Conclusion

Regarding the opposition of ‘fixed rules’ and ‘personal choice’, the analysis of the scene’s internal and external aspects revealed a rather equivocal view. he selected themes indeed indicate a certain degree of homogeneity regarding their inclusion and disposition over the tomb chapel. None of the indicators, however, tend towards complete randomness nor restrictedness. his ambiguous result leaves one to conclude that the ‘rules’ applied to private tomb decoration offered a set of possibilities, subject to certain conventions, instead of one definite choice. Strict rules could not be observed. It remains the tomb owner who decided in the first place what theme(s) to include. It is especially the less common themes that offered an excellent tool to personalise one’s tomb superstructure.

He analysis of the internal aspects of scenes has acknowledged that there is no such thing as strict standardisation. Scenes of similar sub-themes can differ considerably with regard to their representational content. In addition, the compositional development through time is not linear. Aspects within the internal dynamics of scenes, whether they are animals, human figures or text, are added continuously throughout the Old Kingdom. At the same time, other aspects are abandoned, some to re-appear again at later stages. he scenes do not unequivocally increase or decrease in elaborateness of execution. he dependence of scenes on the available wall surface is also not self-evident.

He study has revealed a clear dichotomy between Giza and Saqqara. Scenes from Saqqara tombs can be characterized as dynamic, displaying variation, whereas those from Giza can generally be characterised as static, conformist, displaying a lower degree of variation. When set in a diachronic perspective, a similar development can be detected. A uniform interplay of variation and austerity surfaced when studying the internal features of the scenes’ representations. his trend has tentatively been related to the (changing) political situation and the (changing choice of) location for the royal funerary complexes. he exact rationale behind these trends, that is, the antithesis of Giza and Saqqara and the observed chronological development, is however another question. What exactly has caused these results should still be investigated further.