McDonald. The Tomb of Nefertari

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-

-

OUSE OF ETERNIY

Te Tmb f

Nefertari

John K. McDonald

The Getty Conservation Institute

and the J. Paul Getty Museum

Los Angele



Cover/tite page:

Detail Queen

Nefertari 0/ the north

wa of Chamber G.

Al photograps are

by uilermo Aldana

unless cedied

otewse

The Gety Conservation Insitute woks nernaonally to fuher

he appreciaion and presevaion of he word's culural heritage

fo he enichmen and use of presen and fuure generations.

his s the rs volume n the onservation and uura Herage

sees, whch aims to provde n a popua omat infomaon

about seleced cultuay signicant ses thoughou the wod

© 1996 The J. Paul Getty ustAl rigts eservedPnted n Singapoe

Lbay of Congess Cataoging-in-Publication Data

McDonal on KHose of etenty: the tomb of Nefeta I ohn K. McDonald

p. mSBN 08236457. Neetai Qeen consot of Rameses Kng o EgyptTomb.

2. Mual painting and decoation Egyptan 3 TombsEgypt4 Valey of the Queens (Egypt) I. itle3·v34M35 996932dc2 96223

C1P



Contents

Foreword

5 IntroductionDynasties of Ancient Egypt

I Neferta: Radant QueenA Letter from Nefertari

The Queen's Titles and pithets

19 The Valley of he QueensErnesto Shiaparelli

25 Conveyance to Eternal Life he Roya ombs of EgyTomb Paints and Materials

33 The Tomb Builders' Vlage

37 After Neferaris Bural

4 Resurrecon and Recurren Rsks

47 he Kng of he Dead and His Dvne amyDivine Guidane

55 Among the mmoalsA Wal through the "ouse of Eterny

The Texts in the Tom

Concluson

6 Acknowedgments







I

>

.

HOUSE OF EER

an honored andbeloved queen,

still in the primeof earthly existence, set of

upon a voyage to the netherword, n que

of etenal lie.

In ou own time, the art and cultur

o ancent Egypt have come to reect the

aesthetc magination and spitua aspi

tions o peoples everywhere In Egypt,

endung yet endangered monuments

embody some o the nest catsmanshp

that has eve gaced the panet.

The tomb o eetari, ts bliant

images vividy depcting her voyage to th

hereate, ranks among the most precou

and most ragle o Egyptan teasures,

indeed o humanty Moreover it epe

sents pehaps the most exuisite git to b

passed down through moe than a hundr

generatons, a centerpiece o cutual her

tage and a pceess patimony o ou tim

Yet eve snce its moden discovey

10, the at n Neeta's tomb-amongthe most beautiu examples o phaaon

wa paintings eve ound has been

known to be in ragle and precarious co

dtion Conseuently, o most o this tim

the tomb has been cosed to the pubc

the Neertari paintngs had cont

ued to deteoate, the wold would have

sueed an ncalcuable cultual loss.

Instead between 86 and 2 the

The last four columns

of text behind Nefertari

on the north waLL of

Chamber G. The

Previos page:

Sections of the nort

and east walls of

Chamber G On th

inscription, which reads left, Nefertari pays

from right to left, is homage to Thoth t

from Chapter 94 of the god of writing. On

Book of the Dead right she makes o

ings of incense foo

and cowhide



FOREWORD

Egyptian Aniquiies Organization and he

Gey Conservation Insiue underook an

inensive colaborative efor to conserve the

wal paintings in the queen's "house o eterniy. This join proect proved exemplary in

preserving or posteriy one of the greaes

reasures ever ye created by he human

mind and hand.

In 1986, was privieged to see the

omb for the rst ime. Like so many beore

me, I was both awed by he beauy of the

paintings and appaed by the damage hey

had sustained Ten years aer, the ravages o

time, nature, and humankind have been

arresed The surviving painings have been

rescued rom desruction, wih their his

orical inegrity and auhenicity inact.

Now, more han ever before, hese

marvelous paintings have a chance to

survive for future generaions Bu only a

chance The tomb has been open o the

public since November 995. Consequeny,

in spite o al the painstaking conservaion

work, the paintings remain vulnerabe.

Today, they stand as vibrant tesimonyo the creative genius of ancien Egyptian

ariss and as a celebration o ar by an

inteationa communiy of policymakers

and conservaion proessionals. Tomorrow,

the paintings survival wil depend argely

on he vigian proection they receive in

the years ha ie ahead

The muua mandae o he renamed

Egypian Supreme Council o Aniquiies

and the Getty Conservation nsitute

will no be fuled unti we succeed in gen

erating broad awareness of he pressing

probems acing endangered cuural prop

erties worldwide. Solving these problems is

no he exclusive priviege or responsibiiy

of cultural, scienic, and poliical eies

I is rightly a mater of general public con

cern Cuural treasures provide a record o

our human condiion on both a spiriua

and a maerial plane To decipher this

record is o know our pas And so, our

seves To preserve i is o pass ha knowl

edge on to future generaions In this sense,the tomb o Neerari beongs o - and

must be preserved byal of us

We have already learned ha the pub

ics inerest in the tomb is remarkabe. In

1992 he J. Paul Gey Museum and the

Getty Conservation Institute organized an

exhibiion devoed to enhancing pubic

awareness of he conservaion probems

and created a replica of one o he cham

bers The exhibition, which subsequeny

raveed to Rome and Turin, proved to be a

great success

At he Getty Conservaion Institute,

our goa is to ensure hat peope every

where come to recognize, appreciate, and

acknowledge hat the tomb of Nefertari

and simiary rare and deicate works of ar

comprise precarious treasures o humanity

Paradoxicaly, hey need to be proteced

above al from he risks o unresrained

exposure o those who admire them mostn enering he tomb of Nefertari,

you are abou to experience a unique and

subime exampe o human creativiy, in is

aesheic, maerial, and spiritual aspecs

As we marvel at his priceless heirloom, et

us nd equay creative ways to provide no

ony public access to he reasures housed

within he omb, but aso the means or

their perpeual exisence

In his way, we may boh respect he

origina inten o he creaors and inspire

fuure generaions, as hey oo embar on

our collective ourney to he beyond

Miguel Ange Corzo

Director

The Gety Conservation Institue







6

Stereo view of the

tomb entrance takenby Don MicheLe

PizziolFrancesco

BaLLerini, members of

the Itaian Mission

ed by Ernesto

chiapareLLi in 194.

Photo: Courtesy of theMueo Egizio Tuil

HOUSE OF ETERN

Tunneled into the northernslope of the necropolis, Neferta

"house of eternity is one of the nesttombs ever created by ancient Egypt's

master crasmen.

Emblazoned on its wals and corri

dors, some 520 square meters of exquisit

wal paintings revea a ritual process and

ilustrate Nefertaris journey of transfor

mation into a bessed sou in the hereate

t woud prove a ong and perilous passa

but she coud rey on these hierogyphic

texts and ilustrations to be her beacons

the beyond

The Valey of the Queens is not

renowned or the quaity o its limestone

Indeed ike much o the rock in the

Theban area, the imestone has been frac

tured by earthquakes and is banded with

veins of int As a result, it is not well

suited to painting or carving Several aye

of plaster had to be appied to the was t

buid a suitabe surface for the wal paint

ings Vignettes and texts were lighty carvinto the plaster when dry The wals were

then primed with a gypsum wash and

painted in briliant coor

The carved paster in Nefertaris

tomb is an eary but subimey successfu

instance of what was then a nove tech

nique The multitude of coors in her tom

is exceptiona, especiay the ighter ones

set of against the luxurious backs and

blue-whites

Previous page:

The Vaey of the

Queens across the

river NiLe from uxor.

Opposite

DetaiL from the ou

face of Piar I in th

sarcophagus chamb

before conservation





onservators at work

during nal treat

ment on the notheast

coner of hambe K

The theme of he tomb is timeless

ness: the decoraion exclusively funerary.

No references are made o any specic his

orc events or to anythng ha acualy

happened to Nefertari in her lfetme Both

aesthetically and spiritualy, the transien

concerns of his ife are consdered to be

incompaible wih eternty.

Smiary ncompatibe is the salt

aden naure of the limestone from which

the tomb was hewn, as well as he NieRiver mud used to paster its walls. In he

presence of moisure, sat, dormant n

the rock and the plaser, migrated o the

surface of the wals Over ime, lucuatons

n humdty wihin the tomb, wheher

from the wormen who bult it, subsequent

loodng, seepage hrough ssures in the

porous rock above or perspiration and

respiration from contemporary visiors

eager to view is marvels, have all served

mobize the sal, bringing t to he pain

surfaces, where i crystallized o damage

and in some cases irretrevably destroy th

art withn he omb.

o comba these dangers he iner

naiona eam of conservaors assembed

1986 by the Getty Conservaton nsttue

GCI and the Egyptan Antiqutes

Organzaion (EAO) underook conserva ton of the tomb First, emergency sabi

lizaton of deaching panted paster; he

metculous conservaton to preserve the

tomb for presen and future generatons

Nowhere n his process has "restor

ton of he pantngs been undertaen.

Nor wil i be The GCI is phlosophically

commtted never to engage in resoraton



NTRODUCTON

believing that to restore an ancent work

by addng to t is nevtably to assaut ts

authentcity. In the tomb of Nefertar, not

a sngle drop of new paint was added tothe images Simar, al ceaning processes

and materas used in the conservaton

were reversble

The pantngs that remain are n

every wa authentc entirey the work o

the origna artists and artisans The

have been careuly and respectuly con

served, stabized where n danger of

detachment, and ceaned o dirt and sat to

regan ther orgina luster. Where the

orginal pantings have been lost, patches

o blank paster (made from ocal, natura

products) now cover the wals

Systematc compex aborous

devoted and respectu-such conserva

tion work has much n common with the

journe undertaen by Nefertar in her

transition rom this world to the next

Wthn her "house o eternty, descending

stairwas, asymmetres o design, and

the skewing o the tomb's axis are althought to alude to the tortuous topogra

phy o the Egyptian netherword Ths

is the daunting domain that Neertari

must traverse successuly n her search or

everasting ie.

YNASES OF NCENT GYPT

circa 3 BCE

Lte Predynstic eo22 2575

Ely Dyn ed

(Dynasties 1-1)2575234

Old Kngdom(Dynasties III-VIII)

23424

F Inemedeed(Dynasties IX-XI/1)

24,64

Mddle Kngdom(DYastes xI/2-XIII)

64 532

Send nemedaeed(Dynasties XI -XVII)

New Kngdom• (Dynasty XVIII)

55525

Ahmoe525 -'SOl

Amenhoep I

5442

Thumoe I

4247

hmoe"47425

hume III

47345

Hhepu4274

Amenhep II43

humoe IV

3353

Amenhep I

353 335

Amenhoep Iv

Akhenen335333

Smenkhke333 323

unkhmn3233

A337

Hemheb(DYsty XIX)

3736

Ramee

362

Se I

2 224

Rmee I

(he Ge)224 24

Meneph214-'204

Se I

24

Sph6

we67

DYasty xx)772

hd nemeded(DYasties XXIXX

72332Le eod(Dynsties XV-XX

332 3 •CE

Medonnolem eod

3 • CECE 35

Rmn ed

Dates give Jor individ

represet regl perod

Adpted Jo ohn Bai

a,d arom! Mlek

Al of Anen g

OJord: 1980.

e oj two states oj

Rameses 0 the Jfad

the Temple oj Hathor a

Ab Smbel







12 HOUSE OF ETERN

Why? Only because we have been bessed

with brilliant images from her tomb inthe Valley of the Queens.

Detail of the colossusof Nefertari at the

Temple 0/Luxor.

Previous page:On the west wall of

Chamber G, south

side, a band of relief

separates Nefertari

from Nephthys and

Isis who ank

the ram-headed god

representing a union

of Re' and Osiris

If Nefertari's magnicent "house o

eternty had ot survved, perhaps

scholars of Egyptian history might stil

recognze her ame. But cod anyone ev

begin to imagine the elegant, dag

yong woma, the radiat being we see

vvidy portrayed throughot her tomb?

With sch evocatve images endring, no

doubt remais that Nefertar was indeed

the beatif queen of oe of hstorys

most powerf and ceebrated rers,

Rameses the Great

What can historians tel s about th

acta woman behnd this compeling

portrat Certainly, Nefertar played imp

tant roes n state and regios affairs.

Her mportance was amply conrmed by

her tites and the multiplicty of her imag

o mouments throghot Egypt: at the

temples of Karnak and Lxor; in her tomand at a sadstone temple but at Abu

Simbel, in far-dstant Nubia where her

impact was literally colossal.

It is mpossible to jdge how much

Nefertaris prestge was de to her perso

qualtes It is also prdent to recall that

she was by o meas the rst Egyptia

queen to wield sch power Two of her p

decessorsAhmesNefertari ad Neferti

fe of Akheategured promnenty

i the hstory of the New Kingdom And Eghteenth Dyasty King Hatshepsut was

n fact a woma.

Opposite

Nefertari on the east

side of the upper

descending corridor

he ignette diers

from the correspond-

ing westside comp

sition in that here

the quee1s headdr

is without the high

plumes





A LETTER FROM NEFERR

"Says Naptera [NefertariJ

the great qun of Egypt

to Padukhpa, th grat

un of Hati my sster

hus With you my sstr

may a b w and wih

yor contry may a be

wl. Bhod I have noed

that you my siser hav

writn m nuring

after my we being. And

yo have wrtn me

aout th matter of peace

ad rotherhood bw

th grat ing of Egypt

and his brothr th great

king of Hatt. May th sun

god [of Egypt [ and th

sorm god of Ha]

brng you joy and may th

sun god caus the peace

o be good .... I in frnd

ship and sisery reation

with the grat uen [of

Ha now and forever

NeJrtai's ltr to

Padukhpn, th Hi//it

q xp h wih

J ltig pc. Th

ittit th Id

Epa ivd j th

Aatli highd Thy tabihd mpi d

ig th CO j th d

ii BCE d

gd th spmay j

Egypt i th Midd Eat

dig h Eight1th ad

itt Dastis

The relief on the

inner face of the First

Pylon at the emple

of Luxor. Nefertari,

shaking a sacred rattle

is receded by her

husband Rameses .



NEFERTARI: RADIAN QUEEN

The outline of Nefertar's fe can be

sketched. Of noble brth and perhaps from

the Theban area, she was maried, when

baey a teenage, to Use-maat-e' Setepenre', who was known to postety as

Rameses the Great Their st-bon chid

was a son, named Amenhirwenemef

Amenhikhepeshef Ther eldest daughter

was named Meryetamun

Eary n Rameses' regn, Nefertari

took an actve roe alongsde her husband:

at Abydos, n Thebes, and at Gebel e

Slsia. Then came a ong sience, unbroken

unti Yea Twentyone, when she suddeny

eemeged at the signng of a peace treaty

wth Hatt, the othe superpower of the

tmes Scacey thee yeas late, Nefeta

died, was mouned, and was conveyed

to he "house of etenty n the Valey of

the Queens The year was 1255 BCE

Images, nscptons, and atfacts

found in he tomb tel us moe Nefetai

was of noble bth but not roya Nowhee

s she identied as kng's daughter. Her

famiy probably came fom ThebesInvariably, Nefertas name was folowed

by beoved of [the goddess] Mut. In the

Theban aea, Mut was an impotant dety

Together with he husband Amunre and

ther son Khonsu she fomed the sacred

Theban triad of Karnak emple The con

sistent afliation of Nefertari wth Mut

may pont to the queen's heban oigns

o her countymen, Nefeta's

name no doubt evoked a weath of pos

tive assocations, above a with thememoy of AhmoseNefetai, the founde

of the Eighteenth Dynasty As wife and ss

ter of Pharaoh Ahmose and mothe of

Amenhotep AhmoseNefertar lived

through the gorous days of hebes' rise to

power and her husband's expulsion of

Asiatc nvaders, the Hyksos, events occur

ng about 560 BC It was pobaby

ntentona that Nefeta's chosen head

dessa vuture surmounted by doube

pumeswas also the headdess favored by

AhmoseNefetai

For Rameses to may the daughterof a Theban nobeman would have been

potcay shrewd. The Ramessde can was

based n the Delta and had no blood tes

with Egyptan oyaty he rse to soca

pominence occured though miitay se

vce unde Phaaoh oemheb Hoemheb

had no heir and desgnated hs chef

geneal, Parameses, as successor. When the

od kng ded in 37 BC Paameses

assumed the thone, and changed the fam

y name to Rameses the name used by no

ess than eeven succeeding soveegns

Athough Rameses I uled ony a yea,

he had tme enough to naugurate what

Egyptan historans regard as a new era, the

Nneteenth Dynasty. In a concerted effot

to valdate and egtimze Ramessde king

ship, Rameses the Great, grandson of

Rameses 1, may well have sought a daughte

of Thebes as his queen. He given name

recaed a espendent moment n Egyptshstoy and he sobrquet nvoked the

Temple of Kanak, home of Egypts st

divine famly

In al ikehood Nefetari maed n

her eary teenage years and bore Rameses

a son amost immedately Togethe with

hs fathe, the boy was depicted as eary as

the rst year of Rameses' egn, in the rock

shrine of Beit e Wa n Nubia. Hstoans

assume that Nefertaris rstborn chd

ded younghe queen's youth poved no mped

ment to her paticpatng in relgious and

state busness. Another depcton from Yea

One shows her ofciatng wth the king at

the investture of the new Chef Pophet of

Amun, Nebwenenef hs investtue was

such a signa hono that Nebwenenef had

the event memoriazed on the wals of his

own tomb

Thoughout his sixy

seven ycas of rle,

Rameses k a leas e

wies: efeai; [snof

Binanath (his daughe

Istnofe) Meyeamun

his daughter by Nefe

Nebawy Heneme'

ings own sise) Maat

-Nefeue he s

Hiie piness) and a

nd itie piness e

faheed at least foy

sons pehaps as may a

y· two as well as som

fy daughes.

