Despotic Pharaohs: The Civilization Of Ancient Egypt

Egypt would be nothing without their famous government and rulers. The biggest, most important ruler, of Ancient Egypt, was and is the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh was the most vital leader to not just of the government, but also of the religion in Egypt. There were tears of the Egyptian government. So, under the pharaoh, was the vizier. A vizier is the main overseer of the land. The other officials reported to vizier each day. Under the vizier, were the Nomarks. They rule over a certain area of land called a nome. Almost like a governor. A nome was almost like a state. The role of a nomark would be hereditary and be passed down from father to son. The laws of Ancient Egypt were believed to be partially codified. There were 8 books that set out the legal code. Most people believe that Egyptian law was based on common sense and the view of right and wrong. This is how Egyptian’s complex religion helped make Egypt a working civilization.

The Egyptians made their clothing from plant fibers, linen, and sometimes cotton. Because of the hot and sunny climate in Egypt, people had to wear thin lightweight clothes. The ancient Egyptians loved all forms of jewelry

As the ruler of Egypt, the pharaoh was considered a god on earth, and when he died, he was thought to become Osiris, the god of the dead. The first Pharaoh, Menes, united Egypt in the Old Kingdom, and brought order to the land. It was the pharaoh’s duty to build great temples and monuments celebrating his own achievements and honoring to the gods of the land. Additionally, the pharaoh would lead religious ceremonies, choose the sites of temples and dictate what work would be done. As lord, the pharaoh made the laws, owned all the land in Egypt, collected taxes and made war and defended the country against attacks. The Pharaoh was seen as a human God and was respected by everyone in Egypt, making is easy to maintain order in the land. The New Kingdom was the final set of rulers and covered the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth dynasties of

Kingship became necessary because they needed someone to please the gods and help keep people from doing the things the gods disapproved of. There are many similarities between Mahabharata and the Hymn to the Pharaoh, both see their leader as god like or a god pleaser, both their leaders help keep their people in position to please the gods. There are difference though, the Mahabharata talks about how the gods can lose power and get scared by the way their people act and that they need the king to help them out, the Hymn to the Pharaoh thinks the gods are all powerful all the time and also believe that their leader is a god and they fear him.

Pharaohs were eminent figures to the people of the New Kingdom Egypt who had control over the entire Egypt itself as they were leaders of both politics and religion. The Valley of the Kings was the burial place chosen to be the final resting place for pharaohs of the New Kingdom era. The structure of the royal tombs were constructed to imitate that of the underworld, and were built underground to protect the tombs from tomb robbers – the tombs were not intended to be seen by outsiders. Each tomb depicted the pharaoh’s personality, and their interests and such, as the tombs vary from decoration and possessions placed alongside the body. The general construction of the tomb included: an entrance corridor with wall paintings; the decorations on

After the two kingdoms were united, they became a lot more organized and over the years developed a system of what is called a ‘hierarchy’. This was a class system and each person living in ancient Egypt knew where they existed in the system and had specific rights of that class. The Egyptian hierarchy was a lot like the pyramids that they built. At the very top of this social structure were the pharaoh and their gods. Since the pharaoh was thought to be a god, he took his place next to all of the others.

Ancient Egypt also had a complex religion that tied into well-organized government. The ancient Egyptians were deeply religious. The ancient Egyptians would never worship without being purified. They also believed that their gods had supernatural powers, and if they worshiped their gods they would live a happy and long life. A way to worship gods is to pay tributes.

Amenhotep IV was considered an "unusual ruler in the history of ancient Egypt". He reigned for 17 years, from c.1353 - 1336 BCE. He had changed his name around 1348 BCE to Akhenaten ("One Who Is Effective on Behalf of the Aten"). He would be considered a radical in our times, and had radically changed many aspects of the culture, some of which involved; the political, spiritual, and cultural life of the country. During this transforming time, there were radical changes in royal artisitic conventions, introducing the New Amarna Style.

Armies and laws were all ruled by the Pharaoh. All laws that were inforced became the responsibility of the Pharaoh. Farmers had to pay their taxes every year but instead of money they used grain that was stored in warehouses to pay the taxes. There were other gods that were at a lower class than the pharaoh. to help the pharaoh accomplish all of his duties, there was a chain of commands.

Pharaohs were like the kings of Ancient Egypt and was thought to be the human figure of the god Horus. The pharaohs ruled over both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. They were leaders that handled both political and religious matters. The meaning of the name “Pharaoh” comes from a word that means “great house” to describe a palace or kingdom. Another ruler considered powerful would be the Queen of Egypt or the Pharaoh’s wife. Another

It centered on the Egyptians' interaction with a multitude of divinities or as they called them gods, and they thought they were in control of the forces and elements of nature.

Since the first Ancient Egyptian, Pharaoh Menes, placed himself on the throne, the pharaohs were considered to be both divine deities as well as mortal rulers. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines prophet as “a member of some religion who delivers messages that are believed to have come from God” Did that make Pharaoh Amenhotep IV aka Akhenaten a prophet? Defying centuries of traditional worship of the Egyptians, the mid-14th century BCE Pharaoh Akhenaten decreed during his reign that his subjects were to worship only one god; the sun-disk Aten. Was this a direct message from the gods or were there other political reasons at play.

In ways of administering and ruling, the initial two civic establishments Mesopotamia and Egypt were indistinguishable. Leaders of Egypt were called Pharaohs, and Mesopotamia had a class framework wherein the most noteworthy class was the rulers simply like Egypt. The majority of the civic establishments each had their own Gods they addressed and some were fundamentally the same to one another, despite the fact that for Egypt, they trusted that their Pharaoh was their God on earth. In Mesopotamia, other than the decision families, the high class additionally included driving authorities, and devout ministers. The little working class had shippers, artisans, and lower ministers. Most of the individuals was at the base and was laborer ranchers.

Have you ever wondered how Ancient Egypt helped shape the world today? Ancient Egyptians were a group of folks who were heavily influenced by religion. They feared dying anywhere but Egypt. The Egyptian Empire held a fascinating and very distinctive culture. Being one of the world 's most advanced cultures and creating tons of wealth is what separated them from everybody else. Between the outstanding artwork, teaching methods, and amazing pyramids is what helped their society advance altogether. No other civilization of the ancient world history had such a popular appeal and none as important as human society and its organization. Egyptians have made great steps in shaping the world we all know today, which have made studying their culture and society easier than some previous historical eras.

When defining a civilization, archaeologists look for several key attributes in order to determine if a group of people is in fact a civilization. There are a multitude of characteristics that make up a civilization, but the cornerstones of defining a civilization can be broken down into a small group of attributes. First, we must define the term Civilization: A civilization is an urbanized, state-level society. There are essentially ten major characteristics that formulate a civilization in which archaeologists look for in order to determine if a group of people had a civilized society. Those characteristics are: 1) A large population with 5,000 or more people contained in cities with formal organization. 2) A food surplus. 3) Labor