Administrative Titles in Nubia in the Middle Kingdom

The final publication of Professor F. Hintze's Epigraphic Expedition to Sudanese Nubia, as well as a number of recent studies on the subject of Nubia, affords an opportunity to pull together all of the administrative titles from Middle Kingdom Nubia. The catalogue of titles is presented in the following order: the staff from the Inner and Outer Palace along with the various seal-bearers; the major ministries; the officers of the local administration; scribal titles and "middlemen"; the armed forces; mining and quarrying titles; and the priesthoods. What is striking about such a list is the wide range of titles met in Middle Kingdom Nubia. Various representatives of the Palace and the royal domains are attested, as well as officials from virtually all the major ministries of the central government, who were sent at one time or another to look after the Nubian holdings of the crown. In the end, what the list of titles demonstrates is the customary thoroughness of the ancient Egyptians' organizational skills. All facets of a burgeoning empire can be seen in the titles left by the officials sent to administer the conquered territory.