The+elite+and+the+every+day+Egyptian--Social+Stratification+in+Egypt

= Social Stratification in Ancient Egypt: =

By: Kristine Lowery


= = = =

= Introduction =

====Recorded documents, histories, art, and architecture, extending all the way to their religious beliefs, extreme social stratification was a phenomenon of ancient Egypt that anthropologists have been fascinated with over the years. It is present in nearly every aspect of their preserved past, and therefore makes it an inherent area of study for archaeology. In this wiki, I will be aiming to expose the components of life of the people composing these social classes, and explore the intricacies of the relationships between these classes.====

= Peasants = ====The **lowest** rank among of these groups were the **peasants and agriculture workers**. This bottom tier also contains all Egyptians under slavery (though the true nature and history of slavery in Egypt is not fully known), soldiers (not including high ranking military officials), and tomb builders, though I am going to focus on the farmer. The farmers worked the land that all the citizens sustained off of, however, the land did not usually belong to them, it belonged to the state. Essentially, the Egyptian peasant was a serf-- bound to serving a master and the master's land. On the contrary, they were allowed to own cattle, donkeys, purchase linens, jewelry, and could SOMEWHAT achieve prosperity, in that respect. It was thought of the peasant farmers that they were carry out the will of the gods. For instance, "if Osiris was to arise from grave to the Earth, in the form of life-giving corn, it depended as much on the peasant's labor as upon the incantations of the priests." (White, 1963) The life of the farmer was very much like working an assembly line. If the crops grew properly, certain men would cut off the ears of the stalks of corn, while the women followed closely behind and put the cut corn into baskets. The baskets were emptied into larger sacks and put on the backs of donkeys or men who slung the sacks on long poles. Since growing crops did not occupy all of the peasant's day, they also had to tend to their lord's gardens, their own gardens, breeding cattle, fattening up birds and fish. In accordance with local administration, yearly the peasants were required to satisfy a statutory number of days fulfilling public labor duty. This included maintaining/building roads and footpaths, but was mainly dedicated to the upkeep of the "vascular system of ancient Egypt", irrigation. Much work by the peasants went into digging new canals and clearing old ones. Despite the never ending work of an ancient Egyptian peasant, Jon White postulates that the peasant was most likely a "happy person, active, lithe and sunburnt." He or she took pleasure in the frequent festival, received a consistent ration of their farming, and was able to grow small luxuries in their own plot of land. There were undoubtedly bad times, most notably when the Nile was unpredictable and crop failed. Free from strain and insecurity, the Egyptian peasant knew his or her appropriate place in the world, and knew precisely what the gods expected of them. (White, 1963) This is a nice utopian way to try and reconstruct the life of the farming peasant, but Adolf Erman has a much darker, and in my opinion, more realistic view on how they viewed their own lives. "Everything tends to show that the Egyptians themselves felt that agriculture, together with cattle-breeding, was the most important industry for the country. Nevertheless, the prestige of this idea had no influence upon the position of the agricultural laborer, who was always looked down upon as a poor hard-worked creature. ... the best they can say of him is, that he is worthy to be compared with his own cattle." (Erman, 1971)====

