The legal system in ancient Egypt & Stela of The magistrate Kaherset at NMEC by Kyrllos Eskandar.
The legal system in ancient Egypt
&
Stela of The magistrate Kaherset at NMEC
At our new Museum “the
National Museum of Egyptian Civilization” in Fustat, Egypt
We have four thousands
years old wooden stela
Belongs to an ancient
Egyptian judge, his name is Kaherset and lived during the 5th
dynasty “old kingdom”.
This funerary stela
found in his tomb in Saqqara, shows him with members of his family.
When I heard that he was
a judge, I instantly asked myself
what was his responsibilities in ancient
Egypt? How were the courts in ancient Egypt?
What were the rules? And
based on what?
Have they had a legal
system?
How were their verdicts
looked like?!
Let’s answer these
questions:
Our ancestors in ancient
Egypt were familiar with the legal system that any country has today, the principles
of the rules of the ancient Egyptian kings based on the values of Maat (justice).
They believed that Maat instituted at the beginning
by the gods in order to help each one to live at peace with oneself, one’s
community, and the gods, all one had to do was live life of consideration, mindfulness, and balance in accordance with Maat.
They usually represented
Maat as a goddess with feather upon her head, there are a lot of
scenes shown kings and queens accompanied by goddess Maat.
And other kings their
coronation names included the name of Maat, for instance king Amenhotep the third
his coronation name is “NB MAAT RA” which means “ god Ra is the lord of justice”.
The law in ancient Egypt
functioned just as it does in any country today; there was a set of agreed-upon
rules which had been formulated by experts in the field and police officer who
enforced those rules and brought transgressors to justice.
At the top of judicial hierarchy was the king and beneath him was his vizier, the vizier heard cases in courts by himself and also appointed magistrates.
The legal system in
ancient Egypt developed from era to another one, at the beginning the courts were regionally in individual
districts and presided by the governors, but later on during the old kingdom these
local courts became more bureaucratic and were firmly consolidated under the
vizier (though at this time, judges were often priests who used to counsel the
cases with gods rather than weighing the evidences and listening to testimonies).
During the new kingdom the professional judges
were installed to preside over courts for first time, this period also saw the
creation of the first professional police force which enforced the law, took
suspects into custody, and testified in courts.
There were three levels of courts;
The SERU: group of elders
in a rural community.
The KENBET: court on the
regional & national level.
The DJADJAT: the imperial
court.
In Egyptian courts, a
person who had been charged was guilty until proven innocent.
If the crime was serious
such as rape, murder, theft in large scale, or tomb robbing. The penalty was
death or disfigurement.
The penalty of rape
crimes was usually castration or amputation of the criminal’s penis.
The penalty of murder
crimes was execution in unpleasant way, usually burned the criminal to death or
fed him to crocodiles.
Thieves usually suffered amputation of the nose, hands, or feet.
by Kyrllos Eskandar
Tourist guide & Egyptologist
facebook page: Kyrllos Eskandar-Egypt Tourguide
youtube channel: Egypt Mayor of guidance
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