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Expressing a close personal connection with the king is generally typical among the
tomb scenes and inscriptions of the era,” and both tombs of Parennefer well demonstrate
this. Besides the depictions and accompanying texts of adoration or on making an offer¬
ing to the king or the royal couple, which emphasize the autocracy of the ruler and the
dependency of the subject on him — both in life and in the afterlife —,* the numerous
honorific titles intended to show the close relationship of Parennefer to his lord. They
are also informative regarding certain aspects of his life and career. He mentions himself
as hm nswt n tj sw m jnpw ‘servant of the king when he was young", ? which indicates
either his growing up together with Akhenaten, or serving him as an official under his
father as mentioned above. In both cases, he must have been in a lower position in the
court during this time, since he declares — twice — in his tomb that Akhenaten was the
one who made hím great because of his character. This statement ís supposed to refer
to his promotion to ‘royal wb3’, which title appears at least seventeen times in both of
his tombs, indicating its importance for its bearer, as well as gaining his two ranking
titles, jrj-p“t h3tj-° ‘member of the elite, foremost of action’ — also appearing six times in
the tomb — and htmtj-bjtj ‘royal sealer’. Besides, his religious titles jmj-r3 k3.t nb.t n.t nswt
m pr Jtn ‘overseer of all the works of the king in the temple of Aton’ and jmj-r3 hm.w ntr
n ntr.w nb.w ‘overseer of the prophets of every god’ also demonstrate his prestigious posi¬
tion among the courtiers, standing close to the ruler himself and taking part in the
materialization of his religious ideas. To demonstrate how inaccurate the judgement of
the importance of a person depending on the resources available to us can be, it is worth
quoting Davies’ final remark on Parennefer in his publication of the Amarna tomb,
years before he started to work on TT 188: “Considering the very modest titles of Paren¬
nefer — Craftsman of the King (Plate iti.) He who washes the hands of His Majesty (Plates
iii., vii.) — it is not surprising that we have no other record of his existence than his tomb.
Indeed, the display he makes is probably somewhat incommensurate with his position.
By economizing on the size of his tomb he managed to have it decorated with sculptures
designed for larger walls and illustrating the careers of bigger men than himself; but he
did not court rebuff by obtruding his name. If the erasure of the name in the entrance
7 Shirley, 2013, 600.
§ Davies 1923, 138.
° In his tomb Nr. 7. in Amarna.
° On the lintel above the entrance of the tomb and in the hymn to Re-Harakhti on the left thickness
of the entrance door.
x