Page 75 [75]
II.5.2. The nature of the duties according to the textual sources
Besides the pictorial depictions on the tomb walls, from which only limited shreds of
evidence can be gained, the textual sources — inscriptions on monuments, different types
of objects as well as in administrative or legal documents — serve as the main basis of
information regarding the duties, responsibilities and assignments of the ‘royal wb3s’.
In regard to the nature of their activity, two main types of their duties can be determined:
those related to the royal court, the royal household and the person of the ruler himself,
and those performed as particular missions on behalf of the ruler as his personal repre¬
sentatives away from the royal palace. Duties belonging to the former category are revealed
from biographical inscriptions and accompanying inscriptions of tomb depictions, but
were predominantly implied by the functional titles that certain officials bore. In contrast,
the main sources regarding the second type of duties are official notes and accounts or
private monuments written about or constructed during the particular assignments with
which the officials were delegated. It must be noted, however, that in cases of functional
titles without any additional textual or pictorial contexts, deciding their underlying
meaning, establishing whether it was an actual function title or an honorific one or
whether it was a permanent or a temporary one, is more than difficult and only sup¬
positions can be made regarding their role in the official career of an individual.”
II.5.2.1. Duties related to the royal court
As the official primarily belonged to the royal household as a personal attendant of the
ruler, the duties of the ‘royal wb3’ were connected to the matters of this section of the
royal palace, but due to their closeness to the ruler himself, their responsibility spread
further to the areas of the royal administration and occasionally, the state administration
as well. Unfortunately, there are few inscriptions with biographical or historical content
that provide us with information about the career of an official and the temporal order
of his advancement in certain positions.” In most of the cases, however, one can rely on
the functional titles the officials were designated by on their monuments, based on which
75 For the overview of different sorts of titles held by the officials, see the chapter II.5.3. below on p. 85.
26 For instance, the biographical stele of Nebamun, see on p. 107, the focal points of the tomb of
Djehuti (I), see p. 113, for the block statue of Qenamun, see p. 116, for the tomb inscriptions of
Montuiui, see p. 124.