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content of the document cannot be classified as a particular assignment ordered by the ruler.”” An interesting example of the use of the title wb3 nswr can be found on a monument obviously made during a special mission where otherwise, the title wdpw nswt would be expected to be represented on the rock stele of Ramessesemperre at Timna. The explanation may be that in the intensity of his participation in the activity, Ramessesemperre may not have been involved in the leadership of the expedition but was only an attendant in the mission as the observer of the king.” A similar situation can be seen on the stele No. 12 from Wadi Hammamat in the case of Nakhtamun and Usermaatresekheper. The inscription commemorates an expedition that designated the officials as wh3 nswts. A possible explanation could be the position of the two officials in the assignment, the intensity of their active participation in it, namely that they did not function as active leaders but — as the phrasing of the text implies — ‘only’ accompany the leader in the mission, possibly as agents of the ruler in the role of observers.”* Nevertheless, this is pure speculation. Hopefully, further evidence, which might come to light in the future, will help to gain a clearer picture regarding the usage of the two titles as well as the duties of the officials they designate. As for the translation of the titles wb3 nswt and wdpw nswt, it is rather difficult to find proper solutions, which both reflect their wide-ranging official activities and at the same time, do not generate a gap regarding the relationship between the original functional occupation and the title of the high ranking officials. The continuity between the two stages is clearly represented in the tomb depictions of the officials” and it is not negligible in spite of the obvious functional changes, especially in the case of the title wdpw nswt. The usual translations for wb} and wb} nswt are ‘butler’ and ‘royal butler’, respectively. According to Schulman,*® this translation is somewhat misleading, since it might cover the modern nuances of a major-domo and personal servant connected with the administration of food, however, while such duties were without doubt originally characteristics of the title, mainly during the Ramesside period other duties of a legal, administrative, and even judicial nature came to be associated with it. This interpretation by Schulman originates from the fact that he did not make a distinction between the °° For a discussion on Djehutiherhesetef, see p. 180, for his inscription, see p. 455. 797 For a discussion on Ramessesemperre, see p. 201, for his inscriptions, see p. 493. °° For a discussions on Nesamun and Neferkareemperamun, see pp. 242. and 244, respectively, for their inscriptions, see pp. 579. and 594, respectively. 799 For the duties of the officials depicted in the tomb decorations, see chapter II.5.1. on p. 70. 3° Schulman, 1976, 123.
