Even when you consider all of recorded history, Egypt's political system in Cleopatra's time
was pretty unusual. In this video I'm not really that interested in talking about Pharaohs,
or the royal court, or political intrigue. That's a different discussion. What I want
to get into today is Egypt's bureaucracy, and how it functioned on a day to day basis.
This is usually under-emphasized by historians, but I find it utterly fascinating.
Cleopatra's Egypt, and by that I mean Egypt in the first century B.C.E., was pretty much
a totalitarian state. I know that that's a pretty crude way of putting it, but it's true.
The level of bureaucratic control that the government exerted over day to day life was
extreme even by our standards. And by ancient standards it was totally off the chart.
Egypt's power didn't come from military might, or from political cunning. Their power came
from incredible wealth. The wealth, in turn, came from agricultural production, which was
the envy of the world, and tightly controlled by the state. Almost all agricultural land
in Egypt was royal land, and by that I mean that it was personally owned by the Pharaohs.
The ruler of Egypt, and through them the Egyptian bureaucracy, had absolute control over this
land, and through the land, the wealth of the entire country.
Let me give you some specific examples. Every year, the Royal Agricultural... I don't know
the word to use... "Ministry?", "Department?", "Bureau?" Let's just say that the Royal Agricultural
People™ provided farmers with the seeds that they were supposed to plant for the season.
Since it was royal land, the farmers had no choice but to accept. At harvest time, they
were required to return to the Royal Agricultural People™ the exact same amount of seed they
were given to start with, along with a substantial cut of the crop yields, which served as their
"rent" payment for that year. If you think about it, they were basically just renting
the seeds, too.
If the farmer deviated from the state's agricultural plan in any way, they were brought up on charges,
and prosecuted as an oath breaker. In cases like this a council of elders called a Kenbet
would sit in judgment, and the punishment would normally be something like a sizable
fine.
By the way, the Egyptian legal system was much more flexible than the Roman one. The
Romans prided themselves on their strict legalism. The Egyptians prided themselves on their pragmatism,
and their courts reflected this. What was the point of punishing an oath breaker with
corporal punishment, when all the government wanted was to recoup their lost revenue. You
see? Pragmatism.
Believe it or not, that was just one small aspect of Egyptian bureaucratic control. If
a farmer wanted to do something simple like cut down a tree that was in the way, they
had to plead their case in front of the Royal Agricultural People™. Think of it like municipal
by-laws with the added bonus of literally being afraid for your life and livelihood
if you made an infraction. The fact that the land personally belonged to the Pharaoh wasn't
just a formality. It was law, and it was drilled into the farmer's heads on a daily basis.
The entire farming system was carefully designed by royal officials to maximize both profits
and crop yields. And they were incredibly good at this. Another example: if you wanted
to brew alcohol, you had to apply to the government for a brewing license, and pay a small fee.
This sounds familiar to us, but it was virtually unheard of in the ancient world. Once you
got that license, you were required to buy barley from a state-owned company, which,
on top of its arbitrary prices, which they set, levied a hefty sales tax for its trouble.
Once you brewed the beer, you were required to sell it back to another state-owned company
at, again, arbitrary prices. That company then took that beer, turned around, and sold
it for a profit. If it happened to be shipped overseas, they took another hefty cut in the
form of export duties. As you can see, the government got like 5 or 6 bites at the pie
before the product even got to market. This kind of heavy taxation where the government
was involved at each step in the supply chain was present for many industries. People wouldn't
see an system this again until the modern age.
In other aspects of life, state intrusiveness reached levels that we would consider unthinkable.
During harvest season, people needed permission just to leave their farm or village. Freedom
of movement was thrown out the window in the name of profit and productivity. To be honest,
this kind of reminds me of Tsarist Russia, where people needed special royal permission
just to move to another farm. And sometimes that permission was denied. With Russia, historians
had to invent the term Serf, because people living under that regime were clearly seen
as less than subjects but more than slaves. The same kind of thing could be argued for
ancient Egypt. Less than subjects, but more than slaves.
I don't think it's crazy to say that in many ways the rulers of Egypt personally owned
their own country. And, maybe, depending on your point of view, the people in it. The
entire state was basically designed from top to bottom to maximize profits. This helps
to explain why the Romans, who basically didn't even have a bureaucracy, looked at Egyptians
like they were from another planet.
Before you click away, a brief message.
I've been really hesitant to go down the Patreon road because, frankly, I look around and almost
without fail, the reward system everybody's set up is embarrassing, and awful. There are
lots of so-called "shout outs." Lots of "exclusive access" to the stuff that is the digital equivalent
of garbage.
That all being said, I have an idea on how to do it better. This is the system I've designed.
You donate a dollar, you get a vote.
Once a month I send out ballot to all donors with every idea I have for a future video,
and everybody gets to vote on them. Preferential voting of course, I'm not a monster. After
the voting is tallied, I have one month to deliver a video on whatever historical topic
the group decides.
If you donate at a slightly higher level, you get to submit ideas that will compete
directly with mine on those monthly ballots.
If your idea wins, tough luck for me, I have to do it, even if I have to go and read a
few books first.
So that's the system. I set this all up through Patreon. The link is patreon.com/historiacivilis,
which is in the description. To me, getting a tiny democratic process going is fun, and
collaborative, and a little exciting. The important thing is that it's the kind of experience
I would want, if I were donating.
So head on over to Patreon. I promise, we'll have a good time.