Download Blessed be Egypt my people

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Martti Muukkonen
“Blessed be Egypt my people1” – Welfare in Ancient Egypt
Presentation to the work-group of sociology of religion at the annual meeting of Finnish
sociological association, Jyväskylä 26.3.2004
Along Mesopotamia, Egypt was the other ancient culture that influenced on both ancient Israel and
Greece. Even if we do not accept the Moses and Exodus stories as historical, we have to remember
that Palestine was frequently under Egyptian command and even when it was not, it was a
crossroads of caravan routes. Palestine was cosmopolitan area where cultures interacted and
blurred. In order to understand Biblical religion and ethics, it is necessary to review Palestine’s
western neighbour as well as northern and eastern ones. However, Egypt did not only influence
Israel but Greece and, later, emerging Christianity as well.
In the case of Greece, Egypt’s influence can be seen in the areas that we have thought being
genuinely Greek. Herodotos’ thesis that Greek medicine has its origin in Egypt is perhaps the most
evident contribution of Egyptian culture to Greece. While wowing in the name of Asklepios, Greek
doctors and their western followers wow, in fact, in the name of Egyptian deified doctor Imhotep,
who lived 2000 years before Hippocrates. Moreover, almost all prominent Greek doctors got their
education in Imhotep's temple in Memphis. Along with doctors, also philosophers looked south
from their peninsula and utilised the ancient Egyptian wisdom.
If we then, look at the Christian church, we soon find out that it did not just move from its Semitic
roots in Palestine to Europe but to Africa as well. Actually, a great deal of early church fathers
resided in Egypt and when they tried to explain who was this Jesus of Nazarene, they utilised
Egyptian concepts. The most obvious example is the concept of trinity. Egyptian religion was based
on trinities and Christian trinity is only a modification of this thinking. Actually, especially in the
Roman Catholic and Orthodox world, the popular version of trinity is not Father, Son and Holy
Spirit but Father Son and Mary. This latter one has a clear parallelism to Osiris, Isis and Horus. Isis
and Horus is often presented archetype of Madonna and child.
In addition to these, much of out modern concepts are from Egypt. Most obvious is our calendar:
When Julius Caesar launched the new roman calendar carrying his name, he only slightly
reformulated the three-thousand year old Sothic calendar.
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Isaiah 19:25 (NIV)
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“Hail to thee, O Nile2” – Ancient Egyptian Context
History of the Egypt starts in the dawn of mankind, from the Palaeolithic period, which begun from
250,000 BC an lasted up to Epipalaeothic, circa 7000 BC3. The acriculture emerged during the
Neolithic age, 6000-5000 BC, and, since much of the crops planted were from the Levant, it might
be that there was migration also from there.4
However, it can be said that Egyptian history emerged with the unification of the country sometime
between 3400 and 3000 BC5. Ancient Egypt’s history has usually been divided into 30 dynasties
that are grouped to sequences of three Kingdoms (Old6, Middle7 and New8) which interrupted by
Intermediate Periods9. During the Kingdom Periods, the country was unified and the country was
prosperous. Intermediate Periods were characterised by rivalry, disorder and, as a consequence of
internal weakness, foreign intrusions. Since the Egyptian society was basically ultra-conservative, it
was during these Intermediate Periods when major changes in thinking occurred.
During the Third Intermediate Period Egypt was occupied, first by Assyria and, then, by Persia
although there also were short independence periods10. When Alexander the Great occupied Egypt
in 332 BC., it turned to Hellenistic cultural sphere and the country continued under Greek
Ptolemaics until Rome occupied it in 30 BC and the country became a Roman province11.
There are three themes that characterise Egyptian culture. The first is its astonishing continuity for
three thousand years. The other revolves around the concept of Ma'at - the cosmic order of the
world that the pharaoh should maintain. The third was the tendency to personificate almost
everything - even parts of the body. Along these main features, there were a similar emphasis on the
household and agriculture as in Mesopotamia although Egyptian culture was basically a rural
culture while Mesopotamian was urban one. In the field of sciences and innovations, Egyptians
2
3
Hymn to the Nile.
On the Predynastic history of Egypt, see, e.g., Hoffman (1980, 35-102), Trigger (1982), Dandamayev (1988, 19-39)
and Wetterstrom 1993.
