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Diagram of the structure of the ancient Egyptian society starting with the pharaoh. The social structure of Egypt, its state regulation. Ancient Egypt: general information

For Ancient egypt was characterized by an extreme slowdown in the evolution of the social structure, the determining factor of which was the almost undivided dominance in the economy of the state tsarist-temple economy.

In the context of the general involvement of the population in the state economy, the difference in the legal status of individual strata of the working people was not considered as significant as in other countries of the East. It was not even reflected in terms, the most commonly used of which was the term for a commoner - meret. This concept did not have a clearly expressed legal content, as well as the controversial concept of "servant of the king" - a semi-free, dependent worker, which existed in all periods of the unique and long history of Egypt.

The main economic and social unit in Ancient Egypt in the early stages of its development was rural community... The natural process of intracommunal social and property stratification was associated with the intensification of agricultural production, with the growth of the surplus product, which is beginning to be appropriated by the communal elite, who have concentrated in their hands the leading functions of creating, maintaining, and expanding irrigation facilities. These functions were subsequently transferred to the centralized state.

Processes of social stratification of ancient Egyptian society especially intensified at the end of the 4th millennium BC. when a dominant social stratum is formed, which included tribal nominal aristocracy, priests, prosperous communal peasants... This stratum is more and more separated from the bulk of free communal peasants, who are levied by the state rent-tax. They are also involved in forced labor for the construction of canals, dams, roads, etc. From the first dynasties, ancient Egypt was known for the periodic censuses of "people, cattle, gold" conducted throughout the country, on the basis of which taxes were established.

The early creation of a single state with a land fund centralized in the hands of the pharaoh, to which the functions of managing a complex irrigation system are transferred, the development of a large tsarist-temple economy contributes to the actual disappearance of the community as an independent unit associated with collective land use. It ceases to exist along with the disappearance of free farmers, independent of state power and beyond its control. Permanent rural settlements remain a kind of community, the heads of which are responsible for paying taxes, for the smooth operation of irrigation facilities, forced labor, etc. the ruling elite strengthens its economic and political positions, replenished mainly due to the local nominal aristocracy, bureaucracy, the emerging centralized administrative apparatus and priesthood. Its economic power is growing, in particular, due to the early system of royal grants of land and slaves. From the time of the Old Kingdom, royal decrees have survived, establishing the rights and privileges of temples and temple settlements, evidence of royal grants of land plots to the aristocracy and temples.

Various categories of dependent forced persons worked in the royal households and the households of the secular and spiritual nobility. These included disenfranchised prisoner-of-war slaves or fellow tribesmen, brought to a slave state, "the king's servants" who performed the prescribed work norm under the supervision of the tsar's overseers. They owned a small amount of personal property and received a meager food from the royal storehouses.

The exploitation of the "servants of the tsar", cut off from the means of production, was based on both non-economic and economic coercion, since the land, implements, draft animals and so on were the property of the tsar. The boundaries separating slaves (of whom there were never many in Egypt) from "the king's servants" were not clearly defined. Slaves in Egypt were sold, bought, passed on by inheritance, as a gift, but sometimes they were planted on land and endowed with property, demanding part of the harvest from them. One of the forms of the emergence of slave dependence was the self-sale of the Egyptians for debts (which, however, was not encouraged) and the transformation of criminals into slaves.

Unification of Egypt after a transitional period of turmoil and fragmentation (XXII century BC) by Theban nomes within the borders of the Middle Kingdom, it was accompanied by successful wars of conquest by the Egyptian pharaohs, the development of trade with Syria, Nubia, the growth of cities, and the expansion of agricultural production. This led, on the one hand, to the growth of the tsarist-temple economy, on the other, to the strengthening of the position of the private economy of noble dignitaries and temple priests, organically connected with the former. The noble nobility, who, in addition to the lands granted for the service ("the nomarch's house"), hereditary lands ("my father's house"), seeks to turn their holdings into property, resorting for this purpose to the help of temple oracles, which could attest to its hereditary nature.

The early revealed inefficiency of the cumbersome tsarist farms, based on the labor of forced farmers, contributes to the widespread development at this time of the allotment-rent form of exploitation of the working people. The land began to be given to the "king's servants" on lease, it was cultivated by them mainly with their own implements in a relatively separate economy. At the same time, the rent-tax was paid to the treasury, temple, nomarch or nobleman, but labor service was still performed in favor of the treasury.

In the Middle Kingdom, other changes are also revealed, both in the position of the ruling circles and the lower strata of the population. An increasingly prominent role in the state, along with the nominal aristocracy and priesthood, is beginning to play an untitled bureaucracy.

The so-called nedges("small"), and among them " strong nedges". Their appearance was associated with the development of private land tenure, commodity-money relations, the market... It is no coincidence that in the XVI-XV centuries. BC. in the Egyptian lexicon the concept of "merchant" appears for the first time, and silver becomes the measure of value in the absence of money.

Nejes, together with artisans (especially such scarce specialties in Egypt as stonecutters, goldsmiths), being not so strongly associated with the royal temple economy, acquire a higher status, selling part of their products on the market. Along with the development of crafts, commodity-money relations, cities are growing, in cities there is even a semblance of workshops, associations of artisans by specialties.

The change in the legal status of wealthy groups of the population is also evidenced by the expansion of the concept of "home", which previously denoted a kinship-clan group of family members, relatives, slave servants, subject to the nobleman.

Strong nedges, together with the lower ranks of the priesthood, petty bureaucracy, and wealthy artisans in the cities, make up the middle, transitional stratum from small producers to the ruling class. The number of private slaves is growing, and the exploitation of dependent landowners, who bear the main burdens of taxation and military service in the tsarist troops, is increasing. The urban poor are even more impoverished. This leads to an extreme exacerbation of social contradictions at the end of the Middle Kingdom (intensified by the invasion of Egypt by the Hyksos), to a major uprising that began among the poorest strata of free Egyptians, which were later joined by slaves and even some representatives of wealthy farmers.

The events of those days are described in the colorful literary monument "The Speech of Ipuver", from which it follows that the rebels captured the king, expelled dignitaries-nobles from their palaces and occupied them, took possession of the royal temples and temple bins, smashed the court chamber, destroyed the books of accounting of harvests, etc. "The earth turned upside down like a potter's wheel," writes Ipuver, warning the rulers against a repetition of such events that led to a period of civil strife. They lasted 80 years and ended after many years of struggle against the invaders (in 1560 BC) with the creation of the New Kingdom by the Theban king Ahmose.

As a result of victorious wars New Kingdom Egypt becomes the first largest empire in the ancient world, which could not but affect the further complication of its social structure. The positions of the nominal clan aristocracy are weakening. Ahmose leaves in place those rulers who have expressed complete obedience to him, or replaces them with new ones. The well-being of the representatives of the ruling elite from now on directly depends on what place they occupy in the official hierarchy, how close they stand to the pharaoh and his court. The center of gravity of the administration and the entire support of the pharaoh is significantly shifting to the untitled strata of natives of officials, warriors, farmers and even close slaves. The children of strong nedges could take a course in special schools run by the tsar's scribes, and upon graduation, receive one or another official position.

