Ancient Egyptian Kingship

This guide introduces readers to the fundamentals, essential developments, and complementary developments of ancient Egyptian kingship studies. Ancient Egyptian kingship, a complex facet of ancient Egyptian society, remains a topic of fascination for both scholars and the wider public. Its study, which has traditionally been based on royal sources, has most commonly focused on the nature of kings and other related topics, such as legitimacy and cosmology. However, in recent years scholars have started to recontextualize kingship within broader ancient Egyptian society, seeking to understand how the royal institution was engaged with by a variety of actors. This guide traces some of these developments in ancient Egyptian kingship studies, providing readers with an overview of the origins of scholarship and the current state of the field.