As Rameses s a

faie queen Nefe

mst have expeed o

see a hild of hes inhe

he hone She is afe

al alled "kings moh

in he gea emple f

Abu Simbel Gien he

enomous impotane

t is douby io tht

efeais hiden

gue n a all in he

suession n fa

hey al died pio

thei fathe

The enomous fam

aaomb ha ame o

light in 995 in the

Valley f the Kings KV

may have been desine

f he ukless aging

sons of Rameses .

Saee houghout

me han niney om

ae sh insipions

a leas one menionn

Nefeais sbn

son Amenhweneme

Amenhikhepeshe

The atamb is thus likely plae f his buia

alng wih ses f hi

halfbhes





NEFERTARI: RADIANT QUEEN

The great shrines a Abu Simbe

were dedcated hree years afer the Hte

treaty, n the twenty-fourh year of

Rameses' reign. Yet Nefertar, notceabyabsent from memorials of hese consecra

tion ceremones, had probably already ded

A number of rock nscrptions set

ino the ciff face around the temples

recorded the events. One of hese nscrp

tons, by he Vceroy Heanakht, includes

a picure of he royal entourage: Rameses

was shown no with Neferari but raher

with hs daughter Meryetamun, now den

ed as queen.

We cannot say how Neferar ded

Al that s nown s that, sometme toward

the end of her fourth decade, she began her

journey to the hereaer

Transported to the netherword by

he magnicent omb tha Rameses had

bui for her, she woud henceforh dwe n

a new doman, a resplendent "house of

eternity For Rameses, it woud be another

forty years before he would pass hrough

the portals of hs own omb, perhaps antcpatng renewed unon wh the blessed

sprt of hs beauteous, beoed wfe.

The titles and epithets of

Nefertari dene her vari

ous roles as divine con

sort queen, and mother.

he scope of her actvi

ties is consistent with the

expanding importance

of queenshp n the New

Kingdom generaly

"[The one] to whom

beauty pertains is one

of several translations of

her name Ancient

Egyptian hieroglyphic

script does not show

vowes so no one can be

certain how the queen's

name was spoken

Cuneiform script

documents from the

Hittite captal of

Bogazky in Anatolia

suggest the name was

pronounced "Naptera or

something similar

"Beoved o Mut is a

standard component of

Nefertari's ful name and

occurs even within her

cartouche, the oval ring

surrounding royal names

he goddess Mut,

together with her hus

band Amun and their son

Khonsu form the great

heban trad of gods

residing within or near

Karna emple.

"King's great wife

identies Nefertari as

preeminent among

Rameses the Greats eight

known spouses

HE UEEN' S TLES AN PES

"Mother o the king is

the tte held by the

crown princes mother,

conrming that one of

Nefertari's sons hadalready been picked to

succeed Rameses.

"Gods wie, a term rst

encountered early in the

Eighteenth Dynasty but

faling into disuse after

the regn of Thutmoses

IV (1401-39 BCE) It s

revived in the Nineteenth

Dynasty in association

with the dynasty's rst

three queens: Sat-re wife

of Rameses I; Muttuywife of Sety I and

Nefertari The term was

probaby resurrected

party to strengthen the

dynastic claims of the

Ramesside kings who

were not of royal bood

It embodied a theologica

concept Any chld of

a queen bearing ths title

was the issue not only

of the king but also of the

god Amun the queen's

mythical consort; and sothe child would be singu

arly t to serve as king

of Egypt

"Hereditary noble

woman is an honoric

designation sgnalng

that Nefertai came from

nobe stock

"Mistress of the two

ands he masculine

form is an epithet of

Egyptian kings and pro

claims their suerainty

over both Upper and

Lower Egypt t indicates

that Nefertari eercised

some role in state affairs

"Mistress o Upper and

Lower Egypt. Ths term

may also hint at an actve

roe in state affars

"Who satises the go

is a phrase normaly

reserved for kng,

in their role as Chief

Ritualist.

"For whom the sun

shines (inscription f

the fa�ade of the Sma

Temple at Abu Simbe

unique. In conjunctio

with the Great empl

Abu Simbel, any invo

tion of the suneith

its disk the Aten) or

sun god Re) is app

priate The Great em

of Abu Simbel was pu

posey orientated so trays from the risng s

would shine straight

the sanctuary on Feb

22 and again October

"Great o favors pos

bly carried a udicial

implication along the

lines of intercessor. T

is how the term was u

much earlier in the p

ular Egyptian tale of t

wanderings of Sinuhe

"Peasant in the twinpumes (on the grea

seated statue of Rame

now in the Museo Egi

urin is a reference t

the twinplumed head

dress favored by Nefe

he god Amun wears

similar crown; one of

his titles is he of the

plumes Nefertari's

namesake Ahmose

Nefertari is oen sho

wearing a doube-pu

headdress.







20

Previous page:A view across theriver ile toward western hebes.

he main wadi in theValley of the Queensshowing some of the tombs of queensand royal childrenefertari's tomb isindicated oto: . iliotti

beyond the broadswath of cultivation

beween the riverand the Libyan plateau.

The plateau is a vas desert region

that exends wesward from he Nie more

han a thousand miles Made of fossi-rich

limestone laid down by incursions of

ancient seas, it sretches from magnicent

ciffs formed over milennia by he mean

derings of the river Innumerabe bays and

canyons have been eched by wind, sand,

USE ETERNI

and the thermal stress of ho days and

cod nights. Such forces of nature broke

down the rock sil more ino scree ha

now rings the bases of the cliffs. In hisdesoae region lie the word-famous cem

teries of western Thebes: he Valey of

the Kings, the Tombs of the Nobles, and

the Valey of the Queens

Pacing their cemeteries to he wes

was instinctive for the ancient Egyptians,

who localized he netherword in the and

of the setting sun. This association took

on particular meaning in Thebes because

• Kades

ME DITER R ANEAN SEA

L O W E R E G Y P T

u P P E R E G Y P T

V OF H QUNS(

Aswan High Dam



THE VALLEY OF H QUNS

of the great wesern peak of Qurna, by far

he most prominen landmark around.

From its summt, one can look

down nto he Valley of the Kngs or easacross the cultivaton o the rver

Beyond the Nie, barely vsbe through

he haze, are the pyons of Luxor Tempe

Along the edge of cultivation stands a row

of moruary temples. The argest of hese,

Medinet Habu, was erected to the memory

of Rameses III.

Just behnd hs empe, an asphat

road foows an ancien track and wends

ts way back to he peak, running near

the workmen's vilage of Deir e-Medineh.Ater passing a rockcu shrine o the

god Pah, anoher o the local goddess

MeretSeger, and the ruins of a Coptic

monastery, the road peters out in a smal

valey drecly beneath he peak of

Qurna This s he Vaey of he Queens

A its wesern imit is a gorge In

fron of ha are vesiges of an ancent dam

that once dverted runoff from sudden

cloudbursts. Signs of wind and waer

erosion abound. Weathered chunks of

mestone and lin tter the ground. iner

maeria washed down to he vaey oor

has softened he contours Suggestons

of rude huts made from abular mestone

are al that reman of he sheers used

by the workmen who excavated he tombs

n he Valey of he Queens

Is unclear precisey why ths area

was selected for burias Though vulnera

be and hard o poce, its chef viruemay have been convenience. Bu cerainly

the loomng mass of Qurna and is dvne

associatons wih the beyond would have

appeaed to the ancent Egyptians It is also

possbe tha the gorge suggested to them

he vulva of the sky goddess Nu, depced

in tombs and cofns gving birth o the sun

god each morning

RO CIPR

talian Egyptologis

Ernesto Schiaparel

(1856-1928) began hs

studies with Francesco

Rossi at the University of

Tuin, and continued

them in Paris between

18 and 1880 with the

great rench Egyptologst,

Gaston Maspero. or

many years Schiaparelli

was directo of the

Egyptan Museum n

urin

As head of the talian

Archaeological Mission

to Egypt between 1903

and 190, Schiapareli

also explored numerous

Egyptian sites His most

enduring achievements

were in the vicinity of

hebes - in the work

men's village at Deir el

Medineh and in the

Valey of the Queens.

In 190 whie work

ing at eir elMedneh,

Schiapareli discovered

the undisturbed buial of

Kha, an oversee of wors and his wife

Mery he abundant

household materials from

their tomb, now on dis

play n urin, provide a

detailed picture of life

among the workmen who

dug and decorated

Egyptian roya tombs

n 194 Schiaparelli

opened Nefetars tomb,

one of thiteen that he

cleared or discovered in

the Valey of the Queens.hough he spent only

a year in the tomb,

Schaparelli compiled an

important photographic

record of is condition

and decoration hese

135 glass pae negaves

housed in he urin

Museum have served as

a benchmark ever sin

Schiaparelli and h

assstant rancesco

Balerini assigned nu

bers to all the tombs

the valley installed ir

gates at their enranc

and pioneeed site

management by aynout pathways between

the tombs. he arche

brick portal that now

protects the entrance

Nefertaris tomb was

aso built by the Itala

missio.

Ernesto Schiapare

published a volume o

his work n the Valley

he Queens in 19.

A second volume, on

explorations a Deir

elMedineh, was published in 197 a year

before his death.

Stereo view of Ern

Schiaparelli (far

right) at the entra

to the tomb of

Nefertari aer con

struction of the

brick portal.

hoto: ourtesy of heMuseo gizo un





THE VALY OF TH QUENS

An ephemeral strea surging down the

gorge migh have reinforced hs image of

sacred issue.

There are eighty nubered tombsin he Valey of the Queens Ony twenty

are decorated. Mos are lle more han pit

tombs, without decoraton or nscrpon.

The larger openngs of the more subsantial

tombs probably suggested the common

Arabic name for ths site: Bban el Malka"

or he Porals of the Queens."

The most ancent of these large

tombs date from he Eghteenth Dynasy

and were prvae or anonymous Bu early

in the Nineeenh Dynasty it becae hefashion o bury queens and roya chldren

n this lonely vaey. Throughout he next

wo centures, any important members of

he court found her nal resng pace

here. Aong the northern ank of he vaey

are tombs of the queens and daughers of

Rameses aong he souhe ank the

sons of Ra meses Ill.

The ancient Egypans initialy

referred o this ocale as simpy he Great

Valey." But ater he surge in roya nerents - queens dowager queens, and

chdren becae known as the place

of he beauteous ones."

Archaeology has conrmed wha the

texs say Mos of he burials in hs valey

are royal They include hose of hree

very portan queens from he early years

of the Nneeenh Dynasy Satre, wfe

Opposite:

The calp site of

Emesto Schiaparei's

expedition in the

foothi of the Vaey

of the Queens 1904.

Plato: COresy of t"e

Museo Egizo Tu

of Raeses I; Muuy wife of Sey and,

of course Nefertari, favorite consort of

Rameses .

Why was hs place reserved forqueens? Several explanaons coe o mnd

Mos lkey is hat Hatshepsut had a tomb

prepared for hersef n a neighboring

canyon before she became pharaoh, and the

three foreignborn wves of Thutmoses

were interred no far away

The desgnaton Valey of the

Queens" as nroduced by Jean Fran<ois

Chapolon in he nneteenth cenury

CE, hen aen up by other Egyptologss

The rs Europeans o explore the site were G. Wknson (182-33) Champolion

(82829), Ippoito Rosein (834), and

C.R Lepsus (185). Lepsus correcty

dened he omb of Meryeamun

Nefertari's edest daughter bu missed

ocating the queen's jus adjacent That

honor fel to Ernesto Schiaparei who

expored he vaey beween 903 and 90.

For this and his efforts at he ormen's

vlage Schiaparei eaed hsef a ast

ng place n the annals of Egypoogy.









CONVEYANC TO TRNAL LIF

royal tombs wereprobably drawnup by court archi tects, with the king'sinvolvement. Yet no one

knows exacty how he sovereign expressed

hs wishes for he tomb's location, size,

and decoration.

During he Old and Mdde

Kingdoms, hey took he form of pyramids

There are some seventy such pyramds in

the Nile valey During he New Kingdom,

royal tombs underwent undamental

redesign utimately evolvng ino a penc

hn shaf, sunk oblquey into he hsdes

o he Valey of he Kngs. Beginnng with

he pharaoh Thumoses J (1504-192 S.CE)

and or ve cenures aferward, Egypian

sovereigns ordered heir tombs excavated

in his remote canyon

New Kngdom omb design a rs

consised of a series of descending corri

dors, smal waiting rooms, and then a sarcophagus hal wth annexes These

eements were usualy assembed in he

repeang paern of corrdor folowed by

chamber, corridor folowed by chamber: a

rhyhm of down-pause, downpause

This desgn accompished two aims

Frst it reminded the Egyptians of he

"crookedness of the beyond. For he omb

was mean o evoke he twised opography

o he neherword. Turns and plunging

stairways imaed the convoued path ha

the deceased had o foow o become an

efecve, bessed soul Second, he doublng

of he basic un down-pause, down

pause may have auded o the tradi

iona dvision of Egypt no northern and

souhern kingdoms, or have suggesed the

dualty of earhy versus timeess esence.

Previous spread:

Looking into the

burial chamber from

the descending

corridor The goddess

Maat, with out

stretched wings

adorns the lintel

Opposite:

he head of Nefertari

on the west wall of the

descending corridor

showing carved relief

work

Detail of Nefertari

face on the west wa

of the descending

corridor showing t

painted correction

the relief work.



Detail from the

north wall of Recess

Ellustratng a

correcton n the

pantng

A simple, painted wal pred wth

whtewash had been he sandad in he

tombs of he eary Eghteenh Dynasy.Carved limestone was not ntoduced unti

the reign of Horemheb (1319-307 B.C.E.),

bu was then immediatey adopted as the

standard n roya tombs. Carved plaste

iitating limestone made its appearance

about this time - os subliey n

Nefetai's ob - and eained a feaure

of Raesside omb decoraion

The overal design of Neferaris

omb borows from he achtecue of

conempoary roya ombs. also relecshe increasng regiosty that pervades

Ramesside tomb decoaton

For his own tomb, Rameses the

Great reinroduced a sharp ninetydegree

turn just befoe the buria chaber and

increased the number of its supporting

pillars around the sunken sarcophagus

emplacement to eight A shelf around the

peimeter of the buria ha was a feaure

repeated from Nefetaris omb In stictly

architecua tes, Rameses tombremans the most complex and ineresting

n he Valley of the Kings.

rom Rameses death foward,

Egyptan royal tombs undewent immens

simplication, especally in their ground

plans The tomb of Merneptah, Rameses

medae successor, sressed ength over

annexes and chambers, which began to

dimnsh in size o vansh aogethe The

descending staway was epaced by a

shalow, coninuous amp eading deepino the ountanside.

The logical conclusion of hese

rends was he tomb of Rameses VI: long,

sraght spae. Is decoaion aso showed

evoluion characteristic of the lae Rame

sde era: illusraion and ext were drawn

in oulne, wih a mnmum of modeling

intenal detai The many colors of



CONVEYANC TO TERNAL LIF

Nefertari's omb were replaced by predom

nany goden hues o reinforce soar imagery.

A roya ombs design coud no be

urned over o he workmen uni a sie wasseeced. This ask proved increasingly

difcu as he roya valeys became ed

wih buria sies. In some nsances, archiecs

chose unwisey, siing heir work where

i evenuay inerseced oder tombs and so

had o be abandoned or modied

Once construcion had begun, many

seps in he work - from cuting to smooh

ing o decorang may have gone on simu

taneousy heavy work preceding igher

Quarrymen rs opened the shaf by hammerng the porous rock wh heavy mauls.

They hen removed he shaered pieces wih

chises and adzes A such heavyduy oos

were provided by he sae and rigorousy

Hammers and chisels

used in the construc

tion of royal tombs.

Photo: ]. Hyde

Detail from the east

side of the south wall

of the upper corridor

showing uncorrected

overlapping paint



30

accounted for. Tailngs from the cung

were dumped rght ouside the tomb, a

convenient but untidy pactice. Howeve

ths cusom had at leas one happy consequence. he enrance o he omb of

Tutankhamun was bured beneah an

avalanche of ock from the excavation of

Rameses VI'

S omb. Had t not been the

boy king's omb migh have been found

and ooed ong ago.

As work pogressed no the selected

hlsde an army of asans followed at the

quarymens hees. Masons rough-leveled

the wals using a bonng rod (a pimve

sighng gauge consisng of wo at ods

conneced by wine) and ensured ha wals

wee vertica by means of a pumb bob.

Impefections such as nt nodules wee

ether le n place o emoved as the sua

on waanted. Any arge holes o weak

pockets of ock were plugged wh moa

made of cushed lmestone and gypsum.

