economy: Egypt tributes the king obtained during his campaigns and delivered to the religious institutions Such royal benefits were used for the internal needs of the temple, redistributed in the form of rations, and given as payments for the expenses of the state and the king, in particular The construction of major works, such as the royal tomb, cenotaph (a commemorative monument), statues, and stelae (commemorative stone pillars), was often accomplished through the wealth of the temples This particular kind of redistributive economy flourished especially during the New Kingdom The economic growth of the temples rendered them intermediaries between the central and local administrations During the periods when royal power was in decline, the temples and their representatives became substitutes for the political authorities The redistributed economic practice was not confined to interactions between the state and the clergy It also defined the pharaoh’s working and compensational policy toward the state’s workforce The following working classes could be traced in the Egyptian socioeconomic system: scribes, administrators, officials, craftsmen, agricultural laborers, and slaves The first three classes were literate and formed the elite of Egyptian society The educational institutes provided the state, temples, and administrative offices with their personnel Scribes could also work outside large offices for high officials and state stewards The lower level of scribes and officials may have been given a wage (in the form of various commodities, such as copper or grain) in addition to their rations, while the upper ranks lived on the rents collected from endowment lands attached to their positions Craftsmen earned income by selling their crafts to provide tombs and mortuary temples with artifacts and artwork Most of these items were made in small, organized workshops attached to the palaces, mortuary complexes, temples, or offices of the elite Independent craft work was done as well; many tomb representations depict people making craft transactions in markets, an indication of the independent function of this class of labor The largest percentage of the Egyptian workforce was made up of farmers, usually under the directorship of a landlord and organized into households or small groups Either they rented land from the state or priestly authorities, or land was rewarded to them through the economic principles of redistribution and reciprocation Taxes were calculated based on their annual production With larger estates, the owner or lessor of the land provided a large number of workers to farm the land together These laborers were mostly soldiers or slaves who had been captured in war or during foreign campaigns abroad This brings us to the final working class, that of slaves In ancient Egypt this class did not include only the stereotype of the foreigner but also everybody who was under the rulership of a superior being, divine or human Thus, a nobleman was the slave of a lord or high official, a farmer was the slave of his landlord, and a priest was the slave of his local god Even 349 the pharaoh was regarded as the slave or servant of god Slave dealing was done on a personal level, not in public or open markets The transactions, though, had to be performed in the presence of a royal official or the local council MARKETS The temple or political offices allocated the soil production and commodities to the populace according to each individual’s needs Surplus together with local food and homemade items could be traded at local markets These were usually built close to road intersections or on riverbanks near harbors The most commonly traded goods were bread, beer, fresh and dried fish, meat, and vegetables The last two were probably surplus from the offerings to the priests in the mortuary and religious temples Luxury goods were rarely traded in the markets Common items offered for exchange included leather sandals, pieces of furniture, and ceramics Prices in the market were determined by supply and demand, though prices were sometimes fi xed State representatives supervised the prices and organization of the markets They were also responsible for preventing raw materials and goods, which were the property of the state, from being diverted to illegal trading markets (“black markets”) and for protecting customers from being cheated TAXATION The system of benefits and land bestowment on institutions and individuals brought to the state a great deal of income in the form of taxes, which might have included a share in the produce of the land, cattle and other products, human labor, and wealth Temples, foreign settlements, and garrisons were major beneficiaries of tax revenues generated by the annual levy during the New Kingdom Evidence for taxation covers the whole period of the ancient Egyptian civilization and comes from administration texts, letters, and tomb scenes The taxes were received in kind by the chancellor in charge of the treasuries of Upper and Lower Egypt Taxes in grain were collected by the pharaoh’s so-called overseer of the granary Redistribution of tax revenues to their beneficiaries was handled by the palace’s master of largesse Agricultural and land taxes were estimated after the land production was measured by surveyors in the company of scribes and an inspector Corruption or failure in tax collection led to severe punishment A distinctive scene in the tomb of the vizier Khentika of the Sixth Dynasty (2323–2150 b.c.e.) depicts the judgment and corporal punishment of five district governors brought before the vizier and charged with corruption in tax collection Within the royal decrees enacted by the king Horemheb of the Eighteenth Dynasty (r 1319–1307) is a series of laws for addressing specific abuses on the part of governmental officials and soldiers who denied their responsibility in giving taxes to the state There were also cases of district mayors and officials who formally complained about the taxes for which they were held liable