4 Hoffman1980, 35-102; Wetterstrom 1993; Holmes 1996.
5 The problem is that there is extremely limited data from predynastic Egypt (Trigger 1982, 478).
6 For an overview on the Old Kingdom (ca. 2575-2130 BC), see, e.g., Smith W.S. (1971), Goelet (1996), Baines (1994,
110-113), Ziegler (1996), Wenke (1989, 144-148), Abu Bakr (1981, 91-95), Kemp (1982).
7 For an overview on the Middle Kingdom (ca. 1938-1600 BC.), see, e.g., Hayes (1971), Baines (1994, 113f.), Spanel
(1996), Abu Bakr (1981, 97f.), Kemp (1982).
8 For an overview on the New Kingdom (ca. 1550-1075 BC.), see, e.g., Wente & Baines (1994), Beliberg (1996), Abu
Bakr (1981, 99-105), O’Connor (1982).
9 The division of chronology originates from Greco-Egyptian writer Manetho of Sebennytos and his work Aegyptiaca
from early 3rd century AD (Baines 1994, 107).
10 Wente & Baines 1994, 121ff.
11 For an overview on the Ptolemaic Egypt (332-30 BC), see, e.g., Samuel & Browman (1994).
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were, in general, as advanced as Mesopotamians - in some fields they were better and in some they
lagged behind.
EGYPTIAN CULTURE was a mixture of African and Levantine cultures but it isolated itself
rather early and opened again only after the occupation by hyksos. In general, Egyptians despised
their neighbours and saw them only as potential servants. This attitude had its consequences in slow
adoption of new foreign innovations. From the welfare perspective, it could be supposed that when
these kinds of attitudes prevailed, the lot of foreign slaves and prisoners of war was not pretty good.
Another point was, as Richard Pierce argues, that stable, slowly changing technology rendered
individual enterprise and favoured patronage12.
The main feature in Egyptian culture was its aim to maintain the order of cosmos, the Ma'at.
Although this was primarily the task of the pharaoh, maintaining harmony was the ideal for
everyone. On the basis of this kind of general attitude one might suppose a strong emphasis on the
justice and abolition of oppression.
HOUSEHOLD was the basis of Egyptian society like in Mesopotamia. Also, in the same way,
palace and temples were seen as households of the pharaoh and gods. Ultimately, the whole Egypt
was a household of the divine pharaoh. And, thus, all were under the paternal authority of him. As a
consequence, Egypt can be seen as centrally led state bureaucracy where all had their places
according to the ma'at. The root metaphor of household implicitly contains the ideas of both
sublimation under the paternal authority and trust for the care.
Pharaoh's bureaucracy needed tools for the administration of the country and hieroglyphs, human
management, logistics, astronomy, mathematics and many other sciences developed to meet the
needs of the administration. Reading and writing were the major administrative skills and they were
the basic requirements for any leading position in the society. As a consequence, people were in
principle equal and status was achieved solemnly by talents. However, in practice, this might have
been a rare occasion since elite usually create mechanisms to ensure that their descendants achieve
the needed skills.
The problem of evaluating cultural opportunity structures in Egypt is that most artefacts describe
the great tradition. Tomb inscriptions, stelas and papyrus manuscripts describe mostly ideals of the
elite and they do not necessarily describe the reality13 - or, if they do, they describe the elite reality.
12
13
Pierce 1976, 16.
A good example of the distinction between ideal and reality are the informal limestone sketches made by the same
workmen that made the tomb paintings. Lynn Meskell (2002, 136-140) note that "many of them are satirical or ironic
pictures of everyday life, or conversely, the world-turned-upside-down." While elite art describes the life as
harmonous co-existence with young parents and their children, these pictures, as well as the Turin papyrus, show
old, fat and bald men having sexual intercourse with young girls. Thus, this art is mostly made according to elite
male ideals and hopes.
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Lower classes have not left descriptions of their lives or their values. Even the findings of village
life are from few excavations where the population consisted of skilled artisans and, for example,
literate level was much higher than the average in Egypt. Thus, while focus on cultural remnants
paints a view of harmonious society where the primary goal is abolition of injustice, this is only the
elite view.
EGYPT’S ECONOMICAL BASIS can be expressed with one word: the Nile. The river and its
flood was the source of fertile land where the crop grew. Nile was the main route between the north
and south. Papyrus gave material to ship building, baskets, ropes - and, above all, to writing
material. Mud of the Nile was exellent material for the bricks from which the most buildings were
made. Egypt was profoundly, a daughter of the Nile.
