By Jessi Stumpfel- Spring 1999 http://www.duke.edu/~jls26/egyMain.html
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An overview of Egyptian art reveals the position of
mothers in Ancient Egypt was a post of high esteem and
young, beautiful mothers are frequently shown in surviving art. Queens
and goddesses are often pictured in a motherly context and
mothers as symbols of power is a
continuing
theme from some of the earlier dynasties, as we see in the alabaster
statue of Pepi II and his
mother, 6th Dynasty, shown below from
The Brooklyn Museum.
This web site has collected, in particular, the images and icons of
motherhood from
the New Kingdom (1552-1070 BC, Dynasties XVIII-XX) and some of their fascinating current interpretations.
Without an explanation, themes and symbols that were most likely clear
to the Egyptians can be hidden from the modern viewer, and an understanding
of these sheds light on many aspects of Egyptian Society. The images have
been classified into subtitles that reveal
something of the reality and meaning of motherhood in the New Kingdom.
The Egyptian ideal of family life centered around the man, his wife, and his
children (Robins 1993: 56). The prime importance of marriage and sexuality
was
to produce children and perpetuate the family (Robins 1993: 75). This can be
seen in the prevalence of fertility objects connected with domestic shrines,
tombs, and temples found from the
Middle Kingdom through the New Kingdom and beyond.
Because the frog is seen in birth related depictions on tombs, frog
shaped-beads have been interpreted by scholars to be fertility amulets
(Friedman 1989: 208).
Two examples from the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Musee De Louvre,
Paris are shown to the right.
These frog beads as well as mummified frogs were placed with human mummies
to insure the deceased's rebirth in the after-world (Friedman 1998:
208).
Female figurines found in the New Kingdom have also been interpreted as
fertility objects(Baines and Malek 1980: 208).
These small
female figures
are shown virtually naked, often with the pubic triangle defined (Robins
1993: 75). Examples of these are
shown to the above and below, from the Agyptisches Museum
Berlin Collection and the London Petrie Collection. They can wear a
necklace, a girdle around the hips, and/or an elaborate hair arrangement.
Around the neck of the fourth figure from the right is a
"Isis-knot" amulet, which is associated with life and sexual fertility
(Baines and Malek 1980: 208). Like the frog beads, their presence
in tombs is a reflection of the Egyptian obsession with rebirth in the after life.
The deceased, male or female, child or adult would
be helped in rebirth by these votive offerings (Robins 1993: 76).

For example, in the depiction above from Hatshepsut's mortuary temple at Deir el Bahri, the gods are conducting pregnant Queen Admose to the birthing chamber.
Although discrete, the shape of the queen's belly is distinct from the
normal female image (Robins 1993: 80).
The slender bodied female
figure predominates in art, however in non-royal art there are some exceptions
including a type of vessel that shows pregnant woman.
An example is seen
to the right from the British museum. She is squatting, naked, and rubbing
her belly. Although the pregnant woman of the vessel
is represented naked there is an absence of genitals, this might be
interpreted as warding off miscarriage. Without any openings
she can not possibly miscarry (Robins 1993: 80).
Pregnancy and childbirth was risky for women in the
New Kingdom and attempts to protect pregnant women and newborns are
apparent in the artifacts of the time.
Taweret, a protective deity of pregnant women and women in childbirth, is regularly shown pregnant and takes on the form of a hippopotamus with the limbs of a lion, the tail of a crocodile, and a human breast (Robins 1993: 80) as seen in the image to the right, from the British Museum. Protective deities would have been the Egyptian equivalent to pre-natal care.
Another prevalent protective entity would have been Bes,
seen below from the Berlin Collection,
from the reign of Akhenaten
(Friedman 1998: 108).
Bes images appear on infant feeding cups
and on reliefs showing the births of Hatshpsut and Amenhotep III (Friedman
1998: 209).

Hathor was the Egyptian mother-goddess and is also
seen in depictions of scenes related to birth and childcare.
The 18th Dynasty bowl to the left, from the Berlin Collection, is an example of a distinct type of votive offering to Hathor.
Imagery on this bowl alluding to fertility includes the lotus and
fish motifs (Friedman 1998: 211).
The closing and opening of the lotus during its night
and day cycle indicated the renewal of life and is a common theme in tomb decoration. The tilapia fish guards its young
in its mouth (Friedman 1998: 211) and may have
represented protection of the young.

A structure, or "birth bower" was built on the roof or in
the garden of Egyptian homes, especially to house the new
mother and baby during and after the birth (Robins 1993: 83). The new mother and baby might have been kept
in confinement for a period after birth and might have undergone a
"purification" ceremony before rejoining society (Robins 1993: 83).
The birthing bower is an extremely
powerful icon in New Kingdom art and repeated references to it are seen.
There are several ostraka found depicting the mother nursing and
tending her baby in a birth bower structure.
An example can be seen above on the ostrakon from Deir el-Medina,
Cairo. The mother can be tended by nude female children, or as seen
in this example, monkeys.
Because of its relationship with creation, sexuality was important for both
both fertility and religion. By association, it is significant
in rebirth in the hereafter (Baines and Malek 1980: 206), and depictions that
are almost pornographic by today's standards are not unknown.
The image to the right is an example of a collection of erotic amulets
from the British Museum.
The plate below from the Leiden, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden shows a naked
girl playing the lute, with a Bes figure tattooed on her
thigh (Robins 1993: 186). Women are frequently seen playing musical
instruments and these scenes are often related to sexuality and
fertility. Musicians are also found in birth related art and may have been
connected with the protection of mothers and infants.

