Ancient Egypt Social Classes

The ancient Egyptian society had been perceived in a number of ways. Ramses the third, when looking at his subject thought of them as nobles, administrators, soldiers, servants and the general denizens of ancient Egypt. Whereas, Herodotus, a foreigner who visited Egypt during the ancient times viewed them as belonging to different classes. They were, distributed with respect to their jobs or professions. However, he did not put the slaves into any category. He did not consider them fit enough to be grouped together with the other men and women.

The social class of ancient Egypt was at different extremes. There existed a huge gap between the people from different social classes. This was prevalent ever since the Pre dynastic time and was further enhanced as time passed. At the time when ancient Egypt was unified, the small band of elite upper classes of men reigned along with the assistance of scribes who ran the administration. The administration presided over the general populace. Then came the peasants or the farmers and they were extremely poor, with a hand to mouth existence.

The labourers were absorbed instantly into the work and numerous projects everywhere. This phenomenon reached its absolute peak during times when the pyramids and the tombs and the temples were made. These jobs pulled in all the manual labour that could be bought. This development put the pharaoh in the utmost lofty position in the society. This immediately proceeded the time during which the king's wealth started diminishing which also led to the diminishing of the powers of the king and the royal families.

The noblemen and their families took up the mantle after this decline. Even the nobility, when they came into power, depended on the scribes to a very large extent. The scribes, therefore, continued to be in a position of power throughout the history of ancient Egypt. The nobility were separate from the centre of administration unlike those of the royal ones, who were mainly under the influence of the pharaoh. The scribes were the academicians and the scholars. They were recipients of a good and elite education consisting of reading, writing, mathematics, etc.

This ground knowledge enabled them to govern the country in a just and efficient manner. They were also trained in some specific professional thing, for example, medicine, mathematics, architecture, etc. They were also ranked according to their capabilities even in this selected group of people. The priests and military personnel were taken from all strata of the society and were a completely different group of their own. The labour was in majority throughout. They were mainly peasants, farm workers, etc and looked down upon by everyone alike.

They were worked hard and often ruthlessly. The outcasts also existed; however, not much information about them is available. All this apart, most people in ancient Egypt were complacent with their status and position in the society.

Until the invasion of Hykos in the Second Intermediate Period, , a proper army remained absent in ancient Egypt. Prior to it, there were only palace guards and trade escorts. When Egypt established a well-built army, the need for soldiers emerged. The Ancient Egyptian soldier had either decided that this was a good career choice and could lead to security and advancement or the other type of soldier was the conscript who joined the armed forces of Egypt against his will. This was because people were often forced to join the military.

The Ancient Egyptian Military consisted of both an army and a navy. Some people would cause themselves damage, such as breaking their thumbs to exclude them from conscription into the army. But some military men, who were active and willing, even rose to the level of rulers. A raw recruit in the army underwent rigorous training. A soldier first received a regimented hair cut and in later Egyptian periods was issued with a coat of wadded leather and a leather or bronze helmet. The Ancient Egyptian soldier was expected to achieve a high level of fitness and was under the authority of the drill master.

Wrestling, Sand-bag lifting, Archery, Knife-throwing, Stick-fighting- all formed a part of the training. An Ancient Egyptian soldier was expected to be able to cover 32 kilometres in one day. Discipline was strict and punishments, by beatings, were severe. The role of the Ancient Egyptian soldier was to either defend the country or be prepared to make pre-emptive strikes against their enemies. A series of fortresses were built on strategic locations on each of the borders of Egypt.

Many of the soldiers were sent to these forts, a boring, monotonous but relatively safe role which brought little reward. The rewards to a brave soldier included not only promotion and medals but also goods, grants of lands, pensions on retirement and even slaves. As the economy of Ancient Egypt was based on barter system, a low-ranked Egyptian soldier was paid ten loaves of bread and jugs of beer a day. Wages increased with higher rank of the soldier. Soldiers were allowed to plunder the enemy when they won a battle.

The soldier was equipped with a variety of different weapons which, by the period of the New Kingdom included the clubs and maces, as well as axes, knives, and swords; they were also handy with projectile weapons such as spears, bows and arrows, and javelins. Shields were the main bit of defensive equipment, with the occasional use of limited body armour. The Egyptians also used siege weaponry when necessary, such as towers and battering rams.