= Artisans and Craftsmen =

= = ====The next class on the social tier of ancient Egypt were the **artisans and craftsmen**. While Art in ancient Egypt was an extremely important aspect of Egyptian life, artists were not artists in the modern sense that we typically appropriate with artists. They did not create art for a glorification of the individual and an outlet of inner expression. Like peasants, they were bound in the service of the pharaoh, their religion, and the obligation to their community. In fact, painters and sculptors were regarded as simple craftsmen rather than "artists", which is a much too lofty term to really tag these individuals with. The works they produced were a collaborative effort in their eyes; for instance, for a sculptor, they needed to retrieve stone via a quarrymen, once finished, the sculptor would deliver his statue to a specializing artisan in carving hierogylphs, who would then deliver it to a metalworker who added fine details to the piece, then handed down to the painter for color. They might have been allotted a bit of artistic rein with sculpting statues of the gods, but for statues of noblemen, they had to literally translate to the person, for they were not used as ornaments, but as objects of worship or offerings for their tomb. It was important to achieve life like results so as to make the owner's identity unmistakable. (White, 1963)==== ====Artisans and craftsmen worked with many different mediums, included but not limited to, papyrus, hard and soft stone, painted plaster, wood, faience, crystal, alabaster, copper, bronze, clay and, ivory. With such a wide variety of artistry and crafts taking place, scholars have not clearly been able to construct where these individuals acquired their trade secrets. It is assumed they served long term apprenticeships, and later would serve as a master to an apprentice when their skills were harnessed. (White, 1963) Craftsmen did some of the most vital, necessary work of the class. They began to utilize the papyrus reed as a universal product, for boat construction, rope, sandals, and most importantly, paper. To make paper, the craftsmen cut the stem into thin strips the length of the paper was required to be and then a second layer of identical strips was placed crosswise over the first set. The leaves formed were pressed, dried, and if needing very large sheets, pasted together. The remaining papyri today are a testament to the precision and skill of the craftsmen who made them. In addition to the aforementioned workers, the artisans and craftsmen of ancient Egypt also included linen weavers, leather makers, wood cutters, carpenters, and goldsmiths. (Erman, 1971)==== ====As for the social implications of being an artist or a craftsmen, according to the scribes, the craftsmen were "poor creatures who led an inglorious existence, half pitiable, and half ridiculous." (Erman, 1971) In contrast, Erman writes, "The work of the metal works and wood carvers which still exists shows that these industries reached a very high standard in Egypt, a comparatively far higher one in point of fact than either learning, or literature. The workmen who created those marvels of gold and ivory, of porcelain and wood, the finish of which we admire to this day, cannot have been such wretched creatures as they were considered." (Erman, 1971) Overall it seems like while the artisans and craftsmen were socially a bit more respectable and privileged than the peasants, their position in the lower class still had the same consequences associated with it.====

= Scribes =

====As we move on up our social ladder of Egypt, the **scribe** enjoys a higher status than the peasants and the artisans of the time. Not surprisingly, being a scribe was considered the greatest of all the ancient Egyptian professions. It included a great deal of prestige, being able to interact with all of the most powerful people of the land. Life as a scribe meant the individual was free from partaking in manual labor. Instead, there was a multitude of opportunities for the ancient scribe, working for the royal service, the service of a great temple, or to noblemen. In administration, they could specialize in particular branches or serve under senior officers of the state. (White, 1963) Egyptian society had very low social mobility, but becoming a scribe meant an automatic upper-middle to upper class status, no matter their background. This type of status did not come without a price, though. Ample documentation is present to support that apprenticing scribes received cruel, harsh treatment, after all the Egyptian word for "teach" is seba which means "beat".[|¹] Additionally, the scribes' status also had a huge benefit most Egyptians were not able to experience, a break from total sedentism. The scribe was taken on excursions with military forces, exploring and surveying new land, in charge of expeditions, working parties to foreign countries, or sent to retrieve scarce commodity resources. (White, 1963) The scribes were probably the only people in all of Egypt who knew everything that was happening inside of the empire, since they were responsible for writing the personal letters, tax collecting, recording harvests, controlling food supply, documenting rainfall, conducting the census, planning, surveying and supervising construction, as well as writing diplomatic, administrative, legal, religious, and economic documents.[|²] Scribes were so integral to the Egyptian kingdom that they were even depicted with a god. The scribe of the gods, typically shown as a baboon, ibis, or ibis-headed human, recorded the last judgment verdict of the deceased.[|¹]====

