The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-01
EGYPT SUFFERED
 FROM SUFFRAGETES
Women of Harem Tried to Dethrone Rameses-Excavations Throw Light
 on Womens Positions

What was probably the first suffragett- plot in history is described by James Baikie in a communication to the Nation al Geographic Society, summarizing the more recent excavations in Egypt, which have done much to reveal the history of the ancient world powers, says the Bos- ton Globe
 We have very full record of the process against certain ladies of the harem of King Rameses III of the twen- tieth dynasty, which exhibits the harem intrigue in all it's familiar features, D writes MT. Baikie.
 Officials of the harem are bribed, mes- sages are sent out to officers of the troops from the secluded ladies, inviting the help of the army to overthrow the King and set up a pretender. and the re- sources of witchcraft are called in to in- sure the success of the scheme. Tn this case even the discoverer of the plot did not put an end to the machina tions of those concerned. The judges in the trial were tempered with and the re- suit was highly discreditable exposure Of the corruption of the Egyptian bench as well as that of the harem"
 Continuing his discussion of the posi- tion of women in ancient Egypt, MT. Bai- kie says:
 Though there are certain features such as their loose ideas in the matter of SoishhS 6 dii1tS, WHICH Slbch OUT modern sense of morality, the ideas and prac- tices of the anciennt Egyptians in re- spect to the position of woman are re- markedly advanced and rational compar-
 ing very favorably with those of the great nations of classical antiquity. -
 Woman was to the Egyptian not the slave of man or the minister of his pleas ures; she was his companion. his fellow worker on very equal terms. often his adviser, not infrequently his ruier
 There existed in the Egyptian mind a sentiment that could almost be called reverence for womanhood. particularly in respect of it's great function of mother hood-a sentiment which is much more akin to our modern western view than anything else that we meet with among ancient peoples.
 The mother was respected for her su- preme share in the life and upbringing of her children, and for all the self-sacri- flee which is essentially involved in true motherhood. and from the very earliest days the child was carefully indoctrinated with the duty of reverencing and loving the mother who bore and nourished him. So strong was this sentiment that on the tembs of the Old Kingdom the mother of the deceased as a rule. represented to- gether with his wife. while the father rarely appears.
 Tn noble Egyptian families the gen. oisiis tuouSn snOt lnVar1aDie, custom was that the heir of the house was not the eldest son, but the son of the. eldest daughter. Under the Middle Kingdom this rule prevailed to such an extent that the inheritance passed from one family to an- other through heiresses. He who married an heiress gained for his son the inherit ance of his father-in-law.
 Men of upper classes had their harems. Pharaoh himeelf appears in all ages to have been the possessor of a large harem. Under the empire the harem was super vised by an elderly matron. and was ad- ministered by high officials-'the governor of the royal harem.' the scribe of the royal harem.' the delegate. for the harem' while number of slaves watched over the ladies and guarded them from the outside world
 The scale to which such an establish ment could attain is illustrated by the case of Amerhotep III. When the King of Mitanni sent him his daughter Giluk- hpa in marriage. the young lady was ac- companied by train of BIT mafdene who were no doubt added to the royal harem.'