The wives of the pharaohs were the second most powerful people of that land after the Pharaohs even tho the most powerful person in Egypt was the pharaohs
The citizens had to pay taxes to support the government http://www.ducksters.com/history/ancient_egyptian_government.phprs Most pharaohs went to war when their land was threatened or when they wanted to control foreign lands. If the pharaohs won this battle them the other conquered people had to give them their finest and most valuable goods from their landhttp://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/pharaoh/home.html