Society and Government

Even this short survey of the archaeological material provides ample evidence that far-reaching change occurred in the provinces during the late Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period. In the present state of research, the meanings of many of the archaeological phenomena discussed (and the mechanisms that produced them) are still poorly understood. Even our present knowledge, however, strongly suggests that internal forces of change and powerful external influences (particularly the impact of Old Kingdom provincial politics) conspired to produce greater cultural, economic, and social complexity throughout the country.

These developments inevitably affected the political system: tensions between the centre and the provinces now gained greater importance, and the provincial nobility in particular—occupying a crucial position between the court and the local groups—won new options for independent action, and, at the same time, had to mediate between competing interests. This situation raises the question of the ways in which the organization and ideology of government were adapted to the social and cultural conditions in the country at large. During the Old Kingdom, provincial districts were usually (though not always) run by a two-tiered administration. ‘Overseers of priests’ of the local cults were important because of the role played by their temples as nodes in the network of economic administration, but the leading office was that of ‘great overlord of the nome’ (often translated as ‘nomarch’).

It is important to realize, however, that the end of the Old Kingdom was not brought about by the increasing power of the great families of nomarchs. In fact, new lines of local magnates appeared during the First Intermediate Period. It is, therefore, likely that the Old Kingdom aristocracy—despite the degree to which they contributed, as a social group, to the process of change in the political structure of the country—nevertheless remained dependent on their links with the Crown. By tracing these new developments we can gain insights into the relationships between social conditions and political developments during the First Intermediate Period.