Economic System

The ancient Egyptian economy, also known as the ancient command economy was a unique system which was monitored and controlled by a specialized bureaucracy under a pharaoh. The backbone of this system was agriculture and trade which ensured the financing for the pharaoh’s ambitious projects rather than the development and welfare of the common people. The country was a patchwork of mostly autarkic households and domains. The crops were harvested, the governmental taxes were deducted, and the surplus was stored for future use or for the purpose of barter exchange. This is why scarce number of goods reached the market.

The trade was in the hands of the wholesale merchants who acted under the orders of the king or the great temple states. The extent to which the private individuals were involved in trading cannot be estimated. In case of a shortages and periods of administrative breakdown, market forces seem to have played a decisive role in solving the crisis. Initially, the market transactions took place via barter trade, but later on, major changes took place, and coinage was introduced when foreigners arrived in Egypt in the late period.

Agriculture

Ancient Egypt can be thought of as an oasis in the desert of northeastern Africa, dependent on the annual inundation of the Nile River to support its agricultural population. ¹ Egypt's noble way of life depended on agriculture, both for commodities and tax revenues. ² This agricultural economy was built on a technique known as basin cultivation where natural depressions (low areas) that were flooded by the inundation were surrounded with berms and dams to hold in the water. ³

From the Pre-dynastic Period, agriculture was the mainstay of the Egyptian economy. Most Egyptians were employed in agricultural labors, either on their own lands or on the estates of the temples or nobles. Control of irrigation became a major concern, and provincial officials were held responsible for the regulation of water. The storage of crops occurred at the local level and at royal granaries in the capital, and assessors were sent from the capital to the provinces to collect taxes in the form of grain. The local temples of the gods also had vast fields, with their own irrigation needs. The temples had storage units and were subject to taxes in most eras, unless exempted for a particular reason or favor. ⁴

The irrigation system was complex; it used the Nile flood and its attendant deposits of rich black mud to cultivate the land as far as possible on either side of the river. Earth dikes were built to divide the land into compartments of varying sizes, and when the river rose, the water was diverted into these areas through a system of canals. It was kept there until the black silt was deposited, and once the river level fell, any remaining water was drained off from these compartments. The remaining rich soil could be plowed and sown with crops.

Most of the population worked on the land. The peasant worked either with his family or in a gang and cultivated crops for the state and for his own needs. The state organized the irrigation system and also the storage of the country’s food supply in granaries. Officials who controlled these aspects were responsible to the king, who in theory owned all the land.

Egypt’s main crop was cereals. Knowledge of their cultivation was introduced from the Near East in Neolithic times. The farmers grew two kinds of wheat (spelt and emmer) as well as barley, and these provided the Egyptians with the basic requirements for their staple diet of bread and beer. Stages in the production of these cereals are depicted in many tomb scenes to ensure an ample food supply for the deceased in the next life. Once the Nile waters had receded in the autumn, seed was scattered on the earth and then plowed into the soil by a peasant who either used a wooden hoe or followed a plow dragged by two cows. Next, sheep and pigs were set loose on the plowed area to trample the ground. The harvest was gathered in the spring. The men worked together in a group and cut the stalks with wooden sickles fitted with flint blades. Once the short sheaves had been made into bundles, donkeys carried them to the threshing floor where animals trampled the stalks and separated the ripe grain from the husks. It was then further separated with a brush and winnowed by using a wooden scoop to throw it into a high wind before it was sieved. The by-product, straw, was set aside for making brick while the corn itself was measured and kept in sacks in large silos.

The other major product of Egypt was linen. This textile was widely used for clothing and other domestic purposes as well as for mummy badges. It was produced from flax, and tomb scenes often show this being gathered. Peasants worked together in the fields to pull the flax fibers before they bundled them; then they prepared the material for spinning and weaving. Cotton cultivation was introduced into Egypt from Nubia during the Coptic Period, and from the nineteenth century A.D. it became one of Egypt’s major industries. Cereals and linen (which was produced to an extremely high quality) were Egypt’s main exports in antiquity.