Smoothlevelng was probably achieved by

abrason Once ths stage was compete the

wals were prmed wh a gypsum washWth he was prepaed appence

draftsmen could begn drawing boh illus

ration and ex. Woking rst n red, hey

ouned heogyphic ex and mages tha

were subsequently corected and adjused

n back by maste daftsmen exactly

the reverse of the Westen atsc custom.

Guided by these outnes sculpos then

caved and scoured away the backgound

so tha the designs stood ou n relef.

Panters and varnishes came las,carefuly paning ove he carved desgn,

someimes makng inspred devations

that mpoved upon the composition.

Details too ne to execute n rock o

HOUSE OF ETERN

plaser wee liberaly suppied in pan.

The compleely selfassured brushwok o

these artists has given a fresh and sponta

neous effect o many scenes throughout T heban necropols.

Some ombs wee construced in

distinc sages wth ong inevas bewee

successive ades plyng the cafs. Ye

when me was short as it ikely was in

he case of Nefeta thee s eason

o beleve tha quarymen plastees out

lne dasmen, carvers and paners al

worked at he same time. Unde hese

condions pas of the omb wee com

peted from he insde ou he squads

of wokmen evenualy nshng up back

at the entrance whee hey began.

Wokers seem to have maintaned

"et and "ight cews each performng

two fou-hou shfts a day. A ngh, hey

camped out n huts mdway beween the

tomb and the vlage on a idge beneah

he peak of Qurna. her "weeks lased

en days, eigh days of abor and wo days

off back in he vilageBesdes he ools povided by the

sae oher materas and suppes had to

be brough daiy o the site Food and

waer wee essena to susan the men; b

wate was also equred fo panting and

pasteng. Ctcal ghting was povded

shalow poery sauces hat buned o or

anmal fat mxed with sa o educe smok

Wicks fo hese amps wee made of wist

ax and were suppled by the state. Lke

he tools these wcks were sctly aone



Ceiling detail showg

back uderpaiig.

TOMB PAINS AND AERALS

Paints used in efertari's

tomb consisted of pig

ment for color, water to

make the pant Aow and

gum to bind it to the

surface of the wall The

Egytan palete was

limited to vvid pimary

coors. Only a handful

of wods for these colors

existed, and none cap

tured the nuances

between shades of the

same hue

Egyptian pigments

were mineaL not

organic Earth colors

reds and yellows - were

made from burnt umber,

cooked iron oxide. Shades

of ed esulted from trace

amounts of manganese

while yellow was pre

paed from a hydrated

ion oxde or oce Bues

and greens wee com

pounded from natural

copper ores: malachite or

aurite Occasionaly

these ores were cooked

with calcium and quartz

or other forms of siica

producing a glass that

was then puveized

lue and green pig

ments tended not to

adhere well to the wall

surface and consequently

show more damage today

he black in Nefertaris

tomb was powdered char

coa It too could be eas

iy brushed off Whites

wee made of chalk (cal

cium carbonate) or gyp

sum cacium sulphide)

or some blend of the two

The binder was gum

arabic deived from the

local acacia tree Unke

egg tempera, which

becomes insolube over

time, gum arabic can

redissolve under certain

conditions and is dam

aged by utra violet radia

tion Thus if the paint

in Nefertari's tomb were

to ecome damp enough

t could "Aow

Surface coatings in

the tomb consist of tree

resin and egg wte

albumen) Employed

chieAy as a glae on red

and yellow areas, they

enhance the bilance of

the coor beneath ut

since resin and album

have always been read

available, no one now

these coatings are orig

nal or if not when th

wee apped

Detail of mpasto pai/







Workmen excavating

in the Theban

necropolis during the

expedition of the

Italian Archaeological

Mission led by Ernesto

Schiaparelli in

Photo: Courtesy f the

Mueo Egiz. T;'l

Previous page:The community of

the phaoh's tomb

builders at Deir

el-Medineh.

Photo: C Lebnc

Their simple homeswere made of lime stone and int.

Each house had an entryway leading

to a ivng room, whch was often provded

with a bu-in sleepng couch. This was the

only piece of xed furnture. Behnd were

a ny room and an unroofed kichen, wih

oven and sos beyond Sairs made of a

notched pam runk ed o he roo, usedfor sorage and seeping in hot weaher.

Some houses also had a iny storage cellar

beneath the ivng room loor

HOUSE OF ETER

The communty was founded early

he Eighteenth Dynasy by Thutmoses I

he rs pharaoh o dg a sepulcher in the

Vaey of the Kngs The setlemen grew,but no steady The Amaa perod wh

the court was residen n middle Egyp,

coud not have been a prosperous tme fo

the village Bu t was reinvgorated and

reorganized during he reign of Horemhe

who enclosed he settement and organz

he workmen ino crews. Under Rameses

he communy conssed of perhaps 48

men and her famies bu reached s

enth in the reign of Rameses IV, when

populaion peaked at about 20 familes.

Much of what we know of he vag

comes from tens of thousands of inscrbe

imesone akes on which the workmen

recorded her day affairs These the

paper of ancent Egyp, summarze impo

tan maers such as law suts and divne

oraces Bu they are also led wih the

mundane. They chroncle the revctuain

of the vilage, tell us when he men were

sck or shiless, speak of marital probemand hin at drunkenness hey describe

what other jobs the workmen performed

and wha hey dd on holdays feas days

and occasonal days off. We can even

reconsruct he geneaogies and fortunes

of thrteen famiies and so form a pcure

of ife n a community that enoyed wor

rayer, and leisure

The workmen spent her enire

careers as prvileged sae employees. Wh

no diggng in the necropols hey stayedthe communty and when he y died, hey

were buried n tombs of ther own makin

n he hilside us opposie the vilage. Tw

of these were dscovered intac wth her

ful complement of funerary equpment:

he omb of Sennedem n 1885 and hat o

Kha n 906.



TH OM ULDRS'

VLAG

The men of the community were

known as "servos n e place of ru, a

reference o e royal tombs in the Valey

of the Kngs. The men were organized inoeams known as "gangs, modeled aer a

sip's crew. The mos mpotan members

of the communy were e foemen of te

gangs, folowed cosely by te scrbes. The

foreman functoned as cief of works and

ad a depuy o dstibue tools and colect

tem agan at te end of eac shit. The

scbe functoned as decto of peson nel,

recording wokers' attendance and cacu

laing their pay

Orignaly, these village capains wereapponted by the vzer, the kings cef

miniser. Bu in e Ramessde age, the

postons became ereditary; dynasties of

scrbes and foremen over ve and sx gen

erations were no uncommon.

Te men wee taned as stone

masons, draftsmen, carvers, carpentes,

and paines, all skls acqued from

faters and passed down o sons Wages

varied accodng o ank bu everyonewas pad in kind: grain, oi, and bee drawn

from stae storeouses. Suppementing

tese wee dsbursemens of sh, vegta

bles, water, pottery, and fue.

Estmaes of he value of wages sug

ges that he wokmen had enoug left

ove to bate fo duable goods o luxury

tems not readily avaiabe insde teir

compound. Tey even underook contact

wok on eac oter's ombs, elped out on

sae projects outside e necopois, andpehaps invested some fee ime n prvate

proects not sanctioned by te state. It is

conceivabe hat some of ese men worked

on te Tombs of e Nobes, not fa away

Wih e workmen spendng mos

of their time on stae-funded proecs o

engaged n occasional "feeance work,

tey ad o ey on a staff of water carries,

fue porters, vicualers, and povisioners

of al sos o supply many of thei essen

tal needs

Afe epeaed aacks by bandis

sweepng down out of te wesern desert,

Der elMedineh was abandoned in eeary Twentyrst Dynasy (1070-945

BCE) The communiy of wokmen was

eocated o te safety of Medne Habu,

te moruary tempe of Rameses III.

n any even, the ndusty of royal

tomb consructon was now a te more

ealy a dyng business Tombs mig ye

be constuced for e Theban piestood,

but the kngs of the Twentyrst Dynasy,

wo resided in disan Tanis, preferred

bua n he temple enclosure ere raeran n Thebes with is halowed vaeys

of the kings and queens.

Recently restored

dwellings of the wo

men in the Valley o

the Queens.

Photo: A Si/ioi

Example of limesto

akes inscribed wi

daily events in the

workmen's lives.

o f. Hyde







A piece of embossed

gold foil bearing

Nefertari's name andan epithet "true of

voice discovered in

1988 by one of the

tombs conservators.

Previous page:

The upper west wall of

Chamber C Nefertari,

masked and mummi

ed lies on a bier with

the goddesses Nephthys

and Isis in their kite

form at her head and

feet Next to Nephthys

is the benu bird asso

ciated with resurrec

tion Beside Isis is a

water god symbolizing

abundance of years

several severe economic depre

sions, brought on in part by thloss of gold mines and deteriorating relation

wth alles in the ear Eas For an econo

based on precious metal, the loss of he

mines amouned to a nancial caastrop

Si-down srkes by the necroolis

workers n Thebes occurred n he went

ninth year o Rameses III (about 1165 B.C.

Workmen lad down her toos and

marched to the Ramesseum, the mortua

temple o Rameses he Great, seekng ba

wages. he dispued payments consistedmosly of gran and ol, whch he workm

had ample reason to believe were seques

ered in huge mudbrick storehouses tha

oday stll sand behind the tempe_ Des

assurances rom government ocias,

he back wages dd no maerialize unti

he workmen caled a second srke one

involving their wives and chldren



AFTER NEFERTAR'

S BURAL

Not surprisingly unde such circum

stances, a coage ndusry in omb robbey

aose. Apart from s sprual function,

the necopos was a vas teasure trove of lquid wealh just wating o be plaged

Al one had to do was muser he couage

to beak no a tomb and sip he mummes

of hei god and jewels

The suaion became acute during

the eign of Rameses IX 1125-107 B.CE.)

In he sxeenh yea of hs eign, thee was

a rash of omb obbeies Cour proceed

ngs peserve he estimony of people who

knew about o had partcpaed in the

lootng Chages were hurled against locaofcas and even the mayor of western

Thebes who were accused of connving

with workmen to ob tombs.

A generation lae, the suation had

grown even worse The Theban priess of

the wenty-s Dynasy 70-94 BCE

wee so aamed tha hey gatheed what

eve oya mummies hey coud ocate and

secured them in paces of safety Two

such caches have been dscovered, one nhe tomb of Amenhoep n the Valley of

he Kngs, and a second n an Eeventh

Dynasy tomb belongng to a minor queen

named In-hapy

Nethe sign nor mention of

Nefetai's mummy has been found apat

fom some telae fagments of he

remains, discoveed by Schiapaeli n 1904

Consdering he exreme vuneability of

he ombs n the Valey of the Queens, it

seems key that Nefeta's tomb wasrobbed as long ago as 109 BC.E.; ye no

one can know what ook place insde he

tomb for some hree thousand yeas

Iaddon to he mummy fagmens,

Schapaell discovered hat the omb still

hed pieces of the queen's rose gane

sarcophagus, hrtyfou sevant gurnes

(ushabtis, beieved o be essential for he

deceased o become an Oss), several lage

gazed earhenwae vases, and an enameknob bearng the name of King Ay.

[n 1904 some items of he queen's

pesona ewelry appeaed on he anqui

ties maket in Luxo and wee purchased by

the Museum of Fine Ars, Boson These

ncuded a arge paque of gded sver, a

sma plaque made of embossed sheet god,

a gded bonze pendan in he shape of a

ily, and fou sevant gurines Athough

he exact orgn of hs ewey s unknown,

there s every eason to suppose t was partof he queen's bura equpment

Astonshngly, n 988 whe trying o

eaach a secton of wal pase, one of the

tombs consevatos dscoveed a pece of

embossed gold fo. The ornament boe

Nefetas name and he epihet "ue of

voice. The e is a cusomay designation

for a deceased peson and a stong ndica

o that he bracelet was made expressly

for he geat queen's bua.

Neferr' ndl

were mong e few

ojec ecpedloong Photo:] Hyd







42

A conservator work

ing on the south wall

of Recess E in 988.

Opposite:

The goddess Isis in

Recess , north wall,

showing a few of the

nearly ten thousand

Japanese mulberry

bark papr bandages

used to hold loose

fragments in place

during emergency

conseration.

Preious page

Removing ground

dust during site

preparation in 1988

in Chamber Q.

tomb's 520 squaremEte�s of originalpaIntngs and hieroglyphic

decoaton, at east twenty pecent has

competely vanished.

Since ts discovey in 0 the

achaeooica community has known of the perils facng the tomb and ts matchess

decoation Even Schiapael had to pe

fom emegency consoldaton on sectons

of wal paintings during hs inta suvey

Yet despite his and others' efforts to sove

some of the tombs most tenacious pob

lems, the deteoaton continued, much of

it the result of carelessness by vsitos.

Wth ths n mnd, n 5 the

Egyptan Antiqutes Organzation EAO -

renamed the Egyptian Supeme Councl of Antqutes n - and the Getty

Consevaton Insttute (GCI ) began dscus

sons to see how the tombs pantings

might be consoldated and ceaned, and

furthe deteoation arrested o at

east sowed A jont EAO-GC poect was

establshed n 6

HUS F TRN

Initia pans caled for a full years

anaysis of the tombs geoogcal, hydolo

cal, clmatc, and mcrobal problems, as

wel as exhaustive testng of paste, pgments, and other mateals Pemnay

resuts conmed suspcons that the pri

mary cupt esponsibe fo the deterora

tion was sat. The lmestone of the tomb

and the mud paste coatng wth which

the wals had been nshed wee affected

by mosture As a esut, mnute amounts

of sodum chlode dormant n the me

stone and plaster were dssoving Once

mobiized, ths salt-aden moistue seeped

to the suface of the wal There the mos

tue evaporated, eavng the sat behnd, a

cystas ether within the paster or as a

cust upon the pant.

Salt cystals odged between the lm

stone and the paste can detach entie

sheets of paster Smaler cystas withn

the paste ayes can splt whoe ayes of

the panted suface Th� crust on the pan

itself can a too easy be bushed away,

and wth it a good dea of pgnent Anyncease in mosture withn the tomb

or sustaned hgh humdty wl affect the

plaster and pantng adversely

he basic problem has been too

much moisture from fou souces: water

used in the oginal peparaton of paste

and pant; oodng va the tomb entance

seepage though the poous imestone

and wate vapor, ntoduced mainy by

modern-day visitors.

Foodng has been a constant ris.The ancient dam at the head of the vaey

gorge poves how seously Necopos

ofcials too this threat. Thc layes of

wate-transported debrs in the Vaey of

the Kings and the Valey of the Queens

have been dated fom the Nneteenth

Dynasty and testy to seous loodng in

ancient tmes





c mb s

pd publc

sm 150 vsrs dy

c spd mus

sd mb

Photo: in Maekawa

Schiaparel's account of hs openng

he omb menions extensve debrs on he

chambe oors, presumably ushed in by

som waer. In 9 majo oodng in theVaey of he Kngs damaged the tomb of

Rameses II, leavng it choked wh rubbe.

As eceny as Novembe 99 a modest

showe n wesern Thebes became a torren

sweeping though he Valey of he Kings

Curen estmaes predic serious oodng

abou once evey three hunded yeas

In addiion o al this, an ancien

earhquake factured the oof of Nefetais

omb, openng iny ssures tha have

since permted he inraion of surace

water In fac, apat from people nside

he omb, the pincpa hstoic mechansm

for accumulaion of water has been he

sow seeping o mostue though hese s

sues and the pores of he bedrock.

Emergency conservaton wok under

taken n 987 equed the temporay

placement of neay en thousand smal

bandages o Japanese mulbery bak pape

o secue oose bits o decoraion Beginnng in 988 he acual teament program

was carred ou by a team o Ialan,

Egypian, and Engish consevaos led by

Poessors Paolo and Laua Mora, wh

moe than our decades expeence n he

consevaion o wal painngs Gudng

al heir eors was a deermnaton o keep

ntevenons o a mnimum and o use

ony eversible methods and maeials

he goal was to clean and stabilze, not

esoe, the tomb pantings; no in-paintngook place

Workng under difcult condtons,

the Moas and ther team pansakngy

consoidated akng and chakng pant with

acrylc soluons, and reattached loose and

cumbling plaster by means o a special

morar made from loca sand and gypsum

The na sage of wok, cared out

HOUSE OF ETERN

beween 99 and 992 nvolved cleaning

he painings wih solvens ha did not

affect the pigments or gum aabc bindin

maerahis wok ook moe han sx years

to compete. A photogaphc recod of al

phases o the work om anayss o

consoidaton o ceanng was compe

beween Sepember 986 and Apr 992.

Moe than seven thousand mages, conss

ng of 3 milimeer and 4 x inch coo

ranspaencies, povide a compete archv

recod of the tomb and are he pincipal

resource fo scholas wishing to study t

Alhough the tomb became a avoi

ouris desnaton almost as soon as it w

dscovered, i was more ofen shu han

open Beween he eay 97S and 99, t

tomb was cosed o al bu speciaists and

occasiona s Wih he 992 compleio

o consoidaton and ceanng, pessue t

reopen Neerars omb gew damatcal

But hree more yeas of scienic mono

ing o he omb envonment in an un

disurbed sae were needed to esablshbase levels fo uure monoring

In November 99 he decsion was

made by he auhories o open he omb

to the public Now some vsios mov

though the sie every day, each alowed

to spend ten minutes insde the tomb.

