilla) (young child): A normal (with dotted lines outlining the premaxilla), B incomplete unilateral left cleft, C complete left unilateral cleft, D bilateral cleft, E midline cleft, F agenesis of the maxilla - wide cleft. Source: Redrawn by author after Barnes, Atlas of Developmental Field Anomalies of the Human Skeleton: A Paleopathology Perspective, 2012: 28.
Although genetic variants and mutations causing syndromic orofacial clefts have been identified, less progress has been made determining the aetiology of non-syndromic orofacial clefts although they are thought to have a multifactorial response combining genetic and environmental influences (Burg et al., 2016:1; Mazarita 2012: 264).195 There are
the severity of cleft lip/palate and cleft palate (Barnes, 1994:173, 186; see also Barnes 2012: 25-26, 32). 195 For discussion of aetiology of non-syndromic orofacial clefts, see Dixon et al. (2011: 167-78).
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage more than 400 chromosomally or genetically based disorders that involve CP and more than 200 that involve CL/P (Mossey et al. 2009: 1779; Shprintzen 2002: 17-27). In a study of 6454 infants with multi-malformations, anomalies most frequently associated with CL/P are recorded as congenital heart defects (28.6%), polydactyly (16.2 %), deformation/s (14.6%), hydrocephaly (11.4%), and a-microphthalmia (8.3%), while anomalies most frequently associated with CP are congenital heart defects (31.1%), deformation/s (22.4%), hydrocephaly (11.2%), urinary tract defects (9.7%), and polydactyly (9.2%) (Mossey and Catilla, 2003:19). CL/P occurs more frequently in males and isolated CP is observed more often in females; the sex ratio varies according to a number of factors including ethnic origin, number of affected siblings in a family, and the presence of additional malformations (Mossey and Modell 2012: 4). The highest rate of CL/P and CP is found amongst Native Americans and Asians with almost 2:1000 live births, Caucasians have approximately 1:1000 live births, and African-derived populations have approximately 1:2500 (Mazarita 2012: 265); the overall figure for the prevalence of orofacial clefts is approximately 1:700 live births (Mossey and Modell 2012: 1). CL/P and CP range in expression, severity and position and can be unilateral or bilateral, incomplete or complete. CL/P and CP are rarely reported in historic and prehistoric populations, and even less so in infant skeletal or mummified remains. Many reasons have been posited as to why these conditions are so rarely seen: few infants may have survived facial clefts, the fragility of neonatal skulls and lack of fusion of the bones of the orofacial region make it difficult to diagnose these clefts or they have been overlooked, bones are poorly preserved or cartilage disintegrated, children may have been abandoned or killed, or infants and younger children may have been buried separately from adults (Roberts and Manchester 2007: 9, 40; Phillips and Sivilich 2006: 528-35). An unusually large find of nine cleft palates (of varying degrees) has been identified in a set of 164 preserved maxillae in the Athenian Agora well burial, which held at least 449 foetuses and infants; all nine palates appear to belong to full-term infants (Liston and Rostroff, 2014: 64, 74; see n.212). The reported incidence of CL/P and CP in palaeopathology is found in studies by Anderson (2000: 201-02); Gregg et al. (1981: 21022); Ortner (2003: 456-59); and Phillips and Sivilich (2006: 528-35). Cleft lip/palate and cleft lip in ancient Egypt There is one report of CL/P and one report of CL in the ancient Egyptian palaeopathological record, and to the author’s knowledge there are no other reported cases supported with evidence. Hawass et al. (2010: 645) claim to have identified a cleft palate on the body of Tutankhamun (KV62) and on what may be the body of Akhenaten (KV55),196 but their assertions are not substantiated with scientific evidence, while Strouhal (2010: 110-11) refutes the claimed evidence for cleft palate in Akhenaten since the posterior part of the hard palate has been broken off. In ancient Egyptian texts or art there are no specific references to cleft lip or cleft palate although Dasen suggests the term ‘Horus birth’ might imply cleft palate 196 Duhig (2010: 113-15) sheds doubt on the KV55 remains being that of Akhenaten and proposes that it is a different royal male.
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Figure 5.2: Cleft lip (premaxilla) with cleft (maxillary) palate (young child): A normal (with dotted lines outlining the premaxilla), B incomplete left cleft lip with unilateral left cleft palate, C unilateral left cleft lip and palate, D bilateral cleft lip and palate, E midline cleft lip and palate, F agenesis of the premaxilla with wide midline cleft palate. Source: Redrawn by author after Barnes, Atlas of Developmental Field Anomalies of the Human Skeleton: A Paleopathology Perspective, 2012: 29.
(Dasen 1993: 99). Györy (2000: 112) believes that ‘Horus birth’ probably refers to a delicate or under-developed child, as opposed to a child with marked physical abnormalities. As Györy (2000: 106) notes, any physical abnormalities caused by abnormal development of the foetus, or by adverse events during labour, would have become noticeable at birth and so protection was sought through practical actions and amuletic decrees:
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage We shall (cause her) to conceive male and female children. We shall keep her safe from the Horus birth, from a miscarriage (?) (d3.t) and from giving birth to twins. We shall keep her safe from any (kind of) death and any (kind of) sickness in giving birth. Turin Museum 1984, in Edwards, Oracular Amuletic Decrees of the Late New Kingdom, Hieratic Papyri in the British Museum, Fourth Series, 1960, Vol. 1, 66-67; Vol. 2, plate 24: T.2. ll. 112-15. The only way in which it might be possible to estimate the frequency of CL/P or CP in ancient Egypt is by comparison to the modern clinical record, but because of its multifactorial response its past prevalence may not be the same as current estimates, and evidence from which comparable data can be drawn does not exist from ancient Egypt. Even where there are large assemblages of skulls, for example, 749 skulls in the Egyptian skeletal collection at the University of Turin (Massali and Chiarelli 1972: 161-69), or 3750 ancient skulls in the Upper Missouri River Basin (Gregg et al. 1981: 210-22), the likelihood of finding cleft palate would still be low. A rare example of a large bilateral cleft of the central and posterior area of the palate has been identified in an adult female Nubian cranium belonging to X group, Ballana Culture, AD 400-600 (figure 5.3), which is held in the Nubian skeletal collection in the British Museum of Natural History (BMNH 210 72/291) (Ortner 2003: 457). In 1938 Derry reported a midline cleft lip caused by total aplasia of the premaxilla on a skull dated to the 25th dynasty found at Matmar, south of Assiut in Middle Egypt (Derry 1938: 295-98 and plate 1).197 Although the bodies found in the Matmar cemeteries are described in the 1929-31 excavation report (Brunton 1948), there are no genealogical details related to this individual and an assumption of consanguinity cannot be made. Derry states the skull appears to be a woman ‘well past middle age’ and with the exception of this cleft the skull is normal. The absence of the premaxillary part of the maxilla has resulted in the antemortem absence of incisor teeth and only the right canine has developed (see figure 5.4).198 Derry also notes that the horizontal plates of the palatine bones are absent and together with the missing premaxilla this has resulted in a marked reduction in size of the hard palate (see figure 5.5). Using the categories illustrated by Barnes in figures 5.1 and 5.2, agenesis of the premaxilla can occur with CL and CL/P; in this case of cleft lip the hard palate is reduced in size but not clefted. A midline or median cleft lip is a rare anomaly with an incidence of 0.43% to 0.73% in modern cleft patient populations (Apesos and Anigian 1993: 94-96; Koh et al. 2016: 242-47).199
197 Derry commented only on the skull and did not mention the rest of the skeleton and therefore any other skeletal abnormality cannot be assumed. Brunton’s (1948) excavation report gives limited details about skeletal remains found during excavations at Matmar. In his 1938 article, Derry reports a second skull with agenesis of the premaxilla, but no provenance is given and he believes the skull to be ‘relatively modern’ (1938: 296). 198 This midline cleft has also been commented on by Barnes (1994: 189); Ortner (2003: 457); Roberts and Manchester (1995: 40). 199 Apesos and Anigian (1993: 94-96) highlight two major categories of dysplasia associated with median cleft lip: De Mayer sequence which is associated with cerebral anomalies, intellectual impairment and a relatively short life expectancy; medium cleft face syndrome is often associated with hypertelorism, nasal deformity and little or no intellectual impairment and a normal life expectancy. Starck and Epker (1994: 1217-19) point out that midline diastema of the maxillary dentition is the mildest form of median cleft lip, while related congenital anomalies associated with abnormalities in the development of the frontonasal process include cyclopia, holoprosencephaly, and hemicephalus.
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Figure 5.3: Large bilateral cleft of the central and posterior area of the palate, adult female, X group, Ballana Culture, Nubia, AD 400–600. Photograph courtesy of Roger Forshaw.
Figure 5.4: Frontal view of the 25th dynasty skull with midline cleft lip and absence of incisor teeth. The white area is the crown of the right canine lying horizontally across the middle line below the nasal spine. Source: Derry, 1938, Two Skulls with Absence of Premaxilla, Journal of Anatomy, 72, part 2, plate 1, figure 1. Reproduced courtesy of the Journal of Anatomy.
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage The second report of orofacial clefting in ancient Egypt belongs to a mummy of a child from the Roman Period (c. AD 31–395) who also had a fracture of the skull and of the femur at the time of death. Hoffman and Hudgins (2002: 136869, 1373-74) state that the child mummy is from the 25th or 26th dynasties, but Lacovara et al. (2001: 25) consider the mummy dates from the Roman Period. The mummy was brought to Canada in the mid-19th century but was not studied or published until 2001 (Lacovara and D’Auria 2001: 22-27). There are no details about the provenance or genealogy of Figure 5.5: Profile view of the 25th dynasty skull this mummy and it cannot be assumed with the mandible in position. The upper teeth have her family was consanguineous. From been caught between the teeth of the mandible and the pattern of tooth eruption the child is have been pushed upwards and inwards because thought to have been around five years of the reduced size of the palate. Source: Derry, of age and CT scans reveal a mild form 1938, Two Skulls with Absence of Premaxilla, Journal of of CP, which appears to be confined to Anatomy, 72, part 2, plate 1, figure 3. Reproduced the anterior midline alveolar process, courtesy of the Journal of Anatomy. but not extending into the posterior palate (Hoffman and Hudgins 2002: 1370, 1373, 1375) (see figures 5.6 and 5.7). The volumerendered image of this child mummy also suggests a midline cleft lip (Forshaw 2013).200 Consanguinity and intellectual and developmental disorders Intellectual and developmental disorders (IDD)201 involve diminished cognitive and adaptive development and are observed more frequently in the offspring of consanguineous parents, which Bittles (2012: 152) notes suggests the expression of detrimental recessive genes in some individuals. IDD encompasses a varied range and type of impaired intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviour and is manifested in the development period up to the age of eighteen years (Wehmeyer and Obremski 2010: 8). Research in the State of Qatar amongst a representative sample of 1515 women, of whom 54% were in a consanguineous marriage, report a rate of IDD amongst the offspring of consanguineous marriages at 3.7% compared to 0.4% in the offspring of non-consanguineous marriages (Bener and Hussein 2006: 372-78).202 A study in Bangladesh found that severe IDD was associated with consanguinity in rural areas and mild IDD with consanguinity in urban areas (Durkin et al. 2000: 1024-33). In Egypt a study amongst a random sample of 3000 people in Assiut Cases of oral pathology from the KNH Mummy Studies, pending publication. Previously called ‘mental retardation’ or ‘learning disability’. For example, see Terdal (1981: 180) and Walmsley (2001: 187-89). 202 In a study on the six most common psychiatric disorders in the state of Qatar, Bener et al. (2016: 172-81) remark that generalised anxiety disorders, major depression and personality disorders were significantly higher in consanguineous marriages than in non-consanguineous marriages. 200 201
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Figure 5.6: Axial CT scan showing bony cleft in midline (straight white arrow). A wad of resinsoaked linen was put over the right side of the child’s nose to restore the natural facial contours (curved white arrow). Copyright: American Roentgen Ray Society, 2002.
Figure 5.7: A volume-rendered shaded-surface-display CT image showing a midline cleft lip. Source: Hoffman and Hudgins, Head and skull base features of nine Egyptian mummies: evaluation with high-resolution CT and reformation techniques, American Journal of Roentgenology, 2002, 178 (6): 1373, figure 11, A and B. Copyright: American Roentgen Ray Society, 2002.
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage Governorate found an overall prevalence of IDD of 3.8%; the rate of consanguinity amongst the parents of this group was 65% (Temtamy et al. 1994: 347-51). Other reported increased rates of IDD in association with consanguinity include studies in Sweden (Furnell 1998: 608-11), southern Israel (Saad et al. 2014: 1-3), and Bahrain (Al-Ansari, 1993: 140-43). Commenting on the high association between consanguinity and IDD, Bittles (2012: 153) notes that consanguineous marriage is most common in lower socioeconomic communities and, therefore, the influence of non-genetic variables needs to be minimised in studies investigating links between consanguinity and IDD. Characteristics of intellectual and developmental disorders and their reported incidence in modern and ancient populations The umbrella term Intellectual and Developmental Disorders (IDD) is a cluster of syndromes and disorders with multiple aetiologies and comorbidities;203 its prevalence is estimated at 1% in high-income countries and at 2% in low- and middle-income countries (Carulla et al. 2011: 175-80). However, the reported prevalence of IDD in regions or countries varies according to diagnostic systems used, severity of illness, the population under review, the age and gender of the group, and socioeconomic status. For example, a study in Egypt that includes borderline cases reports a prevalence of 39:1000 (Temtamy et al. 1994: 347-51); a review from Canada of 14-20 year olds reports 7.18:1000 (Bradley et al. 2002: 652-59), and a study of 0-6 year olds in China reports 9.3:1000 (Zie et al. 2008: 1029-38). A meta-analysis conducted in 2011 on the prevalence of IDD in 52 population-based studies reported 10.37:1000 with the highest rates seen in low- and middle-income countries, and also increased rates among children and adolescents in contrast to adults. The meta-analysis did not include results from studies on the prevalence of comorbid mental disorders in people with IDD (Maulik et al. 2011: 419-36). Two leading diagnostic classification systems for defining intellectual disability are the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), both of which define IDD as a developmental condition characterised by significant deficits in intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviour with onset before 18 years of age (AAIDD, 2017; DSM-5 Intellectual Disability Fact Sheet, American Psychiatric Association, 5th ed., 2013). Tassé (2016) points out that there are no ‘universal biomarkers’ associated with IDD and definition relies on clinical evaluation. Tests to determine impairments affecting intellectual and adaptive functioning cover three areas: conceptual skills involving language, reading, writing, mathematics, reasoning, knowledge and memory; social skills involving communication, social judgement, creating and maintaining relationships; and practical skills involving personal care, job responsibilities, organisation of work, money, and social life (DSM-5 Intellectual Disability Factsheet, American Psychiatric Association, 5th ed., 2013). Although it is difficult to diagnose comorbidities in people with IDD, a number of physical and mental disorders have increased association with IDD and many are more prevalent in those with severe to profound IDD (Maulik and Harbour 2010). These disorders are discussed in further detail in the section on infant survival and adaptive functioning below. 203 Comorbidities: ‘Any distinct additional entity that has existed or may occur during the clinical course of a patient who has the index disease under study’ (Feinstein 1970: 456-67; see also Valderas et al. 2009: 357-63).
