A short distance away, we arrived at the Valley of the Kings ... I could spend days here ... unfortunately we had but a couple of hours ... While the ancient Egyptians built massive public monuments to their pharaohs, they also spent time and financial resources creating hidden underground mortuary temples (mausoleums). |
The most well-known collection of elaborate tombs is the Valley of the Kings. Known to the ancients as Biban el-Muluk, (Gate of the Kings), it is actually a ravine necropolis located under the watchful gaze of a pyramid-shaped mountain often referred to as the “Crown of Thebes.”
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
As you may remember from yesterday's post, pharaoh Thutmose I originated the practice of separating his tomb from his mortuary temple. Moreover, he elected to have his body buried in an inaccessible and secret place. This innovation changed the course of 1700 years of ancient Egyptian burial tradition. |
Thutmose I's architect, Ineni, excavated a shaft tomb in the remote ravine that is now known as the Valley of Kings. A steep stairway into rock led to the sepulcher. This plan was followed by all subsequent pharaohs during Egypt’s New Kingdom period (1539-1075BCE).
Thus the Valley of the Kings became a royal burial ground for pharaohs, including Seti I, Ramesses II, Tutankhamun, as well as queens, high priests, and other elites of the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties.
These tombs depict elaborate preparations for the next world, in which humans were promised continuing life and pharaohs expected to become one with the gods. Mummification was used to preserve the body so that the deceased’s eternal soul would be able to reanimate in the afterlife. Further, these underground tombs were well stocked with all the material goods a ruler might need in the next world — furniture, clothes, jewelry and enough food and drink (including wine and beer) for royal feasting in the beyond. Sacred objects to help the deceased achieve eternal life and even favored companions were also left in these tombs. Even their favorite pets were buried nearby.
Thus the Valley of the Kings became a royal burial ground for pharaohs, including Seti I, Ramesses II, Tutankhamun, as well as queens, high priests, and other elites of the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties.
These tombs depict elaborate preparations for the next world, in which humans were promised continuing life and pharaohs expected to become one with the gods. Mummification was used to preserve the body so that the deceased’s eternal soul would be able to reanimate in the afterlife. Further, these underground tombs were well stocked with all the material goods a ruler might need in the next world — furniture, clothes, jewelry and enough food and drink (including wine and beer) for royal feasting in the beyond. Sacred objects to help the deceased achieve eternal life and even favored companions were also left in these tombs. Even their favorite pets were buried nearby.
Sadly, the repose of Thutmose I, like most of the pharaohs, didn’t last long … systematic plundering by tomb robbers, treasure hunters and archaeologists began early, despite round-the-clock guards during the entire Pharaonic period. The thieves stole tomb furnishings, but the mosts coveted object was the “heart scarab,” the amulet placed over the mummy’s heart so the deceased could save themself on the day of judgment when his actions were weighed by the god Anubis. Ancient Egyptian records testify to the harsh punishments handed down to tomb robbers, and it is estimated that nearly all of the royal tombs were plundered by the end of the 20th dynasty. |
Meanwhile, during the reign of Ramessides, the Priests of Amon, lost all of their authority and power. They did, however, remain devoted to their deceased kings. In order to ensure them an undisturbed afterlife, they began surreptitiously moving the royal mummies from one burial site to another. Ramesses III was buried three times before the priests prepared a virtually inaccessible secret hiding place in the mountain of Deir el-Bahari. There, they had a shaft dug about 40-feet deep. A long corridor led from the bottom of the shaft into a spacious room.
At night, they stealthily moved the pharaohs themselves from their sarcophagi in the Valley of the Kings and laid them all to rest in the cavern with name plates around each of their mummy’s necks for identification. Forty pharaoh remains including Ahmose, the founder of the 18th dynasty, Thutmose III, Seti I, Ramses II and others remained hidden in the heart of the mountain for 3,000 years. That is, until a young tomb raider named Ahmed el-Rasul, discovered their hiding place purely by chance in 1875 … but that’s another story! |
Many thought that the 62 tombs discovered at the Valley of the Kings before 1922 were all that would be found there … until Howard Carter discovered the resting place of the boy king, Tutankhamun. Then, in 2005, a team of archaeologists led by Otto Schaden discovered the valley’s first unknown tomb since Tutahkhamun’s. Named KV63, after the numerical system invented by John Gardner Wilkinson, in 1927, this site was about 50-feet from the walls of King Tut’s tomb. KV63 had no mummy, but housed a sarcophagi, pottery, linens, flowers and other things, so some archaeologists speculate there must be a tomb somewhere to go with it. Thus, this area is still being excavated. |
OUR ADVENTURE
As a group, we headed to the Tomb of Ramesses IV. This is considered a small tomb (216-feet long). It contains the sarcophagus of Ramesses IV, a pharaoh of the 20th dynasty and son of Ramesses III.
The walls of the tomb are rich in hieroglyphs and include scenes from the Book of the Dead, the Book of Gates, and the Book of Caverns. As late as the 5th century AD, the tomb was used as a church by a small Christian community nearby. On the ceiling of the burial chamber, for the first time, two of the Books of the Sky were placed next to each other. They depict a double representation of Nut, back to back. Nut is shown as a woman supported by the god Shu, who holds her body aloft as she swallows and gives birth to the sun. Shu was the Egyptian god of air and the male half of the first divine couple. His consort was Tefnut, goddess of moisture.
Her reign was one of the most prosperous and peaceful in Egypt’s history, characterized by successful trade, a booming economy, and many public works projects that employed laborers.
At either end of the second level colonnade were two temples: Temple of Hathor and Temple of Anubis. As a woman in a position of power, Hatshepsut had a special relationship with the goddess Hathor. A temple to Anubis, the guardian and guide to the underworld of the dead, seems to be a common feature in mortuary temples.
At either end of the second level colonnade were two temples: Temple of Hathor and Temple of Anubis. As a woman in a position of power, Hatshepsut had a special relationship with the goddess Hathor. A temple to Anubis, the guardian and guide to the underworld of the dead, seems to be a common feature in mortuary temples.