Montoring has shown ha a single indiv

dual exhales and pespes between one

hal and wo cups of wate pe hou as w

as cabon doxde So evey day between

ve and tweny ters of water are depositn he omb. Ths mostue mus go some

where What is no eabsobed by people

cothng or exracted by he ventaion

system s sucked up by the plaster and pa

o the tomb

Humidity wihin the tomb can cm

to dangerous levels vey rapidly Especia

duing the summe, when humdy tend







�J



Previous page:

The center section of

two parallel scenes

that occupy the eastwall of Chamber C.

Osiris, on the left is

in mummied form

and wears the twin

plumed crown. A huge

fan separates him

from the god Atum in

human form and

wearing the double

crowns of Upper and

Lower Egypt.

Opposite

Kheperi the beetle

headed god of the

moing sun on the

east wall of Recess E.

or another. Themost inluential and

enduring of thesestories related how Atum,

the creato god, emerged from the eceding

waters of the primeval ocean (pesoned

by the god Nun) to squat atop a smal

mound. Whe perched upon ths emnence,

he engendered by masturbaton both ar/

ight and moistue Air/lght was repre

sented as mae, the god Shu; moistue as

female, the goddess Tefnut. From ths

brother-siste pair spang the next genea

ton: earth, personied by the god Geband sky, pesoned by the goddess Nut.

They in tun poduced four divine off

spng, agan gouped nto two pas of

sstebrother deities Iss and Osiis,

Nephthys and Seth.

These nine gods gured prominenty

n Nefertai's tomb. Ther traditional home

was Helopols, the Cty of the Sun, near

moden Cao. Ths Helopoitan divne

famy provded a theoogcal bass fo

the ceation of the physcal word and em

bodied truths about Egyptan society and

attitudes towad lfe and death. Impict

n the scheme were such fundamenta

oppositions as eath and sky, female and

mae, oder and chaos, good and evil Even

the potenta for integeneratonal conlct

exsted Atum represented selfrenewing

force drawn fom the sun, whle Oss ep

esented the nevtabilty of physcal decay

At least as ealy as the Old Kingdom,the sola dety Re was worshiped at

Helopolis Eary on, Re' and Atum wee

fused nto Re Atum, a composte dety

sharng attrbutes of both Manifest in the

ate aernoon sun, Re' Atum was the

matue o setting sun

HOUSE OF ETERNI

Another veson of Re, the monng

or nascent sun, was Khepe, a beetle

headed god often protrayed n royal tombs

as a scarab beete issuing at daybreak fromthe vulva of the goddess Nut The intense

noonday sun was the falconheaded god,

Re'Hoakhty. Tempes to al these foms o

Re' existed at Helopos ten dung the

Ramesside peod alone.

The chef sun symbols were the

phoenix bd o heron (the benu bird, the

suns disk (the aten), and the obeisk

(the benben stone. These appear repeat

edly n the tomb of Nefetai, "for whom

the sun shines.The second and thid geneaton of

Helopolitan gods symbolzed the natura

word and its basic consttuents eath,

air, sky But the fouth geneaton related

decty to human beings and human

reations The institution of kingshp was

symbozed n the peson of Osirs, the

orgna earthly king Human strfe

emeged in the conlct between hm and

hs bother Seth. Their stuggle was the

subject of many gyptian myths and was

seen as the endless batte of good aganst

ev, truth against fasehood.

This conct pays out in funerary

rtes too The dead needed to dent wth

Osiis, the ultmate model fo their sal

vaton and a potecton aganst Seth, who

epesented hostle, chaotc forces that

mperied a souls transformation nto an

effective, etenal spirt.

The most compete account of Osirs and the cyce of stores associated

with hm comes fom De Isis et Osiris,

by Plutarch, the Geek bogaphe and

hstoian. This tae tells how Seth ked

Osis, eithe by downng o by dis

membement, and dispesed hs body

pats throughout Egypt.





The west wall of

Chamber G. The god

desses Nephthys and

Isis ank a ramheaded mummied

gre. The text on the

le reads: "1t is Osiris

who sets as Re'," whiLe

the right-hand text

declares: "1t is Re

who sets as Osiris

ths impying the

nion of the two gods.



THE KIN G OF HE DAD AND HS DVNE FAMLY

Fearing her wicked brother Seth, Isis

ook sanctuary in he Nile Deta marshes

wih her infant son Hors. Durng his

me of exe, Horus aced as hs moher'sspport and proector (Iunmutef: he plar

of his mother) Isis, togeher wh her sister

Nephhys, eventuay reassembled her

brother/hsband's body, preservng it from

decay. n time, Osiris was reanmated

Mos ofen, Osirs was depiced as a

mmmy wearing eiher the whie crown of

Upper Egyp or an elaborate variaon with

twn pumes on ether sde (the ate!). The

god was swahed n nen bandages, ebows

akimbo, bandage-wrapped hands crossedover hs breast He held a crook n his right

hand and a al in hs eft As hs hands

were crossed, these rega emblems rested

on opposte sholders

Osiris' face, he only exposed par

of his body, was ofen green, an explici

evocation of vegea fe and s annal

renewal New Kngdom prvae tombs oen

had "Osrs beds gauze frames n the

outne of Osiris wih seeds strewn on

them o sprout in he darkness of the omb

a convncng demonsraion of renewa

and rebrh

Al Egyptians hoped to become

an "Osraned being Bu hat depended

on passing he judgment of Osiris, a

scene llstraed countless mes n ombs

and fnerary papyri, chiey from the

New Kngdom

The deceased is ushered into he

udgmen ha, usay by Maat, the goddess of cosmic order and rth Osrs sts

in roya majesty accompaned by Iss, hs

consort. In the center of the room looms

an enormos baance beam In one pan s

he hear of he deceased; in the other,

Ma'at's Feather of Trth Thoth, he ibis

headed god of writng, sands ready o

record the reslt of this ral Cose by, a

erce demon, he grea swalower, is

poised o devor he hears of hose who

fai he est

Throgho her tomb, Nefertar is

consstently referred to as "the Osirs, so

conrming her successf compeon of

his crucia step in her qes for mmortality

The djd pillar

became a symbol

the backbone of

Osiis. This one, iChamber M, is

equippe with tw

human arms hol

was scepters an

with ankh signs

aoun the wrists



52

l lp g, pp

f f Pll I f f g p

T g wll f g

Dv. C c

Akeru a lion-headed

earth god associated

with te eastern

orizon and emorning sun

Amun te preemi

nent god of Egypt

from te Middle

Kingdom onward,

wose ome was

Karnak Temple in

ebes

Ate te ancient

Egyptian designaion

for te sun disk,

wic, personified

was worsiped as te

geat deity of creation

by the parao

Akenaten

Atum originaly a

sun god worsiped a

Heiopols; regarded

as a potective deiyassociaed wit te

rituals of kingsip

Edjo te tuteary

goddess of Lower

Egypt e cult cener

was located in e

Deta city of Buto.

Se was repesened

as a cobra

Hathor a goddess of

many functions and

attributes wo was

often sown eiter

wit a cow ead or as

a woman wi cow's

ears and orns Kown

as e "Golden One

se was said to sckle

paraos and was

later identified by te

Greeks wit Aprodie

Horus a falcon deiy

originaly worsiped

as a sky god. Late

identified wit te

reigning paao and

regarded as te son of

Isis and Osiris

Isis te wife of Osiris

and moter of Horus

Te cief potectorgoddess assimiating

to erself many of

te attribues of

Hato and eventu

ally becoming an

exremely popular

Egyptian deity duing

te Roman imperia

period

Ma'at called te

daugter of Re. A

goddess personifying

trut justice, and te

divine order of te

univese and peset

at the judgment o

the dead Usually po

trayed weaing a

feater atop er ead

Mut te wife of te

state god Amun. e

principal cult centewas te souternmo

of e ree precinc

at Kanak. Se was

repesented eiter a

vulture o as a wom

Neit a creator

goddess of antiquit

symbolized wit a

sield and arrows

Ofen sown wearin

te red crown of Lo

Egyp

Nekhbet a goddes

wo someimes

appears as a vtur

ad er cult cene

Elkab, sout of Luxo



DVNE GUDANCE

where she was, from

very early times, wor

shiped as te tutelary

deity of Upper Egypt

Nephthys the sister

of Iss who came to

represent mourning n

genera because of her

lamentations at the

death of the god Osiris

Nut the sky goddess

who was thought to

swallow the setting

sun Re' every evening,

and give birt to him

each mornng

Osiris the husband of

sis dismembered by

Seth his evi brothe

Osiris was reassem

bled by his wfe sis

and posthumously

conceived hs son and

successor, Horus. Forthese reasons, he was

considered to be the

god of the underworld

and offered the hope

of resurrection

tah the creator god

of Memphis a site

ocated to the south

west of modern Caro.

Represented as a

mummy and later

equated by the Greeks

with ther god

Hephaestus

Re' like Atum, a mani

festation of the sun

god of Heliopolis.

Often inked to otherdeities such as Amun,

in cuts aspiring to

universalty

Re-Hoakhty a god

in the form of a falcon

whose name Horus

of the Two Horizons,

represents the unon of

Re' and Horus as a uni

versa soar dety

Thoth the gyptian

god of wsdom and

wrting often depicted

as an bs-headed mae

figure to whom scribes

traditonally addressed

a prayer before begin

ning ther work

Osiris, in mummied

form on the eas face

of Pillar III in he

sarcophagus chamber.



Jl _





K

HOUSE OF ETERN

Previous spread:

The illustration of

Chapter 148 from

Book of the Deadoccupies the entire

south wall of Cha

G. In front of each

of the seven cows

the bull are oerin

of vegetables, milk

and bread.

The entrane to

the tomb at the tim

of its discovery by

Shiaparelli in 190

Photo: Courtesy f heMe Egiz. Ti



A WALK THROUGH THE "HOUS OF RNIY

Descent and Entrance

A ight of eighteen seps with cenral

slipway eads down from the gae to he

tomb enrance. Ths rs starway s

undecoraed, bu the do or jambs and nedeni he tomb as Nefertari's

The ext on the lef jamb is nearly

oblieraed; but he one on he right may

si be read: "Heredary nobewoman;

grea of favors; possessor of charm, sweet

ness, and ove; mistress of Upper and

Lower Egypt; the Osirs; the king's great

wife mstress of the wo lands, Nefertar,

beoved of Mu, revered before Osirs

The line bears fan races of the setng

sun lanked by wo oudjat eyes and car

touches of he queen surmouned with he

doube plume

To he eft, the door thickness is

bady damaged Bu the gure of Nekhbe,

the vuture goddess of pper Egyp, can

be made out, together wih her name

Her utterance - hat she has given life to

Nefertar - has a bu vanished On the

right reveal are equaly fragmentary races

of Edjo, the cobra goddess of ower Egyp.

he pairing of these two detes expresses

he divson of Egyp no norhern and

southern kngdoms, unied by Kng Menes

in the dstant pas Athough largey sym

boc there may have been some hstorca

foundaion o ths separaton.

The trapezods formed between the

slopng roof and the upper margn of he

scenes are led wh coled and wnged

serpents who confer fe and dominon on

he queen. The door soft carres a represenaton of he sun seing behind a sand

hil and anked by wo ktes, brds whose

shrl cries reca mournng women

The left brd wears the emblem of

Isis, he righ that of Nephthys. The setng

sun signals that we have entered the

nghime ream of he dead, who are

accompaned by Isis and Nephthys, sisers

of Osiris, kng of the netherworld

X MB

Since Nefeta

was no a sov

eegn, he

choce of texs

tha couldappear n her

omb was

estcted. The

archtecs and

pess who

deemned he

decoratve pro

gam chose

selectons om

chaptes of he

Book of the

Dead

Tes in the Book of

the Dead evolved fom

ueances hat st

appeaed in the Sixh

Dynasy pyramds of the

Old Kngdom and were

furher elaboraed n

cofn es dung he

Midde Kngdom

Caled by the

Egypans "The Book of

he omng Forh by

Day the Book of he

Dead conssed of neaywo hunded ueances

nended o hep guide

he dead on hei jou

neys no the beyond.

These es or spells,

expressed the aspaons

of ordnary Egyptans o

oush n he nethe

wold and on he com

muniy of mpeshable

sps o al he exts

n the book had o be

acually nscbed o be

effeciveWell-nown chaptes

of he Book o the Dead

ncluded he canopc

formula for proecton of

he vscea (Chaper 151);

he hea scaab text to

esan he hear fom

beaing wness aganst

he deceased Chapte

30); a fomua fo the

servan gurnes called

Llshabtis, who oled n

place of he dead,

pefoming specc,

laboious asks in the

heeafe Chapte 6

and he negave confe

son, n whch he dead

professed o have doneno ham to wdows,

chldren, o hei fello

men Chape12).

Inscbed n he o

of eferar are poro

of Chapes 1794,144

146 and 148

oudjat literally. he ea

eye

cartouche on Egypan

monumets, an ova o

oblog fige cotaig

ame of a rler or dety

tkness he sde of an

oenng a wa h a

doo o wdow

eveal te jamb of a doo

o widow; te hckness

te door frame

soffit he oizoa ow

edge of a TOof o he d

side of a moldg at pr

jects alog te top of a w

the inside sfae of a va

o a arc



58

senet from the ancientEgyptian verb meaning to

pass [someone o some thingj,the word is appled toa boad game consisting oftiy squares wth movablegaming pieces ancentlytemed the dancers. Incetain fneray contexts,the deceased is epresented

playng this game aoneHis/he nseen opponentsymbolizes Fate who mst bedeeated in oder to ganmmotality in the ereate

ba in Egyptian mythologyte so, symbolzed bya bid wt a human ead;that part of the soul fee toleave the tomb tempoaiy

khm powerul, to avepower

HOUSE OF ETERNI

Chamber C

Within he omb tself the rst chambe i

nealy square (5 x 5,2 metes) with a ock

cu tabe along s west and nort sdes,

Scenes on the ight-hand side of hs oomrelate o the recesses and chambe beyond

On the le oweve te inscrpon and

vgnettes ae dawn excusivey fom

Chapter 7 of he Book of the Dead.'

Tis capte asses te identty of

he gods Re and Atum a theologcal equa

on dang at eas to he Od Kngdom,

On a deepe eve s theme s te transo

maton of the queen no an efecve ben

in he aterie one wo w join he com

pany of Osis. Her ablity to do so depend

less on any speca knowledge tha she

may possess an on te text se suc

ured as a sees of questons and esponse

Chapte 17 s one of the onges and odes

spes n te Book of he Dead2

In the lustaons on e south wal

the queen is shown n tree of her difeen

transformations: st paying senet nex

as a ba; and nally adorng a compose



A WALK TROUG E OUSE OF EERNIY"

lion-headed god. The rst two transforma

tons are explictly mentioned n the open

ng of Chapter 17. On the e Nefertar

sts on a hghbacked char restng on areed mat the gaming table before her The

entire scene is framed within a sheter

made of reeds The queen is dressed in a

sheer white gown reachng to her sandas

and wears a vultureheaded cap or head

dress In her right hand is a sekhem scepter

and wth her eft she is just about to move a

senet pece. The rest of the space s led

with her name and ttles.

The next vgnette shows the queen as

a ba bird perched atop a ow shrne. The

ba the moble porton of Nefertar's soul

s free to leave the tomb temporariy The

gure of the kneeng queen her hands

raised in adoration, seems curousy placed

untl we reaze that t s meant to address

the twin-headed on god the earth god

Akeru on the west wal

Akeru s actuay a compex of

mages: the sun rsing above the horizon

and the sky above are integral to thsmage. It is meant to nvoke the mornng

sun a recurrent metaphor for rebirth in

Egyptan art Al three gures on the south

wall are payng homage to ths composite

gure Akeru.

The sene scene, the ba, and kneeing

gure were frequenty shown together n

contemporary funerary papyr Here how

ever, the archtecture of the tomb required

that this scene be folded at the corner.

Opposite:

The illstratio on the

south wall oJ Chamber

C shows NeJertari in

three transJormations

playig the board game

senet; as the human

headed ba bird; kneel

ig i adoratio.

Detail Jrom Chamber

C, south wall. The ba

bird representing the

sou was Jree to

travel outside the

tomb during the da.

1 In funerary papyri, text

� d ilustratio are ite-Q gred i oe log co tiuous roll but here theH rsts seprated imge0 nd ex, pcing llustr� tios i the upper regis-00 ter nd words in heC

middle. The orrespo

dene between the two is

thereore iterrued

a i few stces

not lose at l

2 The itroductory

hapter heag s co

aie i the rst ie

olums d sucictl

summarizes its overl

tet t reas:

Begiig o the praiead reittio to omeorth ad go dW ito heNecropoli, to be irital-ized i he BeauilVet

Ihe cO/ig orth by dn

order to asume the or

amog y orm he (wihe, plyig seet ittig i the bOOh COig orth a a liig ba

te iri, the kig' grwie iSre o he tw

lad Neerari bloo Mt jtied ate h

(i died. I i ftiv

do S o erth, o Ih

happe etirely ccorto itrctio"

The use of masul

roous referece

he quee suggests the

pyst ls s oe

trtio from time to

time a atural eoug

respose ge that h

funery hoors ccor

Nefertr were highly

uusu or wom



benu the heron. o ibis

a wading bird indigenous to

the Nile wth long legs ad

a long. seder cved bill

reus a composite of

etters sigs objects et c

tat combe to sggest

hases or words

she a g or a rotective

eclosre such as the ca

toche srronding a royal

name

cavetto a modg having

a concave crve of abot

inety degrees

gd, i d

d w

l iig

oudjat y

li l

R D.

