Laws and Government
Ancient Egypt’s government and law system were very different than what we are accustomed to in our modern times. Ancient Egypt’s political system was based on religion as all people were expected to abide by the gods’ will. The Pharaoh was the supreme leader of Ancient Egypt as well as the head of religion who was the divine representative of gods on earth. The Pharaoh’s main responsibility was to ensure the safety of Egypt and its people from invasion. The Pharaoh owned all the land in Ancient Egypt including Upper and Lower Egypt. Order was kept throughout the land by the Pharaoh as he had temples built, created laws, established taxation, supported trade, created labour work, and oversaw the army. There are no formal written laws that have been found, however, it is believed that the system was mostly that of common sense based on religion. People obeyed what the Pharaoh outlined for them and the protection of Ancient Egypt.
As supreme leader, the Pharaoh could not possibly run the government by himself. That is why he had tiered leaders below him who would handle the day to day operations of the government based on what he outlined. The highest position under the Pharaoh was the Vizier. The Vizier was the right-hand man of the Pharaoh and was the Chief Overseer of the land. The Vizier followed three main laws in his role; to act by law, to judge fairly and, to not act wilfully or headstrong. The Vizier had other officials who reported into him to give him updates which he would then relay back to the Pharaoh in a shortened version. The next level in the system was that of the Nomarks, who were local leaders of nomes, a region similar to a province or territory. There were other officials that were apart of the government and were important but didn’t hold as much power as the leaders above them. The army commander, the chief treasurer, and the minister of public works all reported into the Pharaoh who had the ultimate say. Scribes and priests were officials of the Pharaoh as well, they kept track of taxes and documented important information.
Overall the people of Ancient Egypt saw the Pharaoh as their supreme leader and god. They followed the rules set out for them, but there were times that a dispute could occur. For those situations, Ancient Egypt did have a court system. There was a lower and higher court. In each town, a group of elders made up the lower court. The high court judge was the Pharaoh, but he assigned judgment duties to the Vizier. The Vizier heard the case and gave judgment as a representative of the Pharaoh. In the lower court, both sides were heard by the elders, and common sense judgment was given based on the facts heard. Should someone not like the outcome from the lower court, they were able to present their case to the Vizier at the high court on a first-come-first-served basis. It was only advised to go to the high court if you had a strong case and could prove the lower court was incorrect because the Vizier had the final say and could impose a stronger punishment, even exile. Ancient Egypt’s government system was certainly different than ours today based on this information.
