THE TITLE wa wrw Spntjw

Abstract

The title wa wrw Spntjw is well known from 4th dynasty wall decoration. At that time, the bearer was functioned mainly as “the uniqueof great of the Spntjw”. It has been an attested title since the oldKingdom. The wa wrw Spntjw is a person acting as a unique personfrom Wadi Natroun. Moreover, it was established that the importanceof that person depends on the administration employing him and thehierarchical level occupied. In this study, the author establishesthat this title can be employed according to a specific scheme inwhich the title refers to a person. Relying on all the reachableexamples, the author proves the ambivalence of the Spntjw, bothsubstitute and leader, and proposes to translate the term by "Truchsesse" in the cases corresponding to that scheme. His hypothesesare confirmed by the study of several particular cases. The aim ofthis paper is to examine the social standing of the wa wrw Spntjw byconcentrating on known tombs and objects of this title’s bearers(e. g. the tomb of Ra-Htp), specifically tombs that contain a completelist of titles.