The class system of ancient Egypt - Essay Example

The system of ancient Egypt Ancient Egyptian society was structured like a pyramid. Gods were placed atthe top of the pyramid. In addition, Egyptians had a belief that gods had power over everything in the universe and that they had power to control everything in it. In fact, the gods were believed to cause the Nile River to overflow and could even cause famine. In this regard, Egyptians regarded them respect and adoration. Therefore, they did everything possible to appease them. On the same note, Egyptians elevated a few human beings to gods.

In another dimension, Egyptian leaders, pharaohs, were symbol of gods and so regarded as some. Just like gods would be accorded all adoration and respect, pharaohs were also accorded the same respect and adoration. They were accorded absolute power to rule. As a sign of respect for pharaohs, after their death, Egyptians built huge pyramids as their tombs. Since pharaohs had the power to protect their people, they had the power to order and direct the army in situations where Egypt perceived to have foreign threat.

The same case applied when there were some internal threats. In order to protect their people from hunger, pharaohs ordered every person to pay tax in form of grain, which were mostly kept at pharaohs stores. These grains would be used in feeding people whenever the country was hit by disasters such as famine. In order to have everything run smoothly, pharaohs had their assistants whom they appointed. These assistants were known as chief ministers. Mostly, they were entrusted in keeping government records because they had the ability to read and write.

Down the line of command were powerful nobles and priests. Indirectly, nobles profited from the tribute of pharaohs. Priests were mandated to please gods. It is also believed that nobles were the healthiest class since they mostly benefited from donations to the gods. Every Egyptian, including pharaohs were required to give gifts to the gods. On the other hand, there were soldiers who were mandated to fight in wars and or quell domestic issues. In times of peace, soldiers could be used to supervise peasants and slaves.

Most works involved building of pyramids and palaces. Middle class was composed of skilled persons such as physicians and craftsmen. Mostly, craftsmen were known to make jewelry, papyrus products and pottery among other things. Slightly below the middle crass group were merchants and shopkeepers who were involved in buying and selling goods from artisans. At the bottom of the structure were slaves and peasants/farmers. Basically, slaves were mostly obtained from persons captured as prisons of war.

Slaves were forced to work in various building projects. On the other hand, farmers used to tilled land, raised animals and also worked in stone quarries. However, farmers were required to pay 60 percent tax of their yearly harvest. It is also in record that social mobility in the ancient Egypt was not possible. Only a few peasants and farmers could be seen to move up the economic ladder but rarely had an opportunity to acquire any powers. Most education involved learning on how to be successful traders.

Schools were run by priests and peasants. For people who worked in urban areas, they had to work hard and save money so that the money could be sent to their sons to the village for the school fees. However, although it was not easy for people to climb the social ladder, boys who obtained education had an opportunity to get employed in the government and could at times get promoted to the highest ranks of the government. West African culture is diverse in many ways. The reason is the fact that, there have been many instances that have led to change of culture throughout the history.

Most of the people in West Africa are black Africans who came from Sub-Sahara region. During the colonization era, the Europeans brought different and new culture including leadership style and socializations. In this regard, it is apparent that the ancient Egyptian class system is much far from the rest of the West African culture. The ancient Egyptian class system had no influence from the outside and was much intact unlike many cultures of West Africa. In fact, because of the introduction of new cultures in West Africa, rearrangement of political systems changed in most parts of West Africa.

In addition, people found new ways of climbing social ladder due to competition. Unlike in the ancient Egypt where priests were the only people mandated to appease gods, most of the West African nations have different religions.