Internal Functioning of the Bureaucracy in the Old Kingdom Period According to the Autobiography of Weni, Governor of Upper Egypt

Year 2024, Issue: 73, 125 - 134, 15.12.2024

Ercüment Yıldırım

https://doi.org/10.55590/literatureandhumanities.1475497

Abstract

Weni, who was a rapidly rising civil servant within the Ancient Egyptian bureaucracy between approximately 2350-2288 BC, covering the periods of Egyptian kings Teti I, Pepi I and Merenre, tried to announce to the gods that he served the kings under his command properly through his autobiography engraved on the walls of his tomb. Throughout his life, Weni held civil, religious and military positions within the Ancient Egyptian monarchical system. Even though this understanding is unusual for today, it is normal for the Ancient Egyptian bureaucracy system. Weni, who started his career as a granary manager during the reign of Teti I, was promoted to the position of overseer of the dressing room during the reign of Pepi I. This new position gave Weni direct contact with the king. Weni, who proved his reliability and loyalty over time, assumed a religious position with wide powers, such as being the senior guard of God Nekhen. Weni, who was assigned to investigate a crime committed in the royal harem by King Pepi I, once again proved his reliability with his success. This success brought Weni the commander-in-chief of the expeditions against the Sand-dwellers. According to his autobiography, Weni proved his success in the civil service as well as in the military field, and King Pepi I, rewarded him by having one of the best tombs in Egypt. During Merenre’s reign, Weni was appointed governor of Upper Egypt. In this high civil servant position, he was responsible for the census, control of collected taxes, trips to quarries, and canal and ship construction. Weni’s autobiography basically explains what an ideal bureaucrat in Ancient Egypt should do. This study aims to explain the inner workings of the bureaucratic system during the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, which had the most developed bureaucracy class among the ancient kingdoms, through Weni’s autobiography.

Keywords

Weni, Bureaucracy, Merenre, Pepi I, Merenre, Teti I

Yukarı Mısır Valisi Weni’nin Otobiyografisine Göre Eski Krallık Döneminde Bürokrasinin İç İşleyişi

Abstract

Mısır kralları I. Teti, I. Pepi ve Merenre dönemlerini kapsayan yaklaşık MÖ 2350-2288 yılları arasında Eski Mısır bürokrasi sınıfı içerisinde hızla yükselen bir memur olan Weni, mezarının duvarlarına kazınmış otobiyografisi vasıtasıyla emri altındaki krallara hakkıyla hizmet ettiğini tanrılara duyurmaya çalışmıştır. Weni, hayatı boyunca Eski Mısır monarşik sistemi içerisinde sivil, dini ve askeri görevlerde bulunmuştur. Bu anlayış günümüz için alışılmadık olsa dahi Eski Mısır bürokrasi sistemi için olağan bir durumdur. Kariyerine I. Teti döneminde tahıl ambarı sorumlusu olarak başlayan Weni, I. Pepi’nin saltanatında, giyinme odasının gözetmeni pozisyonuna terfi ettirilmiştir. Bu yeni görev Weni’ye kralla doğrudan temas imkanı sağlamıştır. Zamanla güvenirliğini ispatlayan ve sadakatini gösteren Weni, Tanrı Nekhen’in kıdemli muhafızlığı gibi geniş yetkilere sahip dini bir görevi üstenmiştir. Kral I. Pepi tarafından kraliyet hareminde işlenen bir suçu araştırmakla görevlendirilen Weni, başarısı ile güvenirliliğini bir kez daha ispatlamıştır. Bu başarı, Weni’ye Çöl Halkı’na karşı düzenlenecek seferlerin başkomutanlığını getirmiştir. Otobiyografisine göre Weni, sivil memurluğundaki başarısını askeri sahada da ispatlamış ve Kral I. Pepi onu Mısır’ın en iyi mezarlardan birine sahip olmasını sağlayarak ödüllendirmiştir. Merenre’nin hükümdarlığı sırasında Weni, Yukarı Mısır valisi olarak atanmıştır. Bu yüksek memurluk görevinde nüfus sayımından, toplanan vergilerin kontrolüne, taş ocaklarına yapılan gezilerden, kanal ve gemi inşalarından sorumlu olmuştur. Weni’nin otobiyografisi temelde Eski Mısır’daki ideal bir bürokratın yapması gerekenleri açıklamaktadır. Bu çalışma, Eski Çağ krallıkları arasında en gelişmiş bürokrasi sınıfına sahip olan Mısır’ın Eski Krallık döneminde bürokratik sistemin işleyişini Weni’nin otobiyografisi üzerinden açıklamayı amaçlamaktadır.

