Egyptian Society

Egyptian Society

                                                                Egypt

Ancient Egypt is one of the first civilizations in the world. Ancient Egyptian culture is full of riches and traditions that are wildly know by many people around the world. Egypt, located in northern Africa, is known mainly for its pyramids, pharaohs, and the River Nile.

To the Egyptians, kings were gods. These Egyptian kings, known as the pharaoh, were regarded as being as powerful and significant as the gods. During ancient times Egyptian government was a theocracy. In this type of governmental system they rule according to religion. Egyptians were polytheistic which means they believed in many gods.

When a pharaoh dies his tomb is ina gigantic structure known as the pyramid. Since pharaohs were expected to reign forever, theirbodies were preserved through the process of mummification. Mummification involves embalming and drying the corpse to prevent it from decaying. Another reason why Egyptians went through mummification was because they believed in an afterlife, so when the pharaoh dies how well the mummification process was done on that pharaoh will determine how he will look in the afterlife. For example, if one the pharaoh’s hand was cut off he will have only one hand in the afterlife.

Ancient Egyptian also had a class system. In the upper-class were the pharaoh and the royal family. Below the divine pharaoh, were other members of the upper class such as wealthy landowners, government officials, priests, and army commanders. The next tier was the middle class, including merchants and artisans. The lowest class, which is the largest class, consisted of famers and laborers. Egyptians were able to promote to higher classes through marriage or success in their career. Most of the women in ancient Egypt had the same rights as men.