The dictionary definition of hierarchy is; any system of persons or things ranked one above another. In each type of society whether it be Egypt, China, or India there seemed to be some form of a hierarchy. There had to be a system that these societies followed in order to succeed during their periods of ruling. The relationship between power and leadership with a hierarchical ruling coincide with each other. What I mean by this is that being a leader comes with the responsibility of having power. A leader without power is no leader , merely a person with the title. The only distinct differences between the three countries aforementioned is the way it was organised. Yes the concept was the same, but within those concepts one can pick out distinguishable factors.
In Egypt at the top of the hierarchy was the pharaoh; the person ruling over everyone. Under the pharaoh was the Vizier; otherwise known as the chief minister or the second in command. After the vizier are the priests and the nobles. Then under them you have the soldiers and officials. Then, the middle level job holders such as craftsmen, traders, and artisans. Then finally the lower level job holders like the farmer and slaves. Your typical hierarchy system but with a pharaoh in charge. The pharaoh at the top of this hierarchical pyramid was in command of it all. The armies, the creating and passing of laws. He was the most powerful. In charge of politics and religion as well. The person that the society was supposed to obey. Without power, it is of course difficult to lead or have followers. As well as the pharaoh we can discuss the vizier. The second in command, also powerful but not as powerful as the pharaoh, and that also goes for the rest of the classes. Each class holds more power than the other. That is why hierarchies are usually depicted as pyramids. The vizier had enough power that people listened to him as well. Along the pyramid the power trickles down , until it hits the bottom where there is no power. That is the hierarchical system in Egypt.
China's systems is a little different as they had more the one dynasty. Each dynasty had a hierarchy but within each hierarchy were different types of social classes. There were four main Dynasties. The Shang,Zhou, Qin and Han dynasties. The one most similar to that of Egypt is the Shang dynasty. The ruling class better known as the King and his family were the powerful leaders. Underneath the King and his family were the Nobles. They were the second in ranking in the class system. The artisans and craftsmen were the middle class of the society. After them came the farmers, and after the farmers were the slaves. The Shang dynasty was not the first but one of the most important ones. The Shang dynasty influenced the following dynasties mentioned above. Their class system was passed down throughout the different rulings but changed throughout the time. Over time it was deemed that farmers were actually more important than the middle class people and even that soldiers were at the bottom of the pyramid as well. But one thing of course remained the same , and that was the fact the King was still the almighty one. The lot of the power was spread across the royal family, but as I said before the power did trickle down. I would also like to mention that among these classes it was very hard to move up or change from one class to another.
The Indian hierarchy , although a hierarchy did not have a king or pharaoh at the top of the system but instead a priest. The were called the brahmins and they were at the top, with their ultimate goal to reach the highest form of spiritual knowledge. After the brahmins were the Kshatriyas or Rajputs other wise known as the warriors and their role was to protect the society. The next part of this social class was the Vaisyas or the working class. Next were the shudras ad they were considered unskilled workers. Last we have the pariahs or the untouchables and it was strictly prohibited to interact with anyone of this social class. As mentioned before I said that throughout the pyramid power was trickled down , in this case he shudras had no power. They were considered the bottom of the barrel. Unlike Egypt and China, the indians believed that if they achieved their dharma(karma) they would in the next life be able to come back in another class. Everyone in the classes below the Brahmins sought to achieve the Brahmin class. People in the Brahmin class were the powerful ones and the ones in charge. Politics were mostly taken up by the Kshatriyas .But the Brahmins would act as chiefs.
From these three Egypt,China, and India, we can see the concept of the hierarchy is present. Where it seems that all power is centralised around the top of the class. It is important to notice that in each of these societies The most powerful is the leader. These societies all demonstrate the trickle down system. Meaning that each class is influenced by the highest class. For example in India , they wanted to achieve the highest class being brahminism. In China, the King influenced all of that society , meaning that anything he passed goes, and that also went for Egypt, the Pharaoh was the one that was listened to. A crucial thing to pay attention to is how these Hierarchies influenced different societies throughout time. We have had centralised , tyrannical, bureaucratic and democracies that have stemmed from this type of ruling. All those listed have similar factors. Especially in a democracy. We have the president at the top of the pyramid instead. That power is spread across the board as well. The president is the powerful leader and everyone underneath has power as well but is limited in the roles that they play.
What we can see from these 3 societies, is that the all relate to each other. Hierarchies aren’t so different in what they include. As said in the introduction, A leader without power is no leader , merely a person with the title. All the leaders at the top of our pyramid have the most power , otherwise they would not be at the top, and their job is to lead their people. These types of rulings have been passed down, even modified , but with research you can tell where it derived from. I believe that’s amazing, that even in modern times , one can see that it is a hierarchy, and one similar to that of these times. It is always interesting to see how much history repeats itself and how it continues to influence society as well. It is critical though to notice, how much modern society compares to the historical times. We must take into account the similarities such as that of the hierarchy. In each society sure they way they did things were different, but like I said the concept is this same with some noticeable differences, but all in all it is all the same.