High Priest of Ptah

   Chief religious office in the temple of Ptah at Memphis. The lack of documentation limits knowledge of the influence and power of this office. As administrator of the main temple of the second capital of Egypt, the high priest had great resources under his control, but any political power would have been limited by the proximity of the court, which resided in the north during the New Kingdom. There is no evidence of conflict, as is recorded in the case of the high priest of Amun. The officeholders included Prince Khaemwese, son of Ramesses II, and several princes during Dynasty 22, but also local priests allegedly of one family. An inscription listing many of the officeholders and the rulers they served is an important chronological tool in studying Egyptian history. The office took on new importance during the Ptolemaic Period, when the high priest served as the chief Egyptian religious official at the royal court, and many funerary inscriptions of the family survive. The office may have been suppressed by the Roman government, as only one high priest is attested after the conquest.

Historical Dictionary Of Ancient Egypt by Morris L. Bierbrier