ANCIENT EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT

In ancient Egypt, the king was the supreme ruler of the country and was also the highest-level spiritual leader, representing humankind’s link to the gods. Under him in the government were the vizier, or chief minister, and many bureaucratic officials. Below him in the religious leadership were the high priest, other priests, and the lower ranks of the temple bureaucracy.

The Egyptian kings realized early on that they had to organize an efficient system of government. It was clear that first and foremost they had to create an administration to oversee and control activity associated with the annual flood of the Nile. The system had to be under royal control in order to guarantee the fair and proper distribution of the water and fertile land. This royal direction set the standard for other enterprises and industries. With such a system of administration in place, the king could also plan, implement, and complete state-sponsored building projects, such as the national temples and royal burial complexes. He could arrange for and undertake expeditions, for military purposes and for mining, quarrying, and trade, to countries at or beyond Egypt's borders. Without proper control of an ever-increasing bureaucracy or with poor management at any level of the system, problems could develop quickly. For example, papyri record work stoppages and laborer complaints resulting from inadequate food rations and clothing distribution.

The king was the commander in chief of Egypt’s army and navy, and he decided when and how the country's borders were to be protected or expanded. Texts record both naval and land battles. Often, several divisions of troops composed of infantry, archers, and cavalry participated in battles. A hierarchy existed within the ranks. It consisted of different levels of officers and administrators for the different units of soldiers and sailors. At certain times the Egyptians hired mercenaries, or warriors who were recruited for pay, from outside the borders of Egypt.

Among the domains that the government managed were the economy, the administration, both religious (the temples) and nonreligious (secular), and the adjudication of many types of disputes and other legal issues. At the head of each division was a high official, under whom were middle-level and low-level officials. Each department ultimately answered to the king.

Ordinarily, the office of king passed from father to son. On occasion, this rule was broken, as when no male heir survived. For example, in 1319 bc, at the end of the 18th Dynasty, a nonroyal general, Horemheb, became pharaoh, as the king came to be called during the 18th Dynasty. Another military figure, Ramses I, also not of royal blood, succeeded him to the throne and began the 19th Dynasty. Rarely did a woman rule, but as the 6th, 12th, and 19th dynasties ended, a female ruler took control as sole monarch. The female pharaoh Hatshepsut, of the 18th Dynasty, came to the throne in a different manner. Not long after her husband, Thutmose II, died in 1479 bc, she proclaimed herself pharaoh and ruled as senior monarch with Thutmose III, the designated male heir (and son of a minor royal wife), as her junior partner.

The Egyptians believed that the office of king was divine. They considered the reigning king a god, by virtue of his coronation and related rituals of office. At his death, his burial and the associated ceremonies ensured that he would remain a god forever and would be identified with both Re, the sun god, and Osiris, the ruler of the realm of the dead. As the ruling monarch, the king was identified with the god Horus, a sky deity believed to be the son of Osiris, who avenged Osiris’s murder and then succeeded him to the throne. He was referred to as the Lord of the Two Lands and the King of Upper and Lower Egypt. (Lower Egypt referred to the Nile Delta area, while Upper Egypt referred to the Nile Valley to the south.) In inscribed, painted, and carved texts, these titles often come before the king's coronation name, one of the five names he possessed. Another of his names was his personal name, which generally followed his coronation name. These two names appear enclosed within an oval “rope,” known today as a cartouche. The other three names conferred on a pharaoh related to his divinity. The modern term pharaoh comes from the ancient Egyptian phrase per aa, which literally means 'great house.' Although it originally was a designation of the royal palace, it came to indicate the king himself beginning with the 18th Dynasty.

Under the king as head of state was the office of vizier, or chief minister. The vizier ran all aspects of the government on behalf of the king. He controlled the courts, the treasury, and the administration. However, at any time the king could exert his own control over any aspect of government. It is uncertain whether more than one vizier held office at a time in the earlier periods, but later texts clearly indicate two official viziers, one for Upper Egypt and one for Lower Egypt. Government officials could often rise in rank, as indicated in their tomb biographies, but many offices were hereditary. Lesser administrators controlled provincial areas now referred to as nomes, and these offices traditionally were passed on within families. While government service clearly occupied a major portion of the time of high officials, these men also administered their own land. In addition, many local administrators served part-time in the priesthood.