A valid excuse for a day off work

Abstract

Judging by their gynaecological papyri, the ancient Egyptians were only too well aware of amenorrhoea and menopause; this implies that menstruation functioned as an important life event in a relatively short fertile interlude. This contribution focuses on Deir el-Medina, the New Kingdom desert village of Pharaoh’s artisans on the West Bank of Modern Luxor. Here, menstruation was advertised as a public event. Drawing together a wide range of evidence—from laundry lists, which detail the washing of soiled sanitary towels, to a large attendance register now on display in the British Museum—it argues that the behaviour of women and men was intricately interconnected by means of the menstrual cycle. This physical event demanded a practical intervention: the start of the monthly periods of their wives, daughters, or even daughters-in-law sometimes constituted a valid excuse for the men to take a day off from their construction work in the Valley of the Kings. Despite a reference to ‘the place of women’, the chapter further argues that there was neither menstrual synchrony nor a general taboo regarding contact with menstruating women in this village. Yet corresponding to the overarching question posed by this volume, there was at the same time an avoidance of menstrual blood. A simplistic explanation from daily life is proffered: that of male anxieties when faced with what was in this community the rare occurrence of their menstruating wives and daughters.