Irrigation was carried out only once a year in antiquity, allowing the fields to be watered and cultivated, the orchards and gardens near the cultivated basins or compartments could be used all the time because the river regularly fed them with water. The gardeners were assiduous in transporting water to these areas, either bringing it from the Nile in two large pots suspended from a yoke or using a shaduf. The shaduf, introduced in the New Kingdom, had a bucket on one end of a rope that was lowered into the river; this was counterbalanced by a weight at the other end of the device.

In the gardens near their houses and on the mud dikes the peasants grew beans, lentils, chickpeas, fenugreek, radishes, onions, cucumbers, lettuces, and herbs. Plants also produced perfumes, dyes, and medicines; oil came from castor oil plants, Arabian moringa, and the olive tree. Flowers, including cornflowers, chrysanthemums, and lotus, were also grown in gardens for the production of bouquets and garlands. Fruits that added variety to their diet included figs, grapes, sycamore figs and dates, and pomegranates.

Wine production was another major industry. The wine may have been introduced to Egypt from Asia before 3000 B.C. Grapes could be picked throughout the year to provide table grapes and grape juice, but there were regular heavy vintages when the grapes were picked and processed before the wine was poured into amphorae (tall jars with pointed bases) where it was left to age.

The production of papyrus was also important. It was used for writing paper, ropes, sails, baskets, mats, and sandals. There had always been huge thickets of papyrus in the marshlands, particularly in the Delta, and later it was grown in cultivated fields. Laborers cut down the papyrus stems and transported them to workshops where they were turned into the required products.

In earliest times there was abundance of animal life in Egypt. Once hunting had given way to farming, people began to domesticate animals. In pre-dynastic, times dogs were trained to hunt and guard the herds. By the time of the Old Kingdom donkeys, cows, oxen, and sheep were used for a variety of agricultural and other tasks, and pigs were later introduced for trampling the sown fields. There were two breeds of oxen in ancient Egypt, and cows and bulls roamed the grasslands. Other animals, kept for meat, milk, and leather or as sacrificial beasts, included goats, gazelles, and oryx. By selection of the animals in temple herds the Egyptians were able to improve breeds of sheep and cattle. Birds were also specially bred and fattened for the table. They included geese, ducks, cranes, and pigeons. Although land cultivation was very important, the population was small enough to ensure that they were not forced to overwork the land. Large areas of marsh were left for hunting and fishing. Fishermen used traps and nets to take a wide variety of fish and nobles made their catches with harpoons. Birds were hunted with boomerangs and with civets, mongooses, and wild cats; large clap nets were used to trap quantities of geese and wild duck. ⁵

Industries

Many modern books about ancient Egypt describe its people as hardworking and diligent. With the exception of a handful of privileged nobles and wealthy individuals, virtually every ancient Egyptian performed some sort of work on a daily basis. Moreover, most did so with a strong sense of personal responsibility to their fellow citizens.

The idea of shared responsibility and sacrifice was very relevant to the ancient Egyptians. Although most farmers were poor peasants and socially inferior to members of the upper classes, Egyptians placed high value on the work done by farmers. All available evidence, the late Egyptologist Adolf Erman wrote, “Tends to show that the Egyptians themselves felt that agriculture was the most important industry in the country.” Conversely, the peasants and other members of the lower classes looked to the pharaoh, vizier, and other top officials to run the country and protect its citizenry. So overall there was a certain level of respect for the contributions made to the system by people of diverse social status and skill sets.

Arts and Craft Industry

When a soldier managed to survive all of these dangers and threats and retired from the military, he commonly sought some other occupation that would provide a living for him and his family, if he had one. Some former soldiers took up farming. Many others became craftsmen—highly skilled workers and not soldiers. Numerous different kinds of craftsmen— mostly men but a fair number of women, too—existed in Egypt. Only a partial list includes potters; carpenters; coppersmiths; smiths who specialized in other metals, including bronze, gold, and silver; jewelers; leather workers; basket makers; glassmakers; tailors and seamstresses; and stonemasons.