On the west wal are a half dozen

vignettes_ Next to the image of the eath

god, thee is an especially effective image

a heon o benu, a bid with phoenix-ike

qualities, oen labeled as the soul of Re'.

The central image of this egiste a

kiosk shetering a mummy on a ion

headed bie, sounds a distincty funeary

note. The white mummy shell is bound

with ed inen bands, and a funeal mask

covers the mummys head A canopy of

bead wok is stetched over it but appeaas a backdrop The kites have taken up th

customay positions as sentinels: Nephth

at the head, and Isis at the foot

The kneeing god to the ight is a

wate god, shown dak-skinned with pen

duous beasts His left hand is poised

on an ova containing a styized falcon ey

This gouping is a rebus fo shen and

oudjat two hieogyphic tokens for po

tection and health. With his right hand,

the water god holds a notched palmib, symbolizing abundance of yeas, pe

sumably his gi to Nefetai

The folowing two vignettes and tex

ae seiously degaded Only taces suvi

of a standing gure, facing right. In the

funeay papyi, he is caled "the geat

geen, possibly a eference to fecundity.



The nal custer of images on ths

wa shows a a-roofed shrne wh cavetto

conce and a scene nvovng a seated,

faconheaded god. Beyond s a fan sug

gestion of anothe oudjat eye. extua

efeences o hese mages appea on he

noth wall of he oom.

From lef to ight, the ex of Chapte

connues to scol s way aong the

noh wa, endng at he et doo jamb

tha maks the descent o he bural cha

ber The vgnetes in he uppe egiste dono corespond to he exts beneah

Much-ravaged a the eft hand s he

mage of a eclnng cow, he Ceestia Cow.

She s folowed by a symetcal gouping

of he sons of Horus, n pas on ether sde

of a wooden shne Wihin he shne is an

mage of Anubis, depcted as a ecumbent

jacka

Facng this custer are wo seated

mumform gues, one falconheaded,

the othe human. The rst s ley Re', thesecond, Shu, he divne fom of igh and

air Al hese ustrations coordnate with

poons of Chapte , but ther posion

n he funeary papyr can vary greay

The sone able ha runs along he

noth and wes sectons of Chambe C has

a semccular moding and caveo cornice

wih aenating bands panted edbue-

greenblue aganst a whte bacgound.

The tabe was pobaby desgned to hold

funeary equpment destned fo he cee

baon of he cut of the dead ueen

Aong the tabes front, nches have been

holowed out, three on the west and two on

the norh, eavng wha seem to be stou

pers o hold t up. hese al cay he

queens tle: kngs geat wfe Nefeai,

beoved of Mut."

The bacs of he nches are pained

o resemble hee round-topped, woodenshines, not unike a le coffer found in

he omb cearance and now n Tun

Possbly s pace was unde hs tabe, in

one of he nches. On the le nne face of

the norhen niche, west sde, s a docke

recording a deivey of paste o he

ght" and le" gangs of workmen who

excavaed ths omb The text aound the

edge of he able s Osirs declaraton

of hs nent o povide Nefea a pace

n hs eal and in he dvne assemby, aswel as o gve her the appearance of he

fathe, Re

In he mdde of the north wal, the

decoraon beaks The oienaon of

he gures aes this cear. On he eas side,

we see ve gures facng rgh The fou

farthest o the eas are the sons of Horus,

geni whose oe is to guard he vscea of

The upper section

of the wet wall of

Chamber C before

conervation illut

ing etion of Cha

17 of the Book of th

Dead. Careful exam

nation of these

ignette-epecia

the heron and the

funeral bier-aor

an ideal chance toobere the balance

maintained betwee

caring and painti





the deceased. From he right, they are

Imsey, a human-headed guardian espon

sible for the ver; he baboon-faced Hapy,

custodan of the lungs; Qebehsenef, hefalcon-headed keepe of the ntestines; and

a canine, Duamuef, who has chage of the

stomach. The scribe mistakenly exchanged

the names of Qebehsenef and uamutef.

Behind them sts an anonymous facon

headed god, perhaps Hous himself.

The pominen pacement of these

gures above he door eading o the lowe

eaches of he omb and the sacophagus

s hooughy appropiate, as he queen's

viscera were stored below, in the tny niche

Opposite:

The north wall of

Chamber C including

the entrance to the

descending corridor.

The ve gures over

the entryway are the

four sons of Horus

whose roles are to

guard the deceased's

viscera The falco-

headed gure to their

le, though unspeci

ed is thought to be

Horus himsel

cut n he west sde of he bural chambe.

Each of hese mnor gods s assgned one of

the cardinal ponts of he compass, and

each associaes with one of fou goddesses sis, Nephthys, Serke, and Neth detes

who appear on the canopic vesses and the

exeror of many cofns.

Reurnng o the entance o Chamber

C, on he easern part of the south wall

(rgh of he entrance), we nd a scene of

Nefetar as a suppican befoe a seated

gue of he mummiform Osiris. The queen

faces nto he omb and Oss out, hus

estabshng he fundamena orentaon of

gues. The gods are, in a sense, already

esdent in the tomb, and so they face ou,

ike hoss geetng a most esteemed guest,

in this case, the queen hersef.

Nefeta has he hands ased in

homage to Osrs. She is robed in a whie

peated garment wth a red sash abou her

wast. s a luxuous garmen, aogethe

ypical of the elaborae fashons of the

Ramesside court s aso the dess of

Detail from north

wall of Chamber C

showing gres ill

trating Chapter 17

the Book of the De

canopic chest in ance

Egypt, a hes wi four

ontaing the mmmifi

iernal organs of te de

Named afte Canop apot in the Nile Dela eas

Aexadia whee ey w

fit ecognized





A WALK THROUG TE"

HOSE OF EENIY

a human being, one who comes from the

pershable world The queen wears her

characterisic headdress: a twin-pumed

vuure cap. She is dented as "he Osiris,king's great wife and mstress of the two

lands, Neferar, beoved of Mu, jusied

before he grea god

The grea god s, of course, Osrs,

who is seaed n a kiosk to he eft The

kosk is topped by a freze of rampan ser

pents (urei) wih sun dsks, resing

on a striped cavetto cornice. Osirs wears

an eaborate crown caled he atef Made

of papyrus, i imaes he bubous whie

crown of Upper Egyp, bu has osrch

plumes afxed to each sde He s swahed

n mummy bandages and clasps the crook,

a oken of kngshp, and he la Hs hands

are crossed over hs ches. The esh of

he god s green, signing his formdabe

powers of rejuvenaton. Between him and

he queen is a narrow table wih mumm

form gures of the four sons of Horus.

Behind Osrs are amuleic devices sgny

ng protecion (sa), life(ankh),

stabliy(djed), and dominon (was).

Opposite:

DetaL from the

outh waLL, eat de

of Chamber C.

Nefertar s standng

n adoraton before

an enthroned Osrs.

The jacka-headed

god Anubs on the

outh de of the eat

wall of Chamber C.

UTe$ via the anciet

Greek wod for tal. ts term

s geeay appied to the

coba wich the ancet

Egyptans assocated wthdjo. the tutelay goddess of

Lower Egypt and whc

togeter wt Nebet. ofte

decoated te bow of the

phaaoh By extenson the

coba ght be eployed as

a otf conotng protectio

n a geera sese

tef sia to te whte

cown of Uppe gypt bt

wt ostrc plues affxed

to eac side

s protecton

nkh ife; an anciet

Egyptan sybo of fe

consstng of a coss witoop at the top

stablty The djd

aet was a herogyp

esetng a bnde of st

ted togethe epodc

varos edia as a syb

conotig stabty.

edace. and the e

was doino



66

Preparation for Recessesand Side Chamber G

From the middle of Chamber C we can

ook eas hrough Recesses D E, and F to

side Chamber G The sdes of the frame of

he rs ecess ae composed of a standinggue of Oss on the lef and, on he

rght, the gure of Anubs, Osis' son by

Nephhys Both gues ook owad

Nefertai, as if to coax her forwad.

The linel, the uppe famng device,

lnks he wo composons On it s a freze

of rampant uei, alernaing with blue

feathers, facing outwad from a centa g

ue of a god whose hands ae posed ove

two ovals contaning oudjat eyes This

freze is eminscent of the shen and oudjatrebus. The feathes symbolize Maa whie

the cobra has generic potecive propetes.

The standing image of Osrs shows

him within a shrine wth high-arched roof

The god now weas a less-detaled version

of he ate!cown: feathes asride the white

crown of Uppe Egypt. The customay

egalia are in his hands The curous device

eihe side of Osirs is a eopad skin

twised abou a rod set n a mortar. It s he

feish of Anubis and is profoundly nked

wih h is gods roe as he prncpal

embalme of the dead. In fac, Anubis

appears on he rght pane of the fame, a

jackal-headed god cutchng a was sceper

in hs eft hand and ankh sign n his ight

he scenes n he recesses and beyond

do not fom a uniy The architecture has

constrained he artists, requirng hem o

mx scenes tha have no cear connecton

The gods shown are those featured n heHeiopolan cycle of detes

In decoatng these recesses, he

atsts have clevey pared dvine mages

on lef and gh sufaces, hus dening

he processonal axs. The cmax wl occur

n Chamber G, with he backtoback

uxaposton of Aum, he creao god,

and Osrs, Jnessental god of savaton

and Atums greatgrandson

Osiris al1d Abis

fank the entaceway

to the eceses and

Chambe C.







Detail of hieroglyphs

from the south wall

of Recess D.

Opposite:

The depiction of Neith

on the east side of the

south all at the top

of the descending cor

ridor is very similar to

that on the south wall

of Recess D In both

instances the artist has

intentionally drawn

Neith's emblem so that

it bursts through the

picture frame, een

obscuring a portion of

the kheker frieze This

is a small but remark

able breach of the

artistic convention

Rcss D

Now we pass through Recess , two oppos

ing pilasters that dene the entryway to

Recess E. On the left (north), is the goddess

Serket (or Sekis), identiable by the scorpion on top of her head. She is framed

above by a kheker frieze, a common archi

tectura ornament representing knotted

bunches o vegetal matter such as reeds or

grass Beneath is a representation of the

nighttime sky or starry rmament. Serket

wears a richly beaded dress with thin

shouder straps, a broad beaded collar,

armets, and wristets. She aces outward in

wecome. Behind are a series of protective

embems that orm a benediction of sorts:"protection, life, stabiity, dominion, a

protection like Re', forever.3

A compementary wecoming scene

occurs on the right-hand (south) piaster

This time, the goddess is Neith, whose

signature emblem rests atop her head

a greatly stylized image of two bows tied

together or possibly a shield and two

crossed arrows She too is dressed in a

tighttting sheath o beadwork. Protective

embems stand at the ready behind her.4

3 The text eads: "Saket,

mistress of heve d

� ldy of ll the gods. I ve

ome before YO {ohJo kig's gret wife mistress

o of the two lds ldy of

Upper d Lower Egypto Nefertri beloved of Mt

< jstied before sirs who

resides in Abydos d Ihve ccorded YO ple

i the sred lnd so t/t

YO my pper gloriosly

in even like Re·.

As with all the gods

wo now gude Nefetar

and welcome he t the

nethewold Seket's

statement "I hve ome

before YO ndcates that

te goddess s ready to

ad the queen n the new

ealm that now awats

her. the heeafter hu

the ueen an est

assued that se s n

good ands

4 He utteance ead

Words spokn by Nei

the gret royl mother

mistress of hee d

ldy of ll the gods. I h

ome before YO king

gret wife mistress of

two lds ldy of Upp

d ower gypt

Nefertri beloved of M

ustied before siris

wo resides i te Wes

nd lve orded yo

ple within Igeret so

you my pper glorio

i heven like Re�



70

filet a thin srip of cloth or

other ubtance iig the

head ad ed o hold he

hai n place

imbrcated rnameted

wth a evey paced,

erapp paer the

maer h ae

Recess E

In Recess E, the pilasters both ight and left

(behind you as ou ente) are decorated

wih mages of the djed pila, a talisman of

he god Osiris The connecion wth Osirsis manfesy evdent in ths nsance;

indeed, he image is Osis, as a djed pla

The exac componens ae difcut o den

i bu seem o consist ether o sacked

vetebae or bound vegeta elemens Its

hieogyphc meanng s "stabilty; and as

the dstncion beween writing and art n

ancent Egyp was very vague, is use on

a suppotng eement n he omb is wtty.

Ths cever playng off o deco against

achtecua funcon is used o evengeae effec n he bual chambe beow.

As we enter uly ino the ecess

separaing Chambers C and G, we come

upon wo pesentaton scenes. On he lef,

the queen is nduced by Isis ino the

presence of Kheper, he seated god wth

he head of a beee. On the rgh sde of

he recess, Horus Son-o-Iss (Hosese)

leads he queen beore seaed images of

Re'-Hoakhy and he Theban Haho

Sang wth he ehand scene

on he noh wal, Isis wears bovne hos,

a soar dsk beween hem, and a uraeus

daped over he soar dsk Her ha is

bound wih a fllet. Abou he neck is a

boad collar whose weght is suppored by

a mena, or counterpoise, vsible unde

he right arm. Iss wears he ight, ed,

beadwok dress wth whch we ae now

famliar. Am bands and wses complee

her ensemble of jewey In he le handshe hods a was scepe; and wh he gh,

she takes Neertais hand, gently drawng

her forwad.

Urgng he on, Isis says: "Come, [oh]

kngs gea we, Neetai, beloved o Mu

HOUSE OF ETERN

1CL, I

I have made a place or you n he necop

lis. Neeta, agan cohed in the whies

peaed lnen, stides forwad Note ha

she is shown wth wo e fee Her name

and ttes appea above he n thee

coumns, ineuped by he wn, high

plumed cown we now expect.

The scene waps a the wal junctu

As we look sraight owad (east), we se

whom Iss and Neerta conron an

anthropomophc dety wih the head o

a beetle He s seated on an imbricated

hrone base wih the unicaton symbol

he ower gh quadan Ths is a head

device made o he pants of Uppe and

Lower gyp, twised abou a stylzed epresenaion of the lungs and wndppe,

he hieoglyph for unty.

The falcon-headed

god, Re'Horakhty

crowned with a sun

disk on the east wall

south side o Recess E.

Opposite:

Nefertari being led

the godde Ii on

north wall o Reces





t . I

- �'. �



The god is dressed n a heavy wg,

broad coar, green vest held up with shou

der straps, and short kit (shendyet) with a

bul's tail, traditional ceremona dress for

gods and kngs. He holds the ankh sgn n

hs le hand and a was staff in hs rght.

Words above the god promise Nefertari"everastingness like Re', the appearance of

Re' n heaven, and a place in the necropois

Ths is Kheper, the nascent sun god,

the mornng lght. he word "Kheper is

reated to the verb meaning "to change or

transform; kheperu are forms that a god or

human can assume. Thus, Kheperi repre

sents the possibilty of efertaris transfor

maton through death to a new exstence

The rght-hand presentaton scene isanaogous to the left, except that Horus

SonofIsis (Horsese) conducts the queen.

He appears as a god wth a facon head,

wearing the doube crown of united Egypt

Caed the pshent, ths crown combined the

red and whte crowns that signi Lower

and Upper Egypt. Its name means the

double powers. He too wears the shendyet

but with the bul's tail trailing behind.

Athough the abel in front of Horsiese

mentions his utterance, none is recorded

The outh ide of the

east wall of Rece E.

The godde Hathor

ha her arm raied to

toch the headdre of

Re'-orakhty eated

in front of her.

The pair approach two gods seated on

ow imbricated thrones: the falconheaded

god s Re' Horakhty; behind him, Hathor,

who resides in Thebes. ReHorakhty s

dressed amost identicaly to Kheperi,

except for his characteristic solar dsk and

loopng uaeus. He utters three shorttexts. These promise a pace in the sacred

and, a lfetime as long as that of Re', and

eternity, wth lfe, stabilty, and dominion.

Re Horakhty, whose name means Horus

oftheTwinHorzons, represents the

mature sun at mdday Both throne bases

dspay the unicaton symbo.

The lntel that lnks these two scenes

s embazoned with a vulture hodng n

each talon a shen sgn. The egend appearing between the roof and forward edge

of the wings procams ths to be the

vuture Nekhbet, patroness of EKab and

Hieraconpos, twin cities of Upper

Egypt. Her functon is to protect those

who pass beneath.