These soldiers were divided into 4 divisions of 5000 who were named after the gods Seth, Amun, Ptah and Re. Each of these divisions was divided into 20 companies which in turn consisted of 250 soldiers. These were finally divided into 5 platoons of fifty men.

The chain of command, in order of rank can be summarised as:

1. King, commander in chief
2. General, or overseer of the army, who reported directly to the king
3. Lieutenant commander, serving as senior officer
4. Overseer of the Nubian frontier and Mediterranean coast fortresses
5. Overseer of garrison troops
6. Troop commander, in charge of several regiments, a brigade or a fortress
7. Captain of the troop
8. Commander of 250 soldiers
9. Standard-bearer, controlling 200 men
10. "Greatest of Fifty", the lowest commander

The Egyptian seasons corresponded with the flooding of the river Nile; Akhet (Flooding season) from June to October, Peret (Growing season),October to February and Shemu (Harvesting season), February to June. Akhet consisted of the months of Thoth, Paophi, Athyr and Khoyak; Peret of Tybi, Mekhir, Phamenat and Pharmuti; Shemu of Pakhons, Payni, Epiphi and Mesore.

There were three seasons.

Akhet

It was the flooding season from June- September. The water, mud and silt from the river was washed up over the river banks creating a fertile growing area. All the fields were flooded during this time and naturally farming did not take place. Farmers took to other jobs during this season. People went around in boats.

Peret

It was the growing season from October to February. When floods receded, farmers ploughed the soil ready for farming. They had large ploughs pulled by oxen and hand ploughs

Shemu

Shemu was the harvesting season from March to May. The fully grown crops were cut down and removed before the next flooding season. Reapers cut the ripe corn with wooden sickles edged with sharp flints. Women and children followed behind the reapers to collect any fallen ears of corn.

The name of this game snt means to pass, which refers to passing in the netherworld or the after life. However, this idea of the passing to the netherworld developed since the New Kingdom when it acquired a magical-religious value and in the introductory formula in Chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead, it was considered essential that the deceased played a game against an invisible opponent to ensure his own survival. It was a popular game from the earliest times in Egypt that’s why it was included in the funerary furniture.

We have some proofs which indicate that it was played everywhere and by all social levels from the Archaic Period onwards :

1-    Parts of a Senet game was discovered at the tomb of king Djet of the 1st Dynasty (displayed at the ground floor of the Egyptian Museum in the showcase of Games from the Archaic Period)

2-    The official Hesy-Re has a scene in his tomb at Saqqara showing him playing Senet.

3-    Prince Re-Hotep mentions the Senet game in his list of funerary objects.

4-    We found some ostraca belonging to the builders of the pyramids showing them while playing Senet.

5-    Ramses III was also shown in his temple at Madinet Habu while playing Senet with his daughters.


How to play Senet:

Nobody knows exactly how it was played but there are some suggestions. It consists of 3 rows of 10 squares; each player had an equal number of playing pieces probably about 5 or 7 pieces different from their opponent’s pieces. These pieces were generally pawn-like or reel-shaped . Most probably they were placed inside the drawer of this game, but maybe these pieces were not the original ones of the game and most probably the original ones were stolen because they were made out of precious metals like gold or silver.

Movement of the pieces was dictated by throwing the knucklebones or the casting (throwing) sticks; they act like our modern day dice . The main idea of this game was to move the gaming pieces over the 30 squares in a backward “S” shape. The aim was to eliminate the pieces of the other player. Most of the squares are plain except for the final 5 squares which were inscribed with special characters maybe to explain some rules of this game, the mw sign (water) for example might have symbolized something dangerous or other signs could be of advantage to the player like the nfrw sign. Certainly it was a game of chance, the moves being determined by the throw either of knucklebones or of four casting sticks, both of which were found in the tomb.

The casting sticks were of two kinds, one pair having ends in the form of the tips of human fingers and the ends of the other being carved in the form of a long-eared canine animal, probably a fox. Both pairs consist of black ebony in the upper half and white ivory in the lower half. Perhaps the number of points scored from a cast depended on the number of sticks that finished with the white or black side uppermost when they were cast.

