Patronage and corruption in ancient Egypt

Grand corruption is more often political and includes acts committed at a high level of governments, or major institutions where changing the policies or its deceitful implementation can affect the individuals and the functioning of organisation and the Country. The corrupt individuals often benefit at the expense of the public good. Political corruption is a manipulation of policies, institutions or rules of procedure in the allocation of resources and financing by political-decision-makers who abuse their position to 1 Bribery is the offering, promising, giving, accepting or soliciting of an advantage, financial or material or motivational, as an inducement for an action which is illegal, unethical or a breach of trust. Inducements can take the form of gifts, loans, fees, rewards or other advantages (taxes, services, donations, favours, holidays, visits to religious sites.. etc.). International bribery is a serious concern and must be outlawed and criminalised nationally and internationally. 2 Bribery is the offering, promising, giving, accepting or soliciting of an advantage, financial or material or motivational, as an inducement for an action which is illegal, unethical or a breach of trust. Inducements can take the form of gifts, loans, fees, rewards or other advantages (taxes, services, donations, favours, holidays, visits to religious sites.. etc.). International bribery is a serious concern and must be outlawed and criminalised nationally and internationally.

In: Journal of Egyptian History, vol. 7, Leiden, 2014, pp. 1-33. Several years ago, an insightful analysis by Jan Assmann demonstrated the existence of patronage practices in Ancient Egypt during the First Intermediate Period. Does this indicate a change in social structure, as the author suggested, or does it instead denote a change in the way such practices are referred to in the available sources? In order to consider this question, this article examines the evidence of patronage during that period, and then tries to analyze possible precedents, reflecting on the role that patronage could have had from the earliest moments of state structuration in the Nile Valley. Il y a quelques années, une analyse lucide par Jan Assmann a démontré l'existence de pratiques de patronage dans l'Egypte Ancienne pendant la Première Période Intermédiaire. Ces pratiques indiquent-elles un changement dans la structure sociale, comme l'auteur l'a suggéré, ou dénotent-elles plutôt un changement dans la présenta-tion de ces pratiques dans les sources disponibles ? Pour aborder cette question, cet article examine les témoignages du patronage pendant cette période. On s'efforce ensuite d'analyser des précédents possibles et de réfléchir au rôle que le patronage pourrait avoir eu dès les débuts de la structuration de l'État dans la Vallée du Nil. Keywords Patronage – kinship – state – First Intermediate Period – Old Kingdom * I wish to thank John Baines, Juan Carlos Moreno García, and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on previous versions of this article.

Corruption is thriving in many coutries. It history goes back to the oldest civilisation. There are many confirmed records that it goes back to the third millenia BC. The most illaborate is a poen written about 2200 BC with explanation of the corruption that plagued the society. The writer, a peasant, clarified it and provided solutions.

International Review of Social History, 2023

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).