The organization, administration and society were changing in each Period, in the Old Kingdom, the monarchy reached its maximum degree of centralization before falling into the first of the recurring periods of territorial disintegration that occurred throughout Egyptian history. That centralization coincided with the deification of the monarch, also in this period considerable power was granted to the nomarchs who entered into a collision in the Middle Kingdom with those of the great families who had lost many of their privileges. After the expulsion of the Hyksos, in the New Kingdom the divine character of the sovereign was insisted more strongly than ever, but given the territorial expansion of this period, the pharaoh had to delegate functions.
With regard to society in the Old Kingdom there was a tendency towards heredity among the authorities of the nomes. The highlight of society in the Middle Kingdom was the inclusion of slavery, brought from the north of the Nile as labor. In the new empire, construction tasks permanently occupied numerous masons and laborers, to which the peasants joined, to work on public and monumental works, when the floods of the Nile flooded the countryside.
Old Egypt Empire
Organization and administration
The King
Officially the king had five names, a title that was already fixed for the most part at the end of the fourth millennium. This nomenclature is also called Protocol , and conferred on the king at coronation ceremonies. From the Old Kingdom, five names, each composed of either a word or proper name, or a short phrase for each pharaoh. At least three were in use as early as the First Dynasty.
The king, as ruler of Egypt, transcended the human and acquired a divine character to the extent that he ruled, because to rule and dictate laws was to magically reproduce the divine system of the gods in the world.
The king was the one who directed the history of the country and did so by virtue of divine law (maat ), that is, the universal order and therefore he could govern, dictate and emanate law and keep the country in order against the disintegrating forces of Chaos.
This double nature of the pharaoh explains the fact that, having lost his human nature, he ascended to the category of gods. That's how it reads in the Pyramid Texts.
The private property
The texts that accompany the traditional burial scenes with the deceased in his role as a rich man in his domain are not very explicit. But within all this lack of definition there were a series of formulations and terms that were close to the concepts of property, as we understand them today, such as:owner, lord, dependency, intervention, idea of power, procedural force and executor of the word , etc.
With these precedents, it is possible to understand the different forms of possession of the assets of Metjen, an official from the time of Snefru, at the beginning of the IV Dynasty, which serve as a paradigm to understand property at that time.
The extension of the properties of different types that a person could have can be seen in the aforementioned case of Metjen, who owned some 54.7 hectares, adding all the types of properties, from which he received the income while he remained in the position entrusted to him. the king, in addition to other family income. These concessions supposed a great distinction on the part of the king. Real estate had to remain undivided and was transferable from parents to children. They were designated by the term pr-dt . Obviously there was private property proper.
This particular state must be understood within the general process of formation of the Egyptian state during the Old Kingdom.
State Organization
It is very difficult to give a clear idea of the organization of the Egyptian administration during the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period. The fundamental reason is that, although multiple inscriptions of officials are preserved and many of them write their titles on their tombs, it is not possible to know exactly the scope of their functions.
Although with notable variations, since it is a long period of time, the situation in Egypt at this time can be summarized, this organization was as follows:
The social pyramid
It can be said that the social pyramid comprised three levels:
a) At the top was the King , depository by divine right of all the powers of the State. He was a deified character, identified with the god Horus (the Falcon god) and placed under the protection of the Cobra goddesses of Buto (Wadjet) and Vulture of el-Qab (Nejebet / Nekhbet) adopting the nicknames mentioned. Every thirty years of his reign his powers were renewed at a Thirst party.
Progressively, throughout the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period, its divinization was accentuated and from the Fifth Dynasty it was proclaimed that the sun-god Ra was united with the King's wife (hiero-gamy, euphemistically sacred marriage ) spawning successive kings.
b) Senior officials and priests .
c) Low town , the common people were basically made up of farmers and artisans. As has been said when speaking of private property, it seems that there were no slaves properly speaking, except for prisoners of war.
Central administration
In the Fourth Dynasty the two main positions in the central administration were Vizier and Overseer of works. Between the two they probably controlled most of the administration, although the existence of some Directors of the Treasury indicates that responsibility for finances was not their exclusive purview. At the end of the Fourth Dynasty and the beginning of the Fifth, the number of high officials increased. The functions of the Supervisor of the works were divided, of which some remained under the direction of the Overseer of all the works (of the king) and others in charge of officials who were called Supervisors of the works (of the king) . The positions of Overseer of the scribes of the documents of the king were created , Overseer of the six great mansions . Overseer of the great mansions , Barn Overseer and Overseer of the two barns . At the same time, the function of Treasury Supervisor was organized in a systematic way. and Overseer of the two treasures . It seems that this reform took place in the time that goes from Neferikara to Niuserra, precisely the same one in which an ordering of honorific titles was established. All this was probably done to achieve a more efficient administration, reducing and specializing the scope of action of each official.
