...Gender Differences in Early Civilizations The treatment of men and women was a big part of ancient societies as it is today. In all the different areas of living, masculinity and femininity are seen in drastically different ways. In ancient civilizations, gender played a great role in the way people were treated. In some cultures like ancient Egypt, women and men were treated equally for the most part. In other cultures, such as ancient Rome and China women were treated far worse than men. Different civilizations had very different ways and reasons for the treatment of women in comparison to men. Both of them had different everyday lives based on their gender roles and how the society viewed each gender. Gender difference existed in ancient...
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...“Women’s Monumental Mark on Ancient Egypt” Barbara Lesko’s article argues the fact that women in ancient Egypt were as important figures as the men were. The title suggests that women left a monumental mark, such as tomb chapels and temples, rather than just an impact on ancient Egypt. Though Lesko’s argument tries to portray women of great power and ranking, being director of the dining hall for example is not a position to be exuberant about. Lesko’s argument did not persuade me into believing the supposed unbelievable power women held; not counting the few royal women. However the abundant presence of art and architecture dealing with women in ancient Egypt is surprising. Lesko’s main argument dealt with women of ancient Egypt supposedly holding the same power and rights as the men. A strong point that exemplifies her argument is the presence of female art depicting women sitting beside their husbands rather than standing behind them. The importance of men and women being portrayed side by side shows equality between the two, rather than a portrayal of a woman servicing her man. Another strong point within Lesko’s argument is the fact that women had statuettes and life-sized statues dedicated to their obvious importance to ancient Egyptian society. Having life-sized statues of women is a bold statement that exemplifies the importance women held in society in conjunction with men. However, Lesko’s argument contains some problematic points such as women holding the same stature...
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...EGYPT BEYOND THE PYRAMIDS PAGE 1 THE HISTORY CHANNEL CLASSROOM PRESENTS EGYPT TEACHER’S GUIDE Egypt Beyond The Pyramids The mystifying world of ancient Egypt comes to life in this four-part miniseries, Egypt Beyond the Pyramids. Within the walls of recently excavated temples and tombs lie secrets that will challenge current ideas about ancient Egypt. Discoveries—from the enormous burial tomb called KV5 to the sacred temples of Karnak—show how ancient Egyptians lived, worked, worshipped, and honored their dead. To provide a deeper understanding of Egypt’s past, head archaeologist Dr. Kent Weeks, along with other Egyptologists, leads viewers into ancient temples and tombs—including the resting place of Pharaoh Ramesses II’s lost children—some recorded on film for the first time. Epic in scope, Egypt Beyond the Pyramids demonstrates that as archaeologists uncover more about the past, their discoveries yield more questions than answers. Curriculum Links Egypt Beyond the Pyramids is appropriate for middle and high school classes in world history, ancient history, and art history. National History Standards Egypt Beyond the Pyramids fulfills the following National Standards for History: Historical Thinking 1 (Chronological Thinking), 2 (Historical Comprehension), 3 (Historical Analysis and Interpretation), 4 (Historical Research Capabilities), World History, Era 2. EGYPT BEYOND THE PYRAMIDS THE HISTORY CHANNEL CLASSROOM PRESENTS EGYPT HOUR 1: MANSIONS OF THE SPIRITS ...
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...Women’s Role in Ancient Times HIS 103 World Civilizations I Women's Role in Ancient times A woman in today’s society is somewhat equal to a man’s but the treatment of women in ancient times were strict and women had no rights as compared to men. During the Ancient times, there was the misconception of women and the different roles they played. They were to stay at home and took care of their households and such other womanly duties that were deemed appropriate for their gender during those periods. Also, it was very important for a woman to know the laws and requirements of their roles and how those roles were perceived in a society. In many countries, the women had similarities, and a few differences. Although time has progressed and there are some roles that are no longer in existence, the women of today and ancient times still have things in common. For example, women still have the role of caring for their children, instilling family values, and commitment to sacred vowels of matrimony. Throughout history, there are many cultures that shared the same common beliefs about the role of women. Women in the countries like China, Egypt, Rome, and the Mesopotamian society are a few places that women’s cultures are shared with common similarities but there are some with different aspects. Women were considered weaker than men and were unable to perform work that requires muscular or intellectual development. Because of this, women were restrained to accomplishing light...