Like in Mesopotamia, Egyptian economy was based on surplus of grain. However, because of the
stronger role of the state and the absence of currency14, the Egyptian markets had some special
characteristics. The dominant phenomenon was the leading role of the state in the economy. The
other was that, contrary to Mesopotamia, Egypt was basically a rural society.
Egyptian economy was basically a distributive economy where the state society collected a great
deal of the harvest and distributed it to the people. Another speciality was the lack of money which
meant that the trade was on barter basis. Along with the state, important actors in economy were
temples and, actually, much of the economy of Egypt was revolved around temples. Temples used
their income to building projects, that gave work opportunities, and to offerings, which were
recycled and given to temple personnel, tomb builders and, at festivals, to the common people. The
third element in the Egyptian economy was the domestic one. Families produced at home most that
they needed and what they couldn't produce, they bartered with neighbours and at the river bank
market.
If we compare Egyptian economy to the Mesopotamian one, the similarity was that the basis of
economy was in the fertile land. Both areas lacked minerals and adequate trees which had to be
brought abroad. The difference was that, although markets existed in Egypt, the economy was
mostly led and stimulated by the state. Additionally, there was no currency in Egypt. Money was
used only in foreign trade. Internal trade was barter trade although the value of commodities were
often defined by the value of copper. Finally, as noted, there was no similar fibre revolution from
linen to wool that occurred in Mesopotamia. Egyptian fibre was mainly linen. This was one reason
why there was no such rush to towns that happened in Mesopotamia. Egypt remained as an
agricultural society.
14
Money was presented in Egypt only during the Thirtieth Dynasty, an even then it was mainly used to pay the salaries
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POLITICAL CONTEXT of ancient Egypt had several phases during the three millenia of
independent Egypt. In general, the political system was based on the divine kingship, like the
Mesopotamian one. Contrary to Mesopotamia, in Egypt the centralised rule was the ‘normal’ status
of affairs when in Mesopotamia it was an exception. However, in this broad system, there were
nuances that influenced into the thinking and discourse of people.
Up to the middle of the Middle Kingdom, Egypt was a feudalistic society. In the Old Kingdom
pharaoh utilised the resources of local nomarchs who were either spoken or forced to become kings
vassals. The whole system was based on king's ability to organise irrigation projects, store grain for
buffers against bad harvest and his ability to defend the country. It was the task of royal propaganda
to ensure that people started to think that kingship is crucial to the wellbeing of the country.
When this system collapsed during the First Intermediate Period, local nomarchs gained again much
of their lost independence. During a turbulence time, ordinary people sought for safe and nomarchs
offered it for loyalty. Thus, feodalism in Egypt emerged a bit same way as in Europe after the great
migrations.
During the 12th Dynasty pharaoh's reorganised the administration and re-created their bureaucracy.
In this, they used similar discourse that nomarchs had used before. The pharaoh became the
ultimate patron who ensured the wellbeing of both his vassals and commoners.
After the Hykso occupation of the country during the Second Intermediate Period, kingship in
Egypt was only shadow of its former mode. Instead of the pharaoh, who could not defend the
country, people started to see major deities as their ultimate patrons. It was this time, when personal
piety and commitment emerged.
“Egypt is the image of heaven15” - Egyptian Religion
According to Gleason L. Archer and William S. Lasor, Egyptiand never had a systematised
theology16. Jan Assmann, in turn, states that Egyptian language had no word for 'religion' but, in
spite of that, there was a clear distinction between holy and profane. Assmann quotes an old
Egyptian hymn as an example:
Re has placed the king
in the land of the living,
forever and ever,
judging humankind
and satisfying the gods,
15
16
of foreign mercenaries. (James, 1984, 241; Bleiberg 1995, 1376)
Asclepius, Nag Hammadi Library, quotated in Black 2002, 15.
Archer & Lasor 1988, 104.
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realizing Maat and destroying Isfet.
