Surveyor-general and registrar-general of Upper Egypt in the XVIIIth Dynasty : Rekhmire c.1470-1420 BC)
Brock, John
Ultimately what became of the high ranking civil official Rekhmire is still a mystery. However there is no doubt that during his life he rose to such a significant status during the reign of the Pharaoh Thutmose III (1479 to 1425 BC) and for the early years of his successor son Amenhotep II (1427-1400 BC) that he was actually second in the line of command only to his Regal Patriarchs. He has been referred to as the Mayor of Thebes which in fact was the equivalent of Governor of Upper Egypt but upon a more meticulous study of his duties from various sources attested by the very man himself, I now take the liberty of also calling him the Surveyor-General and Registrar-General of Upper Egypt ! He also bore control over the entirety of the Kinggs Domain with his decision-making power assuming divine designation. As there is no actual burial chamber in the tomb which he had constructed for himself in the cemetery of the nobles at Sheik Abd el Qurna known as TT100 there has been various speculation about a possible fall from grace of this well attested Vizier from Egypt. Nevertheless his tomb is one of the largest rock cut burial monuments in this elite graveyard bearing most ornate tomb art, but it is more specifically renowned for its hieroglyphic inscription of the most complete account of the Duties of the Vizier ever found in the corpus of ancient literature. Within this thorough declaration of the many responsibilities undertaken by this position of eminent importance were the many Registrations of Land Boundaries, resolution of the land disputes brought before him by various petitioners as well as the setting of the limits of the Landward Boundaries of the Nation. He also made it declared that he was the judge of criminal offences, Overseer of the Royal Estate and Building program in addition to ensuring the continuity of the water supply to the City and the maintenance of as many other services and needs of the territory over which his Governorship had direct control.
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