Notice that this doorway is off axis,

shied sighty let. It s possble ths was

done to accommodate scenes of different

dimensions, but more lkey the decoraton

was adapted to suit the tomb's archtecture.Despte the axs shift, the prmary scene

in the chamber aheadback-toback

gures of Atum and Osriss exacty on

the axis of the door

The lintel over the

doorway from Rece

E how the ltre

Nekhbet with wing

ottretched and a

protectie ymol in

each claw





Rcss F

This entrance to side Chambe G is an

ideal opportunty to obseve the star

spangled oof of he tomb: ve-ponted

yelow sars against a bue background.Muipe associatons signa not ony ngh

time but also he impeshable crcumpoa

sas, asa senines who neve snk

beow he horzon and were thus equated

wh the sous of gods and beings who

suvved the peious passage through

deah to the beyond

Each sde of the doorway is decoaed

wth an dentca pane: beneath a kheker

feze and sy sgn is he gue of Ma'at,

the goddess of truth and daugher of Re,

gang out owad Nefertar Maa s

dessed no n a bead-net dess bu a cling

ing red shi. Her dsingushng feaure s

he feahe on her head

The potectve talismans behind

Maat ae more varied than hose we

have encounered pevousy From top o

botom, hey ofer "poecton, fe, stabi

ty, domnion, al heah, a joy, and al

he protecion, lie (he potecton of) ReLocatng aat so prominenly is probably

signican. In most funerary papyri,

one of the crucia ries of passage s the

udgment of Osis, in whch the heart of

he deceased s weghed agans Maats

Feather of Truth Nethe he udgment

scene, nor Chaper 12 of he Boo of

he Dead, appears anyhee in Neferars

omb. Insead, s echoed n hese

portraits of Maat.

The color of the ceil

ing is achieved by

painting blue over a

layer of black. The

superimposed

yellow stars were laid

out along parallel

guidelines snapped

onto the ceiling from

taut cords dipped in

white paint.

The goddess Ma'at,

with the identifying

feather in her head

band on he north

side of Reces F The

decoration on the

opposite side of the

doorway is identical



cerements burial ga ments; a shod made ofclot teated with wax anused to wap te ody ofthe deceased

Detail of the god Ptah

on the west wall, north

side of Chamber . Inthis vignette, Nefertari

is giving linen to Ptah

to ensure a reciprocal

and ample supply for

her corpse. This is typ

ical of the contractual

arrangements between

devout Egyptians and

their gods

Chamber G

Chamber G is about 3 metes deep and 5

meters wde. The atio of width to depth is

66 remarkably close to the rato o the

depresson in the queen's bural chambe(65) and the nothern annex (.66) Ths

raction, not ar o the "golden propo

tion o 61, recurs in Egyptan achtectue

Ths chambe also povides the best vew

o the rock oo o the tomb

On the let-hand (west) inteo wal,

behind us, is a single scene amed by the

customary sky hieogyph esting atop two

was scepters Neetai pesents cloth to

Ptah, one o the pncpal ceato gods.

The queen holds her hands up, palms lat, to suppot a tray beang ou foked

supports, the hierogyph or cloth. On the

table in font o her s yet more fabic,

abeled nen.

Neetai ofes this to Ptah, the god

o ancent Memphis, Egypts st capita.

Swathed n hs cerements, Ptah stands n a

wickework booth wth arched roof; he

pees out at the queen though a small

gri, open in ront o him. Ptah clutches a

sta made o the was and djed embems

bound together Above s an assotment o

amulets oeing "potecton, fe, stablity,

dominion, al health, all joy, al his protec

ton, ke Re. This scene beas no apparent

relaton to any other n the room and s

not an lustaton rom the Book o the

Dead. It s kely an example o the concept

called in Latn do ut des: "I gve n ode

that you might give.

The entre north wal of Chambe Gis coveed by a snge pesentation scene to

the ibsheaded Thoth, god of writing

Thoth sits on an mbicated thone set on

a ow plinth he regads the queen across

a stand that hods a witers paette, a

water bow, and a frog amuet Ths og

may be what is caled a spotive wtng

or whm-'nh epeating fe, a wish

or ongevity

HOUSE OF ETERNI

Standng n the vey midde of the

wal, the queen occupies cente stage

Backeted by text behind and Thoth n

font, Neeta s identied as "king's gewie, mstress of the two lands, Neertari,

beloved o Mut, justied beore the geat

god (Osris)

In eght coumns of text behnd the

queen is the entrety o Chapter 94 of the

Book o the Dead The columns appea

in standad ode, acing right and readin

om ight to le.5

Thoth is the patron o wting and

unctions in judgment scenes as the

recode. With Thoth, Ma'at at the entyway, and Osrs on the back wal, the

pncipal payers in the standad judgmen

scene have al been assembed. As the

queen s epeatedy reered to as "the

Osrs, t is certan that she has success

fuy competed ths essental rte o

passage, even though it s not shown

o The frst two columns : povide the chate

heading and sbject:

= "Utterance for reqesting

� the water bowl and writing

palette from Thoth in the

Necropolis by the king's

great wife, mistress of the

< two Iads, Nefertari,

beloved of Mt, justied

he quee's ecttion

is next: "Oh great e

who sees his father keeper

of the writings of Thoth.

Behold, I am come spiritualized, with a soul, mighty,

and equipped with the

writings of Thoth. Bring

me the messenger of Ake

(the lio-headed earth

god) who is with Seth.

Bring me the bowl, rig

me the palette from thaThoth their secrets with

them [Oh] Gods. Beho

I am a srib Bring m

the excrement of Osiris

for my writigs that

may perform the instru

tions of Osiris, the grea

god, perfectly every day

csisting of the good

which you have decreed

me Oh ReHorakhty

shall act the truth and

shall attain the truth.





�•



A WALK THROUGH THE"

HOUSE OF ERNIY

On the long east wal of Chamber G

is the cmactc scene of the complex

of rooms formed by the recesses and side

chamber, the very reason for their estence. The religous phiosophy it embodies

s aso sgnicant Two presentation scenes

are jutaposed back-toback: on the

left, Nefertari before Osiris; on the right,

the queen before Atum Functonng as a

scene dvider, a huge labeum, or fan,

mounted n an oval stand, separates Osiris

and Atum

In both scenes, the queen is attred n

a white pleated gown On her head is the

familiar crown n both, her eft hand is byher sde n her etended right hand, she

hods a sekhem staff, signing her power

to make offerngs Some asymmetres of

posture result; but from a ritual point of

vew, this was the best solution The rght

hand should hold the staff

Lighted, smoking brazers rest atop

bountiful offerings prepared for the gods

The le atar supports a towerng ple of

food stuffs heaped onto three mats

Recognizabe are cuts of meat, loaves of

bread, and vegetables. Receiving these is

Osirs, shrouded n his whte cerements

and seated upon an imbrcated throne wth

unication symbo, a reed mat, beneath He

holds his customary regalia and wears the

atefcrown, this tme made of rushwork

Small mages of the four sons of Horus rest

on a stand before him, and just beneath

may be seen the fetish of Anubis6

Opposite:

In this part of the

long scene occupying

the entre east wall of

Chamber , Nefertari

is standing before a

pile of offerings of

meat, bread and

vegetables.

The companion scene shows the

queen presenting her burnt offering to

tum The god s portrayed in the doube

crown of Upper and Lower Egypt Hewears a false beard held n pace by a chin

strap In his hands are an ankh sign and

a was staf. Protectve devices are arranged

verticaly behind him We learn that he

is "Atum, lord of the two ands, the

Heliopolitan, the great god and ord of

the sacred and

As it captures the rst instance that

efertar makes a forma presentaton to

Osiris, paramount lord of the dead, ths

scene in Chamber G marks a crucialmoment n the queen's spiritual journey

Although the sepuchral overtones of the

encounter are minimzed, funerary assoca

tions are always present where Osiris s

concerned hus Atum, the creator god, is

here communng with his greatgrandson,

Osiris, the savior god, who survived death

and dismemberment Osiris triumphant

metamorphosis to eternal life was a feat

that al deceased hoped to dupcate

6 A four-olumn inscrip

� tion above the queen

desibes "the presenta-

tion of oerings (iabet I to

her father, Osiris, the great

o god by his daughter kig's

great wife mistress of te

two lands Nefertari

beloved of Mut, justied»

Nine coumns of text

over the alta an fang

away from Osiris sum

marize his intention of giving Nefetai "the

appearance of Re in

heaven ll inniy with

him all eternity with

him and ll joy with him.

Osiris who resides in

the West, Wenner, ing

of the liing, the great

god ruler of the sared

land, lord of eternity ruler

of innity.·



The south and part of

the west walls of

Chamber G. The seven

cows and the bull are

addressing Nefertarion the adjacent wall.

The next scene occupies the entire

south wal and, for lack of space, continues

onto the southern portion of the west wall.

It is an evocation of Chapter 148 of the

Book of the Dead. Beneath a sky sign andframed by was scepters at either end are

four cows in the upper register three cows

and one bull in the middle In front of each

is a small altar with offerings of vegetabes,

milk and bread

The animals are meant to address

Nefertari who has been placed on the

adjoining wall for lack of space Each cow

is distinguished by its hide and a particula

legend above The text of Chapter 18

reveals that these seven cows have the

power to provide the spirit of the dead

queen with the necessities we see dispayedmilk bread, and vegetables

In the same spel, there are reference

to steering oars that help the deceased

maneuver among the stars. With Re' serv

ing as the queens helmsman and the oars

guiding her pilgrimage, none of Nefertari

enemies wil know or even recognize her

so the text promises Each oar is named

and inked with a compass direction.



The cow and oar images exst for

the benet of Nefertari who has been rele

gated to the adjacent wal where she

stands wth arms rased n adoration.

Her lotus-bud earring is particuarlyspendd, and the modeing of the fesh of

her neck wth three painted strokes is

remarkable No words are actually ascribed

to the queen; but presumaby she utters

the invocaton that is an ntegra part

of Chapter 4, a request that the cows

provide her sustenance.

Like an enormous punctuation mark

a broad rased band of reef severs the

prevous scene from the one mmedately

south of the doorway. Ths is a curous but

theoogicaly important grouping of a ram

headed mummform gure standing on asmal pinth

Between the ram's horns s a solar

dsk The gure wears a broad coar and

red sash. Mnisterng to him are Nephthys

to the left and Isis to the right Each wears

a bag wig (afnet) wth long queue kept in

pace by a red llet, and a tight red sheath

dress The dresses are hed n place wth

shoulder straps that expose the goddesses'

breasts. The scene takes pace beneath

the sky sgn and s framed by the vertica

band to the et and a was scepter aong

the door amb

The ram-headed god is identied

as Re' Between the goddesses and his

mummiform gure are two bands of text.

The left avers: "It s Osiris who sets as Re

The right "It is Re' who sets as Osirs.

Egyptan theologans are here de

claring that Re' and Osirs are profoundly

intertwined. Yet this s not an obvousaiance snce Osiris represents the chthon

ian earth-bound cuts that seem to stand

n opposton to solar imagery The poar

ty can be expressed n countless ways

nght versus day earth versus sun and so

forth Such fusng of the quaities and trats

of Egyptan gods a practice known as

"syncretism occurs oen Re' represents

the expring sun ready to begn once more

the nighttime ourney into the realm of

the dead Osiris' kngdom so thrusting thetwo gods into partnership.

The scene is wel preserved and a

superb example of baanced draftsmanship

and excellent executon Over the door s

the tuteary image of Nekhbet with shen

sgns in her taons



82

Lk 11 bul mbfm mb , 1904.

Phoo: Couy o h

Mo Egzo Tu

7 Her, Ncfertari is� ald "te hereditary

� Ioblewom great of

X favor, te Osirs kig's

great wife istress of te

o two luds Nefcrtari

be/ocd of Mt jstied.

o'

Drway t theDescending Cridr

The descent leading from Chamber C s

of axis, shfed appecay ght. In the

absence of any ovious sucual eason

fo his, perhaps the achtecs weretryng o inroduce an unexpeced wist,

n imtaton of the "cookedness o he

beyond. This mpresson is further hegh

ened by a skewing to the right of the

descent passage self

The door amb making the entryway

o the descen pocaims he queen's foma

name in outsized hierogyphs The passage

way has two widhs: a narrow, oute thick

ness and a wide, nner one.!

The gh outer hickness shows a

rampant serpen acing the queens car

touche, whch s sumounted y doue

plumes and a soa disk and rests on

he hierogyph fo gold. The serpent wears

he ed crown of Lower Egypt and is ident

ed as Edjo, the coa goddess. A khekerfeze and sky sgn dene the uppe ound

ary of the compostion and a fancy woven

aske the owe Twin djed pilars support

he entre scene eneath Consdeablepain and plase have been ost aong he

ght-hand edge.

The corespondng e-hand scene s

almos dentcal Omied s he sepens

name; bu snce i weas he double cown

of united Egypt, we assume t is Nekhbe

The inne thckness at the head o

he stais is exceptonay inerestng

Opposed serpents epesening Nekhet

and Edo shied he queens caouche.

The whoe design is balanced on a wovenbasket. Underneah, on the le, s a ub

of lies, heraldic pant of Upper Egyp on

the rgh, a ub of papyus, heradic pan

of Lowe Egyp Ths pairing symbocaly

establshes the mythc oenaion of

he omb souh (Uppe Egyp) is to ou

le, and noh (Lower Egypt) to our

rgh Straigh ahead, heefoe, s he

"wes, he doman o he dead.





Ma'at, Skt, aHat t at f t . Maatl Ntaatu wt uttt w.

The Descending Corrdor

The second descent leads to the sarcopha

gus hal The stairway s 7.5 meters ong

and rops neary 3 meters over the couse

of eghteen steps Down the midne runs

slp way for the sarcophagus

The wals of ths corrdor form a

paraelogram dvde nto two trangles

whose long sides are actualy a contnua

tion of the oor leve n Chamber C

Despte the awkward surfaces prouced,

not even the smallest area has been eft

unecorated. On each sde s a narrow sheabout 45 meters in length and at the same

evel as the oor of Chamber C Although

the text and decoration offer no cue to its

use, t coud have served to hod rtual

material or funerary furnshngs.

he decoration in the upper triange

those areas that e above an magnary

pane extendng out from the oor level o



A WALK THROUGH THE "HOSE OF ETERNIY

Chamber C, is very much in keeping wth

wha we have already seen. On he eft, the

queen presens two globuar jars (nemset

jars) held above an atar charged with frui, vegetabes, cuts of mea, and loaves of

bread Two smoking brazers perch on top.

Beneath his cornucopa are a water jug

and what may be a ettuce, an obscure ref

erence o the god Amun Wedged n are

protectve symbos denotng "protecion,

life, sabliy, domnon, all healh, al joy,

al protecon ke Re

here to receve he queen's offerings

are three goddesses: Iss; her sser,

Nephhys; and Maat, squaing wth ou

stretched wngs The sisers are seated on

mbricaed throne bases, bu only Isis wears

a beaded dress. Nephhys is clothed far

more smply in a green anke-ength shift

Maa s shown n a red dress, her green

wngs extended o shed he queen's car

ouche Next o t, a shen ring reminds us

tha the cartouche derves from a modied

shen sgn. Behnd Maat and set apart from

the scene by a narrow pained band s aparta tuary of the queen: kngs grea

wife, Neferar, beoved of Mu

Turnng to the righ, we nd a nearly

idenical composiion Again, the queen

presens two nemet jars, whe two brazers

baze on an aar wel aden with produce

and bread bu no meas A more exensive

verson of Neferaris name and ttes s

supplied in four coumns of ex jus above

her head In he ineres of presening

a more compete iulary, he artst hadto forego Nefertaris tal, pumed orna

ment A selecton of amuletc devices ls

ou the compostion

The recpents of Nefertars largesse

are a ocal form of Hathor, she who is

chef in Thebes, Serke, he scorpion god

dess, and Maat Boh Hathor and Serke

wear tgh-ing, ankle-ength dresses wih

shoulder sraps that expose their breasts

o 8 Here, the queen is

� called "kig's great wife,

mistress of le two ds, possesor of chr, sweet

� nes ad ove, ady of

Upper ad Lower Egpt,

te Osiris, Nferar;,

g boed of Mt justied

bfore Osiris wo rsides

; t West.

Bu Haors green costume paes besde

Serkets red, beaded dress

Here, the cartouche behnd Maa

negrates wel into he body of he ext anddoes not seem an afterhough Al n a,

he right-hand pane seems more carefuly

conceived and executed han the left A the

very eas, he rhyhmc alteraion of color

in he dresses introduces welcoe vara

ion It is teptng o thnk that hese

dfferences reec the work syes of wo

dstnct artisan crews, te "righ crew

a bt sarper aestheically han their felows

across he corrdor.

A the near end of each shelf (souththckness) s a represenaion of Serket

(le) and Neih (right, simiar o the door

thicknesses of he recess upsairs Only

mnor dfferences occur in dress and text

Amues l he space behind Serket On

he rght thckness stands Neth, wearing

Dail of Srk,crowd wi acorpio i dcdig corrido

emset gob j

in





A WALK THROUGH THE "HOSE OF ETERNIY

anklets in ths instance. A row of amuets

stands behnd her

At the far end of each shelf (north

thickness) is a dimnutve verson of a djed pilar wth two arms, each hoding a was

scepter. With the roof sheving rapdy

downward, these djed piars take on the

aspect of squat, powerfu braces supporting

the roof

The decoraton on the lower porton

of the descent contrasts starky with what

we have just seen. It is expictly funerary

and abounds with references to the nether

word This s qute intentonal, as we

are for the rst time lteraly passng below

the oor eve of the upper tomb Hence

forth, our progress is beow ground in the

gurative sense as wel.

