Thebes, Valley of the Queens
The Valley of the Queens, a necropolis for the wives and children of New Kingdom pharaohs, is located in the southern part of West Thebes (25°43′ N, 32°36′ E), southwest of the village and temple of Medinet Habu. The valley forms a large asymmetrical indentation in the western cliffs, with a waterfall, preceded by a dam which still receives the waters of torrential rains that occasionally fall in the desert. The ancient Egyptians considered the valley as a place where this "water of heaven" (mw n pt) had left significant traces. The pharaonic name for the valley, "Place of the Royal Children" (t3 st nfrw), means in a wider sense "of the Royal Harim." It is attested in a series of documents (papyri, ostraca, stelae and so on) of the Ramesside period (19th-20th Dynasties), though the site was used for burials from the 18th Dynasty onward.
In Arabic, the valley has been designated by various toponyms: Biban el-Hajj Ahmed (Doors of the Pilgrim Ahmed), Biban el-Banat (Doors of the Daughters), Biban el-Harim (Doors of the Women), and Biban el-Melekat or Wadi el-Melekat, the "Doors or Valley of the Queens," the latter of which is now commonly used. About ninety tombs, including unfinished ones, have been numbered in the main valley. In addition, on the northern side of the main valley is the Valley of the Dolmen, with a rock-cut sanctuary dedicated to Ptah and Meretseger by the Deir el-Medina workmen. Also in this area are the Valley of the Three Pits, with tombs dating back to the Tuthmosid period, and the Valley of the Rope, located near the ruins of Deir er-Rumi. Deir er-Rumi was a small monastery during the Byzantine period built on top of a Roman sanctuary from the time of Antoninus Pius. On the southern side of the main valley is the Valley of Prince Ahmose, with funerary pits dating back to the beginning of the New Kingdom and, on its heights, traces of cells used by Coptic anchorites and hermits.
In 1903-5, the valley became the subject of systematic investigation by the Italian archaeological mission under the direction of Ernesto Schiaparelli and Francesco Ballerini (succeeded by Giulio Farina). This work led to the discovery of the tomb of Nefertari, wife of Ramesses II (QV 66), as well as of the tombs of the princes Amenherkhopshef (QV 55), Khaemwaset (QV 44) and Sethherkhopshef (QV 43), all sons of Ramesses III. The Italian mission also cleared the 18th Dynasty pit tombs of the Vizier Imhotep (QV 46), Princess Ahmose (QV 47), Chief of the Stables Nebiri (QV 30), and Prince Ahmose (QV 88). Investigation was renewed in the valley in 1970 with a Franco-Egyptian team; intensive work began in 1984.
The first remains from the Valley of the Queens date to the beginning of the 18th Dynasty. Pit tombs dug into the mountain are attested from the reigns of Tuthmose I, Tuthmose II, Hatshepsut, Tuthmose III, Amenhotep II, Amenhotep III and even Akhenaten. These tombs have one or several burial chambers with finished, but undecorated walls; the absence of any traces of a superstructure suggests that these sepulchers did not possess funerary chapels. Only the remains of the tomb furnishings (e.g. canopic jars, shawabtis, pottery, papyri and the linen clothes used for mummification) have enabled the burials of this period to be identified by name.
In the Ramesside period more care was given to the development of the Valley of the Queens, considered now as a pendant to the Valley of the Kings. Tombs from this period were prepared by the Deir el-Medina workmen. In contrast with the simplicity of the 18th Dynasty tombs, those of the 19th Dynasty have real rooms with decorated walls. The iconographical themes and texts are mainly inspired by the Book of the Dead. Ramesses I had a tomb prepared for his wife, Satre (QV 38). Seti I had several tombs prepared in advance, without being intended for a specific person. Attributed to this reign are tombs QV 31 (unnamed great royal wife), QV 33 (royal wife Tanedjemy), QV 34 and QV 36 (unnamed princesses), and QV 40 (unnamed princess and great royal wife). These tombs were all conceived on a similar plan and are all grouped together along the southern lateral branch of the valley.
