Women's Active Role in Sports and Entertainment in Ancient Egypt | ||
| مجلة کلية الآثار . جامعة القاهرة | ||
| Volume 18, Issue 28, 2025, Pages 127-164 PDF (5.13 M) | ||
| Document Type: المقالة الأصلية | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/jarch.2025.403844 | ||
| Author | ||
| Mahmoud Elhosary | ||
| Faculty of Arts, New Valley University | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Women held a prominent position in ancient Egyptian society. She enjoyed an acceptable level of equality with men, which enabled her to participate fully in all aspects of life, and thus she held many important positions in the worldly and religious fields. She worked as a doctor, judge, scribe, priestess, educators, nurse, dresser for the king, heads of royal harems, divine wife, singer, musician, head of the royal treasury, and administrator of rituals. Some women even ascended to the throne, becoming queens such as Merneith (1st Dynasty), Khentkaus I (4th Dynasty), Sobekneferu (12th Dynasty), Hatshepsut (18th Dynasty), and Tawosret (19th Dynasty). Although most sports activities were limited to men, and there may have been physical, social or cultural restrictions that prevented women from participating in some violent sports such as wrestling, fencing, boxing and weightlifting. However, this did not prevent women from participating in some sports of strength, flexibility, speed and skill, such as gymnastics, jumping of various types and playing ball. Sports, entertainment and artistic activities were practiced in free time for the purpose of enjoyment, amusement, mental health and physical health, and may have been more available to women of the palace and the upper classes and were individual and collective. Although there was a difference in rights and privileges between the different classes of women, this did not prevent the lower classes from participating in some of these activities, such as swimming, dancing, singing, playing musical instruments, drawing, sculpting, intelligence games, and hunting fish, birds and animals. Women's participation in religious rituals and celebrations was an important part of entertainment. Although there are few scenes and murals depicting women in various sporting and recreational activities, compared to the scenes of men that fill the walls of tombs and temples, they are valuable evidence of the active role of women’s participation in sporting and recreational activities in ancient Egypt | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Ancient Egypt; The role of women in society; women's sports and entertainment; gender equality | ||
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