The culture of officialdom: An examination of the acquisition of offices during the mid-18th Dynasty

مرکز و کتابخانه مطالعات اسلامی به زبان های اروپایی

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" The culture of officialdom: An examination of the acquisition of offices during the mid-18th Dynasty "
J. J. Shirley B. Bryan

Document Type	:	Latin Dissertation
Language of Document	:	English
Record Number	:	54684
Doc. No	:	TL24638
Call number	:	‭3172694‬
Main Entry	:	J. J. Shirley
Title & Author	:	The culture of officialdom: An examination of the acquisition of offices during the mid-18th Dynasty\ J. J. Shirley
College	:	The Johns Hopkins University
Date	:	2005
Degree	:	Ph.D.
student score	:	2005
Page No	:	552
Abstract	:	Originating with Helck's Zur Verwaltung des Mittleren and Neuen Reichs and Der Einfluss der Militärführer, studies on the configuration and development of the administration of ancient Egypt have focused primarily on discussing the offices and the duties attached to them, and only secondarily on the office-holders as they relate to their positions. The current work examines the structure of ancient Egypt's government through prosopographical and historical investigation of the officials themselves in order to ascertain how they obtained their positions during the transition from the reign of Thutmosis III to that of his son Amenhotep II, c.1450–1400 B.C. The methodology employed reintegrates the titular, genealogical and biographical information that was available for the officials with the historical context in which they functioned. Issues relating to how and why these officials became visible are also considered in order to gain a better understanding of the culture of officialdom. Three questions are posed; (1) What were the means by which an ancient Egyptian could attain office? (2) What does this tell us about the underlying structure of the government during the mid-18th Dynasty? (3) What do these patterns (or lack thereof) indicate about an official's or family's influence vis-à-vis the king in achieving and retaining a position? The results of the current work demonstrate that the administrative structure described by Helck, and essentially followed since, should be reevaluated. It now appears that officials were able to obtain their positions in a variety of ways throughout the period studied. Direct inheritance and familial nepotism were more prevalent during the reign of Thutmosis III, while under Amenhotep II the families of his nurses and tutors benefited from the close relationship formed between the young prince and his caretakers. Meritorious rise was also a possibility and did not require external circumstances, such as wartime activity, to instigate it. While the particular men who made up the highest levels of the administration changed, the elite status of their families did not. This indicates that the underlying structure of the government was fluid and that while superficially the alterations may appear dramatic, in fact they were not.
Subject	:	Social sciences; Acquisition of offices; Egypt; Eighteenth Dynasty; New Kingdom; Officialdom; Ancient civilizations; Archaeology; Middle Eastern history; African history; 0579:Ancient civilizations; 0324:Archaeology; 0333:Middle Eastern history; 0331:African history
Added Entry	:	B. Bryan
Added Entry	:	The Johns Hopkins University