SOCIAL AND CLASS RELATIONS

 The social structure of the earliest civilizations shows hierarchies and a concentration of power among certain elites. There were few matriarchal societies in the ancient world; most were patriarchal and polygamous among the wealthy social classes. As civilizations developed and expanded, their social structures often had to be modifi ed. Sometimes this resulted in a decentralization of power, even on rare occasions, as in ancient Greece, in democracy. At other times changes were forced by foreign invasions.

Egypt:- The apex of Egyptian society was the pharaoh since he (or more precisely, his “house” or the institution that he incarnated) stood as the intermediary between the world of gods and of human beings. The pharaoh’s main duty was to maintain maat, an apotheosized state of cosmic balance or justice for his whole realm. Pharaoh owned vast tracts of land and sometimes vied with priests for control and status. His offi ce was hereditary and dynastic. History records one woman, Hatshepsut, who served as regent for more than 20 years until the son of the previous pharaoh could assume power.When the Nile failed and Egyptian life was disrupted, the ruling dynasty lost credibility and pro-vincial administrators, the priestly class, or foreigners intervened, resulting in the installing of a new dynasty. One group of outsiders who seized power sometime around 1600 b.c.e. was the Hyksos, a Semitic people. However, by 1300 b.c.e. a native dynasty had returned to power, and the outsiderswere expelled. The conservative nature of Egyptian society, reinforced by the regularity of the Nile and the insularity of the land, made for few social and class changes in its long history.

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