Cattle count

In ancient Egypt, the cattle count was one of the two main means of evaluating the amount of taxes to be levied, the other one being the height of the annual inundation.

The frequency of cattle counts varied through the history of ancient Egypt; in the Old Kingdom it was most likely biennial, i.e. occurring every two years, and became more frequent subsequently.

[1][2] The Shemsu Hor consisted of a journey by the king and his court throughout Egypt which facilitated the assessment and levying of taxes by the central administration.

According to the Palermo stone, a black basalt stone slab recording the yearly events of cultic and religious nature from king Narmer (1st Dynasty) down to king Neferirkare Kakai (3rd pharaoh of the 5th Dynasty), the cattle count was performed every second year until the late Old Kingdom.

This calculation is rejected by several Egyptologists, because another ancient Egyptian source, the Turin canon, credits Khufu with a reign of merely 23 years.