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Mrs. Tsenhor: A Female Entrepreneur in Ancient Egypt

Online ISBN:
9781617975875
Print ISBN:
9789774166341
Publisher:
American University in Cairo Press
Book

Mrs. Tsenhor: A Female Entrepreneur in Ancient Egypt

Koenraad Donker van Heel
Koenraad Donker van Heel

Lecturer

Leiden University
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Published:
15 July 2014
Online ISBN:
9781617975875
Print ISBN:
9789774166341
Publisher:
American University in Cairo Press

Abstract

Reconstruction of the actual life of the ancient Egyptian female entrepreneur Tsenhor daughter of Nesmin (6th-5th century bce). Her papers—papyri written in Demotic—are now kept in museums in London, Paris, Turin, and Vienna. The story is embedded in a general framework describing the age she lived in (which saw the conquest of Egypt by the Persians), as well as the extraordinary legal position of women in Ancient Egypt. The papers left by Tsenhor strongly suggest that she was a liberated woman, almost 2,500 years before the concept was invented. This book aims to change the general view on women in ancient Egypt, which is far too often based on the lives of Nefertiti, Hatshepsut, and Cleopatra.

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