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ IDD do not leave a trace in human remains, and the scope of syndromes and disorders encompassed by the term IDD makes it impossible to identify specific references to them in the ancient record. However, it might be possible to find documentary references to behaviours indicative of intellectual impairment (in its current definition), but even then IDD cannot be assumed. Studies related to mental impairment, mental states and unusual or aberrant behaviours in ancient societies often employ the generic term ‘madness’, although this term and its definition continues to be re-examined and refined. While IDD is specifically related to development of skills manifested during the development period, it is frequently associated with mental disorders (Cooper et al. 2007a: 493-501; Munir 2016: 97-99).204 A population-based study in the UK reported a 40.9% prevalence rate of mental ill health (clinical diagnoses) among adults with intellectual disability, with problem behaviour as the most prevalent type (Cooper et al.: 2007b: 27-35). Further findings that children, adolescents, and adults with IDD are at high risk of developing comorbid serious mental illness include studies in Australia (White et al. 2005: 395-400), Israel (Reichenberg et al. 2006: 193-207) and Finland (Koskentausta et al. 2002: 126-31). Attitudes towards intellectual and developmental impairment in ancient Greece This section presents a summary of the presentation of mental states in ancient Greece, and touches upon the use and interpretation of the terms ‘madness’ and ‘hysteria’. This material has been included as a parallel to ancient Egypt to illustrate differences in approach to potential intellectual and developmental disorders within ancient Greek literary texts and medical treatises; it also discusses the association that has been made between ‘hysteria’, attributed to migratory uterus in the writings of Hippocrates, to the displaced uterus described in the Kahun Papyrus. There is extensive evidence for social exclusion in ancient Greek literature and iconography for reasons such as madness, disability, abnormal birth, enslavement, or for being a stranger or foreigner.205 In an analysis of mental states from the time of Homer to Late Antiquity, Goodey and Rose (2013: 19) choose the term ‘disparity’ to describe differences not only in physical and mental states, but also in characters flawed through foolish behaviour, avarice or trickery, and comment on the difficulty of locating a concept of intellectual disability tied to permanence or identity (‘disparity’ does not assume a general level of normalcy). The earliest Greek vocabulary for lack of intelligence occurs in the Iliad and the Odyssey, but it was a social observation and rarely a permanent state; for example, on hearing from her nurse of Odysseus’ return, a disbelieving Penelope exclaims to her nurse how gods make the wise foolish/slow-witted. (Goodey and Rose 2013: 25-26, Odyssey, 23, 10-15). In While Cooper et al.’s (2007a: 493-501) study focuses specifically on mental ill-health in adults with profound intellectual disabilities, their work also refers to a range of research between IDD and mental disorders. 205 See Papadopoulous (2000: 97-98) for a list of literary testimonies relating to social exclusion for reasons including strangers and foreigners, ‘lunatics’ and epileptics, prisoners, gender and sexuality; also, literary references to exposure of abnormal births, and attitudes towards scapegoats, deformity, disabled citizens and dwarfs. For a range of studies on disability in Antiquity see Laes (ed.) (2017). For Greece, Rome and the GraecoRoman world, see Garland (1995); Kelley (2007: 31-45); Laes et al. (2013); Rose (2003); Trentin (2011: 195-208); for health, sickness, environment and demography, see Pudsey (2017: 22-34). For Mesopotamia (and Israel), see Kellenberger (2017: 47-60); Walls (2007: 13-30); for ancient Persia, see Coloru (2017: 61-74); and for disability in Biblical literature, see Avalos et al. (eds) (2007); Moss and Schipper (2011); Olyan (2008); Raphael (2009). 204
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage the Homeric epics the body and mind remained inseparable and the function that guided behaviour was located in the upper torso.206 The inseparable functioning of body and mind in Homeric sources also has parallels as late as the Roman Period in the medical treatises of the Greek physician Galen (b. AD 129). Intellectual or developmental impairment, inasmuch as they can be categorised, reflected an imbalance in the health of the body’s organs, a type of functional disturbance, and were treated as impermanent disorders arising from situations; Galen’s belief in the sympathetic link between body and mind is reflected in a treatise written at the end of his life, ‘That the Faculties of the Soul (mind) follow the Mixtures of the Body’ (see Clark and Rose 2013: 38; Holmes 2013: 147, 171-76).207 In Plato’s Phaedrus (for example, 245a-b, 246a-b), Socrates describes two types of madness, one arises from disease and is destructive, the other is god-given and positive, so that madness becomes a passage into a volatile state that ‘runs alongside the ordinary functions of the mind’ (Vogt 2013: 182). An example of divine madness is that of Agave in the Bacchae, although Agave’s madness is delusional and a form of punishment compared to the ecstatic madness of the real maenads, a gift of Dionysus (Theodorou 1991: 80-81).208 As the play culminates Agave attacks her son, Pentheus, the king of Thebes: But her mouth dripped foam and her eyes rolled: she was not in her right mind but possessed by the bacchic god, and his entreaty did not move her. Taking his right hand in her grip and planting her foot against the poor man’s flank, she tore out his arm at the shoulder, using a strength not her own but put in her hands by the god. Bacchae, ll. 1120-29, Euripides, Kovacs, 2003. In the medical writings attributed to Hippocrates, Corpus Hippocraticum (4th century BC), ‘hysteria’ (now classified under dissociative, somatoform, and conversion disorders) is associated primarily with women and caused by displacement of the uterus (womb).209 For example, hysterical suffocation is the result of the uterus moving into the upper abdomen causing the mouth to fill with fluid, coldness in the legs, inability to speak, and head and tongue overcome by drowsiness (Eghigian, 2010: 32).210 The ancient Greek wandering or Clarke (1999: 73) notes that the head is a ‘sign of life and identity, especially from another person’s point of view, but thought and consciousness are in the upper torso’. See Goodey and Rose (2013: 26-27) for a discussion on terms and contexts used to describe wise and foolish behaviour. 207 Holmes (2013: 147-76) discusses in detail sympathetic affections and mental disorders in Galen and, in particular, the relationship between mind and body as a site of sympathy. 208 (i) Theodorou (1991: 66-85) explores the symptomatology of madness in the Bacchae, Orestes and Herakles and the vocabulary used by Euripides to distinguish different aspects and faces of madness. (ii) See Vogt, (2013: 182-87) for god-given madness in the Phaedrus and an examination of features and names ascribed to them. 209 (i) Dean-Jones (2013: 108) remarks that one sixth of the Corpus Hippocraticum is gynaecological and a woman’s reproductive system is treated as the main site of female disease and treatment. (ii) Oyama et al. (2007: 1333) describe somatoform disorders as a ‘group of psychiatric disorders in which patients present with a myriad of clinically significant but unexplained physical symptoms. They include somatization disorder, undifferentiated somatoform disorder, hypochondriasis, conversion disorder, pain disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, and somatoform disorder not otherwise specified. These disorders often cause significant emotional distress for patients and are a challenge to family physicians’. 210 Hippocratic treatises relating to the ‘wandering’ womb (displacement of the uterus) appear in gynaecological 206
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ migratory uterus and resultant ‘hysteria’ has been attributed to the ‘wandering womb’ as a cause of hysterical states in ancient Egyptian medicine (for example, Veith 1965: 2-3, 10). This interpretation is challenged by Merskey and Potter (1989: 751-53) on the basis that the Middle Kingdom Kahun Papyrus211 links the uterus to sickness in a variety of body locations but does not state how this occurs, while the Ebers Papyrus mentions a displaced uterus with no indication of distance; for example, Ebers 795 describes fumigation with an ibis of wax burnt on charcoal ‘to make the uterus return to its position’. Collier and Quirke’s (2004: 58, case 2, col. 1, ll. 5-8) translation of a prescription in the Kahun Papyrus describes fumigation with whatever ‘she smells as roast’ for a woman ‘who is ill from her womb wandering’.212 However, in his medical assessment of the gynaecological texts, Nunn (1996: 196) suggests that Ebers 789-95, which lists remedies ‘to cause the uterus to go down’, suggests a prolapse of the uterus. In effect, the understanding of the displaced uterus in ancient Egyptian texts is open to modern interpretation as a psychiatric state or a biological prolapse even before its influence is considered on the ‘migratory’ uterus in the Corpus Hippocraticum and, thereby, highlights one of the inherent difficulties of modern interpretations of historical medical texts. Evidence for burial for socially excluded individuals or groups is more limited in ancient Greece. Papadopoulos (2000: 97, 112) suggests this may be due to sites chosen for archaeological searches rather than scarcity of evidence. For example, skeletons in wells are a phenomenon in Aegean prehistory and classical archaeology and may be a type of burial for infants, children and adults who were socially excluded for a variety of reasons, including infants not given rights of passage;213 however, the socially excluded were not necessarily given noticeably different burials either in type or location (such as wells) and instead they may be buried in special cemeteries or plots within general cemeteries and the extent of their burials may be overlooked (Papadopoulos 2000: 113).214 Not all those considered different, deviant or disabled were necessarily excluded in communities in life or differentiated at burial, therefore judgements on the extent of social exclusion need texts including Nature of Women (2012, Loeb Classical Library 520: 187-323; Nature of Women shares many textual parallels to Diseases of Women I and 2 and Barrenness) (Potter 2012: 189). Adair (1995: 154, 163) proposes that Plato revised the interpretation of ‘hysteria’ as a frustrated impulse arising from the womb, ‘a proto-psychological theory of hysterical symptoms’ rather than a physical wandering of the womb. 211 Although fragmentary, the Kahun Papyrus contains 34 prescriptions for fumigations, pastes and applications for gynaecological conditions; the document also offers guidance on contraception, pregnancy, including determining the sex of an unborn child, and sterility (see Collier and Quirke 2004: 58-64; Griffith 1898: 5-11). Gynaecological diagnoses and treatments are also found in Berlin, Carlsberg, Ebers, London, and Ramesseum Papyri (David 2008: 188-89). 212 This link between a migratory uterus in Egyptian and Greek medicine has also been challenged by Lloyd (1983: 65 n.21, 84 n.100). 213 In ancient Greece a child ceased to be a baby at three years and as a member of society would usually be buried in adult cemeteries. Corpses of infants under three years of age are commonly found intramurally or within settlements in Bronze and early Iron Age Greece (Papadopoulos 2000: 111). Well burials containing only foetuses, neonates or infants have also been recorded, for example, the Messene agora (3rd–2nd century BC) containing an estimated 262-284 foetuses, neonates and infants; the Athenian agora well (G 5.3, 165–160 BC) containing at least 449 foetuses and infants and 130 dogs; deposit FK 153 of the Eretria well containing remains of at least 19 infants and 1100 dog bones (Bourbou and Themelis 2010: 112-13; Liston and Rotroff 2013: 62-77). 214 The bodies of 12 individuals, each with their arms shackled behind their backs, have been found in a grave at Paleon Faliron, the port of Athens prior to the establishment of Piraeus in the 5th century BC. This grave is part of a network of graves dating from the 8th–5th centuries BC containing around 1500 skeletons, almost one third are children interred in pots, as well as simple pit graves and more elaborate elite burials: (https://archaeologynewsnetwork. blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/shackled-skeletons-to-shed-light-on.html#ROxYGIAUjeWu8Dep.97. Accessed 31.3.2017.
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage to be tempered when considering physical, literary and iconographic evidence. Even in relation to the burials of foetuses, neonates and infants in wells, Bourbou and Themelis (2010: 115) remark that the well burials of infants may not be deviant burials, but merely reflect the status of children under three years of age.215 Attitudes towards intellectual and developmental impairment in ancient Egypt Although I have used medical discourse to describe IDD and its potential impact on the individual, the lack of terms (or uncertainty relating to terms) describing mental and behavioural disorders in ancient Egypt implies an inclusive attitude towards different behaviours. It is likely that conditions that are now considered symptomatic of IDD were not considered sufficiently different or relevant to be given specific terms. Just as magic, medicine and religion are closely intertwined, what might be diagnosed in modern medicine as IDD probably belonged to the wide spectrum of health and healing into which fall sicknesses, diseases and ageing alongside recovery and management of medical conditions. In a discussion on the embodied response to dis/ability Oliver and Barnes (2012: 98, 1990: 22-24) note that the individual’s response to their impairment is shaped by socially and culturally determined attitudes towards society, and the individual’s experience of their impairment also changes during the course and circumstances of their life. Developing this argument, Zakrzewski (2014: 64) proposes that ancient Egyptians may have viewed an individual’s ability along a continuum varying according to age, occupation and status, as a result everyone had varying abilities and adjusted their lives accordingly. I agree with this proposal and would extend it to the intermittent or permanent differences in behaviour and health caused by intellectual and developmental disorders. The use of the term ‘disparity’ coined by Goodey and Rose (2013: 19) to describe differences in physical and mental states and the difficulty of locating a fixed concept of intellectual impairment could also apply to ancient Egypt. What may currently be considered permanent IDD, with varying degrees of severity, can be contextualised in ancient Egypt into the capacity to be involved at some level in family or community life according to functional performance, which should be understood in relation to context and not tied to permanency or normalcy. This may change according to age and circumstances and also needs to be considered in the context of religious beliefs, the general health environment and life expectancy (see page 21). There is very little in Egyptian literature to assume behaviour associated with IDD and one of the most suggestive references to mental illness is in the Instructions of Amenemope:
215 In a report of a well burial in Messene of foetuses, infants and newborns, Bourbou and Themelis (2014: 112-13) found no evidence of long-term disease or trauma, concluding the risks of pregnancy, childbirth and survival in the early weeks of life were probable causes of death (cleft palate is recorded amongst a ‘number’ of individuals, leading the authors to suggest infanticide). Bourbou and Themelis (2014: 117) propose that some infants were originally buried in pots and relocated to this well, which was thereafter associated with the community as a place of disposal for infants.
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Do not laugh at a blind man, Nor tease a dwarf, Nor cause hardship for the lame, Don’t tease a man who is in the hand of the god, Nor be angry with him for his failings. Instructions of Amenemope, chapter 25, ll. 8-11, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Lichtheim 1976: 160.216 The expression ‘in the hand of the god’ implies a liminal status between the world of the temporal and the divine, but is suggestive of care and not exclusion; Lichtheim (1976: 163 n.26) comments that ‘in the hand of the god’ has a special meaning here of being ill or insane.217 There are parallels here with Mesopotamian sources in which ‘Hand of the God’ has been associated with epilepsy in young children, but can also be linked with other diseases, such as seizures (possibly asplasia) (Stol 1993: 34-36).218 The line from the Instructions of Amenemope sits within a didactic context, one of many rules that should guide behaviour and attitudes; its placement alongside the temporary nature of life – ‘man is clay and straw, the god is his builder’ – does not give any more weight to impairment or behavioural abnormalities than it does to correct behaviour in the presence of an official or attitudes towards widows or the elderly (set as instructions in neighbouring chapters). What it does imply is that individuals with physical differences may have been subject to mockery, but not social exclusion, and its moral tone echoes the balanced behaviour that is expected of Egyptians, but not always delivered. Jeffreys and Tait (2000: 94) remark on the provision of care for the ‘physically disadvantaged’ outside ‘mainstream’ society as possibly a religious duty or expected altruism. Perhaps the Instructions laid down by Amenemope do reflect an aspect of religious duty, but in an environment where physical and mental outcomes of disease, infection, trauma and congenital anomalies are common from birth and not hidden from society, it is unlikely that physical abnormalities were generally considered outside mainstream society, although care provision may have been an expected altruism. The idea of a god intermittently guiding or controlling actions is also reflected in the Middle Kingdom tale of Sinuhe, which details the self-imposed exile to Syria of Sinuhe, a royal servant and the tale’s narrator. During political unrest following the death of Amenemhat I, Sinuhe fears he will suffer political retaliation but is deeply troubled by his choice to flee Egypt. Sinuhe attributes agency for his actions to a ‘god’ or to his ‘heart’, although early in the text Sinuhe alone was responsible for his flight to Syria (Baines 1982: 39-40).219 On his eventual return, Sinuhe stands before Sesotris I claiming again that forces beyond him have taken control, ‘If I reply to it, it is not my own doing, it is This phrase – ‘in the hand of the god’ – also appears in an earlier chapter in the Instructions of Amenemope (chapter 10, l. 20) where the text advises not to speak falsely and through truthfulness become ‘secure in the hand of the god’; here this term carries the implication of balance and stability associated with ma’at. 217 Berkson (2006: 28-40) points out that the concept of distinguishing intellectual disability from episodic mental illness first appeared by the second or third centuries AD under Imperial Rome, and during the early mediaeval period in northern European and Arabic civilisation. 218 A range of symptoms has been associated with ‘Hand of the Goddess’, but it is the term’s appearance in the same context as epilepsies which may indicate a specific association (Stol 1993: 37). 219 The introduction of an alternative voice into Sinuhe’s account – god, heart or mind – may serve as a literary device to present different emotions, as in The Dialogue of a Man with his Soul (Baines 1982: 40). 216
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage the action of (a) god’ (B 261-2, Baines, 1982: 39); but this line may be translated differently, implying that Sinuhe’s reply is cautious as it is pharaoh who is a god (Allen 2013: 140; Baines, 1982: 39). Szpakowska (2003: 46-47) remarks how Sinuhe describes the events linked to his flight from Egypt as the ‘unfolding of a dream’, inferring that a lack of control over his actions makes him victim to a chaotic reality. We do not know how widely these stories were disseminated, but the notion ‘being in the hand of the god’ and the belief (or literary motif) of the mind or heart being held, guided or controlled must have had resonance for the authors of the texts and their intended audience.220 Although neither depression nor suicidal thoughts are necessarily indicative of IDD, depression is at least as, or more likely, in individuals with IDD; Hsieh et al. (2020: 49) report increased estimates of depression ranging from 2.2% to 15.8% compared to the general population, while Hartley and Maclean (2009: 147) state that depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in adults with intellectual disability. Okasha (1999: 919) and Nasser (1987: 421) interpret the Debate between a Man and his Soul (P. Berlin 3024, P. Amherst 3) as a personal expression of depression and suicidal thoughts.221 In turns, the Middle Kingdom text contrasts the fearful prospects of death with the joyful release of ending life; however, this inner turmoil may be a literary technique employed to reflect uncertainty resulting from the social and political upheavals of the First Intermediate Period. Allen (2015: 327) suggests that ultimately this text is an ‘affirmation of life’ when faced with the most challenging circumstances: ...As for you bringing to mind entombment, it is heartache; it is bringing tears by saddening a man… (ll. 56-58, spoken by the ba [soul]) …To whom can I speak now? Faces are obliterated, every man with face down toward his brothers. (ll. 118-20, spoken by the man) … Death is in my sight now, like myrrh’s smell, like sitting under sails on a windy day. (ll. 132-34, spoken by the man) Allen, The Debate Between a Man and his Soul, 2015: 327-59. Okasha (1999: 918-19), Nasser (1987: 421) and Ghalioungui (1963: 79) also highlight an incident in the demotic text Setne Khamwas and Si-Osire (Setne 2, P. Brit. Mus. 10822 vs.) as indicative of depression (although there is no indication that Setne’s circumstances are linked to consanguinity). At the pharaoh’s request, the scribe and magician Setne cannot read a magical document without breaking the seal and, aware he will fail pharaoh, lies down oblivious to his surroundings, neither drinking nor eating. His wife finds him and places her hand in his clothes: ‘My brother Setne, there is no warmth in the breast, no stirring in the flesh. There is sorrow and grief in the heart’ (Lichtheim 1980: 143). 220 The Bentresh Stela relates how a scribe from the House of Life is sent from Egypt to Mittani to cure a ‘malady that has seized her [Brentesh] body’ (Lichtheim 1980: 91). The tale reflects the reputation of Egyptian doctors to banish spirits, but in this case the scribe Thothemheb could diagnose but not cure Bentresh, only Khons-theProvider from Thebes is sufficiently powerful to banish evil and restore equilibrium (see Lichtheim 1980: 93-4 n.9 and 10). 221 Allen (2015: 327) points out the uniqueness of the text as the dialogue is between a man and his ba (the realm of the ba is the afterlife), whereas other literary personal dialogues are with the ἰb or ḥ3ty heart.
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ In Egyptian medicine mental disorders were regarded as symptoms of heart and uterine diseases; with the possible exception of the displaced uterus, there is no suggestion that illness was embodied.222 Disease and sickness were extrinsic to the body and could be brought about by supernatural forces, hostile spirits or deities inhabiting the body, or by wḫdw bearing weakness, purulence and disease, for example, plague is the ‘evil wind’ brought by emissaries of the goddess Sekhmet (Pinch 2006: 143), while the Ebers Papyrus lists a general spell for expelling wḫdw: Nothing will be done in Abydos until the driving out of the [evil] influence of a god, goddess, male wekhedu, female wekhedut, and so on, and the influence of all evil things that are in this my body, in this my flesh, and in these my limbs…Perish as you came into being. Words to be said four times and spat out over the site of the disease. Really effective: a million times. Ebers 131, Nunn, Ancient Egyptian Medicine, 1996: 105. Invisible and hostile entities from the land of the dead have been named in texts from at least the First Intermediate Period to the Late Period; Szpakowska (2009: 803, 2008: 161) notes that they were particularly linked to possession or invasion of people or places resulting in emotional and physical disorders. While many spells were protective, aimed to divert hostile entities, other spells and incantations were designed to counterattack and aid individuals already affected by their destructive influence. These potential invaders are named as 3ḫw – transfigured and justified dead, m(w)t – unjustified dead, and ḏwy – adversaries of the gods or their generic enemies (Szpakowska 2008: 160-61). The heart, regarded as the seat of emotion, intelligence and consciousness as well as a physical entity, is written as ḥ3ty and ἰb, terms used differently in ancient Egyptian sources. Piankoff (1930: 13) proposes that in the Old and Middle Kingdoms ḥ3ty refers primarily to the physical heart and ib to the heart in a moral sense, while Assmann (2005: 29-30) posits that ḥ3ty designates phenomena such as consciousness, recollection and individuality that are not biologically inherited, and ἰb designates personal emotion and cognition that are biologically inherited (for example, ἰb n mwt.ἰ, heart of my mother, in Chapter 30B of the Book of the Dead), as well as being a physiological entity.223 Ebell (1937: 293-310) suggests a physiological interpretation of ἰb as stomach; referring to a prescription in Ebers 50.21 translated as ‘let the heart (ἰb) receive bread’, so that r ἰb – mouth of the stomach – specifically relates to the cardia – the opening of the oesophagus into the stomach. Nyord (2009: 55-127, 142-3) discusses the meanings of ἰb and ḥ3ty in detail with particular reference to the torso and its organs in conceptions of the body in the Coffin Texts and highlights the challenge of categorising physical and metaphorical terminology related to the body.
222 ‘The Ancient Egyptian Demonology Project: Second Millennium BCE’ (Swansea University) explores how diseases, disorders, environmental threats, worries and unexplained problems were placed into an understandable context by being blamed on demons, were embodied as demons, or their influence and control lay within the power of demons. 223 In Chapter 30B of the Book of the Dead, ἰb is used for ‘heart of my mother’ and ḥ3ty for ‘heart of my being’: ‘O my heart of my mother, O my heart of my mother, O my heart of my being! Do not rise up against me as witness, Do not oppose me in the tribunal, Do not rebel against me before the guardian of the scales!’ (Lichtheim 1976: 121).
