SOCIAL HIERARCHY
THE pYRAMID JUST WASN'T a monument...
The concept of a social pyramid was ever present throughout Egypt and especially in Alexandria as it was the heart. As you can see in the pyramid, there are different levels and the objects that separate each level is the amount of skilled profession and also blood, if talking about the Pharoahs. The upper class mainly consisted of the pharaoh and his court. These were the ones with all the power and they really set the rules for others. Life as a commonwealth, or middle class isn’t bad however! Sure, Alexandria’s taxes are “unreasonable” according to other outsiders, but honestly the amount of things they have going on compared to our great city, they really shouldn’t be talking. Taxation is what Alexandria lives on! The air to this breathing organism of a city, is taxation – which is put upon the Common Wealth. However, it’s all for a just cause. Here is an excerpt from Reasons Why We Tax And Other Alexandrian CommonWealth Problems, the most popular book for the middle class, it explains all reasons why these “problems” exist. This part talks about taxation:
A major part of the levies imposed on the people was used to stabilise society. A bureaucratic administration, at first native and in the Late Period increasingly foreign, enforced order throughout the country during most of its history. Three millennia of mainly quiet development point to the success of this policy: Grain is stored which could be distributed in times of famine. Corvée workers are fed from these stores during the months of inundation when work in the fields is impossible. Artisans constructing public buildings found employment, paid by the royal treasury. Even the offerings at the temples were at least partially used to feed the poor.
It’s quite an invigorating read, but the social structures and taxation is all for a just cause. This sense of order allows Alexandria to progress without worrying about revolts and other mundane things inferior cities have to deal with. You simply do your job and do it to the best of your ability, the sense of order that runs through the streets of Alexandria cannot be found elsewhere.