Ahatabu and her Stela (ÄM 7707): Funerary <i>Habitus</i> in Achaemenid Egypt

Abstract This article is the third in a special issue of the Journal of Ancient History , “Social Biographies of the Ancient World.” This article uses Bourdieusian Field Theory to examine the ancient biography of an Egyptian woman named Ahatabu ( Egyptian ꜢḫtꜢbw / Aramaic ’Aḥatabu ) attested in the mortuary stela Berlin ÄM 7707. It presents her funerary habitus’ use of multiple cultural traditions in Persian Egypt. Sketching the stela’s place within several ‘Bourdieusian’ fields (economic, political, social, and cultural) contextualizes the evidence and its social ramifications. Furthermore, the ancient evidence is insufficient to recreate precise positions for the actors in any of the posited fields. We suggest that the concept of “social surface” may provide Bourdieusian Field Theory with a better way to analyze the mortuary stela within a habitus that negotiated all of the posited fields. The representation of Ahatabu is a result of her “social surface,” her habitus as formed in relation to all of the fields in which she played the game. Further, “lifeworld” is the way in which an ancient actor negotiated their positions in all relevant fields and their own personal network. The choice of Ahatabu (or her son) to spend some forms of capital to gain others was a strategy for negotiating her positions in all relevant fields.