The whole population of the necropolis made their living out of the dead.  This was true of all ranks of society, headed by the sacerdotal colleges of the royal chapels,* and followed by the priestly bodies, to whom was entrusted the care of the tombs in the various sections, but the most influential of whom confined their attentions to the old burying-ground, “Isit-mait,” the True Place.**

* We find on several monuments the names of persons belonging to these sacerdotal bodies, priests of Ahmosis I., priests of Thutmosis I., of Thut-mosis II., of Amenothes II., and of Seti I.

     ** The persons connected with the “True Place” were for a
     long time considered as magistrates, and the “True Place” as
     a tribunal.

It was their duty to keep up the monuments of the kings, and also of private individuals, to clean the tombs, to visit the funerary chambers, to note the condition of their occupants, and, if necessary, repair the damage done by time, and to provide on certain days the offerings prescribed by custom, or by clauses in the contract drawn up between the family of the deceased and the religious authorities.  The titles of these officials indicated how humble was their position in relation to 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 Amenothes I. and his mother, Nofritari, who, after five or six centuries of continuous homage, had come to be considered as the patrons of Khafitnibus, 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 Ahhotpu I., whom the “servant” Anhurkhau knew
     to be a woman, is transformed into a King Ahhotpu in the
     tomb of Khabokhnit.

[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 goldsmiths.  The sculptors and the painters were grouped into guilds;* many of them spent their days in the tombs they were decorating, while others had their workshops above-ground, probably very like those of our modern monumental masons.