3. Move Your Stuff Into His Place for a Practical Marriage
The ancient Egyptians practiced surprisingly progressive marriage practices for their era. At a time when many cultures were still kidnapping wives as part of raids or battles, the Egyptians allowed people in lower classes to choose their spouses. Eschewing formal courtship rituals, women needed only to move their belongings into a man’s home to constitute a marriage. Typically a prenuptial contract was created beforehand outlining who would keep what belongings if the couple were to divorce.
Divorce itself was not particularly taboo in ancient Egypt, with separation allowed even if not a desirable outcome spiritually. In the event of a couple divorcing, they split property as equally as possible, and the mother took the children. The exception to this rule was adultery, which was deeply frowned upon and could even result in the adulterous party being executed. The lower classes were also not allowed to practice incest, despite it being quite common among the royalty and nobility.
Despite many cultures treating marriage as an exchange of property, the ancient Egyptians embraced the concept of romance and love with Vizier Ptahhotep writing in his The Maxims of Ptahhotep that husbands should love their wives and treat them well. Some early examples of romantic writing came out of ancient Egyptian scripts in which Egyptian men praised the beauty of their wives.