The ability to read and write was important in ancient Egypt because literacy commanded both paid jobs and respect of fellow beings. But it does not mean that Egypt was a highly literate society. Only few people were educated. The practical people of Egypt taught their children only those subjects which would be useful in their future. During the Old Kingdom, there is no evidence that any formal schools existed, except perhaps at court. Princes taught younger princes, and favoured youths were tutored with the king's own children.

During the New Kingdom there were at least two schools in Thebes, one in the Mut Temple, the other at the back of the Ramesseum. There may have been a third near the Valley of Deir el-Medina, where the children of workmen were taught. There was no set length for schooling. Hieroglyphics is the Egyptian writing which was developed around 3100 BC. It was harder than our common alphabet system. Scribes were the few literate people who knew to read and write. They knew hieroglyphics.

Schools run by them were called scribe schools. Boys belonging to wealthy families were sent to scribe schools and were trained to become scribes. There were prince's schools to train young princes. It is unfortunate that girls were not allowed to go to schools. They were to learn from home taught by their mother or father or a private tutor. Otherwise they were taught household work, singing, dancing, weaving, cooking etc. Only boys could go to schools and learn. Very few girls could read or write, and only the richest ones.

Boys went to school master's house for learning. They walked to their destination early in the morning carrying the food prepared from home. They were dismissed at noon. Memorisation and copying ancient scripts were the main lessons to be learned. As papyrus was too expensive, the school master sometimes gave the students white, polished limestone. They wrote with reed brushes dipped in black or red ink. The ink, which was made of water and soot, was held on a pallet. The boys dipped the brushes into the ink, and wrote about ten signs until they needed more ink. Then they dunked the brushes into the water cup and dipped them into the ink again.

The children of farmers and fishermen had even less formal education. They learned how to sow, glean, and harvest, tending poultry and cattle, make nets and catch and prepare fish. Children were often included in scenes of harvesting, fishing, or caring for cattle.

Ancient Egypt had an extremely religious based culture .The social order was directed by innumerable number of gods and goddesses. But this does not mean that the people had primitive technologies. Egypt had some advanced scientific technologies, with special emphasis in the fields of irrigation and medicine. There was no word in ancient Egypt to mean the word 'science', though the word Rh, "to know" comes closest. However, the excessive influence of religion limited the ability to understand natural phenomena and develop new technologies.

While some hail Egyptian pyramids as symbols of their scientific advancement, some others regard them as achievements of human subordination, for they believe that the Egyptians were not particularly advanced technologically. But it cannot be denied that ancient scientists worked in fields of astronomy, alchemy, biology, chemistry, dentistry, anaesthesiology, geography, mineralogy etc.

Metallurgy in particular was carried on with an elaborate technique and mining was an important occupation of the people. Even as early as 3400 B.C, the Egyptians had an intimate knowledge of copper ores and of processes of extracting the metal. During the fourth and subsequent dynasties, metals seem to have been entirely monopolies of the Court, the management of the mines and quarries being entrusted to the highest officials. Iron was also prized highly by the Egyptians. Bronze, tin and cobalt have been detected in Egypt.

Vast quantities of gold were extracted from the mines. Over hundreds of ancient gold workings have been discovered. The gold mines in Nubia and other parts of the Egyptian empire seem to have been very efficiently designed and controlled, though with a callous disregard for the human element employed. Mercury is stated to have been found in Egyptian tombs of from 1500-1600 B.C. Some metals were associated with some planets. For example, Gold was associated with the sun and the silver with the moon.

A papyrus called Leyden papyrus comprises about seventy-five recipes pertaining to the making of alloys, for soldering metals, for colouring the surfaces of metals, for testing the quality of or purity of metals, or for imitating the precious metals. Egyptians from very ancient dates were familiar with the art of glass making. Glass jars, figures and ornaments have been discovered in the tombs. The paintings on the tombs have been interpreted as descriptive of the process of glass blowing.

