Tombs of the Nobles in Luxor

The Valley of the Nobles

Nobles' tombs are discovered at a variety of sites throughout Egypt but none are better saved than those on the West Bank. While the pharaoh's tombs were secret away in the Valley of the Kings and dug deep into the valley rock, those of the most essential nobles were ostentatiously built at surface level overlooking the temples of Luxor and Karnak crosswise the river. Their shrines were highly decorated but the poor excellent limestone made sliced reliefs bitter so the façades were finished on smear. Freed from the restricted subject matter of the royal tombs, the artists and craftsmen dedicated less space to rituals from the Books and more to histrionics of daily life and their impressions of the afterlife. Because, unlike the royal tombs, they were discovered to the elements many of the nobles' shrines have deteriorated badly over time. Although some were subsequently used as store rooms and even fitting, others are still in comparatively good condition and give a clear impression of how they must originally have looked. They are precious visiting for their wealth of jargon paintings - quite as worrying as the formal sculptures of the great tombs of the Kings and Queens.

The number of graves open to the public alters from time to time so it is difficult to get any kind of definitive list. The following list, therefore, is only intended as a rough guide and does not include all tombs, and some may even be closed at the time of writing this article.

Tickets for the Tombs of the Nobles are traded in sets of between 2 and 4 but tickets for the tombs in the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens are sold in sets of three - apart from the tomb of Tutankhamun which required a obscure tickets. As each of the tombs are visited the guide will tear off a corner of the ticket. In the Deir el Medina a ticket gives entrance to two of the open tombs but the tomb of Pashedu needs a obscure ticket.. 

Any up-to-date information worrying the handiness of visiting any of the tombs would be appreciated. 

List of the Nobles's Tombs:

Khonsu (TT 31) at Sheikh abd-el-Qurna   

Userhat (Neferhabef) (TT 51) at Sheikh abd-el-Qurna

Nakht (TT 52) at Sheikh abd-el-Qurna

Ramose (TT 55) at Sheikh abd-el-Qurna

Khaemhat (TT 57) at Sheikh abd-el-Qurna

Menna (TT 69) at Sheikh abd-el-Qurna

Sennefer (TT 96) at Sheikh abd-el-Qurna

Rekhmire (TT 100) at Sheikh abd-el-Qurna

Benia(Pahekamun) (TT 343) at Sheikh abd-el-Qurna

Pashedu at Deir el Medina

Senedjem at Deir el Medina

Inherkhau at Deir el Medina
           
May be open

Roy/ShuRoy

Neferenpet

Dhutmosis

Shamut