He (the king) gives offerings to the gods
and mortuary offerings to the deceased.17
In the wide meaning, all life and cosmos was intend to manifest and maintain Maat, the cosmic
order and fighting against Isfet, chaos. In this sense, religion covers everything, especially ethics
and justice. In the narrow meaning, religion dealt with contact with the gods and provisioning the
dead.18
Egypt, like Mesopotamia, was a culture that emerged along the river. It was the Nile that offered the
life for Egyptians. However, the river was a narrow strip between two deserts. Therefore it is
natural that Egyptians sought some explanation for the polarisation of these two elements, fertile
river valley and desert. Moreover, as J. Martin Plumley notes
From daily experience the early Egyptians learned that land. though bountiful and rewarding. was not entirely
friendly, and that what at one moment might be regarded as friendly could become hostile. .. To explain this in a
world that seemed so constant. the early Fgyptians began to assume that there were invisible forces. normally
beneficent. but which could become hostile, or that there were othcr forces which were always ill disposed. 19
It was from this dichotomy from which the basic concept of Egyptian thinking, Maat, arose.
THE MAAT, which does not have a western equivalence, meant right, order, balance, conformity,
truth, justice and sometimes righteousness20. In his classical work of Egyptian religion, Henry
Frankfort defined that Maat is
a divine order, established at the time of creation; this order is manifest in nature in the normalcy of phenomena;
it is manifest in society as justice; and it is manifest in an individuals life as truth.21
Black argues that Maat was personified as goddess and, in Heliopolitan tradition,
identified with Tefnut, the sister-wife of Shu. As such, she was not only ‘present at the creation’ , but in fact
provided the principle according to which that creation was carried out: the principle of ‘order’.22
Actually the world, that was created by Maat, was a sort of paradise as seen in the following hymn:
Maat descended to the earth in their time,
and fraterninzed with the gods.
Abundant food was in the bellies of men.
There was nothing wrong in the country,
no crocodile did snatch away,
there was no sting of a serpent
in the time of the Primordial gods…23
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18
19
20
21
22
23
Assmann 2001a, 3.
Assmann 2001a, 3ff.
Plumley 1980, 60.
Wilson 1980, 60; Hanson 1994, 14.
Frankfort 1961, 63.
Black 2002, 64.
Ringgren 1947, 46.
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Egyptian understanding of Maat meant that they made distinction between natural order and
cultural life. Cultural life must be reproducted and maintained. Otherwise it would be ruined. On
one hand, Maat was the cosmic order of the universe in a sense that we would call natural laws.
According to Frankfort, Egyptians
Viewed the universe as essentially static. It held that cosmic order was once and for all established in the time of
creation. This order might occasionally be disturbed, for the forces of chaos were merely subdued and not
annihilated. Nevertheless, revolts against the established order were bound to remain mere ripples upon the
surface.24
On the other hand, in the human life, maintaining Maat meant that people should benefit from the
fruits of their co-operation. Maat, in a way, combined Hebrew (and, in general, Semitic) concepts of
sedek and shalom. Thus, it meant justice and peace but also social harmony that was characterised
by philia and caritas25. This can be seen in the legal decisions that aimed not so much to literal
application of the law but to mutual agreement what is right in the situation.
KING was the crucial person in maintaining Maat. Without him, the task would be impossible. As
mentioned earlier, maintaining Maat was done by serving gods and securing the country. Thus, in
one sense, Egyptian pharaoh was a mixture of Mesopotamian ensi and lugal: he was both the
highest priest and secular authority. Contrary to Mesopotamia, where – at the beginning but not
later – the king was a human who represented humans to gods, traditional paradigm of
Egyptologists states that pharaoh was seen as a god representing gods to humans. Frankfort
expresses this traditional paradigm as follows:
Pharaoh was not mortal but a god. This was the fundamental concept of Egyptian kingship, that Pharaoh was of
divine essence, a god incarnate… It is wrong to speak of a deification of Pharaoh… His coronation was not an
apotheosis but an epiphany.26
However, this view has not been unchallenged. Hans Goedicke sees that the king is a representative
of gods, not an incarnation27. C. Jouco Bleeker points out, the although pharaoh
was descended from the sun-god, this did not make him equal of the gods. The pharaoh is always designated 'the
good god' and never 'the great god', the predicate of the true gods. 28
Thus he could be seen as similar semi-god as Gilgamesh and other Sumerian ancient heroes.
Tyldesley argues that in coronation pharaoh was elevated as a "semi-divine being who stood partway between the divine gods and mortal Egyptians. At his death he would advance one further step
to become fully divine29." Miriam Lichtheim, in turn, interprets the expression 'good god' meaning
24
25
26
27
28
29
Frankfort 1978, 4.
