Table Of ContentThe Duties of the Vizier
Studies in Egyptology
Edited by: W. V. Davies, Keeper
Department of Egyptian Antiquities
The British Museum
Editorial Adviser: A. F. Shore, Professor of Egyptology,
University of Liverpool.
The Egytian Temple
Patricia Spencer
The Administration of Egypt in the Old Kingdom
Nigel Strudwick
Corpus ofReliefs ofthe New Kingdom from the Memphite Necropolis
and Lower Egypt Volume 1
Geoffrey Thorndike Martin
Problems and Priorities in Egyptian Archaeology
Jan Assmann, Gunter Burkard and Vivian Davies
Lost Tombs
Lise Manniche
Decoration in Egyptian Tombs ofthe Old Kingdom
Yvonne Harpur
Untersuchungen zu den Totenbuchpapyri der18.Dynastie
Irmtraut Munro
The Monuments ofSenenmut
Peter F. Dorman
The Fort Cemetery at Hierakonpolis
Barbara Adams
Forthcoming:
The Cobra Goddess ofAncient Egypt
Sally B. Johnson
A Glossary ofAncient Egyptian Nautical Titles and Terms
Dilwyn Jones
Land Tenure in the Ramesside Period
Sally L. D. Katary
The Duties of the Vizier
Civil Administration in
the Early New Kingdom
G. P. F. van den Boorn
~ ~~o~1~~n~~~up
LONDONAND NEWYORK
First published in 1988 by Kegan Paul International Limited
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ISBN 0 7103 0330-0
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TABLEOF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IV
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VI
LIST OF FIGURES XIX
INTRODUCTION 1
EDITIONS, STUDIES AND TRANSLATIONS 4
CHAPTER 1 THE TEXT: 9
TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY
1. Introduction 10
2. The Sections 12
Section 1 RI-R3 12
Section 2 R3-R5 42
Section 3 R5-R8 54
Section 4 R8-R9 77
Section 5 R9-R13 88
Section 6 R13-R15 120
Section 7 R15-R17 133
Section 8 R17-R19 146
Section 9 R19 172
Section 10 R20 185
Section 11 R20-R21 193
Section 12 R21-R22 202
Section 13 R22-R23 208
Section 14 R23-R24 218
Section 15 R24 229
Section 16 R24-R25 234
Section 17 R25-R26 250
Section 18 R26-R27 265
Section 19 R27-R28 276
3. The Final Columns R28-R36 282
CHAPTER 2 THE TEXT AS A COMPOSITION: 291
NOTES ON LANGUAGE, STRUCTURE AND
PATTERNING
1. Introduction 292
2. Orthography 292
2.1 Concise orthography 292
2.2 Archaizingorthography 293
2.3 Conspicuous orthography and/or determinatives 293
2.4 Orthography associated with the NK 294
2.5 Corruptions, ellipses, errors and intrusions 294
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3. Lexicography 295
3.1 Hapax legomenon 295
3.2 "Neologism" 295
3.3 Rare terms 296
4. Grammar and Syntax 296
4.1 Special features 296
4.2 Features of"NK signature" 299
5. Text Division and Structure 299
5.1 The sections 299
5.2 The parts 303
6. Patterning 305
7. Other Observations 307
CHAPTER 3 THE TEXT AS ASOURCE: 309
THE ACTIVITIES OF AVIZIER
1. Introduction 310
2. The Three Main Aspects 310
2.1 The vizier as managing directorof the pr-nsw 310
2.1.1 Internal operation 311
2.1.2 Security, internal order and justice 312
2.1.3 Personnel 313
2.1.4 Operation withregard to the outside world 313
2.1.5 Pr-nsw as part of the!:!nw, "residence city" 314
2.2 The vizier as headof the civil administration 315
2.2.1 Justice 315
2.2.2 Operational control 317
2.2.3 Appointment ofcivil servants 320
2.3 The vizier as the king's deputy 320
2.4 An assessment of the main aspects 322
3. The Vizier's Office 324
4. The Structure of the Civil Administration 325
5. Procedures and Ethics 329
CHAPTER 4 THE TEXT IN PERSPECTIVE: 333
DATE AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
1. Introduction 334
2. Old and New Ideas 334
3. Historical Features of"NK Signature" 335
4. The Hypothesis of an Early NK Date of Composition 344
5. ASurveyof the Reign ofAhmose 344
6. The NK Date Hypothesis as an ExplanatoryModel 351
6.1 Writing and language 351
6.2 Titles 351
6.3. Aspects of content 353
6.4. Type and motive of the composition 356
6.5 Discrepancies 360
6.6 Ideal and archaism versus reality 362
6.7 The traditionof the text 365
