This book by British archaeologist and researcher, Tyldesley, is an exceptional work of scholarly importance that depicts the feminine world of Ancient Egypt. She illustrates the mundane lives of the Egyptian women in ancient socio-cultural environment. Tyldesley does not rely on the secondary sources but utilizes exclusive written accounts and archaeology remains of ancient Egypt.
Her work is overabundant with illustrations that provide a deep insight to all facades of the lives of the women of ancient Egypt.These pictorial presentations encourage the reader to visualize the true nature of feminine world of ancient Egypt and not to rely on a fictitious and concocted imagination. Another characteristic of the book is the provision of a well-ordered historical chronology that is a useful reference to locate the true timings of the events and incidents. She has interspersed the text with quotes from a range of primeval translated sources that provide an insight to Egyptian feminine world.
But Tyldesley is realist enough that she thinks that study of the images and contemporary art will only depict an “idealized view” i. e. how Egyptian wanted to be depicted by the generations to come. (Tyldesley, p.
18) Another aspect of these paintings and artwork were that they only depicted “almost invariably upper-class wives and daughters”. (p. 20). So she takes a cautious position and considers other sources to depict the lives of Egyptian women. Tyldesley has not sacrificed the originality of the book on the oversimplification of the ancient concepts and mythology but she has tried to communicate those thoughts as lucidly and coherently as possible.
For this purpose she provides the proof of an aspect of women life and then relates it to the common activities of mundane daily life i. e. that she reconstruct the feminine world based on minor accounts or evidences. But her generalizations are not mere oversimplification and for this purpose she does not delve deep into a particular aspect. The scope of the book is all-encompassing as she narrates the inner stories of wealthy Queens and further includes the life accounts of the lowly servants, the slaves, the merchant's wives.It further explores the different facets of ancient Egyptian life like women inclination toward art and leisure activities, their indulgence in political and governance affairs and other routine life activities such as marriage, common household grooming.
There was no gender discrimination, as women were essential parts in a child's heredity, moreover, they could own property Chapter 6 and 7 are more illustrative as a lot of historical record is available about royal life royal women.Tyldesley explores every aspect of the lives of these ancient women - from their daily responsibilities and child-rearing practices to their matrimonial relationships and religious affiliations. Some women were raised to the status of priests. Tyldesley portrays the lifestyle of common woman and queens alike and describes their hairstyles, clothing and jewelry.
Like a good historian, Tyldesley remains objective in her approach and does not draw any conclusion about Egyptian society and status of women in that socio-cultural environment.Although she describes the miseries of common Egyptian folks whose menus usually included quite dreary rotation of bread, pulses, onions, and radish and draws attention toward the luxurious living of royal women, she does not differentiate them into social classes and make us look at them in the same way. She narrates well with the help of maps, photographs, illustrations, and ancient finds. Her narration is equipped with supporting information, footnotes, and an elaborated bibliography that allows the reader to draw on other sources.