I come to these concepts later in chapters on Israel and Greece.
Frankfort 1978, 5.
Goedicke (1960) according to Sørensen (1994, 133).
Bleeker 1969, 78.
Tyldesley 2000, 21.
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that he was approachable unlike the 'great gods'30. Winfried Barta makes a distinction between
kings ritual and universal action. According to him, it is the ritual status of the king that is seen as
god.31 Understood in this way, there is no big difference to Mesopotamian understanding of their
king as Tammuz in the New Year Festival.
DEITIES of Egypt were numerous like in Mesopotamia. Egyptian pantheon consisted of major
deities, lesser deities, spirits and demons, divined ancestors and semi-gods32. However, Egyptian
attempt to harmonise contradictions led to syncretism where all gods were seen as part of the divine
power and as part of this divinity. With the unification, there emerged a similar phenomenon as in
Mesopotamia. State's patron gods assimilated into themselves lesser gods or they were interpreted
as relatives. Assmann quotes a Ramsesside Period hymn in which this unification of pantheon is
expressed:
All gods are three:
Amun, Re, and Ptah, who have no equal.
He who hides his names as Amun,
he is Re in appearance,
his body is Ptah.33
Thus, Egyptians had a practise to personify different aspects of gods with special names (or they
interpreted previous gods as aspects of the main gods). In this, they followed the same practise than
they applied for the human body: a god was seen as a collectivity of gods just as a body was seen as
a collectivity of characters34. It does not need much imagination to suppose that early Egyptian
church fathers applied this type of thinking when they created Christian doctrines of Christology
and Trinity.
The rough division between Egyptian gods can be made between the line of those attached to the
state cult, local patron gods and others.
If we compare Egyptian creation stories to those of Sumer and the Bible, we can see that there is
nowhere mentioned the status of the humanity. In Sumer, humans were created to be gods' slaves in
order to free them from routine works. In the Biblical stories, a human was placed as a ruler of the
world. However, implicitly, Egyptian cosmology has a similar emphasis as Mesopotamian one:
humans are next to the bottom of the hierarchy, being above only of animals and plants. Even some
30
31
32
33
34
Lichtheim 1997, 22.
Barta (1975) according to Sørensen (1994, 134).
Baines 2000,14f.
Assmann 2001, 8 (italics in original).
There has been a long debate between Egyptologists whether there was a belief in the fundamental unity of the gods
or not. In his Der Eine und die Vielen: Ägyptische Gottesvorstellungen (in English Conceptions of God in Ancient
Egypt: The One and the Many. Hornung 1982 )Erik Hornung opened the debate in 1971. His answer was negative.
Agains him, Jan Assman (1993) has defended the unity thinking. According to Assmann (2001, 10), there is a
distinction between explicit and implicit theology: "explicit theology dealt with 'god,' in the singular, whereas
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animals, as manifestations of certain gods, were above humans. Apis bull is the most obvious
example.
CULT practises of Egyptian religion can be divided roughly into three classes. First, there was the
state cult and this is what we usually see as the Egyptian religion since it has left majority of the
remnants: buildings, writings and other artefacts. Second, there was the local cult that was public
service of those local minor gods that were worshipped independently of the state cult. Some of
these gods were also part of the state cult but locally they had a different significance. Finally, there
is the domestic cult that was done by individuals or families. These modes of religion were not
mutually exclusive but there was interaction and overlapping. Ashraf I. Sadek, who, in his Popular
Religion in Egypt during the New Kingdom, makes only a division into two, state and popular
religion, explains the overlaps as follows:
1.
2.
3.
the same gods are common to both forms of religion;
popular religion tends to conform itself (in regular worship) to rituals and forms hallowed by official religion;
popular participation in state religion occurred in limited degree on days of festival-processions when ordinary
people might greet or accompany the processions, or share in a dramatic role ('mysteries' of Osiris)35
One could add that private funerary beliefs and rites were also copied from the state cult since the
First Intermediate Period when elite started to bury themselves in a manner that was earlier
preserved only to the king.
