Those times when the husband became penniless as soon as he divorced, not a single penny was left, all the property had to be transferred to the name of the wife.

Last Updated:November 24, 2025, 15:22 IST

In today’s times you must have heard the name of alimony. There is a lot of controversy regarding this but let us tell you that its concept is not new. Three thousand years ago in Egypt, if a husband divorced his wife, then the man was not left with a penny.

As soon as divorce was given, all the property belonged to the wife (Image- File photo)

In today’s era, when there are long battles in the courts regarding alimony, people shout that “the law is in favor of women”, then hardly anyone knows that this is not new. In fact, 5000 years ago in Ancient Egypt, the rules of divorce were so strict that for the husband, that day became the worst day of his life. In ancient Egypt, the marriage contract was not written in the court like today, but at home. But in that contract, the wife was given so much power that in the event of divorce, the husband was left with nothing. Yes, everything from property to money belonged to the wife.

How did this rule work?
Women had a very high position in Egyptian civilization. Even before marriage, a legal document was prepared, which today we call “Marriage Contract”. It was clearly written in it that if there ever was a divorce, all the property of the husband, whether earned before marriage or after marriage, would be transferred to the name of the wife. This included houses, farms, servants, gold and silver, and even clothes. The most surprising thing was that there was no need to even go to court for this. As soon as the husband said “I divorce you”, all his property became the wife’s. The husband had to come on the road. Many times he had to leave his own house after becoming homeless, because the house also belonged to his wife.

Women were very powerful
In Egyptian society, women were highly respected as mothers, wives and mistresses of the house. Goddess Isis was considered the protector of the family. The society believed that it is the woman who keeps the house together and brings up the children, hence if the marriage breaks, it is not the husband who suffers the loss but the woman and her children. Due to this thinking, the law had given such strong rights to women. The second special thing is that in Egypt women could own property. She could do business, buy and sell land, fight cases. Even many queens sat on the throne of Pharaoh like Hatshepsut and Cleopatra.