The High Priests of Egypt in the Ramesside Period: Prosopography and History. Volume 1, Analysis and Synthesis. CENiM 30.

This work constitutes the revised and corrected publication of a doctoral thesis completed at the Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3 University and defended in 2019. It aims to restore as best as possible the history of the high priests of Egypt in the Ramesside period (13th-11th centuries BC), notables of capital importance for the stability and life of the kingdom. This work consisted first of all in the gathering of useful sources: tomb inscriptions, steles, statues, small funerary furniture, papyri and ostraca, their translation and their commentary. The information thus gathered was used to develop the most complete prosopographical study possible of the attested high priests. A synthetic analysis is then proposed aimed at better understanding the role of the high priests, within the framework of the temple as well as at the level of the entire country and vis-à-vis the king. Finally, the last part of the synthesis develops a continuous history of these high priests in relation to their contemporaries, the king and the main events of their time. Historical episodes such as the restoration of traditional cults after the fall of Akhenaten's doctrine, the usurpation of Amenmesses and the succession conflicts that followed, as well as the major unrest at the end of the 20th dynasty, which put an end to the political system of the New Kingdom, are thus re-examined from their point of view. This work benefited from the support of LabEx ARCHIMEDE under the “Investissement d'Avenir” program ANR-11-LABX-0032-01.