cellars, etc. were located. Moret suggested that it could rather be a privately accessed
room in the royal administration, which one could call a cabinet or an office.” He also
mentioned that in many cases, the term appeared completed with a certain administra¬
tive unit, such as jmj-r3 hnwij of the royal palace, of the vizier, of the treasury, or the hall
of justice. Gauthier, who discussed the function of the title in detail,” notes that there
are around twenty buildings to which this title was applied, and which help to define
the official affiliation of the title holder. In cases of no distinction, however, jmj-r3 hnwtj
should be translated as the vague term ‘office manager’, he proposes. Grajetzki, who
translates the title as ‘chamberlain’, and also mentions that in the early period of the
Middle Kingdom the title was used primarily in itself, while later the versions comple¬
mented by specific units became more usual.” Inscriptions of some of the title holders,
also from the Middle Kingdom, who described or referred to their activity in this func¬
tion, express that they were entrusted with forwarding messages, going on inspections
or confidential missions, moreover, it was their responsibility to reveal the truth to the
king.” According to this scant information, one might suppose that the position of
jmj-r3 hnwtj ‘chamberlain’ must have been similar to that of wb} nswt ‘royal wb?’ in
respect of being a trusted person in the closest circle around the ruler, carrying out his
personal service, and fulfilling his special commissions requiring loyalty to him, however,
this is attested much more infrequently in the New Kingdom.°®
Returning to Paraemheb, as already mentioned, he presumably was the father of
Qema, and based on his representation on the pillar, he was rewarded with the Gold
of Honour."" Three relief blocks were found at the sacred animal necropolis in North
Saqgara,*” on which his name also appeared, together with part of the name of his
wife, Sat[...], who was ém%j.t n Jmn ‘chantress of Amun’. The owner of the tomb, where
the blocks originate from, was the brother of Paraemheb, whose name has been lost.