Angel Tarragon
Dawn Dragon
Does anyone know some of the ancient Egyptian titles of nobility? Did they have some variations of Dukes, Earls, and Lord's?
Ancient Egyptian Titles?
- Thread starter Angel Tarragon
- Start date
KrazyHades
First Post
Well, Vizier was a title similar to Major Domo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Ancient_Egyptian_titles has some stuff, but not all related to aristocratic rank. Some are things about priests and the like.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Ancient_Egyptian_titles has some stuff, but not all related to aristocratic rank. Some are things about priests and the like.
Festivus
First Post
I thought it was a theocracy... so I whipped out my google-fu and dug this up for you:
http://library.thinkquest.org/3011/egypt3.htm
Ancient Egyptian Government
Ancient Egyptian Government was dominated by a single man, the Pharaoh. The people believed that the king was more than a man, however, but that he was a god. This gave him absolute control over the affairs of the Empire and its people.
Ancient Egypt was also a theocracy, controlled by the clergy. The Pharaoh¹s advisors and ministers were almost always priests, who were considered the only ones worthy and able to carry out the god-king¹s commands. As in most religious ancient societies, priests had special status above the rest of the citizens, forming a kind of nobility.
The governmental officials included the vizier, or the prime minister, the chief treasurer, the tax collector, the minister of public works, and the army commander. These officials were directly responsible to the Pharaoh. The land itself was divided up into provinces called nomes. Each nome had a governor, who was appointed by the Pharaoh, and responsible to the vizier.
Taxes were paid in goods and labor. Citizens were drafted into the army and forced labor for periods of time to pay what was called a corvée, the labor tax. Slaves, mercenaries, and draftees were often used in the army. It is believed, however, that Egyptian slaves were not used to construct sacred monuments, such as the Pyramids. Egyptologists were led to this conclusion by recent finding of worker burial grounds near such monuments. The workers received proper Egyptian burials, whereas slaves did not.
The majority of Egyptian people were peasants who worked the land along the fertile Nile flood basin. These people had no voice in their government, and accepted this fact because it was backed by their religion. This mingling of religion and government is probably what kept Egypt so powerful and centralized during its high points.
http://library.thinkquest.org/3011/egypt3.htm
Ancient Egyptian Government
Ancient Egyptian Government was dominated by a single man, the Pharaoh. The people believed that the king was more than a man, however, but that he was a god. This gave him absolute control over the affairs of the Empire and its people.
Ancient Egypt was also a theocracy, controlled by the clergy. The Pharaoh¹s advisors and ministers were almost always priests, who were considered the only ones worthy and able to carry out the god-king¹s commands. As in most religious ancient societies, priests had special status above the rest of the citizens, forming a kind of nobility.
The governmental officials included the vizier, or the prime minister, the chief treasurer, the tax collector, the minister of public works, and the army commander. These officials were directly responsible to the Pharaoh. The land itself was divided up into provinces called nomes. Each nome had a governor, who was appointed by the Pharaoh, and responsible to the vizier.
Taxes were paid in goods and labor. Citizens were drafted into the army and forced labor for periods of time to pay what was called a corvée, the labor tax. Slaves, mercenaries, and draftees were often used in the army. It is believed, however, that Egyptian slaves were not used to construct sacred monuments, such as the Pyramids. Egyptologists were led to this conclusion by recent finding of worker burial grounds near such monuments. The workers received proper Egyptian burials, whereas slaves did not.
The majority of Egyptian people were peasants who worked the land along the fertile Nile flood basin. These people had no voice in their government, and accepted this fact because it was backed by their religion. This mingling of religion and government is probably what kept Egypt so powerful and centralized during its high points.
Sanguinemetaldawn
First Post
What you are probably looking for are the Nomarchs, who were the administrators of the Nomes, which were essentially the bureaucratic disctricts of ancient Egypt. The were all servants of the Pharoah (lit. "great house" sort of equivalent of "the White House"). They were appointed by the Pharoah and could be removed by the Pharoah at will, at least theoretically. They would gather taxes (in goods), raise armies if necessary, and so forth.
IIRC, the Pharoah would frequently move throughout the different Nomes, probably to assure that everything was running well, and make sure the local officials were not plotting an uprising. But the power and ceremonial centers were Memphis/Cairo and Luxor/Thebes. BTW, a strange thing about the Luxor resort in Vegas, it has this giant pyramid, but there were no pyramids in Upper Egypt. They were all (at least the important ones) in Lower Egypt near Memphis (modern day Cairo). Luxor/Thebes is important for the Valley of the Kings, Queens, temple/tomb of Hatshepsut, and the great temples, especially Karnak.
The prior poster who observed the important of religion in the government was quite right, priests were associated with the power structure, as were the tremendous momuments erected, more for mental and psychological reasons. This pattern of "divine kings" was common in that era ("God-king Xerxes" for the Persians, etc), and at least some people actually believed it was true.
The above was accurate during most of the various dynasties. During the Intermediate periods, its a whole different ballgame, and essentially what you have are warlords. I don't know what the title would be for warlords, offhand.
IIRC, the Pharoah would frequently move throughout the different Nomes, probably to assure that everything was running well, and make sure the local officials were not plotting an uprising. But the power and ceremonial centers were Memphis/Cairo and Luxor/Thebes. BTW, a strange thing about the Luxor resort in Vegas, it has this giant pyramid, but there were no pyramids in Upper Egypt. They were all (at least the important ones) in Lower Egypt near Memphis (modern day Cairo). Luxor/Thebes is important for the Valley of the Kings, Queens, temple/tomb of Hatshepsut, and the great temples, especially Karnak.
The prior poster who observed the important of religion in the government was quite right, priests were associated with the power structure, as were the tremendous momuments erected, more for mental and psychological reasons. This pattern of "divine kings" was common in that era ("God-king Xerxes" for the Persians, etc), and at least some people actually believed it was true.
The above was accurate during most of the various dynasties. During the Intermediate periods, its a whole different ballgame, and essentially what you have are warlords. I don't know what the title would be for warlords, offhand.
Angel Tarragon
Dawn Dragon
Thanks for all the help. I really appreciate it.
My Hamunaptra game will be richer for it.
My Hamunaptra game will be richer for it.
