The king stood at the top, but he did not run the country alone. Egypt was governed by trained officials who kept records of almost everything: land, people, cattle, grain, tools and taxes.
Key idea
The vizier
The vizier (in Egyptian ṯꜣtj) was the king's chief minister: he heard legal cases, received reports, checked the treasury and granaries, and sent orders across the land. From the New Kingdom there were usually two viziers, one for the north and one for the south. A text called the Duties of the Vizier, carved in the tomb of Rekhmire, vizier under Thutmose III, describes his daily work: hearing petitions, receiving the report of the treasury, keeping watch over the land.
| Department | What it did |
|---|---|
| Treasury | stored precious metals, cloth and goods; paid for state works |
| Granaries | collected grain taxes and paid out rations |
| Labor | organized work crews for quarries, building and expeditions |
| Provinces | governors and mayors who collected taxes and kept order locally |
| Temples | huge estates with their own officials, often working with the state |
Why it works
Becoming a scribe
Boys from official families, and some from humbler ones, learned to read and write in schools attached to temples and offices, copying model letters and classic texts. A popular school text, the Teaching of Khety, praises the scribe's life and mocks every other job. Only a small minority of Egyptians could read and write, which is one reason scribes held such power.
Worked example: Reading a record
- A lotus is 1,000; a coil is 100; a hobble is 10; a stroke is 1.
- 1 × 1,000 + 3 × 100 + 5 × 10 + 2 × 1.
- 1,000 + 300 + 50 + 2 = 1,352.
Answer: 1,352 cattle.
Common mistake