Ramesses II chose the northern slope of the main valley for the "houses of eternity" for his mother, Queen Tuy (QV 80), his wife, Queen Nefertari (QV 66) and some of his daughters, namely Nebettawy (QV 60), Merytamen (QV 68), Bentanta (QV 71), Henutmire (QV 75), Hennuttawy (QV 73) and an unnamed princess (QV 74). This latter tomb (QV 74) was later converted into the burial place of Duatentipet, the great royal wife of Ramesses IV. In the reign of Ramesses II, a village (whjt) was built in the middle of the valley. Material found in the ruins of the houses indicate that workmen from Deir el-Medina lived there while working on the royal and princely tombs.
In the reign of Ramesses III, tombs were dug in the lower parts of the southwestern slope of the main valley and at the far end of the southern lateral branch. From this reign date princely sepulchers for Amenherkhopshef (QV 55), Ramesses-Meriamen (QV 53), Khaemwaset (QV 44), Sethherkhopshef (QV 43) and Pareherwenemef (QV 42). Tombs were made for two of the great wives of Ramesses III: QV 51 for Isis, mother of Ramesses IV, and QV 52 for Tity, presumably mother of the princes Khaemwaset, Amenherkhopshef and Ramesses- Meriamen. Two other unfinished tombs (QV 41 and QV 45) may be placed in the reign of Ramesses III.
The Turin Papyrus mentions six tombs being prepared in the valley during the reign of Ramesses VI, but no trace of them has yet been identified. From the second half of the reign of Ramesses III on, economic confusion and social disorder led to strikes by the royal workmen and even to desecration of the royal tombs. Tomb robbery papyri (Papyrus Abbott, Papyrus Meyer and Papyrus Ambras) show that some of the tombs in the Valley of the Queens had been looted, including the tomb of Queen Isis (QV 51). Possibly after these robbings. the priests transferred the mummies of the Ramesside queens and royal children to a "cachette" or hiding place, probably outside of the valley, just as they had done for the pharaohs of the New Kingdom. This would explain why none of the remains of those buried in the Valley of the Queens during the 19th and 20th Dynasties have been found during archaeological excavations.
The Third Intermediate Period marks a transition in the history of the necropolis. Most of the plundered tombs were reused from the 22nd Dynasty into Saite-Persian times (26- 27th Dynasties). Changed into family concessions and enlarged according to need, they now received members of the Theban minor clergy (priests, purifiers, singers and songstresses of Amen) and, above all, the personnel in charge of the agricultural estate or laboratories for perfumes for the God of Thebes (overseers of the estate, gardeners, flower cultivators, florists and perfumers).
Figure 124 Thebes, the Valley of the Queens, plan of tombs in the main wadi.
Even more extensive is the reuse that occured in the Roman period, about the second century AD. The tombs of the 18th Dynasty as well as those of the Ramesside reigns were systematically reoccupied. Some tombs (QV 15, QV 16, QV 34 and QV 39) contained more than 100 Roman mummies. They were piled in a labyrinth of corridors and rooms, resembling the burial system of the catacombs. In addition to serving as a popular cemetery for the inhabitants of Thebes, a few sepulchers were also used for mummified animal remains; ibis and falcon mummies were found in QV 3 and 4, QV 9 and 10, QV 11 and 12, and QV 53. The sanctification of the Theban mountain and the presence of sanctuaries in the Valley of the Queens or nearby, such as those of Antoninus Pius at Deir er-Rumi and Qasr el-Aguz at Medinet Habu, are reason enough to explain the renewal of funerary activities in the necropolis.
Toward the second half of the fourth century AD, the Valley of the Queens became a place of refuge and meditation for anchorites and hermits. Tombs, cells and natural shelters were fitted up and occupied. Some of the first Christian monasteries, about ten in total, appeared on the slopes of the western mountains of Thebes. The monastery at Deir er-Rumi is considered to be the center of the group of hermitages (laura) established in the Valley of the Queens between the sixth and seventh centuries AD.
