Punishment, Patronage, and the Revenue Extraction Process in Pharaonic Egypt

The processes of control and collection are prominent themes throughout pharaonic history. However, the extent that the central regime attempted to administer agricultural fields to collect revenues directly from the farmer who actually worked the land is unclear during the pharaonic period (c.2686-1069). Relations between those involved in agricultural cultivation and local headships of extended families and wider kinship groups were deeply embedded within a broad range of interpersonal discourses, behaviours, and practices. Village headmen and officials at all levels of an impersonalized state hierarchy were themselves landholders who drew income from the land and were held responsible for collecting revenues from their fields. It is therefore necessary to define, with a focus on the imperatives of a subsistence economy, who was working the land and what the relationship was between them, the headmen, and those from within outside power structures (in the context of direct intervention against specific groups of the population). To address these points, I will focus on revenue extraction as a state process, how it was connected to the role of punishment, and its impact on local hierarchies (the targets of revenue extraction).

Automated summary

This passage discusses how the central regime in ancient Egypt controlled and collected agricultural revenues. It is unclear to what extent the government attempted to collect income directly from the farmers who worked on the land. Village headmen and officials, who were themselves landholders, collected revenues from their fields and were responsible for this task.