The Vizier
His position initially granted as unique and entrusted to a member of the royal family, appears for the first time during the reign of Snefru, the first pharaoh of the IV Dynasty, although perhaps the position is prior to the performance of the functions, since his archetype appears already in the Second Dynasty. The first known Vizier was Nefermaát, who was followed by his son Hemiunu.
The ideal of the Vizier role for the Old Kingdom (t3ty) it is exposed in the treatise Maxims of Ptah-hotep , where wisdom and prudence are condensed in the art of governing that go back to very remote times.
Functions of the Vizier
The functions of the character with this important position, key to the Egyptian administrative organization can be summarized in five points:
a) He was the Head of the Central Administration. All important matters passed through his office. To lead them, he was assisted by the Chefs de Mission that put him in communication with the whole country and all government affairs.
b) he presided over the royal archives, where all the important documents, both royal and public or private (wills, contracts, etc.) were kept.
c) he was head of the Great House of Justice and as such presided over the Six Great Houses o Large Territorial Courts. That is why he is related in his title to the divinities of justice as Maat and Thoth (Dhwty) .
d) he ran the Treasury (Treasury), perhaps Ministry of Agriculture:the Double Barn led by the Double Barn Boss placed under his command.
e) In general, he was the head of all the services of the King:of the Royal House, of the House of Arms, of the Chamber of the King's Headdress. etc.
His prerogatives grew from the accession to the throne of the vizier Amenemhat, at the beginning of the XII Dynasty.
The Chancellor of the King of Lower Egypt
This title, attested from the middle of the 1st Dynasty, tended to become an honorary position.
The godchancellor
This title tended to become an important administrative position. It was a position of trust chosen directly by the pharaoh for a specific mission, such as organizing and directing expeditions to the mines and commercial trips abroad, for which he had armed troops or a fleet. He therefore carried the titles of general and admiral. He also, apparently, directed and managed the exploitation of royal monopolies.
The Treasure
A centralized country like Egypt in the Old Kingdom needed a Treasury to collect and centralize the collection of all the country's products and redistribute them to defray all official expenses, both for personnel and for the works built.
The name he received was:
a) The White House o Treasury of Upper Egypt and the Red House or Treasure of Lower Egypt.
b) When it was unified, he was given the name of Double White House , indicating once again the supremacy of Upper Egypt over the Delta and the memory of its primitive dualism.
Functions of the Double White House:
- It centralized the storage of all the products or taxes that the country sent to the Royal Palace.
- The products of the field were centralized in the Double Barn . led by the Chief of the Double Barn.
The Treasury had possessions throughout Egypt (Treasures of the god) and numerous officials, who performed military and naval tasks.
The Ministry of Agriculture
This service was divided into three departments:two services dealing respectively with animals and fields:
a) Animals :Receives the name of per-heri-udjeb. It was presided over by a Head of the two halves of the per-heri-udjeb, who had subordinate officials and scribes in his service.
b) Of the fields :This service was presided over by the Chief of the Fields, who also had other officials and scribes at his service.
and a third party that kept the property titles and civil documents such as wills and contracts.
The lands of real property
These lands were leased to individuals and depended on a chief whose figure seems quite important. They served as grazing fields or orchards, depending on their geographical location.
The scribes
All the extraordinary organization that made the Old Kingdom a time of splendor in which Egypt became one of the first countries of the East, would not have been possible without the figure of the scribe, whose function was always highly requested as essential. In each important city there was an archive, in which they worked, which was called Casa de Vida , in which the documents related to the functioning of the city were gathered.
Titles multiplied among these scribes, beginning with Head of Secrets , a title that indicates a religious and magical initiation and the undoubted importance of the position, since in their hands was the operation of the country, both materially and spiritually, since these Chiefs of Secrets were also in charge of real missions, of the orders of the Pharaoh, Justice, diplomacy, etc.
Provincial administration.
