Djari and Dagi were comrades in the court of king Mentuhotep II. In fact, Djari was younger than Dagi when the latter was at the peak of his career with an impressive list of prestigious titles. Both served the famous king who had reunifed the country after a life marked by the Theban opposition to the Herakleopolitan power. This event transcended the history of Thebes after a century and a half of internal struggle, irregular economy (though full of opportunities), and the emergence of local chiefs eager of power. The reorganization of the country allowed many officials loyal to the Theban king to promote within the new echelons in the country, while many local elite families that opposed to Thebes disappeared. The administration got new structures and these two officials became two of the most important figures in the new statal domain: Dagi was one of the most important men of the country, visir, Upper Egyptian lord, and even funerary official in the capital; Djari, head of prisons, was a prominent person at Thebes.
After attending the funerals of these two individuals in their tombs at Asasif, not many colleagues of Dagi and Djari could imagine that four thousand years later a team of archaeologists from the University of Alcalá would investigate their history, life, and the ways in which they participated in the changes of this period. The administration represented by these officials in 2000 BCE echoes through the documents, permissions, and concessions of the Permanent Committee in actual Egypt, which protects and cares for the pharaonic monuments. Today, May 3, we initiate the Seventh Campaign with our visit to the officials in Luxor and the West Bank, where Dr. Fathy (General Director) and the directors Dr. Behaa and Dr. Ezz helped us to complete the bureaucratic process and to begin this archaeological and epigraphic adventure of The Middle Kingdom Theban Project. In our Digging Diary, we hope to present the work, progress, and discoveries of our mission, a multi-disciplinary and international initiative that we put in place once more with good expectations: step right up, come right in… see for yourselves!
