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under the Saite period.” Some titles were actually an amalgamation of different older
titles as well as reinterpreted in terms of their functionality, nevertheless, many former
titles disappeared during the long Third Intermediate Period when the civil administra¬
tion collapsed. Since Harbes is the only known individual from the Late Period, which
period is not the focus of the present study, he is not within the scope of the present
corpus of the officials.
11.3.1, Ranking among the officials
Several ‘royal wb3s’ and ‘royal wdpws’ are known to have been in the service of one ruler
both during the 18" dynasty as well as the Ramesside period. The highest number of the
officials can be observed under Thutmose III, Amenhotep II, Amenhotep III, Ramesses II,
Ramesses III, Ramesses IV and Ramesses V. Considering the fact that more than one
official bore the title and seemingly was in the same position at the same time, the sup¬
position seems to be logical that some sort of hierarchical structure must have existed
within these individuals in the royal household.” Nevertheless, there is no clear evidence
for such a structure from the 18" dynasty and there is only a slightly more certain indica¬
tion for some kind of ranking among the officials from the Ramesside period, namely
an extended form of the title as wb3 nswt tpj ‘first royal wb3’. This version of the title is
attested for a short period only, from the reign of Sety I until the reign of Ramesses IV
and there are only eight individuals who held it: Ramessesashahebused under Sety I —
Ramesses II, Wenefdjedsen, Atumemtaneb, and possibly Tjai Ta or Nebmerutef'” under
Ramesses II, Ramessesnakht under Ramesses II or Ramesses III, Paenrenenutet under
Merneptah, Ramessesemperre under Ramesses II and Ramesses III, and Heqamaatrene¬
heh under Ramesses IV. It can be supposed that the title was held by one official at the
"3 For further literature on the reappearance of titles during the Late Period, see Goyon, 1969; Perdu,
1998; Agut-Labordère, 2013.
4 I would hereby like to thank Dr Alexander Schütze for his kind help, who provided me with infor¬
mation about the revival of administrative titles during the Late Period during our personal
conversation.
75 Davies also raised the possibility, although he has not found firm proof to substantiate this, apart
from the title wb3 nswt tpj ‘first royal wb?’. Davies, 2014, 88, 92.
v6 The name of the individual did not remain on the stone block which contains this title but based
on the other titles represented, the object might be associated either with Tjai Ta or with Nebme¬
rutef. For a discussion on the officials, see p. 187. and p. 188. respectively.