7. Form-Critical Considerations 371
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CONCLUSION 375
APPENDIX The Final Columns of the Installation
Text of User and Rekhmire 377
INDEXES 381
I. Names - Divinities, Kings and Individuals 382
II. Topographical Names - Modern and
Egyptian 384
III. Titles andOccupations 386
IV. Egyptian Words and Phrases 389
V. Sources inQuotation 398
PLATES 1-7 401
1-3 Facsimile of The Duties, Rekhmire-version
4-7 Collationof the Duties, versions of
Rekhmire, Amenuser, Amenemopet, Paser
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This monography is a slightly revised and corrected version of a
dissertation presented to the State University of Leiden in June
1987. It is with great pleasure that I take this opportunity to thank
all those who have contributed to this book, in whatever manner or
capacity. I feel sure that without their assistance this study would
never have been completed.
I wish to express my deep gratitude to Profdr. Jac. J. Janssen. First
as my teacher and afterwards as my promotor and partner in
countless discussions, he helped me past many of The Duties'
pittfalls with his keen interest, profound knowledge and typically
disenchanting sense ofreality.
Iam also indebted to Prof. W. HeIck from Hamburg and Prof. H.J.M.
Claessen, Prof. H.W. Pleket and Prof. K.R. Veenhof of Leiden
University for the time and effort they invested in reading and
discussing the ms. and for their questions and comments during the
academic promotion ceremony.
lowe special thanks to Prof. H.D. Schneider, my director in the
Rijksmuseum van Oudheden at Leiden, for the deep personal interest
he took in my study and for his consent to work on the ms. whenever
my other tasks in the museum allowed me to.
My thanks are due to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
and in particular to its Curator of the Egyptian Department, Dr.
Christine Lilyquist, for the generous permission to incorporate the
pertinent plates of Davies's editio princeps in the present volume.
My sincere thanks also go to Dr. Michael Green for the tedious task
he kindly shouldered of polishing my "Dutch" English and for his
permission to read and use the ms. of his monograph on the ancestors
of the Coptic SHAREpattern.
I am indebted to Dr. Eberhard Dziobek from MUnich for his
permission to consult parts of the ms. he has prepared on Ineni's
Theban tomb. I also thank Dr. Claude Traunecker for his generous
permission to use the results of his forthcoming article on a new
"Taxation-list" found on talatat from Karnak.
lowe a special debt of gratitude to my sister-in-law, Mrs. Marijke
Dreuw-Frissen, whose expert hands have taken the ms. through the
intricacies of modern word-processing equipment. It is impossible to
compensate for the time and effort she invested in this book so
generously.
I take this opportunity to thank also myoId friend Drs. Louis
Zonhoven of the Institute of Egyptology of Leiden University. Our
countless discussions on topics of mutual interest left their
unmistakable traces on a great many pages of this study.
I am grateful to Mr. Peter Hopkins, Chairman of Routlegde and
Kegan Paul KPI Ltd., London, and in particular to Dr. Vivian Davies,
Deputy Keeper of Egyptian Antiquities of the British Museum,
London, and editor of the KPI series "Studies in Egyptology", for
their generous offer to publish a sales-edition of this dissertation in
the aforementioned series.
Last but definitely not least I thank my wife. My debt to her is of a
different order. Only intimate friends and colleagues are able to
assess the invaluable support and true feeling ofpartnership she gave
me all these last years.
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Finally, this seems to be the appropriate place to add a technical
remark concerning the book in its present form. Exigencies of
word-processing software demanded that the customary writing of
the 'ayin as C should byreplaced by the accent '.
