Discussions on consanguineous marriage within Egyptology usually focus on brother-sister marriages recorded in census returns from Roman Egypt, or royal sibling marriages amongst the ruling Ptolemies. However, no wide-ranging review exists of non-royal consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt despite the economic and biological implications of such relationships. This is the first time that evidence for nonroyal consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt has been collated from select sources spanning the Middle Kingdom to the Roman Period and a method created to investigate the potential economic and biological outcomes of these unions, particularly beyond the level of sibling and half-sibling unions. The working definition of consanguineous marriage used throughout this study is that used by clinical geneticists: unions contracted between cousins biologically related as second cousins or closer biological kin. This research argues 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 congenital anomalies and genetic disorders in the offspring of consanguineous marriages, the research suggests that it is unlikely that these physical or cognitive disorders were distinguished from other medical disorders in the general health environment of ancient Egypt. The investigation focuses primarily 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 and pathology.
Author(s): Joanne-Marie Robinson
Series: Archaeopress Egyptology
Publisher: Archaeopress Archaeology
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 246
City: Summertown
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Information
Dedication
Contents
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.
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).
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 4.10.16.
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 4.10.16.
Figure 2.4: Current global prevalence of consanguineous marriage. Source: Courtesy of Global Consang
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.
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 value of the goods in silver deben.
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
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.
Figure 3.6: Number of economic transactions between families or individuals related through consanguinity or affinity in the Archive of Horos. Source for document types in the Archive of Horos: Vandorpe and Waebens, 2008: 131.
Figure 4.1: Consanguineous marriages in Deir el-Medina and their links through consanguinity and affinity to other first cousin marriages, 19th–20th dynasties.
Figure 4.2: Number of marriages and offspring in family trees with one or more consanguineous marriages (gen. = generations)
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
Figure 5.2: Cleft lip (premaxilla) with cleft (maxillary) palate (young child): A normal (with dotte
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: D. E. Derry, 1938, Two Skulls
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, T
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 Socie
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 o
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 Gly
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
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 te
Table 1.2 Biological relationships (using Euro-American terminology) and genetic relationships. Source: Bittles, Consanguinity in Context, 2012: 6.
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, 19
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.
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.
Table 2.4: Current religious regulation of first cousin marriage. Source: Bittles and Black, Consanguineous Marriage and Human Evolution, 2010b: 196.
Table 3.1: Genetic relationships between consanguineous family members Source: after Bittles, Consanguinity in Context, 2012: 6.
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, Mar
Table 3.3: Different valuations of the man’s gift and the woman’s goods in P. Ryl. Dem. 20.
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 Typ
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
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
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.
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,
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Glossary
Ancient Egyptian Chronology
Papyri and ostraca
Chapter 1 Ancient Egyptian marriage and kin terms
Introduction
Exploring non-royal consanguineous marriage: aims, limitations, and hypotheses
Ancient Egyptian marriage
Age at Marriage
Ancient Egyptian kin terms
Consanguinity and consanguineous marriage
Defining consanguinity
Categories of consanguineous marriage
Definitions of Incest
Incest avoidance: the incest taboo
Identifying genetic markers for consanguinity in human remains
Methodology and structure
Chapter 2 Consanguinity in historical context
Introduction
Consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt
Royal consanguineous marriages
Non-royal consanguineous marriages
Roman Period
Ptolemaic Period
The Pharaonic Period
Late Period and Third Intermediate Period
New Kingdom
Middle Kingdom
Polygyny and polyandry
Evidence for consanguineous marriage outside ancient Egypt
Judaism: degrees of prohibited marriage
Athens, Sparta and Rome: marriage, law, and degrees of prohibition
Christianity: degrees of prohibited marriage
Consanguineous marriage in Zoroastrianism
Consanguineous marriage in Arabia and Islam
Current religious regulation of first cousin marriage
Conclusion
Chapter 3 The use of inheritance and matrimonial goods as economic strategies
Introduction
Terms of reference: matrimonial goods, gifts and dowry
Ancient Egyptian private property, laws of inheritance, and matrimonial goods
Ancient Egyptian inheritance law
The Adoption Papyrus
The Will of Naunakhte
Trial at the Temple of Wepwawet in Siut
Ancient Egyptian gifts at marriage
Inheritance law and dowry in Mesopotamia, classical Greece and ancient Rome
Mesopotamia
Classical Greece
Ancient Rome
Consanguineous marriage: response to, or reaction against, laws of succession?
