This article analyses different types of sociopolitical leadership in Ancient Egypt from the fourth to the third millennium BC linked with the social logics of kinship, the state, and patronage. It is suggested that such logics can be considered in terms of coexistence rather than in terms of sequence. In particular, the use of the concept of patronage is emphasised, not just for periods of state crisis but also-in connection with the concepts of kinship and the state-to think about the earliest epochs of Egyptian history. Este artículo propone una consideración de las diversas formas de liderazgo sociopolítico en el Antiguo Egipto del IV y el III milenio a.C. en relación con las lógicas sociales del parentesco, del Estado y del patronazgo. Se sugiere que tales lógicas pueden pensarse en términos de coexistencia más que de secuencia. En particular, se enfatiza la posibilidad de emplear el concepto de patronazgo no solamente para los períodos de crisis estatal sino, en articulación con los conceptos de parentesco y de Estado, para pensar las épocas más tempranas de la historia egipcia.

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Several years ago, an insightful analysis by Jan Assmann demonstrated the existence of patronage practices in Ancient Egypt during the First Intermediate Period. Does this indicate a change in social structure, as the author suggested, or does it instead denote a change in the way such practices are referred to in the available sources? In order to consider this question, this article examines the evidence of patronage during that period, and then tries to analyze possible precedents, reflecting on the role that patronage could have had from the earliest moments of state structuration in the Nile Valley.

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