After the Old Kingdom, there seems to have been a separation of roles with the official positions going to members of the nobility. There were a few notable exceptions to this rule, such as the role of God’s wife of Amun. The members of the extended royal family were defined in terms of their relationship to the king. In the early dynastic period and the Old Kingdom, many of the members of the royal family held positions of power within the government and bureaucracy of Egypt.
