Part C
Compare and contrast (show similarities and differences) the
Medieval hierarchy with that of another ancient civilization. For
example: Medieval Europe compared/contrasted to the
Japanese Shoguns hierarchy
The ancient civilisation, which I will be comparing and contrasting
(showing similarities and differences) to that of the Medieval hierarchy
will be the Ancient Egyptians. The reason I have chosen the Ancient
Egyptians to compare and contrast with the Medieval hierarchy is
because in some ways they are very similar to the Medieval hierarchy
but in other ways they very different.
The Ancient Egyptian’s idea of a feudal society was actually quite
similar to the Medieval Europeans idea of a feudal society in the way
that they both believed that there should be one ruler who was the most
important person in the case of the Ancient Egyptians it was the
pharaoh and in the case of the Medieval Europeans it was the king.
Another reason that their feudal system was similar to that of the
Medieval European feudal system was because they both thought that
slaves were at the bottom of the social structure and they also both
believed that religious leaders should be high up in the ranking of the
social structure. Another example of similarity between the Ancient
Egyptian idea of a feudal society and the Medieval European idea of a
feudal society was that the slaves and the farmers were thought of as
almost at the same level/had the same stature (according to some
sources they had the same stature, and according to other slaves were
just below farmers but there was not much gap in their stature in the in
the Ancient Egyptians idea of a feudal society), this was evident during
both types of feudal society. This is how the feudal society was set out
in Ancient Egypt from the most important people to the least important
people:
1. Pharaoh
2. Vizier
3. Nobles & Priests
4. Scribes & Soldiers
5. Crafstmen
6. Farmers & Slaves
Arslaan Afridi
This is a diagram of the Ancient Egyptian idea of a feudal society:
The Ancient Egyptians idea of a feudal society did also have a lot of
difference when compared to the Medieval Europeans idea of a feudal
society, some of the reason why this was true were because a lot of the
groups of people in the Ancient Egyptian feudal society weren’t even
used/featured on the Medieval European social structure, the main
reason for this was because there was no need for those people in the
feudal society by the time it developed that much, some examples of
groups of people who weren’t non-existent in the Medieval European
idea of a feudal society are:
 Pharaoh
 Vizier
 Scribe
Another difference between the Ancient Egyptian idea of a feudal
society and the Medieval European idea of a feudal society is that they
the Ancient Egyptians believed that soldiers had quite high stature
mainly because it was thought that if you died whilst fighting someone in
a war you would go straight to Aaru (Ancient Egyptian heaven) whereas
in the Medieval European idea of a feudal society soldiers did not have
very good stature.
This is a compare and contrast of the Medieval European idea of a
feudal society and the Ancient Egyptian idea of a feudal society.
References

Anderson, M., Keese, I. and Low, A. (2013). Retroactive. Queensland: John
Wiley & Sons Australia,LTD, pp.314-350.
Arslaan Afridi
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Hierarchystructure.com, (2015). Egyptian Feudal Hierarchy. [online] Available
at: http://www.hierarchystructure.com/egyptian-feudal-hierarchy/ [Accessed
22 Mar. 2015].
Historyonthenet.com, (2015). The Egyptians - Society. [online] Available at:
http://www.historyonthenet.com/egyptians/society.htm [Accessed 22 Mar.
2015].
Shsu.edu, (2015). Ancient Egypt. [online] Available at:
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Egypt.html [Accessed 22 Mar. 2015].
Ushistory.org, (2015). Egyptian Social Structure [ushistory.org]. [online]
Available at: http://www.ushistory.org/civ/3b.asp [Accessed 22 Mar. 2015].
Arslaan Afridi