Joining the ranks of these craft specialists were professional workers of a different sort—men and women who today are classified as artists. For reasons that are unclear, the Egyptians did not have a separate word for artist in the modern sense. Rather, the upper classes viewed talented individuals like painters, sculptors, and musicians simply as other kinds of craft specialists and granted them the same social status and pay as craftsmen.

Among these persons who were not accorded the title of artist were numerous women. It has been established that Egyptian women served in many occupations both inside and outside household settings, including cooks, maids, weavers, bakers, and even a few doctors. More artistically talented women worked either part-or full-time as flower arrangers, beauticians, musicians, dancers, singers, painters, and possibly as assistants to jewelers and sculptors.

Whether female or male, most craftsmen were not independent contractors who worked for themselves, as their modern counterparts often are. Instead, they usually did their jobs in workshops, the ancient equivalent of factories, owned by the royal palace, temples, provincial governors, and wealthy households. The main reason for this was that a majority of the craftsmen’s customers were members of the upper classes. The peasants who made up the bulk of the population usually could not afford to buy the finely made products created by the craftsmen and artists. André Dollinger offers two examples, saying, “Cabinet makers carefully carved beautiful furniture for the rich, while the less well-off made do with often crudely made and painted chests and chairs, and the poor had to do without. Seamstresses sewed dresses of the finest linen, while the peasant woman’s handiwork was much simpler and cheaper.” ⁶

Pottery

All pottery items and ceramics were made of clay. Scholars have divided Egyptian clays into two general categories based on the raw sources, Nile Alluvium and Marl. ⁷ The pottery consisted of cheap dinnerware and vases made by kedu, or potters, who were probably the earliest Egyptian craft specialists, as well as the most common. The diverse kinds of pottery, or ceramic items, they produced included dishes, cups, bowls, jugs, oil flasks, flower vases, wine jars, oil-burning lamps, and figurines, to name only a few. They were made from mud from the riverbanks, intended for practical purposes, and inexpensive. So, all but the very poorest families could afford to purchase at least a few of them. A smaller number of ceramic items were fashioned of faience, which was composed of stone dust rather than mud. Faience wares were much higher in quality, more expensive, and more often than not marketed to the upper classes. ⁸

Jewelry

The discovery of the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun (18th dynasty; 1539–1292 BCE) revealed the high degree of mastery attained by Egyptian goldsmiths. ⁹ Egyptian jewelers made both cheap costume jewelry for members of the lower classes and expensive items for the well-to-do. Among the latter were some of the finest necklaces, bracelets, earrings, anklets, and pendants of the ancient world. The necklaces included both simple, single strands and a much wider and more elaborate variety called wesekh. Even more complex was the pectoral. It could be either a necklace with an ornately decorated plaque hanging from it or the plaque itself, which was frequently worn like a brooch. The plaque usually contained a detailed painted or carved miniature scene containing beautiful pieces of stone, metal, and other materials. In addition to gold and silver, jewelers employed copper; bronze; electrum (a mixture of gold and silver); brass (a mixture of copper and zinc); ivory; polished colored pebbles; glass beads; seashells; and semiprecious stones that included garnet, lapis lazuli, turquoise, carnelian, jasper, rock crystal, calcite, feldspar, and quartz, among others.

Fine Egyptian jewelry was not only worn by both female and male members of the upper classes, it was also used to decorate statues of the gods that stood inside temples. In addition, wealthy folk adorned the bodies of their deceased loved ones with various jewelry items before sealing their tombs.

Sculpting

Fine jewelry settings like those made for royalty were only one of several examples of superb artistry among Egyptian craftsmen. Among the others was the work of the country’s sculptors, who produced both freestanding statues and bas-reliefs (carved figures and scenes raised from but still attached to a flat surface). The reliefs were most often carved on large horizontal stone panels in temples, tombs, and palaces.

