Descendants of a Lesser God: Regional Power in Old and Middle Kingdom Egypt

Alejandro Jiménez-Serrano's book, Descendants of a Lesser God, provides a new perspective on the dynamics of dynastic rule in the southernmost province of Egypt from the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom. He analyzes the origin of the local elites of Elephantine and their role in trade and international relations, and explores the relationship between social memory and political legitimacy through the mortuary cult of a late Old Kingdom governor.

Format: Hardback
Length: 310 pages
Publication date: 10 October 2023
Publisher: American University in Cairo Press

The First Upper Egyptian nome, with its capital, Elephantine, held significant importance in ancient times, as it stood on the southern border between Egypt and the Nubian provinces above the First Cataract. Since 2008, Alejandro Jiménez-Serrano has led an archaeological mission at the necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa, where the high officials of Elephantine are buried. In his book Descendants of a Lesser God, he draws on textual records, archaeological data, and new evidence from his work at the tombs to shed fresh historiographical light on the dynastic dynamics of these ruling elites.

Jiménez-Serrano analyzes the origin of the local elites of Elephantine and their role in trade and international relations with Nubia and neighboring regions from the end of the Old Kingdom to the end of the Middle Kingdom. He explores the development of these power groups, organized as they were in complex households, which in many ways emulated the functioning of the royal court. Delving deeply into the funerary world, he also highlights the relationship between social memory and political legitimacy through his examination of the mortuary cult of a late Old Kingdom governor of Elephantine, Heqaib, who was transformed into a local divinity and later claimed as the mythic ancestor of the ruling family of Elephantine.

The history of ancient Egypt has traditionally been written from a court perspective. This new history of a strategically important region not only modifies existing perceptions of provincial life in the Middle Kingdom among the elites but also introduces new evidence to support more complex and detailed reconstructions of the dynastic families in power.

Weight: 626g
Dimension: 161 x 240 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781649031754