Women in the ancient times of Egypt have been depicted in various ways according to different historical perspectives. Their role in marriage life has been discussed in different records thus leading to some different conclusions. It was thought that women had an equal position to men economically. They were allowed to interact in economic and legal transactions on their own behalf and were able to inherit property under their own name. The roles that women held in the temple were not many, as the role was usually for high-class women. The temple role was limited to musicians and priestesses and it is even uncertain what role the priestesses held. Finally, the representations of literature and art help us to find out how women were perceived at the time and give us a clear view of what they looked like. Although we have many secondary sources to gather information, the reliability of all this information should be questioned and the actual events in Ancient Egypt cannot accurately be told.
In Ancient Egypt, a marriage ceremony was not established by a legal or formalised ceremony. Instead a marriage was considered official when the man and his wife "established a house" by living together. Both parties of the relationship would sign a marriage contract and a copy of the contract would also be given to the parents of the wife. This would assure that if the couple would like a divorce, the reliability of the contract would remain dependable. Divorce clauses were included in the contract, which varied depending on the circumstances of the divorce. If a man divorced his wife with no fault of her own, he may be subject to lose twice the amount of the dowry fixed on the marriage contract, one third of his possessions he earned while married or even 100 blows with a cane. A woman would also lose all her rights if divorcing a man without any fault of his own and she would receive nothing if she had committed adultery.
