4.2 Class
The Old Kingdom title sr, “official, magistrate,” is still important in
the Middle Kingdom.^148 It is the vizier in the Middle Kingdom who
appoints the leading members in the magistracy.^149 The exact status
of the srand its relationship to royal power are still a matter of dis-
pute, some believing that it can be used for any high or low official.^150
Another basic term is n≈s, which Lorton, for example, defines as
“the term for a common person who was not a member of the
administrative structure.”^151 Still, a significant official of the Eleventh
Dynasty, Yty, could refer to himself as a n≈s.^152 The Middle Kingdom
n≈s.whave been compared to the earlier ¢nty-“, “independent hold-
ers of land.”^153
The Old Kingdom term mr.t“serfs,” is another problematic des-
ignation still employed in the Middle Kingdom. There seem to have
been tenant farmers very closely attached to the land which they
work.^154 On the basis of P. Brooklyn 35.1446, scholars assume that
the rural population was held to production targets.^155
An official’s dependents are called≈.tor n≈.t. (= “his property”),^156
which certainly implies subservience. However, the precise terms of
the relationship are unknown.
The common later designation, “mistress of the house,” which
may have a legal or economic significance, appears first in the Middle
Kingdom.^1574.3 Gender and Age
The archetypal legal “person” may have been the male head of a
household. The El-Lahun house census, for example, presumably(^148) Cf. Hayes, “Óoremkha'uef.. .,” 4.
(^149) Van den Boorn, Vizier.. ., 208, 211.
(^150) Ibid., 24.
(^151) Lorton, “Legal and Social Institutions,” 351. On this designation, see Helck,
Wirtschaftsgeschichte.. ., 147; Théodoridès, “Sixième.. .,” 440.
(^152) Breasted, Ancient Records, vol. 1, 218.
(^153) Eyre, “Peasants.. .,” 377.
(^154) Helck, Wirtschaftsgeschichte.. ., 154. Other basic terms such as rm∆, “man,” may
have sometimes a sense of “dependants,” Franke, “Beititel.. .,” 19. Cf. also Lichtheim,
AEL1, 171; Posener, “Anachoresis.. .,” 666.
(^155) Eyre, “Peasants.. .,” 379.
(^156) Eyre, “Work.. .,” 33.
(^157) E.g., Kahun XV.1, Griffith, Kahun, 72. On nb.t-pr, see also Obsomer, “Di.f,”
166–67; Malaise, “Position.. .,” 187.
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