Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

With reference to sources, explain the main features of the economy of Old Kingdom Egypt. The economy of Old Kingom Egypt was unique in that it was purely based on agriculture. Since agriculture was the most important activity in ancient egypt, this meant that certain aspects of Egypt were important, such as the Nile river and the Egyptian way of life. The Nile was important in that it provided sufficient amounts of silt, which in turn provided a rich soil basis to farm, and the way of life was also affected, as the cycle of activites and jobs were based upon the agriculture. The agriculture gave people of lower class, such as peasants, vital roles in the economy, thus being regarded as the backbone of society. This is evident in the tombs of the wealthy elite, which indicates that the upper class appreciated the invaluable role played by peasants and labourers. The Nile river was so important, that egypts calender revolved around it. During the flooding of the Nile (Akhet), nilometers were used to measure the height of the flood, thus assisting in the calculation of taxes. During this time, there was not much work for peasants, therefore the central authorities demanded services of the peasants to work on large-scale construc