Thmuis
Tell Timai (30°56′ N, 31°31′ E), in antiquity a Graeco-Roman city known by the Greek name Thmuis, is located in the Delta province of Daqahliya roughly midway between the city of el-Mansura and the town of el-Simbillawein. The tell is about 7km in perimeter and lies about 0.5km south of the smaller mound of Tell el-Rub’a, ancient Mendes. There is some evidence to suggest that the Mendesian branch of the Nile originally flowed between the two mounds. To the northeast stands the modern village of Timai el-Amdid, and on the north-west the modern village of Kafr el-Amir Abdallah Ibn as-Salam encroaches on the mound itself.
Reference by ancient authors indicates that Thmuis was a very important city. Although Herodotus (2.166) includes a Thumuite Nome among the nomes of the Calasirians, the first mention of the town of Thmuis appears in Josephus’ A History of the Jewish Wars (4.659), where we learn that Titus disembarked his army here for the long march overland to Jerusalem. Like the city of Mendes, therefore, it must have been an important port city located on the Mendesian branch of the Nile. By the second century AD, Thmuis had become the capital of the Mendesian Nome and was presumably in control of the manufacture and distribution of the exotic unguentum mendesium, an extremely popular perfume in antiquity, according to Pliny. Ammianus Marcellinus (22.16) informs us that Thmuis was one of the four most important towns in Egypt in the fourth century AD, Hierocles tells us it was one of the cities of the eparchy of Prima Augusta in the sixth century, and George of Cyprus (circa AD 606) includes it among the dioceses of the eparchy of Augustamica A.Thmuis became an episcopal see at the end of the third or the beginning of the fourth century AD. Several bishops of Thmuis are known, from Phileas, who was martyred in Alexandria in circa AD 305, to the saintly Anba Mennas, who participated in the council that elected the patriarch Michael I of Alexandria in AD 744.
Aside from Tanis, Thmuis is the only site in the Delta where readable papyri have been found. These papyri give a number of insights into the economic organization of the northern nomes during the first three centuries of this era. The descriptions of Naville’s excavations in the "library" in January 1892 and Chaban’s excavations of 1906 and their inability to preserve much of the papyri, which apparently filled several rooms, cause one to wonder how much information has been lost. From what fragments of papyri have survived, one learns that religious organization was closely associated with the government, probably in the form of a state religion. Government functions included the maintenance of a navy and a guard. A government-controlled education system did not exist; one must imagine that most of the people were at best semi-literate. Grain, wheat and grapes were raised, and linen and probably wine were exported. There are indications that trade, as with many port cities, may have been substantially more important to the area economically than agriculture.
Other discoveries made here in the past accentuate the importance of the city. Quantities of reliefs, marble statues and bronze statuettes, including ten fine heads in a hoard of sixty-two late Hellenistic pieces, and some of the finest Hellenistic and Roman mosaics in the Alexandria Museum, assure us of the city’s wealth. Most of these finds were accidental. Over the years the central section of the mound has been despoiled by the surrounding villagers, who used it as the source of materials for the construction of their houses, as well as by the sebbakhin who used the sifted soil for their fields. At present mudbrick walls and portions of walls from buildings of the Ptolemaic period stand to considerable heights alongside mounds of pottery sherds mixed with pieces of stone architectural members, small fragments of painted plaster and mosaic tesserae. Some of these walls are foundations, but others have openings for roof beams, windows and doors; portions of staircases and upper stories also are preserved. Within this chaotic context, some evidence of ancient streets has survived. Georges Daressy tells us that up until 1887 the structures of brick on the mound were quite well preserved. When he returned again in 1890 he was confronted with much the same devastation that we see today.
During the 1965, 1966 and 1976 seasons of the Mendes excavations, small soundings were conducted at Thmuis, and in 1965 a pottery survey was made of the tell. The survey sherds recovered range in date from fragments of fourth century BC kraters to Islamic sherds as late as the ninth century AD. One of the soundings, conducted at the west side of the central part of the mound, proved productive enough to become an area excavation. A series of rooms produced sealed floor levels dating from the end of the third to the first part of the first centuries BC. Nine Ptolemaic bronze coins dating from the third and second centuries BC were found in sealed contexts in Level I. Four identifiable bronze coins were found in Level II, immediately below the rooms. These included an Athenian tetradrachm datable to the first quarter of the fourth century BC and three bronze coins dating from the reign of Ptolemy I. The discovery of late Hellenistic strata in the highest part of the central section of the mound makes one wonder if the mound is not considerably older than the Ptolemaic period.