= Priests =

====Besides the pharaoh himself, ancient Egyptian **priests** were the most important people in Egyptian religion. While the priests did enjoy an upper level status, the degree to which they reaped benefits of it is a little cloudy. It would not have been a big surprise to see priests have their robes tucked in and performing labor, such as tending the bees. (White, 1963) Whether they actually engaged in peasant-like activities is unsure, it is sure that you would have found the priests of Egypt in libraries, teaching their pupils, performing medical tasks, or for the more highly ranked priests, performing Daily Rites. Much different than modern day priests, they were not always considered "religious" beings, as the temples included workshops, libraries, and estates. Like the artisans, the priests operated on a specialization level, each priest had specific duties and vaults of knowledge. Accordingly, there was a ranking of the priests. Hem-netjer or "servant of the gods" prepared offerings to the gods for ceremonies and controlled entrance to the temples. Hem-netjer Tepey or "overseer", these indiviauls were high priests with connection to high ranked officials or even linked to the pharaoh who tended to matters of administration. Wa'eb or "pure one" performed lesser tasks, kept the temple clean and maintained the purity of the temple and everything contained within it. Kheri-heb would dictate the rites and rituals from the sacred texts, as well as serving personally to Egyptians as oracles. The Sem priests, in my opinion, seem to have had the most important task of all, which was to perform the ceremony and rites at mummifications and burials. [|³] As depicted in the image, the "opening of the mouth" ritual was a landmark ritual of the burial process, which was thought to awaken the deceased to begin their afterlife. Also unlike modern day priests, Egyptian priests usually had families and lived a normal family life. Overall, they were not present to nourish or care for the congregation of the temples, or even preach. They were not there to deliver the word of the gods in attempts to give the people salvation. They simply performed the rituals and ceremonies associated with what was largely a universal, undisputed belief system.====

= Noblemen and Administration =

====The **noblemen and administrators** of ancient Egypt were, in essence, an extension of the royal hand. As the kingdom grew larger and larger throughout time, the pharaoh himself was not capable of ruling alone. There is a laundry list of titles that individuals possessed shown in archaeological evidence, though a general consensus as to what standing, duties, and so for forth these titles actually implied. The only title that seems to be of certainty is the vizier. The vizier served to the pharaoh directly, and was the absolute highest official other than the king. Appointed personally by the pharaoh, the vizier had the task of acting somewhat as a supervisor to all of Egypt and, for the most part, exhibited supreme rule over all the officials who were to report to him. While his rule was supreme to all other classes of society, the pharaoh was always capable, of course, of overriding the vizier's rule.(White, 1963) It seems that the vizier was mostly a medium between the pharaoh and the lower classes simply because the pharaoh did not care to partake in perhaps frivolous interactions of his kingdom. It's obvious that the vizier had access to all the finest things an ancient Egyptian could have, however, they were not spoiled with indulgences. As a "seal bearer of the king", the vizier mostly conducted the recording of trade, census of raw material, archive maintenance, mobilizing troops, appointing officials, inspection of provincial governments, the overseer of works for royal monument construction. [|⁴] The vizier was also in charge of provincial district officials, nomarchs. As aforementioned about the peasants, there were regional "directors" of the land who kept track of resources, the people, and so on. The nomarchs' position was often acquired based on hereditary basis, but, like the vizier, could be appointed by the pharaoh. Essentially they were governors of a state, much like governors in the United States serving under a president. Their high status, really only behind the vizier and the pharaoh, allowed them to lead much more flexible lives than those of the lower classes, and their jobs somewhat mirrored that of the vizier, except on a provincial scale, rather than a kingdom-wide scale. [|⁵] There were many other types of nobles and people who did administrative work in the empire of Ancient Egypt, however, the vizier and the nomarchs were the most important in grand scheme of running the government, and the highest of the social class as a whole.====

= The Pharaoh =

===="The King was the maintenance of his people during life by his vicarious position, and after death by his sustenance of them in the tomb." (Cottrell, 1955)====

