Under the Old and Mildle Empires the wealth and power were in the hands of the nobles. The heads of the great families were the nomarchs, who possessed large landed estates. and, with their relatives, filled all the higher offices of Court and State. In the time of the Fourth and Fifth dynasties, the nomarehs seem to have pre ferred the neighborhood of the Court ; but under the feudal system of the 'Middle Empire they usu ally resided on their estates, where they lived in princely style. In addition to his private prop erty. the ruling nomareh enjoyed the revenue of the `house of the prince.' which means the emolu ments attached to his office arising from certain taxes and other sources of income. He was also. by right of birth, a member of the priestly col lege of the local temple. and was usually its head. Under the New Empire. though most of the old titles were retained, the offices were chief ly filled by priests and military officers. The nomarchs were no longer feudal princes, but Government officials who could be appointed or removed at the pleasure of the King or his ad visers.
Before the time of the New Empire, most of the nobles and high officers of State bore priest ly titles and exercised priestly functions. They monopolized. in fact, all the high offices of the priesthood, although it. is probable that in most eases their duties were light and that they were only required to officiate upon certain stated occasions. The regular religious services were carried on by lower orders of priests, whose emoluments were not large and who seem to have occupied rather a subordinate position in the social °Ionization. In addition. there were brotherhoods of so-called 'hour priests,' com posed of pious laymen, each of whom devoted a portion of his time to the temple service, while the whole body took part on certain special oc casions. These brotherhoods disappear under the ..\liddle Empire.
The great wealth lavished upon the temples by the monarehs of the Eighteenth and subsequent dynasties brought about a very different state of affairs. The temples became great eorporations, possessing immense wealth and large landed estates administered by their own officials and worked by their own serfs. The power wielded by the heads of these religious houses was very great, and the position of the priesthood was elevated in a marked degree. Apart from the material intim nee given them by their wealth and political power, the priests were the exclu sive custodians of the higher learning, and eNer eised a profound influence upon the minds of the superstitious Egypt ians. by whom they were credited with the 11:4•41.S4i011 of magical power. The priests were divided into a lumber of classes, according to their several functions; all classes were bound to 4serve scrupulous personal clean liness, and in token of this they wore pure white linen garments and shaved their heads.
Until the New Empire there was no distinct military class. Each nome had its own militia, and the nomareh was bound to furnish a certain contingent in time of war. But the Egyptians were never a warlike people, and hence from the earliest times they depended largely upon foreign mercenaries—at first Nubians, later Libyans and Europeans. Under the New Empire the army was of vastly greater importance; some of the highest offices of the State were held by military men, and the army vied with the priesthood in political influence. At a later period in mili tary families, who were generally of foreign ori gin, the connection with the army was commonly inherited, together with the field given by the Government as a fief for service. See paragraph on the Egyptian army under the title Anmms.
The chief occupation of the Egyptians has al ways been agriculture. Wheat, barley. and durra (black millet) were the staple crops; but vege tables and fruits. such as onions, cucumbers, melons, grapes, and figs, were also cxtensively cultivated. The agricultural methods employed were rather rude and primitive. The soil was broken with a wooden plow drawn by oxen, and was laboriously worked with a heavy wooden hoe. After the seed was scattered, flocks of sheep were driven over the freshly sown field to trample down the soil. At the time of harvest. durra was pulled up by the roots; but other grain was cut with a short sickle. On the threshing-floor the grain was trodden out by the hoofs of ani mals; under the Old Empire these were usually donkeys, while in the time of the New Empire oxen were used for this purpose. After thresh ing, the grain was passed through a coarse sieve, and was then winnowed by tossing it in the air with small wooden hand shovels. It was then measured by the scribes and stored in the gran aries. Cattle-raising was extensively carried on from very early times. Under the Old Empire there were still many marshy tracts in Upper Egypt which furnished excellent pasturage, and at all times the Delta was a favorite pasture ground. _Much attention was paid to the improve ment of the stock, and the finest bulls were al ways reserved for breeding purposes. Goats and sheep were raised in great numbers. The donkey was the ordinary beast'of burden, although oxen were also used. Horses are first represented on the monuments of the Eighteenth Dynasty; they were usually harnessed to chariots for war or for traveling, but were rarely ridden. Stallions were preferred to mares, and geldings do not seem to have been used until a very late period. Camels are not represented on the monuments be fore the time of the Ptolemies.