The Official Gift in Ancient Egypt

Economic anthropology is used here to gain a fuller understanding of the long-standing practice of the official exchanging of gifts between individuals of unequal status ( inw -exchange). To overcome the problem of patchy and biased sources, the author first proposes a model to study this social obligation. This identifies reciprocity and redistribution at work, instead of the profit-making goal usually assumed active. A curious insight into cultural values of Ancient Egypt.