Old Kingdom Society and Economy

     Egyptian society in the Old Kingdom was highly stratified with almost no possibility of social mobility. The royal family, government officials, nobles, and the priests constituted the upper classes in Egypt. In the cities, which were largely temple compounds and government administrative centers, there was a middle class made up of merchants, artisans, and professionals, most finding employment with the nobles or priests. Next came the largest class, the peasantry, and at the bottom of the social scale were slaves.

     Most people were poor and lived in simple mud huts crowded closely together.  Women made linens worn as clothes, baked bread, carried water, and prepared the meals served with the Egyptians’ favorite drink, beer. Men worked the land under supervision of an overseer who could discipline them with beatings for poor work. Nobles lived in larger homes of mud brick which were well furnished and usually had gardens. They enjoyed good food and wine. The men of the noble class shaved their heads and faces, and both men and women wore jewelry and wigs. Their leisure activities included boating, fishing, hunting and music.

     Agriculture was the basis of the Egyptian economy. Theoretically, all land belonged to the king, but he gave large grants of land to his nobles and the priests of the temples. This land was taxed, but that burden fell upon the peasants who worked the land and were often of serf status, tied to the land and owing services and dues to the lord of the estate. Captives of war and criminals were enslaved and forced to work in quarries or mines and on irrigation projects.

     The artisans of the cities, most of whom worked for the nobility and the priests, crafted jewelry of gold, silver and copper, and beautiful furniture, tapestries, and pottery. Chief imports were ivory, spices, incense, ebony, gold and timber.

Section 6

Section 8