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the New Years festíval, which demonstrates his special and favoured place in the royal
household in the personal circle of the ruler. The other scene occupies the upper part of
the eastern end wall of the transverse hall above the false-door, and it represents two
kings receiving offerings from the figure of Montuiui. Both Murnane and van Siclen
believe that this representation is proof of the coregency of the two kings, Thutmose III
and Amenhotep II, based on the different sizes of the figures of the kings, both of them
depicted in royal regalia.’
A stele with an autobiographical inscription occupies the western end wall of the
transverse hall. Unfortunately, due to its poor preservation, there are long lacunae in
the text. This is the only textual source from the tomb that is accessible at the moment.*”
In spite of its fragmentary state, it informs us of several details of the career and life of
Montuiui. He grew up in the palace, as he himself says in his inscription, under Thut¬
mose III. According to Bryan, he also bore the epithet Ard n k3p ‘child of the kap’,”*
however, this is not explicitly mentioned on the stele, but it probably is in another part
of the tomb. At the beginning of his career, Montuiui served as 53k n jp.t nswt ‘servant
of the royal apartments’, and he followed Thutmose III on his campaign to every
foreign land as a youth. Then, because of his excellence, he was promoted to a position
among certain attendants of the palace, but his proper function was lost in a lacuna.
Bryan and Shirley agree that he was appointed to wb} nswt ‘royal wb3’ either during this
stage of his promotion or sometime later, still under Thutmose III.° However, as there
appears to be no indication of the exact time of his acquiring the title, it might also be
conceivable that Montuiui had already been a ‘royal wb3’ when he followed his lord to
foreign lands. The attendance of a person in this function would be rather more reason¬
able than that of a ‘servant of the royal apartments’. As a person who followed the king
on his campaigns, he must have nevertheless borne the epithet smsw nswt ‘follower of
the king’, as Shirley also refers to it, or perhaps that of jrj-rd.wj n nb B.wj ‘attendant
of the lord of the Two Lands.
After a longer section of praising the actions and approach of Thutmose III, Mon¬
tuiui continues his biographical description informing us of his participation in the
* Porter — Moss, 1960, 280.
”° Murnane, 1977, 53, n. 94; van Siclen III, 1982, 49(D); Shirley, 2011, 305, n. 71.
#7 For the hieroglyphic text, see Hermann, 1940, 17*, 40*-41*; and Helck, 1955-1958, 1466-1468.
“8 Bryan, 2006, 96.
*® According to Taylor, he was the only known bearer of this title in the 18" dynasty. Al-Ayedi does
not even mention the title. Taylor, 2001, 107; Al-Ayedi, 2006, 265.
*° Bryan, 2006, 95; Shirley, 2011, 304.
* Shirley, however, does not name the epithet itself. Shirley, 2011, 305.