Guardianship of Women in Late Antique Egypt

نوع المستند : المقالة الأصلية

المؤلف

Faculty of Arts, Greek and latin department Mansoura University, Egypt

المستخلص

In late antiquity, women could carry out various legal and business transactions not necessarily under the supervision or guardianship of men but in the presence of their husbands, or male children, or a relative who usually accompanied them in their transactions to the city authorities or laws.  The Pater Familias never lost his power over his children, his family, and their possessions.  Motherhood was one of the main ways in which women managed to escape custody and gain legal independence.  But widows were always considered weak to defend their rights and property and often sought the help of the city's legal authorities. Undoubtedly, women even in late antiquity were much less privileged than men but active members as mothers and wives  in the family.
کان بإمکان النساء في أواخر العصر الروماني المتأخر إجراء المعاملات القانونية والتجارية المختلفة ليس بالضرورة تحت إشراف أو وصاية أحد من الرجال ولکن بحضور أزواجهن، أو الأبناء الذکور، أو أحد الأقارب الذکور الذي عادة ما يرافقهن في معاملاتهن لدى السلطات المدنية أو القانونية. وقد تمتع رب الأسرة بممارسة السلطة الأبوية على أطفاله وعائلته وممتلکاتهم، واعتبرت الأمومة إحدى الوسائل الرئيسية التي من خلالها تمکنت النساء من عدم الخضوع للوصاية، والحصول على الاستقلال القانوني، في حين أن الأرامل اعتُبِرن  في حاجة دائمة لمن يساندهن في الدفاع والحصول على حقوقهن وممتلکاتهن، وکثيرًا ما طلبن مساعدة السلطات القانونية في ذلک، وممَّا لا شک فيه أن النساء حتى في العصور القديمة المتأخرة کانت أقل قدرة  من الرجال في الحصول على الحقوق والامتيازات، ولکنهن کُنَّ عضوات نشيطات في الأسرة کأمهات وزوجات.

الكلمات الرئيسية


I. Papyri Collections:
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I, 1911. (Cat. 51). Nos. 67001—67124. [MF 1.38; rp. OZ/CG] p.cair.masp;1 Online: archive.org
- P. Hamb = Griechische Papyrusurkunden der Hamburger Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek. III, ed. B. Kramer and D. Hagedorn. Bonn 1984. (Pap.Texte Abh. XXXI). Nos. 193—234.
IV, Milan 1967. Nos. 204—257, plus 3 Coptic texts. p.mil.vogl;4
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- P. Oxy.= The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Published by the Egypt Exploration Society in Graeco-Roman Memoirs. London. The number in parentheses at the end of each entry is the number in this series. Earlier vols. carry the heading of Egypt Exploration Fund, Graeco-Roman Branch; even after the title change numbers were not assigned to the volumes until the 1950s. The system followed here is that adopted retroactively by the EES. [all vols. EES], XXII, Nos. 2309—2353, ed. E. Lobel and C.H. Roberts. 1954. (31)   
I, Nos. 1—207, ed. B.P. Grenfell and A.S. Hunt. 1898. (1) p.oxy;1 Cf. P.Oxy.Descr. Online: archive.org Cf. P.Oxy.Descr.
XII, Nos. 1405—1593, ed. B.P. Grenfell and A.S. Hunt, 1916. (15) p.oxy; 12 Online: archive.org
- SB = Sammelbuch griechischer Urkunden aus Aegypten. (A collection of documentary papyri, ostraca, inscriptions, mummy tablets and related texts published in journals or unindexed catalogues. Begun by F. Preisigke in 1915, continued by F. Bilabel, E. Kiessling, and H.-A. Rupprecht). In progress.
I, Strassburg and Berlin 1913—1915. Nos. 1—6000. [MF 1.33; rp. WdG] Online: archive.org
 III, Berlin and Leipzig 1926—1927. Nos. 6001—7269. [MF 1.35; rp. WdG]
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