The term nome begins with the Lágidas, who generally resumed the traditional territorial divisions. The hieroglyph that represents the nome is a product of the unification of the country:it represents a land divided into square zones by irrigation zones. The oldest known elements appear in some glass fragments found in the underground of the pyramid of Djeser in Saqqara. This archaeological material is dated to the Second Dynasty. In no case can it be later than the Third Dynasty. The Chamber of the World contained three copies of the list of nomes, which can be calculated despite gaps:22 for Upper Egypt and 16 for Lower Egypt. In the XVIII Dynasty there is one more nome, 17 in the Delta and there will be 20 in Ptolemaic times.
Civilization and organization of Egypt during the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period
The civilization
In late times there is talk of three groups of people, called pat, rekhyt and henememet, although these names are already found in the Pyramid Texts.
- The term pat is usually translated as patricians , but for the Egyptians they were the oldest indigenous inhabitants of the country, people from Upper Egypt (the South).
- The rekhyt maybe they were people from the Delta who faced the kings of the south. That is why they appear hanged after a southern victory in predynastic documents.
- The henememel are orientals who contemplate the sunrise which they worship . Later, this term is identified with the human being in general.
Nedjes were people without titles and were designated by their trade and are known from the Middle Kingdom Satire of Trades. Those who resided in the city were possibly free, but those who depended on royal temples and workshops were usually serfs, linked either to the land or to the place where they worked.
During the Old Kingdom the terms hom were known and meryt that designated servants who enjoyed a certain freedom. What is meant by slaves will only appear with the great foreign wars of the Theban kingdoms:foreign prisoners from Syria and Nubia, assigned to temples and as rewards for the most courageous soldiers, as related by Ahmosis, son of Abana who was given by Pharaoh Ahmosis I:Then I brought the loot from there:a man and three women, a total of 4 heads; then the Majesty of him gave them to me as slaves
A slave market, bak, also existed from the 19th Dynasty. The free man was called nds, w’b, nmh and rmt .
The bureaucracy was highly developed and there was a large and educated middle class, since education was quite widespread.
Large owners are known, with vast extensions of land and others more modest. Also the kings, especially those of the Fifth Dynasty. they gave the temples domains whose surface varied between six and fourteen hectares.
The small proprietors generally lived in country houses whose surface sometimes did not exceed one hectare, simply surrounded by a fence. In general, these owners were not directly dedicated to cultivating the land, since they used to hold administrative positions, having servants who took care of these tasks.
The rural population :Lived in the countryside, crops and livestock. Land is known to exist and was sometimes sold to the people who worked it, perhaps mostly prisoners of war, subject to land in royal domains, sometimes ceded to private owners rather than Egyptian slaves.
The urban population it was concentrated, above all, in the Delta. The urban centers were important, above all, in the economy, since they were, essentially, commercial centers and their prosperity depended above all on maritime trade, which extended from Byblos in Phoenicia, the coast of Asia Minor and the Middle East and by the Aegean and internal trade along the Nile, both protected by a large army of war.
Main cities
There were numerous cities throughout Egypt, among which are:
In the Delta
Tanis, located to the east of this region, and Memphis, further south, the administrative capital of the country, were the largest and richest cities of this time in Egypt.
Other important cities of this time were:Bubastis, Per, Seped, Sais, Atribis, Busiris, Buto and Mendes.
In Middle Egypt
The populations of Heracleópolis, Cusae and Un stood out, with large sanctuaries, high population density and a series of sailors and workers always ready to mutiny. There was a class of wealthy owners and merchants, shipowners and industrialists.
The workers :They were undoubtedly free men. Since authenticated documents signed by people from the working class (quarrymen, mine workers, etc.) are preserved, they used to work in groups of ten, led by mayors. The salary was paid in kind (bread, beer, wheat, fabrics, etc.).
The family and its evolution
In the earliest times the Egyptian family was apparently, though perhaps not absolutely, based on paternal authority and entailment.
In the Third and Fourth Dynasties, as royal authority grew stronger, family and manorial ties were broken.
This family law is revealed to be essentially individualistic under the III and IV Dynasties, the family being reduced to its strictest form:Father, mother and children. The woman appeared, generally, next to the husband and the order of the heirs was regulated by law. The Egyptians did not record births, deaths, marriages, or divorces.
The funerary cult was also individualistic, even in the royal family. Paternal authority, family cohesion and funerary cult of the family were three closely linked concepts that weakened over the centuries and completely disappeared during the Third and Fourth Dynasties.
The MEDIA OF EXCHANGE
The exchange was essentially in the form of barter. The legal documents make it possible to specify the conditions of this procedure. Already in the New Kingdom, a function such as that of the Second Prophet of Amun was still paid in kind. Some great temples minted gold bars before the official appearance of the currency .
