Keftiu in Context: Theban Tomb-paintings as a historical Source

It is generally asserted that the representations of Aegeans in Theban private tombs cannot be regarded as a reliable historical source, since the gift‐bearers of this independent region were depicted by Egyptian artists as tributaries. The present paper is an attempt to test the validity of this orthodoxy from the Egyptological perspective. The new explanatory approach is based on a contextual analysis which embraces the entire body of foreigners’ processions in the Theban tomb‐paintings. It is suggested that these scenes provide, within certain iconographical conventions, an accurate record of historical reality, thus offering a valuable insight into the mechanisms of pharaonic power. The question of the political vs. economic nature of the depicted activity, the diplomatic gift‐giving, is taken up in an appendix at the end of the paper.