Valley of the Queens

Entrance to the Valley of the Queens

This was the purple necropolis of the New Kingdom (1550–1070  B.C.E.),  located southwest of Medinet Habu on the western prop of the Nile  at  Thebes. The  site  was  called  Ta-set-neferu,  “the Direct of the Royal Children,” in the ancient periods and is now called Biban el-Harim, “the Doors of the Women,” or Biban el-Melikat, “the Doors of the Daughters,” in Arabic.  The  queens,  princes,  and  princesses  of  the  New Kingdom were buried here. The necropolis is considered to contain 70 tombs. Located in an arid wadi, the site was got  first  on  the  south  hill  and  then  on  the northwest side.

The about famous tomb of the Valley of the Queens was constructed for Queen Nefertari- Merymut, the Great Wife of  Ramses II (r. 1290–1224  B.C.E.).  This  site  has columned  chambers,  stairs,  ramps,  and  an  offering  hall with shelves and a sepulture chamber with four pillars and three  annexes.  Elaborately  decorated  with  polychrome reliefs, the tomb pictures Queen Nefertari-Merymut in the regular  funerary settings  but  also  portrays  her  in  everyday scenes of mortal life. The Bennu (phoenix) and the Aker lions  are  as well  exposed.  “The  Great  Wives”  of  the  New Kingdom all have tombs in this necropolis.

The  tombs  of  the  royal  sons  of  the  New  Kingdom Period include the resting place of Amenhirkhopshef (1), the son of King Ramses III (r. 1194–1163 B.C.E.). This tomb has a rage, three chambers, and two wings, all painted with scenes  and  cultic  symbols.  A  vestibule  was  part  of the design. The tomb of Kha’Emweset (2), another prince of the dynasty and likewise a son of Ramses III, is in the Valley of the Queens as well. This is designed with three chambers, two  extensions,  and  a  ramp.  The  walls  are  treated  with painted eases. Some officials of the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1307 B.C.E.) were given the honor of having small pit tombs in the  Valley  of  the  Queens.  Other  princesses  and  princes were likewise provided with similar pit tombs.

List of the Tombs of Valley of the Queens:

QV8 Hori [ disambiguation needed ] and a King's Daughter

QV17 Merytre and Wermeryotes

QV30[3] Nebiri

QV31[3] Anonymous

QV33[3] Tanedjemet

QV34 Anonymous

QV36[3] Anonymous

QV38[3] Sitre

QV40[3] Anonymous

QV42[3] Pareherwenemef

QV43[3] Seth-her-khopsef

QV44[3] Khaemwaset

QV46[3] Imhotep

QV47[3] Ahmose

QV51[3] Iset Ta-Hemdjert

QV52[3] Tyti

QV53[3] Ramses Meryamen

QV55[3] Amun-her-khepeshef

QV58 Anonymous

QV60[3] Nebettawy

QV66[3] Nefertari

QV68[3] Meritamun

QV70 Nehesy

QV71[3] Bintanath

QV72 Neferhat / Baki

QV73[3] Henuttawy

QV74[3] (Dua)Tentopet

QV75[3] Henutmire

QV76 Merytre

QV80 Queen (Mut-)Tuy

QV81 Heka[...]

QV82 Minemhat and Amenhotep

QV88 Ahmose

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

Luxor Museum

Placed on the Corniche between LuxorTemple and Karnak, the Luxor Museum houses an outstanding collection of artifacts and statues got in archeological sites in and around Luxor. Highlights take the gilded head of Hathor from Tutankhamun's tomb, a larger pink granite head of Amenhotep III, and rest scenes of Akhenaten and QueenNefertiti. Open daily, time schedule changes.

Inside Luxor Museum

Statues in Luxor Museum

The Luxor Museum is surprisingly entertaining. Displays of pottery, jewelry, article of furniture, statues and stelae were created  by the Brooklyn Museum of New York.  They include a cautiously selected  variety of items from the Theban temples and necropolis.

There are a  number of exhibits from Tutankhamun, including a cow-goddess head from  his tomb on the first floor and his funerary boats on the second floor.  However, some of the real attractions include a statue of Tuthmosis III  (circa 1436 BC) on the first floor, and 283 sandstone blocks set as  a wall from the ninth pylon of the Karnak Temple. The hours for the  Museum are from (9 am to 1 PM) and last from (4 PM to 9 PM). in the winter.  Afternoon hours in the summer are from (5 PM to 10 PM).

Medinet Habu

Temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu

Ramses III dominated Egypt for 31 years (1184 –1153 BC) and like many pharaohs before him was a great constructor.  As well as greatly enlarging the Medinet Habu (Habu’s City) to become his mortuary palace, he constructed the wonderful Osiris courtyard in Karnak Temple. 

The Medinet Habu was a dedicated site long before Ramses III began building there.  It was a feared part of the creation myth and was conceived to be where the Ogdoad (eight previous gods) identified the egg from which the sun came, but Ramses’ acts made it the most beautiful of the Theban sites.  The temple, which is of a alike design to the Ramesseum, is second in size only to Karnak but has a thanksgiving and symmetry that Karnak lacks.  It was not only a mortuary temple as it unified Ramses’ palace where he lodged on his visits to Thebes, his joy rooms where he entertained his harem, his government offices, a devoted lake and a Nilometer which knowing the rise and fall of the river. The outer walls of the temple are likewise finely decorated and a mud-brick wall borders the total complex.  

