Ancient Civ

Ancient Egypt vs. Ancient Greece
I.S.U

Chloe N.
Jan 16, 2009
Ms. Cicciarelli
CHW 3M1

                  Every civilization is built around its government. The government in Egypt heavily revolved around a single person, the Pharaoh, who was portrayed to be a living god to the people. The Pharaoh had unlimited control over his subjects. The type of government in ancient Egypt was a theocracy, which is a government ruled by religious authority.

              The Pharaoh would have other people, such as priests, carry out his orders. These men were in their own social class, and were given favorable treatment. The government structure of Ancient Egypt involved other officials (similar to a police force in modern times), including army commanders and viziers (who are second in command to the Pharaoh), who all answered to the pharaoh. Also, there were governors appointed to specific areas of land who answered to the vizier instead of the Pharaoh.
          In ancient Egypt, there people were charged taxes, mostly for goods and labour. Some citizens were forced to work, so they would have to pay labor tax, depending on what needed to be done at the time. During the time of the Old Kingdom, (2650 BC-2134 BC) the Pharaohs had control of all the resources, and only gave them to those able to pay taxes.
          Most of the laws in Ancient Egypt were consequences for crimes that were performed. Since Ancient Egypt was so religious, when you committed a crime, it brought disgrace on a person's entire family. Punishments for crimes would range anywhere from caning to dismemberment, or even execution.
The Ancient Egyptian empire lasted thousands of years, over which the government was very consistent. Things seemed to change only when parts of Egypt were invaded, or someone chose to overthrow the government. Maybe the mix of politics and religion allowed Ancient Egypt to remain a powerful empire for such a long time.

The Greeks had a lot of different...