Egyptian elites before the Persian conquest

• Alexander Schütze ^[1]
  1. [1] Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

     Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

     Kreisfreie Stadt München, Alemania

     
• Localización: Hermathena, ISSN 0018-0750, Nº. 204-205, 2018 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Elite responses to the rise of Achaemenid Persia), págs. 209-232
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This article explores how monuments of high officials of the Egyptian administration reflect the political situation of Egypt before the Persian conquest. Although numerous monuments such as tombs, stelae, and statues attest Egyptian elites in the late sixth century BCE, textual evidence for reactions of these elites to the Persian threat is lacking. The administrative titles of these Egyptian officials, however, point to changes in the fiscal administration as well as in the foreign policy of Amasis, penultimate pharaoh of the 26th dynasty. The article discusses the foreign policy and fiscal reforms of Pharaoh Amasis vis-à-vis the Persian expansion and relates the known monuments of Egyptian officials under this ruler to the political situation in the late sixth century BCE. Aspects of the Egyptian administrative elite, such as their representation through statues and monumental tombs, as well as their benefactions towards Egyptian temples, especially at Sais, are discussed in detail.