Livestock census in ancient Egypt
As cattle count , Egyptology describes a state- controlled event in ancient Egypt of enormous economic and cultic importance. It was used to collect taxes .
perpetration
As the name of the event suggests, all livestock ( cattle , sheep , goats , pigs and donkeys ) were rounded up and counted at regular intervals . The exact number was meticulously noted by clerks and inspectors and then the corresponding delivery amount was calculated. The livestock census was held in all Egyptian provinces and districts instead. Tax fraud was severely punished. Since the 2nd dynasty, the cattle count has taken place at the same time as part of the so-called Horus escort (Egyptian Shemsu Hor ). In this partly political , partly religious - cultic motivated event traveled the King every two years in a splendid bark around the country and visited the main administrative centers along the Nile to court to hold and collect taxes.
backgrounds
In Egyptology, the question of how often the cattle count was held is discussed. The reason for this is the determination of the actual years of reign of individual kings. From the predynastic period until the late Old Kingdom , the cattle census was apparently carried out every two years. After that it took place every year.
Evidence for this is provided by the annal stone of the 5th Dynasty , which was created under King Neferirkare and lists the most important annual ceremonies , creations of statues of gods and kings and the escort of Horus for every Egyptian ruler from King Narmer ( 1st Dynasty ) to Neferirkare . The cattle count is given for every second year in direct connection with the escort of Horus. Therefore, it is widely believed that the cattle census was carried out every two years. The first king under whom the introduction of an annual cattle census has been proven is King Pepi I ( 6th Dynasty ). Pepi I ordered that the cattle count should now take place every year because his empire was in economic and thus financial distress.
In modern research, however, the question has repeatedly been raised whether kings before Pepi I might not have ordered an annual cattle count, since later historical sources provide contradicting information on the length of reign of individual rulers. A well-known dispute about the correct period of rule is that of the famous King Cheops from the 4th dynasty . The highest number of cattle counts can be found in the form of worker graffiti in the relief chambers of the Cheops pyramid , which is a “17th Mention the cattle count ”. Since the cattle count according to the Palermostein only took place every two years at that time, a reign of at least 34 years would be attested for Cheops. However, this calculation arouses doubts and suspicion among some researchers, as the famous royal papyrus certifies Turin only 23 years for Cheops and the Greek historian Herodotus claims that Cheops ruled for 50 years, which is viewed as an exaggeration or a misreading. In the meantime, Egyptologists like Thomas Schneider assume that Cheops either actually ruled for a little more than 34 years, or that the author of the Royal Papyrus Turin did not take into account the fact of the 2-year cycle and in fact describes 23 cattle counts and thus attests 46 years.
literature
- Hermann A. Schlögl : The Old Egypt (= Beck'sche series. Bd. 2305). 3rd edition, Beck, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 3406623107 , p. 41.
- Thomas Schneider : Lexicon of the Pharaohs . Albatros, Düsseldorf 2002, ISBN 3-491-96053-3 , pp. 100-102.
- Siegfried Schott : Altägyptische Festdaten (= Academy of Sciences and Literature. Treatises of the humanities and social science class. Vol. 10, 1950, ISSN 0002-2977 ). Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz et al. 1950.
- Richard A. Parker : The calendars of ancient Egypt (= Studies in ancient Oriental Civilization . Vol. 26, ISSN 0081-7554 ). University of Chicago Press, Chicago IL 1950.