A Special Day in the History of the Egypt Centre

The 15th February is a date that will forever be etched into the history of the Egypt Centre. On this day in 1971, a portion of the Egyptian material in the Wellcome Collection was formally offered to the University College of Swansea (now Swansea University). This agreement was issued by the University College of London (UCL), who were acting on behalf of the Wellcome Trustees. It was signed by Harry S. Smith (now Professor Emeritus of Egyptology by UCL) and David M. Dixon (fig. 1), the latter being a Research Fellow at the Wellcome Institute between 1959–1964, and tasked with sorting the Egyptian material.

Fig. 1: David Dixon

David Dixon was instrumental in bringing the collection to Swansea. Some eight months prior (22nd June 1970) to the agreement being sent, Dixon had a phone conversation with John Gwyn Griffiths (fig. 2) in Welsh in which the idea of sending Wellcome material to Swansea was first proposed. Gwyn Griffiths was a Reader in Classics at Swansea, who is well known for his studies on Egyptian religion. Later that evening, Dixon wrote to Griffiths, also in Welsh;  the letter and its English translation are retained in the Egypt Centre archives. Part of it contains the following passage: “The purpose of this letter (sorry for being so long-winded) is to give you an opportunity to consider what we think. If it is of interest to you, it would be of help if you could send a word to me as soon as possible. Meanwhile may I ask you to keep the contents of this letter as a secret”.

Fig. 2: Gwyn Griffiths

1971 marks fifty years since the collection arrived in Swansea in September 1971. Over the coming months I’ll be posting some historical documents, including archival photos, to mark this event. We aim to celebrate this anniversary digitally, and hopefully physically once it is safe for us to do so. Therefore, to kick things off, here is the agreement between the two parties, which was sent to the then Principal of the University College of Swansea fifty years ago today!

 

Principal F. Llewellyn-Jones,

The University College of Swansea,

Singleton Park,

Swansea University,

Wales.

15th February, 1971

 

Dear Principal Llewellyn-Jones,

You will recall that during the latter part of last year Dr. D. N. Dixon discussed informally with Dr. John Gwyn Griffiths the possibility that a portion of the collection of Egyptian antiquities formed by the late Sir Henry S. Wellcome might eventually be offered to the University College of Swansea. It was understood that a tentative proposal to this effect which Dr. Griffiths submitted to you met with a favourable response, and that arrangements were in hand to deal with any material that might be received.

Under the terms of the will of the late Sir Henry Wellcome, his Trustees were charged with a permanent responsibility for the maintenance and scientific use of his collections. They are therefore required to continue to exercise control over their future. The Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine, however, is concerned only with the history of medicine, and Egyptological material does not fall within its province. The Trustees’ wish therefore is that their material should be permanently maintained by the recipient institution while it has staff and facilities to make proper provisions for it. The Trustees would exercise their right of control only in circumstances where the recipient, for whatever reason, felt unable to maintain the collection.

The Wellcome Trustees have now given their consent to the proposals submitted to them by University College London for the future disposition of the Wellcome Collection in the interests of science. They have therefore authorized the College to offer you a portion of the said collection subject to the conditions set out in the accompanying document.

We trust that this offer will be acceptable to your Governing Body.

Yours sincerely,

H. S. Smith

Edwards Professor of Egyptology

 

D. M. Dixon

Curator, Petrie Museum

 

Wellcome Collection of Egyptian Antiquities: Agreement between the University College of Swansea and University College London, acting on behalf of the Wellcome Trustees

1. The Wellcome Collection of Egyptian Antiquities will remain under the control of the Wellcome Trustees.

2. The transport of the material from London to Swansea, and any other measures deemed necessary (e.g. insurance), shall be arranged by the University College of Swansea (hereinafter called ‘the recipient’) and approved by the officers of the Petrie Museum. All expenses shall be borne by the recipient.

3. The material shall be unpacked, sorted, documented (as far as possible), and made available for study within a reasonable period from the date of its arrival in Swansea. The exact period shall be determined after consolation, but two years is suggested.

4. The recipient shall not be permitted to dispose of any items whatever, whether for gain or otherwise, by any means (sale, gift, temporary or permanent loan, or destruction).

5. At their discretion and subject to the requirements of their duties at University College, members of the Petrie Museum staff may be prepared to assist, by correspondence, or possibly in person, with the documentation of the material and other queries arising therefrom. All expenses arising from such assistance (e.g. hotel bills, travelling) shall be borne by the recipient.

6. At the expiry of the period agreed upon for the unpacking etc. of the material, a representative of the Petrie Museum, acting on behalf of the Museum and the Wellcome Trustees, shall inspect all the objects and reclaim any items which he may deem to fall within the following two categories:

i)                Items of medical interest, which will be returned to the Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine, London.

ii)              Contexted material which complements material already in the Petrie Collection or which it is felt ought logically to be incorporated therein.