Along with nejes, at this time, a special category of the Egyptian population appeared, close to it in position, designated by the term " nemhu". This category included farmers with their own economy, artisans, warriors, minor officials, who, at the behest of the Pharaonic administration, could be raised or lowered in their socio-legal status, depending on the needs and requirements of the state.

This was due to the creation, as it was centralized in the Middle Kingdom, of a system of nationwide redistribution of labor. In the New Kingdom, in connection with the further growth of the numerous imperial, hierarchically subordinate layer of bureaucracy, the army, etc., this system found further development. Its essence was as follows. In Egypt, systematically censuses were conducted, taking into account the population in order to determine taxes, manning the army by age categories: youths, youths, men, old people. These age categories to a certain extent were associated with a peculiar class division of the population directly employed in the royal economy of Egypt into priests, troops, officials, craftsmen and "ordinary people". The peculiarity of this division was that the numerical and personal composition of the first three class groups was determined by the state in each specific case, taking into account its needs for officials, craftsmen, etc. This happened during the annual reviews, when the states of a particular state economic unit were formed. the royal necropolis, craft workshops.

The "outfit" for permanent qualified work, for example, an architect, jeweler, artist, classified the "common man" in the category of masters, which gave him the right to official ownership of land and inalienable private property. Until the master was transferred to the category of "ordinary people", he was not a powerless person. Working in one or another economic unit at the direction of the tsarist administration, he could not leave it. Everything that was produced by him at the appointed time was considered the property of the pharaoh, even his own tomb. What was produced by him outside school hours was his property.

Officials, craftsmen were opposed to "ordinary people", whose position was not much different from the position of slaves, they only could not be bought or sold as slaves. This system of distribution of labor did little to affect the bulk of allotment farmers, who supported this huge army of officials, military men and foremen. Periodic accounting and distribution of the main labor force in Ancient Egypt to work were a direct consequence of the underdevelopment of the market, commodity-money relations, and the complete absorption of Egyptian society by the state.

was determined by the dominance in the economy of the state tsarist-temple economy. The main economic and social unit in Dr. Egypt in the early stages of its development was rural community... The natural process of intracommunal social and property stratification was associated with the intensification of agricultural production, with the growth of the surplus product, which begins to appropriate community elite, which has concentrated in its hands the leading functions for the creation, maintenance and expansion of irrigation facilities. These functions were subsequently transferred to the centralized state. The processes of social stratification of ancient Egyptian society were especially intensified at the end of the 4th millennium BC. when is formed dominant social stratum which included tribal nominal(nomes are the first state formations) aristocracy, priests, well-to-do community members-peasants... This stratum is more and more separated from the bulk of free communal peasants, who are levied by the state rent-tax. They are also involved in forced labor for the construction of canals, dams, roads, etc. The early creation of a unified state with a land fund centralized in the hands of the pharaoh, to which the functions of managing a complex irrigation system are transferred, the development of a large tsarist-temple economy contributes the actual disappearance of the community as an independent unit associated with collective land use. It ceases to exist along with the disappearance of free farmers, independent from state power and not under its control. Various categories worked in the royal farms and farms of the secular and spiritual nobility. dependent forced persons... This included the disenfranchised prisoner-of-war slaves or fellow tribesmen, brought to a slave state, "servants of the king", who performed the prescribed work norm under the supervision of the tsar's overseers. They owned a small amount of personal property and received a meager food from the royal storehouses.

State system (form of government, form of government, political regime). Local government. Court and Justice in Ancient Egypt.

The ancient Egyptian state was centralized almost at all stages of its development. Unification of Egypt in the end of the 4th millennium BC under the leadership of a single king, accelerated the creation of a centralized bureaucratic apparatus here, which at the regional level was organized according to ancient traditional nomes and represented by rulers-nomarchs, temple priests, nobles and royal officials of various ranks. With the help of this apparatus, systematically bestowed by the central authority, the power of the pharaoh was further strengthened, who, starting from the III dynasty, was not only deified, but was considered equal to the gods. Pharaoh's orders were strictly observed, he was the main legislator and judge, appointed all the highest officials. It was believed that the harvest, justice in the state and its security depended on the pharaoh-god. Any social protest against the tsar is a crime against religion. Pharaoh, as the bearer of the highest state power, had the supreme right to the land fund. He could grant land together with state slaves to the nobility, officials, priests, and craftsmen. Pharaoh's power was inherited.

The administrative apparatus, despite its large size, was poorly differentiated. Almost all Egyptian officials were simultaneously involved in economic, military, judicial and religious activities.

Local government... The Old Kingdom is an amalgamation of small rural communities led by community elders and community councils - jajats, consisting of representatives of the well-to-do peasantry, were the bodies of judicial, economic and administrative power at the local level. They registered acts of land transfer, monitored the state of the artificial irrigation network, and the development of agriculture. But later the community councils completely lose their significance, and the community heads turn into officials of the centralized state apparatus.

Nomarchs - representatives of small states created on the basis of old communities, and then separate areas of the centralized state, over time also lose their independence. Court and legal proceedings. The court was not separated from the administration.

In the Old Kingdom, the functions of the local court are concentrated mainly in communal self-government bodies, which resolve disputes over land and water, regulate family and inheritance relations. In the nomes, the nomarchs who bore the titles "priests of the goddess of truth" acted as royal judges. The highest supervisory functions over the activities of officials - royal judges were carried out by the pharaoh or jati (assistant to the pharaoh), who could review the decision of any court, initiate legal proceedings against officials.

Introduction
1. State structure of ancient Egypt
2. The social structure of ancient Egypt
List of sources used

Introduction

The state of Ancient Egypt was formed in the northeastern part of Africa, in a valley located along the lower course of the Nile River. All agricultural production in Egypt was associated with the annual flooding of the Nile, with the very early construction of irrigation facilities here, on which the labor of prisoner of war slaves began to be used for the first time. The natural borders of Egypt served to protect the country from outside raids, to create an ethnically homogeneous population - the ancient Egyptians.

The intensively developing irrigated agriculture contributes to social stratification, the allocation of the administrative elite, headed by the high priests-priests, already in the first half of the 4th millennium BC. In the second half of this millennium, the first state formations were formed - the nomes, which arose as a result of the unification of rural communities around the temples for the joint conduct of irrigation works.

The territorial location of the ancient nomes, stretched along a single waterway, very early leads to their unification under the rule of the strongest nome, to the emergence in Upper (Southern) Egypt of unified kings with signs of despotic power over the rest of the nomes. The kings of Upper Egypt by the end of the 4th millennium BC conquer all of Egypt. It predetermined the early centralization of the ancient Egyptian state and the very nature of the economy, associated with the constant dependence of the population on the periodic floods of the Nile and the need for leadership from the center by the work of many people to overcome their consequences.

