Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 March 2015
The common assumption that the Libyans who governed Egypt during the ‘Third Intermediate Period’ (c. 1070–715 BC) were Egyptianised is misleading. The nature and provenance of the extant evidence tends to obscure the retention of their ethnic identity, but this is apparent in the persistence of Libyan names and titles in Egypt. The influence of these Libyans can be traced in the fragmented political structure of the period, which represents decentralisation, not anarchy; in the erosion of the distinction between king and subject; in the disintegration of convention in language and script; and in the cessation of elaborate preparation for death and the afterlife.