Benjamin Sippel gives a working paper on 'Spectacles, Donations, and Specialists: Local Marketing and Distinction Strategies of Egyptian Cult-officials'

It is a topos of Ancient History to see Egyptian temple-officials as „indigenous elites“ Instead of taking this view for granted, I seek to investigate and specify their social role in micro-historical perspective by asking four basic questions to the historical evidence:
 

1) In which way did they establish distinctive communities within the Egyptian society? (Ch.1)
2) How did they advertise their role as religious specialists? (Ch.2)
3) Have they been social key-figures beyond temple-affairs? (Ch.3)
4) How did they deal with various scenarios of conflict and when did they succeed? (Ch.4)

The result of this study is twofold: On the one hand, it contributes to our knowledge of individual and local specific strategies of distinction and self-promotion of these “elites”, but it highlights also limits of priestly influence and outreach on society. On the other hand, it adds flesh to our knowledge of several rural village communities, which provided very different social, economic, and cultural frameworks, though they share the same region and political organisation. Regarding the second point, the study is limited to five, selected settlements of the Roman Fayum.