The history of Ancient Egypt is divided into a number of periods: the period of the Early Kingdom (3100-2800 BC), or the period of the reign of the first three dynasties of the Egyptian pharaohs; the period of the Ancient, or Old, kingdom (about 2778-2260 BC), which includes the time of the reign of the III-IV dynasty; the period of the Middle Kingdom (about 2040-1786 BC) - the time of the reign of the XI-XII dynasties; the period of the New Kingdom (about 1580-1085 BC) - the time of the reign of the XVIII-XX dynasties of the Egyptian pharaohs.

The periods between the Ancient, Middle and New Kingdoms were the time of the economic and political decline of Egypt. Egypt of the New Kingdom is the first world empire in history, a huge multi-tribal state created through the conquests of neighboring peoples. It included Nubia, Libya, Palestine, Syria and other areas rich in natural resources. At the end of the New Kingdom, Egypt fell into decay, becoming the prey of the conquerors, first the Persians, then the Romans, who included it in the Roman Empire in 30 BC.

The early kingdom (3100-2778 BC) existed in the conditions of communal land use: the nome state (headed by the nomarch and its religious center) was considered the supreme owner of the land, in favor of which part of the income from this land was collected. In pre-dynastic Egypt, there was also a sector of the royal economy with its nobles, officials, taxable population and slaves from among the prisoners.

Initially, after overcoming fragmentation, this kingdom consisted of two parts - Upper Egypt with the central city of Thebes and Lower Egypt with the cities of Memphis and Sais, which over time were influenced by the personal interest of the ruling king of Upper Egypt Menes (or Narmer) and a number of efforts towards centralization. led to the creation of a single state. The union was not strong, but played an important role in the care of the irrigation of the land.

An example of hydraulic structures can be considered a canal that runs from one of the Nile branches to the El-Fayum desert oasis lying on the other edge, which later became the most fertile region in the country. To carry out the canal, it was necessary to widen the mountain gorge in a certain place.

Since ancient times, farmers and then astronomers have been observing the rising of the Canis (Sirius) star in the sky, which coincided with the rise of the Nile and the beginning of a new calendar year. Over time, an agricultural calendar was invented, which was subdivided into three seasons with such distinctions: high water, emergence and dryness. The calendar year included 365 days. Special officials monitored the rise of the Nile. The height of the flood was noted in different parts of the river. The results of observations were reported to the supreme dignitary and then placed in the annals. These measurements made it possible to foresee the size of the flood in advance and to partly predict the future harvest. The news of the rise of the Nile was carried by messengers throughout the country.

During the period of the Old Kingdom (2778-2260 BC), a centralized state emerged with an ordered administrative, judicial, military and financial hierarchy. Much attention is paid to the care of irrigation and the organization of public works. Members of the royal house hold many of the highest administrative and cult positions - high dignitaries, military leaders, treasure keepers, high priests. The first dignitary in the system of centralized bureaucratic management was the vizier (chatti), who was in charge of the court, local government, state workshops and storage facilities. According to some reports, the chatti was simultaneously related to the supreme ruler. Economic activity was concentrated at the level of agricultural communities and royal and temple estates.

For the period 2260-2040 BC. there are many unrest of a social and political nature, and it is called a period of transition.

The Middle Kingdom (2040-1786 BC) becomes a heyday, also called the age of the building of the pyramids. There is a growth of slaveholding and private farms, the stratification of the community with the isolation of small owners. Large settlements arose that became city-states and were called by the Greeks nomes. The hieroglyph for nome depicted the land with a piece of the river and a rectangular network of branch channels. The increased rivalry of the nomes over time led to the weakening of the country of Upper and Lower Egypt, and for a time it became the prey of the invading Hyksos tribes.

From 1770 to 1580 BC - the second transition period.

The new kingdom (1580-1085 BC) was marked by the rise of the priesthood and the formation of a theocratic despotism ruled by a bureaucratic priesthood and governors in the nomes. Chatty becomes the first and supreme administrator to manage the entire land fund of the country, the entire water supply system from the metropolitan office. He exercises supreme judicial supervision and organizes control over the entire taxable population. During this period, under Pharaoh Thutmose III (15th century BC), the Egyptian state stretches from the Nile rapids to the Mediterranean Sea and to Northern Syria in the east.

The later kingdom (1085-332 BC) becomes a time of decline, rivalry between the priesthood and the nobles, and at the same time a period of struggle with frequent external aggression. The last and decisive event for the ancient civilization was the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great.

1. State structure of ancient Egypt

Describing Ancient Egypt from the point of view of state structure, it should be noted that it was a unitary and centralized state, with the exception of periods of disintegration, and with a territory at the beginning of its existence of about 27 thousand square kilometers.

According to the form of government, Ancient Egypt is a state of absolute monarchy in its most cruel form - oriental despotism, for which specific features are inherent. These include: the deification of the monarch's personality, the combination of all three main branches of state power in the hands of the monarch (king), the combination of secular and ecclesiastical power in the hands of the king, the unlimited power of the monarch, the sovereign right of the monarch to the main means of production (land and irrigation system), the presence a huge bureaucratic and bureaucratic apparatus, administrative-command methods of managing society and the state, cruel forms and methods of ruling and protecting the existing system.

The head of state in Ancient Egypt was pharaoh (king), which was called "lord", "majesty", "sovereign-prince", "king of Upper and Lower Egypt", "god who gives life", "god-lord", "god-lord", but most often the terms " king "," pharaoh "and" majesty ". To emphasize his uniqueness, speaking about him, they used, as a rule, the words: "gifted with life, longevity, happiness like Ra forever, forever"; his "every excellent deed"; thanks to "his excellent designs" and the like.

The power of the pharaoh within one dynasty, as a rule, was inherited according to the principle of primogeniture through the male line.

Upon accession to the throne, the tsar issued a decree, which contained information about domestic and foreign policy, about the order in the palace, i.e. a kind of program for the domestic and foreign policy of the new monarch.

In exercising power, the pharaoh relied on the wealthiest and most influential part of the free population (the priestly elite, secular and military nobility, nobles, high dignitaries) and had to observe religious and ethical norms and not openly violate the laws of the country.

The management of society and the state was carried out by the tsar with the help of a huge bureaucratic-bureaucratic apparatus, consisting of two links - the central (higher) apparatus and the local apparatus.

The head of the entire state apparatus was the first person after the pharaoh - vizier (jati) with broad powers. The vizier was the highest dignitary, whose official duties were determined directly by the pharaoh himself. First of all, he was the mayor of the tsarist capital, exercising control over public order in the capital and the observance of court etiquette. He was also in charge of the tsar's office, ensuring the storage of numerous laws and other state and private acts, including on grants of land, movable property, titles, positions, etc .; He listened to various reports, information and petitions, and then reported them daily to the king. He also sent for his seal all orders emanating from the palace to lower bodies and officials.

The vizier also carried out judicial functions, heading the highest court of the country - “six great houses”, where “secret words are weighed”, and appointed persons to the “judicial presence”. He was also considered the head of the financial department, exercising control over the receipt of taxes to the treasury, the allotment of land, the deferral of payments for three days or two months, depending on the circumstances. The vizier also exercised control over the army, giving its commanders a "military prescription." He was also in charge of the appointment of "acting dignitaries of Upper and Lower Egypt", who were obliged to report to him every four months "about everything that happened with them."

