The use of Social Network Analysis in Egyptology and its contribution to the study of the networks of relationships among the elite in ancient Egypt

Abstract

While the methods of Social Network Analysis (SNA) have enjoyed great success among historians since the early years of the century, these methods have hardly been deployed so far in Egyptology. Nevertheless, since the 2010's, a few studies have allowed for methodological and historiographical renewals within this field of study. After presentation of the inputs of this recent research, the potentialities of network analysis for the study of the provincial elites in Egypt at the time of the VIth Dynasty (c. 2345-2181 BC) will be explored through two case studies. The first is devoted to the detection of the interactions between the members of the different social groups belonging to the same household, namely, that of Pepyankhheryib, a high official of Middle Egypt. In the second case, the aims will be to determine and quantify the links that have been established among several members of the elite of Elephantine, in the southernmost province of Upper Egypt, especially through the networking of the inscribed vessels that have been discovered in their tombs.