Territorial Appropriation during the Old Kingdom (XXVIIIth-XXIIIrd centuries BC): The royal necropolises and the pyramid towns in Egypt

The concepts of 'territory' and 'territoriality' are analysed on the basis of anthropological and archaeological data. It is assumed that 'territory' and 'territoriality' are more complex concepts than simple space occupation. For the case of Egypt in the Old Kingdom, the author of this volume considers different variables related to the ideology and to the socio-political and economic systems of the Egyptian state. Its consolidation, the royal power legitimisation and that of the elite, and the socio-political and economic system are here considered from their unification in the Early Dynastic period, to the Old Kingdom, when the state expanded and its political and ideological maturity was achieved. 'Part One: Territory, occupation of space and legitimisation; Part Two: Royal necropolises and Pyramid towns during the Old Kingdom; Part Three: The territorial appropriation in Egypt – an alternative explanation for the Old Kingdom.