The structure of the central state apparatus in the period of ancient times was determined by the functions of the state, among which the economic and military functions were especially distinguished. Taking into account these functions, its most significant links can be distinguished: the military department, the finance department and the department of public works. All these departments were characterized by the presence of a huge bureaucratic apparatus, functioning on the basis of certain principles. Among these principles, it is necessary to point to one-man management, appointment, strict subordination, centralization brought to an extreme, unquestioning subordination of a subordinate to a superior in office, combination of positions, indefinite duration, and personal loyalty.

Particularly influential was military department, because thanks to him, as a result of campaigns of conquest, the state treasury was replenished (the number of slaves, cattle, jewelry, etc. increased), and, consequently, the material situation of the population of Ancient Egypt, primarily its ruling elite, improved.

V finance department all the wealth of the country was recorded: war booty, land, ships, gold, mines, quarries, workshops, pyramids, statues, temples, jewelry, slaves, etc. It also concentrated information about incoming taxes both from the Egyptians themselves and from the peoples under their control; the amount of taxes was determined taking into account the results of the population and property census and the needs of the country; issues of leasing land, mines, etc. were resolved.

Concerning public works departments, then it was in charge of the construction of the irrigation system (canals, dams, irrigation ditches, dams, locks), pyramids, temples, sanctuaries, palaces, walls, roads and maintaining them in good condition; greening of streets and squares, sanitation issues. A large army of scribes and caretakers was subordinate to this department, who monitored not only the quality and quantity of public works performed, but also their timely implementation.

In order for the office work in all departments of the state apparatus to be carried out at the proper level, special schools of scribes were established, in which officials of this rank were trained, in one of the instructions of the students of the schools of scribes it was written: “Be a scribe! She will free you from taxes, protect you from all kinds of work. "

The system of local government in Ancient Egypt was built in accordance with the administrative-territorial division and, as a rule, copied the structure of the central apparatus, taking into account its main departments. Despite the fact that Ancient Egypt was a centralized state, Upper and Lower Egypt were always considered as two special administrative territorial units, where special officials were appointed by the vizier, who were called "acting dignitaries of Upper and Lower Egypt." Each of them was personally accountable for the state of affairs in the territory entrusted to him. All the lower local authorities of Upper Egypt were directly subordinate to the dignitary of Upper Egypt.

At the head of the nome was a ruler (manager) who carried out the current management of the nome. He was in charge of military, financial, police, administrative, judicial and other issues. He had a large number of officials subordinate to him (chief of food place scribes, chief of things, chief of orders of the nome, chief of messengers of the nome, chief of the workshops of the nome, judges-guards of the nome, judges-counters of the nome, doctors of the people of the nome, etc.).

Residents of each nome, taking into account the population census and property appraisal, were required to pay taxes and perform certain types of work, and local officials were called upon to ensure their unquestioning fulfillment.

Thus, the state system of Ancient Egypt was characterized by a special kind of absolute monarchy - "Eastern despotism", an authoritarian regime and numerous bureaucratic and bureaucratic apparatus.

2. The social structure of ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was characterized by an extreme slowdown in the evolution of the social structure, the determining factor of which was the almost undivided domination of the state tsarist-temple economy in the economy. In the context of the general involvement of the population in the state economy, the difference in the legal status of individual strata of the working people was not considered as significant as in other countries of the East. It was not even reflected in terms, the most commonly used of which was the term for a commoner - meret. This concept did not have a clearly expressed legal content, as well as the controversial concept of "servant of the king" - a semi-free, dependent worker, which existed in all periods of the unique and long history of Egypt.

The main economic and social unit in Ancient Egypt in the early stages of its development was the rural community. The natural process of intracommunal social and property stratification was associated with the intensification of agricultural production, with the growth of the surplus product, which is beginning to be appropriated by the communal elite, who have concentrated in their hands the leading functions of creating, maintaining, and expanding irrigation facilities. These functions were subsequently transferred to the centralized state.

The processes of social stratification of ancient Egyptian society are especially intensified at the end of the 4th millennium BC. when a dominant social stratum was formed, which included the tribal nominal aristocracy, priests, and well-to-do community members-peasants. This stratum is more and more separated from the bulk of free communal peasants, who are levied by the state rent-tax. They are also involved in forced labor for the construction of canals, dams, roads, etc. From the first dynasties, Ancient Egypt was known for the periodic censuses of “people, cattle, gold” conducted throughout the country, on the basis of which taxes were established.

The early creation of a single state with a land fund centralized in the hands of the pharaoh, to which the functions of managing a complex irrigation system are transferred, the development of a large tsarist-temple economy contributes to the actual disappearance of the community as an independent unit associated with collective land use. It ceases to exist along with the disappearance of free farmers, independent of state power and beyond its control. Permanent rural settlements remain a kind of community, the heads of which are responsible for paying taxes, for the smooth operation of irrigation facilities, forced labor, etc. At the same time, the ruling elite is strengthening its economic and political positions, centralized administrative apparatus and priesthood. Its economic power is growing, in particular, due to the early system of royal grants of land and slaves. From the time of the Old Kingdom, royal decrees have survived, establishing the rights and privileges of temples and temple settlements, evidence of royal grants of land plots to the aristocracy and temples.

Various categories of dependent forced persons worked in the royal households and the households of the secular and spiritual nobility. This included disenfranchised prisoner-of-war slaves or fellow tribesmen brought to a slavery state, “servants of the king,” who carried out their prescribed work norm under the supervision of the tsar's overseers. They owned a small amount of personal property and received a meager food from the royal storehouses.

The exploitation of the “servants of the king”, cut off from the means of production, was based on both non-economic and economic coercion, since the land, implements, draft animals, etc. were the property of the king.

The boundaries separating slaves (of whom there were never many in Egypt) from “the king’s servants” were not clearly defined. Slaves in Egypt were sold, bought, passed on by inheritance, as a gift, but sometimes they were planted on land and endowed with property, demanding part of the harvest from them. One of the forms of the emergence of slave dependence was the self-sale of the Egyptians for debts (which, however, was not encouraged) and the transformation of criminals into slaves.

The unification of Egypt after a transitional period of turmoil and fragmentation (XXII century BC) by Theban nomes within the borders of the Middle Kingdom was accompanied by successful wars of conquest by the Egyptian pharaohs, the development of trade with Syria, Nubia, the growth of cities, and the expansion of agricultural production. This led, on the one hand, to the growth of the tsarist-temple economy, on the other, to the strengthening of the position of the private economy of noble dignitaries and temple priests, organically connected with the former. The noble nobility, who, in addition to the lands granted for the service ("the house of the nomarch"), hereditary lands ("my father's house"), seeks to turn their holdings into property, resorting for this purpose to the help of temple oracles, which could attest to its hereditary nature.

