Oldal 110 [110]
OCR
of his tomb is probably connected to this office of Nebamun, and shows the inspection of the filling of a storage area, presumably that of Nebtu, with different products and supplies.* His administrative function becomes obvious from the next stage of his career as ‘overseer of all royal boats’. The title — or as it appears more frequently in the tomb jmj-r3 A w n nswt ‘overseer of the royal boats’ — fell under the naval administration, while its bearer, as Gnirs notes, was responsible for the coordination and control of war ships as well as royal transportation and cargo vessels.” The Duties of the Vizier reveals that the vizier was also in control of the entire fleet, which confirms the importance and power of this position.” In spite of the responsibility of the title bearer for all the royal ships mentioned above, it would be reasonable to surmise that in the case of Nebamun, the authority of his office primarily covered the royal transportation, and perhaps the cargo vessels. Another of his titles, hrj wj3 n nswt ‘chief of the royal barque’, which appears on his funerary cone, also supports this supposition. Although it cannot be determined when he acquired this latter title, it seems reasonable to assume that he had already borne it before his elevation to the position of ‘overseer of the royal boats’. The word wj3 nswt ‘royal barque’ refers to the vessel used for the private transportation of the king and/or his family, while ° has a general meaning of ‘boat’ in a wider sense for travel, transport, fishing or war.” Therefore, it accords with the progress of Nebamun's career, which went from being the close and personal servant of the king, through being given responsibility over the affairs of the ruler’s closest personal circle, to a wider administrative role that was still connected to the person of the king and his household. Besides the transportation of the royal family, possibly that of some high ranking persons according to the order of the ruler as well, as an ‘overseer of the royal boats’, Nebamun might have been responsible for ships carrying goods and supplies to and from the palace, especially for the personal provision of the king and his family. This function, after all, would correspond to his former title ‘butler in the palace, life, prosperity, health’. The two titles of Nebamun related to ships are again rare in usage. The only attestation of the title ‘chief of the royal barque’ in the New Kingdom is the appearance on his funerary cone,*” while in regard to the title ‘overseer of the royal boats’, or any variation of 39 Wreszinski, 1923, pl. 126. 7° Gnirs, 2013, 652. 7 van den Boorn, 1988, 34-35; Gnirs, 2013, 652-653. 7 Jones, 1988, 131, no. 14, 133, NO. 20. 33 Jones, 1988, 85, no. 157 (the citation for the title no. 155 hrj h°.w n nswt is not correct since in the text the reading of jmj-r3 h°.w n nswt is quite clear, cf. Sethe, 1927-1930, 153,2); Taylor, 2001, 158, no. 1552; Al-Ayedi, 2006, 374, no. 1259 (however, he transcribed it as Arj ‘hw n nswt).
