Internal Developments: Prominent Egyptian Officials

Question 1

Egypt’s System of Officials

Answer 1

Extensive network of high ranking bureaucrats supported by an army of scribes and lesser officials.

Internal Civil Service

1. Viziers of the North and South + King’s deputies + Most senior members of bureaucracy
2. Overseers of treasuries and granaries + Those responsible for building and taxation

King’s Personal Household/King’s Estate

1. Chancellor (personal seal-bearer of the king) → collected taxes, economic administrator the the pharaoh’s royal belongings, responsible for products coming to the royal palace
2. Chamberlain → chief butler
3. Chief Steward → responsible for upkeep of court and royal house provisions

Military/Naval Affairs of Regions

1. Commander in Chief
2. Deputies

Religious Domain (Not During Amarna Period)

1. Chief Priest of Amun
2. Priests + Stewards + Scribes

Question 2

Non-Egyptian System of Officials

Answer 2

• Governors were appointed to act on behalf of the pharaoh.
• Syria-Palestine: Local vassal princes were supervised (by the governors..?)
• Nubia: Controlled by the viceroy (king’s son of Kush)

Question 3

Amenhotep III

Answer 3

Changed the way that officials gain their positions.

1. Inheritance - The traditional method but it is possible that Amenhotep III wished to curb the power being gained by Theban officials (e.g. Menkheper, Mayor of Memphis, and Amenhotep, vizier of Upper Egypt)
2. Military - Amenhotep III may have been trying to find suitable occupations for ambitious men denied their usual paths in the armies due to the peaceful period.

Tombs of courtiers during Amenhotep III’s reign are found in two places:

1. Saqqara - Reveals the importance of Memphis as the tomb of the vizier Aper-el is here
2. Thebes - Has Khaemet (overseer of the royal granary) and Kheruef (steward of Tiye)

Question 4

Akhenaten

Answer 4

Largely followed the methods of official appointments started by Amenhotep III. Donald Redford calls them ‘new men’.

1. Military - General of the time such as Maya, Ramose, Ranefer and Ay occupied prominent official roles.
2. Religious - The significant changes being made to the religious system meant that his reign required religious officials, such as Pentu (physician) and Panhesi (superintendent of cattle), who called themselves ‘chief servitor of the sun disc’.

Akhenaten used gold jewellery and ‘gargantuan’ feasts to ensure his officials’ support.

Many of his officials resided in Akhetaten, rendering Thebes and Memphis idle.

Question 5

Tutankhamun

Answer 5

Restoration Stela

• Tutankhamun appointed new priests from the Theban upper class to restore the Amun cult

Ay and Horemheb

• Took on a larger role than usual with immense power in court, likely due to Tutankhamun’s young age
• Both have military background and rose to position of pharaoh after Tut’s death

Question 6

19th Dynasty

Answer 6

Culmination of Military Men in Administration

• Ay and Horemheb left no heirs, meaning succession fell to Horemheb’s vizier, Paramessu (Ramesses I). This reveals the value placed on military success as the next line of succession after blood.

Corruption Among Officials

• Horemheb appointed new judges and officials, who were required to follow new, stricter regulations of conduct.
• Seti I’s Great Edict warned and prevented officials from interfering with the pharaoh’s building projects, temples and estates (overstepping their positions)
• These were enforced with punishments such as cutting off noses and ears, lashes, and bodily wounds on the offender and their families.

Question 7

Overview of Role of Officials

Answer 7

• Important administrative role
• Trusted officials were chosen based on merit, according to Donald B. Redford in Akhenaten, the Heretic King: “Promoted because of the soundness of his counsels, elevated by the king over his peers.”
• Key offices were passed on in families, allowing pharaohs to ensure the loyalty of their officers. However, Amenhotep III increasingly chose officials from the army or from Memphis, perhaps to curb the power of the Theban officials.
• Their career paths are mostly known to modern historians through formulaic texts listing the offices they had held in life

Question 8

Amenhotep, Son of Hapu

Answer 8

• Served under Amenhotep III, appointed undersecretary of the king
• Came from a wealthy family which held a low rank in Egyptian administration, but was able to enter the pharaoh’s confidence as one of his most trusted advisors
• Was 50 years old when Amenhotep III became pharaoh at age 12

Role + contribution

• Priest of Amun-Re
• Scribe of recruits: had charge of the country’s workforce
• Overseer of all the king’s works: responsible for the erection of many of the king’s monuments, including his colossal statues and mortuary temple
• A relief in the temple at Soleb shows that he played an important part is Sed festivals (ceremony celebrating the continued rule of a pharaoh)

