Do you have ungrateful children? Are you tempted to write them out of your will?
That’s exactly what one mother did 3,000 years ago.
Naunakht, an Egyptian woman of modest assets, had eight children: four boys and four girls. Children were supposed to look after their aged parents in Egyptian culture.
Yet some of her children did not do their duty.
When Naunakht’s will was read in court, they found that it said, “Whoever of them (her children) has aided me, to him I give of my property; he who has not given to me, to him I will not give of my property.” That meant that her two rotten daughters were out.
One son was cut out of the will because he had already received his fair share and squandered it.
Yes, she didn’t own much. Her favored son received her most valuate asset, a bronze washing-bowl.
Her family was in court twice because of the will. Enough times so that everyone could see who the ungrateful children were.
That’ll teach them, Naunakht!
Thanks to Toby Wilkinson in Lives of the Ancient Egyptians