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The títles wb3 nswt royal wb3" and wdpw nswt royal wdpw are already known from the
Middle Kingdom, however, they became widespread as titles of high officials during
the New Kingdom. The individuals who bore these titles were members of the royal
household, as well as prominent persons in the entourage of the ruler. They played an
important role in the royal administration as well as occasionally in the state adminis¬
tration during the whole New Kingdom, as one of the highest ranking officials in the
royal court and in society, the importance of whom primarily derived from their intimate
relationship with the ruler through their acting in his personal service.
The official titles themselves and the scope of duties belonging to them, as well as the
individuals who performed these functions, have not yet formed the subject of any previ¬
ous detailed research. Several studies have been written on certain titleholders or their
monuments focussing on the topic to some extent, however, all of them have been quite
general and were mainly based on the works of Helck and Schulman and references to
them, which dealt with these officials and their situation in the administration during
the 18" dynasty and the Ramesside period, respectively, in a little more detail. Helck
devoted a complete chapter to the representatives of this office during the 18" dynasty in
his comprehensive work about the administration of the Middle and New Kingdom.’
Although he dealt with only a portion of the individuals represented in the present corpus,
he made some relevant conclusions and produced some thought-provoking theories regard¬
ing the duties and the starting point of these officials’ careers. Schulman devoted more
studies to the holders of these titles, to their personal background and origin, as well as
to providing an explanation for the increasing importance of the office itself during the
Ramesside period.” He saw a strong connection between the elevation of the officials
within the court hierarchy, especially during this period, and the foreign origin of several
‘ Helck, 1958, 269-276.
2 Schulman, 1976, 1986, 1990.