The early revealed inefficiency of the cumbersome tsarist farms, based on the labor of forced farmers, contributes to the widespread development at this time of the allotment-rent form of exploitation of the working people. The land began to be given to the "king's servants" on lease, it was cultivated by them mainly with their own tools in a relatively isolated economy. At the same time, the rent-tax was paid to the treasury, temple, nomarch or nobleman, but labor service was still performed in favor of the treasury.

From the general mass of the "king's servants" the so-called nedges ("small") stand out, and among them are the "strong nedges". Their appearance was associated with the development of private land tenure, commodity-money relations, the market. It is no coincidence that in the XVI-XV centuries. BC. in the Egyptian lexicon the concept of “merchant” appears for the first time, and silver becomes the measure of value in the absence of money (1 g of silver was equal to the cost of 72 liters of grain, and a slave was worth 373 g of silver).

The change in the legal status of wealthy groups of the population is also evidenced by the expansion of the concept of "home", which previously denoted a kindred-clan group of family members, relatives, slave servants, subject to the nobleman.

The events of those days are described in the colorful literary monument “The Speech of Ipuver”, from which it follows that the rebels captured the king, expelled dignitaries-nobles from their palaces and occupied them, took possession of the royal temples and temple bins, smashed the court chamber, destroyed the books of accounting of harvests, etc. "The earth turned upside down like a potter's wheel," writes Ipuver, warning the rulers against a repetition of such events that led to a period of civil strife. They lasted 80 years and ended after many years of struggle against the invaders (in 1560 BC) with the creation of the New Kingdom by the Theban king Ahmose.

As a result of victorious wars, Egypt of the New Kingdom becomes the first largest empire in the ancient world, which could not but affect the further complication of its social structure. The positions of the nominal clan aristocracy are weakening. Ahmose leaves in place those rulers who have expressed complete obedience to him, or replaces them with new ones. The well-being of the representatives of the ruling elite from now on directly depends on what place they occupy in the official hierarchy, how close they stand to the pharaoh and his court. The center of gravity of the administration and the entire support of the pharaoh is significantly shifting to the untitled strata of natives of officials, warriors, farmers and even close slaves. The children of strong nedges could take a course in special schools run by the tsar's scribes, and upon graduation, receive one or another official position.

Along with nejes, a special category of the Egyptian population appeared at this time, close to it in position, designated by the term “nemhu”. This category included farmers with their own economy, artisans, warriors, minor officials, who, at the behest of the Pharaoh administration, could be raised or lowered in their social and legal status, depending on the needs and needs of the state.

This was due to the creation, as it was centralized in the Middle Kingdom, of a system of nationwide redistribution of labor. In the New Kingdom, in connection with the further growth of the numerous imperial, hierarchically subordinate layer of bureaucracy, the army, etc., this system found further development. Its essence was as follows. In Egypt, censuses were systematically conducted, taking into account the population in order to determine taxes, manning the army by age categories: youths, youths, men, old people. These age categories to a certain extent were associated with a peculiar class division of the population directly employed in the royal economy of Egypt into priests, troops, officials, craftsmen and “ordinary people”. The peculiarity of this division was that the numerical and personal composition of the first three class groups was determined by the state in each specific case, taking into account its needs for officials, craftsmen, etc. This happened during the annual reviews, when the states of a particular state economic unit were formed. the royal necropolis, craft workshops.

The “outfit” for permanent qualified work, for example, an architect, jeweler, artist, assigned the “common man” to the category of masters, which gave him the right to official ownership of land and inalienable private property. Until the master was transferred to the category of "ordinary people", he was not a powerless person. Working in one or another economic unit at the direction of the tsarist administration, he could not leave it. Everything that was produced by him at the appointed time was considered the property of the pharaoh, even his own tomb. What was produced by him outside school hours was his property.

Officials and craftsmen were opposed to “ordinary people”, whose position was not much different from that of slaves, they could only be bought or sold as slaves. This system of distribution of labor did little to affect the bulk of allotment farmers, who supported this huge army of officials, military men and foremen. Periodic accounting and distribution of the main labor force in Ancient Egypt to work were a direct consequence of the underdevelopment of the market, commodity-money relations, and the complete absorption of Egyptian society by the state.

List of sources used

1.https: //ru.wikipedia.org/wiki
2. Ancient East: textbook. manual for universities / Russian Academy of Sciences; State University for the Humanities; Scientific and Educational Center for History; N.V. Alexandrova, I. A. Ladynin, A. A. Nemirovsky [and others]; hands. project A.O. Chubaryan. - M.: Astrel: AST, 2008. - Ch. 1: Ancient Egypt.
3. History of the Ancient World / Ed. I. M. Dyakonov, V. D. Neronova, I. S. Sventsitskaya. - Ed. 3rd, rev. and add. - M.: Ch. ed. east Literature publishing house "Science", 1989. - Vol. 1: Early Antiquity. - S. 97.
4.http: //lawtoday.ru.

Abstract on the topic "General characteristics of the social and state structure of Ancient Egypt" updated: July 13, 2018 by the author: Scientific Articles.Ru

Pyramids

Civilization of Mesopotamia

The most important feature of the ancient Egyptian civilization was the construction of the pyramids. In the III - II millennium BC. e. both pyramids and temples - buildings for the gods - were built of stone. These are masterpieces of the ancient Egyptian art of building. The efforts of the Egyptians were aimed at making life after death long, safe and happy: they took care of burial utensils, sacrifices, and these worries led to the fact that the life of the Egyptian consisted of preparations for death. They often paid less attention to their earthly dwellings than to their tombs.

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Ancient Egyptian civilization originated in the Nile Delta region. Over the history of Ancient Egypt, 30 dynasties of rulers were replaced. 32 BC e. considered the boundary of existence of the ancient Egyptian civilization. The surrounding of Egypt by mountains predetermined the closed nature of the civilization that arose here, which was of an agricultural nature. Agricultural labor, due to favorable climatic conditions, did not require large physical costs, the ancient Egyptians harvested twice a year. They processed clay, stone, wood and metals. Agricultural implements were made from baked clay. In addition, granite, alabaster, slate and bone were also used. Small vessels were sometimes carved out of rock crystal. The perception and measurement of time in ancient Egypt was determined by the rhythm of the flooding of the Nile. Each new year was regarded by the Egyptians as a repetition of the past and was determined not by the solar cycle, but by the time required for the harvest. They depicted the word “year” (“renpet”) as a young sprout with a bud. The annual cycle was divided into three seasons, 4 months each: the flood of the Nile (akhet - "flood, flood"), after which the sowing season began (overt - the "coming out" of the earth from under the water and germination of seedlings), followed by the harvest season (shemu - "drought", "dryness"), i.e. recession of the Nile. The months had no names, but were numbered. Every fourth year was a leap year, every fifth day of the decade was a day off. The time was kept by the priests. The high standard of living and well-being of the ancient Egyptians is confirmed by the fact that they have two customs that are not characteristic of other ancient civilizations: to leave all the elderly and all newborn babies alive. The main clothing of the Egyptians was a loincloth. They wore sandals very rarely, and the main means of demonstrating social status was the number of jewelry (necklaces, bracelets). The ancient Egyptian state had features of a centralized despotism. Pharaoh was the personification of the state: in his hands the administrative, judicial and military powers were united. The ancient Egyptians believed that the god Ra (the sun god in Egyptian mythology) takes care of their welfare and sends his son, the Pharaoh, to earth. Each pharaoh was regarded as a son of the god Ra. The tasks of the pharaoh included the performance of sacred, cult rites in temples, so that the country was prosperous. Pharaoh's daily life was strictly regulated, since he was the high priest of all the gods. In modern parlance, the pharaohs were professional statesmen with the necessary knowledge and experience. Their power was unlimited, but not unlimited. And since power was inherited from the Egyptians through the maternal line, the eldest son of Pharaoh and his eldest daughter had to enter into an incestuous marriage. The ancient Egyptian state was divided into certain geographical units - nomes, which were ruled entirely by nomarchs subordinate to the pharaoh. A feature of the political system of Ancient Egypt was that, firstly, the central and local authorities were in the hands of the same social stratum - the nominal nobility, and secondly, administrative functions, as a rule, were combined with the priestly, that is, the temple the farm also supported some of the officials of the state apparatus. In general, the management system of the ancient Egyptian state was characterized by the indivisibility of economic and political functions, the indivisibility of legislative and executive power, military and civil, religious and secular, administrative and judicial. In ancient Egypt, since pre-dynastic times, there was an effective system of internal and exchange trade. Domestic trade is especially widespread in 2 thousand.

