The Egyptian Civilization is one of the famous river-concentrated society that flourished as a result of human’s capability to adapt to changes in his environment. The civilization flourished near the lower reaches of the Nile River, an important source of water for their everyday use and irrigation purpose (Janick). The success of this civilization is also a result of their ability to cultivate and allocate a parcel of lands for agriculture. It can also be said that agriculture enabled the advancement of the Egyptian society into a state-level hierarchy in which complex social customs were developed. With the aid of agriculture the civilization was able to develop specializations and allowed time to concentrate on other crafts to initiate varied trades and commercial centers. With the changes in the socio-economic behavior of the society from a subsisting group of people to the discovery of essential technologies, the civilization has developed social structures that attempt to organize its inhabitants into classes with their respective duties and responsibilities.
The social structure that was developed by the Egyptian civilization can be compared to a pyramid. The social pyramid exemplifies and estimates how each class’s extent is and their value in the society (Wenke). Those in the lower part of the pyramid are considered to be the lowest citizens and it seems that they comprise most of the inhabitants. They include the unskilled workers who do not have a technical skill to do certain crafts. They may include slaves and laborers who may consider to be unfree and have no rights during that time. Slavery and hard labor drives most of Egyptian structures and activities. Above the unskilled workers are the herders and farmers. This individual provides the basic need of the society to ensure the supply of food. Above them are the traders, artisans and merchants. These individuals are considered as those who developed trading and produced specialized goods aside from agricultural produce. These objects advanced the social needs of the society by moving from the requirements of basic needs to psychological needs. Above the traders and artisans are the nobles and priests. This group already has the influenced to govern and dictate social change in their community. These very few can also influence the decisions of the Pharaoh. He is atop the social structure as he has the ultimate right to dictate and execute laws and rights for every individual. The social structure starts from a wider base and it moves up, it becomes narrower forming a pyramid-like structure. It can also be observed that only very few holds the power in the society. And they also control the wealth and most of the political matters.
The advancement of the ancient Egypt also comes with several consequences. As the partition in the social classes grows, the differences in social classes can easily be observed, especially by those belonging to the lower groups. There has been social conflicts resulting to social unrests that demands assurance in their basic rights. The ruling class not only wants to resolve internal conflict, but they also deal with other growing civilization that could be a threat to their security and growth. Basic needs have become a problem for the ruling class a swell. Maintaining a food supply despite the growing number citizens becomes a burden for those in power. The allocation for land irrigation may not be enough to sustain the inhabitants of their society that mostly depend for agricultural produce for their food and herding as a source for their meat and protein.
Egyptian civilization showcases the leap of human civilization from a foraging society to a complex agricultural society that enable them to form social structures that produce the ruling class. However, the formation of social structure also presents several problems as social inequalities become prevalent during this time. But even with the existence of this social structure, it can be noted that the Egyptian civilization was successful in flourishing in terms of improving the society and politics. Aside from that, the civilization also fostered the formation of arts and communication.
Reference
Janick, Jules. 'Ancient Egyptian Agriculture and the Origins of Horticulture'. (2000): 23--39. Print.
Wenke, Robert J. The Ancient Egyptian State. 1st ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Print.
