What type of government did ancient Egypt have?

Answer 1

The pharaoh was the supreme ruler. Egyptologists believe the people of Egypt considered the pharaoh to be half man/half God. However, the ancient belief in "The Divine Right of Kings" assumed that the first child born to the "supreme ruler" was ordained to be king by God because He had effectively determined the person who would be that child. This obviated the need to elect a head of state and is still one of the main reasons why many modern systems of government continue to use this manner of establishing the Head of State today. It is doubtful that any ancient Egyptian believed the king or pharaoh was God. Likewise, no Englishmen ever thought King Charles I was God even though they believed in the "Divine Right of Kings" as many of us still do today. Certainly King Charles I who believed in God never considered himself to be God. However, he did believe God gave him rights to dismiss Parliament. Only when the king behaved really badly did the people or army overthrow the king e.g., after the death of Akhenaten of Egypt.

The pharaoh owned all of Egypt, the land and all the people in it. Also, he could order farmers to build pyramids for him when they didn't work. He taxed everything. According to The Bible, this happened after Montuhotep I of the 11th dynasty installed Joseph of Israel ("Inyotef") to be Prime Minister when Egypt was stricken by the terrible seven year famine the whole world suffered in circa 1900 BC. In gratitude to Joseph, the Egyptian kings Montuhotep I and Inyotef I to II named their successor after Joseph.

They used something called the SOCIAL PYRAMID to determine your spot. Kind of like the food chain. Slaves were at the bottom (because there were lots of them) then you had farmers, then crafts people, then government officials, then soldiers, then pharaoh (smallest space because one person not millions). This is the norm for most societies and is not necessarily unique to Egypt.

It depended on the period. During New Kingdom Egypt, the acquisition of an empire meant that the government or administration of Egypt had to become much more refined, structured and efficient. Pharaoh was still the supreme head, but directly under him ruled the two Viziers, of Upper and Lower Egypt, as well as the High Priest (s) of Amun. By repairing the Egyptian chronology problem, we now view Egypt as having two eras which could be named the Old then New Kingdoms or before the "Hyksos" (Old Kingdom, to 1500 BC) and after the Hyksos (New Kingdom, 1000-600 BC). The "acquisition of empire" came with the conquests of Thutmosis III now dated 930 BC not circa 1420 BC.

These Viziers held various titles, and were the overseers of public works, including buildings, quarrying and temple repairs. They were the heads of civil service, the collectors of tribute and tax as well as the chief judges. They were chosen by pharaoh himself; "take the office, watch over everything that has to do with it, for the existence of the entire country depends on it".

The High Priests of Amun, Ptah and Re were very influential in Egypt, none more so than the ones of Amun during the New Kingdom period. Temples acted as miniature central governments outside Memphis, and were in charge of the stores, maintenance of temple cults, upkeep of the gods, ceremonies, funerary rites and huge amounts of land, cattle grain and crops. Scribes were also an important part of the religious government as they were responsible for writing the records and official documents.

When the 18th and 19th dynasties fell (800-680 BC and at various times from circa 600 BC but under foreign suzerainties (Chaldea, Persia, Greece), priest kings sometimes took power in various regions of Egypt. According to the Bible, they retained their land when Joseph took control over privately-held land in the great famine. Unlike in the England of Henry VIII, the religious orders in Egypt kept control over their land.

Following the expulsion of the Hyksos at the beginning of the 18th Dynasty, the military became an ever increasingly important part of Egyptian society. Pharaoh was the head of the military, and this period saw the begging to the "Warrior Pharaoh" (e.g., Thutmosis III), who smote his enemies in the name of Amun wearing the Kpresh. The military had its own hierarchy, there were deputy commanders, one for the north and a second for the south, and officers that served underneath them. The military bureaucracy involved anyone that had a hand in organizing war, and included villages of military veterans and the Garrisons within Egypt. The highest ranked soldiers were usually nobles, and had the job of teaching the young princes, (even princesses) and pharaohs the skills or warfare. At home, pharaoh ruled his country with the same absolute power, efficiency and meticulous attention to detail that characterized his command of the army. Pharaoh's power over the civil government no longer rested on his status as a god, but rather on his 'control of the machinery of government, including the army and police'. The central administration occurred in Memphis, but there were separate administration units in towns, villages and provinces. with town majors, police, viceroys and local councils.

The structure of New Kingdom government ensured that, apart from pharaoh, there was no single person of entity whose jurisdiction extended over the whole kingdom, let alone the whole empire. The maintenance of a government operating at peak efficiency and free of corruption required the constant supervision of the king to an extent never before required by an Egyptian Ruler.

Answer 2

dynastic monarchy