DISCOVERY 



41 



having carried a few things out of it and taken posses- 

 sion of them. Khamwese had the man led bhndfold 

 to the neighbourhood of the tomb in question, and upon 



r 



Fig. 2.— gilded COUCH WITH PANELLED HEAD-PIECE FOUND 

 IN THE TOMB OF lUYU AND TUYU. THE PARENTS-IN-LAW OF 

 AMENOPHIS III. 



arriving thither his eyes were uncovered. " The 

 officials then said to him : ' Go before us to the tomb, 

 from which you said: I carried away the things.' 

 The coppersmith led the way to a tomb that had never 

 been in occupation and to the hut of a certain workman 

 of the necropolis, and ejaculated: "Behold the 

 tomb in which I was. ' ' The officials were not to be put 

 off by what, after all, might be assumed ignorance and 

 stupidity, so he was there and then subjected to " a 

 severe examination in the great valley," but " he was 

 not found to know any place there, e.xcept the two 

 places upon which he had laid his hand. He took an 

 oath of the king, that he should be mutilated by the 

 cutting off of his nose and ears and be placed upon the 

 rack if he lied, saying : ' I know not any place among 

 the tombs, except this tomb which is open, together 

 with the hut upon which I have laid your hands.' '' 

 What then befell the unfortunate coppersmith we are 

 not told, but we may hope that he was subjected to 

 no further " examinations," and was set at liberty. 



The events of the day concluded with the inspection 

 of another part of the necropolis, wherein the families 

 of the Pharaohs were laid to rest, called " The-Place-of- 

 Beauty," and here all the tombs were found uninjured. 



A Demonstration by the Western Thebans 



Regarding the safekeeping of the royal tombs as 

 far and away the most important part of their duties. 

 the head officials of the necropolis held, or pretended to 

 hold, the view that the findings of the commission, 

 and what the vizier had himself discovered as the 

 result of his personal inspection of that very day, 

 afforded a complete proof of the soundness of their 

 administration. Accordingly the same evening they 

 made a crowd of lesser officials and workpeople of the 

 necropolis cross over to the eastern city " as a great 

 deputation," in other words to demonstrate, and noisily 



to celebrate the triumph of the western over the eastern 

 mayor. Peser had gone out that evening, possibly to 

 discuss in a friend's house his failure to encompass his 

 hateful colleague's downfall, and was returning home 

 in the company of Nesiamun (a butler of Pharaoh and 

 one of the officials who had accompanied the vizier 

 on his tour of inspection earlier in the day), when he 

 encountered the " deputation " in the act of demon- 

 strating in front of the door of his house. Peser 

 does not seem to have been a very discreet person. 

 He instantly lost his temper, began soundly to rate the 

 leaders of the demonstration, and uttered a number 

 of vague threats against them and their superior 

 officers. " As for this deputation which you have sent," 

 he bawled, " it is no deputation at all ! It is just your 

 jubilation which you have made ! " The infuriated 

 mayor then " took an oath of the king in the presence 

 of the butler of Pharaoh (Nesiamun), saying : ' The 

 scribe of the necropolis, Herishere . . . and the 

 scribe of the necropolis, Pebes, have told me five very 

 serious accusations worthy of death against j'ou. 

 Yea, I am writing concerning them to Pharaoh, my 

 lord, that a man of Pharaoh may be sent to take you 

 all in charge. " 



All this was duly reported to Pewer'6, who next day, 

 Hathor 20th, wrote a letter to Khamwese complaining 

 of Peser's conduct. This letter recounts how " the 

 king's butler NesiamOn happened by, when the mayor 

 of the city, Peser . . . stood quarrelling with the people 

 of the necropolis. ' ' Peser is reported to have said : 

 " Ye exult over me at the door of my house ! Oh, 

 indeed ! Albeit I am the mayor who makes report to the 

 sovereign. And so ye e.xult over him ! " Peser then 



Fig. 3.— CARVED AND GILDED CH.AIR, WITH ITS LE.\THER CUSHION, 



FOUND IN THE TOMB OF lUYU .\ND TUYU, THE PARENTS-IN. 



L.\W OF .\MENOPHIS III. 



becomes sarcastic. " Ye were there ! It (the cemetery) 

 was inspected ! Ye found it uninjured ! Yet the tomb 

 of King Sebekemsaf and (that of) Nubkhas his royal 