The decision of the Petrie Museum representative regarding such matters shall be final. Packing and transport to University College London of material reclaimed (including that ultimately destined for return to the Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine) shall be arranged and paid for by the recipient.

Upon satisfactory compliance with all the above conditions, the recipient shall be free, in the interests of science, to make such arrangements with the City of Liverpool Museum as both parties see fit regarding their respective portions of the Wellcome Collection. For example, it is envisaged that they may wish to exchange certain objects with a view to the more rational division of the material.

Such exchanges, however, shall not be undertaken without prior reference to the Wellcome Trustees or their authorized representatives.

University College London

15th February, 1971

“It’s Good to Be the King” – or Is It?

Iris C. Meijer is an amateur in the true sense of the word – one who loves. She fell in love with ancient Egypt when she was ten years old and it has been the longest and most enduring love affair of her life. Her academic credentials are not in Egyptology, however, but in the field of International Law. She has lived in Egypt for eighteen years now, and through self-study, observation and of course many courses such as this wonderful one on the Valley of the Kings by the Egypt Centre, has amassed quite a body of knowledge. She lives in a madhouse with eighteen Egyptian rescued dogs and cats called the House of Fluff, and is the author of the bilingual animal welfare awareness book for children in Egypt “Abdallah, Bondoq and Other Animals” with which workshops for children are taught all over Egypt, which soon will go online as video lessons (please check out the Facebook page with the same title). She is currently working on a project to join these interests and make a treasure hunt trail for children on pets and other animals in the Theban Tombs.

When in Luxor, one of the sights that of course cannot be missed is the famous Valley of the Kings – which is also the subject of yet another stellar Zoom course by Dr Ken Griffin. It is home to many tombs of pharaohs of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties of ancient Egypt’s New Kingdom, which vary from huge to small, elaborate to simple, lavishly decorated to hardly finished; the stark but beautiful Valley of the Kings seems like a very otherworldly place. Little do most visitors know that when they descend into the tombs to see the amazing and mysterious depictions the ancient Egyptians left behind, they actually are entering another world: the Netherworld, or in proper ancient Egyptian, the Duat (fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Twelfth Hour of the Amduat

Unlike the tombs of the nobles, which are dotted around the Theban Hills in their hundreds or perhaps thousands, the royal tombs (with the exception of five of them), do not depict the quite well-known Book of the Dead—a modern term for what is actually called the “Book of Coming Forth by Day”—but rather show other, much more esoteric funerary texts (fig. 2). When we visit the Tombs of the Nobles, we see beautiful depictions from this Book of the Dead, yes. The weighing of the heart, the judgement in front of Osiris and others, plentiful offerings. But we also see laid out before us an enormous variety of scenes of daily life, lavish banqueting, energetic fishing and fowling—a lot of very relatable images, even though they are all from the perspective of the elite—even the scenes of people working in the fields or making beautiful items are usually overseen by the elite. We actually know very little about what the other 98–99% of the people of ancient Egypt would have expected their afterlife to look like. This is because it was only the nobles (the elite) who knew how to read and write, and so left us written clues; they alone had access to the wherewithal to fashion such beautiful places to be laid to rest in.

 

Fig. 2: Book of the Dead spell 145, KV 14 

The elite, of course, still had nothing on the king when it came to level of afterlife, or life in this world, for that matter. In theory (and in very broad strokes), everything and everyone in Egypt ultimately belonged to the king and was there to serve him in his main divine duty of upholding maat: cosmic order, truth, and justice (fig. 3). Tough job, but it had its perks. So we’d be forgiven if upon entering a kingly tomb, we would expect to see lush scenes of an even more glamorous paradise than the nobles portray waiting for the king—a place where after all that mundane and divine responsibility he could finally relax and reap his rewards. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Fig. 3: Figure of Maat

Forget, for a moment, the lavish treasures and luxury found in Tutankhamun’s tomb, those cascades of gold we all know so well. Instead, focus on the walls, with the decorations and the deep texts that tell us what is actually going on in the afterlife that the king goes into. You see, these tombs were both literally and figuratively meant to represent the actual Netherworld. And the texts and decorations on the walls tell us that this is a dark and dangerous place, full of perils (fig. 4).

