Help in social studies?

Question

Yeah, yeah... I know this is really easy for you guys... don't rub it in... I NEED HELP!
OK, what we're supposed to do is compare the main people Ancient Egypt's social pyramid with some main people in our social pyramid, but only what they have in common. This is what I have so far: 1)The Egyptian pharaoh was like the president of America because both are leadrs of their government and are responsible for protecting their country. 2)Egyptian government officials were like US government officials because they both help their leaders lead and protect their country. 3)Egyptian priests were like - (help me on this one) 4)Egyptian scribeswere like - (help here too!) 5)Egyptian artisans were like normal working people because they're both hard-working & don't often get the respect and reward they deserve. 6)Egyptain peasant farmers were like poor people because they're both in low ranks & have low standards

Answer 1

#3 is a bit of a tricky one for sure. In some ways, they were historians and in some ways you might call them ambassadors to the Pharaoh. In other ways you could relate them to councilors. My verdict, is they were jack of all trades.

Those who spoke to the Gods and Goddesses were the Priests and Priestesses supposedly a carry-over from the time of Atlantis. They were the souls who carried the sacred knowledge about creation and the nature of our reality. There were initiates who studied the knowledge of both the sacred mystery teachings and the religious philosophies of the times. This sacred knowledge would be passed down in many forms including the genetics of certain souls. That information would one day be brought out into the open in its truest form. That time is NOW!

Because the Pharaoh could not perform ceremonies at all the temples throughout Egypt, he appointed high priests to carry out the sacred rituals at each temple. Priests often passed down their positions from father to son. They enjoyed great power and wealth in Egyptian society.

The priests' duties were to care for the gods and attend to their needs. They also performed funeral rites, teaching school, supervising the artists and works, and advising people on problems.

The priesthood of ancient Egypt has a far reaching and deep history, rooted within the traditions of Ancient Egypt. Unlike the orthodox priesthoods usually found within Western society, the role of the Egyptian priest or priestess was vastly different within the society as a whole. Rather than seek the divine and develop a rapport with the gods, the role of the priest was akin to an everyday job.

For, as the pharaoh was seen as a god himself, the priests and priestesses were seen as stand-in's for the pharaoh; as it was the greater job of the priests and priestesses to keep Egyptian society in good order, as is the case with most theoretically based societies. The mystical attributes of the priests and priestesses take on a secondary role, when one considers the heightened role religion played within Egyptian society. Not only was religion a way to attain the ethereal and basic needs of the Egyptians, but it also served as a mechanism to order society, to create a hierarchy, and to preserve the culture for future generations. As such, the role of the priests and priestesses was both functional and mystical on both levels.

A priest or priestess in ancient Egypt was generally chosen by either the king, or attained their post by hereditary means. In either case, the priests who received their positions hereditarily and through the king were not set apart from mundane life. In fact, such priests were made to embrace the mundane life to keep Egyptian society functioning properly (and as stated above it was a job of fairly high status). Though the priesthood had started out simply, with relatively few temples, in the later dynasties the temples expanded into the hundreds. With such growth, a large bureaucracy was needed to keep the temples in good standing; and thenceforth, the small priesthood's of the Egyptians grew from an estimated hundred priests into the thousands, and with it came a priestly hierarchy.

The daily life of a priest or priestess depended on their sex and also their hierarchical standing within the priesthood. Priests were often rotated from position to position within the priestly hierarchy and were integrated in and out of mundane society. This rotation system generally went, that a priest would enter into temple life one month, at three times a year. This rotation system had a direct connection to the often stringent purity rites of the priests.


This pretty much sums up #4. I think a good comparision might be scholars.

The Ancient Egyptian Scribe




The Art of learning and thus reading and writing was one of the most powerful forces in the ancient Egyptian civilization. Almost all of our known knowledge about the ancient Egyptians came from the work and art of the ancient Egyptian scribe.

The Egyptians valued learning because of the superiority which the learned men possessed over the unlearned; learning thus divided the ruling class from those who were ruled.

He who followed learned studies, and became a scribe, had put his feet on the first rung of the great ladder of official life, and all the offices of the state were open to him. He was exempted from all the hard work, trouble and labor, he was a fortunate man.

The scribe's profession is a princely profession, his writing materials and his rolls of books being pleasantness and riches. He was treated very respectfully, he never lacked food, what he wanted was given to him out of the royal stores. He could further become a wise man of the court, a leader for other men or may be an ambassador. When a boy was intended to go to school, this was a hard task. The education was hard, the work was a lot and the boy had to obey his superiors .Teachers also were very strict as they had a hard task in which they were responsible for educating the future scribes, men whom will carry the burden of immortalizing there ideas and stories and legends of the gods.

Answer 2

Try this.....do a diagram for each...the boss at the top....supporting staff below...list what they contribute along side.....then compare...

Your comments above betray a bias.....that is a mistake....both are government structures with specific roles and responsibilities....compare them