Page 64 [64]
OCR
same time, or at least one in each royal palace where there were resident ‘royal wb3s’ even if the ruler resided somewhere else in the country or abroad.” Berlandini-Grenier notes that the title of wb3 nswt tpj ‘first royal wb?’ was frequently held by foreigners and it seems to have been reserved for them.’ Considering that in the case of four out of the eight officials who bore this title there are more or less strong pieces of evidence for their foreign ethnicity (genealogical data of Ramessesemperre, an epithet referring to a foreign land as place of origin of Atumemtaneb, and basiliphoric names of Ramessesashahebused and Heqaerneheh), the statement might be right in respect to appointing several individuals with foreign backgrounds to this position, however, it does not mean at all that the position was reserved only for them regarding the other three representatives who seemingly were native Egyptians. Since the number of officials who held this title is very small, the division between the native and foreign titleholders is not representative, therefore no firm consequences can be drawn based on only this piece of information. No further information can be gained from the sources regarding this position or the relationship between the holder of this title and other ‘royal wb3s’ or ‘royal wdpws’. 11.4. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE OFFICIALS AND THE RULER The close and intimate relationship between the ruler and the ‘royal wb3s’ and ‘royal wdpws’ is unambiguous and undoubted as well as widely represented on the monuments of these officials both in the textual sources and the pictorial depictions. The tomb decorations and inscriptions, votive stelae and pieces of funerary equipment provide the main source of information, predominantly in the form of honorific titles in respect to the loyalty and attachment of the official to his lord. However, the origin of this position of trust and the reason why the representatives of this office were ranked so high cannot be determined with certainty. It is generally accepted, that the intimate relationship between the ruler and the ‘royal wb3’ was based on the nature of the service which the official occupied at the royal household around the person of the king as his personal servant. The official, it is supposed, inevitably got to know and witnessed confidential things regarding the ruler himself, the matters of the palace as well as the political and economic affairs of ‘7 For a discussion on place of function of the officials, see p. 48. “8 Berlandini-Grenier, 1974, 12-13.