Fig. 4: Fourth Hour of the Amduat, KV 34

It is still relatively light at the entrance to the tomb where the sun can shine in, and where we often find beautiful depictions of the three divine stages/forms of the sun: the ram-headed God Atum (the setting sun in the West), and the scarab beetle God Khepri (the rising sun in the East). Both are encompassed by the glowing orb of the sun at midday, representing the God Ra (fig. 5). The Goddess Maat is often there, too, as if to say that even though we are now entering this enigmatic and threatening realm of the Duat, cosmic order, truth and justice still reign there too. The light of the day is still there, in both fact and in image. But as we descend further into the bowels of the craggy cliffs that these tombs are carved into, we enter a world of darkness. We are literally entering the night – and without the modern lighting that is in place now, we would feel that most acutely. During the night, the sun God Ra had to face many challenges and obstacles to overcome the menacing darkness and emerge again in the morning, triumphantly, as Khepri, the light in the East. And the king joins him in this quest, merges with him as it were. This is not, as in the Book of the Dead, a one-off journey and judgement: pass it and you are in the Field of Reeds or paradise as the ancients saw it. Oh no. This perilous journey with dangers threatening around every corner and at every gate had to be faced each and every single night, without fail. Over and over, and over again. Or else, there would be no sunrise. There would be no new day.

Fig. 5: Sun disk adored by Isis and Nephthys, KV 8 (Theban Mapping Project)

Thankfully, the king and Ra had very specific and literal help: elaborate texts including maps and ‘cheat sheets’. These so-called ‘Afterlife Books’, as Egyptologists refer to them collectively (the ancient Egyptians called them “That Which Is in The Duat”) are known under very arcane names: “The Amduat” (ancient Egyptian name: “The Book of the Hidden Chamber”), “The Book of Gates”, “The Book of Caverns”, “The Book of the Earth” (ancient Egyptian name: “The Books of the Creation of the Solar Disk”), “The Books of the Sky” (“The Book of the Heavenly Cow”, “The Book of the Day”, and “The Book of the Night”). There is also the “Litany of Re” (ancient Egyptian name: “The Book of Adoring Re in the West”), which enumerates the seventy-five names of the sun god—my favourite of course being “The Great Cat of Re” (fig. 6). It seems to depend on period and personal preference which one(s) were chosen to be included in which king’s tomb. Other than the much better known Book of the Dead, these texts have not been the subject of widespread study, and so much of what is actually meant by these very interesting texts is still up for debate. More debate is happening now, with quite a few books being published on them (a great one to start with is “The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife” by Erik Hornung).

Fig. 6: The Great Cat, KV 34

What we do know, however, is that these cryptic ancient books describe, in extremely specific but also, to us at least, extremely enigmatic terms, exactly what the sun god, and therefore his kingly companion would be facing on the journey through the twelve hours of the night. They include which route to take, what threats they needed to face and overcome, the names they needed to know in order to pass the many gates and appease the fearsome and fancifully named guardians of those gates, as well as the magical spells that needed to be uttered at precisely the right moment to clear yet another obstacle and continue on their way in the night. No gentle snooze for king or god during those nightly hours; rather, the need to know every single detail, the battle to slay Ra’s oldest opponent, the primeval serpent Apep, highly evolved magical work, precisely negotiating the watery expanse of the night in exactly the right way, different for each of the twelve hours and described in great detail for each one—all in order to get to the eastern horizon and rise again as Khepri, to ensure the future of humanity and the world again, as the one who gives life to everything: the sun (fig. 7). Definitely not a journey for the faint of heart—but luckily there was a lot of divine help along the way, too.

Fig. 7: Book of Caverns, final scene; Ba of Ra; Book of the Earth, part A, scenes 1-2, extracts, KV 14
(Theban Mapping Project)

So, was it good to be the king? Rather depends on how one views it. These texts focus very little on the deceased king as an individual being judged and then passing on to an afterlife that was the plus size version of the physical life the ancient Egyptians had had and adored so much (as the Book of the Dead does). Rather, they are all about making sure that Ra gets out of that Netherworld so that life and order did not collapse. Cyclically, eternally. No rest for the righteous, this virtuous king, this upholder of maat. There was royal work to be done, even in the long night that followed death. But again, there were perks. After the valiant effort during every single night, the king got to shine again during the twelve hours of the day, together with Ra, forever (fig. 8). Every single day. And that’s a pretty powerful reward.

Fig. 8: Beginning of the Book of the Day (Theban Mapping Project)

If you would like to hear exactly how detailed and esoteric these texts were, and how many names and spells needed to be remembered, check out the links for videos about the ‘Amduat’ at the bottom of the blog written by Marissa Lopez for this course two weeks ago.

Bibliography:

Abt, Theodor and Erik Hornung 2003. Knowledge for the afterlife: the Egyptian Amduat - a quest for immortality. Zurich: Living Human Heritage.

Darnell, John Coleman 2004. The enigmatic Netherworld Books of the Solar-Osirian unity: cryptographic compositions in the tombs of Tutankhamun, Ramesses VI and Ramesses IX. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 198. Fribourg; Göttingen: Academic Press; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

Darnell, John Coleman and Colleen Manassa Darnell 2018. The ancient Egyptian Netherworld Books. Writings from the Ancient World 39. Atlanta: SBL

Hornung, Erik 1999. The ancient Egyptian books of the afterlife. Translated by David Lorton. Ithaca (NY): Cornell University Press.

