Oldal 154 [154]
tion the remains of a royal offering scene with the figure of the king and the inscribed
lintel of the entrance, however, Redford discovered during her work about 70 years later
that the decoration had almost completely gone and the inscription on the lintel had been
damaged as well.** The transverse hall was once divided by six pillars and two pilasters,
of which only traces remain in most cases. On the thickness of the entrance, where parts
of the figures of the owner and his wife remained only on the left side, the fine relief work
shows that this was typical of tomb decoration in the last years of Amenhotep III.” This
feature might indicate the start of the decoration of the tomb, as well as the active official
duty of Parennefer under the reign of this king.** The eastern part of the north-eastern
long wall together with the half of the end wall joining to it were devoted to the depiction
of the official activities of the owner: he is reporting to the king standing on a podium
under a canopy, while scribes and men are measuring grain behind him, as well as inspect¬
ing vintages, with the scene of men processing grapes and sealing jars. The inscription
above Parennefer in the grain measuring scene, naming him as wh3 nswt wb ‘.wj ‘royal
wb3 clean of hands’, refers to measuring the grain offering for all the gods, especially to
Aton, supposedly in his official function as an ‘overseer of the granary’, the vintage scene,
on the other hand, demonstrates his function as ‘royal wb?’.
On the two focal points of the tomb on the south-western wall of the transverse hall,
the figures of the king and the queen under a canopy had once been visible. On the left
side of the wall, an important episode in the life of Parennefer is depicted, namely his
being rewarded with the Gold of Honour.™ As Binder pointed out, during the reign of
Akhenaten, the primary purpose of rewarding certain members either in influential
positions in state administration or in his personal service was to ensure their loyalty to
the person of the king, as well as to his political and religious reforms. At the same
time, a sort of interdependence can be observed: not only the officials depended on the
power of the ruler, but the ruler himself was dependent on the individuals with whom
he had surrounded himself, since they ensured his safety, and directed persons and things
that came into his immediate presence, thus their reliability in this politically sensitive
situation was extremely important.
5» Davies, 1923, 136; Porter — Moss, 1960, 293-294; Redford, 1995, 63-64.
Redford, 1995, 67.
53 Shirley classifies Parennefer among the officials whom Akhenaten retained from the time of his
father, however, she does not give any explanation for this claim. Shirley, 2013, 597-598.
34 Binder, 2008, 302-303.
55 Binder, 2008, 223, 243-244.
536 Binder, 2008, 244.