Tod
Tod is a town located on the east bank of the Nile (25°35′ N, 32°32′ E), 20km south of Luxor. In ancient Egypt it was known as "the city of the Falcon" (Djarty), located in the southern part of the Theban nome (Nome IV of Upper Egypt). Its Greek name is unknown, but the Coptic name was Tu(u)t, which is derived from Du(u)t, an earlier version of the name. Today it is known as el-Tod.
Tod is primarily known for its temple of Montu, excavated by Fernand Bisson de la Roque in 1934-6. Some column fragments found on the site were inscribed with the name of King Weserkaf (5th Dynasty), and the oldest parts of this building are believed to have been constructed in the Old Kingdom.
The most important part of the temple is inscribed with the names of King Mentuhotep II and his successor, Mentuhotep III, both from the 11th Dynasty. Amenemhat I and Senusret I of the early 12 th Dynasty built a new temple, and it was under this temple’s foundation deposit that several bronze chests inscribed with the name of Amenemhat II were found. Their contents include gold and silver vessels from the Aegean and cylinder seals from Mesopotamia, of the Third Dynasty of Ur.
The temple was expanded during the 13th Dynasty and the New Kingdom. Several blocks and fragments from the temple are inscribed with the names of Tuthmose III, Amenhotep II, Seti I, Ramesses II and Ramesses III. In the 29th-30th Dynasties the temple was restored by Hakor and Nectanebo I. Later the Ptolemies built a larger temple, which was enlarged during the Roman period, as evidenced by blocks inscribed with the name of Emperor Antoninus Pius. The stone kiosk located on the steep eastern bank of the temple’s sacred lake also dates to the Roman period.
Tod continued to be inhabited during Byzantine and Islamic times, and the remains of two churches have been uncovered in the area of the Ptolemaic temple. Archeological investigations of the Tod temple, including the surrounding buildings, have not yet been completed. Besides the falcon god Montu, his companion, the goddess Tjenenet, was also honored there. Eventually Rat-taui, the "(female) sun of the two countries," became the most revered goddess of the Tod cult. The sacred animal of the god Montu was the bull, which became known as the "bull from Tod" and was also referred to as "that which descended from," or "that which came out of" the town of Tod. For this reason, Tod became known as the home of Montu’s animal, and in the New Kingdom a sacred "bull house" was built in its honor. Other deities, such as Sekhmet, Astarte and Amun, also had cults at Tod.
The town’s cemetery is located east of the modern village. An unmarked grave dating to the 18th Dynasty and other burial shafts were discovered there. Perhaps the unexcavated cemetery located near the village of el-Salamiya is also associated with the ancient town of Tod. Artifacts, including a shell with the cartouches of Amenemhat II and some stelae dating to the 12th-13th Dynasties, were found in this cemetery.
Tomb furnishings
A characteristic feature of ancient Egyptian burials was that they regularly contained the personal possessions and other artifacts of the deceased. Such items in any grave assemblage could be numerous and elaborately made, or they might be few in number and simple in style, depending upon the wealth and circumstances of the deceased. They might also be manufactured specifically for the tomb, or they could be the actual belongings used by the deceased when alive. The Egyptians believed that in many aspects life after death mirrored life on earth. The dead could enjoy a happy afterlife if certain physical and spiritual conditions were fulfilled, i.e. maintaining the corpse intact in a proper burial, providing the deceased with regular food offerings to sustain it in the hereafter, and furnishing the dead with the artifacts of daily use needed to exist in comfort and safety.
To the Egyptians, the tomb was a house for the deceased. The ba, one of the spiritual essences of the dead, was thought to fly up to heaven during the day and return to the tomb at night to reinhabit its corpse. This daily joining of the ba and the body was essential to the spiritual life of the dead person. In keeping with these beliefs, the Egyptians furnished their burials with two types of artifacts: household items of personal use and religious items for ritual use. The purpose of the household goods was to serve the physical needs of the deceased in the hereafter. They included artifacts of daily life, food and drink.