Kissing is not uncommon in Egyptian
art, and very frequently seen in Amarna art during this especially sensual period.
Akhenaten and Nefertiti are pictured
cuddling and kissing their six daughters as
seen on the stela (much) below from the Berlin Collection;
Akhenaten is kissing the nude Meretaten.
Kissing would have been
associated with "giving life" in the Egyptian mind (Arnold 1996: 104).
Below is an unfinished piece found in the workshop of Thutmose the sculptor
of Akhenaten and a queen or princess, Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
"Men and women of the upper circles imitate the royal couple and wear
identical loose garments, so thin and diaphanous that they reveal that
the ideal image of the body underneath was virtually the same for men
and women. It is the male image adapting to the female. King Akhenaten
depicts himself in the image of his wife Nefertiti with small firm
breasts, narrow waist and heavily rounded hips and thighs. As Nefertiti
sometimes wears diadems and crowns it is often difficult to tell the
difference between the two. There was probably a well- defined ideology
behind these iconographical peculiarities. Possibly the king regarded
himself as the male and female principles united in this own creative
person. " (Manniche 1987: 25)
Arnold interprets the Berlin steala according to
what we know about childbearing in the New Kingdom.
To the right is a artist's sketch from the New Kingdom
showing a new mother being cared for during her confinement after
childbirth (Robins 1993: 83). Notice the ephemeral structure of the walls
and roof are of
reed matting supported by slender wooden columns with papyrus capitals
(Arnold 1996: 100). Arnold convincingly argues that the Berlin relief was
meant
to illustrate a Birth Bower (Arnold 1996: 100) . 
One sees the lower sections of reed walls which if the
picture was complete would have been part of a light reed booth called the
"zeh netjer" (Arnold 1996: 100). This type of building would have been highly
charged in the Egyptian mind with symbolic connotations to birth and
rebirth (Arnold 1996: 100).
Also compare it with the relief of the servant
woman suckling a child to the right from the German Instiute of
Archaeology, Cairo.
The position of Nefertiti on the lap of the King is similar to this pose of baby
on the lap of its mother. In addition the composition of the Louvre fragment the scene is
noticeably similar to the composition of this relief. A large
mound, a fruit basket in one case, possibly a rock pile in the other
is present in the right half of the design.
The primeval "mound" has an important part in the Egyptian creation myth
and would have also had symbolic connotations.
Arnold believes these stelae were placed close to the house entrance to
ensure divine protection for marriage, birth, and infants. Egyptians of
the 18th Dynasty would have connected the themes of lovemaking, birth
bowers, and children to motherly protection.
However, ordinary
people of Amarna would have understood
and more closely related to traditional Bes and Tawret figures (Arnold
1996: 100). Notice that the above blue figure of Bes was most likely from the
reign of Akhanaten.
In Egyptian tomb decoration, a king's mother is often
indistinguishable from his wife because both are
depicted as youthful figures and both can be referred to as "Queen"
(Robins 1993: 83). Also take the
example of the Ointment Jar which represents Queen Tiy as the
protective Goddess Taweret, seen to the right from the
Soprintendenza Museo Antichita Egizie, Turin, Italy.
However this is not the most common form of the female breast and
firm female breasts are most often seen. This is most likly an emphasis of the
Egyptian ideal of youth. As seen in the Amarna princess body to the right
from the Berlin Collection.
Children were known to be suckled up to
three years (Robins 1993: 89). Since women are less likely to conceive when
nursing,
this may also have helped in preventing pregnancy for a period after the
birth of a child. In the Wall painting sketch (below) from a Theban tomb
in the 18th dynasty, the woman is nursing a grown child and not a infant.
The princesses have remarkable gestures and are often pointing. The
pointed finger was an "age- old magical
gesture employed to avert evil" and would have served to ward off evil
from the newborn of the home in
which the stela was erected (Arnold 1996: 100).
In addition there seems to have been a unique relationship
between power and motherhood in Ancient Egypt.
Procreative representations of kings and queens place
motherhood as a key point in Egyptian politics.
Fertility in its prominence in religious beliefs and Egyptian ideals
may have resulted in a feminine source of power that strong-willed individuals,
such as Ahhotep II, Ahmose Nefertari,
Hatshepsut, Tiy, and Nefertiti, could tap.
Creation and rebirth are
clear themes throughout Egyptian history, and the New Kingdom,
especially during the period of Amarna,
provides us with a particular and beautiful
insight.
Illustrations of Queens as Figures of Motherhood
One additional point of interest is the connotations of the high hair style
of the women depicted in birth bowers and some of the fertility figures.
There is a
similarity between Nefertiti's usual headdress and this hairstyle.
Nefertiti as queen would have closely represented the
feminine aspects of the universe in the Aton religion.
Forms of the Female Breast
As seen in the Ointment Jar above the pendent female breast
carries the connotation of fecundity (Wilkinson 1992: 47).
The hieroglyphic symbol for breast ("menedj") is a
picture of a breast seen in profile pointing down.
Elongated female breasts are not uncommon and
are usually "symbolic ones representative of
maternal or natural abundance" (Wilkinson 1992: 47).
Thus the depiction of Nefertiti shown to the right
from the Agyptisches Museum, Berlin,
is not surprising and marks her a
fertility icon.
Scenes of Nursing
Where pregnancy and childbirth are difficult to find in Egyptian art,
queens nursing kings, women nursing infants,
and goddesses nursing pharaohs, are often seen. Below is a sketch of
Amenhotep III and his ka nursed by a goddess as seen in the Birth Room of
the Luxor Temple.