Roberson, Joshua Aaron 2012. The ancient Egyptian Books of the Earth. Wilbour Studies in Egypt and Ancient Western Asia 1. Atlanta, GA: Lockwood.

Warburton, David 2007. The Egyptian Amduat: the Book of the Hidden Chamber. Edited by Erik Hornung and Theodor Abt. Zurich: Living Human Heritage.

Werning, Daniel A. 2011. Das Höhlenbuch: textkritische Edition und Textgrammatik, 2 vols. Göttinger Orientforschungen, 4. Reihe: Ägypten 48. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

The Architecture of the Tombs in the Valley of the Kings

The blog post for this week is written by Yvonne Buskens-Frenken, from the Netherlands. She is a member of the Dutch Egyptology society Mehen and a former student of Egyptology at Manchester University (Certificate 2015 and Diploma 2017). While Yvonne has never been to the Egypt Centre before, she hopes to visit in the near future, perhaps with other Mehen members.

Last week’s session of the Valley of the Kings course was about the architectural development of the tombs in this royal necropolis (fig. 1). Primarily, a tomb had two main functions. First it had to provide a permanent protected resting place for the body, and secondly it was a cult place for performing the ritual acts to ensure eternal life. Hardedef, who lived in the Old Kingdom, already stated in his Instructions: “Furnish your house in the graveyard and enrich your place in the west…the house of death is for life”. The resting places were therefore called “Houses of Eternity” by the ancient Egyptians as they wanted to continue their accustomed lifestyle into the afterlife. The resting places were usually built close to their homes in life. Religious ideas about the afterlife changed over time and would have impacted on architecture and iconography. This was the case for the tombs of the New Kingdom kings. By the time of the New Kingdom, the kings did not want their tombs to be visible for the public. The king’s chamber had to be, as was stated in the Egyptian funerary text of the New Kingdom known as the Amduat, a “hidden” chamber, away from plain sight, not accessible for the secular, non-religious eyes. These religious ideas were now reflected in the architectural form and iconography of the tombs which replicated the path of the sun during its nocturnal journey beneath the earth. On that journey, the king identified himself with the sun god and wanted, just like the deity, to experience a rebirth. Additionally, as a result of the fact that these tombs were supposed to be hidden, the cult practices or offerings would have been done elsewhere at a mortuary temple (known as a “Temple of Millions of Years”). Although the original tombs of the first four kings of the Eighteenth Dynasty are not yet securely identified, the tomb of Hatshepsut (KV 20) marks the first separation of the burial place for a king and the building of a cult centre elsewhere.

Fig. 1: Path leading to KV 20, 19, 43, and 18 (Theban Mapping Project)

When you visit the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, you may notice that they are not all the same; the architectural features vary a lot. There are small ones with just a few compartments or corridors, or some large ones with many side rooms. Some tombs have long sloping corridors, and some have a bended axis. A few are not even finished. There was, as far as we know, no standard blueprint for the building of a tomb, although workmen would have access to a sort of “building plan”—nineteen papyri and ostraca describe the architecture of various Theban royal tombs. One famous example is Turin Papyrus 1885 (fig. 2), which shows the building plan of Ramesses IV (KV 2). The text in hieratic provides us with the names of the tomb components and a plan of the decoration which gives us some clues as to function. The plan is drawn at a scale of 1:28, but it is not entirely accurate in proportion (for instance the size of the doorways).

Fig. 2: Turin Papyrus 1885 (Theban Mapping Project)

In its most complete form, a tomb could have thirteen elements in total, for convenience now numbered A to M by Egyptologists. The tomb of Seti I (KV 17) is known for having all of them, with element M being the long tunnel extending beyond Chamber J (fig. 3) One of the smallest tombs in the Valley is KV 1 of Ramesses VII with only four elements (A, B, J and K). All of these elements (A–M) actually have an ancient Egyptian name. For instance the burial chamber, J, is called “The Hall in which One Rests” or “The House of Gold”. I would like to discuss here some architectural elements and features, which are sometimes overlooked because visitors are often overwhelmed by and drawn to the fantastic iconography, and so pay less attention to its architecture.

Fig. 3: Plan of the tomb of Seti I (Theban Mapping Project)

The beginning of things is always important, and that is also the case for the tombs discussed here: The Entrance Doorway/Corridor (element A). It has a suitable name: “Passage of the Way of Shu or “The Open air corridor”. This element dates from the time of Ramesses II (KV 7) to that of Ramesses XI (KV 4). It is decorated with a lintel depicting the goddesses Isis and Nephthys, each flanking and adoring the yellow morning sun disk, which encircles Atum and Khepri. It summarises what was the initial idea of the tomb: the deceased kings’ nocturnal journey through the netherworld and his rebirth.