The freestanding statues the sculptors created were carved from several different materials, including stone, metal, wood, terra-cotta (baked clay), and ivory. The figures pictured of gods, pharaohs and their wives and children, government officials, various other people, and a wide variety of animals. Although most statues were life-size or a bit smaller or larger than life-size, a few were enormous. Among the most renowned of these so-called colossi are two stone images of the pharaoh Amenhotep III. Each stands some 50 feet (15 m) high and weighs more than 700 tons (635 metric tons). The largest of all the statues produced in ancient Egypt is the famous Great Sphinx at Giza (near modern Cairo), measuring roughly 66 feet (20 m) high and 240 feet (73 m) long. ¹⁰

Mining

By any account, the worst occupations in Egypt were those of quarry and mine workers. The work was so exhausting and the conditions were so dusty, dank and dangerous that mine stints were sometimes used as jail sentences for serious crimes.

Until sandstone (which could bear greater stress) came into vogue in the New Kingdom, limestone was the material of choice for large construction projects. Quarries for both these soft stones were plentiful in Egypt, but freeing the blocks of either material involved dusty, dirty work using copper or bronze chisels and picks which, blow upon blow, chipped away the stone. Work proceeded from the top layer down, since swinging a pick downward was less fatiguing than swinging upward. Luckier workers toiled in open pits; the less fortunate worked underground. For a subterranean stoneworker, extracting the first blocks required crawling in spaces just large enough to wriggle through. His body covered in stone dust, he labored in a dark and eerie world peopled by shadows made by his flickering oil lamp, constantly at risk of being crushed by rocks or falling prey to endemic lung disease.

Yet the work of the quarryman was easy compared to the work of those who mined precious gold and turquoise, following seams wherever they led through holes deep in the ground. Time was not taken to enlarge mine shafts with timber supports, so the miners were forced to crawl through spaces that seldom allowed room to stand, swinging picks all day on their stomachs in order to chip precious gifts free from hard rock. As employees of a government monopoly, working for food and drink, they were not allowed even the smallest grain of gold or minuscule turquoise gem for themselves.

Dairy Farming

Tens of thousands of cattle, goats and sheep were the responsibility of herdsmen who roamed the plains of Egypt caring for their charges, while other herdsmen settled on farm estates with smaller herds. Both carried long staves to enforce their commands, although the real affection they felt for their herds is illustrated by the names they bestowed on their animals: “Beauty,” “Golden” and “Brilliant.”

A herdsman lived with his herd, guiding them to fresh grazing areas, defending them against hyena and crocodile predators, carrying the sick and injured on his back. When a cow gave birth, he was at her side, cooing affectionately and, when necessary, easing the calf from her womb; when a stream had to be forded, he shouldered those calves too small to walk safely across. The cattle were rounded up, lassoed and branded; of course, in Egypt, what was burned on the cattle’s right shoulder was a hieroglyphic sign. ¹¹

Trade

Trade has always been an important part of every civilization regardless of the fact that it’s at the local or international level. Secondly, no country was self-sufficient. Each country lacked one thing or the other, and that lacking product was acquired via trade with others. Likewise, ancient Egypt was a country rich in many natural resources but still was not self-sufficient and so had to rely on trade for necessary goods and luxuries.

Regarding the beginning of trade in ancient Egypt, James Henry Breasted states:

  “Under the First Union we find numerous paintings of many-oared Nile boats on the pottery jars found in the graves of the period. These are the earliest boats of which we have any knowledge. They show us that the river towns were carrying on brisk trade with each other; for each boat carries on a pole a standard, the symbol of the town from which it came. The cemeteries of the First Union have thus far yielded about three hundred of these standard-bearing boats, and two hundred and twenty-two of these came from the western Delta. This shows us how the old kingdom of Lower Egypt was leading in commerce. It indicates also that the seaport of Egypt on the Mediterranean was already at the western corner of the Delta, where Alexander the Great later founded Alexandria, the greatest seaport of ancient times. And from there, nearly three thousand years before Alexander, Egyptian trade and civilization were to pass by ship to Crete and thence to Europe.” ¹²

For most of its history, ancient Egypt's economy operated on a barter system without cash. It was not until the Persian Invasion of 525 B.C. that a cash economy was instituted in the country. Prior to this time, trade flourished through an exchange of goods and services based on a standard of value both parties considered fair.