Middle Empire of Egypt
Organization and Administration of the Middle Kingdom
The Nomarchs
The excessive power of the nomarchs had collided with those of the great families, who had lost many of their traditional privileges for their benefit. These family groups welcomed the new dynasty (the XI), and at the head of the nomes a hierarchy was once again placed that had the confidence of the central power. It seems that the hereditary nature of the position had entered into a crisis, perhaps as a result of the situation of endemic disorder that afflicted the country during the first intermediate period.
But the new nomarch great head of the nome he accumulated more power than ever, although for the moment he did not fall into the excesses of the previous feudal stage. The borders between nomes were redrawn so that rivalries would not arise.
Monarch functions
Basically, the obligations of the nomarchs were what they always were, even if they ceased to be fulfilled; collect taxes, promote levies in wartime, supervise agricultural tasks and take care of the conservation of irrigation works. The administrative reorganization paid off, and during the Middle Kingdom the country was reasonably well run and generally prosperous. Under the last reigns of the Twelfth Dynasty, however, the recurrent symptoms of fragmentation and the action of everlasting and dissolving centrifugal forces began to be noticed. Indeed, many nomarchs disappeared and were replaced by wrens.
Prime minister
The heads of mission of the Old Kingdom seem to have been replaced by 30 high officials dependent on the courtyard of the six houses or ministry of justice, governed directly by the prime minister. Those 30 senior officials of the South They not only understood judicial matters, but also carried out political and administrative missions on behalf of the central power.
FunctionsofthePrimeMinister
As for the prime minister, he maintained the functions that were already recognized in previous reigns, although adapted to the greater complexity of the structures. The same can be said of the king, all the more so since the sovereigns of the XII dynasty in general were personally committed to the task of government, and in this sense it is necessary to highlight his dedication and efficiency.
Administration in the Middle Kingdom
Expenses
The budget was divided into two main items:
Fixed Expenses , included the amounts allocated to the pharaoh and his family, and the remuneration of officials (prime minister, ministers of war, agriculture, and the royal archives, plus, one might imagine, lower-ranking officials).
Extraordinary Expenses , were made up of donations that the king distributed discretionally as a reward for services rendered or on the occasion of parties.
Revenue
The income came from taxes, whose collection was in charge of three agencies whose specific functions escape us, although it is known that the taxes were never paid in full in the corresponding fiscal period, and that the scribes had to keep complicated accounts of what was collected. owed and what had been paid. Let's remember that the economy was not money and taxes were paid in kind.
Society in the Middle Kingdom
Slavery
In this period a new element was introduced into Egyptian society:slavery. The first war enterprises beyond the borders, in the Syrian-Palestinian strip and above the Nile, provided slave labor, which was soon available to kings and high officials, but also to what we could call the consolidated middle classes (civil servants). of lower rank, artisans). Perhaps this is one of the elements that contributed to the prosperity that was recorded in the Middle Kingdom, also very fruitful in the field of culture and material achievements. The common people, that is the great mass of agricultural laborers, hardly benefited from that economic boom. Many of its members emigrated to the cities and looked for work in craft workshops.
Social inequality
One of the characteristics of the aforementioned cultural boom is the literary flourishing, and the writings of the time are lavish in bitter complaints from the humble about their fate. A text known as Warnings of an Egyptian Sage even refers to an insurrection that came to seize the person of the king, with the palaces of high officials being stormed, mummies of former rulers being unearthed, priests being attacked and grain reserves were looted. It seems evident that, if the story is true, it was a revolutionary episode carried out by the most disadvantaged layers of society. All this in the midst of the fragmentation of power and the darkness that surrounded the end of the Middle Kingdom and the beginning of the second intermediate period (dynasties XII and XIII).
New Kingdom of Egypt
OrganizationandadministrationofEgyptduringtheNewKingdom
The central government
At the top of the central government continued the king or Pharaoh, whose power evolved throughout the New Kingdom. In general, the solidity of royal power is demonstrated during most of the New Kingdom, expressed in a series of factors such as its intervention in administrative and military affairs; the continued policy of Egyptian expansion and the great economic force, which is reflected in the great constructions.
At the end of the Nineteenth Dynasty and especially with the Twentieth Dynasty, there was a gradual and significant change in the nature and strength of royal power, due to the changing relationships between the pharaoh, the civil government and the army.
