Ancient Egyptian Economy
Ancient Egyptian Economy The state of the ancient Egyptian economy was a work of perfection that led to the rise of one of the greatest civilizations in the ancient world, It was built on utilizing all the natural elements of their environment on the concept of planned bureaucracy that monitored and controlled every a single detail to absolute perfection.
Ancient Egyptian Economy Facts
The bureaucrats were the ones in charge of public works like reassigning the land after every flood, assessing the expected crops, collecting part of the produce as taxes, and storing and redistributing, All these duties were religious in nature and involved tens of thousands of workers and administrators. Many elements contributed to the economy of ancient Egypt, like the population, the management of the different sources of wealth, and the taxation system, as the nation relied on revenues in the form of paid taxes and labor.
Grain was the main focus hoarded by the authorities, as it could be stored with relative ease and was crucial in times of bad harvests. Also, when the ancient Egyptians became more familiar with their terrain, they were able to discover trade routes between Arabia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Fertile Crescent, and India.
Elements of Ancient Egyptian Economy
Egypt was mostly self-sufficient, as householders would hold many goods for the future or exchange by barter on the market, which played a key role in keeping the economy alive. The population was of a vast majority, more than nine-tenths during the first two millennia of ancient Egyptian history. Religion played a great role in shaping the minds, as all the lands belonged to the gods, and like Osiris and his son Horus, the sky god, after his demise and to his earthly incarnation, the pharaoh, the land was freely bought and sold. Most of the population were farm laborers on the estates.
noble families and temples.
The farmers were under a labor tax and were required to work on irrigation or certain construction projects in a form of unpaid labor. The practice of slavery was omnipresent but much less harsh and was the cornerstone of the mining industry. During Egypt’s new kingdom (1570–1070 BC), a third of all the lands of Egypt were in the hands of the priesthood of Amen, with a larger number of workers and the number of foreign slaves increasing with the economy. All the administrators, priests, traders, and craftsmen lived in cities along the banks of the Nile.
Ancient Egyptian Agriculture
Agriculture was the main reason behind Egypt’s wealth, many grains, vegetables, fruits, cattle, and fish were harvested and gathered, and after the deduction of various taxes, the goods were sold in the market. The Egyptian soil was very fertile due to the Nile River but most of the agriculture techniques weren’t efficient as the implementations were primitive and improvements were rare, plus the breeding of livestock was haphazard. Pisciculture appeared to have existed in ancient Egypt on a highly small scale, all the fish were caught in the Nile, and gathering was very common among the poorest, while hunting was a leisure activity for the rich.
Manufacturers in Ancient Egypt
The manufacturing business was a huge part of the economic nature of ancient Egypt. Families would produce different manufactured goods from raw materials and the process was left to women. One of the goods was flax, which was grown by men, and then the women would spin it into a thread to weave linen, The grain was then used to produce beer. The fish is caught by men, cleaned and dried by women, and then sold in the market. In the towns, small factories appeared, often financed by rich noblemen, such as bakeries, breweries, carpentry workshops, and many more with a few dozen employees.
Mining in Ancient Egypt
The ancient Egyptian rich community invested a great deal of time and effort into mining, precious metals, and gems only found in the hands of the few. The metals of copper, bronze, and iron were very expensive, and any form of them was only found in the hands of the wealthy, while the poor class continued to use stone and wooden tools. The stone quarries for tombs and temples served all the social classes of ancient Egypt. They also mined for Netron for thousands of years as a cleaning product for the home,the body, and for mummification as a drying agent.
Ancient Egyptian Commerce
The production of farming, fishing, crafting, and mining was consumed by the producers, and after the landlords and tax collectors took their cut, the rest were sold by barter on the market for consumers and the other professional traders who were considered to be the great estates and agents of the crown. Around 526 BC, written withdrawal orders by owners of lots of grain were used as a kind of currency, and with time, the introduction of the money took place but grain banks continued to serve growers and traders. In the Ptolemaic era,
the central bank of Alexandria recorded all accounts of the granary banks, and payments were transferred from one account to another, Credit entries were recorded with the owner’s name in a book within a passive or possessive form, while debit entries were recorded in a dative form. Materials like gold, copper, and silver were used mostly in dealing with foreign merchants and mercenaries.
Energy in Ancient Egypt
The primary source of energy in ancient Egypt was manpower, with domestic animals playing a vital role, especially in transport and agriculture, like donkeys and cows. Horses existed in ancient Egypt and never held an important economic value, as they were only employed by the aristocracy and the military for riding and pulling chariots. The usage of vehicles with light wheels came into use in the new kingdom (15570–1070 BC). Thermal energy was also quite efficient.
as the heat of the sun was very good in the production of mud bricks, The fire was used in cooking and baking food, smelting, casting metal, glassmaking, and pottery, The fire was produced using charcoal, as coal and wood weren’t plentiful. Wind energy is used to power the ships.
Ancient Egyptian Warfare
The spoils of war were also a great source of income as long as Egypt came victorious. Bravery in battles like the Battle of Kadesh or the Battle of Megiddo was rewarded with riches in the form of golden necklaces, bracelets, and lands as tributes imposed on defeated nations, and as a sign of peace, an exchange of gifts would take place between the pharaohs and the foreign kings, which would always land in Egypt’s favor.
