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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Festivus" data-source="post: 3907826" data-attributes="member: 34532">I thought it was a theocracy... so I whipped out my google-fu and dug this up for you:<a href="http://library.thinkquest.org/3011/egypt3.htm" target="_blank">http://library.thinkquest.org/3011/egypt3.htm</a>Ancient Egyptian GovernmentAncient 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.</blockquote>

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