Oldal 131 [131]
OCR
milítary service. However, as Shirley notes, the three títles could also be related to the royal palace rather than the military,*# Suemniut was awarded with the Gold of Honour by Thutmose III, which was primarily bestowed upon officials in the military.‘ Based on this fact, one may presume his involvement in military actions, where he excelled in some way, and in appreciation of which the ruler rewarded him with the Gold of Honour. One also may presume that promoting him to the personal service of the king as ‘royal wb? in the royal household would also have been part of the reward. Nevertheless, Bryan agrees that Suemniut had already accompanied Thutmose III on his campaigns to Syria and Palestine, suggesting that he became ‘royal wb?’ only under Amenhotep II. Binder and Shirley, however, refer to Suemniut as ‘royal wb?’ of Thutmose III.“*° The tomb itself, as mentioned above, was constructed in the early years of Amenhotep II. The last phase of the construction, the decoration of the walls, was never finished, which suggests that Suemniut passed away relatively soon after the ascension of the king to the throne. Since the first hall contains several depictions of his official duty as ‘royal wb?’, and since designing and implementing the decoration take time, it seems to support the assumption that Suemniut had already borne the title ‘royal wb?’ and was active in this function for a longer period under the reign of Thutmose III. As the depictions and inscriptions of him in this role reveal, he was responsible for the inspection of drink supplies — both wine and some sort of drinks made of milk — for the royal palace on behalf of the ruler, preparation of the drinks themselves and sealing of the vessels in the cellars, all sort of things that were to be placed on the king’s table (shtp jb ‘which please the heart’), and the transportation of vegetables grown especially for the him. He was in charge not only of the drinks in the royal palace but of the food as well. In this respect his duties combined those of a cupbearer as well as a naperer, so it confirms that neither of these labels fit well enough to denote the wide ranging responsibilities of the representatives of this office. Besides his military and administrative titles discussed above, Suemniut held some religious titles as well, three of them directly connected to Amun. Binder suggests that these probably represent retirement titles,*#* and the title jmj-r3 jh.w n Jmn ‘overseer of the cattle of Amun’ might reflect his active military service as hrj-jhw ‘stable master’. However, it is also possible that these religious titles may also refer to his father, Iamnefer, 48 Shirley, 2011, 301, n. 70. 444 Binder, 2008, 238-239. +5 Bryan, 2006, 101. “4 Binder, 2008, 238; Shirley, 2011, 305, n. 70. “47 For the representations of duties of the officials see p. 70. “48 Binder, 2008, 238, n. 905.
