Leadership in Rural Pharaonic Egypt

doi:10.1017/9781009493833.003

Chapter 2 - Leadership in Rural Pharaonic Egypt

Village Chiefs, Small Potentates and Informal Networks of Power in the Provincial World

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 September 2025

Juan Carlos Moreno García

Edited by

Melina Tamiolaki

Show author details

Melina Tamiolaki: Affiliation:
University of Crete

Book contents

Get access

Summary

‘Mayors’ and village chiefs figure prominently in the iconographic and administrative record of ancient Egypt as key representatives of the pharaonic authority. Moreover, there also existed other local actors (wealthy peasants, ‘great ones’, etc.) whose occasional appearance in the written and archaeological record points to the existence of paths of accumulation of wealth and power that crystallised in the emergence of potential local leaders who owed little (or nothing) to the state in order to enhance their social role. The aim of this contribution is to explore how mayors and informal leaders ‘built’ their prominent local position in ancient Egypt, how it changed over time (especially in periods of political turmoil) and how they mobilised their contacts, family networks, wealth and official duties in order to consolidate and transmit their privileged position to the next generations. Inscriptions from Elkab, Akhmim and elsewhere, references in administrative texts and archaeological evidence (houses, etc.) related to a ‘middle class’ provide crucial clues about these themes.

Keywords

Chief Egypt patronage peasant village

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Leadership in the Ancient World
Concepts, Models, Theories
, pp. 34 - 57

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009493833.003 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2025

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Agut-Labordère, D. (2011) ‘Les “petites citadelles”: La sociabilité du tmy “ville”, “village” à travers les sagesses démotiques’, in Gorre, G. and Kosmann, P. (eds.) Espaces et territoires de l’Égypte gréco-romaine (Paris: Librairie Droz), 107–22.Google Scholar

Allen, J. (2002) The Heqanakht Papyri (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art).Google Scholar

Andrássy, P. (2009a) ‘Symbols in the Reisner Papyri’, in Andrássy, P., Budka, J. and Kammerzell, F. (eds.) Non-Textual Marking Systems, Writing and Pseudo Script from Prehistory to Modern Times (Göttingen: Seminar für Ägyptologie und Koptologie), 113–22.Google Scholar

Andrássy, P. (2009b) ‘Builders’ Graffiti and Administrative Aspects of Pyramid and Temple Building in Ancient Egypt’, in Preys, R. (ed.) 7. Ägyptologische Tempeltagung: Structuring Religion (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz), 1–16.Google Scholar

Arnold, F. (1990) The Control Notes and Team Marks (The South Cemeteries of Lisht, 2) (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art).Google Scholar

Bakir, A. M. (1952) Slavery in Pharaonic Egypt (Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale).Google Scholar

Brunner, H. (1937) Die Texte aus den Gräbern der Herakleopolitenzeit von Siut mit Übersetzung und Erläuterungen (Glückstadt: J. J. Augustin).Google Scholar

Černy, J. (1961) ‘The Stela of Merer in Cracow’, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 47, 5–9.10.1177/030751336104700102CrossRef Google Scholar

Clère, J.-J. and Vandier, J. (1948) Textes de la Première Période Intermédiaire et de la XI^e dynastie (Brussels: Fondation Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth).Google Scholar

Délange, E. (1987) Catalogue des statues égyptiennes du Moyen Empire, 2060–1560 avant J.-C. (Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux).Google Scholar

Der Manuelian, P. (1994) Living in the Past: Studies in Archaism of the Egyptian Twenty-Sixth Dynasty (London: Kegan Paul International).Google Scholar

Donker van Heel, K. (1995) ‘Abnormal Hieratic and Early Demotic Texts Collected by the Theban Choachytes in the Reign of Amasis’ (Leiden University PhD thesis).Google Scholar

Donker van Heel, K. (2012) Djekhy & Son: Doing Business in Ancient Egypt (Cairo: American University Cairo).10.5743/cairo/9789774164774.001.0001CrossRef Google Scholar

Donker van Heel, K. (2014) Mrs. Tsenhor: A Female Entrepreneur in Ancient Egypt (Cairo: American University Cairo).CrossRef Google Scholar

Eyre, Ch. (2013) The Use of Documents of Pharaonic Egypt (Oxford: Oxford University Press).10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199673896.001.0001CrossRef Google Scholar

Gabolde, M. (2008) ‘Des travailleurs en vadrouille’, in Gabolde, L. (ed.) Hommages à Jean-Claude Goyon offerts pour son 70^e anniversaire (Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale), 181–96.Google Scholar

Gabolde, M. (2019) ‘Une stèle privée avec décret royal de la fin de la XVIII^e dynastie au Musée du Louvre Abu Dhabi’, Revue d’Égyptologie 69, 99–146.Google Scholar

Gardiner, A. H. (1941) ‘Ramesside Texts Relating to the Taxation and Transport of Corn’, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 27, 19–73.10.1177/030751334102700105CrossRef Google Scholar

Gardiner, A. H. (1950) ‘A Protest against Unjustified Tax-Demands’, Revue d’Égyptologie 6, 115–33.Google Scholar