There is also a weakening of the pharaoh's coercive force, despite the Libyan victories of Ramses III and Libyan and Nubian elements continue to infiltrate Egypt.
PUBLIC OFFICES
Although at the end of the New Kingdom the governmental structure did not collapse, constituting the basis of the reformed political system of the Third Intermediate Period, the New Kingdom will be characterized by the increasingly strong tendency towards the heritability of public offices, in relation to the great development of the powerful families that occupied the high positions of the administration, so that the civil government was progressively escaping from the real control, and later, the religious one. In this way, the role of the royal Mayordomos increases, some functions normally carried out by civilians are attributed to the Great Priest of Amun, High Priests are represented next to the pharaoh, with the same size as him.
Structure OF THE GOVERNMENT
Each branch of government exercised effective power. In general, the government of Egypt at this time can be divided into two parts, internal and conquered territories:
Internal territories
Divided in turn into:
a) The civil government, from the geographical point of view, was subdivided into North and South, following the great traditional divisions of Egypt, one of them governed from Thebes and the other from Memphis. At the head of each territory was a Vizier. The civil government was in charge of regulating agriculture, administering justice, collecting taxes and maintaining citizen order through the police forces. or medyau.
b) There was also the Chief of the fleet or Admiral, who was also an Admiral of the army, whose positions were duplicated, also for the North and for the South.
c) The royal domains, which were very extensive, were administered by the Grand Intendant and the Court was directed and organized by the Chancellor and the Chamberlain, who were in charge of the royal bureaucracy and all matters related to the pharaoh and his family .
The conquered territories.
They were directed, in turn, by the governors of the southern and northern lands, who had under their command the different kings and vassal states.
Two factors of fundamental importance for the stability of the government were, according to the authors indicated, the effectiveness of the links between the central and provincial governments and that the territories and the administration were supervised by the pharaoh and his direct representatives.
Some issues posed problems for this centralized administration, such as the vast extension of the country along the Nile and the relative inefficiency of the communications system, although the Nile constituted a great communications artery that contributed to the administrative task and control of the territory.
Provincial government structure
A series of characteristics are known, such as the existence of a clear hierarchy between the different settlements. Thus, we know that the great cities were few:Memphis, Thebes, Pi-Ramesses. These were the great national capitals, residences of the Pharaoh and important religious centers. There were also the provincial capitals that were, more or less, large towns, although most of the population lived grouped in villages.
The keys to the administration of the different settlements were:
The mayors
They constituted the highest hierarchical level of each town. Each mayor exercised his functions as a delegate of the government in the administrative order.
The Councils
Which in turn were divided into the Great Kenbet Councils, the provincial councils and the minor councils.
- They were basically judicial in nature, although they also performed administrative functions. The two great Councils of Memphis and Thebes were presided over by a Vizier.
- The Provincial Councils were subject to the central government, made up of hierarchs, officials and people of high socioeconomic status.
- En último lugar estaban los Consejos menores, encargados de perseguir a los criminales, cuyo castigo no implicaba la pena capital y de resolver los problemas de disputas por propiedades.
Intendentes y Directores
Existían también funcionarios encargados de organizar la vida económica y de almacenar y recaudar los impuestos debidos al Estado:El Intendente del dominio real, el Director de los graneros y el Director del ganado.
Mensajeros, Inspectores y Vigilantes
Otros cargos de la administración eran los mensajeros de los visires y los diferentes inspectores, vigilantes, etc., que comprobaban la actuación y el comportamiento de los funcionarios locales.
El gobierno central intervenía no sólo en los casos importantes sino también en los que su actuación y arbitraje se aconsejaban necesarios, lo que satisfacía en lo fundamental las necesidades de control de la población, a pesar de los numerosos casos de ineficacia y corrupción que debieron existir entre los funcionarios.
Sociedad y civilización durante el Reino Nuevo
Esta época egipcia se caracteriza por la nueva unidad del país, obtenida por la fuerza de las armas y la desaparición del feudalismo. Otras características que podríamos destacar se refieren a aspectos sociales o las costumbres, que evolucionan a tenor de los nuevos tiempos:
Clases sociales
En estos momentos y en gran medida desaparecerán las clases privilegiadas mientras que las antiguas clases semilibres se irán emancipando, aunque la nobleza tradicional tenía aún gran fuerza. A nivel oficial se trataba, sobre todo, de oponerles una nueva nobleza de tipo administrativo que monopolizase los cargos de la Corte, nobleza formada por grandes propietarios de tierras, grandes oficiales, funcionarios y sacerdotes.
