Women in Ancient Egypt
How were rulers chosen in Egypt, and what are some ways
that royal families maintained control?
What are the religious/literary/mythical parallels of
this?
Women's Rights
What evidence is there that women in Egypt had a relatively
equal position in society in regard to the position of men? List
and explain at least three proofs.
Royal Women
Describe one ruling Egyptian woman and explain her rise
and maintenance of power.
Love and Marriage
What was the typical attitude toward pre-marital sex in
Egypt? Did this benefit or disadvantage women?
What was the sankh deed and what did it do?
How did Greeks perceive the Egyptians?
Women in Ancient Western Asia
Does western Asiatic society tend to be more or less patriarchal
than Egyptian society? What proofs support that?
Sumer
How were elite (upper-class) Sumerian women treated differently
than poor Sumerian women?
Marriage
What do scholars link to marriage's becoming an economic
and legal union?
Did Sumerian women have security in their marriages or
families? Why or why not?
Politics
What is the political situation for women early in Sumer's
history?
How does that change as the society develops?
How does it change when the society wages wars or falls
under military attack?
Akkad
Although the Akkadian ruler Sargon was a military leader,
there is evidence that he held women in high esteem. What evidence
supports that he had a positive view of women?
As the society changes, how do/does the attitude/s toward
sexual relations change/s?
What are some of the laws regarding sexual practice at
the end of the Sumerian culture?
The Amorite Kingdoms
What evidence is there that elite women in Amorite kingdoms
had more privileges or rights than poorer women?
Babylonia
Economics
What were the naditu women, and how were their
families able to maintain control of their dowries? Was this arrangement
preferable for the women than for the women forced into marriage?
Why or why not?
Legalities
How does the faith of the Babylonian people affect their
legal system?
What does lex talionis mean? How did it work?
Were all people treated equally under Babylonian law?
Were men and women allowed the same rights in regard to
sexual behavior under Babylonian law?
Assyria
Why does Barbara Lesko call Assyria, a "patriarchy in
extreme?
Economics
In Assyria, marriages were business arrangements.
What did this mean for women? Briefly list the economic rights (or
lack thereof) of Assyrian women.
The Regulation of Sexuality
What did a veil represent, and why were they worn?
What are two possible motivations for Assyrian law's placement
of a high value on a bride's virginity?
Who were, generally speaking, the most powerful women
in Assyria?
Ancient Israel
How did the Israelites support themselves (around late
thirteenth-century BC)?
Explain briefly how Israeli society separated itself based
on gender and how it enforced gender differences.
What were the Hebrew peoples attitudes toward sex?
What rights (or lack thereof) did Hebrew women have?
On the line below, plot Ancient Egypt, Ancient Israel, and Assyria
on a continuum of Matriarchy/Patriarchy.
Matriarchy
Patriarchy