e, descent was traced through
the mother. It is significant that the word _husband_ never occurs in
the marriage deeds before the reign of Philometor. This ruler (it
would appear in order to establish the position of the father in the
family) decreed that all transfers of property made by the wife should
henceforth be authorised by the husband. Up to this time public deeds
often mention only the mother, but King Philometor ordered the names
of contractors to be registered according to the paternal line.
Besides this, the hieroglyphic funeral inscriptions frequently bear
the name of the mother, without indicating that of the father.[183]

[183] For a fuller account of the position of women in Egypt,
see the chapter on this subject in _The Truth about Woman_,
pp. 179-201.

All these facts attest that women in Egypt enjoyed an exceptionally
favourable position. We may compare this position with that held by
the Touareg women of the Sahara, who, through the custom of maternal
inheritance, for long continued, have in their hands the strong power
of wealth, and thus exercise extraordinary authority, giving rise to
what I have called "a pecuniary matriarchy."

It is probable that in Egypt property was originally entirely in the
hands of women, as is usual under the matriarchal system. Later, a
tradition in favour of the old privileges would seem to have
persisted after descent was changed from the maternal to the paternal
line. The marriage-contracts may thus be regarded as enforcing by
agreement what would occur naturally under the maternal customs. The
husband's property was made over by deed to the wife (at first
entirely, and afterwards in part) to secure its inheritance by the
children of the marriage. It was in such wise way the Egyptians
arranged the difficult problem of the fusing of mother-right with
father-right.

In the very ancient civilisation of Babylon we find women in a
position of honour, with privileges similar in many ways to those they
enjoyed in Egypt. There are even indications that the earliest customs
may have gone beyond those of the Egyptians in exalting women. All the
available evidence points to the conclusion that at the opening of
Babylonian history women had complete independence and equal rights
with their husbands and brothers. It is significant that the most
archaic texts in the primitive language are remarkable for the
precedence given to the female sex in all formulas of add