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage In the glosses to Ebers 855 (1500 BC) we hear of the heart being ‘flooded’, ‘unaware’, ‘forgetful’, ‘burying’, ‘weary’ and ‘shrouded in darkness’, amongst other states. Nunn (1996: 85-87) assesses these 23 glosses as ‘pathological’ states of the heart, however Okasha (1999: 919) believes that some of these states indicate psychiatric or psychotic conditions, suggesting they are disturbances of thinking, intellect, emotions and behaviour suggestive of schizophrenia, catatonia, or dementia.224 Two of the remaining glosses attribute the state of the heart ‘to the breath of the lector priest’ (Ebers 855u), and one is attributed to ‘something entering from outside’ (Ebers 855y) (Nunn 1996: 86; Okasha and Okasha 2000: 421).225 Certain gynaecological conditions addressed in the medical papyri have been associated with the generic term ‘hysteria’. North (2015: 497) notes the current classifications of dissociative, somatoform, and conversion disorders are used to describe mental disorders ‘sharing common historical roots in a syndrome previously known as hysteria’ (interlinked in some periods with spiritual maladies). Ghalioungui (1963: 119) suggests links to ‘hysteria’ in the Kahun Papyrus cases 5, 8 and 11, while Okasha (1999: 918) observes links in 1, 5, 6 and 11, but proposes that many of the diseases described in the Kahun Papyrus would be recognised today as ‘hysterical disorders’: Examination of a woman whose eyes are aching till she cannot see, on top of aches in her neck… (case 1, col. 1. 1) Examination of a woman aching in her teeth and molars to the point that she cannot […] her mouth … (case 5, col. 1. 15) Examination of a woman all of whose limbs are ill, aching in the socket of her eyes … (case 6, col. 1. 20) Examination of a woman aching in her molars, her front, and her ears so much that she hears no word You should say of it ‘it is terrors of the uterus’. You should treat it with the same prescription used for removing detritus of the uterus… (case 8, col. 1. 25-27) Examination of a woman bed-bound, not stretching when she shakes it … (case 11, col. 2. 5) Kahun Medical Papyrus (UC32057), Collier and Quirke, The UCL Lahun Papyri, Religious, Literary, Legal, Mathematical and Medical, 2004: 58-60. Jeffreys and Tait (2000: 93) point out that there is no recognisable word to characterise mental illness in the dynastic period, but a word for madness commonly used in the Coptic language (from 3rd century AD) makes its first appearance in demotic in the 1st century BC. The word λιΒε in Coptic (Sahidic dialect and λιΒι in Bohairic dialect, and linked to rbyy meaning bear or lion in Egyptian) is translated as madness, to be excited or insane in Coptic and demotic by Vycichl (1983: 94, 402). Černý (1976: 70) translates λιΒε as madness or be – to feel violent love, possibly derived from a Semitic root mad and also refers to 224 In a discussion on psychiatry in ancient Egypt, Nasser (1987: 421) links glosses in Ebers 855 with fainting as a psychological symptom. 225 See Mitchell (2011: 81-88) for a discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of using historical texts for investigating and diagnosing diseases in the past.
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ and related to Arabic ( لبلبliblib) – the tender love of a mother for her young.226 Crum (1939: 136-37) translates λιΒε in a wide range of contexts including gluttony and idolatry. In the Dictionary of Late Egyptian Lesko (2002: 345, 350, 361, 2004: 137) translates ḫἰnἰw, ḫ3nἰ and ḫn as fool and šš as madman (see also Černý 1929: 251 n.50, P. Salt 124, vs. 2.3 for mad or silly). Groll (1980: 76; see also Lesko 2004: 12) translates syḥ as ‘madness’ in P. Lee, l. 3, although Goedicke (1963: 84) translates syḥ in this context as ‘excitement’ or ‘rapture’, referring to the religious fervour of the people witnessing the divine bark of Amun. Functioning and adaptive ability, accommodation of impairment, and provision of care A bioarchaeology of care analysis is used in the following discussion to determine or estimate what care was necessary and what care was possible in relation to orofacial clefts and intellectual developmental disorders. This discussion is guided by the Index of Care initiated by Tilley and Cameron (2014: 5-9) and Tilley (2015a and 2015b), then developed further by Tilley and Schrenk (2016). The structure of the Index of Care follows four consecutive stages that are summarised below (Tilley and Cameron 2014: 6): 1.
Describe, diagnose and document (includes cultural, social, economic, environmental and mortuary contexts); 2. Determine disability (includes an assessment of whether the impact on function required direct support and/or accommodation from others); 3. Construct a model of care (includes the characteristics of care that are likely to be required); 4. Interpretation: explore implications of collective and individual agency in provision and receipt of care. Once the disability is diagnosed and its context documented, the approach I have used assesses the essential impacts in relation to basic survival, for example, what additional support was needed with feeding, or was extra supervision provided to protect from physical danger? To what extent would individuals suffering from orofacial clefts or cognitive impairment have functioned adequately without support to meet social and cultural demands? To address these questions within a bioarchaeology of care framework, I have interpreted how the family and caregiving community might accommodate an individual, how the individual’s identity might be affected (if at all) by their impairment, and how that impairment might be perceived within their society. Infant survival and functioning and adaptive behaviour associated with non-syndromic orofacial clefting The most dangerous period for the health of an infant with facial clefting is the first year of life, and in particular the neonatal period (up to 28 days old). The mortality risk for infants with facial clefting, with or without other abnormalities, was compared by Hujoel et al. (1992: 451-55) to infants with no diagnosed abnormalities. The study was carried out in Washington State over a four-year period. The number of deaths per 1000 live births in the The word for madness in Arabic is ( جنونjunūn) and the word for mad is ( مجنونmajnūn) – to be possessed by djinn, implying a condition caused by external agency.
226
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage first year of life for infants with CP was 11.5 and all had died within the first 27 days of life. The number of deaths per 1000 live births in the first year for infants with CL/P was 36.4, and of those 18.2 infants died in the first 27 days of life. Both sets of figures are for clefting without other anomalies. When clefting is associated with other anomalies the number of deaths is much higher at 441.8:1000 and 352.9:1000 for CP and CL/P respectively (Hujoel et al. 1992: 451-55).227 The physical difficulties related to CL/P and CP are most notable in infancy as nutrition is compromised. The infant cannot create enough vacuum to suckle properly unless there is sufficient tongue protrusion under the nipple to gain suction; breastfeeding may be more difficult to achieve with CP unless the mother hyperlactates to provide rapid milk flow so that little suction or compression is required of the infant (Riski 2014: 7). It has been suggested that mothers in ancient societies might have found alternative ways of feeding, for example, with a spoon or other type of modification (Roberts and Manchester 1995: 40). Two small pinch pots were found in a domestic context at Middle Kingdom Kahun (Griffith 1910: 40, nos 412, 415; Petrie 1890: 24 and plate 8, nos 89, 90); their size and shape may have been designed, or be suitable, for feeding infants. Feeding bottles that may help to control the flow of liquid have also been found in Roman Egypt, for example, a clay bottle in the shape of a pig (Petrie Museum, UC 48325).228 With CP liquid can enter the infant’s nasal cavities during feeding and may leak into the airway after swallowing causing aspiration and a cough response; depending on the position and severity of the cleft, infants with CL/P and CP are also prone to infection (Barnes 1994: 187, 189; Cummings 2008: 40, 51). While the rate of hearing loss for children with CL is no different than that of children without orofacial clefts, CP increases the risk of recurrent or persistent ear infections or the build-up of fluid; current data suggests that 15% of children with cleft palate experience sensorineural hearing loss (Cummings 2008: 50-51). The articulation of speech is also affected with CL, while CP (with or without CL) can result in velopharyngeal incompetence causing hypernasality or unintelligible speech (Cummings 2014: 18-21; Riski 2013: 4-5). Infant survival and functioning and adaptive behaviour associated with intellectual and developmental disorders IDD is often linked with psychiatric conditions including emotional and behavioural problems, psychotic disorders, affective disorders and anxiety disorders (Maulik and Harbour 2010; Munir 2016: 97-99). Gentile and Gillig (2012: 210) report a three- to sixfold increase in the frequency of psychiatric and behavioural problems amongst individuals with intellectual disorders compared to the general population. Aggression and anger, A study in Norway of long-term health outcomes for children born with orofacial clefts (2337 young adults in the cohort with a mean age of 30.6 years), found no increased risks of morbidity or mortality in individuals with isolated CL only compared to unaffected individuals. However, individuals with isolated CL/P showed increased risks of intellectual disability and cerebral palsy, while individuals with isolated CP showed increased mortality, increased risks of intellectual disability, anxiety disorders, autism spectrum disorders, severe learning disabilities, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and muscle or skeletal disorders (Berg et al. 2016: 1063-70). 228 In the Petrie Museum there are feeding cups from 18th dynasty Qurna: UC 19082, UC 19083, UC 19084 (Petrie 1909: 13, XLII, 747, 748), an undated feeding jug from Qurna: UC 19094, and a feeding cup from the Neolithic Period from Jebel Moya in the Sudan: UC 70119. 227
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ expressed physically or verbally, is one of the most frequently reported problem behaviours from childhood to adulthood in individuals with IDD, with increased rates of aggressive behavior in severe to profound intellectual disorders (Benson and Brooks 2008: 454, 457). Higher levels of self-injurious behaviour are associated with severe intellectual and sensory impairments (and visual and hearing deficits are more common in individuals with intellectual disorders) (Carvill and Marston 2002: 264-65; Gentile and Gillig 2012: 214-16; Tenneji et al. 2009: 1252-55).229 Aggression, destructive behaviour and self-injury are included under challenging behaviours by Emerson et al. (2001: 77, 92) who reported that 10-15% of people with mental ‘retardation’ coming into contact with specialist support services showed challenging behaviours (aggression was more common amongst individuals with less severe disabilities, and self-injury more common amongst people with more severe disabilities). The level of care, provision of a safe and secure environment, and the need for protection and supervision all depend on the severity of IDD, so the provision of care and the level of adaptive behaviours required may be time-consuming for all household members and other care providers. In a discussion of the impact of IDD on communication skills, Cummings (2008: 138-49, 152-60) details feeding difficulties experienced by individuals of all ages due to limited linguistic or cognitive skills; speech disorders caused by structural factors, such as CL and CL/P, or neurological factors, including dysarthria and dyspraxia; and difficulties of speech development and language acquisition in children. Cummings (2008: 149-52) also notes that hearing disorders common in individuals with IDD include conductive and sensorineural hearing losses and deficits in central auditory processing, and often more than one type of hearing disorder may be present. Families or communities may develop alternative methods of communication, for example, the sign language specific to families related consanguineously in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and the Al-Sayyid Bedouin community in the Negev desert in Israel (Al-Fityani and Padden 2010: 435, 440, 444-48, see category ABSL; Groce 1985; Kisch 2008: 283-313; Sandler et al. 2014: 252-54). Tyrer et al. (2007: 523) report that life expectancy for individuals with mild IDD does not differ from the general population, but mortality rates for moderate to profound IDD were found to be three times higher than the general population but varied notably with age, with the highest rates amongst men and women in their twenties and the lowest in older age groups. Notable differences in causes of death are noted between individuals with moderate to profound intellectual disability and the general population; they include death due to congenital malformations and diseases of the nervous system and sense organs, respiratory infections, cerebrovascular disease and accidental death (Tyrer 2009: 900-02). A study in Western Australia conducted by Bittles et al. (2002: M470-472) found a negative association between severity of intellectual disability and survival, reporting median life
229 Cooper et al. (2009: 217-32) found that more than a quarter of adults exhibiting self-injurious behaviour remitted within a short to medium term (based on two-year incidence and remission rates). Using the predicted age structure of a regional population in England, Emerson et al. (2001: 86-87) report a rise in challenging behaviour (including self-injurious behaviour) during childhood with an observable decline from school leaving age; however, the decline in challenging behaviour in individuals with severe mental ‘retardation’ is not observable until 50 years of age.
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage expectancies of 74.0, 67.6, and 58.6 years for people with mild, moderate and severe levels of IDD respectively. Finally, the attitudes of the social body that make up the overall community have a significant effect on the well-being of individuals with IDD, particularly the extent to which they are positively received, integrated into family and community, and given tasks, if possible, appropriate to their skills (see Johnson et al. 2012; Mahar et al. 2013; OvermarsMarx et al. 2014; Simplican et al. 2015). Accommodation of impairment and provision of care for non-syndromic orofacial clefting and intellectual and developmental disorders in ancient Egypt Cleft lip and cleft lip and palate The individuals with CL and CL/P reported in the two ancient Egyptian skulls may have required an equal input of care provision from the mother and native resilience from the infant. The condition of the two skulls is not suggestive of extensive provision of care by their mothers (or other females), as the infants may have developed adaptive behaviours such as compensatory suction. We know that the female from Matmar belonged to a low socioeconomic agricultural community living close to the river Nile. Her body was excavated in a cemetery containing 212 females, 162 males, and 131 children dating from 950–650 BC. They were described in Brunton’s (1948: 79) excavation report as the ‘poorest peasant class’; the graves were undisturbed and included pits in sandy ground and simple coffin-shaped mud brick structures; bodies were found in thin wood or reed coffins or covered with sticks or mud bricks. The burials were in a sandy wadi not far from the area of cultivation. Although this cemetery group were from a lower socioeconomic class, as a relatively sedentary agricultural community it is likely that the mother or other females would have had excess time to provide care and safety in relation to feeding and nursing through periods of infection.230 The cause of death for the female with agenesis of the premaxilla is unknown, but the report by Derry (1938: 295) notes that she lived ‘well past middle age’ – above average life expectancy in ancient Egypt (see page 21). The Roman Period child with mild CL/P survived the risks of infancy and we do not know the cause of death later in childhood. In their evaluation of the CT scan of this child, Hoffmann and Hudgins (2002: 1375) point out that although the cleft is seemingly mild, the child may have experienced speech and eating difficulties and would have an increased risk of infection. The child was found in a gilded coffin, indicative of a family that could afford mummification and more elaborate burial arrangements than those found in the Late Period Matmar burials; and also perhaps a family with greater financial resources to offer care provision, and possibly even a wet nurse. Wet nurses were common in elite households, although there are references to wet nurses amongst the Ramesside Period workmen’s community at Deir el-Medina (Janssen and Janssen 1990: 17-18; McDowell 1999: In cemeteries dating to the Old Kingdom and the Ptolemaic Period at Saqqara the main possible causes of child mortality and morbidity are as follows: anaemia, infectious diseases, upper respiratory tract infections, parasitic diseases, droplet infections, and dental decay (sugars mixed with starches are more cariogenic than sugar on its own). Personal correspondence, Iwona Kozieradzka-Ogumankin, February, 2018.
