cases, the male may have resided in his father-in-law’s house; in
others, the wife moved in with the husband.^337 A father might still
exercise some protection of his daughter after marriage.^338 Full brother-
sister marriages in pharaonic Egypt seem to have been rare, apart
from the royal house.^339
It was presumably possible for an Egyptian to marry a non-
Egyptian, but here, too, the evidence is scarce and ambiguous. In
the marriage settlement of P. Turin 2021,^340 the vizier declares: “Even
if it were not his wife, but a Syrian or a Nubian whom he loved
and to whom he gave his property, who can annul what he did?”5.1.3 Marital Property
’ernÿbelieved, on the basis of P. Turin 2021, that in the pharaonic
period the two spouses possessed a common conjugal property, with
the husband contributing two thirds, the wife one third.^341 The wife
was apparently assured of at least one third of the property in case
of the dissolution of the marriage.^342 In the case of death of either
spouse, the survivor would continue to enjoy the usufruct of the
common property but could dispose freely only of the part con-
tributed by him or herself.^343 These “two thirds” may be mentioned
in O. Gardiner 55: “As to the objects which he gave, these are the
two-thirds which were given to me after he had made the division
with his mother.”^344 In P. Turin 2021, some scholars identify the
four slaves given by the man to his second wife with the “gift of a
wife (“p n s- ̇m.t),” found in later Demotic and Coptic documents.^345
This was a gift made to the wife at the time of marriage but which
only became her undivided property at the time of his death or
divorce. According to Johnson the husband seems to have hadbetween “free” and “unfree” persons. He thus disagrees with Janssen’s interpreta-
tion in “Allusion...”(^337) Allam, “Familie.. .,” 26.
(^338) Ibid. See also ’ernÿ, “Constitution.. .,” 47–48.
(^339) See ’ernÿ, “Consanguineous Marriages.. .,” 23–29. See also Whale, Family...,
251; Pestman, Marriage.. ., 4.
(^340) ’ernÿand Peet, “Marriage Settlement.. .” On P. Turin 2021, see also
Théodoridès, “Imenkhau...”
(^341) Théodoridès, “Droit Matrimonial.. .,” 30.
(^342) Allam, “Familie.. .,” 25–26.
(^343) ’ernÿ, “Constitution.. .,” 44.
(^344) Ibid., 46. On O. Gardiner 55, see Théodoridès, “Ouvriers.. .,” 190; Allam,
Hieratische Ostraka.. ., 160–61, and Verfahrensrecht.. ., 18.
(^345) ’ernÿand Peet, “Marriage Settlement.. .,” 37.
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