Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1882-04-26
Strange Marriage Cn.,om.

Inc recent discoveries of NJ. Revillout.
the Eayptologist, are not so fresh but that
they are referred to in the EncyclopGdi a
Britannica, under the head OF '.Family,' VI
They were made, not ia caveTns OF The
hills, but IN one Demotic papyrl of the
French and other national collections.
The Demotic writing, Is most people
know, is an abbreviated form of the hiera.
tic, which, again, is a cursive form of the
hieroglyphic. The Denote hand Is thus
much the most modern form of old Egyp.
tlan. documents in those texts often be-
long to the time of the Ptolemies, when
holy Egypt had long been invaded by all
manner OF Western and Asiallc peoples
and ideas. The texts deciphered by NJ.
Revillout are just like these which would
be found in the cabinet of anJ French
notary. Old established firms in France
still preserve contracts and similar docu-
ments of very considerable age; they are
the happy hunting ground of French biog-
raphers, and from dusty garrets NJ. Soulie,
tor example, rescued the precious inven-
tories that mInutely describe the domestic
interior of Moliere. NJ. Revillout's dis
coveries in the same way enabled him to
reconstruct the domestic life of the Eyyp-
tians of late dynas;ies. We propose now
10 glance al the holy state of matrimony
as it was In Egypt, and 10 elucidate, il
possible, q very singular feature of Egyp-
an law. We refer to the predominance
insured by the most stringent of marriage
settlements. Thus, In the thirty-third
year OF Ptolemy Phliadelphus, We find
that the Pasiophorus of Amen Api, son of
Pohelkhons, whose mother is Tahret,
saith unto the womsn, Tarreteus daugh-
ter of Relon, whose mother Is Tarreteus,
~ have accepted thee for my wife"
Note here, first the naming of the mothers
of both contracting partIes-a fact which
IN itself demonstrates the importance OF
the woman in the family, and a survival
of time when (as among so many say
age races, among the Lycians, and the
pre- historic Athenians) family names were
derived, not from the father, but from the
mother. First the man says, Il have
accepted thee" and, later, adds, 81 will
make thee my wife" The preliminary
acceptance" was marriage for year
of probation, like the ''hand-fastening'
for year, WITH power at the end OF the
year 10 break the contract, which used to
prevail among the HighlanGers in Scot
and. Certain German usages, and some
otner customs of the same dubious sort,
are perhaps relics of the same old practice.
After accepting and establishing the
woman as his wife, the man makes her a
nuptial gift, promise of an annual al
lowance for dress, a declaration that the
eldest son of both shall inherit all his pro-
perty, q promise to pay certain damages
If he takes another wife, aHd, last,
guarantee In the form of a mortgage upon
all his property. Another example is
quoted in which one Petonpa assigns to
his wife, Neshorpehrat, mot only his
house and all his landed property, present
and future, but likewise his silver and
copper money, his furniture, and all the
lItle deeds and documents concerning the
property.
He leaves himself absolutely nothing.
and the only clause in his favor is that his
wife shall provide for HIM while he livss,
and pay for his funeral liturgies, and for
embalning his body when be dies And
this is not singular instance. Still more
remarkable, the Egyptian bridegroom toor
mis- wife's name, and Egypusn sons, "in-
stead OF being called after their fathers,
were designated BY the pames OF taeir
mothers"