Egyptian glass articles were of coloured glass, often beautifully patterned. The Egyptians developed a well established writing system although only a small percent of the population was literate. Writing was done in Papyrus which had a lengthy and expensive manufacturing process. A Complex writing system consisting of thousands of pictorial symbols was called hieroglyphics. In mathematics, there were good approximations for, and a method of calculating the surface and volumes of various geometric shapes.

Rhind Papyrus is an important mathematics text. Money was not discovered in Egypt and barter system prevailed in the market. The Egyptian concern for body preservation, mummification and anatomy, allowed this culture to develop highly advanced medical practices. These important advances included knowledge about a large variety of Herbal remedies, medicinal drugs and some contraceptive devices. Egyptian medical knowledge was transferred by the Greeks into other Middle Eastern and European civilizations.


The 'Smith Papyrus', and to a lesser extent the 'Ebers Papyrus', give us a very favourable idea of the medicine, anatomy, and physiology of the Egyptians. Medicine was specialised. Egyptian discoveries such as the leap year system, calendars and clocks are followed by the world community even today.

During the ancient Egyptian period people mostly travelled barefoot. It is believed that since the temperature in Egypt was very high throughout the year, people gave less importance to wearing footwear. There is hardly any record to suggest that the Egyptians wore shoes or any other form of footwear. The ancient Egyptians began wearing sandals during the early years of the New Kingdom rule.

The sandals used by these people were very simple and were made either by using straw, reeds or leather. The wealthy people wore leather sandals and these lasted for a longer time than the sandals which were made using straw or reeds. The sandals were worn by all people belonging to all the classes except those who were extremely poor.

The sandals were decorated by using beads, jewels; some also had buckles on the straps made from precious metals. For the most part, the ancient Egyptians walked without wearing sandals or shoes. Sandals were worn by people on special events. The gold and wood sandals are known to have been made in the ancient Egyptian period.

During the Middle and New Kingdoms time, the sandals were commonly used. The use of covered shoes by the ancient Egyptians is not very well known. However some records suggest that shoes were made by weaving palm fiber and grass.

In the Early Middle Kingdom, shoes were a modification of sandals. Shoes had straps between the toes and were joined to the sides at the heel. It also had leather cover which protected the feet. The Hittites settled in Anatolian highlands wore shoes with turned up toes. The Egyptians during the New Kingdom period are said to be influenced by the Hittites and began using shoes.

Ancient Egyptian God Ra

The ancient Egyptians are believed to have had as many as two thousand Gods and Goddesses. Some images of Ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses show them with a human body and the head of a bird or an animal. Ra was the primary God in ancient Egypt. He was usually shown in human form with a falcon head, crowned with the sun disc encircled by the sacred cobra. He was often considered to be the King of the Gods and thus the patron of the pharaoh and one of the central gods of the Egyptian pantheon.

 The identity of the Sun God Ra was often confused with other gods as the different regional religions of Egypt were merged in an attempt to unite the country. The first references to Ra date from the second Dynasty. Ra became very powerful by fifth dynasty, the dynasty which is very much related to the pharaohs. The pharaoh was then named as the son of Ra.

The ancient Egyptian God Ra has been associated with the sun, heaven, light, power, kingship and the creation of universe. He is considered the father of Gods, and was the most important and worshipped king of Gods. He sailed across the heavens in a boat called the 'Barque of Millions of Years'. The sailing was not smooth. He had to fight a snake called Apep (his chief enemy) during the day. He was thought by the people to die at the end of the day. And at night time he travelled through underworld.

And he sent the moon to keep the world away from darkness at night. In the underworld, Ra appeared as a man with the head of a ram and reborn every morning. Ra is a young boy called Khepri at sunrise, he becomes the falcon-headed man during mid-day and at sunset he becomes an elder called Atum. Ra embodies the Egyptian beliefs of order and truth. In Egyptian mythology, he signifies the cycle of birth, life and death. That's why he is known as the father of creation.

 The early Egyptian priests evolved a creation myth, or Cosmogony, to explain how some of the Gods and Goddesses came into being.  The early Egyptian priests then evolved a Family tree, the relatives of the main Egyptian Gods, like Sun God Ra, to explain how some of the Gods and Goddesses were related. The eye of Ra is an ancient Egyptian of protection. It is also known as the eye of Horus. It is a powerful force that is linked with the fierce heat of the sun and was passed on to each Pharaoh.