Importance

• “The good god, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nebmare the eldest son of Horakhty, favoured me, and I was appointed undersecretary of the king, and inducted into the king’s book.”
• Tomb was erected in the ‘king’s row’ in the Valley of the Kings, with a design mirroring the king’s own. Numerous statues of him were left in various temples, illustrating his high political rank

Question 9

Office of the Vizier

Answer 9

• The link between the pharaoh, factions of government, and the common people
• Chief financial officer in charge of tax and tribute
• Responsible only to his master, the pharaoh
• Head of civil administration and received+considered petitions
• Overall responsibility for building program
• Officials answered to him as if to the pharaoh
• Was the chief justice and acted on behalf of the pharaoh in judicial matters in the “hall of judgement”

Question 10

Vizier Paramesses

Horemheb

Answer 10

• Served Horemheb as northern vizier
• Trusted and named as successor
• Inherited throne and came to rule as Ramesses I

Question 11

Vizier Paser

Seti I and Ramesses II

Answer 11

• Son of High Priest of Amun
• Served under Seti I as southern vizier
• Served Ramesses II for another 21 years
• Tomb at Thebes emphasises his important position and contains valuable information about his duties and his status as the head of the Egyptian bureaucracy
• Responsible for the departments of justice, treasury, armed forces, home affairs, agriculture, government communications
• Wall of tomb: copy of document recording his installation as vizier
• Another tomb scene records his duties as supervisor of the workshops of Thebes, inspecting the manufacture of a statue of the king and the weighing of precious metals
• Scene in which Paser is being rewarded and acclaimed before Seti I → close contact with pharaoh
• Became High Priest of Amun in his old age

Question 12

Vizier Khay

Ramesses II

Answer 12

• Replaced Paser in Ramesses II’s 26th year
• Son of a troop commander
• Had previously been a Royal Herald
• Was given the honour of announcing the sed festivals by Seti I

Question 13

Viceroy of Kush

Answer 13

• The Office of Viceroy of Kush was given to the most trusted officials
• Egypt’s supply of gold came from Kush → heavy responsibility
• As seen in the tomb of Viceroy Huy in Thebes: Kushites bringing gold to Egypt
• Governed Lower (Wawat) and Upper (Kush) Nubia
• Controlled Nubian forts, military, collection of taxes, building of temples

Question 14

Yuni, Viceroy of Kush

Seti I

Answer 14

• Began as a scribe, rose to Chief Scribe
• Overseer of Priests and Royal Steward
• Continued role into Ramesses II’s reign’s first 10 years
• Responsible for building works including supervision of Abu-Simbel

Question 15

Setau, Viceroy of Kush

Ramesses II

Answer 15

• Kush was vital for sources of gold and slaves
• Tomb of Setau is decorated with intricate hieroglyphics
• Status of Setau with Ramesses II → significance to the pharaoh
• Undertook a census of serfs and collected taxes and tribute

Lengthy autobiographical inscription carved on a wall in Temple of Ramesses:

• Responsible for the construction of the Temple of Ramesses (Abu Simbel) in Nubia
• Built Temple of Ptah and Hathor using Libyan captives as labour

Question 16

Overseer of the Treasuries

Answer 16

Huge amount of resources he controlled and allocated → powerful

Meryre II (Akhenaten): tomb in Amarna had images showing him receiving honours

Maya (Akhenaten): originally a general, rose to Overseer of the Treasuries position in Tutankhamen’s time

• Important necropolis official
• Overseer of works in the Valley of the Kings, was probably responsible for King Tut’s burial and restoration of his tomb
• Supervised the collection of a special tax to be devoted to all the gods

Question 17

Huya

Akhenaten

Answer 17

Role + contributions

• Favoured by the Lord of the Two Lands, Superintendent of the royal harem, Superintendent of the treasury, Major-domo in the house of the king’s mother, the king’s wife Tiye
• Was the steward of the king’s mother, Tiye
• Took office after the death/retirement of Kheruef and accompanied the royal family to Akhetaten, served Akhetaten and Nefertiti
• Assisted Akhenaten and Nefertiti in state duties: reliefs in his Amarna tomb show a state reception in year 12 of Akhenaten’s reign, and another shows the royal family dining together. This reflects Huya’s close connection to the royal family

Question 18

Mahu

Akhenaten

Answer 18

Member of the new nobility that Akhenaten chose to serve him at Akhetaten

Role + contributions

• Commandant of the police at Akhetaten
• Protected the palace and temple, and maintained the system of defences around the city
• Provided an armed escort for Akhenaten on his tours of the city, apprehended offenders and brought them before the vizier for judgement