We now skip B and move to Corridor C. This corridor is found in all of the Valley tombs except KV 1 (Ramesses VII). KV 20 (Hatshepsut) has two corridor Cs! This part of the tomb was called “The Third God’s Passage [of Re]” or “The Hall Wherein They Rest”. But who were “they”? Maybe the recesses of corridor C, an easily overlooked feature, provide us some clues. A good example occurs in KV 2 (Ramesses IV) (fig. 4). These recesses (sometimes translated as sanctuaries) are called: “The Recesses in which the Gods of the East/West Reside”. Not all tombs had these recesses, and they could vary in measurements. Maybe the open spaces offered room for statues/statuettes of the Gods of the east/west?

Fig. 4: Corridor C in the tomb of Ramesses IV (Theban Mapping Project)

In Corridor D, “The Fourth God’s Passage [of Re]” we encounter a similar architectural feature as the recesses in C. These niches are called in ancient Egyptian “The Two Doorkeepers’ Rooms”. The name suggest that two guardians were here symbolically posted to block further access into the tomb (fig. 5). The two guardians from the tomb of Tutankhamun come to mind. It has been suggested that Corridor D marked the beginning of the most sacred part of the tomb and was officially sealed with stone and plaster after the burial had been installed.

Fig. 5: Niche for “doorkeepers” (Theban Mapping Project)

We move to Hall F. It is the second hall in line and is called “The Chariot Hall” or “Another Hall of Repelling the Rebels” or “What is in it [Chamber F]: four pillars”. In the tombs of Seti I and Amenhotep III, some remnants of chariots were indeed found. The pillars must have played a role in this room, either functional or symbolic, although this not exactly clear to us. There were not always four pillars by the way, some tombs had two and other had even six pillars. It is typical for hall F that there is:

•  in the earliest Eighteenth Dynasty tombs a ninety degree shift in its axis,
•  in the late Eighteenth/early Nineteenth Dynasty, the tombs axis jogged left in F, with a staircase leading down to the feature G,
• in the late Nineteenth/early Twentieth Dynasty, F had a central ramp/stairway,
• in the late Twentieth Dynasty there were sloping floors without steps.

Hall F brings us to another interesting architectural feature; the side rooms. Only six tombs in the Valley had a F hall had side rooms, called usually Fa, Fb, etc, and they are typically dating to the late Nineteenth or Twentieth Dynasty tombs. Some side rooms had pillars, some were not finished or uncompleted but they have all in common being cut on the right sight of F except for KV 17 (Seti I) which was cut through the rear wall.

The most important chamber of the tomb was the Burial Chamber J: “The Hall in which One Rests” referring to the body and “The House of Gold” probably referring to the golden shrines that surrounded the body as one can see on the plan of the Turin papyri mentioned earlier in this blogpost. You would expect all tombs had one, but KV 10 of Amenmesse and KV 18 of Ramesses X had none for the simple reason that both tombs were never finished.

Fig. 6: Osiris in the niche in the tomb of Horemheb (Theban Mapping Project)

Chamber J often had additional rooms, sometimes multiple ones but from late Twentieth Dynasty onwards they were no longer included. They are labelled J-a/J-d and are associated with Osiris, who is often represented in the niches (fig. 6). The most important side room seems to be labelled J-a, as all in situ sarcophagi from early Eighteenth until the early Nineteenth Dynasty were orientated towards the entrance to this room. According to Thomas (1966, 279), the contents of this room was “intended to facilitate the king’s journey through the underworld and his successful transformation into Osiris”.

Fig. 7: Beam being used to lower the sarcophagus (Theban Mapping Project)

Another architectural element apart from the elements A–M that is easily overlooked when visiting the tombs are the technical features such as the beam holes. Recesses were cut in pairs in corridor walls opposite each other, one square and the other rectangular. Wooden beams would be inserted into the holes and ropes attached to the beam and sarcophagus to facilitate its descent into the tomb (fig. 7). Speaking of the latter, have you ever noticed how the sarcophagus is placed on the floors? It could be positioned in various ways; on the floor itself, on a plinth, or even set into the floor like the sarcophagus of Ramesses VII in KV 1 (fig. 8).

Fig. 8: Sarcophagus of Ramesses VII (Theban Mapping Project)

 

Literature

Reeves, C. N, (1990) Valley of the Kings, The decline of a royal necropolis, Kegan Paul International, London & New York.

Reeves, C.N., Wilkinson, R. (1996) The Complete Valley of the Kings, Thames and Hudson, London.

Thomas, E, (1966), The Royal Necropoleis of Thebes, Princeton.

Wilkinson, R. Weeks, K. (eds) (2016) The Oxford Handbook of the Valley of the Kings. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

 

Websites: https://thebanmappingproject.com/

The Tomb of Thutmose III in the Valley of the Kings

The blog post for this week is written by Marissa Lopez. Marissa studied Egyptology at AUC and worked for Theban Mapping Project during her time there. She has loved ancient Egypt for as long as she can remember and due to the pandemic, is absolutely loving online lectures and collection tours. 