230
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ 36; Robins, 1994-95: 24-25) and in Roman Egypt, for example, P. Tebt. 2.399 from second century AD Oxyrhynchus.231 We do not know if the two individuals with CL and CL/P were born of consanguineous families, but even if they had been it is unlikely they would have required extensive support from a consanguineous network; however, the families of children with more severe forms of orofacial clefting may have called upon this family resource, such as the Nubian adult female (AD 400–600) with a large bilateral cleft (see figure 5.3, page 124). Finally, CL and CL/P would have altered the facial appearance of both these individuals and their articulation of speech. However, there is no evidence from ancient Egypt to suggest that altered physical appearance or speech impairment due to congenital anomalies would have marked these people as different or ‘disabled’ or have given them a liminal status in society. Intellectual and developmental disorders The range of conditions encompassed by IDD does not allow a specific case study for its presentation and reception in ancient Egypt, but the presentation of mild to severe IDD is likely to require notably different levels of care and vary considerably in its impact on the family. Deficiencies in reading, writing and mathematical ability were probably less important in ancient Egypt than in modern societies. While the content of scribal texts, such as the Middle Kingdom Satire of the Trades, elevates the social importance of literate individuals, stating that learning garners respect, enhances authority and offers access to power, the majority of Egyptians were not literate.232 Baines (1983: 584) estimates that the literacy rate in pharaonic Egypt was one per cent, although it was higher in Deir el-Medina due to the skills required for resident crews working on the royal tombs. McDowell (1999: 4) suggests that literacy in Deir el-Medina peaked in the 20th dynasty when an estimated forty per cent of the population was literate, including almost all the young boys (see n.122). Bowman (1986: 20) points out that the Greeks brought to Egypt a level of literacy that had a ‘gradual but ultimately massive impact’ resulting in increased bureaucracy and the widespread production of written material, but how far literacy extended amongst the population is difficult to gauge. Impairments resulting from IDD would also be likely to affect the acquisition and performance of practical skills, such as carpentry or metalwork, although this depends upon the severity of the condition, as does full participation in agriculture and food production. Family or community participation in shared domestic or agricultural activities might offer roles for individuals with IDD that are commensurate with their skills and performed in a protective, or at least supervised environment. Speech impairment or hearing disorders arising from IDD may not have limited the effective functioning of an individual within the family or community, although an increased P. Tebt. 2.399 is a receipt for the services of a female slave as a wet nurse over the course of three years: ‘(Thenkebkis acknowledges) the receipt from him, Isidoros, of 500 drachmas of silver, being the residue of payments for nursing and oil and other expenses during three years in which Sarapias, the slave of Thenkebkis, suckled and nurtured Eudaimon surnamed Mu’ (Trismegistos 28423). The majority of wet nurses in Roman Egypt were free women as opposed to slaves. Personal correspondence, April Pudsey, February, 2018. 232 For Satire of the Trades, see Lichtheim, (1975: 184-92); see also Papyrus Lansing, P. Brit. Mus. 9994 (20th dynasty) in praise of the scribe’s profession (Lichtheim 1976: 168-75). While these texts deride manual labour, Lichtheim (1975: 184) points out that all types of labour are respected in the major didactic texts: the Instructions of Ptahhotep and The Eloquent Peasant. 231
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage input of time may have been required to clarify communication. There is evidence in the Ebers (761-81), Edwin Smith and Berlin Papyri for the treatment of hearing disorders and deafness, for example, ‘to treat the deaf of an ear, insert the sting of a scorpion’ (Berlin papyrus, (B)71, 1350–1200 BC), while the Ebers Papyrus prescribes an application of red ochre and tamarix juice finely ground with balanites oil ‘for an ear whose hearing is poor’ (Stephens 2006: 87).233 Deafness and physical weakness associated with ageing are referred to in the literary Instructions of Ptahhotep, ‘eyes are dim, ears deaf, strength is waning through weariness, the mouth, silenced, speaks not’ (Lichtheim 1975: 63). Finally, the ears are the channels through which the breaths of life and death enter:234 …There are two metu in him to his right ear, the breath of life enters into them. There are two metu in him to his left ear. The breath of death enters into them. Ebers 856g, Nunn, Ancient Egyptian Medicine, 1996: 94. While hearing and speech impairment might limit an individual’s ability to fully participate in conversations or social gatherings, this can be accommodated by the family and by the community in which they live. The islanders of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts adapted to generations of inherited deafness in the community with sign language, used by hearing and non-hearing individuals, so that bilingualism (speech and signs) formed an integral part of all island events involving communication (Groce 1985: 59). In a study of hereditary deafness on the island, Groce (1985: 40-41) notes that by the late 18th century 96% of the population was married to a relation (usually cousins).235 The community of Al Sayyid Bedouin in the Negev desert, founded by their common ancestor Al-Sayyid early in the 19th century, practise consanguineous marriage within their village community, with a current population of approximately 3700 (Kisch 2008: 288). As a result of genetic isolation, high levels of non-syndromic recessive deafness have been found in the village, beginning with the first report of congenital deafness three generations ago. In 2004 there was a prevalence rate of 3.3% of non-syndromic recessive deafness amongst villagers; using population figures of the village for 2008 the prevalence rate was approximately 122 out of 3700 villagers, compared to the expected rate of 1-1.7:1000 for congenital deafness against a general background population (Giaillusi et al. 2013: 894-95; Kisch 2008: 288). The Al-Sayyid community has developed an indigenous sign language used by deaf and hearing people, with deaf villagers fully integrated and marrying at the same rates as hearing villagers; estimates suggest most families in this community have at least one deaf member (Giaillusi et al. 2013: 895). Unlike ancient Egyptian Nile Valley settlements, the examples above are isolated settlements through lack of immigration, or cultural choice/pressure, however, they do illustrate the capacity of families and communities to accommodate hearing loss and As part of the autopsy of mummy PUM II, a male aged 30-40 years thought to date from the Ptolemaic Period, Benitez (1998: 485-90) identified a perforated eardrum and middle ear disease; evidence of middle ear disease has also been reported in an Egyptian mummy by Horne et al. (1976: 713-15). 234 See Stephens (2006: 85-93) for a summary of attitudes towards deafness in ancient civilisations and attitudes towards hearing loss and impairment. 235 When Groce began her research in 1979 most of the islanders who could remember the island’s deaf population were already elderly and few could still ‘speak sign language’. Groce (1985: 109-10) reports that the community never regarded deafness as a ‘handicap’. 233
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ communicate effectively. Congenital hearing or speech impairment may have occurred more frequently in ancient Egyptian isolated settlements if the gene causing hearing deficit was present in the interbred families, but we do not know if any type of indigenous speech language existed.236 Although inbreeding has been associated with higher levels of morbidity and mortality, consanguineous marriages in small isolated communities also reportedly result in faster population growth, despite the deleterious effects of interbreeding; since the number of consanguineous unions is high, the mortality levels resulting from inbreeding are exceeded by the number of surviving offspring (Denic et al. 2012: S227-32). Perceptions of health, sickness and disability in ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, medical papyri and human remains are witness to physical disorders, sickness, trauma, and disease alongside the physical decline of senescence. If a social model of disability is applied, there is no indication in ancient Egypt that individuals with medical conditions, diseases or disorders were treated as outsiders or as socially different,237 although dwarfs and blind musicians may have had different status because of symbolic associations with their conditions. Dwarfs are commonly depicted as members of elite households in Old Kingdom tombs, in the Middle Kingdom they are mainly represented as attendants and nurses in tomb models, and from the New Kingdom onwards human dwarfs rarely appear in reliefs or paintings, although there is a widespread increase in statues and amulets of the dwarf gods Bes and Ptah-Pataikos (Dasen 1993: 126-31, 143).238 Blindness is frequently associated with musicians, particularly harpists, and Bleiberg (2005: 174) records that at least 47 tombs in the Theban necropolis depict blind harpists. While music may have been deemed an appropriate occupation for the blind, the association between loss of sight and music may have had symbolic associations, or a closed eye may indicate concentration during performance. Manniche (1978: 13-21) suggests that blindness or being blindfolded could signify that the person is not allowed to see or not supposed to be seen, such as the blindfolded musicians in the sun temples of Amenophis IV at Karnak and in the Amarna tombs. In a number of Graeco-Roman texts impairments are mentioned as identifying features, for example, P. Mich. inv. 675 (P. Mich. 5.323, AD 47, Tebtunis) names ‘Heraklous, who is lame’ 236 All of the deaf members of the Al-Sayyid Bedouin community are descended from two of the five adult sons of the community’s founder, Al-Sayyid (Scott et al. 1995: 965). Groce (1985: 35) states that the original unrelated English settlers of Martha’s Vineyard did not carry the gene for congenital deafness; it was not until they intermarried with English settlers, families from the Weald in Kent, that deaf individuals were born. Immigration to the island virtually stopped after 1710; the population was 400 by 1700 and after 1800 it remained stable at around 3100 until the early 20th century. 237 (i) A model in which society determines who is disabled as opposed to disability being an attribute of the individual (Oliver 1990: 22-24). See Oliver (2013: 1024-26) and Shakespeare (2013: 214-21) for further discussion on, and development of, the social model of disability. (ii) I have used the following definitions from the American Medical Association (2011): ‘condition indicates a state of health, whether well or ill; disease denotes a condition characterized by functional impairment, structural change, and the presence of specific signs and symptoms; disorder, in contrast, denotes a condition characterized by functional impairment without structural change’ (which may, but not necessarily, be accompanied by specific signs or symptoms). 238 Dasen (1993: 251-87) lists 207 representations of dwarfs from the Early Dynastic to the Late Period in Egypt; Weeks (1970: 163-95) lists 99 representations of dwarfs from the Predynastic Period to the New Kingdom.
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage as a slave in a property division and P. Mich. inv. 4172 (P. Mich. 4.358A, AD 173– 4, Karanis) lists ‘Maximus the leper’ on a tax roll. There is an unusual account of the lived experience of blindness in the legal petitions submitted by Gaius Gemellus Horigenes, a landowner in Karanis (born c. AD 171, Archive of Gemellus Horion, AD 93–214, Karanis),239 who complains of discrimination and assault as a direct result of impaired vision – one eye is blind and the other has a cataract (Draycott 2015: 194-200). Eye conditions, whether congenital or acquired are not unusual in antiquity and Draycott (2015: 200-01) observes that Gaius Gemellus Horigenes may have highlighted his blindness as a means of drawing attention and sympathy to his case: in P. Mich. 6.425 (AD 198) we hear him claim: ‘This person who held me in contempt because of my infirmity – for I have only one eye and I do not see with it, although it appears to have sight, so that I am utterly worthless in both – victimized me, having first publicly abused me and my mother’. The following sections in this chapter suggest ways in which impairments and congenital anomalies might be perceived and accommodated in ancient Egypt in the context of the treatment of sickness and abnormalities in medical papyri, iconography, burial and religious beliefs. The medical papyri Ancient Egyptian medical papyri treat a wide range of conditions without judgement or partiality. In modern assessments of the texts, certain papyri are deemed more ‘medical’ than others. For example, the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus (c.1600 BC) details practical treatment for traumatic injury while the Ebers Papyrus (c.1550 BC), which is termed magico-medical, is a collection of notes, extracts and prescriptions, including spells and incantations. It could be argued that treatment of certain trauma or snakebites was inevitably more practical since the injuries were more visible compared to internal disorders or infectious diseases.240 However, the Egyptians did not perceive a separation between medicine and magic in that both were effective and complementary. As Ritner (1993: 8) remarks, describing a text as magical as opposed to medical or religious is highly subjective and problematic since the Egyptians regarded magic as ‘quintessentially part of nature…coeval with the creation of the natural order’. The Egyptians believed that divine power and magical energy lay in the names of gods and in the incantation of spells, and medical papyri contained varying degrees of magical content; it is this interweaving of magic and medicine that likely played an effective role in the perception of healing (David 2004: 134). Disease was attributed to external agency whether it was identifiable, as in the case of a bite or a traumatic injury, or unidentifiable as in the case of epidemics borne by demons entering the individual (Forshaw 2014: 26). It is, therefore, justifiable to consider what is currently termed IDD within the ancient Egyptian framework of disease-bearing external agency (conversely, certain conditions may have been attributed to benign influences). Some spells relied on the power of the word alone to address the evil root of the disease, such as the preventative incantation ‘for barring air of the bitterness of For the Archive of Gemellus Horion see: https://www.trismegistos.org/archive/90. Accessed 10.8.2017. Nunn (1996: 188) points out that treatment for snakebite was threefold: local treatment of the bitten area, treatment with mainly herbal medicine (most frequently onion) and magical incantations.
239 240
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ the night demons’ (P. Edwin Smith, vs. l. 11, Allen 2005: 107), while others invoked a deity alongside the use of drugs: Incantation for drinking a remedy, the remedy comes and there comes that which drives (evil) things from this my heart and these my limbs. Strong in magic in combination with medicine and vice versa... Ebers 3, Nunn, Ancient Egyptian Medicine, 1996: 105. There are also uncertainties in the modern interpretation of ancient Egyptian medical texts; some leave little room for doubt such as treatment for an infected wound described in a gloss to Case 41 of the Edwin Smith Papyrus: ‘As for ‘his flesh cannot receive a bandage’, it means that his flesh will not receive the remedies because of the fever/inflammation which is in his flesh’ (Nunn 1996: 173).241 Other medical texts are open to interpretation, for example, Nunn (1996: 85-87) interprets the set of glosses in Ebers 855 as ‘pathological states of the heart’ but Okasha (1999: 919) considers some of the glosses indicate psychiatric or psychotic conditions (see page 135). Furthermore, there are names of illnesses that cannot be identified although some or all of the pharmacopeia used in treatments are recognisable, for example, Papyrus Hearst 39 (1550 BC) prescribes the external application of carob and salt of Lower Egypt, boiled in urine, to drive out the ashyt disease (Nunn 1996: 149). It is tempting to suggest that the glosses in Ebers 855, or the description of the man ‘in the hand of the god’ in the Instructions of Amenemope, or terms for madness in late Egyptian and Coptic might accommodate some of the conditions arising from IDD, but it is inappropriate to make this equation. I can only propose that based on modern biological outcomes of consanguineous marriage it is likely that consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt gave rise, within some families, to children with varying levels of IDD. However, there is no evidence to suggest that these individuals were regarded as outsiders or treated differently in their families or communities because of their condition, nor evidence to suggest that conditions falling into the modern category of IDD would have even been recognised as such or specifically categorised by Egyptian priests/doctors. Furthermore, there is no evidence to indicate that ancient Egyptians recognised that children born of consanguineous marriages might be at risk of congenital disorders. Therapeutic dreams and ritual bathing Individuals with IDD may have displayed erratic or unpredictable behaviours for which dream therapy or ritual bathing might have been considered to have healing properties.242 Dreams in ancient Egypt were not thought to arise innately but had an objective existence whereby the individual entered an alternative state enabling them to see a dream, or see something within a dream; for a temporary period the barriers to perception that are The Edwin Smith Papyrus, mainly describing trauma, is a book of instruction listing 48 cases that are each divided into examination, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. 242 Skrzypińska and Szmigielska (2018: 97-115) discuss the increasing use of dream analysis as a therapeutic tool within cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), while Wilner (2007: 14-21) reviews evidence for the effectiveness of CBT in adults with learning disabilities in a range of studies, noting its increasing use as an effective treatment for groups and individuals, particularly in relation to anger management. 241
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage present in a waking state are drawn back (Szpakowska 2003: 20-21; 2001: 31). The earliest references to dreams are ‘Letters to the Dead’ from the First Intermediate Period, which act as a channel of communication with the dead; for example, a man begs his late wife to ease his pain and requests that he might see her doing so in a dream (Wente 1990: 215, no. 349). In the New Kingdom, pharaohs reference dreams in their biographies as an affirmation of their direct line of communication with gods and their legitimacy to rule, but by the end of the New Kingdom dreams also provided access to gods for non-royal individuals and, as Szpakowska (2011: 509-10; 2001: 30, 32-33) points out, the changing function, perception and reference to dreams reflects political and religious change, including changes in the sanctioned expressions of piety.243 There is also textual evidence for nightmares and the driving out of ‘bad things’ causing the nightmares and it is interesting that Szpakowska (2001: 35) remarks that the Egyptians did not feel the need to distinguish spells for banishing nightmares from other magical spells. There is no separation between mental anxiety or fear and physical infection or trauma, so that all conditions are accommodated and worthy of medical/magical treatment. By the Ptolemaic Period dreams were incubated within temple precincts, for example, the sanitorium attached to the temple of Hathor at Denderah and the Sarapieion and Asklepieion at Saqqara (although access may have been limited to cult officials in the Serapieion) (Renberg 2010: 653-54).244 There is also increased evidence for dream interpreters and references to dreams in Ptolemaic dream texts, including the extensive compilation in the Greek and demotic Archive of Hor of Sebennytos, found at Saqqara. Hor interprets dreams, consults a lector priest regarding his own dreams and occasionally receives medical prescriptions through dreams (Renberg 2017: 725, 2015: 243; see also Ray 1978, 1976). Certain categories of Egyptian priests working in the House of Life may have divined dreams as part of their role, for example, the ‘knower of things’ (rḫ-ḫt) or the lector priest (ẖry-ḥbt), both attested from the Old Kingdom; in Deir el-Medina the ‘wise woman’ (t3 rḫt) is recognised as a healer with skills to diagnose illness and mediate between the deceased and the gods (Forshaw 2014: 32; Graves-Brown 2010: 80; Lesko 1994: 26; Meskell 1999: 180; Ritner 1993: 229-33; Szpakowska 2011: 514).245 By the Ptolemaic Period the role of dream interpreter is also closely associated with the pastophóroi (‘gatekeepers’), such as Hor of Sebennytos, working at sites associated with temple incubation and dream divination (although the presence of a dream interpreter at a particular site is not proof of incubation at that site) (Renberg 2017: 719-21, 734).246 Dream interpreters may have also operated 243 The only dream manual found in Egypt prior to the Graeco-Roman Period is recorded on P. Chester Beatty 3, rt. 1-11 (dated to the early years of the reign of Ramesses II) and excavated at Deir el-Medina. Szpakowska (2001: 34) notes that while the dreams it interprets offer insights into the wishes and concerns of the villagers of Deir elMedina, they do not explore the psychology of individual Egyptians and there is uncertainty as to whether this text required a dream interpreter or was a curiosity. See Szpakowska (2011: 509-17) for a discussion on P. Chester Beatty 3, rt. 1-11. 244 It is likely that the Theban temple of Imhotep had an incubation facility although no evidence survives (Renberg 2017: 726). 245 Forshaw (2014: 8) notes that the earliest known record for a lector priest is a 2nd dynasty vase inscription, but activities for the lector are lacking before the 5th dynasty; see also Forshaw (2014: 115-21) for the role of the lector priest in healing. 246 Although there is abundant evidence for dream interpreters in Greek and Roman cults, they did not have a formal role as in Egyptian cults; during the Graeco-Roman Period outside of Egypt, the only known reference to individuals with the title of dream interpreter has been found in Greek inscriptions at the Egyptian sanctuaries at Delos and Athens (Renberg 2015: 235, 241).
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ independently, for example, a Ptolemaic stela found in the vicinity of the Anoubieion at Saqqara advertises the services of a dream ‘judge’, which raises questions as to whether this ‘judge’ was operating as an independent professional or in the service of the temple (Renberg 2015: 243-44). The conditions of the dream-inducing incubation temples place the patient into a state of receptivity enabling the priests to unravel and interpret the dreams in a method that Nasser (1987: 422) likens to hypnotherapy.247 Okasha (2001: 378) highlights the role of suggestion in the psychotherapeutic methods used in the incubation temples, pointing out that the treatment depends on the manifestations and contents of dreams, which in turn were affected by the temple environment combined with confidence in the healer’s powers and the deities invoked. It is reasonable to suggest that unusual or aberrant behaviours associated with IDD may have been interpreted as forms of hostile possession suitable for dream therapy treatment, alongside but not differentiated from other abnormal physical and mental states. In a modern study of the conceptual use of dreams in psychotherapy, Eudell-Simons and Hilsenroth (2005: 267) found that, as a whole, treatments using dream interpretation are either effective or not detrimental. Steck and Steck (2016: 225-27) assess dreams and the dreaming brain, presenting a range of functions for dreams, which include a form of thinking and feeling that offers help with problem-solving and creative activities; a means of addressing the regulation of emotions and social interactions; and a form of restitution following traumatic experiences. Cemeteries and intramural burials There is no evidence in ancient Egypt that individuals with impairments or physical abnormalities were buried in separate areas or in different contexts. There are indications in the Ptolemaic Period in Dakhleh Oasis that four individuals with leprosy were excluded from their city and sent to this desert location, but not excluded at death from burial in the ancient necropolis at Dakhleh.248 Evidence for physical abnormalities in skeletal and mummified remains include the burial of a four year old girl, reported by Bruyère as having hydrocephalus (tomb no. 1375), found in a lower level of the Deir el-Medina eastern necropolis where infants, children and adults were buried at different strata according to age, the youngest at the base (Bruyère 1937: 11-15, 166-67; Zillhardt 2009: 27-28).249 Other sub-adults buried in the same necropolis were two children with achondroplasia, estimated to be four and six years old (tomb no. 1372b and 1372c), a boy aged four with scoliosis (tomb no. 1373), and a boy of three years named Ikry (tomb no. 1390) described in Bruyère’s 247 In psychoanalytical theories dreams have multiple functions including the following: a form of communication influenced by the interest of the listener and all aspects of the dream are important to understand the dreamer and the dream (Blum 2011: 275-77); a form of unconscious thinking in which the mind ‘deals with conflicts by giving expressive pictorial representation to the emotions involved in a conflict’ (Da Rocha Barros 2011: 270); a way of expressing fulfilment of unconscious childhood wishes and conflicts (Freud 1913: 129-39). 248 This is currently the earliest evidence for leprosy in ancient Egypt. Dzierzykray-Rogalski (1980: 72-73) suggests these four European morphological type males may be high status due to their proximity to the ancient necropolis, and their burial at Dakhleh Oasis may indicate expulsion from a city because of their infectious condition. The diagnoses of leprosy at Dakhleh Oasis have since been confirmed by DNA analysis (Donoghue et al. 2005: 389-94). 249 There is uncertainty as to whether the individuals buried here are linked to Deir el-Medina or are from outside the community. Personal communication, Cédric Gobeil, April 2018.
