the deified ancestors in whose service they were employed; they called
themselves the "Servants of the True Place," and their chiefs the
"Superiors of the Servants," but all the while they were people of
considerable importance, being rich, well educated, and respected in
their own quarter of the town.

[Illustration: 032.jpg PAINTINGS AT THE END OF THE HALL OF THE FIFTH
THE TOMB]

They professed to have a special devotion for Amenôthes I. and his
mother, Nofrîtari, who, after five or six centuries of continuous
homage, had come to be considered as the patrons of Khafîtnîbûs, but
this devotion was not to the depreciation of other sovereigns. It is
true that the officials were not always clear as to the identity of the
royal remains of which they had the care, and they were known to have
changed one of their queens or princesses into a king or some royal
prince.*

* Thus Queen Ahhotpû I., whom the "servant" Anhûrkhâû knew
to be a woman, is transformed into a King Ahhotpû in the
tomb of Khâbokhnît.

[Illustration: AMENOTHES III. AT LUXOR]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Gayet.

They were surrounded by a whole host of lesser
functionaries--bricklayers, masons, labourers, exorcists, scribes (who
wrote out pious formulae for poor people, or copied the "Books of the
going forth by day" for the mummies), weavers, cabinet-makers, and