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perre, the stylistic criteria of his monuments indicate the northern location, and in the
case of Hori, the provenance of several of his monuments confirms the locality.
As can be seen, evidence regarding the place of function of these officials is wide
ranging as well as quite uncertain, assumptions can be made based only on indirect
information of textual and material sources. Regrettably, only the tombs of a few officials
are known or can be determined with high probability, as demonstrated in the following,
and the sources are only confined to a small percentage of the individuals in the corpus,
consequently, no general statements or comparative analysis beyond the ones discussed
above can be made at present based on the available data.
II.2.2, Burial places
Geographical distribution can also be observed concerning the location of burials of
‘royal wb3s’, nevertheless, it does not coincide with or indicate the place of function of
these officials, at least not unequivocally. Still, the geographical place of the burial, as
well as the burial structure itself, provide information regarding their status in the royal
court as well as in society, their official duties, and their family background. In contrast
to the relatively high number of individuals in the present corpus — one hundred and
three in number —, however, the exact location of the tomb of only sixteen of them is
known at present.”
The motivation behind choosing the location of burial places among the high ranking
officials was basically religious and ideological which changed during the time of the
New Kingdom. Van Dijk discussed the shifting of the usage of the necropolis from south
to north, from the Thebes to the Memphite necropolis, as well as the reasons which
160
induced the progress in detail."*° Burials of the officials were primarily linked to the tomb
and the mortuary foundation of the ruler himself during the main part of the 18" dynasty.
Individuals of the civil and military administration followed their king back to Thebes
to prepare their last resting place even after the royal residence was moved to Memphis
under Thutmose III. The turning point occurred after the reign of Akhenaten who placed
himself as king and son of the god between the individual worshippers and the gods
depriving the subjects of their personal relationship with the deities. In consequence,
59 The number of the known tombs is actually seventeen, since Parennefer had two tombs, one at
Thebes and another at Amarna.
160 Van Dijk, 1988, especially 38-42.