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage report as being severely physically deformed (Bruyère 1937: 165, 202; Janot 2003: 175-80; Meskell 1999: 171; Zillhardt 2009: 15-16, 22, 26).250 There are numerous recorded examples of spinal conditions of varying degrees of severity, for example, radiographical reports of 31 mummies in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, show that three adult males had kyphotic curves in situ in life (Raven and Taconis 2005: 109, 150, 161). There are rare skeletal remains displaying a range of types of dwarfism, amongst which achondroplasia is most frequently identified (Dasen 1993: 16-21; Kozma et al. 2011: 1817-24; Kozma 2006: 305-06). Skeletal remains of a male aged 25-33 years, buried in the Old Kingdom lower necropolis at Saqqara, showed indications of acromegaly, and hereditary multiple exostoses was observed in three adults at the same site (male aged 3545 years, female 50+ years, male 40-50 years) (Kaczmarek and Kozieradzka-Ogunmakin 2013: 366-67, 374, 381; Kuraszkiewicz et al. 2010: 102-05).251 There is also evidence of prostheses, for example, a prosthetic toe attached to a female mummy aged 50-55 years, 21st–22nd dynasty (Finch et al. 2012: 181-91; Finch 2011: 548-49; Nerlich et al. 2000: 2176-79) and a possible prosthesis (or restoration) of a lower forearm, the result of trauma or a congenital anomaly, in an early Ptolemaic female aged 50-60 years at death (Finch 2012/2013: 11824).252 In a 6th dynasty cemetery at Matmar containing 103 bodies buried in simple pit graves, Brunton (1948: 33, no. 3316) records the body of an adult male whose left hand is missing, noting that the healed bone at the site of injury indicates pre-mortem loss. There is mortuary evidence for the careful burial of infants and neonates in ancient Egypt that may reflect their significance as social beings. At the base of the eastern necropolis at Deir el-Medina, Bruyère (1937: 12-13) reported the remains of infants, foetuses, neonates, placentas and viscera, often accompanied by sharpened flint tools which Bruyère thought may have been used during the mothers’ delivery; Harrington (2012: 141-42) suggests the flints may have been buried without re-use because of their negative associations with the early death of the children. In the Kellis 2 cemetery (3rd– 4th century AD) at Dakhleh Oasis, 82 foetal and perinatal skeletons, many wrapped individually in linen, were found buried in the same location as the general cemetery population (Tocheri et al. 2005: 32641).253 Commenting on the Deir el-Medina burials, Meskell (2002: 81) believes deliberate interments of foetuses, neonates and infants indicates that even the very youngest were considered embodied persons whose untimely deaths deserved the same response and care as adults.254 Although children were usually buried in cemeteries, intramural burials 250 Bruyère (1937: 202) describes the child as ‘un petit enfant monstrueux aux jambes torses, au crâne difforme dont les hypophyses n’ont jamais pu se souder et ont doté l’enfant d’un bec de lièvre prononcé’. 251 Hereditary multiple exostoses have been reported in a consanguineous family in Pakistan (Faiyaz-Ul-Haque 2004: 144-51), although a study of 21 cases of hereditary multiple exostoses in an island community on Guam reported no known familial consanguinity (Krooth et al. 1961: 340-47). The condition affects 1-3% of the general population, amongst which 10-15% are hereditary (Staal et al. 2014: 1-8). 252 It is unlikely that families or communities in lower socioeconomic circumstances could afford, or have access to prosthetic limbs in life (evidence that they were capable of being functional is rare), or pay for mummification and the restoration of a limb at death (see Finch 2012/2013: 124-26). 253 Marlow (2001: 108) suggests that the east-west orientation and scant grave goods in the Kellis 2 cemetery may indicate adoption of Christian beliefs. 254 In a discussion on Egyptian birth and child mortality, Robins (1994-5: 28) provides the following data for numbers of children’s burials in the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period in the cemeteries at Gurob, Matmar and Mostagedda: 50% of 276 graves at Gurob, 48% of 233 graves at Matmar, and 42% of 31 graves at Mostagedda; there was also a children’s cemetery at Gurob where bodies were buried in shallow rock-cut pits.
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ of infants less than one year old have been recorded under house floors from all periods of ancient Egypt, including Middle Kingdom Kahun (Petrie 1890: 24) and New Kingdom Amarna (Frankfort and Pendlebury 1933: 43; Peet and Woolley 1923, Part 1: 17, 85).255 Infant burials have also been found in urban areas, but outside domestic contexts, including six infant (10-12 months old) burials dating to the early 19th dynasty found under a fortification wall at Tell el-Retaba (Rzepka 2011: 155-56) and six infants found in the urban area of ‘Ayn Asil, five of whom were buried on the former site of the governor’s palace, dated from the end of the Old Kingdom to the beginning of the First Intermediate Period, leading to the suggestion that this was a zone dedicated to infant burials (Gobeil 2009: 161-75). Evidence for deviant or irregular burials in ancient Egypt (undisturbed burials that diverge from normal burials of their period and unaltered due to taphonomic processes) includes manipulations of the body, difference in body position, divergence in coffin types and accompanying grave goods, and tomb modifications.256 I am not aware of reports from ancient Egypt of deviant or irregular burials linked to pre-mortem physical abnormalities or impairments. Physical abnormalities in iconography The majority of formal and informal representations of physical abnormalities appear in funerary iconography. Certain types of physical abnormalities are included and others omitted, and it appears that physical abnormalities that do not prohibit movement and the use of most senses fall within normal funerary artistic parameters. In contrast, a range of diseases and conditions that may cause instability or destruction are held at bay through omission, symbol and magic (Robinson 2017: 6). Eight conditions depicted on statues, funerary stelae, reliefs or paintings are dwarfism, blindness, poliomyelitis, talipes equinovarus, kyphosis, trauma, hernias and swellings, and genu recurvatum.257 Physical conditions, diseases and abnormalities that, as far as I am aware, have not been identified in funerary iconography but have been described or indicated in medical papyri and/or identified in ancient Egyptian human remains include parasitic diseases, cardiovascular and lung diseases, ear, nose, skin, dental, and gynaecological disorders.258 Depictions of snake or scorpion bites have also not been Filer (1998: 391) estimates that at least 20% of all infants died within their first year. Halcrow and Tayles (2011: 334-36) discuss the challenges presented generally by the variety of terminologies used to describe childhood and age categories in the context of biological approaches used to assess health and disease amongst children. See Kamp (2001: 1-34) for a study on the archaeology of childhood in prehistoric contexts. 255 Infant jar burials in Egypt and Sudan, including those found in domestic contexts, are discussed by Kilroe (2014: 217-28). 256 (i) Antje Kohse, personal communication and conference presentations: Current Research in Egyptology 2014, London; Egyptological Conference in Copenhagen 2016, Copenhagen. (ii) Millela et al. (2015: 1) use the term ‘irregular’ in preference to ‘deviant’, describing them as ‘burials showing features that contrast with the majority of others in their geographic and chronological context’. See also Aspöck (2008: 169-90) for a definition of deviant burials. 257 For representations of physical abnormalities in funerary iconography and commentaries on perceptions of disability, see David (2017: 75-89); Filer (1995); Ghalioungui (1963, 1973); Jeffreys and Tait (2000: 87-95); Kamal (1967); Nunn (1996); Robinson (2017: 6-33); Weeks (1970); Worth Estes (1989); Zakrzewski (2015: 157-67, 2014: 57-68). 258 This summary is not a comprehensive account of represented and unrepresented medical conditions in funerary, or other, iconography.
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage identified, but there are protective spells for the deceased in the Book of the Dead, for example, Spell 33: I know your name, Ḥf3w-snake. Do not go against me! Behold, Geb and Shu have stood up against you. If you bite into me, you will have eaten a mouse, the abomination of Re, and you will have chewed the bones of an afflicted cat. Spell 33, Mosher, An Intriguing Theban Book of the Dead tradition in the Late Period, 2010: 133. The unrepresented medical conditions, such as parasitic diseases or snakebites, may be excluded from the context of the afterlife as they represent pain, disorder, or uncontrolled sickness that threatens the individual or community. However, some medical conditions may have proved difficult to depict visually and are therefore unrepresented in funerary art. I propose that IDD and orofacial clefting are included in this category, although there is a possibility that behavioural aspects of IDD might be associated with disorder, particularly in a funerary context.
Figure 5.8: Funerary stela of Roma the doorkeeper, dedicated to the goddess Astarte, 18th dynasty. The depiction of Roma’s physical condition could indicate poliomyelitis, talipes equinovarus, and/or cerebral palsy. Reproduced courtesy of Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Photograph: Ole Haupt.
Figure 5.9: Attendants in the tomb of Baqt I, Middle Kingdom. The feet of the figure in the centre of the lower register suggest talipes equinovarus, while the figure to the left appears to have kyphosis and the figure to the right may be a dwarf. Redrawn by author after Newberry, Beni Hasan, 1893, Part 2, tomb no. 29, south wall, plate 32.
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Visual signs of physical abnormality are indicators of Egyptian attitudes to ability and disability, and what may be acceptable or unacceptable in the afterlife. There appear to be ‘positive’ physical differences that are socially acceptable in funerary iconography, but their representation does not make them any the less socially or culturally normal. For example, the 18th dynasty funerary stela of Roma the doorkeeper displays muscle atrophy and shortening in the right leg with an equinus deformity of the foot, which could indicate poliomyelitis, talipes equinovarus, or cerebral palsy (Kozma 2010: 291; Nunn 1996: 77; Rida 1962: 735-6; Panteliadis et al. 2013: 286). Roma is at the centre of the scene and although his leg is withered, the ball of his foot rests on the same baseline as that of his wife and child; his physical abnormality does not affect his centrality in this stela nor are there overtones of perceived disability in relation to those next to him. (see figure 5.8 and Jeffreys and Tait 2000: 90).259 The depiction of Roma the doorkeeper’s physical abnormalities and of other medical conditions in iconography might portray difference, but their main elements sit within the Egyptian artistic canon – the figures themselves are not disordered or threatening, and all have the ability to function and participate in the afterlife (Robinson 2017: 6, 26). There is, however, a difference in status as physical abnormalities are more frequently depicted amongst servants and working people in tombs (for example, figure 5.9, see Dasen 1993: 135; Newberry 1893: 36 and plate 32; Nunn 1996: 79; Ruffer 1921: 42). This association of roles with physical characteristics may reflect the observation of occupationally acquired conditions, or the occupation chosen because of the medical condition, but certain physical differences often appear to signpost non-elite status and activities (Hebron 2005: 95; Jeffreys and Tait 2000: 9293; Weeks 1970: 120).260 While many of the physical abnormalities listed above indicate specific conditions or diseases, there is a risk in inferring specific congenital or infective causes from generalised physical abnormalities, such as spinal kyphosis or foot deformities. There is also the possibility that representations indicating medical conditions are due to stylistic convention, artist’s error, or simply the challenge artists faced in presenting numerous activities within the parameters of funerary iconography.261 Overall, however, depictions of physical abnormalities are rare in relation to the thousands of human figures depicted in Egyptian iconography. Funerary ritual: renewal, protection and sustenance You come to the earth in the tomb of the west… Your eyes are given to see, Your ears to hear what is spoken; Your mouth speaks, your feet walk, Your hands, your arms have motion. The Prayers of Paheri in his tomb at El-Kab, Lichtheim, Ancient Eyptian Literature, 1976: 17. (i) Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, AEIN 0134. (ii) For a discussion on the physical representation of Roma the doorkeeper and of other medical conditions portrayed in iconography, including reference to their original sources, see Robinson 2017: 12-23. 260 See Hebron (2005: 95-110) for an assessment of anatomical abnormalities possibly caused by occupation and anatomical abnormalities often associated with specific occupations but not caused by them. 261 In a study of the human figure in ancient Egyptian art, Weeks (1970: 146-49) highlights the judgement required to identify medical conditions since the majority of physical abnormalities represented fall between the deliberate depiction of physical abnormality and artist’s error. Difficulties of differentiation are also discussed by Smith (1949: 309-16). 259
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage Ideally the body was embalmed, although many could not afford this, but religious ritual and the provision of goods and protective amulets, however simple, were important. Through correct procedures and commemoration, the dead with their physical weaknesses and abnormalities that were unavoidable in life (but potentially treatable with medicine and/or magic) could be renewed in the afterlife. What is represented or buried in the tomb is transformed through ritual and magic, while threats and disorder are kept at bay. The Opening of the Mouth ceremony, enacted before the mummy and on a statue of the deceased during the burial, imbued life into the mummy and all the inanimate forms in the tomb (David 2002: 121). It was the means through which the (healthy) deceased has a continued place in the afterlife. Continuing funerary rituals to ensure continuity between the worlds of the living and the dead included regular provision of food at the tomb to sustain the ka (life force) of the deceased. Protection in the tomb from danger, including attacks potentially resulting in physical dismemberment, was further enhanced by guides and spells, including Coffin Texts (widespread in the Middle Kingdom) and the Book of the Dead (widespread in the New Kingdom).262 Consanguineous marriage and the provision of support networks The ancient Egyptian outlook on disability must have been partly affected by the belief that impairment, illness and human ageing could be replaced by a transformed state at death, and then protected in the afterlife (providing the correct funerary procedures were followed at burial and after death). But this ideal lay at the end of life and the provision of care was borne by family and community, while individuals with congenital or acquired physical and mental disorders had to manage the lived experience of their conditions. In a study on the modern perception of perceived quality of life, particularly in relation to individuals with IDD, Alborz (2017: 18-20) discusses the place of the ‘person’ in the various models that are currently used. By applying psychological theory, Alborz highlights the individual’s varying perception of a ‘good’ quality of life and how this might vary amongst individuals who share similar circumstances. This level of variation within an individual’s determination of their quality of life finds resonance in the discussion of the lived experience of individuals with physical or mental impairment in ancient Egypt. Even when we have (rare) textual sources directly referring to a personal physical impairment, such as Gaius Gemellus Horigenes complaining of his ongoing ill-treatment and discrimination at the hands of neighbours and authorities, and its detrimental impact upon his family (Archive of Gemellus Horion, Karanis, see page 131), is this a subjective judgement based on his quality of life or a technique to draw official attention to his plight? The same variation in response might come from families who care for individuals with impairments. As evidence from ancient Egypt is so fragmentary these questions are difficult, if not impossible, to answer and textual sources are affected by context and intended audience. For example, two children abandoned by their father on his second marriage petition the gods for help as they have been denied their rightful inheritance due on their mother’s death See Nyord (2009) on conceptions of the body in the Middle Kingdom Coffin texts, including discussion on individual body parts.
262
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‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ (P. BM 10845, see page 46) – are they children left homeless and hungry or has their plight been exaggerated in their plea? ‘Quality of life’ as an assessment tool in a health environment is an emic concept, and subjective, and when applied to ancient Egypt draws the discussion into a much wider framework encompassing families, communities, state and religion that is beyond the scope of this study. However, drawing on available archaeological and textual sources, what has been proposed in this chapter are interpretations regarding the lived experience of individuals and attitudes within Egyptian society towards impairment and abnormalities. The final question posed here is the extent to which ties of consanguinity can ease the emotional, social and economic burdens of morbidity and mortality? To help answer this, it is constructive to review current reasons given by families and couples as to why they chose consanguineous marriage. The reported economic and social advantages include the consolidation of family property, the strengthening of family bonds, and the transmission of cultural values (Bittles 2001a: 5, 2001b: 91; Chisholm and Bittles 2015: 3; Hamamy et al. 2011: 843; Joseph 2007: 757-58; Mobarak et al. 2019: 425, 427). There are also reported advantages of increased female autonomy, decreased risk of violence and divorce,263 reduction in hidden uncertainties regarding the appropriateness of the union and ease of financial negotiations (Alwan and Modell 1997: 67-70; Bittles and Hamamy 2010: 90; Hussain 1999: 453-59). Writing on the choice of kin in consanguineous marriages, Denic et al. (2010a: 746) conclude that, overall, members of consanguineous families receive up to two and a half times more support and cumulative help than members of non-consanguineous families, with statistically varying levels of support according to the type of consanguineous marriage.264 The strengthening of supportive ties within consanguineous families creates ‘bonding social capital’ – these are the links created through shared similarities that enable cooperation and the larger the cooperating group, the greater the social capital they achieve (Joshi et al. 2009: 5).265 Denic et al. (2010a: 747) also suggest that increased levels of support and protection in the event of accidental trauma, or in times of warfare or scarce resources, might improve life expectancy in consanguineous families. This level of support within family networks reflects the expectation of help in times of need with reduced expectation of reciprocity, or help may be given altruistically (see chapter four).266 I am not suggesting Bittles and Hamamy (2010: 91) remark that studies in Syria (Maziak and Asfar 2003: 313-26) and amongst Palestinian refuges (Khawaja and Tewtel-Salem 2004: 526-33) show no significant difference between levels of domestic violence in consanguineous and non-consanguineous families (the authors of the study amongst Palestinian refugees note that the results may be affected by small sample size). Saadat (2013: 67-70) has focused on the association of consanguinity and the survival of marriages suggesting that consanguinity has some protective roles. Using qualitative evidence from a survey of 1638 families in Bangladesh and Pakistan, Mobarak et al. (2019: 425) found that the likelihood of domestic violence increased with consanguineous marriage; husbands and wives also reported positive benefits, including better relationships between spouses and lower likelihood of divorce. 264 Denic et al.’s (2010a: 741) analysis of levels of help offered by consanguineous families is based on biological relatives across four generations, although the authors highlight that their shared time is limited by lifespan and family break-up. Denic et al. (2010a: 746) also note that their results support Hamilton’s (1964a: 1-16) theory of altruism, which proposes that close biological relatives are more likely to act selflessly. 265 The importance of family networks in providing social support exchange for both healthy and sick members is discussed by Ell (1996: 173-83), and the role of social networks in the wider community health is assessed by Berkman and Glass (2000: 144-47). 266 In a study on social support, Agneesons (2006: 434, 437-38) found that personal networks created by close kin are important in relation to important decisions and emotional and instrumental support, such as caring for ill family members. However, the role of extended kin varied according to the type of support expected (in some cases none), but the study did not request information regarding levels of consanguinity amongst the respondents or levels of consanguinity amongst their extended families. 263
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Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage that supportive social and kinship networks do not exist outside consanguineous families, nor am I undervaluing the importance of the wider community in cooperation and support within village life, but in times of need consanguineous families report that they can draw more freely and consistently on the resources of kin related by blood and associated affinity than those outside family networks. Conclusion This chapter examined the hypothesis that ancient Egyptians did not distinguish congenital anomalies and morbidity in infancy and childhood in the offspring of consanguineous marriages from other health conditions, and that individuals with physical or mental abnormalities were neither socially excluded nor considered ‘disabled’. Evidence for congenital anomalies in Egyptian mummified and skeletal remains was considered, but overall in the palaeopathological record evidence for congenital anomalies is limited. The chapter focused in particular on biological abnormalities observed at increased frequency in the offspring of consanguineous marriages in modern populations, and in particular non-syndromic cleft palate (CP) and cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P), for which there is limited evidence in the Egyptian palaeopathological record: a midline CL linked to agenesis of the premaxilla in a 25th dynasty adult female and CL/P in a Roman child around five years of age; there is no evidence to support that either of these individuals was born of consanguineously related parents. Not all biological outcomes frequently linked to consanguinity, such IDD, are identifiable in human remains, yet they may impact on healthy family members in terms of time and resources invested in less able kin, therefore ways in which IDD might be interpreted and understood in ancient Egypt were also assessed. Alongside CP and CL/P this chapter examined evidence for aberrant or unpredictable behaviours that might be associated with IDD in Egyptian literary and medical texts. For comparative purposes, attitudes towards ‘madness’ and unusual behaviours were summarised in ancient Greek textual sources alongside evidence for socially excluded groups. In ancient Egypt there is no distinguishing language or context for ‘madness’ or aberrant behaviours and what might be diagnosed in modern medicine as IDD probably belonged to the wide spectrum of health and healing into which fall sickness, disease and ageing alongside recovery and management of medical conditions. In order to evaluate the physical impact of non-syndromic CP and CL/P and IDD on the individual and the social impact on the family, a bioarchaeology of care analysis was employed to determine levels of functioning and adaptive ability, accommodation of impairment and provision of care. The 25th dynasty adult female with midline CL belonged to a low socioeconomic agricultural community living close to the river Nile at Matmar in Middle Egypt and her survival past infancy may have been due to an equal input of native resilience and adaptive feeding techniques used by the mother; in this sedentary community excess time may have been available to the mother, or other females, to provide care and a safe environment for feeding and nursing through periods of infection. The Roman child with mild CL/P also survived the first year of life, the most dangerous period for the health of an infant with facial clefting. The body was found in a gilded coffin, indicative of a family that could afford mummification and more elaborate burial arrangements than those 153
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ found in the Late Period Matmar burials; and also perhaps a family with greater financial resources to offer care provision, and possibly even a wet nurse. Finally, CL and CL/P would have altered the facial appearance of both these individuals and their articulation of speech, but there is no evidence from ancient Egypt to suggest that altered physical appearance or speech impairment due to congenital anomalies would have marked these people as different or ‘disabled’, or have given them a liminal status in society. Impairments in conceptual, social and communication skills characterising IDD were assessed using a bioarchaeology of care analysis. The scope of conditions encompassed by IDD ranges from mild to severe and would have required notably different levels of care and had variable impacts on the lived experience of the individual and their care providers. Deficiencies in reading, writing and mathematical ability were likely to be less important in ancient Egypt than in modern societies, but the acquisition and performance of practical skills and the participation in agriculture and food production may have had a greater impact, although this depends on the severity of the condition. Family or community participation in shared domestic or agricultural activities might also offer roles for individuals with IDD that are commensurate with their skills and performed in a protective, or at least supervised environment. This chapter ended with an exploration of the perception of disability in ancient Egypt and the acceptance, or otherwise, of physical difference with reference to medical/ magical papyri, dream therapy, burials, and funerary iconography. In terms of medical treatment and dream therapy, there is no evidence to suggest that individuals were socially excluded or treated differently, nor evidence to suggest conditions falling into the modern category of IDD would have been specifically categorised by Egyptian priests/doctors. I am not aware of reports from ancient Egypt of deviant or irregular burials linked to premortem physical abnormalities or impairments, including burials in distinct locations. When physical abnormalities are depicted in funerary iconography there appear to be ‘positive’ physical differences that are socially acceptable and culturally normal, usually portrayed within normal artistic parameters. Finally, if the offspring of consanguineous marriages experienced health disorders requiring high levels of care, or support related to functioning and adaptive ability, the extended consanguineous family may have had the infrastructure and willingness to provide additional support in the short- and long-term. This level of support within consanguineous family networks may reflect the expectation of help and protection in times of need without the expectation of reciprocity.
