Excerpt from A Topographical Catalogue of the Private Tombs of Thebes

It is a particular advantage of the Private Tombs that their owners occupied very different ranks and stations in life, from the proudest priesthoods and administrative dignities down to the comparatively humble posts of scribes and minor ofiicials. Some idea of the variety of the functions represented in the Theban Necropolis may be gathered from Index II at the end of this book. It is true that many of the scenes in the tombs are of a general and stereotyped character, such as the pictures of banquets and the favourite pastimes of fishing, fowling and hunting, as well as the funeral processions. Nevertheless, there are but few well-preserved tombs that do not possess many individual traits throwing light on the personal activities of their owners. Thus, a Vizier is represented in his Court of Justice, the forty parchment-rolls of -the Law lying before him and his assessors squatting in long rows on either hand The nurse or tutor of the King's children is depicted with one or more of his Royal charges upon his lap (64, 93, The Royal Butler is seen busy with the preparation of the beverages to be consumed in the Palace In the tomb of a second prophet of Amun, priests are arriving at the temple-gates where they are met and welcomed by priestesses In a humbler walk of life, the head gardener of the Ramesseum is beheld attending to the temple-gardens Elsewhere, it is the military life that we are called upon to view (78, 85, 90. And there are twenty-four tombs in which foreigners and their tribute are delineated. It is impossible to enumerate all the sides of life on which these ancient tombs throw light; they are, in short, the principal source of our knowledge of the conditions of life under the Tuthmoside and Ramesside Pharaohs.

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