FEATURES OF THE CIVILIZATION OF ANCIENT EGYPT

BC, when the word "merchant" first appears in the Egyptian lexicon. Silver bars are gradually replacing grain as the yardstick of market values. In ancient Egypt, not gold, but silver performed the function of money, since gold was a symbol of divinity, providing the pharaoh's body with an eternal afterlife. The systemic sign of the organization of ancient Egyptian society was the possession of a profession. The main positions - warrior, artisan, priest, official - were inherited, but it was possible to “take office” or be “appointed to the position”. The social regulator here was the annual reviews of the working population, during which people received a kind of annual “dress” for work in accordance with their profession. The bulk of the able-bodied Egyptians were used in agriculture, the rest were employed in crafts or services. The strongest youths were selected during the examinations in the army. From the number of ordinary Egyptians serving labor service, detachments were formed that worked on the construction of palaces and pyramids, temples and tombs. A large volume of unskilled labor was used in the construction of irrigation systems, in the rowing fleet, when transporting heavy loads. The construction of such colossal monuments as the pyramids helped to create a new structure for organizing people in which state-controlled labor could be directed towards performing public works.

Culture of Ancient Egypt.

Eastern type of culture.

Topic. Culture of the Ancient East.

Eastern type of culture.
Culture of Ancient Egypt.

In the 4th millennium BC, in the East, the first states in the history of mankind appear between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and in the Nile river valley. The foundations of the Babylonian and Egyptian civilizations were laid. In the 3-2 millennia, in the valley of the Indus River, Indian civilization appears, in the valley of the Honghe River - Chinese, in Asia Minor, the civilization of the Hittites and Phoenicians takes shape, in Palestine - the Hebrew.

Specificity oriental type culture in relation to

A. primitive culture:

Separation of handicrafts from agriculture,

- social strata, differing in professional activities and financial situation,

- the presence of writing, statehood, civil society, urban life.

B. from other cultures:

Despotic centralized power

Sacralization of power

State property

Strict hierarchy of society

Collectivism, community psychology

Patriarchal slavery, other forms of dependence

Ancestor cult, traditionalism, conservatism

The fusion of man and nature

Religious beliefs of an introverted nature (striving for the inner world of a person), the search for the highest truth through personal enlightenment

The idea of tranquility, harmony as a leitmotif of Eastern culture

The non-necessity of belief in specific gods, since the World Law, Tao, Brahman, etc. can be higher than God.

Religion and philosophy are inseparable

The idea of cyclicality, repetition, isolation (for European culture - development, progress)

The eternal peace of the law realizes itself after death through the rebirth of the soul, the character of which is determined by the way of life

The idea of the illusory nature of the visible world and the reality of the unknowable absolute

The mystical esoteric nature of the mind: a person does not live in the world, but experiences (perceives with feelings) the world. The essence is not logic (European rationality), but feelings.

The basis of culture was an archaic worldview: denial of personality in the modern sense, which resulted in harshness and cruelty towards a person, especially towards strangers; reference point to myth, ritual, subordination to the natural cycle.

Meaning.

3) Civilization of Ancient Egypt

Culture had a huge impact on ancient, European and world culture, made many discoveries that formed the basis of scientific knowledge and technological progress.

Egypt is the oldest state that has existed for about four thousand years with almost no changes. Its systematic study began in the 19th century. In 1822, the French scientist François Champillon was able to decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphs. As a result, wall inscriptions, manuscripts (papyri) of various contents became available for study. The main features of the ancient Egyptian civilization:

- early emergence of class relations and statehood;

The isolated geographical position of the country, which led to the absence of cultural borrowing;

Cult of the "Kingdom of the Dead"

- the deification of the power of the ruler, which extended to the subjects even after the death of the pharaoh;

- Eastern despotism, hierarchy of power;

- connection between art and religious worship.

Ancient Egypt- the most ancient civilization, one of the first centers of human culture, originated in North-East Africa, in the Nile River valley. The word "Egypt" (Greek Ayguptos) means "Black earth", fertile (compare: black earth), in contrast to the desert - "Red earth". Herodotus called Egypt "the Gift of the Nile". The Nile was the backbone of the economy.

Traditional periodization:

Pre-dynastic period 5-4 thousand BC

Early kingdom 3000-2300 BC

The first collapse of Egypt 2250-2050 BC

Middle Kingdom 2050 - 2700 BC

Second collapse of Egypt 1700-1580 BC

New kingdom 1580-1070 BC

Late period 1070-332 BC.

- Greco-Roman period 332 BC - 395 AD

Civilization of Ancient Egypt

Formation of civilization on the banks of the Nile.

Egypt is a country with an ancient, amazing culture, full of secrets and mysteries, many of which have not yet been resolved. Its history goes back several thousand years. Historians claim that the Egyptian civilization had neither "childhood" nor "youth." One of the hypotheses about the origin of the Egyptian civilization claims that some mysterious settlers stood at the origins of the Egyptian civilization, another hypothesis says that the founders were the descendants of the Atlanteans.

Two centuries ago, the world knew almost nothing about Ancient Egypt. The second life of his culture is the merit of scientists.

For the first time, the educated circles of Western Europe got the opportunity to more or less widely get acquainted with the culture of ancient Egypt thanks to the military expedition of Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt in 1798, which included various scientists, in particular archaeologists. After this expedition, a valuable work was published, dedicated to "Description of Egypt", which consisted of 24 volumes of text and 24 volumes of tables, reproducing drawings of the ruins of ancient Egyptian temples, copies of inscriptions and numerous antiquities.