The hieroglyph for woman nursing child ("menat") is seen to
the right. The scene of a King being nursed by a goddess becomes very
popular during the New Kingdom and may have been aimed at the rejuvenation
of the king (Wilkinson 1992: 33).
The goddesses Isis and Hathor are the
most commonly portrayed in this maternal role (Wilkinson 1992: 33). Hathor
is sometimes portrayed in her cow form and this motif. In
a the 18th Dynasty representation of Amenhotep II he is drinking from
the udder of a Hathor divine cow (not shown here)(Wilkinson 1992: 59).
The Characteristics of Infants and Children
Children are often depicted nude, index finger in mouth, with the
distinctive "side-lock" of youth as seen in the sketch to the left from the Paprus of Herweben, Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
Their connection with the Egyptian
ideals of fertility, youth, and renewal, give them a prominent position
in Egyptian art. Kings are
sometimes depicted as children or with child-like features late in their
reign as
a symbol their rejuvenation.
Infants in Egyptian art are often shown with the proportions of a
pre-adolecent
child in infantile size and thus look strange to the modern
viewer.
Akhenaten's daughters
take on several mysterious characteristics. To the right is a detail of
Nefertiti and one of her daughters from the Agyptisches Museum, Berlin.
The heads of the princesses have elongated skulls and infantile
baby fat on their chin, as seen to the left from the Agyptisches Museum.
This may have emphasised their position as babies although they
must have been varied ages when the stela was created.
Newborns, directly after birth, occasionally have slightly coned head due
to the birthing process and the flexible nature of there skulls.
For these infants the shape of there skull
will return to a normal shape a few days after birth.
However the princesses continue to be proportioned
in this manner most likely to advertise their infantile symbolism.
Women in Egyptian Society
For those familiar with the male- oriented ancient Greek
civilization, the position women seem to have enjoyed in Ancient Egypt,
reflected in Egyptian art and historical inscriptions, is remarkable. The
Egyptian woman seems to have enjoyed the same legal and economic rights
as the Egyptian man (at least in theory) and it is uncertain why these
rights existed for the woman in Egypt but no where else in the ancient
world (Piccione 1995). Several royal women in the 18th Dynasty are
particularly prominent, among them Ahhotep II, Ahmose Nefertari,
Hatshepsut, Tiy, and Nefertiti. (Robins 1993: 55). Although monuments do not
suggest that power was vested in queens on a regular basis, women could
and did hold positions of political power in the Egyptian administration.
To the left from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is a relief showing a
scene of Nefertiti smiting enemies, an icon of power in Egyptian art.
And below is a picture of
the Hatshepsut monumental temple at Del-el-Barhi showing symbols of her
power as a leader.
One theory
is that the unique political position of women in Ancient Egypt was due
ultimately to the Queen's relationship to the King. The pharaoh was
central to the Egyptians' view of their state as the link between the
divine and human spheres (Robins 1995: 55). Instead of men and women being
defined by familiar relationships, they were defined only in regard to
the King, the centerpiece of Egyptian Society; this relationship would
have been equal between men and women. Rather than gender differences
defining legal distinctions, they were based much more upon differences
in the social classes (Piccione 1995). The Egyptian concept of kingship
depended on the complementary figure of queenship and was key to its
functioning (Robins 1993: 55). The titles of Queenship such as "wife of the
king" or "mother of the king" seems to define the queen's significance in
her relationship to the king (King 1997: 219) and corroborates this theory.
Power and Motherhood
Procreative symbols and the prominence of motherly themes in Egyptian
art, clearly place the idea of fertility and motherhood central to
Egyptian thought.
The extremely positive attitude toward motherhood may have helped led
to a positive view of women that was missing in other cultures such
as Ancient Greece.
The unique legal and
economic status of the Egyptian woman among women of the
ancient world seems to have been very closely related
to the strength of the Egyptian ideals of
fertility and creation.
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