Egypt was divided into provinces called Nomes, and had been divided since the early-dynastic period. Nomes were seen as a type of government division, which they supervised and were responsible for the maintenance of irrigation canals and dams, the local distribution of the Nile water, the dispensation of justice and collecting taxes, just to name a few.

The word Nome stems from the Greek word of Nomos meaning “Law”. The Egyptian word for Nomes was “Sepat”. Egypt was divided into two halves, Upper and Lower Egypt. For most part of the pharaonic history, Upper Egypt had twenty-two Nomes, while Lower Egypt had twenty Nomes. There is thought that in the Pre-dynastic period, there were fewer Nomes, and Nome boundaries had changed over time. Each Nome was an administrative region and the number of Nomes in both Upper and Lower Egypt had changed over time. Nomes also had their own symbol or token, which may have related to the clan that lived there. In later periods, they also minted their own coinage reflecting their individual traditions and character. Nomes lasted in to the Roman Period where they were abandoned as administrative units in later Roman times under bureaucratic reforms of Diocletion and Constantine. Nomes had lasted over 4000 years …show more content…
Each Nome had a capital city and a cult centre dedicated to the god of the region. Many of these cult centres had more than local importance, they were the backbone of the economy. Not only were they houses of worship, but they were also responsible for collecting and storing the nations wealth in a system of granaries and treasuries administered by overseers, who redistributed grain and goods. Some Nomes also where seen to have a strategic importance as they built fortresses to protect the land from foreign