Goods and services were valued on a unit known as a Deben. According to historian James C. Thompson, the deben "functioned much as the dollar does in North America today to let customers know the price of things, except that there was no deben coin". A Deben was "approximately 90 grams of copper; very expensive items could also be priced in debens of silver or gold with proportionate changes in value". If a scroll of papyrus cost one deben, and a pair of sandals were also worth one deben, the pair of sandals could be traded fairly for the papyrus scroll. In this same way, if three jugs of beer cost a deben and a day's work was worth a deben then one would fairly be paid three jugs of beer for one's daily labor. ¹³

All foreign trade was under the control of the central government. The king sponsored most trading expeditions, and the few private commercial ventures were overseen by government officials and subject to tariffs and other fees. The government also protected trading caravans, establishing fortifications at oases and providing patrols along borders and frontier roads and at trading centers.

Because most of the major settlements in ancient Egypt were along the Nile River, the primary means of travel was by boat. Boats and ships came in many sizes and varieties, with some made of papyrus reeds and some of wood. The ancient Egyptians made their reed boats by bundling reeds in layers and tying them together with ropes. Shaped much like a canoe, they were paddled or poled along the shallows of the Nile River. Because the river had many such shallows, wooden boats tended to be flat-bottomed, with little or nothing in the way of a keel. They too were typically paddled or rowed, although many had sails as well. Wooden barges and other vessels used for transporting animals and/or heavy supplies were towed by another boat. Larger boats of all kinds might have a cabin, or perhaps two, constructed of reed mats or linen. From the Middle Kingdom on, large boats also had rudders. Seagoing ships had fixed ones with as many as thirty rowers; these vessels were over sixty feet long.

For trips on land covering distances too far to walk or involving heavy burdens, most people used a donkey. However, apparently only the lower classes rode astride these donkeys, because although archaeologists have found a donkey saddle, they have not found any scenes in royal or noble tombs depicting a donkey being ridden astride. Instead two donkeys might support poles atop which was a chair for the rider and servants on the ground forced the donkeys to move forward. Alternatively, there might be no donkey but servants simply carrying the chair aloft.

The wheel was known in the Old Kingdom, but wheeled carts were not used until the New Kingdom, because of the problems presented by Egypt’s rocky and sandy terrain. The introduction of light, two-wheeled, horse-drawn chariots by the Hyksos helped with these problems, but because only nobility and royalty could afford horses, the masses did not make use of these new vehicles. Large caravans, however, might use ox-drawn wagons to transport their goods. ¹⁴

Local Trade

Domestic merchandising never became a major feature of Egyptian society. The geographical conditions of the country and the royal monopoly on the main export trade limited the development of extensive private commercial enterprise. Markets, as depicted in tomb scenes, were probably the main area of trade, when food, clothes, and ornaments changed hands. As there was no coinage system until the Persian Period (525 B.C.), although by the New Kingdom metals (gold, silver, and copper) were used as the standards for valuations, barter was the means of exchange. It is probable that some merchants or middlemen (including officials) did exist, but there are few references to them. Trade only played a small part in the movement of goods within Egypt since royal gifts provided income for the nobles and private persons were paid salaries and wages in kind.

The king and the administration decided which commodities should be traded with foreign lands, and they also controlled the mines, quarries, and vineyards. The customs barrier was positioned at the frontier, and there are references to tithes being levied at Elephantine on goods being imported from the south and also to taxes on goods coming from the Mediterranean. Greek traders who were engaged in business in Egypt from Dynasty 26 onward were obliged to enter Egypt only by the Canopic branch of the Nile. ¹⁵

International Trade

By the time of the First Dynasty, international trade had been initiated with the regions of the Levant, Libya, and Nubia. Egypt had a trading colony in Canaan, a number in Syria, and even more in Nubia. The Egyptians had already graduated from building papyrus reed boats to ships of wood and these were sent regularly to Lebanon for cedar. ¹⁶

They also traveled by land and sea to Nubia, Byblos, and Punt to obtain their special commodities. Egypt’s political position and the lack of some basic resources constantly pushed the Egyptians to overcome the natural barriers that surrounded the country so that trade could be conducted with foreign countries.