A nivel de los pequeños pueblos gobernaban los consejos locales formados por notables de clase media, que en los centros más pequeños, a veces, estaban formados por sacerdotes, con lo que se aprecia la sociedad egipcia bajo la autoridad moral del clero.
El gobierno central se hallaba en manos de una oligarquía y los cargos se heredaban por costumbre, no en razón de una disposición jurídica.
los rekhyt
Legalmente sólo existía una clase de ciudadanos:los rekhyt, palabra que durante el Imperio Antiguo designó a los habitantes de las ciudades del Delta, a partir de la V Dinastía designó a toda la población urbana y durante la Dinastía XVIII se aplicaría a todos los egipcios que, jurídicamente, componían el país a los que el faraón se vanagloriaba de cuidar.
Los nemhu
Eran los grandes agricultores más favorecidos, terratenientes que por la prosperidad y la paz del país, se enriquecían y llegaban a altos puestos.
Los comerciantes
Los comerciantes existían, sobre todo en los puertos, donde traficaban con los cananeos y el Egeo, recibiendo productos contenidos en grandes jarras, dándoles a cambio telas, cuerdas de papiro y objetos de metal. Ya desde la época de Ahmosis se prosiguió la apertura hacia el Próximo Oriente, iniciada en la Dinastía XII y continuada después. Aumenta la importación de materias primas.
Los henmemet
Constituían la masa campesina humilde, que, de depender de los señores feudales, pasó a depender del Estado y el rey sólo les transmitían órdenes de pago para que abonasen las prestaciones que debían. Aunque eran libres, no gozaban de tal libertad, puesto que su humilde condición les impedía tanto la movilidad como cualquier clase de promoción.
Esclavos
Existía la esclavitud privada, exclusivamente de extranjeros, llevados a Egipto en las victoriosas campañas de los faraones y repartidos entre jefes y oficiales como recompensa de guerra, aunque estos esclavos podían recobrar la libertad con facilidad, casándoles con un pariente del señor.
Los prisioneros que el Estado se reservaba como esclavos eran donados a los templos o trabajaban las tierras reales. No podían liberarse e iban marcados con hierro.
La Familia
La familia va perdiendo su cohesión jurídica y regresa a fórmulas individualistas, existiendo un evidente paralelismo entre la desaparición del sistema de tenencias señoriales por una parte y el derecho de primogenitura y la autoridad por otro, igualándose jurídicamente los esposos. El matrimonio será un contrato y fuera de la comunidad de bienes, el consorte conservaba otros propios, de los que dispone con libertad.
Las costumbres
Las costumbres también se transformaron durante esta primera parte del Imperio Nuevo. Tebas se convirtió en una gran ciudad y en Karnak, alrededor del primer templo de Amón, se desarrolló una ciudad santa de grandes dimensiones, dominada por el rey y su corte. El faraón tenía varias reinas con las que se casa, a veces, por motivos políticos. Sobre todas ellas, la primera era la Gran Esposa . También tenía un numeroso harén y a veces varios, cada uno de ellos en uno de sus numerosos palacios.
El Harén
El Harén era una gran institución con sus funcionarios especiales e incluso comerciantes propios. Sólo las reinas podían dar herederos al trono, pero a falta de éstos, los hijos de las concubinas casados con hijas reales podían ser legitimados por su padre y ser reyes de Egipto, como en los casos de Thutmosis I, Thutmosis II y Thutmosis III, lo que daría origen a numerosas intrigas.
La influencia asiática que penetró en Egipto, en esta época aumentó considerablemente la importancia del harén. Las reinas participaban activamente en las ceremonias oficiales, por lo menos de Gran Esposa. Las concubinas, en cambio, no salían del harén ni figuraba otra reina nunca al lado de la primera.
Vestimenta
Gran numero de miembros de antiguas familias nobles abandonaron por esta época sus residencias y se establecieron en la capital, buscando los grandes cargos. La riqueza y el refinamiento de las costumbres creó un una verdadera vida mundana. Todo el mundo vestía de blanco, las mujeres se hacen representar con bellos trajes transparentes plisados, muy escotados. Utilizaban grandes pelucas y costosos objetos de tocador, pinturas y perfumes, estando adornadas a menudo las grandes damas con ricas joyas.
Los hombres vestían una blusa amplia y túnica y se dejaban crecer la barba como señal de luto.