History Of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Vol. 2 — 08 - Vol. 02, Ch. 01: The Political Constitution of Egypt, pt. 8

The sacrifices supplied them with daily meat and drink; the temple buildings provided them with their lodging, and its revenues furnished them with a salary proportionate to their position.

They were exempted from the ordinary taxes, from military service, and from forced labour;

it is not surprising, therefore, that those who were not actually members of the priestly families strove to have at least a share in their advantages.

The servitors, the workmen and the _employés_ who congregated about them and constituted the temple corporation, the scribes attached to the administration of the domains, and to the receipt of offerings, shared _de facto_ if not _de jure_ in the immunity of the priesthood; as a body they formed a separate religious society, side by side, but distinct from, the civil population, and freed from most of the burdens which weighed so heavily on the latter.

The soldiers were far from possessing the wealth and influence of the clergy.

Military service in Egypt was not universally compulsory, but rather the profession and privilege of a special class of whose origin but little is known.

Perhaps originally it comprised only the descendants of the conquering race, but in historic times it was not exclusively confined to the latter, and recruits were raised everywhere among the fellahs,* the Bedouin of the neighbourhood, the negroes,** the Nubians,*** and even from among the prisoners of war, or adventurers from beyond the sea.

**** * This is shown, _inter alia,_ by the real or supposititious letters in which the master-scribe endeavours to deter his pupil from adopting a military career, recommending that of a scribe in preference.

** Uni, under Papi I. , recruited his army from among the inhabitants of the whole of Egypt, from Elephantine to Letopolis at the mouth of the Delta, and as far as the Mediterranean, from among the Bedouin of Libya and of the Isthmus, and even from the six negro races of Nubia _(Inscription d’Ouni, 11. 14-19)_.

*** The Nubian tribe of the Mâzaiû, afterwards known as the Libyan tribe of the Mâshaûasha, furnished troops to the Egyptian kings and princes for centuries; indeed, the Mâzaiû formed such an integral part of the Egyptian armies that their name came to be used in Coptic as a synonym for soldier, under the form “matoï.

” **** Later on we shall come across the Shardana of the Royal Guard under Ramses II.

(E.

de Rougé, _Extrait d’un mémoire sur les attaques,_ p. 5); later still, the Ionians, Carians, and Greek mercenaries will be found to play a decisive part in the history of the Saïte dynasties.

This motley collection of foreign mercenaries composed ordinarily the body-guard of the king or of his barons, the permanent nucleus round which in times of war the levies of native recruits were rallied.

Every Egyptian soldier received from the chief to whom he was attached, a holding of land for the maintenance of himself and his family.

In the fifth century B. C.

twelve _aruræ_ of arable land was estimated as ample pay for each man,* and tradition attributes to the fabulous Sesostris the law which fixed the pay at this rate.

The soldiers were not taxed, and were exempt from forced labour during the time that they were away from home on active service; with this exception they were liable to the same charges as the rest of the population.

Many among them possessed no other income, and lived the precarious life of the fellah,--tilling, reaping, drawing water, and pasturing their cattle,--in the interval between two musters.

Others possessed of private fortunes let their holdings out at a moderate rental, which formed an addition to their patrimonial income.

** * Herodotus, ii.

168. The arura being equal to 27. 82 ares [an are = 100 square metres], the military fief contained 27*82 x 12 = 333. 84 ares.

[The “arura,” according to F. L.

Griffith, was a square of 100 Egyptian cubits, making about 3/5 of an acre, or 2600 square metres.

--Trs.

] The _chifliks_ created by Mohammed-Ali, with a view to bringing the abandoned districts into cultivation, allotted to each labourer who offered to reclaim it, a plot of land varying from one to three feddans, i. e. from 4200. 83 square metres to 12602. 49 square metres, according to the nature of the soil and the necessities of each family.

The military fiefs of ancient Egypt were, therefore, nearly three times as great in extent as these _abadiyehs_, which were considered, in modern Egypt, sufficient to supply the wants of a whole family of peasants; they must, therefore, have secured not merely a bare subsistence, but ample provision for their proprietors.

** Diodorus Siculus says in so many words (i. 74) that “the farmers spent their life in cultivating lands which had been let to them at a moderate rent by the king, by the priests, and _by the warriors_.

