There were also the sinister cases of lovelorn swains, whose unrequited feelings made them have recourse to magic, trying to enslave their beloved: ... Do not disobey, spirit of the deceased Antinoös, but wake for me and go to every place, every quarter, every house, and bring to me Ptolemais, born by Aias, daughter of Origenous; prevent her from eating, from drinking, until she comes to me, Sarapamonos, born by Area; do not let her know another man, but only me, Sarapamonos; drag her by her hair, by her guts, until she does not leave me anymore, me, Sarapamonos, born by Area, and I own her, Ptolemais, born by Aias, daughter of Origenos, submissive for the whole duration of my life, loving me, desiring me, telling me her thoughts... And Naneferkaptah passed a happy time with me, and received all the presents from the palace; and we loved one another. Census returns from the Roman period lead us to believe that at least during this time such marriages were quite common. Twenty-six out of a total of 121 recorded marriages were between close kin (20 brother-sister, 4 half sibling, 2 first cousin marriages), in the Fayum, heavily populated by Greeks, a quarter of the marriages would be considered incestuous today in the West. But the life of the ordinary ancient Egyptian woman was restricted to doing household chores , though one should not forget that the options the average ancient Egyptian man had were barely more numerous. In a society where mobility was low and most of the population lived in small villages, the choice of partners was limited.
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