social organization: Egypt 1015 talent and ambition to be recognized A prime example of social mobility is illustrated in the career of Senenmut, an official in the reign of Queen Hatshepsut of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ca 1550–ca 1307 b.c.e.) His family origins were undistinguished, but Senenmut rose through the ranks from a relatively low position, when he may have been Overseer of the Royal Seals or Overseer of the Audience Chamber, to an appointment as tutor to the queen’s only daughter During the period when Hatshepsut reigned alone, he became the chief Steward of the Temple of the god Amun at Karnak and thus one of the most powerful and influential men of his time He was also chief adviser to the queen and is credited as being the chief architect of Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri On the other hand, a reversal of fortune was also possible In the Middle Kingdom (ca 2040–ca 1640 b.c.e.), when the office of nomarch (semi-autonomous provincial ruler) was abolished, those officeholders were demoted and striped of their rank by royal decree cers of the military These duties brought the usual rewards of material goods, social position, and community respect The workers were for the most part free laborers, but there is some indication of a serflike arrangement where the workers were tied to the land they cultivated The class of individuals who were actual slaves generally consisted of enemies captured in battle, convicted criminals, and debtors Slavery was not so common in Egypt until the New Kingdom (ca 1550–ca 1070 b.c.e.) when more foreign conquests made it practical to employ the growing number of captives as slaves These defeated foreigners were used at the will of the king Slaves captured in battle could be employed on state projects or awarded to outstanding members of the military as reward for service The old fiction that the pyramids were built by slave labor generally has been discounted The workers on the pyramids were essentially field hands employed generally during the period of the annual flooding of the Nile, when they were not needed to sow and reap the crops CLASS STRUCTURE ORGANIZATION Within the pyramidal structure of Egyptian society there were essentially two clearly delineated classes for which designations in the Egyptian language have survived The wealthy and privileged (usually termed “nobility” or “elite” in the modern literature) were the leaders in every aspect of life; the lower class included workers, farm laborers, and servants From the few examples of communities that have been preserved, it is possible to study the evidence of this division in the arrangement of villages and towns These arrangements generally reflect the stratification of Egyptian society into two main parts The archaeological excavation of sites clearly shows class difference, as at el-Lahun, a village built for those constructing a pyramid in the Middle Kingdom, and at Deir el-Medina, the settlement inhabited by the artisans who excavated and decorated the tombs in the Valley of the Kings At el-Lahun the class distinction is unmistakable because the town was divided in two by a wall that separated the district with the large and lavish villas of the administrators from the much smaller row houses of the workers At Tell el-Amarna in Middle Egypt, the capital built by Akhenaton during his religious revolution, about 10 percent of the dwellings are large, many-roomed structures, while the workers’ houses are much smaller and simpler But that does not necessarily mean that all the family activities took place in limited, cramped quarters In the climate of Egypt it was possible to cook out of doors and sleep on the roof for relief from the heat as well as to sit and congregate in the narrow streets Although the family was the basic unit of society, interaction with neighbors and community was obviously necessary for day-to-day activities and for the mutual support provided by a community The two basic classes, the elite or nobility and the workers or commoners, were sharply divided not only in privileges but also in responsibilities The nobles were the administrators and governors, the members of the priesthoods, and the offi- A system of corvée (or draft ing) of workmen for state projects was used throughout Egyptian history Members of the general population were called to duty for service in the military, for work in mines and quarries, and on state construction projects, such as the building of temples or pyramids Drafted crews were also used to work on roads, canals, and the complex irrigation systems This draft was so much a part of Egyptian life that a tradition of substitute figures to be buried with a workman developed for use of the spirit in the afterlife The shabiti, mummy-shaped statuettes equipped with symbolic tools and baskets, were intended to magically answer for the deceased if he was called on to any kind of draft labor in the next life The economy of Egypt was essentially based on agriculture The largest landholders were the state and the temples, and a system of taxation on these lands, worked by tenants, provided the means to pay the employees of the governmental and religious institutions All of the land of Egypt was in theory the domain and possession of the king The system of tenant farming, where free individuals were allowed by contract to work the fields of royal or religious (temple) establishments, was vital to the national economy In the New Kingdom, as the powers of the temple priesthoods became stronger and the temple holdings larger, tenant farming was one obvious solution to the management of temple estates Since most of the economy was organized and controlled by the government, the workers in state institutions were dependent on rations provided for them Many of these employees were also able to supplement their incomes by other activities carried on privately Members of the upper class enjoyed the privilege at the pleasure of the king of owning property and estates and profiting from the produce of them It was also possible for free men who were not members of the elite to own land and cultivate crops that could be used to sustain their families or traded for other goods These landowners OF WORK AND ECONOMY