Pyramids

Civilization of Mesopotamia

Natural features, their influence on the economy of the Egyptians.

Natural conditions became an essential factor in the development of the ancient Egyptian civilization. In the Nile Valley, the Egyptians harvested two crops a year, and the harvest was very, plentiful - up to 100 centners per hectare. However, this valley constituted 3.5% of the territory of Egypt, in which 99.5% of the population lived.

The culture developed in isolation, its characteristic feature was tradition. The origin of Egyptian civilization dates back to the III millennium BC: it was then that Pharaoh Mina unites disparate regions - the nomes. The pharaoh's head is crowned with a double diadem - a symbol of the unity of the South of Egypt and the Delta region.

Features of the political system of Egypt. Deification of the Pharaoh, a special role of the priesthood.

"The secret of power, the secret of the subordination of people to the bearers of power has not yet been fully solved," wrote N. Berdyaev. "Why are a huge number of people on the side who have a predominance of physical strength agree to obey one person or a small group of people if they - the bearers of power? " ("The Kingdom of the Spirit and the Kingdom of Caesar". In the book "The Fate of Russia". - M., 1990, p. 267).

Pharaoh was at the head of the state. He had absolute power in the country: all of Egypt with its colossal natural, land, material, labor resources was considered the property of the pharaoh. It is no coincidence that the concept of "House of Pharaoh" - (nom) coincided with the concept of the state.

Religion in ancient Egypt demanded unquestioning obedience to the Pharaoh, otherwise a person was threatened with terrible disasters during life and after death. It seemed to the Egyptians that only the gods could give them such unlimited power, which the pharaohs enjoyed. This is how the idea of the divinity of the pharaoh was formed in Egypt - he was recognized as the son of God in the flesh. Both common people and noble nobles fell on their faces before the pharaoh and kissed the traces of his feet. It was considered a great favor to allow the Pharaoh to kiss his sandal. The deification of the pharaohs was central to the religious culture of Egypt.

The Egyptians recognized the presence of the divine principle "in everything that is on land, in water and in the air." Some animals, plants, objects were revered as the embodiment of the deity. The Egyptians worshiped cats, snakes, crocodiles, rams, dung beetles - scarabs and many other living creatures, considering them their gods.

Religious beliefs of the Egyptians. Creation myths. Sun worship. Formation of the Egyptian pantheon of deities, personifying natural phenomena, abstract concepts and life. Anthropomorphic character of the Egyptian gods. The cult of sacred animals.

The funeral cult. The cult of the dead. The ideas of the Egyptians about several hypostases of the human soul and the need to preserve the body as a receptacle for the soul. Mummification. Formation of concepts about the afterlife and the posthumous judgment of Osiris. "Book of the Dead", "Pyramid Texts", "Sarcophagus Texts". The influence of religion on the life of ancient Egyptian society.

The most important feature of the religion and culture of Ancient Egypt was the protest against death, which the Egyptians considered "abnormal". The Egyptians believed in the immortality of the soul - this was the main doctrine of the Egyptian religion. The passionate desire for immortality determined the entire worldview of the Egyptians, the entire religious thought of Egyptian society. It is believed that in no other civilization has this protest against death found such a vivid, concrete and complete expression as in Egypt. The desire for immortality became the basis for the emergence of the funeral cult, which played an extremely important role in the history of Ancient Egypt - not only religious and cultural, but also political, economic and military. It was on the basis of the disagreement of the Egyptians with the inevitability of death that the doctrine was born, according to which death does not mean the end, a wonderful life can be prolonged forever, and the deceased can await resurrection.

Egyptian mythology as the basis of Egyptian “art for eternity”. The defining influence of the funeral cult in the artistic culture of Egypt. Pyramids of the Old Kingdom, funeral temples of the era of the Middle and New Kingdoms.

Features of Ancient Egypt

The efforts of the Egyptians were aimed at making life after death long, safe and happy: they took care of burial utensils, sacrifices, and these worries led to the fact that the life of the Egyptian consisted of preparations for death. They often paid less attention to their earthly dwellings than to their tombs.

The pyramids were built for the pharaohs and for the nobility, although according to the teachings of the Egyptian priests, every person, and not only a king or nobleman, possessed eternal vitality. However, the bodies of the poor were not embalmed or placed in tombs, but wrapped in mats and dumped in heaps on the outskirts of cemeteries.

Archaeologists have counted about a hundred pyramids, but not all of them have survived to this day. Some of the pyramids were destroyed in antiquity. The earliest of the Egyptian pyramids is the pyramid of Pharaoh Djoser, erected about 5 thousand years ago. It is stepped and rises like a staircase to heaven. Its decoration uses a black and white contrast of protrusions and niches. This pyramid was conceived and implemented by the main royal architect named Imhotep. Subsequent generations of Egyptians honored him as a great architect, sage and magician. He was deified and libations were performed in his honor before the start of other construction work. Pyramids shake the human imagination with their size, geometric precision.

The most famous and most significant in size is the pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops in Giza. It is known that only the road to the future construction site was laid for 10 years, and the pyramid itself was built for more than 20 years; these jobs employed a huge number of people - hundreds of thousands. The dimensions of the pyramid are such that any European cathedral could easily fit inside: its height was 146.6 m, and its area was about 55 thousand square meters. m. The Pyramid of Cheops is built of giant limestone stones, and the weight of each block is about 2 - 3 tons.

Sculpture and painting, their sacred role.

The artists of Ancient Egypt were characterized by a sense of the beauty of life and nature. Architects, sculptors, painters were distinguished by a subtle sense of harmony and a holistic view of the world. This was expressed, in particular, in the striving for synthesis inherent in Egyptian culture - the creation of a single architectural ensemble in which all types of fine arts would take place.

Sphinxes were placed in front of the funeral temples: a stone image of a creature with a human head and the body of a lion. The head of the sphinx depicted the pharaoh, and the sphinx as a whole personified the wisdom, mystery and strength of the Egyptian ruler.

The largest of all the ancient Egyptian sphinxes was made in the first half of the 3rd millennium BC. - he still guards the pyramid of Khafre (one of the 7 wonders of the world).

Other remarkable and now widely known monuments of ancient Egyptian art all over the world are the statue of Pharaoh Amenemhat III, the stele of the nobleman Hunen, the head of Pharaoh Sensusert III. A masterpiece of ancient Egyptian fine art of the 2nd millennium BC. art critics consider the relief depicting the pharaoh Tutankhamun with his 29 young wives in the garden, made on the lid of the casket. Tutankhamun died young. His tomb was accidentally discovered in 1922, although cleverly disguised in the rock.

Confirmation of the high culture of Egypt in the 1st millennium BC. e. (XIV century BC) is a sculptural portrait of the wife of Amenhotep IV - Nefertiti (ancient Egyptian - "beauty is coming") - one of the most charming female images in the history of mankind.

The visual arts of Ancient Egypt were distinguished by bright and clear colors. Architectural structures, sphinxes, sculptures, figurines, and reliefs were painted. The paintings and reliefs that covered the walls of the tombs reproduced in detail detailed pictures of a prosperous life in the kingdom of the dead, everyday life on earth.

