Farmers, Soldiers, and Slaves

Farmers

Peasant farmers worked lands belonging to the pharaoh, the government, a temple, or a rich landowner. Their pay barely covered their living expenses. In addition to plowing, planting, and harvesting, they maintained the irrigation canals that brought water to their fields and were required to work on the pharaoh's tomb construction project each year.

The tools used in ancient Egypt agriculture included: plows, sickles, hoes, forks, scoops, baskets, shaduf, skiffs, and sieves. The farmers also used cattle, oxen, donkey, and goats to aid in the cultivation of their fields. The hoe most often used was made of two separate pieces fitted together and bound with rope. The first piece was a handle and the second a blade. Hoes were used to mix water and dirt in brick making, to break up dirt clods, and to manage the growing crops. Sickles were often made of glazed wood that was sharpened to cut. A shaduf is a mechanical irrigation device used to bring water from the canals to the fields. Skiffs were made of papyrus and were used for travel on the Nile, as well as fishing.

Soldiers

The Egyptian army was well-organized and included infantry and chariot troops. The infantry, or foot soldiers, carried spears, shields, and battle-axes. The chariot troops were archers and shot arrows from the platform of the chariot. During peacetime, soldiers worked on government projects such as digging irrigation canals for farming, or transporting stone for the king's tomb.

The glory of the Egyptian Empire that for over 3,000 years rested on its ability to conquer others and to avoid being conquered. The foot soldier was a professional soldier that often spent more than twenty years in military service. Trained in the art of warfare as a young boy, the foot soldier was a seasoned, hardened cog in a machine that ruled the ancient world for over thirty centuries

Slaves

The lowest class of Egyptian society, these workers were often foreigners. They worked in the household or in the fields. Slaves could be bought and sold like property. People could also sell themselves into slavery and buy themselves out of it.

Early Egypt acquired slaves through war, trade, and people who sold themselves into slavery because of debt. Slaves could not own property, and their children became slaves of the owner. Although slaves were the lowest class in Egyptian society, they were better treated than in other societies. The most fortunate ones did menial work for royal families or high officals such as city mayors. On the fields of estates, they were often better off than free peasants who had to pay a portion of their produce as taxes. The least fortunate slaves worked in gold or copper mines, where some died.