Egypt possessed a highly organized, state-regulated economy with strict rules and a pronounced division of labor The economic foundation was agriculture. Royal power rested on control of arable land and labor. The social system was characterized by a strict hierarchy of offices, resulting in rigid social inequality that favored the royal officials (scribes).
The unification of Egypt under one central kingship caused a dramatic change in land ownership and economic structure. All farmland became state property. The king thus claimed the harvest and labor of the peasants.
Foundations of Pharaoh’s Power
- Royal ideology: the king as a god.
- Institutional pillars: priesthood state crafts, administration (scribes), foreign-trade monopoly, army.
- Economic base: royal control over land, labor, and agricultural output.
The State Economy
Peasants were bound to royal estates (domains) as labor-obligated tenants.
They could be relocated at any time and had to perform corvée labor for the state. Their work and time were strictly supervised In return, they received rations from the royal granaries—bread, beer, dates, fish, vegetables, and legumes daily or monthly; grain, clothing, and shoes at larger intervals; and meat, figs, honey, or wine on special occasions.
Crafts were also controlled by the state. Workers were sometimes housed in barracks, their tasks precisely fixed, and wages paid in kind. The most respected artisans were those in temple service or working on royal monuments.
Below them were laborers in brickworks, quarries, and mines, often of foreign or enslaved origin.
Slavery arose mainly from war captives and criminals. Masters were legally responsible for their slaves' welfare.
Trade and Administration
Foreign trade was a royal monopoly. Egypt imported wood, horses, and metals for the army and exported grain and gold. The royal treasury organized distribution and transport using state fleets Mines and quarries were also state-owned.
Economy and society remained largely unchanged for millennia: limited freedom, fixed prices and wages, and strict control.
In return, the system provided security and a guaranteed minimum subsistence in normal times.
Markets existed only locally. Most goods were distributed through the state. Artisans could sell products privately in their free time, but true private enterprise was rare, limited mostly to services such as inns.
Bureaucracy and Scribes
The bureaucracy often faced supply crises; artisans could easily become existentially threatened. Around 1150 B.C., workers at the royal necropolis in Thebes staged the first recorded strike in history, demanding overdue rations.
Scribes formed the educated elite. They attended elite schools, open mainly to sons of scribes, and after years of training in hieroglyphic writing, they entered administrative service.
Their profession offered wealth and high social status.
Social Hierarchy
Social Pyramid: Pharaoh → Officials & Scribes → Artisans, Builders, Workers → Peasants → Slaves.
Family and the Role of Women
Marriage and child-rearing were considered duties.
Children had to care for their parents and maintain the ancestor cult.
Women enjoyed a comparatively high degree of emancipation:
- They could choose and divorce their partners.
- They had the right to own property and engage in business independently.
- After marriage, they were legally entitled to support from their husbands.
Despite this, their social role remained centered on family and household, though elite women could own estates or manage servants.