The influence of the ancient Egyptian civilization on the Mediterranean countries should be noted. The civilization of Egypt has made a huge contribution to world culture.

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One of the oldest civilizations in the world, the civilization of Egypt originated in Northeast Africa, in the valley of one of the longest rivers in the world - the Nile. It is believed that the word "Egypt" comes from the ancient Greek "Ayguptos". It probably arose from Het-ka-Ptah - a city that the Greeks later called Memphis. The Egyptians themselves called their country Ta Keme - Black Earth: according to the color of the local soil. The history of Ancient Egypt is usually divided into periods of the Ancient (late IV - most of the III millennium BC), Middle (until the 16th century BC), New (until the end of the 11th century BC) kingdoms, late (X-IV centuries) , as well as Persian (525-332 BC - under the rule of the Persians) and Hellenistic (IV-I centuries BC, as part of the Ptolemaic state). From 30 BC to 395 AD, Egypt was the province and granary of Rome, after the partition of the Roman Empire until 639 - the province of Byzantium. The Arab conquest in 639-642 led to a change in the ethnic composition of the population, language and religion in Egypt.

Ancient Egypt

According to Herodotus, Egypt is a gift of the Nile, for the Nile was and is the source of inexhaustible fertility, the basis of the economic activity of the population, since almost the entire territory of Egypt lies in the zone of tropical deserts. The relief of most of the country is a plateau with prevailing heights of up to 1000 meters within the Libyan, Arabian and Nubian deserts. In Ancient Egypt and its neighboring regions, there was almost everything necessary for the existence and life of a person. The territory of Egypt in ancient times was a narrow strip of fertile soil stretching along the Nile coast. The fields of Egypt were covered with water every year during floods, which brought with it fertile silt, which enriched the soil. On both sides, the valley was bordered by mountain ranges rich in sandstone, limestone, granite, basalt, diorite and alabaster, which were excellent building materials. To the south of Egypt, in Nubia, rich gold deposits were discovered. In Egypt itself, there were no metals, so they were mined in the areas adjacent to it: on the Sinai Peninsula - copper, in the desert between the Nile and the Red Sea - gold, on the coast of the Red Sea - lead.

Signs of the civilization of ancient Egypt

Egypt had an advantageous geographical position: the Mediterranean Sea connected it with the Central Asian coast, Cyprus, the islands of the Aegean Sea and mainland Greece.

The Nile was the most important navigable thread linking Upper and Lower Egypt with Nubia (Ethiopia). In such favorable conditions on this territory already in the V-IV millennium BC, the construction of irrigation canals began. The need to maintain an extensive irrigation network led to the emergence of nomes - large territorial associations of early agricultural communities. The very word denoting the area - nom, was written in the ancient Egyptian language with a hieroglyph depicting the land divided by an irrigation network into areas of regular shape. The system of ancient Egyptian nomes, formed in the 4th millennium BC, remained the basis of the administrative division of Egypt until the very end of its existence.

The creation of a unified system of irrigated agriculture became a prerequisite for the emergence of a centralized state in Egypt. At the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, the process of uniting separate nomes began. The narrow river valley - from the first Nile rapids to the delta - and the delta area itself were developed unevenly. This difference throughout Egyptian history remained in the division of the country into Upper and Lower Egypt and was reflected even in the titles of the pharaohs, who were called "the kings of Upper and Lower Egypt." The ancient Egyptian crown was also double: the pharaohs wore a white Upper Egyptian and a red Lower Egyptian crown, inserted into each other. Egyptian tradition attributes the merit to the unification of the country to the first Pharaoh of the 1st Ming Dynasty. Herodotus tells that he founded Memphis and was its first ruler.

From this time in Egypt, the era of the so-called Early Kingdom begins, which covers the period of the reign of the I and II dynasties. Information about this era is very scarce. It is known that already at that time in Egypt there was a large and carefully managed tsarist economy, agriculture and cattle breeding were developed. They cultivated barley, wheat, grapes, figs and dates, bred cattle and small ruminants. The inscriptions on the seals that have come down to us testify to the existence of a developed system of government positions and ranks.

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What are the features of the civilization of Ancient Egypt?

Chaadaev, N. Berdyaev, "Slavophiles" and "Westernizers").
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"East-West" the problem of dialogue.

39. Globalization of cultural and historical processes in the 20th century.

The social structure took shape by the time of the Middle Kingdom, during the period of the New Kingdom it became more complex. This structure is similar to the Egyptian pyramid, at the top of which was the Pharaoh, one step lower - the higher officials and the priesthood, the highest military leaders, then - the nominal nobility, the middle officials and the priesthood - communes - royal people - slaves. The well-being of the ruling class depended on the position in the official hierarchy. The expansion of the ruling class took place at the expense of the prosperous kostyanstvo in connection with the complication of the scope and functions of state power. There was a system of nationwide redistribution of labor, especially the tsarist people.

3. State system of Egypt

The head of state was Pharaoh, which had all the fullness of state power - legislative, executive, judicial. Pharaoh is a living god, for whose worship a complex ceremony and rituals of veneration were created. The dead pharaohs were also revered as gods.

The royal court played a real role in governing the state. At its head was Pharaoh's first assistant - jati (vizier)... Its functions:

the head of the finance department (state granaries and the "golden chamber");

management of public works (irrigation and royal buildings - state architect);

the mayor of the capital and the highest police authority;

head of the highest court (6 courts of justice or "great houses");

head of military power (in the era of the New Kingdom).

Subordinate to the pharaoh and the vizier were the heads of individual departments in various branches of government (construction, handicrafts, foreign and domestic trade, etc.), which had a huge staff of officials under their command. Literacy was highly valued in society, since the position of a scribe was the first step in a bureaucratic career. In addition to full-time officials, there were “obedient to the call” (from different social strata) who carried out separate orders and instructions.

At the level local government the main figure remained the nomarch, who had the same powers as the pharaoh, but on the scale of his subordinate region. He had his own staff of officials. At the lowest administrative level, there were community councils, which had judicial, economic and administrative power at the local level, and community headmen on an elective basis. In the era of the Middle Kingdom, councils lose their importance, and state officials replace the elders.

Army was formed from the militia and only a few detachments from the Libyan mercenaries. In the era of the New Kingdom, there was an increase in the proportion of mercenaries and an increase in the professional level of soldiers, which contributed to the victories of Egypt over external enemies. A further increase in the proportion of mercenaries in the context of the weakening of the royal power led to the fact that the army became a source of unrest.

Court was not separated from the administration. In the localities, communal bodies had judicial functions, in the nomes - nomarchs (“priests of the goddess of truth”). The supreme supervision of the proceedings was carried out by the vizier, and the highest court was the pharaoh, who could appoint extraordinary judges. Temples also had judicial functions. Written legal proceedings. There were also prisons in Egypt - administrative and economic settlements of criminals involved in work. Their activities were carried out by the department of the "supplier of people".