A Pharaoh and His People

A Pharaoh and His People

When a member of the Egyptian royal family became pharaoh, he became much more than ruler of a mighty empire, he ascended to the rank of god. This position allowed the pharaoh to commission monuments to himself and to his reign, controls his subjects regardless of their rank, and maintain Egypt’s status among her enemies. Just as in any hierarchical governmental system, the pharaoh treated different classes of individuals and groups in different ways from the austere priest to the lowly peasant. The them, Pharaoh was a god and he would allow no one to forget that fact; but to him, the world was below him and he treated each group accordingly. This is illustrated in some of the few surviving works from the Egyptian dynastic periods. Through personal letters, official government correspondence, and fiction, a broad picture can be painted as to how the pharaoh interacted with his people and how they reacted towards him.

In a cradle of civilization where survival trumped education in life’s necessities, it should be of little surprise that the literate were an elite class who were catapulted to the upper echelon of Egyptian society. There was no attempt to provide free and universal schooling, so the only people who received any education were the wealthy. Anyone of a lower class such as peasants, soldiers, farmers, or tradesmen had to toil in physical labor daily just to survive. To them, education was a luxury that they would never achieve. Scribes were some of the most educated and revered people in Egypt. Royal scribe Nebmare-nakht extolled the virtues of becoming a scribe in a letter to his son who, judging by said letter, appears to be resisting the family business in a rebellious p...

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...enjoyed god-like reverence. Whether one was a peasant, scribe or diplomat, all must worship the pharaoh and show him respect deserving of a god. For his part, the pharaoh maintained and preserved the societal order while ruling a mighty empire. Ultimately, the pharaoh demanded the reverence of a god, but he was still aware that he reigned on earth.

Bibliography

Lichteim, Miriam, ed. “The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant.” Ancient Egyptian Literature. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1975.

Nebmare-nakht. Praise of the Scribe’s Profession. Letter. From Ancient Egyptian Literature: A Book of Readings. Volume 2: The New Kingdom. Lichtheim, Miriam, ed. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1976.

Pritchard, J.B. The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1958.