State cult was the system of official religious practices that aimed for the explanation and
maintenance of the royal power in Egypt. Sadek defines it as follows:
State Religion in ancient Egypt is the series of cults through-out the Delta and Nile valley (and sometimes
abroad) practised in the name of the king by a body of often 'full-time' ministrants and priests, in special
buildings (temples) in accord with formal (and usually complex) rites of offering and worship. While the aim of
these rites is to obtain from the gods their blessing and favour upon all Egypt, from the king downward, their
execution was the task of specialists, conducted almost entirely in private, shut off from the general public, a
religion to which the wider public had almost no access. This was a religion for, on behalf of, the people - but not a form
of religion practised by the people.36
Local cult served local deities who were not part of the state cult. As Assmann notes,
The temples of local gods are also geographic centers and points of reference for a sense of belonging and
political identity. The city god represents the city. 37
Domestic cult was question of individual piety. Sadek notes that most of the evidence during the
Old Kingdom is funerary and official. Personal piety attached to funerals reflected the beliefs and
implicit theology had to do with 'gods".
Sadek 1997, 2.
Sadek 1987, 1. The only exceptions were the festivans, when people could participate as audience, and some
occasions when some classes of officials had an access to the outer courts (idem, note 1).
37 Assmann 2001b, 75.
35
36
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practises of the state cult. In spite of the lack of evidence, Sedek supposes that there were some
ancient cults related to local deities but we do not have knowledge on them.38
The evidence is not much clearer in the case of Middle Kingdom. However, there are some texts39
that refer to thanksgiving burnt offering indicating that the individual piety might reflect those
practices described in the Genesis40 and in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Along with these textual
references, there are several Abydos stelae referring to the mysteries of Osiris into which also
common people participated.41
During the Second Intermediate Period theideology on divine kingship got a serious hit. The
pharaoh was not able to protect the land and this left its marks to people's religious thinking as well.
Instead of human pharaoh, people started to look for the gods as their supreme patrons. During the
New Kingdom personal piety became significan aspect in religious cult. Jan Assmann argues that
"there is a very obvious line ot tradition, leading trom the patrons of the FIP [First Intermediate
Period] to royal ideology and from there to the theology of Personal Piety." The discourse that was
previously attached to earthly patrons was now applied to human-god relationship.42
A typical example of this discourse can be found in the inscription where a certain Kiki renders
himself to goddess Mut
He said: I will give her all my fortune and my income,
for I recognize her power with my eyes,
her unique efficiency.
She made my fear vanish
and gave me shelter in the moment of distress.
She came, the north-wind ahead of her,
when I called her by her name.
I am a weak one of her town,
a poor one and a pilgrim of her city.
I disposed of my possession in her favor,
in exchange for the breath of life. 43
The discourse deals with the commitment that the god can act as a patron who can give shelter from
fear and anxiety, guidance in a pathless and unintelligible world, protection against persecution,
human injustice, malign demons and deities, dangers of all sort including the fear of Pharaoh.".
According to Assmann, the difference of piety to loyalism to a patron or to the king is that "with
38
39
40
41
42
43
Sedek 1997, 5.
Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor and Story of sinuhe.
Gen 4:3-5; 8:20-21; 22:1-13.
Sadek 1997, 6ff.
Assmann 1999, 40.
Quoted in Assmann 1999, 34.
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the transition from loyalism to piety, the idea of the heart-directed man turns into that of the god
directed heart."
44
Egyptian Philanthropic Practices
With the rise of individual piety during the fifth dynasty of the Middle Kingdom, tomb inscriptions
started to contain both negative sin confessions and list of good deeds the person had did in their
life45. These inscriptions contained practically all of the ‘corporal works of mercy’ or ‘seven acts of
charity’46 that Christians adopted following Mattehw 25:41. For example, the tomb inscription of
Nefer-Seshem Ra, nicknamed Sheshi, is a typical example of this practice:
I rescued the weak from one stronger than he
as much as was in my power.
I gave bread to the hungry, clothes ...;
I brought the boatless to land.
I buried him who had no son;
I made a boat for him who lacked one.47
Actually, in this and similar expressions, like Book of the Death and in several Instructions, we can
find all Seven Charities of the Christian church. It became a duty of all individuals to maintain
ma'at.
Contrary to Mesopotamians, Egyptians did not fear direct divine punishment. Instead, they feared
the court of Osiris and the judgement that either granted them everlasting life or condemned them to
second death. Additionally, Egyptians valued harmonious life and had learned to understand the
significance of co-operation. Without co-operation, their wellbeing was not possible.