Grajetzki, W. (2007) ‘Multiple Burials in Ancient Egypt to the End of the Middle Kingdom’, in Grallert, S. and Grajetzki, W. (eds.) Life and Afterlife in Ancient Egypt during the Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period (London: Golden House Publications), 16–34.Google Scholar

Grandet, P. (1994) Le Papyrus Harris I (BM 9999) (Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale).Google Scholar

Griffith, F. Ll. (1909) Catalogue of the Demotic Papyri in the John Rylands Library (Manchester: Manchester University Press).Google Scholar

Hassan, Kh. and Ouda, A. M. M. (2018) ‘Ramesside Hieratic Stela of the Sandal Maker Penōne in the Egyptian Museum Cairo (TR. 27.6.24.3)’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 54, 93–106.CrossRef Google Scholar

Hayes, W. C. (1955) A Papyrus of the Late Middle Kingdom in the Brooklyn Museum (Papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446) (New York: Brooklyn Museum).Google Scholar

Hughes, G. R. (1984) ‘The So-Called Pherendates Correspondence’, in Thissen, H.-J. and Zauzich, K.-Th. (eds.) Grammata Demotika: Festschrift für Erich Lüddeckens zum 15. Juni 1983 (Würzburg: Gisela Zauzich Verlag), 75–86.Google Scholar

Jursa, M. and Moreno García, J. C. (2015) ‘The Ancient Near East and Egypt’, in Monson, A. and Scheidel, W. (eds.) Fiscal Regimes and the Political Economy of Premodern States (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 115–65.Google Scholar

Kanawati, N. and Evans, L. (2014) Beni Hassan, Volume I: The Tomb of Khnumhotep II (Oxford: Aris and Phillips).Google Scholar

Kitchen, K. A. (1989) Ramesside Inscriptions Historical and Biographical, Volume VII: Addenda and Indexes (Oxford: Blackwell).Google Scholar

Kitchen, K. A. (1993) Ramesside Inscriptions Translated and Annotated, Volume I (Oxford: Blackwell).Google Scholar

Lacau, P. (1949) Une stèle juridique de Karnak (Cairo: Imprimerie de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale).Google Scholar

Lashien, M. and Mourad, A.-L. (2019) Beni Hassan, Volume V: The Tomb of Khnumhotep I (Oxford: Aris and Phillips).Google Scholar

Lichtheim, M. (1988) Ancient Egyptian Autobiographies Chiefly of the Middle Kingdom: A Study and an Anthology (Freiburg: Universitätsverlag).Google Scholar

Malinine, M. and Pirenne, J. (1950) ‘Documents juridiques égyptiens (Deuxième série)’, Archives d’histoire du droit oriental 5, 11–91.Google Scholar

Moreno García, J. C. (1998) ‘La population mrt: Une approche du problème de la servitude dans l’Egypte du III^e millénaire’, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 84, 71–83.Google Scholar

Moreno García, J. C. (2000) ‘Acquisition de serfs durant la Première Période Intermédiaire: une étude d’histoire sociale dans l’Égypte du III^e millénaire’, Revue d’Égyptologie 51, 123–39.Google Scholar

Moreno García, J. C. (2001) ‘Ḥqȝw “jefes, gobernadores” y élites rurales en el III milenio antes de Cristo. Reflexiones acerca de algunas estatuas del Imperio Antiguo’, in Cervelló Autuori, J. and Quevedo Alvarez, A. J. (eds.) Ir a buscar leña. Estudios dedicados al profesor Jesús López (Barcelona: Aula Ægyptiaca), 141–54.Google Scholar

Moreno García, J. C. (2005a) ‘Élites provinciales, transformations sociales et idéologie à la fin de l’Ancien Empire et à la Première Période Intermédiaire’, in Berger el-Naggar, C. and Pantalacci, L. (eds.) Des Néferkarê aux Montouhotep. Travaux archéologiques en cours sur la fin de la VI^e dynastie et la Première Période Intermédiaire (Lyon: Maison de l’Orient), 215–28.Google Scholar

Moreno García, J. C. (2005b) ‘Deux familles de potentats provinciaux et les assises de leur pouvoir: Elkab et El-Hawawish sous la VI^e dynastie’, Revue d’Égyptologie 56, 95–128.10.2143/RE.56.0.2004954CrossRef Google Scholar

Moreno García, J. C. (2006) ‘La gestion sociale de la mémoire dans l’Égypte du III^e millénaire: Les tombes des particuliers, entre utilisation privée et idéologie publique’, in Fitzenreiter, M. and Herb, M. (eds.) Dekorierte Grabanlagen im Alten Reich – Methodik und Interpretation (London: Golden House Publications), 215–42.Google Scholar

Moreno García, J. C. (2010) ‘Les jḥwtjw et leur rôle socio-économique au III^e et II^e millénaires avant J.-C.’, in Moreno García, J. C. (ed.) Élites et pouvoir en Égypte ancienne (Villeneuve d’Ascq: Université Charles-de-Gaulle Lille 3), 321–51.Google Scholar

