Tour Guide, Luxor, Egypt
| 8 mins read
The Valley of the Kings
The rulers of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt’s wealthy New Kingdom (c.1550–1069 BC) have been buried bere.
During a desolate dry river valley across the river from the traditional city of Thebes. Hence its modern name of the Valley of the Kings; this moniker is not entirely accurate.
However, some members of the royalty apart from the king were buried here also.
As were a couple of non-royal, albeit very high-ranking, individuals. The Valley of the Kings is split into two categories the East and West Valleys.
The eastern is, far and away, the more iconic of the 2 because the western valley contains only a couple of tombs.
In all, the Valley of the Kings includes over sixty tombs and a further twenty unfinished ones that are entirely little pits.
Why was the Valley of the Kings site chosen so carefully?
The site for this royal cemetery was selected carefully. Its location, specifically on the side of the Nile, is critical also because the sun god set (died) on the western horizon to be reborn. Rejuvenated in the eastern horizon, the west thus came to have funerary associations.
For this reason, the Ancient Egyptian cemeteries were generally situated on the West Bank of the Nile.
The mighty kings of the New Kingdom were laid to rest under the shadow of a pyramid-shaped peak rising out of the cliffs.
The selection of even the precise valley during which the royal tombs were excavated wasn't left to chance.
The pyramid was a symbol of rebirth and, thus, eternal life, and the presence of a natural pyramid was seen as a sign of the divine.
This entire area, and therefore the peak itself, was divine to a funerary aspect of the goddess Hathor.
The isolated nature of this valley was yet one more reason for its selection because the final resting place of Pharaoh and the tomb robberies occurred even in ancient times.
The Egyptians were aware of this, and the fate of the Old, and Middle Kingdom pyramids and opted for hidden, underground tombs in a secluded desert valley.
The first New Kingdom ruler confirmed to possess been buried within the Valley of the Kings was Thutmose I (c.1504–1492 BC).
According to Ineni, the high official who was responsible for the digging of his tomb: “I oversaw the excavation of the cliff-tomb of his Person [the king] in privacy; none seeing, none hearing.”
Tomb of Ramesses VI (KV9)
The construction of this tomb was begun by King Ramesses V (c.1147–1143 BC) of the Twentieth Dynasty, it is uncertain whether he was ultimately buried here. It is clear that his uncle Ramesses VI (c.1143–1136 BC) enlarged the tomb and used it for his burial.
The tomb is simple in plan, essentially consisting of a series of descending. It includes corridors leading deep underground, in a straight line to the burial chamber.
The exquisitely painted sunk relief walls are very well preserved. However, a decline in the decoration's quality since the Nineteenth Dynasty (c.1295–1186 BC) is evident.
The tomb’s decorative program consists of various funerary texts to help the king in his successful transition to the afterlife.
The first descending passages are decorated with the Book of Gates, the Book of Caverns, and the Books of the Heavens.
The passages beyond bear scenes from the Amduat, the Book of the Dead, and the Books of the Heavens, and scenes from the Book of the Earth adorn the burial chamber.
All ceilings are decorated with astronomical scenes and texts.
Some of these funerary texts are collections of spells, and others are maps of the underworld. It describes the sun god’s daily nocturnal journey through it.
Through them, just like the sun god, the king could achieve a glorious rebirth on the eastern horizon at dawn.
Tomb of Seti I (KV17)
The tomb of Seti I is one of the longest, deepest, and most beautifully decorated tombs in the Valley of the Kings.
King Seti I (c.1294–1279 BC) was the second king of the Nineteenth Dynasty and father of Ramesses II (the Great). His tomb, number 17 in the Valley of the Kings, is sometimes called “Belzoni’s tomb” after its discoverer.
The tomb of Seti I is decorated with various funerary texts, the aim of which was to ensure his successful transition to the afterlife.
The tomb of Seti I was the first tomb in the Valley of the Kings to be entirely decorated. The elegant painted scenes and reliefs are of the exquisite quality that the reign of Sety I is so well known for.
The funerary texts attested there are the Litany of Re, Amduat, and Book of Gates. In addition to the Book of the Divine Cow. The gorgeous astronomical scenes decorating the ceiling of his burial chamber simulate the night sky.
Architecturally, the tomb of Seti I falls under the “joggled axis” type characteristic of his period. The first series of corridors and descending passageways terminate in the first pillared room.
Where, in the facing wall, but off-axis, another series of descending. Passageways cut into the floor of the room lead to the burial chamber.
The tomb does feature several new and unique characteristics. Along the same axis of the first series of corridors and descending passageways, a doorway leads into a single room.
That might have been planned to lead intruders to believe that this was the actual burial chamber.
The tomb of Sety I is also the first tomb to possess a burial chamber with a vaulted ceiling. Perhaps most interesting of all is the passage begins on the floor of the burial chamber, descending even further, deep into the earth.
It is believed that this was intended to ritually connect the tomb of Seti I with the primaeval and regenerative powers of the underworld.
In 1821, painted recreations of several rooms from the tomb of Seti I were displayed in the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly in London.
This exhibition, put together by the explorer of the tomb, Giovanni Battista Belzoni, made an ancient Egyptian tomb available to various members of the public.
It captured people’s imagination and is one of the first monuments responsible for attracting popular attention to ancient Egypt.
Tomb of Tutankhamun
Discovery in 1922 by Howard Carter made headlines universal and continued to do so as the golden artifacts l, and other luxurious objects discovered in this tomb were being brought out.
The tomb and its treasures are iconic of Egypt, and the discovery of the tomb is still considered one of the most important archaeological discoveries to date.
Despite the riches it contained, the tomb of Tutankhamun, number 62 in the Valley of the Kings, is quite modest compared to the other tombs on this site in both size and decoration.
This is most likely due to Tutankhamun having come to the throne very young and, even then, ruling for only around ten years in total.
One can wonder at what riches the much larger tombs of the most powerful kings of the New Kingdom, such as Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Amenhotep III, and Ramesses II, once contained.
Only the walls of the burial chamber bear any decoration, unlike most previous and later royal tombs, which are richly decorated with funerary texts like the Amduat or Book of Gates.
Which helped the deceased king reach the afterlife. Only a single scene from the Amduat is represented in the tomb of Tutankhamun.
The rest of the decoration of the tomb describes either the funeral or Tutankhamun accompanied by various gods.
This small size of the tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62) led to much speculation because when his successor, the high official Ay, died, he was buried in a tomb (KV23).
Which may have been originally intended for Tutankhamun. But this had not yet been completed at the time of the death of the young king.
The same argument has been made in turn for the tomb of Ay’s successor, Horemheb (KV57). If so, it is unclear to whom the eventual tomb of Tutankhamun, KV62, was carved.
It has been argued that it existed already, either as a private tomb or as a storage area that was subsequently enlarged to receive the king.
Whatever the reason, the small size of the tomb meant that the approximately 3,500 artifacts that were discovered inside were stacked very tightly.
These reflect the lifestyle of the royal palace and include objects. Tutankhamun would have used it in his daily life, such as clothes, jewellery, cosmetics, incense, chairs, toys, vessels, and weapons.
It is one of history’s great ironies that Tutankhamun was a relatively minor king. He was erased from history because he was related to the unpopular King Akhenaten. He has come to surpass many of Egypt’s greatest rulers in fame.