SOCIAL EQUALITY was a bifacial issue in Egypt. On one hand, social layers were perhaps even
more hierarchical than in Mesopotamia. On the other hand, all Egyptians were seen as pharaoh’s
slaves and all were, in principle, equal in legal matters48. Moreover, the status of an individual did
not come so much because of the inherited blood but because of the office he held. Pharaoh could
rise anyone to top ranks49 and dismiss him as well. It was in pharaoh’s interest to have loyal and
44
45
Assmann 1999, 43f.
Epzstein 1986, 23. Hanson (1994, 14), however, doubts that this was any general rule or practice. He argues that
there is a significant lack of expressions of the solidarity with the poor and oppressed. John A. Wilson (1980, 60f.),
in turn, locates this type of individual piety to two centuries in the beginning of the Middle Kingdom (from ca. 2000
BC on) and argues that it disappeared along with the invasion of Hyksos
46 On corporal works of Mercy, see Delany (2003).
47 Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume 1, p. 17.
48 However, as we have seen, there has not survived similar law codices than in the case of Mesopotamia. Thus, we do
not know whether there were similar class-based laws than, for example in the Law of Hammurabi.
49 The classical example is the Biblical the story where slave Joseph was elevated as the vizier of Egypt (Gen 41: 3746).
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skillful staff in his administration. Because members of the noble families had often stonger loyalty
to their family than to pharaoh, it was in pharaoh’s interest to use people who had to thank only him
of their positions.
In general, it can be said that Egypt was a patron society where individuals sought protection from
their superiors. Lehner reminds that the word for free (nmh) originally meant "poor or deprived" or
"orphan." Freedom in this sense meant helplessness and it had similar connotations than in
Mesopotamia: "belonging to a household, either as a relative or a receiver of patronage, seems to
have been an important Egyptian wish."50
WOMEN'S POSITION in Egypt should be seen in this general frame of dependance. In general,
women were treated better than perhaps in any other ancient culture. They were legally independent
persons who could own and sell51 property and who could act by themselves in legal matters.52
Like in most societies, women's status and role was defined by fertility issues. In principle,
sexuality and marriage were private matters of those who were involved with it. Thus, for example,
sex between singles was no problem, and single mothers and their children were not despised. The
point was that in marriage a man had to be sure that the child he feeded, reared and who would
inherit him, was his. This aspect required fidelity from the part of the wife - but not from the
husband. Infidelity of the wife could lead to her beating and this was considered legally justified53.
In general, beating of the wife was a private offend. However, more probable fate was the divorce,
loss of property and social shame.54
While the status of a free woman was almost equal to the man, same cannot be said on female
slaves. Along with their domestic duties, they were supposed to serve as concubines of their
masters. If they were lucky, their masters would marry them but more often they were, as Tyldesley
notes "breeding machines, either for the production of slave-children or as surrogate mothers to the
free-born55."
50
51
Lehner 2000, 77.
For Herodotos (II:35) this was a wonder. He states that roles of sexes in Egypt are opposite than among other
nations: “ The women attend the markets and trade, while the men sit at home at the loom.”
52 Lorton 1995, 349; Tyldesley 2000, 78.
53 Both Herodotos (II:111) and Westcar Papyrus story of the Wax Crocodile (LAE, 16ff.) mention burning to death as
a punishment to female infidelity. The Tale of Two Brothers (AEL II, 207), an Egyptian equivalence to the Biblical
Joseph and Potifar's wife story (Gen 39: 5-20), tells that the lying wife was killed and thrown to the dogs. Diodorus
Siculus (I:78 - quoted in Tyldesley (2000, 160) mentions mutilation of the nose of an adulterous wife, 1000 blows to
his lover and castration as a punishment for rape. However, Diodorus is not always reliable wittness. One must also
be careful with Herodotos and Westcar Papyrus, since we do not know from which source Herodotos got his
information. Westcar papyrys story, in turn, is a fairytale and its punishments should be categorised into the same
class as those in the Fairytales of Grimm Brothers.
54 Tyldesley 2000, 153-161.
55 Tyldesley 2000, 82. She refers to so called Adoption Papyrus which tells about such a case. A more familiar story is
the Biblical Hagar story (Gen 16) which shows that the practice was known outside Egypt as well.
13
Prostitution in general was an accepted profession although we do not have much records from it56.
However, the interesting point is Herodotos' mention that “ the Egyptians first made it a point of
religion to have no converse with women in the sacred places57.” Thus, Egyptian temples did not
practice sacral prostitution like Mesopotamians did.