Tutankhamun lived over 3,300 years, during the period known as the New Kingdom. For two centuries, Egypt had decided as a global superpower, while the royal family lived opulent lifestyle. The powerful priesthood of Amun had controlled vast temples and estates.All that changed during the reign of Amenhotep IV when he renounced the multitude of gods worshiped by the Egyptians and abolished the priesthood of Amon. Amenhotep established a new order to worship the sun god Aten and changed his own name to Akhenaten, meaning "servant of Aten".

A new capital was established well north of Thebes (modern Luxor) - home of the main temples of Amun. His new city was named Akhetaten, meaning "Horizon of Aten". This is where Akhenaton (left) has decided with his wife Chief, Nefertiti, who bore him six daughters but no son to be like Pharaoh. It is now believed that Akhenaten and a lesser wife named Kiya were the parents of Tutankhaten, as Tutankhamun was known at first. He spent most of his early years in the palace of Tell el-Amarna, a mentor in many skills, including reading and writing.Much is uncertain about this period and, in time, both names of Nefertiti and Kiya has ceased to appear in written documents. A dark figure emerged as the Smenkhkare - it may have been a brother of the king and ruled briefly by his side.

In any case, shortly after the death of Akhenaten and Smenkhkare, Tutankhaten became a Boy King at the age of about nine years. He married a slightly older Ankhesenpaaten (bottom right), a daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Soon their names have been changed to Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun to reflect the return to favor of the Amun hierarchy and the ousting of the Aten power base. The temples of Amun were restored. At a young age, Tutankhamun would not have been responsible for the actual decision-making. It would have been handled by two senior officials called Ay (possibly the father of Nefertiti) and Horemheb, commander of the army.

Around the ninth year of the reign of Tutankhamun, perhaps 1325 BC, he died and Ay is represented in tomb paintings to oversee the funeral arrangements of Tutankhamun, which lasted 70 days. Meanwhile, Ankhesenamun was left in a dilemma - there was no heir to the throne. (Two female stillborn fetuses were found in the tomb). Maybe she was the Queen who wrote in desperation to Suppiluliumas I, king of the Hittites, asking him to send his son to marry and become Pharaoh. Being an enemy of Egypt, the Hittite king suspected a trick and sent an emissary to check. The situation of the widow was confirmed and he then sent a son who was murdered at the border - probably by agents sent by General Horemheb. (It is also possible that the correspondence with the Hittites may have been written some years earlier by Nefertiti after the death of her husband, Akhenaten.)

The aging Ay became Pharaoh and took Ankhesenamun his queen to legitimize his rule. What happened to her after that is unknown. Ay ruled for only four years after his death Horemheb grabbed power. He soon obliterated evidence of the reigns of Akhenaten, Tutankhamun and Ay and substituted his own name on many monuments. Radiographs taken in 1968 seemed to indicate the possibility of injury to the skull that had time to partly heal. This was seen by some as evidence of a blow to the skull - perhaps murder. Others thought it was perhaps the result of a fall from a horse-drawn chariot.

In January 2005, the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities organized a van equipped with a CAT-scan cell (the latter given by Siemans Ltd and the National Geographic Society) to be taken to the Valley of Kings, as part of her mother Egyptian project. Tutankhamun's mummy was briefly removed from his tomb and decayed outside the van for CT scans. These detailed analyzes have shown no evidence of a blow to the skull. They provided a wealth of data on Tutankhamun, including that he had an impacted wisdom tooth. According to the analyzes, it was estimated that was about 168cm (5 feet 6 inches) tall, lightly built, but well fed, and about 19 when he died.

The analyzes also showed that the Pharaoh had a fractured left femur with skin and broken bones. The left knee cap was also detacted. His injuries could have occurred as much as a few days before his death and, if infection had settled, it may have been fatal. Maybe he was thrown from a car or injured in battle, but we may never know.

