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Ancient Egypt
Society
The upper class of Ancient Egypt consisted of the large royal family, landowners, high government officials, priests, army officers and doctors.
The middle class was made up of merchants, manufacturers and craftsworkers.
The lower class consisted of unskilled labourers and peasants.
The fourth class was made up of slaves. Under given circumstances slaves could both achieve freedom, but even under slavery they enjoyed rights and could inherit land.
With the exception of the slaves, people in Egypt had class mobility, and they could move both up and down. By strategic marriage or education, it was possible to rise above more humble conditions.
The society was dominated by the male. The man was the head of the family, but women had extensive rights, and could own and inherit property and participate in trade. Women could even divorce their husbands by their own will.
Economy
As in all ancient societies, agriculture was the main economic activity. The harvests in Egypt were richer than in most other countries at the time, allowing for a larger percentage of urban dwellers and diverse forms of production. Hence the cities, temples, the wealth of the state and the ability to equip armies for campaigns against countries producing products that Egypt had in short supply.
The main crops of Ancient Egypt were wheat and barley, as well as lettuce, beans, onions, figs, dates, grapes, melons and cucumbers. Flax was grown by many farmers, and then used for the production of linens.
There was no typical money system in Egypt. Products were bartered, and workers were paid in wheat, barley and, occasionally, in craft products like pottery, clothes etc. But barley could be defined as a type of money, since it was easy to use as payment. For example, if a peasant might pay with barley for a refined product, like a new garment, and then the seller would in his turn sell that barley to obtain other products.
Crafts were produced in small shops. Their wares included linen textiles, pottery, bricks, tools, glass, weapons, furniture, jewellery, perfume, rope, baskets, mats and writing material. Egypt also had a substantial output of mineral products, like limestone, sandstone, granite; copper, gold, tin and gems.
Trade was important to Egypt, and goods were exported to and imported from countries around the Mediterranean Sea, Aegean Sea and the Red Sea. Silver, iron, cedar logs and horses were imported from the Levant. Ivory, copper, cattle, leopard skins and spices were imported from Nubia in the south.
The main exports from Egypt were gold and other minerals, wheat, barley and papyrus sheets.
Government
Ancient Egypt was almost continuously ruled by kings, even if there were several changes in dynasties. The legitimacy of the king was substantiated through myths in which the institution of kingship was established by the gods: The king was defined as the son of Osiris, and often represented as Horus in the shape of a human being.
The position of the king was passed on, generally to the oldest son of the king's chief wife. In some cases, when the chief wife could not bear a son, the oldest daughter would claim the throne. At least 4 times Egypt did get a female ruler in this way.
Exercising power was in the hands of the viziers. By the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE, there were two viziers, one for the Delta area, and one for the southern parts of the Nile.
Ancient Egypt was divided into 42 nomes, or provinces. To each of these, the king appointed a nomarch as governor. The main responsibilities in each nome were to collect taxes and provide for security through the courts. Cases of major crimes were decided not by the courts, but by the king.
Cities and Villages
Ancient Egypt never developed any major cities. The reason was that the Nile valley constituted a continuous inhabitable area, in which few places had any advantages over others, whether in terms of communication or non-agricultural products. The cities that did emerge were wither the result of the need for effective administration, or the clustering of facilities around an important religious center.
The main urban places in Ancient Egypt throughout the major moments of its history, were Memphis and Thebes. Memphis' rise to importance came from its being the meeting point between the Nile valley and the Nile delta, with its many smaller rivers. Hence it was an effective market place which could work well in the control of taxation and internal security. Memphis evolved as the first capital of Egypt, to which Saqqara and Giza served as necropolises.
Thebes' rise to importance was slower than that of Memphis, and it appears that beyond the need to form an administrative and religious centre for southern Egypt, there were no distinct advantage to Thebes' region in comparison with other places. The region around Thebes, was, however, rich in agriculture and well-populated.
More short-lived as an important city was Akhetaten (now known as Tell el-Amarna), the planned city of Akhenaten.
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By: Tore Kjeilen
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