Ramses III was the son and successor of Sethnakht who became the first King of the 20th Dynasty.  Sethnatkht’s path to the throne is obscure.  It is possible that there was a family relationship between him and Ramses II, but it is just as likely that he grabbed power when the opportunity grown just as Ay and Horemheb had earlier him.  Ramses made his own claim to the throne clear by having the words “I did not take my office by looting, but the crown was set upon my head willingly” inscribed on one of the temple pylons.

During his long dominate, Ramses III fought several campaigns including the battle with the sea peoples, which is established on the walls of secret walls of the first pylon.  However, even in passive times there was wide spread subversion and internal discord in Egypt.  This unrest might have led to the harem plot, which happened later in his reign, when several of his ministers and his wife Ty taken to have him dead during the Opet festival celebrations, intending to make Ty’s son king.  Despite the wide use of magic and imports, the plot looks to have failed as the culprits were caught and drawn to commit suicide, but as Ramses appears to have died before their trial was complete, who is to say that they did not follow in killing him after all.  He was buried in the Valley of the Kings [KV 11] in an particular tomb that was initially involved for his father.

Before entering the mortuary temple visitors pass below the windowed gateway where Ramses had his delight rooms and enter an open space which was once a magnificent garden.  Facing, is the deeply engraved first pylon, which points Ramses fighting imaginary battles against the enemies of Egypt but on the inner walls are scenes of battles that he really did fight and win.  To the right of the gateway is the templethat Hatshepsut built and on the left is the temple of the Divine Adoratrix, which was contributed at a later date.

Inside the first pylon is a large open court, and on the northern side stands rather fat-legged statues of Ramses in the form of Osiris with married women at his feet.  Unfortunately, many of these statues were removed to make way for a Coptic Church, which rested only the temple until the 19th century. 

Temple of Deir al-Bahri

Temple of Deir al-Bahri

Although different women came close to serving as Egyptian Pharaohs, Hatshepsut was the just woman to rule in her individual right (18th dynasty : 1479-1458 BC)  However, to cementum her unique place she was usually shown posing as a man heavy a pharaonic beard.  Earlier in her life, she was married to her half-brother Tutmosis II but was widowed before she could bear him a son.  She may well have seen herself as the natural heir to her father Tutmosis I and probably did everything she could to cement her position as his heir even before he died, pavage the way for her sequence.  On the uppermost terrace of the temple, is an inscription, allegedly attributed to him, that reads “he who shall do her homage shall latest and he who shall speak black in blasphemy of her Majesty shall die”.  This clearly shows her determination to claim Egypt’s throne.

Equally a powerful monarch, her edifices plans were some and she left repositories in Nubia as well as Upper and Lower Egypt but her most amazing achievements were in Thebes where in addition to her fabulous mortuary temple, she enlarged Karnak Temple and built a temple to Amun at Medinet Habu .  However, the chagrin of Tutmosis III, the young nephew she seized from the throne, was so great that afterwards her death he finished all references to her from her own temple.  He later built his own mortuary temple next to hers but long since it was low in a landslide, so perchance Hatshepsut had the last word after all.

Deir el Bahri is the temple’s Arabic name but it was originally known as the “Splendour of Splendours’ and its clear lines would have been softened by an over-planting of trees, aromatic flowers and shrubs.  As a final ornamentation for this stark but magnificent building, a long line of sphinxes probably linked the temple to the river.

Inscriptions on its lower and middle colonnades show Hatshepsut’s divine birth and her achievements, such as a made Nubian campaign, the transport from Aswan of obelisks for Karnak, and the collection of myrrh trees from Punt.  At the southern end of the middle terrace, which is reached via an impressive ramp, is a temple to Hathor the cow-eared goddess of the western memorial park.  There is a closed-gated refuge here and some fine reliefs of the goddess in cow form.  When archaeologists dug the site in the early separate of the last century, they found baskets of wooden penises that could have been used in rituals and birthrate ceremonies.  The upper colonnade, which is reached by a second ramp, was once whole lined with statues of Osiris, some with the face of Hatshepsut, but now only a few rest.  Perhaps it was through fear of offensive Osiris, that these imagines were not blemished.

Beyond the upper colonnade, further sanctuaries are recorded through a central doorway and a peristyle court.  Pictures of the Feast of the Valley advance decorate the north side of the court and scenes from the Opet festival decorate the south side. The other courtyards, at present remote, contained niche shrines to the gods taking Amun and an altar to the Sun god. 

At the put up of this upper court is a central rock-cut sanctuary to Amun beneath which is a tomb that was prepared for Hatshepsut but was evidently unused because she chose to be sunk in the Valley of the Kings (KV 20).  As it transpired, she was not to be left in peace in either place.

Last in the 19th century, in an inconspicuous tomb close to the temple, archaeologists found a cache of moms that had been gone there for refuge by the tombs’ ancient protectors.  Enterprising villagers had been selling them off for years before the trade was stopped.  Among those got in the tomb were the mummies of Hatshepsut, Tutmosis I, Seti I and Ramses II and King Ramses III. 

In a cave to the north of the temple, sexual graffito from a long forgotten dissident shows that irreverence of royalty is not new.  Among the variety of doodles and inscriptions is a getting of a Pharaoh wearing woman’s underwear being sodomised by an unknown man. Perhaps this could be a comment on the kinship between Hatshepsut and one of her ministers.

I have found visitors express dashing hopes with their first view of the temple.  This might be because it is so different from the later more ornate temples in the necropolis, but its lines are unchanged and its simplicity is powerful. This temple is a must see on any route even though it can get very busy in the earlier part of the day but in last afternoon when the tour buses have gave and the warmth of the sun has diminished the peace of the temple can be felt.