The purposes of the religious items were to protect the soul of the deceased from any spiritual harm in the hereafter and to guarantee for the latter a verdict of "innocence" during the judgment of the dead. Inside the tomb various magical amulets on the mummy would protect it from evil spirits. Papyri inscribed with the Book of the Dead would safeguard the soul and enable it to achieve immortality. Statues of the deceased would act as replacements for the mummy in case it was damaged. Ritual equipment, offering tables, and statues and stelae portraying the deceased performing rituals would magically garner the spiritual benefits of those rites.
The earliest burials in which artifacts are found in Egypt are Badarian from the early Predynastic period. These are plain oval graves containing simple furnishings, pottery jars, ivory spoons and combs, and stone palettes for grinding eye-paint. Thereafter in the Nagada I (Amratian) phase, the assemblages of grave goods become more complex, as the burials become richer. Long-toothed ivory combs, jewelry and funerary figurines are features of this period. Large jars made of stone occur alongside the characteristic pottery, which is often in the shape of a human figure or with human appendages.
Beginning in the Nagada II (Gerzean) phase, upper Egyptian graves increase in size and evolve into a large rectangular shape. Commensurately, the quantity of artifacts in these tombs increases over earlier graves. Typical grave goods of this period and the following Nagada III (Semainean) era include painted pottery of Nagada II type, finely wrought flint knives, animal-shaped cosmetic palettes, mace-heads, copper and ivory tools and implements, and jars with wavy handles of Palestinian manufacture or inspiration. Significantly, it is in the Nagada III phase that the disposition and contents of tombs, especially at Hierakonpolis and Nagada, first indicate the emergence of a class of social elite. Their tombs are larger than most and contain significant numbers of fine quality goods. From this time onward, the number and nature of the artifacts in tombs are indications of stratification in Egyptian society.
At Saqqara in the cemetery of the Early Dynastic period, tombs can be grouped according to four social categories based on their size and content: (1) mastabas of royalty and the greater nobility; (2) those of the lesser nobility; (3) subsidiary burials of servants and craftsmen; and (4) simple commoners’ graves. Despite the fact that the burial chambers of most of the mastabas had been plundered in antiquity, they still contained significant numbers of artifacts important for the archaeologist. Among its many contents, the mastaba of King Djer included an impressive array of flint knives, sickles, weapons, copper chisels, awls, needles, saws and sets of copper vessels and dishes. Other tombs similarly contained copper-bladed knives, hoes and adzes. Game-boards and pieces of games are very common at this time and are a characteristic feature of Early Dynastic period burials. Significantly, the earliest roll of papyrus ever discovered was found uninscribed here in a mastaba contemporary with King Den.
A large mastaba typical of the Early Dynastic period at Saqqara enclosed many magazines in its superstructure, as well as storerooms and a burial chamber underground. The burial chamber contained the coffin, around which was often set a funerary meal.
Here, food was placed on dishes set on the floor. Nearby jars held reserves of more food and drink. The burial chamber also contained chests of garments, jewelry, games and furniture (inlaid ivory chairs, tables and beds). The adjacent subterranean rooms contained still more furniture and tools and weapons. Often, one room was set aside as a food storehouse with great joints of meat, bread and cheese, and many large jars of wine. A great quantity of empty jars, bowls and dishes was also placed here in reserve. In the superstructure above, each of the many magazines could be designated for a specific class of artifacts, such as tools and weapons, games, food and drink, and so on.
Mastabas of the lesser nobility were smaller in size and contained fewer tomb furnishings than those of higher officials. All of the Early Dynastic period royal tombs at Saqqara and Abydos, as well as many of those of the high nobility, were surrounded by the smaller tombs of their servants and artisans. Some of these persons might have been sacrificed for burial with their lords in order to serve them in the next world. While the servants’ burials were not elaborate, their tomb furnishings were sometimes suited to their specific occupations, such as copper and flint tools for the craftsman, pots of paint for the artist, model boats for the sailor. knives and meat for the butcher, and cosmetics and toilet utensils for the servant-woman. In contrast to the burials of the elite, a commoner’s grave at this time consisted merely of an oval pit covered with a small mound of rubble. Its simple furnishings might include some pottery, stone vessels, copper and flint tools, and toilet utensils. What is clear is that the customs involving the deposit of tomb furnishings in the Early Dynastic period set the pattern for burials, rich and poor, in all subsequent periods of Egyptian history.