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Chapter 6
Conclusion This work aimed to explore and assess the potential economic and biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt between kin biologically related beyond the level of sibling and half-sibling. Following a summary of marriage and kin terms in ancient Egypt and an introduction to definitions of consanguinity, chapter two collated evidence for non-royal consanguineous marriage in select sources from the Middle Kingdom to the Roman Period and provided an overview of evidence from regions beyond Egypt. Chapter three then explored and evaluated the use of inheritance and dowry as economic strategies in non-royal consanguineous marriage, with particular reference to bilingual family archives from Ptolemaic Pathyris. Chapter four assessed interrelationships amongst families who married consanguineously in Deir el-Medina and examined expectations of altruism and reduced reciprocity amongst families, relatives and neighbours in this Ramesside workmen’s village, with specific reference to economic transactions. Chapter five assessed the potential impact in ancient Egypt of biological outcomes linked to consanguineous marriage on individuals, their families and communities, focusing particularly on orofacial clefts and intellectual and developmental disorders. The chapter then explored how outcomes of consanguinity may have been received in the context of attitudes towards physical and cognitive anomalies in textual and archaeological sources. The definition of consanguinity used in this research is that of a biological relationship up to the level of second cousin or closer and is employed as a means for identifying consanguineous marriages. There does not seem to be any indication that ancient Egyptians themselves categorised these unions as specifically consanguineous, or used any other category to differentiate them from non-consanguineous unions. It is likely, however, that Egyptians were aware when marrying close biological kin. The majority of non-royal consanguineous marriages are recorded in, or adduced from, Roman Period textual sources including census returns. Evidence becomes scarcer and less reliable in earlier historical periods, but sources such as family archives suggest consanguineous marriage within communities linked by occupation and location, for example, the Hawara embalmers in the Ptolemaic Period, inhabitants of the Ptolemaic garrison town of Pathyris, and workmen of the royal tombs in Ramesside Period Deir elMedina. Research in select sources for evidence indicating possible or probable non-royal consanguineous marriages has produced a total of 180 consanguineous marriages. Outside Egyptian royal families, the search is limited by the fragmentary nature of documentary evidence, by bureaucratic requirements for identifying family members, by preferences for recording genealogies, and by the extended use of kin terms to express consanguinity, affinity and wider kinship. Within Egypt, the application of partible inheritance, and the requirement for heirs to alienate their inheritance rights, may have resulted in a preference for consanguineous marriage amongst some families to mitigate the fragmentation of property. Furthermore, 155
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ ties created through consanguineous marriage may create conditions enabling private resolution of disputes over shared landholding, although surviving legal texts prove that family conflict and land fragmentation were sometimes inevitable. However, rights of offspring to parental property under Egyptian laws of succession, combined with the rights of men and women to own, buy and sell property, may have led to greater freedom in the choice of spouse. The judicious choice of a marriage partner may have been outside consanguineous family networks, a choice driven by the intention to extend social and labour networks, including the creation of patronage links. Comparison between demotic marriage settlements from Pathyris does not reveal any difference in the value of the economic transactions agreed at (or in) marriage between two sets of interrelated couples known to be consanguineous at the level of first cousin (in the Archive of Horos), and five couples not known to be consanguineous at this level (in the Archive of Pelaias). The difference, however, may lie in the timing and amount of money and property given in marriage and as pre-mortem inheritance. Families related consanguineously may have placed more trust in the delivery after marriage of agreed financial commitments, in the knowledge that family enforcement mechanisms are in place to ensure their receipt; in addition, there may also be unrecorded family assets brought into the marriage, or promised at a future date, on the basis of shared family ownership. If the marriage settlement is considered an economic transaction between individuals and their families, this research explored whether consanguineous families might prefer to transact amongst themselves in other economic transactions. An analysis of the Archive of Horos (134–89 BC), in which the two consanguineous marriages appear, indicates that almost half the economic transactions were between family members related through consanguinity, or related to consanguineous families through affinity. Perhaps this is an indication that some families had an almost equal preference for consanguineous economic transactions, including marriage. When the family trees of the husbands and wives in the eleven known consanguineous marriages in Deir el-Medina are traced, a complex network of interrelationships of consanguinity and affinity is established. Using available data (drawn from existing prosopographic studies of Deir el-Medina) the numbers of known offspring born to consanguineously married couples does not differ from offspring born to couples not known to be consanguineous. Overall the mean number of children born to each marriage is 2.8, with a median figure of 2.7. Allowing for early life mortality, this is consistent with data presented by Koltsida (2007: 12) for the composition of an average sized household in Deir el-Medina: six people including 2-3 children. Taking into account formal and informal regulatory mechanisms, I propose that the types of the economic transactions documented in Deir el-Medina ostraca and papyri are likely to reflect a sliding scale of trust and trustworthiness. This ranges from altruism amongst families related consanguineously, followed by a combination of limited altruism and flexible terms of reciprocity between more distant family and friends; the next descending level is general reciprocity, more strictly defined since a specific return is expected on goods at some point, even though it relies on trust, and finally, pure barter or money156
Conclusion barter, which appear to be direct transactions involving goods of equivalent (or near equivalent) value. Patronage networks that emphasise duty and reciprocity, with their concomitant influence, also operated alongside or beyond family networks providing optional (or for some the only) support system. Families in Deir el-Medina may have acted more altruistically towards each other, but the complexity of social networks within the village possibly resulted in acts of generosity or support, not purely defined by biological or affinal ties, that protected the overall stability of Deir el-Medina. There are no indications that physical anomalies or cognitive disorders more frequently recorded in the offspring of consanguineous marriages in modern populations were recognised as outcomes of consanguineous unions in ancient Egypt; nor is there textual or archaeological evidence to indicate that individuals with biological anomalies were socially excluded in life or in death. The lack of direct references to physical or cognitive abnormalities outside medical texts suggests, at most, an element of ambiguity towards them, but it is unlikely they were distinguished in the context of the general health environment of ancient Egypt. Orofacial clefting (using two ancient Egyptian cases discussed in chapter five) may have altered facial appearance and articulation of speech, but there is no evidence that altered physical appearance or speech impairment would have marked individuals as ‘disabled’ or liminal to society. Their impairment may have been accommodated through care provision from the mother and other adults, alongside native resilience from the infant. A similar bioarchaeology of care analysis was applied in relation to impairments in conceptual, social and communication skills that characterise intellectual and developmental disorders (IDD). What might be diagnosed in modern clinical studies as IDD probably fell naturally in ancient Egypt into the wide spectrum of disease, disorders, healing, health and ageing. While the presentation of IDD would vary significantly, affecting provision of care and impact on the family and the individual, deficiencies in reading, writing or mathematical ability are likely to be less important in ancient Egypt than in modern societies. Adverse effects on the acquisition and performance of practical skills could have been accommodated within family and community through domestic and agricultural activities, commensurate with the level of skill and supervision required. In summary, if offspring of consanguineous families experienced adverse biological outcomes, the extended consanguineous family may have had the infrastructure and willingness to ease any additional emotional, social and economic burdens of morbidity and mortality. The retention of wealth amongst propertied families, the protection from poverty amongst families with few assets, or the maintenance of shared occupational status may have been motives for consanguineous marriage in all historical periods. However, this does not preclude families from other socioeconomic backgrounds, or mixed occupational groups, from choosing consanguineous marriage. Families could be affected by environmental and political shocks, such as those caused by famine, or when families were personally affected by health shocks, such as unexpected illness or death. At these times, the potential stability and social capital afforded by consanguineous ties, including the (anticipated) willingness to behave altruistically with reduced expectations of reciprocity, may have resulted in some families choosing consanguineous marriage as a preferred choice of union. 157
Appendix 1
Table of probable or possible non-royal consanguineous marriages from select sources Abbreviations: BF Bagnall and Frier, The Demography of Roman Egypt, Cambridge, rev. edn, 2006. BM EA British Museum Egyptian Antiquities RT Rowlandson and Takahashi, Brother-sister marriage and inheritance strategies in Greco-Roman Egypt, Journal of Roman Studies 99, 2009: 104-39. HTBM Hieroglyphic Texts from Egyptian Stelae, etc., in the British Museum, Parts 1-11, London. JEA Journal of Egyptian Archaeology Note: Rowlandson and Takahashi (2009: 138-39) have pointed out that the marriages referenced here in sources as RT 74-81 are doubtful cases in the census returns and RT 82-95, which were previously suggested as sibling marriage, are very doubtful cases. Number 170 (RT 48, SB 26.16803) is documented as a full twin marriage; numbers 17 (Stela Cairo 20051), 60 (P. Chic. Haw. 9) and 61 (P. Phil. 25) are included in the cousin category, but are not first cousins. Biological relationship
Papyrus/tomb/ stela/name
Date, site
Sources
1. Half-sibling (brother-sister)?
Stela Louvre C16, C17, C18
12th dynasty
Černý 1954: 25-26; Millard 1976: 25; Gayet, Musée du Louvre Stèles de la XII Dynastie, Bibliothèque de l'École des Hautes Études, 68, 188: pls 51/52.
2. Parallel cousin (father's brother's daughter)
Stela Ashmolean Museum E3921
12th dynasty Rekaknah
Dakin 1938: 190-7, pl.12; Millard 1976: 38-9, 230-34 (Millard focuses on register 4, see also Dakin 1938: 195).
3. Parallel cousin (mother's sister's daughter)?
Stela Florence inv. no. 2564
12th dynasty
Franke 1983: 36, 73, 91-92, 108; Millard 1976: 38, 168-71; Bosticco, Le stele Egiziane dall'Antico al Nuovo Regno, 1959, Vol. 1, photograph 37.
4. Parallel cousin (father’s brother’s daughter)?
Meir, B No. 3, A No. 3
12th dynasty
Blackman, The Rock Tombs of Meir, Part 1, 1914: 12-13; Millard 1976: 39.
5. Parallel cousin (mother’s sister’s daughter)?
Stelae BM EA 131 and EA 129
12th/13th dynasty
Franke, 1983: 80-81 (BM EA 131), 44, 70, 73, 80-81 (BM EA 129); HTBM, 1911, Vol. 1, pl. 56 and 1912, Vol. 2, pls 41-43; Millard 1976: 39, 139-42.
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Table of probable or possible non-royal consanguineous marriages
6. Half-sibling (brother-sister)?
Stela Berlin 13675 13th dynasty
Černý, 1954: 26; Franke 1983: 58, 60, 131; Millard 1976: 24-25; Aegyptische Inschriften aus den Königlichen Museen zu Berlin, Part 1, 1913: 196.
7. Half-sibling (brother/sister)?
Stela Cairo CG 20144 and stela BM EA 236
13th dynasty/ possibly later Abydos, northern necropolis
Fischer 1957: 231, n.47; Lange und Schäfer, Grab- und Denksteine des Mittleren Reichs, Theil I, Nos 2000120780, 1902: 169-70; HTBM, 1914, Part 5, pl.15.
8. Half-sibling (brother/sister)?
Stela Louvre C44
13th dynasty
Černý 1954: 27; Millard 1976: 26; Moret, Catalogue du Musée Guimet, 1909: 91-92, pl.44.
9. Half-sibling (brother-sister)?
BM stela EA 363
MK
Černý 1954: 27; Franke 1983: 15; Millard 1976: 24; HTBM, 1912, Part 3, pl.7.
10. Uncle-niece (sister's daughter)
Stela Cairo CG 20535
MK Abydos, northern necropolis
Millard 1976: 37, 109-110; Lange und Schäfer, Grab- und Denksteine des Mittleren Reichs, Theil 2, Nos 2000120780, 1908: 139-42.
11. Uncle-niece (sister's daughter)?
Stela Heidelberg inv.no. 560
MK
Millard 1976: 37, 248-52.
12. Aunt-nephew Stela Florence (uncle's half-sister, inv. no. 2521 not stated if through mother of father)?
MK
Franke 1983: 70, 84; Millard 1976: 3738, 168-71; Bosticco, Le Stele Egiziane dall'Antico al Nuovo Regno, 1959, Vol. 1, photograph 33.
13. Aunt-nephew (mother's half sister’s son)?
Stela Cairo CG 20043 and CG 20681
MK Abydos, northern necropolis
Franke 1983: 71, 86 (for CG 20681), 17 (for CG 20043); Millard 1976: 367; Robins 1979: 202, n.10 and 214, figure 8 (for CG 20681); Willems 1983: 161; Lange und Schäfer, Grab- und Denksteine des Mittleren Reichs, Theil I, Nos 20001-20399, 1902:53, 1908: 308-09.
14. Parallel cousin (mother’s sister’s daughter)?
Stela Cairo CG 20161
MK Abydos
Millard 1976: 38, 72-75; Lange und Schäfer, Grab- und Denksteine des Mittleren Reichs, Theil I, Nos 2000120780, 1902: 189-91.
15. Cross cousin (father’s sister’s daughter)?
Stela Cairo CG 20518
MK Abydos, western necropolis
Millard 1976: 38, 106-07; Lange und Schäfer, Grab- und Denksteine des Mittleren Reichs, Theil I, Nos 2000120780, 1908: 113-14.
16. Parallel cousin (father’s brother’s daughter)?
Meir, B No. 3, A No. 3
12th dynasty
Blackman, The Rock Tombs of Meir, Part 1, 1914: 12-13; Millard 1976: 39.
159
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’
17. Second cousin? (parents cross cousins)
Stela Cairo 20051
MK Abydos, northern necropolis
Franke 1983: 38, 70, 85, 98, 153; Millard 1976: 38, 51-54; Robins 1979: 210, figure 1; Lange und Schäfer, Grabund Denksteine des Mittleren Reichs, Theil I, Nos 20001-20399, 1902: 60-62.
18. Cross cousin? (mother's brother's daughter)
Tomb of Ttἰ-ky TT15
Dra' Abû elNaga' Early 18th dynasty
Whale 1989: 9.
19. Cousin marriage? Tomb of Ỉ'ḥ-ms ḏw Sheikh 'Abd eln.f '3-mṯw TT83 Qurna HatshepsutTuthmosis III 18th dynasty
Whale 1999: 40-43.
20. Cross cousin? (mother's brother's daughter)
Tomb of Sn-m-ἰ'ḥ TT127
Sheikh 'Abd elQurna HatshepsutTuthmosis III 18th dynasty
Whale 1999: 48.
21. Parallel cousin (mother's sister's daughter)
Tomb of Pwἰ-m-r' or Ỉpw-m-r‘ TT39
Khôkha HatshepsutTuthmosis III 18th dynasty
Whale 1989: 54.
22. Uncle-niece (sister's daughter)?
Tomb of Ỉmn-mḥ3t TT82
Sheikh 'Abd elQurna Tuthmosis III 18th dynasty
Whale 1989: 67, 254.
23. Cross cousin (father's sister's daughter)
Tomb of Ỉmn-mḥ3t TT82
Sheikh 'Abd elQurna Tuthmosis III 18th dynasty
Whale 1989: 64.
24. Cross cousin (mother's brother's daughter)
Tomb of Ỉmn-mḥ3t TT82
Sheikh 'Abd elQurna Tuthmosis III 18th dynasty
Whale 1989: 65.
25. Cross cousin (mother's brother's daughter)
Tomb of Ỉmn-mḥ3t TT82
Sheikh 'Abd elQurna Tuthmosis III 18th dynasty
Whale 1989: 67.
Dra' Abû elNaga' Tuthmosis IITuthmosis III 18th dynasty
Whale 1989: 77.
26. Cousin marriage? Tomb of Nb-ἰmn (uncertainty over TT24 parallel or cross cousin)
160
Table of probable or possible non-royal consanguineous marriages
27. Cross cousin marriage (mother's brother's daughter)
Tomb of B3kἰ TT18
Dra' Abû elNaga' Tuthmosis III or earlier 18th dynasty
Whale 1989: 82.
28. Cousin marriage? Tomb of Sn(.ἰ)-nfr (uncertainty over TT99 parallel or cross cousin)
Sheikh 'Abd elQurna HatshepsutTuthmosis 111 18th dynasty
Whale 1989: 91-99.
29. Cousin marriage? Tomb of Ỉmn-m(uncertainty over h3t TT53 which side of the family)
Sheikh 'Abd elQurna Tuthmosis III 18th dynasty
Whale 1989: 99.
30. Cousin marriage? Tomb of Sn-nfr (uncertainty over TT96 parallel or cross relationship)
Sheikh 'Abd elQurna Amenhotep II 18th dynasty
Whale 1989: 151; Whale 1989: 146-51 for three wives represented in the tomb (possible link with TT40).
31. Cross cousin (mother's brother's daughter)
Khôkha Tuthmosis 1V-Amenhotep 111? 18th dynasty
Whale 1989: 225-26.
