Name (ancient Egypt)

The organization of name, of Old with the New Empire

Each names has its Métropole, administrative and legal center, one or more sanctuaries, and its emblem totemic: falcon, crocodile, cobra, gazelle, sycamore, knife, etc This division of Egypt seems to go back to the predynastic period, where name were tribal or clannish territories autonomous, before becoming, under the first dynasties, of the territorial divisions managed by a civil servant.

Indeed, the nomarques ones are in theory agents of the king. They perceive on its behalf the taxes intended for the “Double Attic”; they repress with the need the disorders in their spring and, as a ˁḏ-Mr. , they take care of the maintenance of the irrigation canals and the dams. At the end of the Ancient Empire however, these large lords arrive at émanciper, initially in name southernmost, furthest away from the Residence, and end up forming authentic local dynasties acting as full independence. Thus, Ânkhtyfy, nomarque of Nekhen and Edfou at the time of Néferkarê of the hérakléopolitaine, says “big boss” ( ḥry-tp ˁ3 ) of its stronghold. He concludes alliance with the nomarque one from Éléphantine and guerroie against his neighbors of Thèbes and Coptos: in short, as “a hero who does not have his similar”, it does not have apparently accounts to return to anybody.

With the Average Empire, on the other hand, the royal authority continues dominating, thanks to the administrative reorganization of the country in three districts ( wˁrt ): that of North, Low Egypt, that of the South, the Egypt Average, and that of “the Head of the South”, the area upstream of Akhmîm. Each wˁrt is controlled by a “rapporteur” or wḥmw , designation which expresses its subordination to the central capacity clearly. At the same time, the title of “big boss” falls in disuse while, in the cities, of the sharpened civils servant, the “mayors” or ḥ3ty-ˁ , take over local prince gradually. In addition, “the Head of the South” is placed under the direct authority of the vizier, which is represented on the spot by a delegate residing at Thèbes. By these means, it seems, the royalty succeeds in making part with inclinations of independence of the seigneuriales big families.

The provincial administration of the New Empire is characterized rigorous centralization consequently, with like corollary the constitution of several administrative levels: the “director of the fields” of names, who supervises the system maintenance of irrigation and the exploitation of the agricultural resources; “employees of district”, placed at the head of the rural districts; and finally, the héqa hout , in charge of the administration with the urban districts. These civils servant of authority have with their service a vast personnel subordinate: scribes, advisers, controllers, porters, foremen, land-surveyors etc All this administrative machinery, strictly arranged hierarchically, is subordinated to the governor of the province, which in his turn must give an account of his management to the “rapporteurs” of the vizier, the wḥmw .

The survival of name at the time gréco-Roman

The Lagides entrust the administration of names with a strategist , recruited among the descendants of Greek immigrants. Left military governor under the first Ptolémées, the strategist assumes as from the 2nd century of the purely civil tasks, management Fiscale of names becoming its principal attribution. It is assisted of a royal scribe or basilicogrammateus , charged especially with the behavior of the Cadastre. In bureaucratic Egypt until excess, these civils servant have with their service a whole personnel arranged hierarchically of tax collectors, accountants and secretaries.

At the time Roman, Egypt, which belongs to the patrimonium of the emperor, is placed under the authority of a equestrian Préfet of Ordre, the praefectus Aegypti . To facilitate the control and the exploitation of this rich person province, essential for the supply of corn Rome, the imperial government divides it into three large administrative units or épistratégies , of which each one gathers several name or strategies , the following the example of the wˁrt of the Average Empire: low Country, Heptanomia, and Thébaïde. With the head of these territorial divisions delegates of the provincial government are, the épistratèges and the strategists, chosen and named by the prefect, acting as his name and places, and persons in charge in front of him. The strategist has a whole hierarchical bureaucracy, copied on the administrative levels of monarchy lagide. Its attributions are especially of a tax and legal nature: it is in particular in charge of perception with the taxes, responsibility which it shares with the Council of the metropolis starting from Septime Sévère, and holds court in its spring. Under Gallien, its competence also extends on the military Annone, of which it ensures covering and the distribution the army stationed in Egypt.

Thus, of first Ptolémées to the Bas-Empire, the maintenance of the strategist through the centuries attests the importance of the function, even if its attributions could be modified with the liking of the administrative needs: the strategist is the right-hand man of the government to the head of names, of which it ensures management as the nomarques ones of Pharaon did it before him.

Name Low-Egypt

Name High-Egypt

Random links:

Chiswick | Vladimir Bestchastnykh | Total Differential positioning system | Yopal | Tishman Speyer Properties