Elites --> Pharaohs (owned and ruled all), officials, scribes, warriors.
Commoners --> peasants, merchants, artisans --> heavily taxed.
Slaves --> Prisoners of war, debt, criminals
Social
Women --> Patriarchy but DISTINCTION BASED ON CLASS NOT GENDER
Social
Why Patriarchy?:
More intensive farming.
Higher birth rate --> women stay home .
Warfare (women slaves and male prestige).
Social complexities (specialists)-jobs outside home taken by men.
Association with nature (men manipulate nature).
Social
Examples of patriarchy (not too severe):
Women can inherit property, initiate divorce, jobs (merchants), female goddesses remain, occasionally female Pharaohs.
Social
Highly centralized state:
Divine Pharaoh (beginning
Chief Minister --> top adviser to Pharaoh and overseer of Egyptian state
Provincial governors --> taxes, agriculture, defense
Political
Cities are less important:
People not attached to any city --> most live in villages due to geographic security --> positive outlook on life/afterlife
Political
Collapse
Political
Collapse:
Hyskos and Assyrians --> conquer due to better weapons (iron) and tactics (horse-drawn chariot)
Political
Geography
Interactions
Nile River --> fertile, predictable
Interactions
1000 years of peace and stability due to geographic barriers and security (deserts and mtns) --> positive perception of life/afterlife
Interactions
Public Works
Cultural
Public Works:
Pyramids --> power and religious significance of Pharaohs
Cultural
Religion
Cultural
Religion:
Polytheistic
Book of the Dead --> ways and rules to getting into good afterlife
Cultural
Education
Cultural
Education:
Hieroglyphics --> writing system --> government recording easier = taxes, history, trade, etc.
Innovations --> 365 calendar, medicine (surgery, bone setting), math, astronomy
Cultural
Agricultural Base: Wheat and Barley
Economic
Trade
Economic
Extensive networks of trade with: Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Exchanged gold, ivory, cotton, olive oil, wood, silver, copper, bronze, paper
Economic