Keywords

Weni, Bürokrasi, I. Pepi, Merenre, I. Teti.

References

• Allen, R. C. (1997). Agriculture and the Origins of the State in Ancient Egypt. Explorations in Economic History, 34(2), 135-154.
• Allen, T. D. (2008). The Ancient Egyptian Family: Kinship and Social Structure. Routledge.
• Al-Nubi, Sheikh ‘Ibada. (1997). Soldiers. İçinde, Sergio Donadoni (Ed.) The Egyptians (ss. 87-120). University of Chicago Press.
• Arnold, D., Haeny, G., Bell, L., Finnestad, R. B. (1997). Temples of Ancient Egypt. Cornell University Press.
• Asante, M. K. (2011). Maat and Human Communication: Supporting Identity, Culture, and History without Global Domina-tion. Intercultural Communication Studies, 20(1), 49-56.
• Baines, J. & Lacovara, P. (2002). Burial and the Dead in Ancient Egyptian Society: Respect, Formalism, Neglect. Journal of Social Archaeology, 2(1), 5-36.
• Baker, R. F. & Baker, C. F. (2001). Ancient Egyptians: People of the Pyramids. Oxford University Press.
• Bell, B. (1970). The Oldest Records of the Nile Floods. The Geographical Journal, 136(4), 569-573.
• Ben-Tor, D. (2011). Egyptian – Canaanite Relations in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages as Reflected by Scarabs. In S. Bar, D. Kahn - J.J. Shirley (Ed.), Egypt, Canaan and Israel: History, Imperialism, Ideology and Literature (ss. 23-43). Brill.
• Chauvet, V. (2013). Between a Tomb and a Hard Place: Tomb Inscriptions as a Source of Historical Information. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 49, 57-71.
• Cowgill, G. L. (2004). Origins and Development of Urbanism: Archaeological Perspectives. Annual Review of Anthropology, 33, 525-549.
• Faulkner, R. O. (1953). Egyptian Military Organization. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 39(1), 32-47.
• Ferguson, R. J. (2016). The Ancient Egyptian Concept of Maat: Reflections on Social Justice and Natural Order. Fundamina, 24(1), 69-88.
• Fischer, H. G. (1959). Some Notes on the Easternmost Nomes of the Delta in the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 18(2), 129-142.
• Frankfort, H. (1948). Kingship and the Gods: A Study of Ancient Near Eastern Religion as the Integration of Society and Nature. University of Chicago Press.
• Gardiner, A. H. (1920). The Ancient Military Road between Egypt and Palestine. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 6(1), 99-116.
• Goedicke, H. (1963). The Alleged Military Campaign in Southern Palestine in the Reign of Pepi I (VIth Dynasty). Rivista Degli Studi Orientali, 38(3), 187-197.
• Herbich, T. & Richards J. (2006). The Loss and Rediscovery of the Vizier Iuu at Abydos: Magnetic Survey in the Middle Cemetery Timelines. Studies in Honour of Manfred Bietak I, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 149, 141-149.
• Hornung, E. (1999a). History of Ancient Egypt: an Introduction. Cornell University Press.
• Hornung, E. (1999b). The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife. Cornell University Press.
• Baines, J. (1995). Kingship, Definition of Culture, and Legitimation. In D. B. O’Connor - D. P. Silverman (Ed.), Ancient Egyptian Kingship: New Investigations, (ss. 3-47) Brill.
• Kanawati, N. (2003). Conspiracies in the Egyptian Palace: Unis to Pepy I. Routledge.