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...Throughout history the roles of men and women played a major part of the everyday life, however women in ancient egypt were given a lot more freedom then anywhere else known in that time. Men and women were considered to have equal right, men and woman their different social roles. The roles of women consisted of anything they desired. If women wanted to work they had the opportunity and many different options of jobs to choose from, dancers and singers were highly recommended and was considered one of the good jobs for women. Other jobs included ritual mourners at funeral and what these women would do is display an act of grief by pulling at their hair and throwing dust upom their heads, while dressed in mourning dresses that exposed their breast. Surprsing prostitution was considered a job in ancient egypt, prostitutes in ancinet egypt wore blue fish net dresses and red lipstick and some just prefered being nude. While jobs for men consisted of farming, working on the field, they had a high level of understanding the importance of working that inlcuded growing crops also buying and selling. They worked all day, nut still managed to make some time to teach their son's how to do buisness and trade. Even though men and women were equal, men were stil valued over women to the point where women would make the efffort to appear and dress more like a man to be valued more. Men in ancient egypt were expected to treat women with respect and at the same time hold their ground. Protecting...
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...development between ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia was the political organization in both civilizations. The tyrannical presence of ancient Egypt’s godly Pharaohs and the justified structure of Hammurabi’s code in ancient Mesopotamia were the distinct political differences. Political organization affected the ancient economy, that then affected social order, which in turn affected the kinds of religions practiced, which played a huge role in the development of these ancient societies. Egyptian Pharaohs took advantage of the geography surrounding them, and found the Nile River Valley to be rich in precious metals, including gold, copper, and iron. A large number of men took a chance and left their homes to go out and mine for these precious metals. While in Mesopotamia, Hammurabi established many laws which allowed for the stabilization of the economy. These laws established legitimate trade and commerce for the sharing and distributing of agriculture grown in the area. In both ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia their economies flourished with trade, this is because in order to establish a...
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...November 19, 2013 Egypt When people think of Egypt they think of pyramids, camels passing by, desert with no food and water that however, is far from what Egypt really is like. The name of the culture for Egypt is called The Republic of Egypt, Egypt is located in northern Africa bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Libya and the Garza Strip and the Red Sea north of Sudan, and includes the Asian Sinai Peninsula (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/eg.html). “About 10,000 years ago, people started near the Nile River.” (http://www.tooter4kids.com/Egypt/FunFacts.htm) This civilization is one we know today as Egypt. As one of the first civilizations, Egypt has a lot of background. Egypt was one of the first civilizations when people finally gave up their nomadic way of life. The Nile River was a good place to start a civilization because of the fertile soil. Today the Nile is a big source of wealth for the Egyptians and other people of this region just like it was in the ancient times. Without the Nile all of Egypt would be a hot and dry dessert. The Nile stretches for 4,145 miles. It is the longest river in the world. It flows from the South to the North. It originates near the equator in Africa and flows through the countries of Rwanda, Zaire, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Egypt before emptying into the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt today is a republic with a parliamentary government, a president as head of state and a judicial system based on British common...
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...differently in the societies of China, Greece, and Egypt. Each faced battles and struggles to successfully achieve power with justice for their own. The roles of males and females played a huge role in the process of fighting for power and justice. Ban Zhao was a woman living during the Han Dynasty that was born into a family of scholars. Ban Zhao was a gifted woman that was able to be provided with an education suitable for a man (Admonitions for Women, 83). The Chinese society, therefore, believes that men deserve an elite education compared to any other woman’s education. Ban Zhao served as a historian to the imperial court to represent and take over the role of her brother, Ban Gu. She was able to teach...
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...The Palette of Narmer The Palette of Narmer, also known as the Great Hierakonpolis Palette is an ancient Egyptian artifact dating from the 31st century BC. The palette depicts the unification of upper and lower Egypt by Narmer, the first pharaoh of Egypt. On one side Narmer can be seen wearing the white crown of upper Egypt, wielding a mace in one hand and striking a captured prisoner with the other. Beneath Narmer, are what seem to be a pair of dead bodies and a hieroglyphic sign that most likely indicates the name of a defeated town. The other side of the palette depicts Namer wearing the Red crown of lower Egypt with the decapitated bodies of enemy troops sprawled out to the side.This portrays Namers victory over his enemies and his unification of the two crowns under a single man. Beneath the king are two large serpopard’s, a mythical hybrid between a lioness and a serpent. Both upper and lower Egypt worshiped these creatures and the intertwining of their necks is an additional representation of Egyptian unity under Narmer. At the very bottom of the palette a bovine image is seen knocking down the walls of a city, further commemorating Namers military victory. This ancient artifact displays the critical role of a ruthless warrior in the forming of one of the greatest civilizations in all of human history. Although human beings should always strive to avoid violence, the use of force is essential to to building complex civilization. Violence is crucial to the development...
