The written word played a vital part in the administration of Egyptian lands, not least as a tool of taxation. An annual census gave the government a chance to survey the nation, and collect the information required to ensure that taxes could be levied effectively. Despite a population of over three million, the census found and recorded everyone from the poorest farmer to the richest landowner. Nobody could hide from the New Kingdom’s bureaucratic reach as the census, administered by a vast system of overseers and scribes, measured Egypt’s financial growth and prosperity.