” Lest they should forget the conditions upon which they possessed this military holding, and should regard themselves as absolute masters of it, they were seldom left long in possession of the same place: Herodotus asserts that their allotments were taken away-yearly and replaced by others of equal extent.

It is difficult to say if this law of perpetual change was always in force; at any rate, it did not prevent the soldiers from forming themselves in time into a kind of aristocracy, which even kings and barons of highest rank could not ignore.

They were enrolled in special registers, with the indication of the holding which was temporarily assigned to them.

A military scribe kept this register in every royal nome or principality.

[Illustration: 092. jpg SOME OF THE MILITARY ATHLETIC EXERCISES] Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a scene in the tomb of Amoni- Amenemhâît at Beni-Hasan.

He superintended the redistribution of the lands, the registration of privileges, and in addition to his administrative functions, he had in time of war the command of the troops furnished by his own district; in which case he was assisted by a “lieutenant,” who as opportunity offered acted as his substitute in the office or on the battle-field.

Military service was not hereditary, but its advantages, however trifling they may appear to us, seemed in the eyes of the fellahs so great, that for the most part those who were engaged in it had their children also enrolled.

While still young the latter were taken to the barracks, where they were taught not only the use of the bow, the battle-axe, the mace, the lance, and the shield, but were all instructed in such exercises as rendered the body supple, and prepared them for manoeuvring, regimental marching, running, jumping, and wrestling either with closed or open hand.

They prepared themselves for battle by a regular war-dance, pirouetting, leaping, and brandishing their bows and quivers in the air.

Their training being finished, they were incorporated into local companies, and invested with their privileges.

When they were required for service, part or the whole of the class was mustered; arms kept in the arsenal were distributed among them, and they were conveyed in boats to the scene of action.

The Egyptians were not martial by temperament;

they became soldiers rather from interest than inclination.

The power of Pharaoh and his barons rested entirely upon these two classes, the priests and the soldiers; the remainder, the commonalty and the peasantry, were, in their hands, merely an inert mass, to be taxed and subjected to forced labour at will.

The slaves were probably regarded as of little importance; the bulk of the people consisted of free families who were at liberty to dispose of themselves and their goods.

Every fellah and townsman in the service of the king, or of one of his great nobles, could leave his work and his village when he pleased, could pass from the domain in which he was born into a different one, and could traverse the country from one end to the other, as the Egyptians of to-day still do.

His absence entailed neither loss of goods, nor persecution of the relatives he left behind, and he himself had punishment to fear only when he left the Nile Valley without permission, to reside for some time in a foreign land.

* But although this independence and liberty were in accordance with the laws and customs of the land, yet they gave rise to inconveniences from which it was difficult to escape in practical life.

Every Egyptian, the King excepted, was obliged, in order to get on in life, to depend on one more powerful than himself, whom he called his master.

The feudal lord was proud to recognize Pharaoh as his master, and he himself was master of the soldiers and priests in his own petty state.

* The treaty between Ramses and the Prince of Khiti contains a formal extradition clause in reference to Egyptians or Hittites, who had quitted their native country, of course without the permission of their sovereign.

The two contracting parties expressly stipulate that persons extradited on one side or the other shall not be punished for having emigrated, that their property is not to be confiscated, nor are their families to be held responsible for their flight.

From this clause it follows that in ordinary times unauthorized emigration brought upon the culprit corporal punishment and the confiscation of his goods, as well as various penalties on his family.

The way in which Sinûhît makes excuses for his flight, the fact of his asking pardon before returning to Egypt, the very terms of the letter in which the king recalls him and assures him of impunity, show us that the laws against emigration were in full force under the XIIth dynasty.

** The expressions which bear witness to this fact are very numerous: Miri nîbûf = “He who loves his master;” Aqû hâîti ni nîbûf = “He who enters into the heart of his master,” etc. They recur so frequently in the texts in the case of persons of all ranks, that it was thought no importance ought to be attached to them.

But the constant repetition of the word NIB, “master,” shows that we must alter this view, and give these phrases their full meaning.

From the top to the bottom of the social scale every free man acknowledged a master, who secured to him justice and protection in exchange for his obedience and fealty.

The moment an Egyptian tried to withdraw himself from this subjection, the peace of his life was at an end; he became a man without a master, and therefore without a recognized protector.

* * The expression, “a man without a master,” occurs several times in the _Berlin Papyrus_, No. ii.