====The ancient Egyptian **pharaoh** is the absolute pinnacle of the structure of the Egyptian social hierarchy. They exercised supreme rule, and were viewed as a god by the population they governed. The word of the pharaoh literally translated into law, a divine statutes, much like a pope. There was no institution of justice, only "what pharaoh loves" and "what pharaoh hates". Since the pharaoh was worshiped as a deity, later in Egypt's cultural history, they were believed to be incarnations of Horus in life, and Osiris in death. It was believed that the pharaoh was somewhat of a "bridge" between Osiris and the people, and after death, he was to be united with Osiris. They were also seen as an incarnation of their father and the sun god Ra. While kingship certainly was appropriated by lineage, as soon as young man to be in succession of the throne was of adequate age, he entered the army to serve a military apprenticeship, along with the children of noblemen. The young to-be pharaoh did live a pampered life of a carefree nature, and often married very young, maybe even before their succession. In order to "dilute" the pure, royal bloodline of the gods, they were to marry a member of their own family, usually their sister, or a cousin. Again, this is mirroring the royal association with the god Osiris, who married his own sister. (White, 1963) Gender was not a limitation of the throne, surprisingly. Having been many female pharaohs, the royal line was matriarchal, and relationships to these woman, dictated who had the right to rule. [|⁶] Similarly, this matrilineal line would also give many of the females of the royal family the right to rule, which seems to be another motive behind the males to marry his female relatives. It secured his title to the throne, and left no room for the woman to claim it. ==== ====Before researching the life of pharaohs, it would be a logical and fair assumption that with all of their subordinates, and supreme political and religious power that they lived a life of plenty and indulged in their greatest desires on nothing but a whim. However, the king was constantly surrounded by symbolic ritual, and the duration of his days were regulated by these ceremonies. Cottrell wrote, "Every hour was definitely allotted to various duties, to do something enjoined, and not to indulge in pleasures." From the moment the pharaoh awoke, he was to read dispatches that had arrived to the kingdom, and dictate replies. Every day the pharaoh was to partake in a ceremonial purification, robing and insignia ritual, and a sacrifice to the gods. It is not known if the king himself or a priest performed the actual sacrifice, but every detail of the act was curtailed to the king's wishes. The priests also prayed for the king, his health and recited praises of him, a sermon of sorts, if you will. In the daily life of the king, they were to not even indulge in food, exercising an extremely limited diet, in hopes to preserve their health, and thus the well-being of the country. (Cottrell, 1955) In contrast, White asserts that a number of pharaohs were indeed self indulgent and frivolous. Archaeology would suggest, in my opinion, that there was a degree of indulgence, the gold, the jewelry, the palaces-- surely, the pharaoh had the greatest access to resources of anybody else in the kingdom, and it would be foolish to think that some, not all, rulers would have taken advantage of the divine privilege they possessed.====

= Conclusion = ====The entire notion of class is a difficult, and often times ambiguous area for people who study ancient Egyptians today in the modern world. The complexity involved in truly understanding the social hierarchy is staggering, with regard to socioeconomic levels, or more simply, access and control to resources, ways of enhancing socioeconomic status, ways of displaying it, and existence of mobility among it. (Richards, 2005) Scholars can use archaeological, textual, and ethnographic comparison in order to try and form a model worthy and factually accurate about ancient Egyptian society. However, with as much study that has gone into the field, there is still a bountiful degree to which uncertainty exists. It might not be possible to ever have a true, indisputable understanding of the social classes, but the more scholars strive to construct the ancient world and the ways in which it functioned, in respect to the elite all the way to the peasants, the closer we become to understanding Egypt as a civilization. Furthermore, the study of these classes and relationships between them does already reveal aspects of ancient Egyptian culture that we may have not learned of otherwise.====

. **References**
White, Jon 1963 Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt. London: B.T. Batsford Limited.

Erman, Adolf 1971 Life in Ancient Egypt. New York: Dover Publications.

Cottrell, Leonard 1955 Life Under the Pharaohs. London: Evans Brothers Limited.

Richards, Janet 2005 Society and Death in Ancient Egypt. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

¹ The Walton Hall of Ancient Egypt at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Life in Ancient Egypt: Scribes. http://www.carnegiemnh.org/exhibitions/egypt/scribes.htm

² Alchin, L.K. King Tut: Ancient Egyptian Scribes. http://www.king-tut.org.uk/ancient-egyptians/ancient-egyptian-scribe.htm

³ Egyptology Online The Priests. http://www.egyptologyonline.com/priests.htm

⁴ Bailey, Nathan Minnesota State University Mankato: The Vizier. http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/egypt/government/vizier.htm

⁵ Oachs, Mitch Minnesota State University Mankato: Nomarchs. http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/egypt/government/nomarch.htm

⁶ Wikipedia Pharaoh. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharaoh Meskell, Lynn 2002 Private Life in New Kingdom Egypt. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University press.
 * Supplemental Reading **

Tyldesley, Joyce 2000 The Private Lives of the Pharaohs. New York: TV Books.

Szpakowska, Kasia 2008 Daily Life in Ancient Egypt. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing.

James, T.G.H. 2005 The British Museum Concise Introduction to Ancient Egypt. Michigan: University of Michigan Press