Egypt is a country irrigated by the Nile River in the northwest of the continent of Africa. This civilization was developed in the valley of Nile. Egypt’s civilization is very ancient. 

The description of the political, social, economic and religious life of ancient Egypt is presented under the following points:

(i) Political life of ancient Egypt: The unified credit of unifying the 40 small states of ancient Egypt goes to king Minaj. Minij made a political structure in 3400 BC in Egypt. The Egyptian governance system was completely religious (Theocratic). The rulers of Egypt were called ‘Pharaohs’. His power over the people was absolute. There was a council named ‘Saru’ to give advice to the pharaoh in administrative affairs. Egypt was divided into approximately 40 provinces for administrative convenience. The provinces were known as ‘Nome’. Diferent officers appointed by the pharaoh ruled the major cities of the Kingdom. Intelligence system was present for day to day information to the pharaoh. Ancient Egyptian society was mainly divided into three sections. The dynasty, the feudals the priests were included in upper class. In middle-class clerks, merchants.

Crafstmen, artisans, intellcatcuals and some independent farmers were present. Servants and slaves were in lower class. Labourers and slaves had no independent existence. Farmers had to pay 1/8th of their income in the form of a tax. Workers were forced to work for long hours. Slaves were treated like animals. Family was a unit of Egyptian society. In the family parents, brother-sister, son-daughter, etc. lived jointly and women had great respect. There was a great difference in the living condition of the people of upper classes and lower classes. The people used different types of food such as wheat, barley, rice, millets and various vegetables in their diet. They also ate meat and drank wine.

(ii) Economic life: The basis of the economic life of the Egyptian society was farming. They used to cultivate mainly wheat, barley, peas, mustard, fig, olives, dates, flax and grapefruit and many other fruits. Egypt was called the ancient world’s granary because crops were sown three times in a year. The plough of wood was dragged by oxen. The basis of the irrigation system was the Nile river. The network of ponds and canals was spread to collect and bring the rainwater into the fields. Animal husbandry along with agriculture was also a major means of livelihood. The main mode of transport and traffic in Egypt was the Nile river. Their trade links with Sudan, Mesopotamia, Arabia and India were very close. Here, people used to trade by barter. They used to export foodgrains, utensils, glass items, paper, furniture, etc. and used to import various types of paddy, wood, colour, spices, sandalwood and toilet items.

(iii) Religious life: The ancient Egyptians had the most prominent place of religion in their life. In their religious life, polytheism, humanization of the deities, the temples and the idols, the religious rituals of the priests, offering worship and sacrifice, the occult, the mantras, the superstitions, the worship of natural powers, the worship of trees and animals, the soul in the immortality of the universe, the primary principles of faith, rebirth and feelings of empowerent and duly completed rituals are visible. Eman-Ray (sun), Osiris (Son of sun) Sin (moon) and Osrim (Nile river) were the main gods of ancient Egyptians. Their gods were symbols of natural powers. The Egyptians believed that the soul resides after death in the body. So they used to put a special type of spice on the dead body. The dead body did not decay for hundreds of years with this. Huge tombs were made for the protection of dead bodies. These were known as pyramids. The dead bodies which were kept in pyramids were called ‘Mummies’.