Except for minor variations, prompted

mostly by spata consideratons, the decor

on righ t and left walls s symmetrica

The left wal shows Anubis reclnng on a

shrine and Isis kneeng on the hieroglyph

for gold They make engthy addresses

to Nefertari The back jackal god Anubishas a sash around hs neck and a a

tucked behnd hs rght haunch The shrine

s topped with a cavetto cornce and has a

snge door on its broad face.

Anubis makes two addresses, distin

gushable by the dfferent szes of the

hieroglyphs used The rst conssts of

twenty-nine vertica columns of ncreasing

length that read from e to rght

Immediately folowing, in sighty arger

script, s a second address to the ueen910A horiontal lne at the base of each

coumn separates these texts from those of

Lkig bk up

ig i

w Cb C.

g Ni i

u wll.

9 The frst statement:� "Word pa ke by Aubi

Imy-wt he who i i (hi)

cerecloth!, the gret god

! who reide i the red

C lnd. I hve come before

tee, {oh! king' gret

wife, mitre of the two

lds ldy of Upper nd

Lower Egypt, the Oiri,

kig' gret wife,

Neferri, beloved of Mt,

jutied before Oiri,

the gret god who reidein the Wet I hve come

before thee, d I hve

given thee plce tht i

in the cred lnd tht

thou myet pper glori

oly in heven like thy

fther Re Accept tho the

oment p thy hed

Ii nd Nephthy hve

endowed thee d he

creted thy beuty like thy

fther tht thou myet

pper gloriouly in

heven like Re', d otht tho myet illmine

Igeret with thy bem The

gret embly of god on

erth ke plce for

thee Nt, thy mother,

greet thee jut he did

ReHorkhty My te

ol of Pe d Buto mke

jubiltion they did! for

thy fther who reide in

te Wet The gret e

bly of god who re on

{erth!, they hll be

protection of thy limb

Approch thy mother,

thou myet it pon

throne of Oiri My

lord of the cred ln

receive thee My ty

be forever oyo {oh

kig gret wife, mit

of the two lnd ldy

ll lnd Nefertri

beloved of Mt juti

before Oiri who rei

in the Wet

10 he econd tatemWord poken by Au

Imywt, the gret god

of RStu the necro

li! I hve come befor

thee, beloved dghte

king' gret wife, mit

of the two lnd Nefe

beloved of Mt ti

nd I hve given thee

the ppernce of Re

heven tht thou my

it pon the throne ofOiri Approch thy

mother, Ii, nd lo

Nephthy The gret

embly of god i Ith

protection forever nd

ever.



11 The rst speech:

"Wods spoke by the

get Isis, the god's

mother lady of heave

mistess of ll gods who

dwells i the sed lad.

I he ce efoe thee,

kigs gea wife, istess

of te two lnds ldy of

Uppe ad Lowe Egypt,

the Osiis mistess of the

two lads, Nefeti

beloved of Mt, jstiedbefoe Osiis the geat

god, the lod of eteity

I ve give thee place

i tle saced lad the

pesece of We-efe

My tho appe glo

osly like the Aten

hCen foeve

Mention of the Aten

at this time might have

been fraught with mean

ng since the term was

deeply mplicate in the

religios innoatons o

khenaten. Bt it is als

the stanar wor for the

sn's raant is an s

occus ery early in

Egyptan religous texts

In the ontet o a tmb

alreay rch in solarimagery, ts appearane

here s nt srprisng

12 The secon speech

Wods spoke with Isis

get mothe, mistess of

heae lady of all the

gods lve e befoe

thee geat oyl wife

mistess of the two lads

lady of Uppe 1 lowe

Egypt Osiis Nefeti

beloved of Mt, justied

befoe Osiis who esidesi the West, te geat god,

lod of eteity I have

ie thee a plae the

eopolis so that tho

mayes/appea gloously

i hea like thy fathe

Re Igeet is illmied by

thy bes

The lower west side of

the descendg corri

dor Anubs s

depcted as a jackal

recumbent on a

shrne Above hm, a

wnged cobra protects

the cartouche of

Nefertar.

HOUSE OF TERNI

Isis, whom we see at he righ. She is

cothed in a red dress wh shoulder srap

and a whe bag wig secured by a red le

Her conographic signaure s rmly atopher head As she kneels forward, she place

her hands above a shen sgn. An outsze,

highly deailed version of the hieroglyph

for god buoys her up. Begnning a the fa

lef, in hreen columns, sis delivers the

rs of two speeches. In larger script, the

second speech continues n ten columns."

These scenes are dupcaed on he

righ-hand wall of the descending corrido

excep for mnor adjusmens in layou

and e. The principa change is ha, in

place of sis, i is now her siser, Nephthys

who kneels beneah Anubs. Consderabe

surface losses have oberaed much of

Nephhys' speech.

Just beyond hs, n the smal triang

formed by he descending roof ne and h

scenes below, is a winged, coied serpen

with a hn sign around is stpped body

and another just n fron of he queen's ca

touche This eaborae monograph serves defend the queens person by vgorously

proecing her name. The legend near he

serpens al conrms: She confers al life

sabiliy, domnon ke Re

A the very base of he sair and

marking he passageway to the sarcopha

gus hall is a monumenal door frame. Is

jambs are decorated n ousize heroglyph

presenng the name and les of he

queen. Alhough supercally simar to

he upper door jambs, here, signicanty,he queen is idened rs and foremos a

the Osirs, an acknowedgement of her

ransformed sae



A WALK THROUG TE"

HOUSE OF EERNIY

The generous proportions and claity

of these heoglyphs are exceptionaly

beauifu Above them s a stking gue of

Ma'at, who faces ef th he lef kneedawn up for suppo. The ntel text reads

"ods spoken by Maa, daughter of Re

(I) potect (my) daughte he kings great

ife Neferar beoved of Mut justied.

In ths scene, t is easy o appreciae

how deepy ntertined are Egypian wi

ing and art. Note that he head of Maat

inrudes nto the wriing eld pecisely

here Egyptan grammar requires a rst

peson pronoun Ye no such pronoun

has been wten; aher, Maat hesef

perfoms he ask. This doo fame s amasterpiece of calgraphy.

sis, kneeling o th

symbol for gold ro

the sun disk nea

bottom of the westside of the descend

corridor.



90 HOUSE OF ETERNI

Door Reveal to theSacophagus Chamber

The litle passageway o the bural cham

ber, ike he one above, is wased; i has a

narrow ouer dmension and wider inner

dimension. he ouer hicknesses are decoraed identically, or nearly so Figures of

Ma'a wh he feaher of ruh ucked in

her headband, welcome he queen.

The inner hicknesses reasser he

mythic orienaion of he omb by feaur

ng Nekhbe, he serpen of Upper Egyp

(souh), on he e and Edjo of Lower

Egypt (north) on he rgh. Nekhbe wear

an ate!crown and Edjo he doube crown

We proceed "west no the neherword

Nekhbet, wearing the

two-featheredatef

crown on the west side

of the passageway to

the burial chamber.

Opposite:

The entrance to the

sarcophagus chambe

Ma'at with wings

outstretched welcome

Nefertar from the

lntel





92

Camb K

The dimensons of the sarcophagus cham

ber (Chamber ) ae 104 meters deep by

8 mees wde. A low bench, pobaby

anothe pace o pu funerary equipmen,runs aong the chamber's permee From

he scanty bs of inscrpton stll adherng

o the ends of the bench, we can dscen

menton of the queen as an Osris.

Above he bench the walls of the

chamber are decorated wh long scenes

formng wth one excepton, an negated

composition The lef sde of the chamber

provides lustrations and texts from

Chaper 144 of the Book of the Dead; the

rght sde illustratons and texts fromChapte 146 Each is a descripon of he

domain of Osrs

he queen hee demonstates her

pofound knowledge of ths secret ream

by namng the doors and ther atendans,

so documenng her tness o eside

wth he mmortas. Chapter 144 describes

the gates and Chaper 146 he portals of

ths world Famng the compostons ae a

sppled band, kheker frieze and sky sign

above, alternang bands of red and yelow

ochre below

Viw looing not st into K.

On t wst fc of Pill I, Nft i iswlod y Htoof Ts.







A WALK THROUGH HE"

HOSE OF ETERNITY

Left/West Side of Chamber K

The composition begns on the south wa,

west section wth a magisterial fu-length

view of the queen who lifts he hands in

adoraton befoe a tro of fomidale demi urges She s dessed in a white ful-length

peated obe and he cown of choice He

name and tites ll two coumns mmed

atey n front of her A boad expanse of

vaegated hieogyphs separates the queen

fom the st gate and its attending genii.

There ae seven gates in Osiis' ealm;

ve of which are hee descibed and ius

trated. Throughout the composition, the

orde emans constant text rst gate sec

ond attendants thid Each gate is composed of an oche suround and a red door.

By Egyptan coo conventions, ths is

shothand fo wood The three attendants

at any sngle gate ae ts keeper, guadan,

and announce This trio is nvarialy

composed of thee anthropomorphic gods,

the st amheaded the second animal

headed the thid humanheaded. The

st gue is always mae. Each caes par

tcuar attrbutes: a lea sprg, a nife, an

ankh sign. Yet there s no ovious core

spondence between ther names and thei

epresentations

By enunciatng thei names, the

queen demonstrates her powe over these

potental adversaries She may then

appoach the gate, ecite a paye and pass

on to the next3

The rst gate scene forms too arge

a compostion to t entiely on the south

wal and so potions of t had to becaried over onto the west. The balance of

the scene, the door and guadians, ends

pecisely at the left doo jamb of the small

annex (Chambe M).

With the ght jam egns the text

fo the second gate, the best peserved of

the ve Its seventeen linesn evese

ode as they ae in the st gateae wel

peseved and thooughly egibe14

Opposite:

Nefertari with her

hands raised in prayer

on the west side o

the south wall o

Chamber K.

3 At the rst gate,

Nefertari intones:

"The rst gate. The name of its keeper [is/ 'down-

ward of face, numerous of

� forms; the name f its

� guard is the burig of

g ear [eavesdropper/ and

the name of its announcer

is penetrating of oice lod}

14 At the seond

"Second gate. The name

of its keeper [is he who

opens their foreheads

The ame of its guardian

irtos of contenance

The name of its announcer

is Imss [the burner?/Aer approprite

dentication is provded

efertari speaks Do not

be weary when the old

ones justi the liing

secrets anew in their yearsThe Osiris the kings great

wife mistress of the two

lands Nfertari jstied

before Osiris rich in oer

ings of the momet who

makes his [sic way with a

ame who defeats foes

The Osiris the kigs great

demiurge l oot o vb o o p

wife mistress of the tw

lands Nefertari belo

ofMut

I hae prepared a

path May you perit

to pas Protect me tha

I may see Re traverse

among those who mak

offerings to the Osiris

kings great wife mist

of the two ands Nfe

beloed of Mut ustiI hae prepared a path

that you might let me p

Protect me in order th

I ma see Re traerse

Agai improper

use o masuline part

eeh in referene to

the queen is simply a

gammtial lapse by

the opist.



The meaning of the tex is opaque;

but is vignette, one of he bes preseved

in the sarcophagus chambe, is clea.

A male god wih ram's head is the keeper,a ioness with win snakes spouing

fom her head is the guardian, and he

announce is a mae deiy. The males wea

geen vess hed in pace wih shoulder

sraps and a knot of Isis at the navel

They have uddy skin while he female god

has a light compexion. This distincion

beween male and femae skin ones is a

common convenion

The ex and vignee of he hird

gate have suffeed quie subsantial lossesbut from vestiges of ext and outside

sources, he names of the thee aending

gods ae recoverable.15

Note ha the texs of Gate Thee and

subsequen gates appea in noma orde

They ae no longer revesed This reoien

aion of hieogyphs is not observabe on

the opposite side of he buial chamber

It may be signican that we have jus

eached the mid-point of he chambe,

diecty above he niche fo the canopic

ches, where he queen's embalmed viscera

wee sored and where he foo of he

sacophagus once esed This poin is he

architectural and eligious focus of he

tomb; so the hieroglyphs have been

adjusted o focus ou attention on his

centa veriy: he queen's sarcophagus.

HOUSE OF ETERNIT

The entie tex and doorway

consituting the fouth gate is obiteated,

up o the nothwes corner of he room

Its triad of gods appears on the northwal, facing our lef They are damaged

but enough remains to vei hat hese

wee mae deiies am-, anteope-, and

humanheaded.

The h gaes tex and ilusation

follow For wan of space, however, he

artist had o reduce he usual complement

of door aendants o the amheaded

keepe aone Nonetheess, he names of a

thee are preseved.16

Opposite:

The keeper, guardan.

and announce for he

seond gae on he

wes waLL Chambe K

15 Gate Three. he doorkeepe is "the one

who eats the exrement

his hiderpts; he Gurdin is viglant

� he anocer is he w

� curses.

o 16 Ge Five he

keeper i he who ats

snakes he gdiais the brner henner is Hppo

potaus-faed, agg

with pwer







A WLK THROUGH HE "HOSE OF EERNITY

Right/East sde of Chamber K

Chapter 146 of the Book of the Dead pro

vides Nefetar with the means to pass suc

cessfuly through the twenty-one portals of

the doman of Oss. As n Chapter 44

t is cruca that she possess knowledge and

be abe to name the porta and its keepe,

who bocks her passage

Of the twentyone portals, only ten

ae mentioned n the tomb Text and

vignette are fuly integrated, as they would

have been n a funeay papyus Each sec

ton shows a styzed portal consisting of

door jamb and uraeus freze, withn whch

squats the gue of the keepe Though

we cannot be sue, it is kely that al the

keepes hed knives; they are quite prepaed

to ba the queen's way if necessay The

texts accompanyng these lustrations ae

shot, usualy compising only four or ve

vetica columns. They appea n reverse

ode thoughout and always folow the

lustraton, the opposite of Chapter 44,

on the facing wal.

The east wall of the chamber has

endured consdeabe damage Some sectons ae dfcult to ead and some have

dsappeaed entirey As befoe, the ntial

scene appears on the south wal.

Above the ock bench, the queen

appeas n a peated white gown He hands

ae raised befoe the st portal and ts vul

tue-headed keeper Substantal oss of

wall surface has reduced the text to rag

ments Nefertar asserts that she has made

no transgression aong the path to the

"west, so justing her arival at ths pontn he jouney17

Opposite:

The knife-wielding

doorkeeper for the

h portal on the

east wall of the burial

chamber.

o 7 Fom vaious souces, we cn estoe th "o potl tx. Its name is

"Lady of fear, loft of bat

tlements, tie destroyer,

who wards o storms ad

� who rescues the pl-

g dered. The name of the

keeper s Dread

At the wa juncture s the second

porta, whose keepe has the head of a

mouse The two coumns of text behind

belong to the inscpton on the adjacent

wa, between the entryway to the easten

annex and the wa juncture Curiousy,

the artst has immediately dupicated the

second portal text to l the corne juncture and the smal space behind the mouse

headed doorkeepe Such repicatons

or dttographiesare not uncommon and

seem to act as space les

Stepping acoss the annex opening,

we approach the thrd portal and ts

keepe, a crocodie cutching a large knfe

The vestgial text identies the pota as

"mistess of atars, great of offeings,

who pleases every god on the day of faring

upsteam to Abydos. This refeenceencapsulates the wish of evey Egyptian

to makeether n fact or symboicaly

a waterbone jouney to Abydos, the tadi

tional home of Osris The name of the

doorkeepe is "the bightene, friend of the

geat god who sails to Abydos

18 The st throumns fom l to

ight pode th seo

potl's nme nd its

keepe: Mstress of

Heave lady of the tw

lands she who lcks [h

alvesJ mstress of all

akd who numbe

men/ h dookp

is who fasho {he

end}

The keepers for the

third,fourth, and

portals on the east

wall of Chamber K

he text pertaining

each of the portals

follows the

representation.

Following page

he north wall of

Chamber Anubi

the god of embalm

Hathor the funera

goddess, and Osiris

mummied, receiv

adoration from

Nefertari.





WLK THROUGH THE"

HOUSE OF ETERNIY

The fourth portal has a bul as its

keeper The name of the keeper s "the

long-horned bul, providing n this one

nstance a satisying correspondencebetween the keeper's name and face.9

Perhaps the oddest gure n ths

panorama of the inhabitants of Osirs'

realm is the doorkeeper for the h portal:

a nude, squattng child with distended

cranium He wields two knves, whch he

carries crossed n front of him The

artst, perhaps feeling a need to expand

the nterval between this portal and the

following, has dupicated the ast oneand

ahaf coumns of text, another nstanceof dttography20

Portas Six through Eight occupy the

north haf of the east wal and are badly

defaced We can discern the serpent

headed keeper of the sixth portal, but both

ts name and the keeper's have vanished

Porta Seven is al but obteratedI

Ony the kheker frieze and a band of

rampant uraei remain from the eighth

portal Of its text, only two words reman.

One word s, however, dagnostic (mty:"engenderer), suggesting that the artist

placed the nnth portal text with the eighth

portal, so compoundng his earlier mistake

Perhaps the copy book was defective at

th s pont. Of the nnth portal, its keeper,

or dentiying legend, no trace remains

The tenth and na portal appears on

the north wall of the sarcophagus hall

Rather better preserved than the prevous

three, ths portal s cearly guarded by acrocodieheaded keeper

Folowing mmediately, a large com

position occupes the rest of the north wall

and ends at the doorway to the northern

annex t shows the ueen renderng

homage to three seated gods. The queen

faces to our e, whie the three seated

gods face right They are Osirs, Hathor,

and Anubis.