18th dynasty
Metawi 2013: 221-32.
Tomb of Dhwtyms TT295
32. Father-daughter? Statue, Cairo Museum N 129 33. Cross cousin marriage (father's sister's daughter)
Anhurkhawy (i) Deir el-Medina and Henutdjuu (i) 19th dynasty
34. Parallel cousin (father's brother's daughter)
Nebmehyt (iii) and Henutmehyt (iv)
Deir el-Medina 19th dynasty
Brierbier 1975: 30-36; Davies 1999: 237-38, chart 21; Toivari-Viitala 2001: 57.
35. Parallel cousin (father's brother's daughter)
Buqentuf (i) and Iyi (iii)
Deir el-Medina 19th dynasty
Davies 1999: 64, chart 8.
36. Parallel cousin (father's brother's daughter)
Iyernutef (ii) and Tabaki (i)
Deir el-Medina 19th dynasty
Davies 1999: 185, chart 14; ToivariViitala 2001: 57.
37. Aunt-nephew (second cousin)?
Amennakht (x) Deir el-Medina and Tarekhanu (i) 19th dynasty
Davies 1999: 65, chart 8.
38. Cross cousin (father's sister's daughter)?
Deir el-Medina Pashedu (ii) and Tanodjemethemsi 19th dynasty (ii)
Davies 1999: 224-25, chart 24; TiovariViitala 2001: 57.
39. Parallel cousin (father's brother's daughter)
Nekhemmut (i) and Webkhet (vi/ viii)
Davies 1999: 46-47, chart 7; ToivariViitala 2001: 57.
Deir el-Medina 19th dynasty/ 20th dynasty
161
Bierbrier 1975: 36; Davies 1999: 275, chart 3; Toivari-Viitala 2001: 57.
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’
40. Uncle-niece?
Anhotep (i) and Mahi (ii)
Deir el-Medina 19th dynasty
Davies 1999: 160, chart 11.
41. Brother-sister?
Anutwa (i) and Nubiyi (i)
Deir el-Medina 20th dynasty
Davies 999: 73, 171; Frandsen 2009: 38; Cerny 1954: 26-27.
42. Parallel cousin (father's brother's daughter)?
Khnummose (i) and Henuwati (i/ii)
Deir el-Medina 20th dynasty
Davies 1999: 272, chart 5.
43. Parallel cousin (father's brother's daughter)?
Ipuy (viii) and Henutmire (i)
Deir el-Medina 20th dynasty
Bierbrier 1975: 30, 33, 35, 1984: 209-10; Davies 1999: 51-52, chart 7; ToivariViitala 2001: 57.
44. Parallel cousin (father's brother's daughter)?
Penrennut (i) and Deir el-Medina Tadehnetemheb 20th dynasty
Davies 1999: 212, chart 4; ToivariViitala 2001: 57.
45. Parallel cousin (father's brother's daughter)?
Khons (vi) and Taweretemheb (ii)
Deir el-Medina 20th dynasty
Davies 1999: 53 and n.686, chart 7; Toivari-Viitala 2001: 57.
46. Parallel cousin (father's brother's daughter)?
Amennakht (xviii) and Iues[…]
Deir el-Medina 20th dynasty
Davies 1999: 117, chart 9.
47. Uncle-niece (brother's daughter)
Tomb of Setau, EK4
El-Kab 20th dynasty
Bierbrier 1975: 12 and chart 3; Porter and Moss 1929, 1962 edition, Vol. 5: 181-82.
48. Uncle-niece (brother's daughter)
Tomb of Setau, EK4
El-Kab 20th dynasty
Bierbrier 1975: 12 and chart 3; Porter and Moss 1929 (1962 ed.), Vol. 5: 18182.
49. Brother-sister
Stela Louvre 18
Serapeum, Memphis 22nd dynasty
Breasted, Vol. 4, 1906: 388 note a.; Černý 1954: 23-24.
50. Parallel cousin (father's brother's daughter)
Hormaakheru and Hahat (ii) (the Bessenmut family)
Thebes 23rd dynasty
Bierbrier 1975: 92-93, chart 22; Kitchen 1986: 224-25.
51. Parallel cousin (father's brother's daughter)
Pediamun (i) and Babai (i) (the Montemhat family)
Thebes 23rd dynasty
Bierbrier 1975, chart 23A; Kitchen 1986: 231.
52. Brother-sister
Pedisi and N’as
Bahriya Oasis 26th dynasty
Fakhry 1942: 98; Frandsen 2009: 38-39.
53. Brother-sister
Tanefer-Bast (ii) and Thaty
Bahriya Oasis 26th dynasty
Fakhry 1974: 132, 1942: 89, 149; Frandsen 2009: 38-39.
162
Table of probable or possible non-royal consanguineous marriages
54. Half-sibling (same father, different mother)
P. Chic. Haw. 1
Hawara 365-364 BC (terminus ante quem for the marriage) marriage settlement
Hughes and Jasnow1997: 9-15; RT I; Uytterhoeven 2009: 377, family I.I stemma I.1. By the year of this contract Achoapis is already married for the third time.
55. Half-sibling (same father, different mother)
P. Lonsdorfer 1
Edfu 364/3 BC marriage settlement
Pestman 1961, Chart A; see Cruz-Aribe 1985: 48, for family tree in the Edfu archive; RT ii.
56. Half-uncle-niece (on father’s side)
P. Chic. Haw. 2
Fayum 331 BC marriage settlement
Hughes and Jasnow 1997: 16-18; Uytterhoeven 2009: 373.
57. Father-daughter? Statue of Djedhor Chicago Institute Oriental Museum 10589
325 BC
Frandsen 2009: 39-41; Sherman 1981: 85, n.10; Young 1965: 69-70.
58. Brother-sister?
SB 12 11053.2-3
Tholthis 267 BC marriage settlement?
Clarysse 2006: 332; Huebner 2007: 23; RT iii suggest this could be an uncle/ neice; Trismegistos 4384.
59. Uncle-niece (daughter of brother's sister)
P. Phil. 14
Thebes 264 BC marriage settlement
El-Amir 1959: 61-64, 110; Pestman 1961, Chart A, no. 15.
60. Half-cousins
P. Chic. Haw. 9
Hughes and Jasnow 1997: 52-58; Hawara Uytterhoeven 2009: 377, family I, 239 BC provisional sale stemma I.4. of property
P. Phil. 25 61. First cousin once-removed (Djeho (ii) was his father and her greatgrandfather through the patrilineal line, also more distant cousins through her matrilineal line)
Thebes 223 BC marriage settlement
El-Amir 1959: 112, 115-19; Pestman 1961, Chart A, no. 21.
62. Half-sibling (same mother)
Edfu 208 BC marriage settlement
RT iv
P. Hausw. 14
163
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’
63. First cousin (fathers were brothers)
PSI 12.1227
Tebtunis post-167 202/5 AD census return
Rowlandson 2016: 341; Trismegistos 17397.
64. Brother-sister
P. Tebt. 3.1.766
Tebtunis 147 or136 BC advance for tax due on vineyard
Bussi 2002: 20; Clarysse and Thompson 2006: 332; Huebner 2007: 23; Trismegistos 5361; RT v.
65. Uncle-niece marriage
P. Berlin 5507
Thebes 136 BC bilingual sale of liturgies
Mairs and Martin 2008/9: 24-26; Pestman 1999: 20, Family B, 10-12; see also P. Berlin 3098 (demotic) and P. Leiden 413 (Greek) for the documents in relation to a sale of choachyte rights; Trismegistos 78574.
66. Brother/sister?
P. Grenf. 2.26
Pathyris 103 BC contract related to the advance of a loan
Bussi 2002: 2016: 33; Clarysse and Thompson 2006: 332; Huebner 2007: 23; RTvi; Trismegistos 70.
67. Cousin marriage (fathers are brothers)
P. Hawara Lüdd. 12
Hawara 100 BC marriage settlement
Demotic/Greek. Uytterhoeven 2009: 376. Family II, Stemma II.4. Trismegistos 41465.
68. Half-sibling (same father, different mother)
P. Hawara Lüdd. 13
Hawara 99 BC (terminus ante quem for the marriage) divorce settlement
Uytterhoeven 2009: 377; Trismegistos 41466. Marephagoes marries his first wife, Terobastis (i); they share the same father, Sokonopis (ii) (see nos 71 and 72).
69. Cousin marriage (fathers are brothers)
Referred to in P. Hawara Lüdd. 13
Hawara 99 BC
Uytterhoeven 2009: 376, family III, stemma III.3; RT vii; Trismegistos 41466. Muhs 2008: 108, Muhs believes Hawara Lüdd. 13 only refers to one second cousin marriage.
70. Parallel cousin (father's brother's daughter)
P. Adl. Dem. 14
Pathyris 97/96 BC marriage settlement
Griffiths 1939: 89-92; Trismegistos 14.
Hawara 93 BC marriage settlement
Uytterhoeven 2009: 377-78, family III, Stemma III.4; Trismegistos 41468. Marephagoes marries his second wife Tasouchion (see nos 68 and 72).
71. Cousin marriage/ P. Hawara Lüdd. half-sibling? 15
164
Table of probable or possible non-royal consanguineous marriages
72. Parallel cousin (father's brother's daughter)
P. Adl. Dem. 21
Pathyris 92 BC marriage settlement
73. Half-sibling (same father, different mother)?
P. Hawara Lüdd. 16a
Uytterhoeven 2009: 377-78, family II, Hawara 92 BC (terminus stemma II.1 and family IV, stemma IV.1; Trismegistos 41469. ante quem for the marriage) marriage settlement
74. Cousin or uncle/half-niece marriage?
P. Cairo 3.50129 and SB 6.9297
Hawara 86 BC marriage settlement
Uytterhoeven 2009: 376-377, family III, stemma III.4; Trismegistos 41607. Marephagoes marries his third wife Tasouches (ii) (see nos 68 and 71).
75. Half-sibling (same mother)
P. Bibl. Nat. 224-5
Memphis 68 BC marriage settlement
RT viii
76. Brother-sister
BGU 8.1731
Herakleopolis 68/7 BC transfer of cleruchic land
RT ix; Trismegistos 4814.
77. Half-sibling (same mother)
Stela BM EA 184
Memphis 50/49 BC biographical stela of Tnepheros
RT x
78. Brother-sister?
BGU 4.1126
Alexandria 9 BC work contract
RT 82; Trismegistos 18569.
79. Brother-sister
I. Alex. 66
Alexandria early Roman dedication of Hermanoubis
RT 50; Kayser, Recueil des inscriptions grecques et latines (non-funéraires) d’Alexandrie impériale (1er -111e s. apr. J.-C.), 1994.
80. Brother-sister
P. Mich. 5.262
Tebtunis AD 34/35 or 35/36 cession of land
RT 51a. Trismegisos 12095.
81. Brother-sister
P. Mich. 5.266
Tebtunis AD 38 cession of land
RT 51b; Trismegistos 12100.
82. Half-sibling (same father)?
P. Oxy. 2.361
Oxyrhynchus AD 76/7 census return
BF 75-Ox-1; RT 74; Trismegistos 20590.
165
Griffiths 1939: 99-101; Trismegistos 21.
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’
83. Brother-sister
BGU 1.183
Soknopaiou Nesos AD 85 marriage settlement
Hopkins 1980: 322-23; Huebner 2007: 23; RT53; Trismegistos 8944.
84. Half-sibling (same father)?
P. Oxy. Census
Lykopolis AD 89/90 census return
89-Pt-15; RT 75; Trismegistos 25668.
85. Brother-sister
P. Oxy 4.713
Oxyrhynchus AD 97 registration of property
RT 54; Trismegistos 20413.
86. Parallel cousin (father's brother's daughter)?
Archive of Philosarapis, marriage of Didyme and Herakleides
Tebtunis Didyme (born 47-48 AD) Herakleides (40-144 AD)
Rowlandson 2016: 334, n.55.
87. Brother-sister
P. Select. 23 ll.1619
Oxyrhynchus AD 75-99 summary of purchase of slave
RT 52; Trismegistos 25110.
88. Half-sibling (possibly full)
P. Tebt. 2.290
Tebtunis RT55; Trismegistos 25693. late 1st early 2nd century AD order for arrest
89. Half-sibling (same father)
P. Oxy 67.4584
Oxyrhynchus AD 100/1 status declaration
RT 33; Trismegistos 78616.
90. Half sibling?
BGU 4.1048
Arsinoite AD 100/1 or 110/1 sale of land
RT 56; Trismegistos 9445.
91. Brother-sister?
P. Mich. 8.465-466 Karanis AD 107-8 letters
RT 85; Trismegistos 17239, 17240. Apollinaris prohibited from legal marriage as he was a serving legionary.
92. Half-sibling (same father)
BGU 1.232
Metrodorou Epoikion AD 108 dowry receipt?
RT 57; Trismegistos 8994.
93. Brother-sister
P. Kron. 8
Tebtunis AD 109 loan contract
RT 58; Trismegistos 11593.
166
Table of probable or possible non-royal consanguineous marriages
94. First cousin?
P. Laur. 1.8
Theadelpheia AD 101-125 fragment of a contract
Bussi, 2002: 3; Trismegistos 28761.
95. Brother-sister
PSI 9.1062
Arsinoe AD 104 census return
BF 103-Ar-1; RT1; Trismegistos 13774.
96. Brother-sister
P. Corn 16.1-1
Arsinoe AD 104/5
BF 103-Ar-3; RT2; Trismegistos 14858.
97. Half-sibling (or brother-sister)?
CPR 1.28
Arsinoe AD 110 marriage settlement
RT 59; Trismegistos 9858.
98. Brother-sister
P. Stras. 6.505
Tebtunis AD 107-115 sale of slave
RT 60; Trismegistos 13384.
99. Brother-sister?
CP Jud. 2.436
Hermopolis AD 116/17 letters, archive of strategos
Rowlandson 1988: 119-20; RT 84.
100. Brother-sister
P. Corn. 16.21-38
Arsinoe AD 119 census return
BF 117-Ar-1; RT4a; Trismegistos 14858.
101. Brother-sister
P. Kron. 11
AD 121 Tebtunis repayment of loan
RT 58b; Trismegistos 11531.
102. Brother-sister
P. Oxy. 12.1452
Oxyrhynchus AD 127/8 status declaration
RT 35; Trismegistos 21853.
103. Brother-sister
P. Tebt. 2.379
Tebtunis AD 128 contract for sale of a crop
Hopkins 1980: 323; Huebner 2007: 23; RT62; Trismegistos 13535.
104. Brother-sister
P. Lond. 2.299
Arsinoe AD 128 property registration
RT 61; Trismegistos 11681.
105. Brother-sister
PSI 9.1064.2
Report of a death AD 129
Scheidel 1996a: 11, n.11. Trismegistos 13775.
167
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’
106. Brother-sister
BGU 11.2094
Soknopaiou Nesos AD 131 property registration
RT 63; Trismegistos 9605.
107. Brother-sister
SB 4.7440b
Hermopolis AD 132/3 status declaration
RT 36; Trismegistos 18049.
108. Brother-sister
P. Oxy. 3.477
Oxyrhynchus AD 132/3 status declaration
RT 37; Trismegistos 20613.
109. Brother-sister
P. Corn. 16.39-58
Arsinoe AD 133 census return
BF 131-Ar-3; RT4a; Trismegistos 14858.
110. Half-sibling (same father)
P. Bon. 1.18 (col. ii)
Machor AD 133 census return
BF 131-He-4; RT5; Trismegistos 17178.
111. Brother-sister
P. Ryl. 2.103
Arsinoe AD 134 status declaration
RT 38; Trismegistos 12899.
112. Brother-sister
P. Kron. 52
Tebtunis AD 138 deed of divorce
Hopkins 1980: 323; Huebner 2007: 23; Lewis 1983: 72-73; Rowlandson 1998: 130-31, n.102; RT58c; Trismegistos 11574.
113. Brother-sister
P. BGU 3.983
Karanis AD 138-161 petition to an official
Hopkins 1980: 323-24; Huebner 2007: 23; RT 67; Trismegistos 9425.
114. Brother-sister (full)?
P. Mil. Vogl. 4.229
RT 64; Trismegistos 12417. Tebtunis c. AD 140 petition related to divorce
115. Brother-sister
P. Kron. 17
Tebtunis AD 140 loan contract
RT65a; Trismegistos 11538. Siblings of P. Kron. 8.
116. Brother-sister
P. Kron. 20
Tebtunis AD 146 loan contract
RT 65b; Trismegistos 11544.
117. Brother-sister
P. Meyer 9
Arsinoe AD 147 census return
BF 145-Ar-9; RT 6; Trismegistos 11963.
168
Table of probable or possible non-royal consanguineous marriages
118. Brother-sister
P. Berl. Leihg. 3.52B
Philagris AD 147 census return
BF 145-Ar-19; RT 8.
119. Brother-sister
P. Amh. 2.74
Soknopaiou Nesos AD 147 census return
BF 145-Ar-20; RT9; Trismegistos 10108.
120. Brother-sister (former marriage)
CPR 6 p.3
Arsinoe AD147 census return
BF 145-AR-23; RT 26. Parents of Ptolemaios.
121. Brother-sister (former marriage)
CPR 6 p.3
Arsinoe AD147 census return
BF 145-AR-23; RT 27. Parents of Thaisas.
122. Brother-sister
SB 6.9317b
Oxyrhynchus AD 147 registration of property
RT 66; Trismegistos 17893.
123. Half-sibling (same father)?
BGU 1.95
Karanis AD 147 census return
BF 145-Ar-12; RT 76; Trismegistos 9135.
124. Brother-sister
PSI 10.1115
Tebtunis AD 152 marriage settlement
RT 68; Trismegistos 13833.
125. Brother-sister
P. Gen. 1.33
Arsinoe AD 155 birth declaration
RT 39; Trismegistos 11227.
126. Brother-sister
SB 12.10890
Arsinoe AD 156 status declaration
RT 40; Trismegistos 14349.
127. Brother-sister (former marriage)
P. Berl. Leihg. I.17
Arsinoe AD 161 census return
BF 159-Ar-4; RT 28; Trismegistos 10201. Parents of below.
128. Brother-sister (former marriage)
P. Berl. Leihg. I.17
Arsinoe AD 161 census return
BF 159-Ar-4; RT 29; Trismegistos 10201. Children of above, still coresident.
129. Brother-sister (former marriage)?
P. Ryl. 2.3
Arsinoe AD 161 census return
BF 159-Ar-5; RT 77.
130. Half-sibling (same father)
P. Lond. 2.182b
Karanis 160/1 AD census return
BF 159-Ar-11; RT 10; Trismegistos 11646. Parents of below.
169
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’
131. Brother-sister
P. Lond. 2.182b
Karanis 160/1 AD census return
BF 159-Ar-11; RT 11; Trismegistos 11646. Children of above.
132. Brother-sister
P. Fay. 319/SB 20.14111
Arsinoe AD 161 census return
BF 159-Ar-26; RT 12; Trismegistos 14810.
133. Brother-sister
P. Amh. 2.75
Hermopolis AD 161-168 status declaration
RT 41; Trismegistos 21677. Parents of below.
134. Brother-sister
P. Amh. 2.75
Hermopolis AD 161-168 status declaration
RT 43; Trismegistos 21677. Children of above and parents of below.
