Government of the Pharaohs
The authority of the ancient Egyptian government was based on the Pharaoh, considered a living god and consequently an autocrat of unlimited power. His primary duty was to preserve the right order of things and to ensure justice. This duty was expressed in the concept of ma’at, or truth, justice, and order; the opposite of falsehood or deceit. In mythopoeic fashion, ma’at was pictured as the daughter of the sun god Re. Ma’at represented the cosmic principle of harmony, security, and equilibrium. The concept of ma’at provided the Egyptians with a sense of security, confidence in the eternal, and trust in the king as the guardian of ma’at.
By the fifth dynasty the chief god of Egypt was Re, the sun god and creator of Egypt, and by the sixth dynasty the Pharaoh was Re himself, in order that he might rule Re’s chief concern, Egypt. In order to keep this divinity pure, the Pharaoh often married his sister or some other female relative. Indeed, since the royal descent was matrilineal, the Pharaoh regularly took as wives all of his sisters, female cousins, and even his daughters – any woman through whom a claim to succession might be made. These additional marriages were symbolic and political; the rest of society was not incestuous.
The land and people of Egypt belonged to the king as his personal property – a gift from the gods. The king exercised absolute authority over the country and its institutions as head of the government, chief priest, commander of the army, and administer of justice. Government functions were supervised by his household staff, which grew to be a huge bureaucracy of scribes. The royal court at Memphis was administered by the king’s chief deputy or vizier, often the crown prince. Outside of Memphis, administrative units called nomes were created. These corresponded to the already established agricultural districts, and a monarch or governor administered each.
Because the Egyptians believed all law, right, and justice flowed from only one source, the Pharaoh, they developed no system of law comparable to the Mesopotamians. Law was whatever the pharaoh said it was. Royal decrees and court decisions were recorded, but the principle guides for judges were custom and the will of the king.
The monarchs and higher officials of the king’s bureaucracy constituted nobility administering justice, collecting taxes, and supervising public works. At first they were appointed and controlled by the king, but soon their offices and the lands they possessed became hereditary. As the nobles gained greater control of their offices and areas, they became more independent. This led to the decentralization of political power and eventually to the decline of the Old Kingdom around 2180 B.C.
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