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chronology, I should say that I note all this down because it is essential to have a brief understanding of the technical terms before getting into a deeper discussion of ancient Egyptian social history. This is the accepted way of laying out the history of Egypt, and it is the only way that I know of.

In essence, the social organisation of ancient Egypt can aptly be described as a pyramid, with the king firmly at the top. Below him come the royal family, the greater and lesser nobility, the scribes and skilled craftsmen, and below them the great unwashed the peasant farmers.

The ancient Egyptian king was a powerful figure, the son of the Sun God Re, the physical manifestation of all that was good, right and just in Egypt. Few people questioned his divine right to rule, thanks to a multitude of myths (often encouraged by royal propaganda') that firmly enshrined him as the link between the gods and Egypt. The king is an easy one to spot on any monument or wall-painting. A very good rule of thumb when dealing with ancient Egyptian art is that size matters. The bigger you are, the more important you are and no-one is bigger than the king. A good example from the Early Dynastic period is the famous Narmer Palette, beloved of Egyptology professors the world over. Narmer is the pharaoh most frequently attributed with the unification of Egypt at the end of the Predynastic Period, and as such is one of the earliest examples of Egyptian kingship in action. One side shows the king, who is the largest figure, grasping a much smaller captive by the hair. Beneath his feet are the yet smaller bodies of his enemies, and behind him is the tiny figure of his sandal-bearer, sandals in hand. On the reverse sides, the king is again as much larger than the figures of his military standard bearers. This side also depicts a very interesting scene of two bizarre long-necked animals, their necks intertwining, restrained by two handlers. This is commonly accepted as a metaphor for unity, one of the most important roles of the king being the very symbol of the unity of the Two Lands Upper and Lower Egypt (the long, thin section of the country and the Delta region respectively). This idea of unity reflects the ancient Egyptian preoccupation with the triumph of order over chaos, and the king is the supreme representative of order the natural and correct order of civilisation, with him at the top of the social scale.

After the king comes the nobility, the upper level of which was often occupied

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