The pyramids built around thousands of years ago still continue to attract tourists and historians from all over the world. The mysteries, myth and stories surrounding the pyramids are more alluring than all the historical places of the world. Throughout history there have been many speculations and theories about the Pyramids. Yet there are still many questions unanswered and which still continue to puzzle scientists, mathematicians, astronomers, historians, architects and physicists all around the world.

People have dedicated their entire lives to unlocking the secrets of these incredible structures and the people who built them. The word 'pyramid' actually comes from the Greek word 'pyramis' which means 'wheat cake'. The word 'pyramis' was used to describe the ancient Egyptian buildings because they reminded the Greeks of pointy-topped wheat cakes. The ancient Egyptian word for the pyramids was 'Mer'. Egyptologists have developed many theories about why the tombs of the early pharaohs were built in the pyramid shape.

Here are three different ideas:

1. The pyramid represented the first land to appear at the beginning of time- a hill called 'Ben-Ben'. Pyramid shaped stone found in the earliest of temples, which itself is thought to symbolize the primeval mound from which the Egyptians believed life emerged.

2. The pyramid had sloping sides so that the dead pharaoh could symbolically climb to the sky and live forever.

3. The pyramid represented the rays of the sun.

Evolution of pyramids:

At the starting the pyramids were not huge the pharaohs built smaller tombs called the Mastabas. These Mastabas were smaller in size and had space only for the mummies and a few things to take for the afterlife . Then the pharaohs began to built mounds of earth on their mastabas, this was to signify their grandness. The step pyramids were the first fancy pyramids, later the pharaohs decided to fill in the steps.

The first pointed pyramids were built at Gizia. The tallest pyramid Khufu's great pyramid was the tallest building till the Eiffel tower was built. The pyramids signified the power and wealth of the pharaohs. These pyramids were built by the Egyptian slaves. An estimated twenty thousand to thirty thousand slaves built the pyramid at Gizia for a period of eighty years.

Pyramid symbolism:

Though it is generally agreed that the pyramids were burial monuments there seems to be disagreement among the historians on the theological principal on which it was built. One of the most famous theories is that it was a "resurrection machine." That is it will directly launch the spirit of the pharaoh in heaven.The Egyptians believed the dark area of the night sky around which the stars appear to revolve was the physical gateway into the heavens. One of the narrow shafts that extend from the main burial chamber through the entire body of the Great Pyramid points directly towards the center of this part of the sky.

This suggests the pyramid may have been designed to serve as a means to magically launch the deceased pharaoh's soul directly into the abode of the gods. All Egyptian pyramids were built on the west bank of the Nile, which as the site of the setting sun was associated with the realm of the dead in Egyptian mythology.

It took more than manual labor, to built these majestic pyramids , architects achieved an accurate pyramid shape by running ropes from the outer corners up to the planned summit, to make sure the stones were positioned correctly and priests-astronomers helped choose the pyramids' sites and orientations, so that they would be on the appropriate axis in relation to sacred constellations.

From stone pusher to priest, every worker would likely have recognized his or her role in continuing the life-and-death cycle of the pharaohs, and thereby in perpetuating the glory of Egypt.

Obsession with afterlife:

Ancient Egyptians believed that when the pharaoh died, he became Osiris, king of the dead. The new pharaoh became Horus, god of the heavens and protector of the sun god. This cycle was symbolized by the rising and setting of the sun. Some part of a dead pharaoh's spirit, called his ka, was believed to remain with his body and it was thought that if the corpse did not have proper care, the former pharaoh would not be able to carry out his new duties as king of the dead. If this happened, the cycle would be broken and disaster would befall Egypt.

To prevent such a catastrophe, each dead pharaoh was mummified, which preserved his body. Everything the king would need in his afterlife was provided in his grave-vessels made of clay, stone, and gold, furniture, food, even doll-like representations of servants, known as ushabti. His body would continue to receive food offerings long after his death. The kings used to start building their pyramids at the beginning of their reign as it took years to complete the building of a pyramid.

As of November 2008, 118 pyramids have been identified. The search for answers and the quest to solve the mysteries continues and so does the mysteries. We with all our modern technologies and scientific advancement are yet to solve the mysteries of the great ancient civilization of Egypt.