With the emergence of a strong, centralized…
2781 BCE to 2638 BCE
With the emergence of a strong, centralized government under a god-king, the country's nascent economic and political institutions became subject to royal authority.
The central government, either directly or through major officials, becomes the employer of soldiers, retainers, bureaucrats, and artisans whose goods and services benefit the upper classes and the state gods.
In the course of the Early Dynastic Period, artisans and civil servants working for the central government fashion the highly sophisticated traditions of art and learning that hereafter will constitute the basic pattern of pharaonic civilization.