Darby's Social Pyramid

In Egypt, the social structure was very important to everyday life. At the top they had their main gods, Ra, Osiris, and Isis. They even elevated some of their own people to the top, giving the god status. These were the Pharaohs. The Pharaohs had total control and power over their subjects and pyramids were built as their graves. There is also a chain of command at the top of hte social structure. After Pharaohs came his appointed assistant, known as the Vizier who collected and kept track of the taxes. Under the vizier came their scribes to helped record all the documents. These were vitally important because they were largely the only ones in the entire community who could read and write. Then came the soldiers, quite high up on the ladder compared to many of the other civilizations. This was because fighting for the Pharaoh was highly appraised work. The middle class was made up of the craftsmen, traders and merchants, and artisans. These are the people who created the everyday tools for people up and down the entire social structure. And finally at the very bottom came the farmers and slaves, doing the unsklled work unlike the middle

There were three social classes in Mesopotamia. There was the aristocracy, the working class, and the slaves. The aristocracy was made up of the rich and powerful who owned much land. The working class was made up of high priests,

Within china it went the emperor, then local gentry “a term that refers to individuals who have at the rank and status of government officials, but who reside at home and may not have any specific political responsibilities”(course reader 119), then scholars, citizens who were preparing for the exams, next were Peasants, Craftsmen, merchants, and then just people in general. The Feudal japan ranking system went Shoguns at the top, then Daimyo, the landholding military lords, next were samurai, and at the bottom were peasant. Being a peasant one would not usually be able to afford elite education for themselves or for their children. Naturally the more privileged people in the empire’s would get a better education then the peasants children would have. This alone made climbing the social ladder a clear struggle for the people at the bottom.

The people groups in ancient Egyptian were very different than our societies social groups today. Ancient Egyptians were grouped in a hierarchical system with the Pharaoh at the top and farmers and slaves at the bottom. The groups of people nearest to the top of society were the richest and most powerful. The Pharaoh was believed to be a god on earth and had the most power. He was responsible for making laws and keeping order. Ensuring that Egypt was not attacked or invaded by enemies and for keeping the gods happy so that the Nile flooded and there was a good harvest. The Vizier was the Pharaoh's chief advisor

Just like any other civilization, the Israelites had multiple social classes. At the foundation of the civilization was the working class. This was made up of the farmers and artisans who labored all day and produced the items that were often traded throughout the kingdom. The next tier was the military and royal court. Anyone that served in the military was well respected by people of all classes. The royal court consisted of any government officials, scribes, and the king’s royal cupbearer. Scribes were the secretaries and typically involved in judicial and financial affairs. The royal cupbearer was tasked with filling the king’s goblet with wine and serving it to him. Second to the top of the social classes were the priests. Similar to Ancient Egypt with the gods, priests were believed to have direct contact with the god the Israelites worshiped: Yahweh. Because of this connection, priests were considered to be very sacred to the Israelites. At the top of the social pyramid was the king. The king of the Israelites ruled over the kingdom, defended it, but also “rules on behalf of Yahweh, the Israelite god” .

The social life was the order in which you fell in ranking. For instance the kings were at the top meaning they had all power (Doc 1). Then the nobles, knights, and serfs followed (Doc 1). All the roles helped each other. For instance Kings provide land for the Nobles and for exchange they get money from the Nobles( Doc 1).Then the knights protect and give military services to the Nobles for giving them land ( Doc 1). The serfs provide food and service to the Knights and the Knights protect them in return(Doc 1). So all the rankings had their own importance to help out each other.

If we imagine a pyramid, the lower level would be categorized of slaves. Those slaves were people who were in debt and people who were prisoners of the war. Above the slaves, the commoners/ farmers took a large percentage of the pyramid. They were in charge of farming the food, and caring for the animals. Above the commoners/ farmers are the merchants, who were known to wear turquoise. Above the merchants are the military which take up a small percent of the pyramid. Those who were in the military had the privilege of wearing feathers. Lastly above every other section, there were the priest and the royalties. As a privilege the priests and royalties wore gold and were able to eat and drink chocolate. The MA society was not egalitarian; the social pyramid clearly projects the inequalities between all five sections of societies.

Both the Huang He River Valley civilization and the Nile River Valley civilization had separate social classes, with the royal family of course ranking above artisanal merchants, who in turn ranked above simple farming peasants. However, Huang He had very sharp distinctions with no room to move up or down in class, while citizens of the Nile could fluctuate amongst social standings due to changes in financial status and deeds committed. ‘

In Rome, the Patricians, the wealthy elite, sat at the top of the pyramid. They are followed by the Senators, as mentioned before had political power, but under the supervision of the consuls. The Equestrian class or equites were determined on a man could maintain a steady income. The freeborn Roman citizens or the Plebians sat below the equites. The last tier on the pyramid were slaves and soldiers. The Romans practiced both Judaism and Christianity. The women of both countries had no power of any kind nor were they considered citizens, so they were not allowed to run for office or serve in the military. Instead, they carried out the traditional family lifestyle of cooking, cleaning, and caring for the children (Cartwright, 2016).

At the top is the great Great God blue stripe, because he is the main god, that we follow. And we also go by what his rule is, and the laws he made. Second is the kings and queen because they make sure the blue strip rule is followed the the people in the three kingdoms, and also are the one who get the honor records from get god blue stripe. The third is the religious people because they are the ones who talk to great god blue stripe, they also keep the scrolls, that have the horror of each person. They take care of shrine. They clean it, fix it. They also keep the ancient artifacts safe, and they tech who ever come's their about the artifacts. After the religious people are the Liberals, because they are the ones who will be teaching the

According to the article Social Rank “In the cities in the North, the gentry were merchants and lawyers. Independent artists and shopkeepers made up a robust middle class. Below them was a laboring class made up of free white people, indentured servants, free African Americans and a small number of enslaved people.” People with the most respectable and better jobs like lawyers were at the top of the social pyramid and those whom had less respectable and worse occupations like slaves were at the bottom of the social class, just like how it works today.

We can see some similarities of this ancient hierarchy in modern day. The social/working pecking order of ancient times hasn’t faded. We have the government officials, the politicians, the doctors & lawyers, the modern merchants and salesmen, the working class, and even convicts who work to earn credit or are even forced to work.

Both ancient Athens and Egypt adhered to a strict hierarchical framework, ranking people as superiors or inferiors. Old Kingdom Egyptian hierarchy is described as having the king and queen at the top, with priests, administrators, governors and army commanders coming second, then the commoners who worked mostly in agriculture, and finally, slaves, who had been captured in war. (Hunt, pg. 22). According to Esolen, (pg. 35), Egyptian society was structured as such: the Pharaoh came first, and was believed to be God on earth. Next came the “Vizier”, who was the pharaohs chief advisor. Nobles were next in the hierarchy, responsible for making local laws. Priests came next, and were responsible for performing rituals and ceremonies. Scribes were a very important group, as they were the only ones who could read or write, so they were the record keepers. A small percentage

b. The king sits at the top of the social structure. However, if the spirit does not visit him, he must die. The king’s relatives and senior officials sit below the king of the hierarchical pyramid. Next comes the common people and then the slaves.

On the top, the King- He was the main ruler and made religious duties of priests.