Innovation No. 77 of 77 in the book
The First Police Force
The Medjay paramilitary, transitioning from a desert scout unit to a state-salaried civil police force
- When
- c. 1550 BCE
- Dynasty
- 18th Dynasty
- Era
- New Kingdom
The world’s first police force grew up in Egypt: the Medjay, a state-salaried security force on patrol by around 1550 BCE, in the early New Kingdom.
They began as desert scouts and became civil police — guarding towns, tombs and borders, keeping order, and answering to the government, paid from the state’s stores.
That is the key difference from a private guard or a soldier: a permanent, paid force whose whole job was public order.
The idea of a police force on the public payroll started on the Nile.
Papyri and ostraca from the workers' village at Deir el-Medina carry daily logs of Medjay patrols, naming the officers assigned to guard the royal tombs and the village perimeter. Eighteenth Dynasty tomb paintings, such as that of the royal steward Kenamun at Thebes, show Medjay officers carrying staves and detaining offenders. Together these establish a permanent domestic force with a defined jurisdiction, separate from the royal army.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does the name come from?
It began as a term for people of Medja, a region of Nubia, whose scouts and hunters the pharaohs first hired for their tracking skill. Over centuries the word stopped describing an origin and came to name the office itself.
What separates them from soldiers or private guards?
Three things together: they were permanent, they were paid from state stores, and their jurisdiction was civil — towns, tombs and borders — rather than military. That combination is what makes the role recognisably policing.