The Egyptians launched by land and sea both military and commercial expeditions; the latter included trading ventures and/or mining and quarrying projects. Inscriptional accounts of these expeditions provide interesting details of how they were organized and of the hardships that the participants endured. Major expeditions were initiated by the king and placed under the leadership of princes or important officials such as royal seal bearers. If the route was by sea there were naval captains, and other officials included scribes and interpreters. There was also a considerable workforce that consisted of soldiers, conscripted laborers, and, in the New Kingdom, prisoners of war. Some expeditions went to the Sinai Peninsula to mine turquoise and copper. It seems likely that while there, they also met with merchants who had traveled from Sippar in Mesopotamia and brought lapis lazuli, which had reached them via other trading routes; they probably traded this with the Egyptians for the turquoise that was obtained locally. Thus, this part of Sinai was a center for the exchange of precious stones as well as a mining area.

Encirclement of Africa

This last expedition is the longest voyage recorded by the Egyptians before Necho II of Dynasty 26 ordered the circumnavigation of Africa. According to the king’s main chronicler, Herodotus, he was responsible for initiating the canal that was constructed to provide a waterway between the Nile and the Red Sea. This increased trade and commerce, but with the advanced knowledge and naval skills of his Phoenician mercenaries, he was also able to build a fleet of triremes. The Phoenicians sailed these for him around Africa on a three-year voyage, departing from the Red Sea, going around the Cape, and then returning by Gibraltar. ¹⁷

Trade Incentives and Protection

There were no government-sponsored incentives for trade in Egypt because the king owned all the land and whatever it produced; at least, in known and authentic history. The king was ordained and sanctified by the gods who had created everything, and served as the mediator between the gods and the people; he, therefore, was recognized as the land's legitimate steward. In reality, however, from the time of the Old Kingdom onward, the priests of the different cults - especially the Cult of Amun - owned large tracts of land which were tax-exempt. Since there was no law prohibiting priests from engaging in trade, and all profit went to the temple instead of the crown, these priests often lived as comfortably as royalty and both sectors used to exploit the rights of a lay man in the name of religion.

The Egyptians did not rely solely on supernatural protection in running their country or engaging in foreign trade, however, armed guards were sent to protect government-sponsored caravans and, during the New Kingdom of Egypt, a police force manned border crossing, collected tolls, protected toll-collectors, and watched over merchants coming and going from cities and villages. Armed escorts which accompanied caravans were a powerful deterrent against theft. Harkhuf reports how, returning from one of his journeys to Yam, he was stopped by a tribal leader who at first seemed intent on taking his goods but, seeing the size of his armed escort, gave him many fine gifts, including bulls, and guided him on his way.

Theft of goods was a serious loss to the organizer of the expedition, the 'businessman' as it were, not to the merchant who actually engaged in trade. If a merchant were robbed, he would appeal to the authorities of the region he was passing through for justice, but he might not always get what he felt was due. A thief had to be identified as a citizen of that region in order for the ruler to be held responsible, and even then, if the thief managed to get away, the king was under no obligation to compensate the merchant. ¹⁸

Taxation

Throughout Egyptian history, pharaoh’s government taxed individual producers and officials alike in all sectors of the economy in a complex system of economic interdependency. As the incarnation of Horus, the king was the undisputed owner of all the land of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt and was therefore entitled to bestow land and other property on whichever institutions, settlements, and individuals he chose. In return, the king reserved the right to require that the beneficiaries pay to the state various kinds of imposts, which might include a share in the produce of the land, cattle, and assorted products as well as human labor for state projects.

