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The large rectangular límestone stele of Seth was found not far from the entrance of his tomb, under the sand, with its decorated face upwards.™ It has a cornice at the top, and a round-topped stele in the middle within an inscribed frame. The symmetrical inscriptions on the frame are htp-dj-nswt formulae to Re-Harakhti and Osiris on the left and right, respectively. The field of the stele contains two registers. In the upper one, the two figures of the owner, standing in the middle, adore Re-Harakhti and Osiris again on the left and right respectively, corresponding to the offering formulae on the frame, with a similar sort of inscription above them in the lunette. In the lower register, only the upper body and head of a presumably sitting couple has remained, who, it is supposed, are Seth and his wife. Sadly, nothing can be ascertained about the family background or the origin of Seth. The inscriptions in his tomb and on his stele only reveal some of his titles and honorific titles, based on which one can draw some conclusions about his duties and status in life. He bore at least two ranking titles, jrj-pt h3tj-° ‘member of the elite, foremost of action’ and smr-w“ tj ‘sole friend’, which refer to his privileged position in the highest circles of the royal court. Besides these titles, his close connection to the ruler is expressed by the two honorific titles, hsjj n nb t3.wj ‘favoured of the lord of the Two Lands’ and mrj nb=f ‘whom his lord loves’, as well as the fact of being in the personal service of the king in the royal household attested by the titles of wb3 nswt ‘royal wb?’ and wb3 nswt wb ‘.wj ‘royal wb3 clean of hands’. He held some sort of overseer title as well, however, it cannot be ascertained at present what he was responsible for. Based on a representation in the first room of his tomb, Zivie presumes that Seth had a certain military role as well.” The figure of Seth on the right in the upper register of the stele is depicted with the Gold of Honour around his neck.” On the one hand, this fact would support Zivie’s supposition that Seth served in the army, on the other hand, it would refer to Seth having been among the officials who were bestowed with this award on the occasion of one of the sed-festivals of Amenhotep III for their useful services to foster the prosperity of the country.” 3 Zivie, 1997, 376. # Zivie, 1997, 375-377. 5 Zivie, 2007, 62. According to the oral communication of Prof. Zivie, there is a military, but not a battle scene on the wall in the first room, with soldiers represented holding standards. I would hereby like to thank him for his kind help and information as well as his suggestion regarding the discussion on Seth. Zivie, 1997, 382, Fig. 3b. 77 Binder, 2008, 223, 241-243. 26
