Pahery of Elkab, from sS-qd to Nomarch. On Artists’ Social Mobility

First known as an accountant scribe of grain and a sS-qdw.t working for the Amun Estate in Thebes, Pahery of Elkab later reached the office of governor of his hometown, Elkab, and accordingly became high priest of the town’s goddess, Nekhbet. Furthermore, he was entrusted with the administration of grain for a district that extended from Denderah to Esna. Although Pahery held a provincial office at a period when nomarchs didn’t have the same power as they had wielded in the Middle Kingdom, being named the governor of Elkab was far from mundane. Indeed, Elkab produced many loyal servants to the crown, all of them originally military officers who fought alongside the first kings of Dynasty 18, and later on becoming court officials leading the way in the Residence bureaucracy and helping Pharaohs to strengthen their newly acquired power. The town of Elkab therefore occupied a noteworthy place in the eyes of New Kingdom kings, all the more given its strategic proximity to important gold mining sites. Pahery inserted himself into this artificial lignée of loyal servants to the crown, making his social connections visible in his tomb-chapel (Tomb Elkab 3). The task was performed with strategy and skill given his artistic knowledge. He played on iconographic and textual codes to show off both his singularity and his conformity to social norms, referring to his predecessors as well as his contemporaries and dependents. This presentation aims to provide insight into the social mobility of artists by following the footsteps of a draftsman who became nomarch.