Moreno García, J. C. (2013) ‘The Territorial Administration of the Kingdom in the 3rd Millennium’, in Moreno García, J. C. (ed.) Ancient Egyptian Administration (Leiden: Brill), 85–151.CrossRef Google Scholar

Moreno García, J. C. (2014) ‘Intégration du mort dans la vie sociale égyptienne à la fin du troisième millénaire av. J.-C. (II): Élites, réseaux de pouvoir et le rôle du défunt dans la société provinciale égyptienne du III^e millénaire avant J.-C.’, in Mouton, A. and Patrier, J. (eds.) Life, Death and Coming of Age in Antiquity: Individual Rites of Passage in the Ancient Near East (Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten), 188–207.Google Scholar

Moreno García, J. C. (2016) ‘Social Inequality, Private Accumulation of Wealth and New Ideological Values in Late 3rd Millennium bce Egypt’, in Meller, H., Hahn, H. P., Jung, R. and Risch, R. (eds.) Arm und Reich – Zur Ressourcenverteilung in prähistorischen Gesellschaften (Halle: Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle), 491–512.Google Scholar

Moreno García, J. C. (2019) The State in Ancient Egypt: Power, Challenges and Dynamics (London: Bloomsbury).Google Scholar

Olabarria, L. (2020) Kinship and Family in Ancient Egypt: Archaeology and Anthropology in Dialogue (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).10.1017/9781108670487CrossRef Google Scholar

Parker, R. A. (1962) A Saite Oracle Papyrus from Thebes in the Brooklyn Museum (Papyrus Brooklyn 47.218.3) (Providence: Brown University Press).Google Scholar

Parkinson, R. B. (1991) The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant (Oxford: Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum).Google Scholar

Parkinson, R. B. (1997) The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems, 1940–1640 bc (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar

Pestman, P. W. (1994) Les papyrus démotiques de Tsenhor (P. Tsenhor): Les archives privées d’une femme égyptienne du temps de Darius I^er (Leuven: Peeters).Google Scholar

Posener-Krieger, P. and Demichelis, S. (2004) I papiri di Gebelein: Scavi G. Farina 1935 (Turin: Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali – Soprintendenza al Museo delle Antichità Egizie).Google Scholar

Roccati, A. (1985) ‘La stele di un falegname’, Atti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche, Rendiconti, series 8, vol. XL, 225–33.Google Scholar

Satzinger, H. (2006) ‘Felsinschriften aus dem Gebiet von Sayâla (Ägyptisch–Nubien)’, in Czerny, E., Hein, I., Hunger, H., Melman, D. and Schwab, A. (eds.) Timelines: Studies in Honour of Manfred Bietak, vol. III (Leuven: Peeters), 139–47.Google Scholar

Scott-Moncrieff, P. D. (1911) Hieroglyphic Texts from Egyptian Stelae, etc., in the British Museum I¹ (London: Harrison and Sons).Google Scholar

Seidlmayer, S. J. (2001) ‘Die Ikonographie des Todes’, in Willems, H. (ed.) Social Aspects of Funerary Culture in the Egyptian Old and Middle Kingdoms (Leuven: Peeters), 205–52.Google Scholar

Seidlmayer, S. J. (2003) ‘Vom Sterben der kleinen Leute: Tod und Bestattung in der sozialen Grundschicht am Ende des Alten Reiches’, in Guksch, H., Hofmann, E. and Bommas, M. (eds.) Grab und Totenkult im Alten Ägypten (Munich: C. H. Beck), 60–74.Google Scholar

Sethe, K. (1933) Urkunden des ägyptischen Altertums, I. Urkunden des Alten Reiches (Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs).Google Scholar

Simpson, W. K. (1965) Papyrus Reisner II: Accounts of the Dockyard Workshop at This in the Reign of Sesostris I (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts).Google Scholar

Strudwick, N. C. (2005) Texts from the Pyramid Age (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature).Google Scholar

Tait, J. (2008–9) ‘Pa-di-Pep Tells Pharaoh the Story of the Condemnation of Djed-her: Fragments of Demotic Narrative in the British Museum’, Enchoria 31, 113–33.Google Scholar

Vischak, D. (2015) Community and Identity in Ancient Egypt: The Old Kingdom Cemetery at Qubbet el-Hawa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar

Wegner, J. (2010) ‘External Connections of the Community of Wah-Sut during the Late Middle Kingdom’, in Hawass, Z. A., Manuelian, P. Der and Hussein, R. B. (eds.) Perspectives on Ancient Egypt: Studies in Honor of Edward Brovarski (Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities), 437–58.Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 AA

The PDF of this book complies with version 2.1 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), covering newer accessibility requirements and improved user experiences and achieves the intermediate (AA) level of WCAG compliance, covering a wider range of accessibility requirements.

Content Navigation

Table of contents navigation
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.

Index navigation
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.

Reading Order & Textual Equivalents

Single logical reading order
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.

Short alternative textual descriptions
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.

Visual Accessibility

Use of colour is not sole means of conveying information
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.

Structural and Technical Features

ARIA roles provided
You gain clarity from ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) roles and attributes, as they help assistive technologies interpret how each part of the content functions.