423144

Land Endowments in the Old Kingdom Private Inscriptions

Article

Last updated: 27 Apr 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

Ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary history

Abstract

This paper provides a close reading and commenting of a group of Old Kingdom private inscriptions relating to land endowments assigned for private mortuary cults. The study also examines the terms of such funerary foundations. Endowment texts focus on a procedure for the permanent endowment of areas of land by individuals for funerary purpose in the manner of a waqf, with the land entailed in a single, not-divisible line of succession of kA-priests. Some endowments are specifically royal gifts or authorized by the king. The study illustrates that land was controlled directly in relation to holding the office of kA-priest: where control of land, and the production from it is in effect payment for funerary service. A middle class of priests, who were holders of endowment lands, became visible from the late Old Kingdom onwards, reflecting the development of ancient Egyptian society. The texts here studied are presented in transliteration and translation, and a comment is provided for each text.

DOI

10.21608/ijth.2025.423144

Keywords

old kingdom, ancient Egyptian society, land endowment, land tenure, private mortuary cults, Waqf, kA-priests, Transmission

Authors

First Name

Doaa

Last Name

ElKashef

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, University of Sadat City

Email

doaa.elkashef@fth.usc.edu.eg

City

Sadat City

Orcid

-

Volume

1

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

55190

Issue Date

2024-12-01

Receive Date

2025-04-18

Publish Date

2025-04-18

Page Start

8

Page End

25

Print ISSN

3062-5580

Online ISSN

3062-5599

Link

https://ijth.journals.ekb.eg/article_423144.html

Detail API

http://journals.ekb.eg?_action=service&article_code=423144

Order

2

Type

Original Article

Type Code

3,479

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

International Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Civilization

Publication Link

https://ijth.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Land Endowments in the Old Kingdom Private Inscriptions

Details

Type

Article

Created At

27 Apr 2025