Dynastic Egypt The division of ancient Egypt into nomes can be traced back to the
Early Dynastic period, before the
Third Dynasty. One of the earliest direct attestation of the name of an Egyptian nome is an ink inscription on a jar found in the galleries beneath Djoser's pyramid and which may date to the reign of the Second Dynasty king
Nynetjer. Another attestation dates to the slightly later reign of
Seth-Peribsen. The nome system may have originated earlier still, being coeval with the unification of Egypt as such a regional administration would have been essential for the cohesion of the recently unified lands. Alternatively, Egyptologists have held the view that the system emerged from the economic demands due to pyramid-building. This view however is weakened by the observations that the early attestations pre-date the first pyramid, and that other very large building projects had already taken place prior to Djoser's reign, notably the enclosures of Khasekhemwy at Hierakonpolis and Abydos. Not only did the division into nomes remain in place for more than three millennia, the areas of the individual nomes and their ordering remained remarkably stable. Some, like
Xois in the
Nile Delta or
Khent in
Upper Egypt, were first mentioned on the
Palermo Stone, which was inscribed in the
Fifth Dynasty. The names of a few, like the nome of
Bubastis, appeared no earlier than the
New Kingdom. Under the system that prevailed for most of pharaonic Egypt's history, the country was divided into 42 nomes.
Lower Egypt nomes Lower Egypt (Egyptian: "Ā-meḥty"), from the Old Kingdom capital
Memphis to the
Mediterranean Sea, comprised 20 nomes. The first was based around Memphis,
Saqqara, and
Giza, in the area occupied by modern-day
Cairo. The nomes were numbered in a more or less orderly fashion south to north through the Nile Delta, first covering the territory on the west before continuing with the higher numbers to the east. Thus,
Alexandria was in the Third Nome;
Bubastis was in the Eighteenth.
Upper Egypt nomes Upper Egypt was divided into 22 nomes. The first of these was centered on
Elephantine close to Egypt's border with
Nubia at the
First Cataract – the area of modern-day
Aswan. From there the numbering progressed downriver in an orderly fashion along the narrow fertile strip of land that was the Nile valley. Waset (ancient
Thebes or contemporary
Luxor) was in the Fourth Nome,
Amarna in the Fourteenth, and
Meidum in the Twenty-first.
Ptolemaic Egypt Some nomes were added or renamed during the Graeco-Roman occupation of Egypt. For example, the Ptolemies renamed the
Crocodilopolitan nome to Arsinoe.
Hadrian created a new nome, Antinoopolites, for which
Antinoöpolis was the capital.
Roman Egypt The nomes survived into
Roman times. Under Roman rule, individual nomes minted their own coinage, the so-called "nome coins", which still reflect individual local associations and traditions. The nomes of Egypt retained their primary importance as administrative units until the fundamental rearrangement of the bureaucracy during the reigns of
Diocletian and
Constantine the Great. From AD 307/8, their place was taken by smaller units called
pagi. Eventually powerful local officials arose who were called pagarchs, through whom all patronage flowed. The pagarch's essential role was as an organizer of tax-collection. Later the pagarch assumed some military functions as well. The pagarchs were often wealthy landowners who reigned over the
pagi from which they originated. ==Nomarch==