Clientele, Power and Family Bonds in Ancient Egypt: Building Social Links, Promoting Individual Strategies, Facing Kin Conflicts

Abstract

Abstract Ancient Egypt provides abundant evidence about family strategies used by the elite to assert their authority, enhance their power in competitive settings such as the royal court and to preserve their resources (economic, symbolic) in face of rivals and newcomers. However, when some individuals obtained particular benefits from their service to the state (land, rewards, high quality goods, prebends), they tried to preserve these gains within their nuclear family and to avoid any claim or interference from other members of their kin. Tensions rapidly erupted so kings made a selective use of rewards and honors to break the solidarity of potentially dangerous noble families, to induce rivalries between them and to keep his central role as mediator between factions and source of legitimate authority. Temples were ideal arenas in which such tensions and strategies manifested themselves, bringing thus the opportunity to analyze the actual construction of power in ancient Egypt beyond ideological expressions and rhetorical claims.