Social Classes In Ancient Egypt

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

Top of the social tree were the ‘best people’, the aristoi. Possessing more money than everyone else, this class could provide themselves with armour, weapons, and a horse when on military campaign. The aristocrats were often split into powerful family factions or clans who controlled all of the important political positions in the polis. Their wealth came from having property and even more importantly, the best land, i.e.: the most fertile and the closest to the protection offered by the city

Ancient Egypt was a captivating and intricate civilization. Over the years, historians have found it easier to study this civilization, rather than other historical civilizations, because the Egyptians went through great lengths to record their history. Besides being decent record keepers, they were very religious, and “ahead of their time,” due to their technological and economic breakthroughs. Because of the aspects of this culture, it has to be one of the greatest civilizations of the world.

Pharaoh, viziers, high priests and nobles, priests, engineers, doctors, scribes, craftsmen, slaves and farmers, these are examples of how the existing order of social class in Ancient Egyptian. What’s the difference between the social class order we have today? Classes such as upper class, middle class, and the lower or working class still resemble the class order and theme of then in the Ancient Egyptian time. Social class could be managed as much in wealth and income, possession of goods and the way individuals are viewed after death are essential elements in social class. Social class has a noteworthy part to play in the lives, for example, the lives in Egypt to the lives that we live in the 21st century. Social class is something that is observed at but mentioned in different context. Social class in Ancient Egypt was not only a description of how people lived but also how they were views after death. And this how the pyramids and other monuments played a role in class and status ranking.

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

* The middle class lay in the middle and was the group of people in society that had bigger better houses on their own block of land and were quite well off when it came to money and resources.

ancient Athen there were three groups of people there were the poor, middle class and the

Everyone was told to believe that the pharaoh was a god that gave him his place on the pyramid with the gods and the goddesses. Next, there was the Vizier. The Vizier watched over tax collection and the government records that were kept by the scribes. After that, there were scribes, craftsmen and, traders. Finally, the lowest social class was the farmers and even below them were the slaves and the peasants.

People were born into these social classes, but could send their children out of it if they could afford it. The first and highest class was the pharaohs and government. The pharaohs were viewed as gods, and had supreme rule over the lands, making the government of the Nile River Valley a monarchy. Their second in command were the viziers, who oversaw all government operations for the pharaoh. The second class was the soldiers.

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

Then the craftsman , artisans, traders and even physicians were considered the middle class Last was the peasants, slaves and farmers

Ancient Egypt was a classified as a hierarchy. In ancient Egypt a hierarchy meant that people and groups were ranked according to status. Pharaoh’s and the royal family were first class. The second class was the aristocrats

The first part being the gentry. The gentry included knights, gentlemen, gentlewomen, and squires. Gentry hardly ever worked with their hands, this meaning they were landowners or explorers. Many people became apart of this class by gaining large amounts of money or land. The other half of this class were called merchants.

The women nearest to the king had a statue in their honor. The name of the wife of the king was, from the Second Middle Period, written in a sign, and several Old and Middle Kingdom wives of kings were buried in a pyramid.

The next class during the Victorian Era was known as the middle class. This was the class to which novelist H.G. Wells was a part of. The middle class consisted of factory owners, lawyers, engineers, merchants, traders and other professionals (Bishal, 2008). While the individuals within this class received more money and more rights as citizens, they were still considered to be of no importance compared to those of the higher class.