The present volume seeks to indicate novel methods and approaches to
analyzing and interpreting the agency of individual officials in
different periods of ancient Egyptian history. Their activity and
careers are observed using different methods of complex network analysis
and put into a broader framework of more general trends operating the
society at a given stage of its evolution. We are confident that this is
one of the most promising and proven ways to gain deeper insights into
day-to-day lives of the people of the past. The story of civilizations
is above all a story of ideas and thoughts, and social/complex network
analysis is one of the most efficient tools we can use. It enables us to
view known data anew and assess them from new perspectives that
significantly expand and deepen our knowledge of the past
civilization.
In recent years, this research approach has evolved independently at
several institutions exploring ancient Egypt. We were very pleased to
host most of these scholars at a joint meeting and offer them an
opportunity to present and communicate their individual approaches,
methods, points of view and observations. The contributions in this
volume, originally presented at a workshop in Prague in September 2018,
cover selected periods of ancient Egypt (the Old Kingdom, the New
Kingdom, the Greco-Roman Period). Cyber-Egyptology, a new area of
research in Egyptology, appears to be a justified approach with its own
methodology, philosophy and a vast potential to answer complex questions
relating to this fascinating civilization and its diachronic dynamics.
Moreover, this method of cyber-research can be applied universally
across most archaeological and historical specializations.
