Service and Banquet Protocol in the Tombs of the 18th Dynasty

Banquets occupied a great extent in the scenes depicted on the private tombs’ walls, especially in the Theban cemetery of the 18^th dynasty. These banquets reflected the features of prosperity which characterized that period.
This paper aims to focus on an important aspect of the banquet: the ceremony of services that required direct contact with guests by its performers, from which the great majority were servants. It’s clarified through several points:
Firstly: the group of the service’s performers regarding to their appearance, which is represented in their clothing, hairstyles, jewelry and their distribution pattern among the guests.
Secondly: the service ceremony which is represented in the arrangement of the guests’ seating, offering them lotus flowers and collars made from flowers, anointing their bodies with aromatic oils and fats, offering foods…etc.
Thirdly: the religious significance of the service ceremony.
The survey concluded that the service ceremony aimed to the rebirth of the deceased in the Underworld. This happens through offering the guests wine, lotus flowers, mandrake fruits, oils and aromatic fats. These ceremonies were also arranged in particular sequence since it begins with taking the guests’ soles and ends with offering the beverages of wine and beer. The study also shows that the ancient Egyptian was aware of the necessity of balancing in his life. It means enjoying all the pleasures of life along with the thinking of the Underworld. Therefore it was reflected on his behavior, which is characterized by the desired temperance, according to the songs of the harpist that stimulate it.