It has gone by many names over the millennia. Ta-sekhet-ma'at (the Great Field), Wādī al Mulūk, the Valley of the Kings, all for the infamous burial place of the Pharaohs from the Eighteenth to Twentieth Dynasties. Sixty-five tombs and chambers were carved and decorated in a span of almost 500 years, and one of the earliest and most unique is that of Thutmose III, aka, Menkheperra Djehutymes.

Cut into a cliff face, it was originally accessed from above by climbing down from the hilltop, the access cut off once completed. In present times, there is a thin set of stairs that lead to the tomb. I am not a fan of stairs. I suffer from climacophobia, the fear of climbing or descending stairs because I know I’m going to fall and not much convinces me otherwise when I see those steps (fig. 1). As this tomb is 20m up in the face of a cliff, I conquered that fear because nothing could stop me from viewing what I had only seen in books and on television.

Fig. 1: Staircase leading to the tomb of Thutmose III. (Photo by Marissa Lopez)

Once descending the steps to enter the tomb, the initial chambers are undecorated until you reach room E, the well. Still undecorated save for a painted blue ceiling with yellow stars and a kheker frieze at the top, the purpose of the well has been up for debate for years (fig. 2). Was it to stymie thieves (unsuccessful as it was), to catch flood waters, or is it a symbolical burial chamber for Osiris? We may never fully know for sure.

Fig. 2: Painted ceiling and khekher frieze. Photo from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Egypt.KV34.02.jpg

Entering the antechamber, you are surrounded by stick figures representing the 741 deities from the Amduat, like a cast of characters such as found at the beginning of an Agatha Christie novel (fig. 3). This decoration is unique, no other tomb has a room like this, although there is thought there would have been something similar in the tomb of Ramesses IV, but was not completed. I find these figures absolutely delightful.

Fig. 3: Decoration in the antechamber (photo)

Descending down a set of steps, you enter the oval-shaped burial chamber, like a cartouche, with walls decorated with scenes and texts from the Amduat. The Amduat, the Book of the Hidden Chamber, is divided into twelve hours. Unlike other ‘books of the dead’, the text instructs the decoration to be laid out with hours 1-4 on the west wall, 5-6 on the south wall, 7-8 on the north wall, and 9-12 on the east wall. This follows with ancient Egyptian belief that the deceased go to the west, like a setting sun, while rebirth is associated with the east. That being said, with all the versions we have, only three layout the hours as indicated, such as that of Thutmose III. The text is laid out as a scroll around the burial chamber, representing cyclical time and the sun’s own journey (figs. 4–5).

Fig. 4: Layout of the Amduat (from Richter, Barbara A. “The Amduat and Its Relationship to the Architecture of Early 18th Dynasty Royal Burial Chambers.”)

Now let’s take a quick look at the Amduat itself.

Hour 1. Goddess: She Who Smashes the Skulls of Her Enemies. The deceased enters through the Western gate on the horizon, at the Gate Which Swallows All, and is merged with Re. Groups of gods are shown, including the names of the goddesses who guide the deceased through the twelve hours, beginning with She Who Smashes the Skulls of Her Enemies and ending with She Who Sees the Perfection in Her Lord. With such an escort, the deceased is bound to reach their destination on their solar bark.

Fig. 5: The cycle of time in the Amduat (from Richter, Barbara A. “The Amduat and Its Relationship to the Architecture of Early 18th Dynasty Royal Burial Chambers.”)

Hour 2. Goddess: Wise One Who Protects Her Lord. In the watery landscape of Wernes, Re distributes land, provides for various deities, and defeats Re’s enemies. The deities in this hour provide aid to Re through their voices and cries.

Hour 3. Goddess: She Who Cuts Ba-Souls. The ba-souls of the damned are destroyed while the floodwaters in the Netherworld represent the rebirth and resurrection provided by the annual Nile inundation.

Hour 4. Goddess: Great One Who is in the Netherworld. Moving to the land of Rosetau, the Place of Hauling, the scenes are filled with sloping passages, sealed doors, and architecture that provides a template for New Kingdom royal tomb corridors. The voice of Re can be heard by Netherworld deities; however, they cannot see the sun’s light.

Hour 5. Goddess: She Who Is in Her Bark. The Re descends into Sokar’s cavern to contact the waters of Nun, the sound is like the “roar of heaven when it storms”.

Hour 6. Goddess: She of the Harbor. Almost midnight and Re is reuniting with his corpse surrounded by symbols of royal power.

Hour 7. Goddess: She Who Opposes the Associates of Seth. Mehen, the Encircling Serpent, now surrounds the flesh in the bark and will for the remainder of the journey. It’s also the showdown between Apep and Re, and it’s only with Apep’s destruction that allows time and the journey to continue.