MEDICAL CARE in Egypt was on a higher level than in any other ancient society. The
knowledge and distribution was wider than in any other culture in antique. The knowledge ranged
from common visdom to high specialised doctors. On the level of common knowledge of medicine,
Homer writes that in Egypt "every one in the whole country is a skilled physician, for they are of
the race of Paeeon58." Thus, like in all cultures, much of the health care was on the responsibility of
individual and her/his family. Thus, we can read that a blind draughtsman Pay asks his son to bring
him honey, ochre and black eyepaint59, common elements of Egyptian eye remedies.
However, as we see in diodorus Sicilus' mention60, doctors were paid from the public funds.
According to Sameh M. Arab, this meant that "medical attention granted for every citizen61." Even
if this is an over-statement, some parts of the population got free medical care. Sicilus also mentions
that "on their military campaigns and on their journeys in the country they all receive treatment free
of charge62." Moreover, from other sources we know that both mine-workers63 and workmen of
Deir-el-Medina received free medical treatment. However, as A. G. McDowell shows, the doctor
there was not full-time but a member of the working gang, who was excused from the work because
of medical responsibilities. Moreover, even he was not totally free of charge but got a small
payment "similar to that redeived by the guardian and the doorkeeper."64 On the other hand, there
are several documents that show doctors receiving gratuituous gifts from their patients - especially
when they were foreigners. Thus, there might have been a system that the health care was attached
to the working projects. This means that during the project, one got free medical treatment. With the
forced labour system, this would practically include most of the population. In addition to this basic
health care, rich paid to doctors in order to get such services that were not included to the basic
service.
56
Herodotos (II: 126) quotes an Egyptian story in which even Pharaoh Khufu (Kheops) prostituted her daughter. The
tone of the condemnation of his action was not in the prostitution itself but in the avarice of the king.
57 Herodotos II:64.
58 Homer, Odyssey IV:230
59 Honey has antiseptic and antibacterial properties, ocre cools and reduces swelling and black eye-paint supposedly
decreased the amount of the sunlight to the eyes. Papyrus Ebers has a prescription rather identical to Pay's request.
(McDowell 1999, 55.
60 Diodorus Sicilus II:82.
61 Arab 1988-2000c.
62 Diodorus Sicilus II
63 Sinai Stela mentions the name of Chief Physician Ren-ef-Seneb (Arab 1988-2000c.).
14
Along with free health care, pharaoh's (and temples') workers were granted sick leaves and
invalidity pensions if the invalidity was caused by the work. Thus, there was some sort of medical
insurance. It is not known whether this was appliad in the private sector but it can be supposed that
the feudalistic system, in order to maintain its legitimacy, reguired some sort of care from the side
of the patron.
EDUCATION in Egypt was restricted to few. Only one percent of the population was literate.
Others got their general education orally by listening stories and wisdom literature. Professional
education was mainly given from father to son and from mother to daughter.
Egypt produced a significant amount of so called wisdom literature. Mainly these instructions were
in a form of father instructing his son. Along with these, there was numerous stories and fairytales
which contained important social teaching. This Egyptian wisdom literature tradition has
contributed its share also to the Old Testament where are some striking parallels with the Egyptian
stories.
Majority of the population, however, got their education at home and at work. Since Egyptians
favoured inherited occupations and offices, also officials taught their jobs to their heirs.
Those few who learned to read and write could be sure that their future was granted. Literacy was
the way to higher occupations and writing was required from officials, doctors, architects and
priests. They got an education that was highest in the ancient world. Egyptian universities taught
medicine, astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, philosophy, and, of course, religion.
To sum up
Egyptian society was based on co-operation. In a way, it was inbuild in people's thinking that one
cannot survive alone. Therefore, as Weber put it, there was 'no man without master'. However, this
did not mean despotism or oligarchy. The whole system was based on the concept of Ma'at, justice,
righteousness. It was the clue that kept the Egyptian society together. When it was given up, the
country suffered.
It is from this Ma'at perspective that one must understand Egyptian frame of dependence and
equality. It is from this perspective that one must see women's status, free medical care,
redistributive economy, etc.
Egyptian concept of Ma'at can also be seen behind the Hebrew concepts of sedek, mispa and
shalom. It is through this way that Egyptian ideas have filtered to modern times.
64
McDowell 1999, 54; Arab 1988-2000c.
15
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