The local Egyptian administration in the Early Middle Kingdomthe case study of Sarenputi I and his family in Elephantine

Abstract

The present thesis supposes a review of the figure of the nomarch Sarenputi I and his family in the context of the Egyptian administration on the local sphere of Elephantine in the early Middle Kingdom. The prosopographical approach to Saerenputi and this family, together with the results obtained from the current archaeological works of the University of Jaén at the necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa, has permitted to connect other Egyptian monuments to unknown ancestors of the governor so far. The contribution of new data makes this work to suppose a change of perspective in the traditional view of Serenputi I as a homo novus towards an open view to interpret his appointment to the governor office of Elephantine by the king Senusret I not only as a result of his relationship with the king but also as a confirmation of the inheritance of his ancestral lineage. Additionally, a review of monuments from different officials who seem to have been somehow connected to Elephantine in the Middle Kingdom has been done. It has permitted to reconstruct family genealogies and contextualise them, from which a dependant relation with Sarenputi I and his family as the dominant branch of the local elite may be suspected.