Doorkeepers in Third Intermediate to Saite Period Thebes

Abstract

This paper investigates a preliminary corpus of over sixty persons with the non-priestly title Doorkeeper (iry-aA) who are attested primarily on their burial equipment from Thebes and discusses their function and socio-economic status in Theban society from the Twenty-Second through the Twenty-Sixth Dynasties. It appears that at this time, Theban doorkeepers do not have as lowly a status as often ascribed to them for the Middle and New Kingdoms in the Egyptological literature reviewed here, but should be classed as middle or lower elite, as indicated by their funerary equipment. The various writings of the title iry-aA attested during this period are compared. The iry-aA as keeper of doors/gates in funerary texts is not included.