Nebtawy in Roys tomb A mural detail in the tomb of Roy shows Nebtawy, Roys wife, wearing an elaborate wig with perfume (?) cone. Nebtawy “nb t3wi” (or Nebettauy), often abridged to Tawy and carried the title of Chantress of Amon, as with many nobles ladies from Thebes at this time. Roy was an 18th dynasty royal scribe, intendant of the domains of Horemheb and Amon. His tomb (TT 255) can be found in the Necropolis of Dra Abu el-Naga on the Westbank at Luxor. It is one of the socalled Tombs of the Nobles. It is however difficult to establish the identity of some feminine characters in the chamber and their ties with Roy. Other masculine characters are named in the tomb: Imenemipet, Djehutymes (Thutmosis) and Amenemky. Certain details suggest that the tomb was (as was the one of Nakht) prepared in advance according to a conventional model by entrepreneurs in funerary pomp (Maspéro), while leaving free only east walls and places to identify the participants. So it is servants or handmaids who hold the place which should be occupied by family members (sister, daughter, brother or son). The very important place of sem-priest, which should normally be held by the deceaseds eldest son is held on the north wall by ...his servant Amenemky. We notice furthermore that, above certain persons, the places reserved for their name remains vacant, in columns of otherwise finished hieroglyphs. One guesses that the number of people, normal for an ordinary Egyptian family, were also raised by Roy and his wife, who had no children and few close relatives. The idea of a manufactured tomb and secondarily personalised, thus seems acceptable. However, it seems to me that a part of the tomb could possibly have been designed for another official, his names and titles have not been corrected at one position of the south wall, as an oversight. Or perhaps a later addition. Photo by Mick Palarczyk and Paul Smit.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 15:25:23 +0000
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