Effects of Economic Surplus: Egypt Ancient Egypt is such an interesting and amazing society to study due to the various factors that allowed the city and population to thrive. The culture, quite different to other cultures around the world in ancient times, developed quite unique traditions, technologies and ideas. Small features of this society including aligning the 4 corners of the pyramids and being able to divide the year into 365 days makes it truly fascinating, The main reason that this society was able to thrive and be successful can be attributed to the great Nile River. Due to this people were able to settle which lead to the creation of a surplus, which could be sustained for around 2000 years.
How is the Surplus Created …show more content…

Within the population there were many occupations that people could have, the best being priests, nobles and scribes. Middle class people were called peasants and they controlled the irrigation and crops. Due to the Nile flooding around the same time annually, this allowed for the Egyptians to live in villages and market towns that were scattered along the river. Peasants generally lived good lives as crops were relatively easy to plant and heavy plows were not needed. At the bottom of society were the prisoners and slaves, which made up around 10-15 percent of the population (Lockard, 2011). Egyptians valued security and safety more than equality, therefore these people often did not live good lives. The class of the person was more often than not determined by their parents meaning the job that their parents owned often would be the same job that they would have.
What happens and who is to blame if the Surplus disappears? A surplus, once created, can be difficult to be controlled and often can be destroyed as shown by this ancient civilization of Egypt. During the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms, each were ruled by various leaders and in the middle of each of the three kingdoms saw disorder or foreign conquest. Along with these periods, other periods of political disorder or weak central government lead to