Consanguineous marriage as an economic strategy in ancient Egypt: land consolidation, inheritance and matrimonial goods
Protection against disintegration of land ownership: continuity, loss and acquisition
Consanguineous marriage: financial commitments, family expectations and timing of transfers
Case study: Marriage, consanguinity and economics in Ptolemaic Pathyris
Ptolemaic Pathyris and family archives
Comparisons between marriage settlements and other economic transactions
Categories of consanguineous marriage
Requirements and financial commitments in demotic marriage settlements
John Rylands demotic marriage settlements
Comparisons between financial commitments and unusual features within them
Potential implications in the value of marriage settlements in the Archive of Pelaias and the Archive of Horos
Consanguineous and non-consanguineous economic transactions in the Archive of Pelaias and the Archive of Horos
Texts and transactions in the Archive of Pelaias
Texts and transactions in the Archive of Horos
Consanguineous economic transactions in the Archive of Horos
The woman’s matrimonial goods, modern dowry and the economics of consanguinity
Case study summary
Conclusion
Chapter 4 Consanguineous marriage in Deir el-Medina and economic impacts
Introduction
Terms of reference: altruism and reciprocity
Number of consanguineous marriages, networks of interrelated families and types of cousin marriages
Consanguineous families and interrelated networks
Preferences and outcomes of jural and affective ties in marriages between parallel and cross cousins
Occupations within consanguineous marriages in Deir el-Medina: occupation of husband, husband’s father, and wife’s father
Offspring of consanguineous marriages and numbers of known children in their family trees
Economic transactions in Deir el-Medina and expectations of altruism and reciprocity in consanguineous families
Gift-giving
Debts and credit
Informal object exchange and barter
Family transfers and expectations
What affects willingness to give and expectation to receive?
Legal bodies and regulatory mechanisms in Deir el-Medina
The local court (ḳnbt)
The oracle
Social networks and informal controls on behaviour
Trust and co-operation between families related by consanguinity and affinity
Altruism, trust and trustworthiness amongst family members
Sliding scales of altruism and reciprocity in Deir el-Medina L2
Reputation formation and trustworthiness in Deir el-Medina
Conclusion
Chapter 5 Biological outcomes of non-royal consanguineous marriage
Introduction
Reported congenital anomalies in mummified and skeletal remains in ancient Egypt
Consanguineous marriage: ancient evidence and modern biological outcomes
Congenital anomalies and morbidity in infancy and childhood reported at increased frequency in modern consanguineous families
Consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt
Consanguinity and non-syndromic cleft lip/palate (CL/P) and cleft palate (CP)
Characteristics of cleft lip/palate and cleft palate and their reported incidence in modern and ancient populations
Cleft lip/palate and cleft palate in ancient Egypt
Consanguinity and intellectual and developmental disorders
Characteristics of intellectual and developmental disorders and their reported incidence in modern and ancient populations
Attitudes towards intellectual and developmental impairment in ancient Greece
Attitudes towards intellectual and developmental impairment in ancient Egypt
Functioning and adaptive ability, accommodation of impairment, and provision of care
Infant survival and functioning and adaptive behaviour associated with non-syndromic orofacial clefting
Infant survival and functioning and adaptive behaviour associated with intellectual and developmental disorders
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
Intellectual and developmental disorders
Perceptions of health, sickness and disability in ancient Egypt
The medical papyri
Therapeutic dreams and ritual bathing
Cemeteries and intramural burials
Physical abnormalities in iconography
Funerary ritual: renewal, protection and sustenance
Consanguineous marriage and the provision of support networks
Conclusion
Chapter 6 Conclusion
Appendix 1 Table of probable or possible non-royal consanguineous marriages from select sources
Appendix 2 Details of consanguineous and affinal links
Marriage number 1 - Anhurkhawy (i) and Henutdjuu (i)
Marriage number 2: Nebmehyt (iii) and Henutmehyt (iv)
Marriage number 3: Buqentuf (i) and Iyi (iii)
Marriage number 4: Iyernutef (ii) and Tabaki (i)
Marriage number 5: Amennakht (x) and Tarekhanu (i)
Marriage number 6: Pashedu (ii) and Tanodjemethemsi (ii)/Nodjemhemsiset (i)
Marriage number 7: Nekhemmut (i) and Webkhet (vi/viii)
Marriage number 8: Khnummose (i) and Henuwati (i)/(ii)
Marriage number 10: Penrennut (i) and Tadehnetemheb (i)
Marriage number 9: Ipuy (viii) and Henutmire (i)
Marriage number 11: Khons (vi) and Taweretemheb (ii)
Appendix 3 Number of known children in eight family trees
Notes to Appendix 3:
Bibliography