For instance, the peasant who is the hero of the story, says of the lord Mirûitensi, that he is “the rudder of heaven, the guide of the earth, the balance which carries the offerings, the buttress of tottering walls, the support of that which falls, _the great master who takes whoever is without a master_ to lavish on him the goods of his house, a jug of beer and three loaves” each day.

Any one might stop him on the way, steal his cattle, merchandise, or property on the most trivial pretext, and if he attempted to protest, might beat him with almost certain impunity.

[Illustration: 095. jpg WAR-DANCE PERFORMED BY EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS BEFORE A BATTLE]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the tomb of Khîti at Beni- Hasan.

These are soldiers of the nome of Gazelle.

The only resource of the victim was to sit at the gate of the palace, waiting to appeal for justice till the lord or the king should appear.

If by chance, after many rebuffs, his humble petition were granted, it was only the beginning of fresh troubles.

Even if the justice of the cause were indisputable, the fact that he was a man without home or master inspired his judges with an obstinate mistrust, and delayed the satisfaction of his claims.

In vain he followed his judges with his complaints and flatteries, chanting their virtues in every key: “Thou art the father of the unfortunate, the husband of the widow, the brother of the orphan, the clothing of the motherless: enable me to proclaim thy name as a law throughout the land.

Good lord, guide without caprice, great without littleness, thou who destroyest falsehood and causest truth to be, come at the words of my mouth; I speak, listen and do justice.

O generous one, generous of the generous, destroy the cause of my trouble; here I am, uplift me; judge me, for behold me a suppliant before thee.

” If he were an eloquent speaker and the judge were inclined to listen, he was willingly heard, but his cause made no progress, and delays, counted on by his adversary, effected his ruin.

The religious law, no doubt, prescribed equitable treatment for all devotees of Osiris, and condemned the slightest departure from justice as one of the gravest sins, even in the case of a great noble, or in that of the king himself; but how could impartiality be shown when the one was the recognized protector, the “master” of the culprit, while the plaintiff was a vagabond, attached to no one, “a man without a master”!

The population of the towns included many privileged persons other than the soldiers, priests, or those engaged in the service of the temples.

Those employed in royal or feudal administration, from the “superintendent of the storehouse” to the humblest scribe, though perhaps not entirely exempt from forced labour, had but a small part of it to bear.

* These _employés_ constituted a middle class of several grades, and enjoyed a fixed income and regular employment: they were fairly well educated, very self-satisfied, and always ready to declare loudly their superiority over any who were obliged to gain their living by manual labour.

Each class of workmen recognized one or more chiefs,--the shoemakers, their master-shoemakers, the masons, their master-masons, the blacksmiths, their master-blacksmiths,--who looked after their interests and represented them before the local authorities.

** * This is a fair inference from the indirect testimony of the Letters: the writer, in enumerating the liabilities of the various professions, implies by contrast that the scribe (i. e. the _employé_ in general) is not subject to them, or is subject to a less onerous share of them than others.

The beginning and end of the instructions of Khîti would in themselves be sufficient to show us the advantages which the middle classes under the XIIth dynasty believed they could derive from adopting the profession of scribe.

** The stelæ of Abydos are very useful to those who desire to study the populations of a small town.

They give us the names of the head-men of trades of all kinds; the head-mason Didiû, the master-mason Aa, the master-shoemaker Kahikhonti, the head-smiths Ûsirtasen-Ûati, Hotpû, Hot-pûrekhsû.

It was said among the Greeks, that even robbers were united in a corporation like the others, and maintained an accredited superior as their representative with the police, to discuss the somewhat delicate questions which the practice of their trade gave occasion to.

When the members of the association had stolen any object of value, it was to this superior that the person robbed resorted, in order to regain possession of it: it was he who fixed the amount required for its redemption, and returned it without fail, upon the payment of this sum.

Most of the workmen who formed a state corporation, lodged, or at least all of them had their stalls, in the same quarter or street, under the direction of their chief.

Besides the poll and the house tax, they were subject to a special toll, a trade licence which they paid in products of their commerce or industry.

* * The registers (for the most part unpublished), which are contained in European museums show us that fishermen paid in fish, gardeners in flowers and vegetables, etc. , the taxes or tribute which they owed to their lords.

In the great inscription of Abydos the weavers attached to the temple of Seti I. are stated to have paid their tribute in stuffs.

[Illustration: 098. jpg TWO BLACKSMITHS WORKING THE BELLOWS]