135. Brother-sister
P. Amh. 2.75
Hermopolis AD 161-168 status declaration
Hopkins 1980: 322; Huebner 2007: 23; Rowlandson and Takahashi 2009; RT43; Trismegistos 21677. Children of above; family traced back to three successive generations of sibling marriage.
136. First cousin?
P. Oxy. 3.494
Oxyrhynchus AD 165 Will of Acusilaos
Bussi 2002: 3; Trismegistos 20630.
137. Brother-sister
P. Vindob. Worp. 5
Arsinoe AD 168 registration of dowry land
Hopkins 1980: 323; Huebner 2007: 23; RT 69; Trismegistos 13696.
138. Brother-sister
P. Oxy. 38:2858
Oxyrhynchus AD 171 birth declaration
Hopkins 1980: 321; Huebner 2007: 23; RT 44; Trismegistos 22245.
139. Brother-sister
BGU 2.447
Karanis AD 174 census return
BF 173-Ar-9; RT 13; Trismegistos 9178.
140. Brother-sister
P. Brux 1.10
Thelbonthon Siphtha AD 174 census return
BF 173-Pr-10; RT 15; Trismegistos 16047.
141. Brother-sister
P. Brux. 1. 5
Thelbonthon Siphtha AD 174 census return
BF 173-Pr-5; RT 14; Trismegistos 16042.
142. Half-sibling (same father)?
P. Brux. 1.10
Thelbonthon Siphtha AD 174 census return
BF 173-Pr-10; RT 78; Trismegistos 16047.
170
Table of probable or possible non-royal consanguineous marriages
143. Half-sibling (same father)?
P. Brux. 1.13
Thelbonthon Siphtha AD 174 census return
BF 173-PR-13; RT 79; Trismegistos 16050.
144. Half-sibling (same father)?
P. Brux. 1.17
Thelbonthon Siphtha AD 174 census return
BF 173-Pr-17; RT 80; Trismegistos 16054.
145. Brother-sister (former marriage)
P. Stras. 8.768
Tebtunis AD 174/5 census return
BF 173-Ar-12; RT 32; Trismegistos 13440.
146. Brother-sister
P. Tebt. 2.317
Tebtunis (origin Hopkins 1980:323-24; Huebner 2007: 23; RT 70; Trismegistos 20817. Alexandria?) AD 174-175 petition to appoint legal representative
147. Half-sibling (same mother)
P. Flor. 3.301
Soknopaiou Nesos AD 175 census return
BF 173-AR-2; RT 30; Trismegistos 11164. Couple divorced when the wife was 26 years of age, may still be coresident.
148. Brother-sister (former marriage)
BGU 1.302
Arsinoite AD 175 census return
BF 173-Ar-11; RT 31; Trismegistos 14870.
149. Brother-sister?
BGU 2.562
Arsinoite after AD 177 correction in status document
RT 34; Trismegistos 9231.
150. Brother-sister
P. Tebt. 2.320
Tebtunis AD 181 claim for privileged status
Hopkins 1980: 321-22; Huebner 2007: 23; RT 46; Trismegistos 13479.
151. Brother-sister
P. Tebt. 2.320
Tebtunis AD 181
RT 45; Trismegistos 13479. Parents of above.
152. Half-sibling
P. Petaus 1-2
Ptolemais Hormou AD 185 birth return
Scheidel 1996a: 11, n.11; RT 47; Trismegistos 8798, 8799.
153. Parallel cousin (father's brother's daughter)
PSI 12.1227
Antinoopolis AD 188 census return
Rowlandson 2016: 341 BF 187-An-2; Trismegistos 17397.
154. Brother-sister
P. Lips. 2.144
Arsinoe 188/9 census return
RT 24; Trismegistos 44418.
171
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’
155. Brother-sister BGU 1.115i (one of four brothersister marriages in same household)
Arsinoe AD 189 census return
BF 187-Ar-4; RT 16; Trismegistos 8887. Parents of below.
156. Brother-sister BGU I.115i (one of four brothersister marriages in same household)
Arsinoe AD 189 census return
BF 187-Ar-4; RT 17. Trismegistos 8887. Children of above.
157. Brother-sister BGU I.115i (one of four brothersister marriages in same household)
Arsinoe AD 189 census return
BF187-Ar-4; RT 18; Trismegistos 8887. Cousins of above, and niece and nephew of their parents above.
158. Brother-sister BGU I.115i (one of four brothersister marriages in same household)
Arsinoe AD 189 census return
BF 187-Ar-4; RT 19; Trismegistos 8887. Lodgers and possibly relatives of above marriages.
159. Brother-sister
P. Tebt. 2.504
Tebtunis AD 189 census return
BF 187-Ar-23; RT 23; Trismegistos 14837.
160. Half-sibling (same father)
BGU 1.117
Arsinoe AD 189 census return
BF 187-Ar-8; RT 20; Trismegistos 8891.
161. Half-sibling (same father)
P. Tebt. 2.322
Arsinoe AD 189 census return
BF 187-Ar-22; RT 22; Trismegistos 13481.
162. Brother-sister
BGU 1.120
Arsinoe AD 189 census return
BF 187-Ar-12; RT 21; Trismegistos 8897.
163. Brother-sister?
BGU 1.128ii
Arsinoe AD 189 census return
BF 187-Ar-16; RT 81; Trismegistos 8906.
164. Brother-sister?
BGU 2.406, col. 3.1 Soknopaiou Nesos AD 192-200 census or register
RT 89; Trismegistos 28195.
165. Brother-sister?
SB 18.13958
RT 71; Trismegistos 18333.
Herkleopolite AD 193/4 letter of strategos regarding property registration
172
Table of probable or possible non-royal consanguineous marriages
166. Brother-sister?
P. Oxy. 3.524
Oxyrhynchus Hopkins 1980: 234; Huebner 2007: 23; 2nd century AD Rowlandson, 1998: 319, n. 250b; RT 88; wedding Trismegistos 28364. invitation
167. Half-sibling (same mother)
P. Tebt. 2.351
Tebtunis RT 72; Trismegistos 28420. 2nd century AD tax receipt for marriage gift of house
168. Brother-sister?
P. Oxy. 42.3059
Oxyrhynchus RT 86; Trismegistos 26811. 2nd century AD letter
169. Brother-sister?
P. Oxy. 3.528
Oxyrhynchus RT 87; Trismegistos 28368. 2nd century AD letter
170. Full twins
SB 26.16803
Arsinoe late 2nd century AD birth declaration
RT 48; Trismegistos 97163.
171. Brother-sister?
Stud. Pal. 22.60
Athribite 2nd/3rd century AD purchase of a slave
RT 73; Trismegistos 27638; Wessely, Studien zur Palaeographie und Papyruskunde, 1922.
172. Brother-sister?
P. Stras. 1.56, ll. 24-5
Unknown 2nd/3rd century AD dispute over a house
RT 90; Trismegistos 27754.
173. Parallel cousin (mother's sister's daughter)
P. Tebt. 2.480
Tebtunis AD 203 census return
BF 201-Ar-10; Trismegistos 14839.
174. Brother-sister
P. Lond 3.935-6
Hermopolis AD 217 census return
BF 215-Hm-1-2; RT25; Trismegistos 22719, 22720.
175. Brother-sister
P. Oxy. 43.3096
Oxyrhynchus Scheidel 1996: 10-11, n.11; RT 49; AD 223-224 Trismegistos 15975. complaint of an error in records
176. Brother-sister?
PSI 5.457
Oxyrhynchus AD 269 epikrisis of a young man
173
Scheidel 2001: 10-11, n.11; RT 94; Trismegistos 19301.
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’
177. Half-sibling (same mother)?
P. Oxy. 43.3137
Oxyrhynchus AD 295 birth return
Scheidel 1996: 10-11, n.11; RT 95; Trismegistos 16016.
178. Brother-sister?
P. Oxy. 1.3
Oxyrhynchus 3rd century AD wedding invitation
Hopkins 198: 234; Huebner 2007: 23; Lewis 1983, S.43; RT 91; Trismegistos 31343.
179. Brother-sister?
P. Oxy. 14.1681
Oxyrhynchus 3rd century AD letter
RT 92; Trismegistos 31789.
180. Brother-sister?
PSI 13.1331
Oxyrhynchus 3rd century AD letter
RT 93; Trismegistos 30568.
174
Appendix 2
Details of consanguineous and affinal links between consanguineously married couples in Deir el-Medina (see chapter four, table 4.3 and figure 4.1)
Marriage number 1: Anhurkhawy (i) and Henutdjuu (i) See marriages 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 below. Marriage number 2: Nebmehyt (iii) and Henutmehyt (iv) A cousin of Nebmehyt (iii) and brother to Henutmehyt (iv) called Khaemtir (i) is married to Nofrestatet (i) (one of 10 children). Nofrestat (i)’s niece and nephew are Pashedu (ii) and Tanodjemethemsi (ii) of marriage number 6 (i.e. the couple of marriage 2 are related through affinity to marriage 6). A cousin of Nebmehyt (iii) and brother to Henutmehyt (iv) called Nebenmaat (ii) is married to Mertseger (v) whose sister and cousin are marriage 1 (i.e. the couple of marriage 2 are related through another line of affinity to marriage 1). See figure A1.1 below. Figure A1.1
175
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Marriage number 3: Buqentuf (i) and Iyi (iii) Buqentuf (i) and Iyi (iii) are the parents of Amennakht (x) in marriage 5. If marriage 5 is read as an aunt-uncle marriage, then the wife in marriage 5, Terekhanu (i), is the sister of Iyi (iii) and the first cousin of Buqentuf (i) who are the couple in marriage 3. However, if marriage 5 is read as a cousin marriage, then Terekhanu (i) and Amannakht (x) share the same grandmother. This couple are related by affinity to marriage 11: the great-grandson of this marriage 5, Amennakht (vi/xii), marries Tahefnu (i), the sister of Khons (vi) and the first cousin of Taweretemheb (ii). See figures A1.2a and A1.2b below. Figure A1.2a
Figure A1.2b
Marriage number 4: Iyernutef (ii) and Tabaki (i) The uncle of Iyernutef (ii) and Tabaki (i), Nakhtamun (ii), is married to Nubemshaes (i) and they are the parents of the wife in marriage 6 (i.e. the couple in marriage 4 are first cousins to the wife in marriage 6). The uncle of Iyernutef (ii) and Tabaki (i), Khons (i), is married to Tentopet (i), the sister of Henutdjuu (i) who is married to her first cousin in marriage 1, so their aunt through marriage has a sister married to a first cousin in marriage (i.e. the couple in marriage 4 are related by affinity to marriage 1). The aunt of Iyernutef (ii) and Tabaki (i), Sahte (i), has a daughter, Webkhet (vi/viii), who marries consanguineously (i.e. the couple of marriage 4 are first cousins with the wife of marriage 7). See figure A1.3 below. 176
Consanguineous and affinal links between consanguineously married couples Figure A1.3
Marriage number 5: Amennakht (x) and Tarekhanu (i) See marriage number 3. The husband, Amennakht (x) is the son of the couple in marriage 3, and his wife Tarekhanu (i) is either the sister of the husband in marriage 3 or a first cousin descending of the couple in marriage 3, in effect in this marriage Amennakht (x) and Tarekhanu (i) may be cousins. This couple are also related by affinity to marriage 11: the grandson of marriage 5 (and great-grandson of marriage 3), Amennakht (vi/xii), marries Tahefnu (i), the sister of Khons (vi) and the first cousin of Taweretemheb (ii). Marriage number 6: Pashedu (ii) and Tanodjemethemsi (ii)/Nodjemhemsiset (i) See marriage number 4. The father of Tanodjemethemsi (ii) is Nakhtamun (ii) who is the consanguineous uncle in marriage 6 (i.e. the couple in marriage 6 are first cousins with the couple in marriage 4). Also related by affinity to marriages 1, 2 and 7 (Tanodjemethemsi (ii)/ (i)’s father’s brother is married to Tentopet (i), the sister of Henutdjuu (i) who is married to her first cousin in marriage 1). Marriage number 7: Nekhemmut (i) and Webkhet (vi/viii) Sahte (i), the mother of Webkhet (vi/viii) and aunt through affinity of Nekhemmut (i), is the sister of Reweben (iii) whose daughter Henutwedjebu (i) marries Amenmose (iii), and his two brothers are the fathers of the parallel cousin marriage 6 (i.e. the first cousin Henutwedjebu (i) of the couple in marriage 7 is aunt by affinity to marriage 6). Sahte (i) is also the consanguineous aunt of marriage 4. See also links to marriages 9 and 11 below as they are all members of the family of Sennedjem (i), in which there are three consanguineous marriages. See figure A1.4 below. See also consanguineous links to marriages 9 and 11 in figure A.1.6.
177
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’
Figure A1.4
Marriage number 8: Khnummose (i) and Henuwati (i)/(ii) This cousin marriage is dependent upon Henuwati (ii) being identified with Henuwati (i) and the husband Khnummose (i) being identified with Mose (viii), son of Anuy (ii). (Anuy (ii) is the brother of Nebamentet (i) who is the husband of Hathor (viii), the daughter of Hay (ii), who is the uncle of cousin marriage 1). Henuwati (ii) is a first cousin once removed from marriage 1, and her mother Hunero/Hathor (viii) is a first cousin of the two first cousins in marriage 1 (i.e. the couple in marriage no 8 are first cousins once removed descending to marriage 1). See figure A1.5 below. Figure A1.5
178
Consanguineous and affinal links between consanguineously married couples Marriage number 9: Ipuy (viii) and Henutmire (i) This marriage is dependent upon Nebnefer (xv) being identified with Nebnefer (xxiii), son of Khons (v) (see Davies 1999: 53, n.686, Bierbrier, Chronique d’Égypte, 1984: 208-10, 1975: 30-35). See links to marriages 7 and 11, as they are all members of the family of Sennedjem (i) in which there are three consanguineous marriages. See figure A.1.6 below. Figure A1.6
Marriage number 10: Penrennut (i) and Tadehnetemheb (i) Penrennut (i) and Tadehnetemheb (i) are the grandchildren of Huy (iii/vi/vii/ix) who is first cousin to marriage 1 (i.e. the couple in number 10 are the great niece and nephew of marriage 1). Also, Tadehnetemheb’s (i) brother Seti (i) is married to the great-granddaughter of marriage 1 (i.e. marriage 10 is related to marriage 1 by affinity). This cousin marriage is dependent upon Nakhtmin (iii) being identified with Nakhtmin (i), son of Huy (iii). See figure A1.7 below. Figure A1.7
179
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ Marriage number 11: Khons (vi) and Taweretemheb (ii) See marriages 7 and 9. The brother of Henutmire (i) called Khons (vi) marries his first cousin Taweretemheb (ii) in marriage 11. In effect, a brother and sister each marry a first cousin (i.e. the first cousins of marriage 11 are first cousins of marriage 9). This is dependent upon the father of Ipuy (viii) and Henutmire (i) being Neferhor (i)/(vi), and the mother being Merutemmut (ii) or (i) in Bierbrier’s genealogy (see Bierbrier 1975: 30-35). Marriages 7, 9 and 11 are all members of the family of Sennedjem (i).
180
Appendix 3
Number of known children in the eight family trees in which there are consanguineous marriages The number of known children associated with each consanguineous marriage is highlighted in bold. Sources: Counts drawn from family trees on charts 3-5, 7, 8, 12-14, 21, 22, 24, 27-29, Davies, Who’s Who in Deir el-Medina, 1999; Bierbrier, The Late New Kingdom in Egypt, 1975: 30. Total no. of marriages and children where both parents known
Total no. of marriages and children where both or only one parent known **
1 8 2 5 0 11 7 6
18 marriages 54 children
27 marriages 62 children
3 1 1 1 1 (marriage no. 2)
1 9 5 4 0
6 marriages 9 marriages 37 children (1 of 24 children these children also appears in family of no. 4)
1 2 2 (one is marriage no. 3) 3 2 (one is marriage no. 5) *** 1
9 6 4 2 1 0
Family name and generations * Marriage no. refers to table 4.3
No. of marriages where both parents known (A) corresponding number of children in each marriage (B) A B
Family of Qaha (i), 9 generations
7 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 (marriage no. 1)
Family of Nebenmaat (i) 6 generations
Family of Didi (i) 8 generations
0 1
Family of Piay (ii) 4 5 generations 3 (one is marriage no. 4) **** 2 1 1 1 1 1 1
11 9 8 7 6 5 4
181
11 marriages 22 children
16 marriages 42 children
15 marriages 53 children
19 marriages 55 children
‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’
Family of Hehnekhu (i) 5 generations
4 (one is marriage no. 6) 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 5 11 10 3 2 0
Family of Sennedjem (i) 10 generations
3 2 2 2 (one is marriage no. 9) ***** 2 (one is marriage no. 7) 1 1 1 (marriage no. 11)
1 9 5 6
Family of Hay (ii) 2 5 generations 1 1 2 (one is marriage no. 8) ****** 1 (wife’s name uncertain)
5 3 9 2
Family of Huynefer (ii) 5 generations
13 marriages 10 marriages 35 children (5 of 35 children these children also appear in family of no. 3) 13 marriages 31 children
28 marriages 57 children
7 marriages 26 children
9 marriages 28 children
4 marriages 12 children (1 child also appears in family of no. 4)
7 marriages 30 children
4 3 2 0
0
2 (one is marriage no. 10) 1 1
1 2 8
Notes to Appendix 3 * In the early or late generations the names of only one or two individuals are known, for example, in Marriage 1 the two earliest generations list two married couples and the last generation lists two children; also, the first generation of offspring of married children in some of the marriages have been included where known, even though they appear on other genealogical trees. ** When the existence of a child/husband/wife is recognised but their personal name is unknown, they are listed by Davies (1999) as P/N; this includes two individuals in the family of Sennedjem (i), one in Qaha (i), one in Hay (ii), and one in Huynefer (ii). *** This may be an aunt-nephew marriage, or possibly a second cousin marriage, depending on whether the wife, Tarekhanu (i), is the daughter of Henuteriunu (i) and Amennakht (xi) or their granddaughter. Davies (1999: 65 and n.32) remarks that Valbelle (1975: 40) suggests Henuteriunu (i) may have been the grandmother only of the husband, Amennakht (x), and therefore this would not be a consanguineous marriage.
182
Number of children in family trees with known consanguineous marriages **** There is uncertainty over 7 children: in one of the marriages with six children, the identity of four children is tentative; there are three marriages where the name of one parent is known and one child is tentatively associated with each marriage. ***** This is based on the Neferhor (i/vi) being the son of Khons (v), making Ipuy (viii) and Henutmire (i) first cousins, although Davies (1999: 51-2) does not include this. Bierbrier (1975: 30, 33, 35) recognises it as a cousin marriage, but also discusses the identity of Neferhor (i/vi), suggesting he could be the son of Ipuy (iii) (1984: 209-10). The count includes six children, although there may have been seven. ****** The husband in this marriage, Khnummose (i), may be synonymous with Mose (iv) or (viii). The two children of Mose (viii) have been included in the count. Mose (xiii) is listed in Davies (1999: chart 8) as a possible third child of Khnummose (i) and Henuwati (i/ii).
183
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