From the Old Kingdom onward, the evidence for tomb furnishings is no longer limited to the actual artifacts found in burials, but also includes the representations of those artifacts depicted on the walls of tombs for religious purposes. One of the best examples of this phenomenon is found in the 3rd Dynasty mastaba of Hesyre at Saqqara. While very few artifacts from this tomb have survived, murals painted on the wall depict in extreme detail a wide assortment of Hesyre’s tomb furnishings. These include furniture (beds, headrests, chairs, stools, standing chests and tables), disassembled tents, assorted tubs and strikers (for measuring grain), boxes and trays, staves, games, tools, scales, model storehouses, jars of food and so on.
Also from the Old Kingdom onward, Egyptian tombs regularly contained a statue of the deceased as a repository for the ka, another of the spiritual essences of the dead. This ka statue was often placed in an inaccessible chamber of the mastaba, called the serdab, from which it looked out and observed the world; or else the statue was located in the offering chamber of the tomb. Reserve heads occur in mastabas of the 4th and 5th Dynasties at Dahshur, Giza and Abusir. These were portrait heads of the deceased, finely sculpted in stone, that were placed inside the burial chamber on or near the sarcophagus. While the purpose of the reserve heads is obscure, they might have functioned as substitutes for the mummy in case it was destroyed, to preserve the identity and personality of the deceased.
Clay models of houses, towns or storehouses occur in Egyptian burials as early as the Nagada I phase and continue sporadically through at least the 3rd Dynasty. However, it is later in the First Intermediate Period that funerary models become widespread in Egyptian burials. Initially, these took the form of serving trays on which the house of the deceased was crudely modeled in clay along with various foods. These miniatures, called "soul-houses," magically provided home, protection and sustenance to the deceased. In the First Intermediate Period, the Egyptians also began making models of estate workshops that were conceived along the lines of the earlier servant statues. By the Middle Kingdom, these models were elaborate dioramas composed of individual figurines performing specific tasks. Even earlier in the 6th Dynasty, the custom of interring model boats and sailing craft became widespread. These boats represented various utility vessels and pleasure craft to serve the deceased in the next life.
The necropolis of Western Thebes is an important source of tomb furnishings from the Middle Kingdom through the Late period. The Theban tombs contained all manner of items of daily use and cult objects buried with their owners. Unfortunately, almost no tomb has escaped plundering by robbers or survived intact. However, two remarkable exceptions give us some insight into the lives of both commoners and royalty. The tomb of Khay and Meryt at Deir el-Medina was discovered intact in 1906. Khay was a royal architect in the Theban necropolis, and his burial contained stools, tables, decorated chests, wigs, cloth and clothing, cosmetic kits, utensils, staves, a game-board, baskets, jars, situlae and food supplies. The cult-items included sarcophagi, a shawabti-coffin, statuary and a Book of the Dead papyrus. Significantly, a portion of these grave goods originally belonged to other persons, who may have donated them to the burial, or else Khay acquired them through other means. Two other artifacts in this assemblage clearly came as gifts from King Amenhotep II. Similarly, the tomb of Tutankhamen contained a number of artifacts which were presented as gifts to the burial by other individuals. While no systematic study of such presentations has yet been made, it is possible that in Egypt bereaved relatives and friends customarily gave tomb furnishings as gifts during the funerals of friends and loved ones.
The artifacts found inside Egyptian tombs are evidence of the material culture of the ancient Egyptian civilization. They are impor tant for revealing the Egyptian way of life, their natural resources and technological abilities at any given period. The number and quality of the tomb furnishings in association with other factors (tomb size, location, etc.) can also be used to make determinations about Egyptian social development and the stratification of Egyptian society.
