Honey Hammer

How Are Pharaonic Forms of Patronage Embodied in Middle Kingdom Textual Attitudes Towards Asymmetrical or Reciprocal Relationships (2050–1550 BC): An Emic Textual Analysis

My research aims to look at the Egyptian "dependencies" as they are depicted in the literature, tomb biographies and wisdom/teaching texts of the early Middle Kingdom by assessing the emic view of the patron/dependent relationship from the Egyptian's point of view in these different textual contexts. Due to the inclination of different genres of text to partially overlap in content and quite often complement each other, my main data set will focus on different genres of textual sources that relate to the issues of patronage and asymmetrical relationship dynamics, promoting an understanding of these social issues in a two-pronged approach.

My first aim is to understand and clarify each individual genre's depictions and attitudes towards patronage as a form of dependency, and secondly to compare how these different genres relate to each other to create a cohesive picture of patronage during the early Middle Kingdom. By focusing on the internal attitudes of the Egyptian "actors" towards the patronage system, and its advantages and disadvantages with regards to an individual's potential within the social hierarchy, I aim to catalogue the ways in which these individuals, and their resulting relationships with other "actors", are portrayed within these different textual spheres. From this I will demonstrate a clearer understanding of how these relationships are portrayed in the realm of fiction, and how they are utilised as presentations of idealised behaviour in asymmetrical relationships and used beneficially to the advantage of an individual’s career or social standing.

since 2019                 
Ph.D. in Egyptology, University of Bonn, Germany

2016–2018                 
M.A. in Egyptology, University of Liverpool, UK

2013–2016                 
B.A. in Egyptology, University of Liverpool, UK