Nomarch

[2] The term nome is derived from Ancient Greek: νομός nomós "province, district".

The earliest topographical lists of the nomes of Upper and Lower Egypt date back to the reign of Nyuserre Ini, of the mid 5th Dynasty, from which time the nomarchs no longer lived at royal capital but stayed in their nomes.

[3] The power of the nomarchs grew with the reforms of Nyuserre's second successor, Djedkare Isesi, which effectively decentralized the Egyptian state.

The post of nomarch then quickly became hereditary, thereby creating a virtual feudal system where local allegiances slowly superseded obedience to the pharaoh.

νομοί, nomoi; νομαρχία, nomarchia also being used to refer to the area within a nomarch's purview).