Priestly Life in Ptolemaic Thebes: Titles, Functions, and Social Ties
Schedule
Wed Apr 29 2026 at 05:30 pm to 06:30 pm
UTC+01:00Location
Arts 104, Arts Building, University of Birmingham | Birmingham, EN
About this Event
*This is a hybrid event. If at any point tickets are sold out, please email [email protected] for the Zoom information.
Room: Arts 104
Join us for a talk by Lauren Dogaer.
Title: Priestly Life in Ptolemaic Thebes: Titles, Functions, and Social Ties
The religious landscape of Ptolemaic Thebes - modern-day Luxor - was composed of numerous temples, chapels, and sanctuaries, a vast necropolis, and processional roads connecting these sacred spaces. Individuals working in this landscape held diverse roles: temple priests performed rituals or acted as scribes; mortuary priests mummified the dead and maintained mortuary cults; and temple personnel prepared offerings or guarded sanctuary doors. Temple priests are primarily known from Egyptological sources such as funerary papyri and tomb equipment, while mortuary priests and temple personnel are mostly attested in Greek and Demotic documentary papyri. As these sources are typically studied in isolation, the connections between them have remained underexplored.
This lecture brings Egyptological and papyrological evidence into conversation to better understand the titles and functions of those active in Thebes’ religious sphere. It examines how priestly titles were used, translated, or adapted across languages, revealing how the priests’ functions were perceived. Beyond this, it explores professional and personal ties among temple and necropolis workers: who collaborated during festivals, lived together as neighbours, or witnessed each other’s contracts. It also considers how terminology for services and payments may have differed between those employed in the temples versus the necropolis. By integrating diverse source types, the lecture offers a fuller picture of sacred functions, social ties, and priestly life in Ptolemaic Thebes.
Lauren Dogaer studied Ancient History (2018) and Archaeology: Egyptology (2019) at the KU Leuven University in Belgium and obtained a PhD in Egyptology (2025) from the University of Basel in Switzerland. Currently, she is the Lady Wallis Budge Junior Research Fellow in Egyptology at University College, Oxford. Her main research interests focus on the religious-funerary practices of Greco-Roman Egypt, especially in the Theban area. Her research combines papyrological, linguistic and archaeological data and methods to contribute to a better understanding of the multicultural and multilingual society of Ptolemaic Thebes.
Where is it happening?
Arts 104, Arts Building, University of Birmingham, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United KingdomEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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