To complicate matters, the Egyptians employed a variety of vague, nearly synonymous terms for ‘tax’ more or less interchangeably. Taxes should be understood as contributions from individuals and institutions imposed by the state in fulfillment of its obligations to its own people, as well as to foreign countries and to provide for the pharaoh as the head of the state. ¹⁹ These taxes were collected by special collectors who were hired by the government. To measure the quantity, the collectors used a system of weights and measures. ²⁰

Taxing the Farmer

In Egypt, the peasants and the farmers were the highest taxed segment of the society. The system was controlled by the vizier through the state departments. These departments reported to him daily on the amount of stock available, and how much to expect in the future. The task of calculating the amount of production due was the duty of scribes. They kept written records of title deeds, field sizes, and were capable of calculating field areas. They also assessed a farmer’s wealth by counting his cattle in the census called the “following of Horus.” Among the items taxed, the most important were grain, oil, livestock, and beer. A farmer who owed unpaid taxes was forced to hand over his arrears immediately. If he did not comply, he was hauled off to court.

Taxing the Officials

Although there were many scribes who monitored the people’s jobs and wealth, still it was hard to supervise everyone. Hence hunters, fishers, and craftsmen were obliged to declare their income every year to the ruler of their district. Anyone who failed to make a declaration or made a false statement was sentenced to death.

These personal taxes, called beku, were collected by the chief treasurer. Local officials—mayors, district officials, district recorders, their scribes, and their field scribes—were taxed on the income they received through their office. This tax, called apu, was paid to the vizier.

Labor Tax

At least one person for every household had to pay the labor tax by doing public service for a few weeks every year, usually during the period of inundation when peasants could be spared from farming. Repairing the canals and irrigation systems or mining were the most vital of these tasks. Qualified scribes were exempted from the labor tax, as were laborers who worked permanently at temples and in the mines. A rich man could hire a poorer man to do his labor tax for him, and this custom extended to the dead by means of a ushabti.

Custom Duty

There were two other important sources of taxation for the king. Conquered foreign states paid tribute to the king, and tribute-bearers formed a constant procession to the palace treasury with valuable goods, precious gems, gold, and silver sent by subject kings. Then there was the customs duty payable by traders when they imported or exported goods. The amount of duty varied from time to time, but was usually set at one-tenth part of the goods’ value. Duty was even levied on some goods between Upper and Lower Egypt. In all these ways, Egyptians swelled the royal treasury so that the pharaoh may glorify his reign by building great monuments, extending the size of the gods’ temples, and building his great tomb, so that he may be ready to rule in the afterlife as well. ²¹

Despite achieving such mundane milestones, the economic system of ancient Egypt lacked basic humanitarian aspects. The system was known as a command economy, but in reality, it was merely in place to support the king in achieving his desires. There was no one who could monitor the spending of the king and guide him since the king was considered a god.

Essentially, if the economic system of ancient Egypt had been great in any way, it would have ensured that the economic condition of the masses would have been made better gradually rather than the collection of wealth for a chosen few and that too by force. On the other hand, the economic teachings of Islam and their implementation proved to be a breather for every human, especially the poor. Islam abolished all the taxes and dealings of usury and encouraged the people to pay Zakat and Jizya which was only obligatory for those people who had a good standard of living. Secondly, it encouraged the people to help each other out in times of need by giving charity and gifts so that the society developed collectively. Such humane polices were not found in the pseudo-developmental economic model of ancient Egypt.

 

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• ⁹ Encyclopedia Britannica (Online Version): https://www.britannica.com/art/jewelry/The-history-of-jewelrydesi gn: Retrieved: 24-04-2019
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• ¹⁸ Ancient History Encyclopedia (Online Version) : http://www.ancient.eu/article/1079/: Retrieved: 03-08-17
• ¹⁹ Donald B. Redford (2001), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press, New York, USA, Vol. 3, Pg. 351.
• ²⁰ Wendy Christenson (2009), Empire of Ancient Egypt, Chelsea House Publishers, New York, USA, Pg. 26.
• ²¹ Norman Bancroft Hunt (2009), Living in Ancient Egypt, Chelsea House Publishers, New York, USA, Pg. 36-38.