Hi Piotr,
Back to the definitions for the word state. Were you a bit surprised
that the first 25 or so definitions referred to things other than "a
settled government" for the term "state". I know I was.

Here are a few:
#1: a combination of circumstances or attributes belonging for the time
being to a person or thing.
#2: a condition (of mind or feeling); the condition in which a person
finds himself at a particular time.
#4: physical condition as regards internal make or constitution,
molecular form or structure, and the like.
#7: the chief stage of a process; the condition of full vigor.
#9: a person's proper form, shape, or nature.

And the earliest citations were from early British references. When
Egypt was supposedly "forming a state" the concept for "state" hadn't
been invented! So I question the role of Pharoah -- I think Pharoah had
to have been some form of "god". And the "servants" who built the
pyramids were likely dedicated "believers" doing good works for a decent
afterlife; similar to the followers of Jim Jones in Guayana who sipped
cool-aid because their leader had convinced them that he was god and
directed them to the libation. And I'll bet those folks in Guayana had
dreams of an afterlife. But in final analysis, the Guayana folks were
sheep to Jones' god-lurings and all they got was freedom from this
life. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. The End.

Gerry