As ancient states developed around the world,hierarchical forms of social organization developed as a part of the complexities of these early civilizations. Hierarchies were seen as normal and were reinforced with both religious ceremonies and religious mythology. In most of the ancient states, it was generally believed that the gods had given certain individuals and/or certain family lineages the right to rule over others. Thus, kingship—a governmental structure in which a single person was designated to rule—was sanctioned by religious beliefs and practices.
Egyptian kingship was seen as the form of government which had been given to them by the gods. In his chapter in Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, Ronald Leprohon writes:
“The Egyptians believed that the king was the holder of a divine office that was derived from the realm of the gods and was part of the divinely ordained world. To them, the roots of kingship stretched back to the beginnings of time, when gods ruled the earth.”
According to the ancient Egyptian text “King as Solar Priest’: “Re has set the king upon the earth for the living forever and ever, judging men and pacifying gods; bringing about order and destroying evil.”
Did the people of ancient Egypt really consider the king to be an actual god? The answer appears to be a definite maybe. In their book Ancient Egypt, Lorna Oakes and Lucia Gahlin report:
“The king could be regarded as a god, or as somewhere between the divine and mortal world. It is safe to say, however, that the concept of kingship—the office, rather than the man himself—was considered divine.”
In general, the reigning king was identified with Horus, the falcon-headed god and, after death, with the god Osiris.
The role of the king was to honor and sustain the gods and, in this way, maintain order so that the people could prosper. In his book Writings from Ancient Egypt, Toby Wilkinson writes:
“At the heart of the doctrine of divine kingship—a doctrine that underpinned the government of Egypt for three thousand years—lay a contract between the king and the gods. The king’s role was to champion the gods, maintain and embellish their temples and uphold created order, in return for the gods’ blessings on his rule.”
Lorna Oakes and Lucia Gahlin write:
“It was felt that the king could relate to the gods in a way that none of his subjects would have been able to, which must have enhanced the nature of kingship and inspired respect, if not awe, in the people.”
In his chapter in Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, Herman Te Velde explains the relationship of the king with the gods:
“In principle, the only person qualified to approach and address the gods was the pharaoh. He was a human being but also a god or a son of a god; being of divine nature, he had access to the world of the gods. The pharaoh was the intermediary between the world of humanity and the world of the gods.”
In an article in Ancient History, Colleen Darnell and John Darnell write:
“As the son of Re, the living Horus on earth, the ancient Egyptian king was a physical link between the earthly and the divine.”
In his book Understanding Early Civilizations: A Comparative Study, Bruce Trigger writes:
“The Egyptian state placed special emphasis on the king’s being the son or earthly manifestation of the solar-creator god and hence a universal ruler.”
During the New Kingdom (1550 BCE to 1069 BCE), kings claimed to be the offspring of Amun, who is described as the “king of the gods.” Not only had kingship been given to the people by the gods, but in addition the king was seen as the actual son of a god. In other words, one of the gods had impregnated the king’s mother and thus he was entitled to rule.
While most of the kings of ancient Egypt were male, there were several occasions when women filled this role. As there is no ancient Egyptian word for “queen”, the women who ruled were called “kings” and this term is used by today’s Egyptologists. The female kings were often portrayed in ancient Egyptian art with male regalia, such as the traditional beard and would be referred to with the pronoun “he” in the royal inscriptions.
Hatshepsut, one of Egypt’s female kings, like some of the other kings, claimed that the god Amun was her father. The reliefs in her mortuary temple show Amun having sexual intercourse with her mother. After having sex with Ahmose, Hatshepsut’s mother, Amun is reported to have told her:
“Hatshepsut shall be the name of this my daughter, whom I have placed in your body. She shall exercise the excellent kingship in this whole land.”
Lorna Oakes and Lucia Gahlin, in their book Ancient Egypt, report:
“The idea of Amun being the father of the monarch was not particular to Hatshepsut, but as a woman, she might have felt it necessary to emphasize her legitimacy in this way.”
Throughout the history of ancient Egypt, the king was the intermediary between the people and the gods. He appointed the high priests for every god and every temple in Egypt and these priests functioned on behalf of the king. One of the important concepts in Egyptian theology is maat: this is an abstract concept which is difficult to translate into English. Maat can be translated as “truth” or perhaps as “justice.” In her book Temples, Tombs and Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt, Barbara Mertz writes:
“But maat went beyond justice; it has been defined as universal order, the divine system of correctness—the right way to do things, established at the creation and constantly renewed by religious ritual.”
The role of the king was to ensure continuing harmony, peace, prosperity, and good harvest by presenting maat to the gods. Lorna Oakes and Lucia Gahlin write:
“The king was essential to universal order, and it was his duty to maintain maat at all times.”
Without the king, the gods would allow chaos to return to the world.
More about ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt: An Experiment in Monotheism
Ancient Egypt: Life After Death
Ancient Egypt: Inventing a God
Ancient Egypt: Mummies
Ancient Egypt: Hatshepsut, a Female Pharaoh
Ancient Egypt: The Great Sphinx
Ancient Egypt: The Valley of the Nobles
Ancient Egypt: Twosret, a Female Pharaoh