ned, was essentially philosophical, and dealt with
abstractions and principles rather than with personalities.

Notwithstanding the importance which in process of time came to be
claimed by males, and the consequent stimulation which was given to the
animal tendencies, it is evident, from certain historical and undeniable
proofs in connection with this subject, that although woman's power in
Egypt, as in all other countries, gradually became weakened, the
effect of her influence on manners and social customs was never wholly
extinguished.

Regarding the existence of polygamy, it has been said that the high
position occupied in ancient Egypt by the mother of the family, the
mistress of the household, is absolutely irreconcilable with the
existence of polygamy as a general practice, or of such an institution
as the harem. Although the plurality of wives does not appear to have
been contrary to law, it "certainly was unusual," and although Egyptian
kings frequently had many wives, "they followed foreign rather than
native custom."(71)

71) Renouf, Religion of Ancient Egypt, p. 81.

Herodotus says of the women of Egypt: "They attend the markets and trade
while the men sit at home at the loom"(72); and Diodorus informs us that
in Egypt "women control the men."

72) Book ii., ch. xxxv.

Were we in possession of no direct historical evidence to prove that
down to a late period in the history of Egypt women had not lost
their prestige, sufficient evidence would be found in the fact that,
notwithstanding the growing tendency of mankind in all the nations of
the globe to suppress the female instincts and to reject, conceal,
or belittle the woman element in the Deity, still Isis, the gracious
mother, retained a prominent place in the god-idea of that country.

I am not unmindful of the remarks which a reference to a past age of
intellectual and moral greatness will call forth; indeed, I can almost
hear some devotee of the present time remark: "So we are asked to regard
as a sober fact the existence in the past of a golden age; also to
believe that man was created pure and holy, and that he has since
fallen from his high estate; in other words, we are to have faith in the
ancient tradition of the 'fall of man.'" If by the fall of man we are to
understand that a great and universal people, who in a remote age of
the world's history had reached a high stage of civilization, gradually
passed out of human exis