Hour 8. Goddess: She of the Deep of the Night. The main theme for Hour 8 involves ten caverns and their unique sounds hint at the act of creation. Provisioning of clothing is also important for the deceased.

Hour 9. Goddess: She Who Protects Her Lord. The emphasis of clothing continues with twelve deities and twelve uraei sitting on the cloth signs while another twelve deities hold oars to help Re exit the Netherworld.

Hour 10. Goddess: Raging One. This hour summarizes the journey of the solar bark. A group of gods punishes the enemies of Re, while Re blesses those who drowned in Nun with a free afterlife.

Hour 11. Goddess: Starry One. It’s time for the final preparations to finish the journey. Twelve deities hold Mehen aloft, determined to continue to the eastern horizon.

Hour 12. Goddess: She Who Sees the Perfection of Her Lord. Finally, the journey is complete as the solar bark travels through Life of the Gods, a giant serpent which it enters through the tail and exits from the mouth after transforming into a solar beetle. A reclining mummy at the end stays below as the ba-soul flies to heaven.

There are a set of videos available that describe and translate each hour, I highly recommend checking them out.

Amdw3t part 1, the Western wall. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjMz0foeR8A)

Amdw3t part 2, the Southern wall. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XUt4lvdNtc)

Amdw3t part 3, the Northern wall. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obD1I3-OF7Y)

Amdw3t part 4, the Eastern wall. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BBo_t9P8qU)

King’s Valley tomb 34 is truly a unique masterpiece in tomb design and decoration and I could barely scratch the surface in this blog post. It is my favorite tomb and I look forward to going back.

Bibliography

Darnell, John C., and Colleen M Darnell. The Ancient Egyptian Netherworld Books. SBL Press, 2018.

Reeves, C. N., and Richard H. Wilkinson. The Complete Valley of the Kings: Tombs and Treasures of Egypt’s Greatest Pharaohs. Thames & Hudson, 2008.

Richter, Barbara A. “The Amduat and Its Relationship to the Architecture of Early 18th Dynasty Royal Burial Chambers.” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, vol. 44, 2008, pp. 73–104.

Weeks, Kent R. The Illustrated Guide to Luxor Tombs, Temples, and Museums. American University in Cairo Press, 2005.

https://www.thecollector.com/10-surprising-facts-about-egyptian-pharaoh-thutmose-iii/

An Introduction to the Valley of the Kings

The blog post for this week is written by Vanessa Foott. Vanessa’s lifelong passion is ancient Egypt and for the last five years she has been studying Egyptology at the University of Manchester. She is very excited to be starting their Masters Degree in Egyptology in October so she is practically a professional student! Vanessa has filled her time since retiring from her main career by travelling all over the country attending and also giving talks on Egyptology, representing the Egypt Exploration Society as one of their Local Ambassadors, and writing articles for Nile Magazine.

This week saw the start of Dr. Ken Griffin’s new five-part course looking at different aspects of the Valley of the Kings, or the “Wadi Biban el-Muluk” as it is known in Arabic (fig. 1). The necropolis actually occupies two valleys; the majority being in the main Eastern branch, with a few, such as that of Ay, located in the Western Valley (sometimes called the “Valley of the Monkeys”). The first week introduced participants to useful background reading and websites, some of which can be found at the end of this post.

Fig. 1: Entrance to the Valley of the Kings

It is very easy when visiting the valley, especially for the first time, to focus on the magnificent wall scenes and really to gloss over the other considerations and logistics that went in to the building of these tombs. New Kingdom rulers chose to be buried in Thebes, known then as ni͗wt-rst, the Southern City, or i͗wnw-šmꜥ, Southern Heliopolis. The main god worshipped here was Amun, who became combined with Re to form Amun-Re. Re’s cult centre was Heliopolis, now a suburb of modern Cairo, and therefore Thebes was its southern equivalent. Both the East and West Bank of Thebes were part of the sacred landscape. Re set in the west and travelled through the Amduat to merge with Osiris and be reborn in the morning as Khepri or Re-Horakhty in the east (fig. 2). The deceased metaphorically hitched a lift on the barque of Re to travel with the god and share in the rebirth.

Fig. 2: The union of Osiris and Re (tomb of Nefertari)

The rulers of the Seventeenth Dynasty chose to be buried in the area of Dra Abu el-Naga. However, the pharaohs of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties favoured a valley to the south, at the head of which was a convenient pyramid shaped mountain, tꜣ-dhnt, these days known as Al-Qurn (“the Horn”). This was the home of the snake goddess Meretseger, “she who loves silence”, together with Hathor, lady of the western mountain (fig. 3).

