mother of the deceased are represented; hardly ever the father. A very peculiar arrangement was that a man's next heir was his grandson by his eldest daughter, and that a boy's next friend and protector was his maternal grandfather. This arrangement was very ancient and was deeply rooted in the mores.[1] The women of the harem of Thothmes III got up a conspiracy against him (about 1600 B.C.) and were able to organize a large force of men and officers in it.[2] From about 740 B.C. a college of priestesses at Thebes became the political authority in that city, the chief priestess concentrating the political power in herself.[3] Some of these features of society seem to be survivals of the mother-family, but Herodotus saw 341 statues of successive priests in descent from father to son, which covered, as the Egyptians said, 11,340 years,[4] and would indicate father descent for that period. Herodotus[5] reports that each man had but one wife, "like the Greeks," but Diodorus[6] says that only priests were restricted to one. Kings certainly had more than one and probably great men also, and there were besides concubines and slaves. Prostitution was in effect organized in the service of religion.[7]
In the Precepts of Ptah-hotep, which date from about 2600 B.C., it is said: "If thou wouldst be wise, rule thy house and love thy wife wholly and constantly. Fill her stomach and clothe her body, for these are her personal necessities. Love her tenderly and fulfill all her desires as long as thou hast thy life, for she is an estate which conferreth great reward upon her lord. Be not harsh to her, for she will be more easily moved by persuasion than by force. Take thou heed to that which
