ABSTRACT
This is a study of Umayyad provincial administration based on a prosopography of officials from Egypt. Data are taken from papyri and literary sources with respect to their ethnic and economic backgrounds, their settlement patterns and legal status. For a better understanding of the social fabric of Umayyad administrators, a model typology is suggested that distinguishes between household officials, aristocrats and experts. This view on the data reveals a patrimonial high and low level of administration but with a strong tendency towards bureaucratisation among middle level administrators.