Fig. 3: Ostracon depicting Meretseger: 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%C3%84gyptisches_Museum_Kairo_2016-03-29_Ostrakon_03.jpg

The area of Thebes had been occupied long before it became the religious capital of Egypt. Indeed, it is thought that as long ago as 1,000,000 BCE people were living in the area. These days there is a distinct edge to the cultivation and it is possible to stand with one foot in verdant green fields with the other in dry barren sand (fig. 4). In ancient days, this demarcation would not have been so distinct as the Nile would flood annually to different levels. This does not happen anymore due to the building of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s and the fields are now watered by irrigation.

Fig. 4: Where the desert meets the cultivation

Astonishingly, the sedimentary rock here, some 35–55 million years ago, was the floor of the Mediterranean Sea when its levels fluctuated so much that sometimes it reached as far as Aswan. The valley was then formed by a combination of uplifting during the Tertiary Period between 66 million to 2.6 million years ago and heavy rainfall that occurred in the Pleistocene Era between 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago years ago. The resulting riverbeds are called wadis and can have water flowing through them even in modern times during the sudden and violent storms that occasionally happen in Egypt. This has caused immense damage to some tombs over the years, with new precautions installed to prevent further damage (fig. 5). There are three types of rock present in the valley: Dakhla chalk, Esna shale, and Theban limestone. The area is crisscrossed by faults caused by the fluctuation of ground water. The main fault is known as the King’s Fault and this is closely monitored by instruments placed in the tombs above it.

Fig. 5: Flood protection in the Valley (Theban Mapping Project)

Various factors must have been taken into account when selecting a site to place a tomb. A balance needed to be achieved between security and accessibility, but surely one of the prime factors would have been the type and quality of the rock. It is thought that the Vizier, in conjunction with architects who were familiar with the stone, would have recommended a suitable site to the king. This was not too problematic with the first tombs, but by the Nineteenth Dynasty the valley was becoming very crowded and there is no evidence of any kind of master plan. This meant that collisions between tombs could, and indeed, did happen on at least three occasions. Perhaps most notably the clash when KV 10 was broken into whilst KV 11 was being dug only about fifteen years later (fig. 6)! It must also be remembered that despite the name of the valley, high-ranking officials, including the parents of Queen Tiye and parents in law of Amenhotep III, could be buried here.

Fig. 6: Breakthrough of KV 11 into KV 10 (Theban Mapping Project)

Once a site had been chosen, foundation deposits of miniature tools, vessels, and amulets, together with food offerings were placed in pits outside the tomb entrance. These were to magically ensure that the construction had a successful outcome. The quarrymen then began to cut into the rock using cutting tools of flint or chert, hammerstones, and wooden mallets. It may have been criminals that were sent to do this initial hard work as there is evidence mentioning that they were punished by “going to cut the rock”. The passages were firstly roughly cut and then smoothed and the columns finished using copper chisels. The limestone is stronger than the shale, which is friable, but the quality of all varied and a final layer of gypsum plaster was applied to provide a suitable surface for carving and painting. To ensure that the walls were parallel and doorways were properly aligned, an axial line was painted on the ceiling creating a base line from which the other measurements were taken. Because many of the tombs were unfinished, it is easy to see the various stages of building and decoration (fig. 7).

Fig. 7: Decoration states in KV 57 (Theban Mapping Project)

The men who created these tombs lived in the nearby purpose-built village of Deir el-Medina, known in ancient days as st-mꜣꜥt, “The Place of Truth” (fig. 8). It was possibly founded by Amenhotep I as he was later worshipped as a local deity in the village. His original tomb has not been identified (although his mummy was found in the royal cache) and it is thought that the first burial in the valley was that of Thutmose I. We have much information about the village and workers thanks to a feature called the Great Pit. This was an attempt to dig a well for the village but had to be abandoned as the ground water was too deep to reach. The villagers subsequently used it as a rubbish dump and when excavated, thousands of ostraca giving information about the day to day lives of the inhabitants were found. The village was destroyed by fire during the Amarna Period, but was enlarged during Ramesside times. Workers were divided into two teams and the total numbers of workers varied between 32 and 120 men depending on the urgency of the work with the highest number being used at the beginning of reigns and tapering off as the tomb was completed.

Fig. 8: Deir el-Medina

This is just a small snapshot of the information gained from this first session. Our appetites have certainly been whetted for next week’s instalment when Ken will begin to look at some of the major tombs.

Bibliography:

Bierbrier, M. (1982) The Tomb Builders of the Pharaohs. American University in Cairo Press: Cairo.

Hornung, E. (1999) The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife. Cornell University Press: Ithaca & London.

Reeves, N. (1994) The Complete Tutankhamun. Thames & Hudson: London.

Reeves, N. & R. Wilinson (1996) The Complete Valley of the Kings. Thames & Hudson: London.

Weeks, K. (2001) Valley of the Kings: the tombs and the funerary temples of Thebes West. Whitestar: Italy.

Wilkinson, R. Weeks, K. (eds) (2016) The Oxford Handbook of the Valley of the Kings. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

https://thebanmappingproject.com/