Historians have difficulty placing exact dates on ancient Egyptian history before the period of the New King-
Egyptians pulling building materials. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.
Dom, which began in the 1500s b. c. Generally, however, the half-millennium (500 years) from the beginning of the Third Dynasty in about 2650 b. c. to the end of the Sixth Dynasty in 2150 b. c. is considered the Old Kingdom of Egypt. This is a period noted for the building of the greatest and most impressive pyramids, which occurred during the Fourth Dynasty. But the pyramids would not have been possible without the establishment of a strong central government that commanded the willing submission of its subjects.
One misconception many people have about the building of the pyramids was that it was done by slave labor; in fact the vast majority of workers on these enormous projects participated of their own free will. A large portion of them were farmers who worked during the Nile's summer floods, and they received food and shelter (the Egyptians did not use money as such) in return for their labor.
Indeed, there were few slaves in ancient Egypt, though this is not to say that all people were equal in that society. On the contrary, the pharaoh occupied the highest class, followed by a group that included priests, scribes, and soldiers. Below this was a larger class of merchants, overseers, and other professionals, and at the bottom was the bulk of the population, mostly farmers and servants.
The people built the king's tomb by the sweat of their brows. History would remember the pharaohs as the “builders” of the pyramids, even though few of them had anything to do with the design, much less the labor. Yet few Egyptians saw anything unfair about the humble state of the people compared with the wealth and splendor of the pharaoh. By helping the king build his eternal house, the common people believed, they were ensuring their own protection in the afterworld.
Limestone figure of Pharoah Zoser.
Roger Wood/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.
Because the Egyptian king was like a god, the allegiance of the people to their ruler was absolute; otherwise, it would have been impossible for the pharaohs to demand the vast sacrifices of sweat and toil (not to mention resources such as food for the workers) required to build the pyramids. The people's belief that they needed the pharaoh's protection, both in the present world and the next, was the “glue” that held the Old Kingdom together.
As for the need to protect Egypt from outside invaders, there was little to fear—thanks to nature, not the pharaohs. An invading army could only come into Egypt by one of two routes: across the desert, which was impossible, or up the Nile, which the Egyptians controlled. Egypt at this time had no need for a standing army (that is, for a full-time military prepared for warfare at any time). There were minor campaigns far beyond Egypt's borders, as they fought the Nubians to the south and the people of the Sinai Peninsula to the northeast for control of valuable mines. For the most part, however, the pharaohs were free to devote themselves to what they considered the most important aspect of life: preparing for death.
World History