• Köhler, E. C. (2017). The Development of Social Complexity in Early Egypt. A View from the Perspective of the Settlements and Material Culture of the Nile Valley. Ägypten und Levante/Egypt and the Levant, 27, 335-356.
• Kóthay, K. A. (2013). Categorisation, Classification, and Social Reality: Administrative Control and Interaction with the Population. In Juan Carlos Moreno García(Ed.), Ancient Egyptian Administration, (ss. 479-520), Brill.
• Kuijt, I. & Goodale, N. (2009). Daily Practice and the Organization of Space at the Dawn of Agriculture: A Case Study from the Near East. American Antiquity, 74(3), 403-422.
• Lacovara, P. (2013). New Kingdom Royal City. Routledge.
• Lichtheim, M. (1975). Ancient Egyptian Literature. Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms. University of California Press. Lloyd, A. B. (2014). Ancient Egypt: State and Society. Oxford University Press.
• Martin, D. (2008). Maat and order in African Cosmology: A Conceptual Tool for Understanding Indigenous Knowledge. Journal of Black Studies, 38(6), 951-967.
• Middleton, R. (1962). Brother-sister and father-daughter Marriage in Ancient Egypt. American Sociological Review, 27(5), 603-611.
• Moret, A. (2001). The Nile and Egyptian Civilization, Dover Publications.
• Na’aman, N. (1981). Economic Aspects of the Egyptian Occupation of Canaan. Israel Exploration Journal, 31, 172-185.
• Okon, E. E. (2012). Religion and Politics in Ancient Egypt. American Journal of Social and Management Sciences, 3(3), 93-98.
• Redford, D. B. (1973). New Light on the Asiatic Campaigning of Ḥoremheb. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 211(1), 36-49.
• Reedy, C. L. (1994). Thin-section Petrography in Studies of Cultural Materials. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 33(2), 115-129.
• Richards, J. (2002). Text and Context in Late Old Kingdom Egypt: the Archaeology and Historiography of Weni the Elder. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 39, 75-102.
• Rolfe, D. (1917). Environmental Influences in the Agriculture of Ancient Egypt. The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, 33(3), 157-168.
• Schwarz, F. (2001). Düzensizliğin İçerisinde Düzen Maat ve Eski Mısır’a Dair, (Ferim Örücü, Çev.). Yeni Yüksektepe.
• Shaw, I. (2019). Ancient Egyptian Warfare: Tactics, Weaponry and Ideology of the Pharaohs. Open Road Media.
• Shaw, I. (2003). Exploring Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press.
• Smith, C. C. (1977). The Birth of Bureaucracy. The Biblical Archaeologist, 40(1), 24-28.
• Strudwick, N. C. (2005). Texts from the Pyramid Age. Brill.
• Van Den Boorn, G. P. F. (2014). Duties of the Vizier Civil Administration in the Early New Kingdom. Routledge.
• Weinstein, J. M. (1981). The Egyptian Empire in Palestine: A Reassessment. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 241(1), 1-28.
• Wenke, R. J. (1989). Egypt: Origins of Complex Societies. Annual Review of Anthropology, 18(1), 129-155.
• Yıldırım, E. (2022). Eski Mısır’da Erdem Ahlakının İnanç Sistemine Yansıması: Maat Anlayışı. İdrak Dini Araştırmalar Dergisi, 2(2), 238-254.
• Yıldırım, E. (2022). Eski Mısır’da Tarımsal Üretim ve Vergilendirme Sistemi (MÖ 3100-672). Gaziantep University Journal of Social Sciences, 21(4), 2456-2468.
• Yıldırım, E. (2019). Nil’in Tanrı Kralları. Arkeoloji Sanat Yayınları.