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...Ancient Egypt Love Poems Ancient Egypt literature and poetry foundation and growth were religious basses and beliefs. In a short amount of time, poetry evolved to deal with people ordinary lives and had a great place among Ancient Egyptian civilization. They wrote religious hymns, plays, dramatic poetry, songs, and in particular love poetry. Ancient Egyptians started and utilized strong literature in order to efficiently communicate their feeling that it affected other cultures, yet these master pieces lack names and titles. These master pieces are originally written inside tomb walls, papyrus and limestone which celebrates the pleasures of food, music, dance, and love. Ancient Egypt Love Poems are significant in our literature because they are one of the first recordings of human literary works and sure enough the earliest example of love poetry. It took them a long time to create these magnificent pieces of literature in writing, but before that oral poetry was part of their tradition; composition of Hymns, stories, and prayers that were passed down from a generation to another orally. The reason was that only a few could read and write in a city and they were more likely royals and merchandisers. Egyptian invented hieroglyphic writing to help their trade system for recording their merchants; later on, they used this writing in tombs in order to compose biographies, narrative poems, and songs. Soon after, Egyptian came up with a new system of writing, hieratic script, which...
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...Roles of the Ancient Women Ancient Middle Eastern civilizations laid the ground work for the progression of Western culture. The religions and laws created by the leaders of these civilizations directed the day to day lives of their people. We see evidence of this through the archeological and anthropological studies that have been conducted throughout the Middle Eastern regions over the past few decades. As most of these civilizations were built upon a patriarchal culture, the majority of what has been unearth points toward the day to day lives of the men of those civilizations. What evidence is there for the role of women in these ancient Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Minoan cultures? The written historical record, excavated artifacts and art provides a rich tapestry of evidence of the lives of the Ancient Mesopotamians and with it a small glimpse into the lives of Mesopotamian women. Many resources point to the woman’s role being firmly that of a “daughter of her father or the wife of her husband.” (The Oriantial Institute, Chicago University) Texts such as The Code of Hammurabi spell out what few rights a Mesopotamian woman had. These rights were mainly associated to the privileges of the dowry bestowed up on her husband by her father or in his death her eldest male relative. (Hooker, Washington State University, 1999) A dowry typically consisted of money, goods, or estate that a woman brings to her husband in marriage. The rights to this dowry were mainly held by the father...
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...Book Citation Pomeroy, Sarah. Women in Hellenistic Egypt: from Alexander to Cleopatra (New York: Schocken Books), 1984. Author’s Goal The author’s goal in writing this book is to inform people about ancient women, focusing more on Egypt and sounding areas in the earliest centuries, from 2nd century through the 4th. Women were not very popular in ancient times; therefore people know less about them compared to men. Because of this lack of information many people argue about the status of ancient women. That is why Pomeroy wrote this book, she wants to provide as much information about ancient women as she could, to inform her readers. Pomeroy also tends to focus on the women who achieved great goals in life, as to say that even women in...
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...two great civilizations that disappeared, only leaving fragments of their existence for the rest of modern society to ponder. Only separated by the Mediterranean Sea, approximately 1,599km or 994mi, both the countries of Egypt and Greece were once the heavyweight champions of their era. Although they reside on different continents, these civilizations are more similar than what history may portray them to be. Each civilization holds similar foundations. Egypt and Greece were ahead of their time by giving birth to an evolving society that represented greater gender equality and independence, in a time where it was uncommon in...
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...CULTURE LOCATION Today more than sixty-one million people live in Egypt. Egypt is located in northeastern Africa. On the north it borders the Mediterranean Sea, on the east the Red Sea and the State of Israel in the Sinai desert. Most of the population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, which is only a very small part (six percent) of Egyptian territory. Almost all the rest of the country is desert. HISTORY Archaeological evidence shows us that hunters lived in Egypt more than 250,000 years ago when the region was a green grassland. Around 25,000 BC, climate changes turned Egypt into a desert. The people survived by hunting and fishing and through agriculture. In 3100 BC, King Menes joined the two parts of the land into one kingdom. The Dynasty that he founded, together with the one after it, are now called the "Archaic Period". Egypt soon evolved into a centralized and well organized kingdom. Egypt gained a growing influence in the ancient world and its power came to dominate the Near East for more than 500 years. The construction of the great pyramids of the 4th dynasty (about 2575 - 2465 BC) took place during this time. The new kingdom expanded rapidly and the country was quite stable internally. Ancient Egypt and its culture had a tremendous impact on what is now the Western World. After the death of Tutankhamon the fourth, the Dynasty and the power of the king weakened. A period of decline followed and Egypt was invaded by the Assyrians and the Persians, and opened its borders...
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...Men and women have always been different, each having there own strengths and weaknesses, never the less each gender has played a pivotal role in the development of the world we have today. Even though Gender equality has made huges leaps in progress over human history, it is shown in early civilizations the vast differences in the treatment and expectations of men and women. In this essay three primary source documents will be reviewed and analyzed, to clearly pinpoint the key similarities and differences regarding gender relations. Each source document will be relating to a different civilization at a different time. It is important to note that even in similar historical time frames gender roles ranged greatly from one civilization or empire...
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