A9 The fourth porta's

- name is "mighty of kives.

lady of the two lands

� destroyer of the eemies of

the weary of heart. who is

� wise ad free of wrog-

doigo"

0 The th porta s

identied as "mistress of

lower Egypt the joyful for

whom oe mkes eqests

withot eterig in

agaist her The doo

keeper s "wo comas

the opponent

1 The text assoated

with Porta Seven is ms

takeny draw fom

Porta Eght. Neary haf

of t survves permittig

s to reconstruct a part

of its name as the kidler

of ames who is hot

slayer o . • grider of

those who do ot" The

doorkeepe is who pro

tects his body

Osrs is shown mummform, wearngthe ate!crown and carryng his usua regaa

Seated behind hm, Hathor has on her head

the symbo for the "west, to sign her

associaton with the necropos. Folowing

her s the jackalheaded Anubis, god of

embaming and Osris' son by Nephthys.

22 The teth portal s

caed Loud of oie

awke with shouts wh

lags at dread {?J. gre

esteemed, fearful for th

withi it The name o

the doorkeeper s "the

great embraer

The croodile-headkeeper of the hrd

porta Chamber K

east wall.



102

tyet a kind of kot. avaiation on the ankh sym

bol The knot is a sandal

strap seen wit the loops

uned dowwad

Te Copic Nce

Descending a ight of four steps, we nd

ouselves n a depression that once hed he

queen's ganie sacophagus. Fom ths

vantage, the sides of the stone bench aereadily visibe The pase decoaton has

peeed off in most places, bu enough

remains to reconstruct in the minds eye a

decoatve band of alternating pairs of djed

pilars and tyet amuets, respecivey evok

ing he memores of Osrs and of Iss

Aong he west wal, n he midde of

he bench, a smal niche has been cut

About one meter square probably held

the canopc ches, a smal coffe conaining

the queens embamed viscera The niches decoated on ts thee inner sufaces

On he south eft) side, the decora

ton shows thee mummifom gures:

msety, Anubs, and Qebehsenef. The atter

is shown wth human head, even though he

customay was given a facon head Each

s caled "the gea god.

At he back of he nche is an image

of the wnged goddess Nu, moher of

Osiris and sis Her wngs are at he sides,

and n each hand she hods an ankh sgn

ut directs her words o the queen

Less wel peserved s he gh side

of the niche. shows fain traces of three

mummifom gures Respectvely, hey

bear baboon, jacka, and pehaps facon

heads Also desgnaed great gods, hese ae

Hapy (baboon), Duamutef (jacka), and

Anubis (facon) The four genii n he nche

are he sons of Horus whose pincipal oe

in the funerary cu s o protect thequeens organs

Note that the subdued treatmen of

hese scenes conasts shapy wth the bil

ian poychromy in the rest of the tomb

nstead of colorful scupted paster, hee

we nd smple ine drawngs execued in

yelow The details of costume, done n ye

darker yelow, stand out against the ight

yelow of the body

smll utt t wst wll f t burl mbrrbbly ld t st t g frtr'smblmd vsr.

stl f t s t suggsttt t drtws xutd gt r t tmbws lsd





dado ecrtve buig t bs f wl istict rm ysee bve

t fc f 1 Cmb K.

g Ixt t nkh tt f Nft,gvg t btf f.

HOUSE OF ETERNI

The Piars and Bural Depression

The placement of the actua sarcophagus

in a shaow depession has architectual

and religious signicance. It focuses the ey

and symbolizes the ground-based reaity odeath. he depth of the cutting is some 40

centimeters beow the pavement.

he space is dened by four piars,

hewn from the living rock Thei inner

faces are ush with the cutting and extend

to the oor of the depession, so reinforc

ing thei function as oof supports

hey also seve as metaphors for the fou

suppots hoding aoft the canopy of

the heavens

The sixteen faces of these pias forma body of work that is among the nest in

the tomb. heir decoration is highly po

gammatic and sets out in detail cetain

key ideas. Each of the sixteen composition

on the pilar faces is famed by kheker

fiees above a sky sign. Was scepters mark

the edges, and a dado of ed and yeow

ochre maks the bottom

he tomb's major and minor axes

intersect between the pilars and are rigor

ousy dened by the decoation On the

inner coumn faces of the mino axis (wes

east) ae djed pillas. On the inner column

faces of the major axis (northsouth) are

gures of Osiris facing south, toward the

tomb entrance He is thus ooking fom th

"west, waiting to welcome Nefetai into

his sacred abode

On the southen pilars, as if pointin

the way to the centra corido between

them, are images of the Iunmutef Priest(e) and Horendotes, the "avenger of his

father (ight) The Iunmutef Priest is

dressed in a splendid white kit boad co

la arm bands, and wistets. His wig is

kept in pace by a llet with golden uraeu



A WALK THROUGH HE"

HOSE OF EERNITY

But he mos sumptuous iem of hs

apparel s he eopard skn sung over his

rgh shoulder, the leopard's head restng

upon his breas. Ths is the dress of an of caing priest Wh hs le hand, he holds

he anmas lef rear paw Wh hs rgh

arm rased, he gestures to he avenue

beween he columns, urgng ha Osiris ac

on behalf of Neferar he priess words,

in sx coumns readng from rght o left,

are addressed to his father Osrs, who faces

him on he adjacen pilar face23

One sign group occurs twce, at he

bottom of Column wo and agan, redun

danly, at he op of Coumn hree.

Amueic devices behnd he pres signi

protecon, fe, stabty, and dominon.

he Iunmutef Pres, iteraly "he pilar of

his mother, represents he young Horus,

who proteced hs moher Isis n herhour of need, so fuling the role of a

dutfu son.

Looking northwest

through the burial

chamber. Horus

appears on the south

face of Pillar 1 in the

form of Horendotes

ociating as a priest

23 "Words spoke by

Hams, te pir of hQ ther (/tef). I

Ethy beved son /ohJ

fter Osiris e c

o to greet tee Four ti

forever ve bete

� eneies fr tee My

t cse ty beove

dgter kig's gret

istress f te two I

Neertri beoved of M

jstied to rest with

sseby o gret gds

re i te entarge o

Oiris who the

f he sred nd joi



106

Chamber K, the east

face of Pillar IV.

Aubis depicted as a

stadig ma with a

jackal head, has e

had 01 Nefertari's

shoder.

A simlar chord s stuck by he

anaogous compositon on the southeast

(igh) par The ofcan, anohe pres,

smiay dressed, hs rght hand ased in agesue to mak his ueance, faces o ou

ef. Ths pres is dented as Horendoes,

"the avenge of hs faher, who edessed

the wongs suffeed by Osis at he hands

of his evi brother, Seth

Horendotes' wods, also direced to

a gue of Osis on the adjacent pllar

face, ead n six columns from lef to rgh.

Behnd his gue ae the amuletc devces

fo protecion, ife, stabity, domnon, al

heath, al his guardng. 24

Passng beween he pilas, we

encounter wo of he four images of Osis

n he vciniy of he sarcophagus. The

HOUSE OF TERN

compositons are nealy idenica Sheter

by a yelow kiosk wth arched op, he

mummform Osirs sands on a low das

Aop hs head, he ate!crown; n hscossed ams, the egalia of cook and a

Hs skin s geen A ed sash wraps around

his wais Ehe side of the das is the

Anubs feish: a saff wih leopard skn

stuck in a morar

In both scenes, Oss s idenied

as uer of he assemby of gods n a sng

coumn of e before each gue ae

Osis promses o he queen On the e,

he gives he the appearance of Re; on

the ight, he assures he a place n the

saced land

Moving to he inersecion of he

avenues beween he pilars, we see a a

gance tha he column faces a bear repre

sentaons of he djed plar, symbo of

Osis. ut his guatve mof aso seve

o undescoe he sone plars as he e

suppos of he oof above ou heads The

djed coumns ae sized o t exacty wthn

he recangle of the column face, their topand margns dened by vesons of the

queens titulay. But for minor varatons

speng, hese nscripions are the same

he edge tes always poin outwad whl

the uppe text aways faces nward, owad

the sacophagus.

roceedng fathe nothward, we

mee the second pa of Osis gures,

again facing the enrance of the omb Lk

the earlie wo, hese Osis gues sand

n yeow kosks Boh ae dessed as beforand anked by the Anubs fesh On the

eft, Osis s idenied as King of Eterniy

whle on he right, he is caled ord of the

Necopos Snce deah, ke eeny,

enues foever, these formuatons ae

equivalent Before Osirs, n a sngle co

umn of text, is hs promise to eferar

assurance of a place in the saced and for

ever and ever



A WALK THRUGH THE"

H F RNY

Once outside he area bonded by he

pilars, we nd ha he decorations of their

outer aces exhibit more variey. On each

the qeen is welcomed by a proecive godor goddess: thrice by Isis, twice by Hahor

of Thebes and once by Anubis. As ever he

ueen wears her pleated whie gown and

broad goden colar Her vture cap head

dress is common o al images of Nefeari;

but here it lacks the high, twin plumes,

which cod not be accommodated while

stil dispaying the een's itulary

The north face of Pillar II in Chamber

K, showing Nefertari

with Hathor.

24 "Words spoken by

Horedotes. I am thy

beoved SOli, who ise

� forth from hy ins hve

come to kit for thee thy

� ibs and have br ght thee thy heart, {oh} Iy

o ather Osiris who resides

in the West Myest thou

aow the kig' reat wie,

mistress of le two ds,

Nefertari, eoved of ,

and the gret divine

asemby to be joined with

those i the Necropois



108

Th Annxs(Not Opn to th Public)

Three smal ooms ssue fom the sacoph

agus chambe: one o the wes (Chambe

M anohe to he eas (Chamber 0), and

a thid o te norh (Camber Q). Teidecoraton as suffered badly Te east and

wes cambers are squae, abou he same

sze 2.3 meters to te side. The notern

annex is a ecangle of 3.6 x 2.1 metes.

Of te ree, h decoation n

Camber M s best peserved and of rea

neres Te dooway s marked by images

of e coba goddesses of Uppe and Lower

Egypt. On he right s a serpen coled

upon a basket esing on win djed pllas

She s dentied as Nebe, ye wears te

red crown of Lowe Egypt On e left,

a simla scene; but of Edjo, weang he

double cown, ed and white, of Unied

Egyp As Edjo shoud be wearing he ed

crown and Nebe the doube, hee is

clearly some confusion here On e doo's

inner hcness s space for a snge coumn

of ex wth he queen's titulay25

The inne face of he door frame has

two scenes. On e le, to he norh, Osis,as te djed pla, hods was scepters and

has ankh sgns on s wists. Te right

scene, o he souh, is much narowe and

s the soe epesentation of e queen as a

mummy Se s swathed in ed, wth wg,

broad colar, and vuure cap

Te scenes on the eft and g was

form a pa: the fou sons of Hous,

togethe with Isis and Nephhys, welcome

te queen. In squating postue, Imsey,

Duamuef, and Isis are on e ef. Hapi,

HOUSE OF ETERNI

Qebehsenef, and Nepys are on te igh

The queen passes thoug this protectve

dee to eac he prncpa scene in

Chambe M on te back (west) wal, acurous depction of te mytc home of

Osrs n Abydos.

Enoug of e scene survives to read

it cleay a wide booh or tempoay sruc

tue ereced on ve suppos, each beaing

a coumn of ext In the shaow, gabed

pedimen above are opposed, undulang

serpens whose proecive wings mee

n he center. In te intervas beween e

suppos, fom e o igh, ae Tho,

Anubis, msety, and agan Tot n fron

of eac, on a standard, is a symbo of e

ngt sy. Each column of ext is the ue

ance of one of these gods on Nefetai's

behaf

The easern annex (Chamber 0) s

framed by a doorway decoaed exacty lik

e one of Camber M except ta the

artis has now correcty inked Edo wth

e red crown The nner thcness also

menons te queen's titles The panesethe sde of te inne door fame ave

ded plas; but te lef (sout) panel s a

symbolic epesentaon of he queen, a

complemen to he mage of he mummy

in Chambe M.

Te scenes in s camber are

less wel peserved, bu the queen s twce

shown in adoraon. On e e, she aises

he ams n prase of Hahor, whose ag

mentay image shows er n the aspect of

cow, msress of he "west and paton of the Necopos. An aar gaced wh low

es sepaates e queen from he goddess



A WALK THROUGH TE "OUSE OF ETERNITY

On the right, the queen stands before

enthroned mages o Anubis and Iss.

Another altar this time aden wth styized

loaves o bread stands beore the queenOn the rear wa is a much-damaged

image o Ma'at with outstretched wings

acng to our right. Enough remains o her

utterance to the queen to proclaim that

she has given Neertari the lfetme o Re'

and a pace n the House of Amun in other

words Karnak Temple. Perhaps a statue

was erected there to the queen's memory.

The decoration n the north annex is

argely obiterated Pared serpents guard

the door thicknesses A soltary gureo Isis on the south wal is a that remains

on the west side o the room along with

a smal area o plaster bearing the queen's

cartouche on the north wa A vestigia

procession o gods s the right wal

Among them we recognie Serket preceded

by two male deities. An image o the j

pilar between two tyet knots reminiscent

o the decorative border around the sar

cophagus chamber takes up the south wa

east secton

25 Th rgh s� dsrd bu Ih f rads: "the Osiris, tle

ki/g's great Vife mistress

of the tV ands, ady of

� Uppr ad Lr Egpt

Nfrtari bovd of

o il, jstied for th

great god.

Nefertari in mum

mied form in the

sotheast corner of

Chamber M.







Close-up view show

ing salt crystals capa

ble of prying the paint

layer aay from the

plaster.

HOUSE OF ETERNI

in conservationand preservation

of our commoncultura hertagethroughout theworld.

In an age of ever increasing, ever les

nourishing dstractions, the world's cul

tural hertage provides spritual sustenan

for al humanity. Heritage links us to cul

tures of the past and enriches the times n

which we ve

A word without a cultural memory

without the capacity to experience the

authentic, the genuine, is a world pro

foundly deprved Wthout our cutural

hertage, we are like people without mem

ory: we have no way of knowing where we

came from, where we are gong. We simp

live ineplicable, ncomprehensible, iso

lated moments

The Getty Conservation Insttute

strives to preserve ths heritage by under takng colaborative conservaton project

in countries as diverse as Chna, Ecuador,

Tanzania, and the United States, always in

partnership with host authorities In the

conservation of the tomb of Nefertari, the

Gel worked wth the gyptian Antiqutes

Organization, since renamed the Supreme

Counci of Antiuities. he Council is

responsible for some of the richest and

most ancient cultural heritage stes in the

world. In terms of sophistcation, power,and endurng glory, the heritage of very

few other nations can rval, much less sur

pass the splendor of Egyptan culture,



ONLUSON

reected in these majestic monuments.

Moreove, in Egypt, futher magncent

discovees ae even today being made

The Council s committed to conserving and preseving this inestimably vau

abe cuural hertage on behaf of a the

peoples of the world That is one eason

why the GCI rst undertook he joint effort

at he tomb of Nefertai In al of ts

projects, the GCI seeks susainabilty, where

the colaboatve consevaion achieved

w be mantaned by ts parners n he

host county.

The issues of conservaton of cultural

hertage are complex, mutifaceted ones

that sedom end hemselves to smple or

obvous solutons. Asde from the scienic

and technical aspects of conservaton in

he management of hetage, multpe

values must be weighed: culural, sptua,

educatona, nterpeive, economc. For

example, the evenue ganed by admisson

of ousts to he omb of Nefertai may

accue to he bene of countless oher

gyptian sites n need of conservaion,mainenance, and managemen.

Ye, visos pose a rsk to he pain

ngs in the tomb. Afte al, however ofty

an aesthetc and cutura achievemen, the

omb is basically a cave A blind hole,

wth ony one entrance/ext Wihout

sophisicated climate-contro equipmen,

condiions nside he tomb ae subject to

extreme, abrupt alteatons when vistos

enter Thus, a baance must be struck

between the number of vstos allowedto ener the omb and the economic bene

t resuting from thei entry, as we as

the educaional and aestheic benes

derved by hose who personaly experi

ence ts spendor

An exac replca of he omb, a "vir

tua expeience museum in cose proximity

ChamberK east side

of the south wall,

showing the deteriora

ton that occurred

between 1904 (oppo

site) and 1989.

Photo opposite: COlrtey ofhe Mueo Egizio Tuin



Visitors waiting to

enter the tomb after it

was opened to the pub

lic in November 1995.

Photo: Sil Maeknwa

Detail from the eat

wall of Chamber K

cira 1920 and 1989

Top phoo COrsy f hMuo Egzio, Tui

HOUSE OF ETERNI

to the actual tomb, could provide an alte

native if tourist pressure becomes too

great Such a soluton has met wth great

success at the site of fragle, paeolthc capaintings in Lascaux, Fance.

Ctca to nding the balance is co

tnued monitong of the envronment

wthn the tomb itself The curent system

fo cmate control at the tomb of Nefert

-a tube and fan that seve to pump hum

a out of the tomb and suck in extenal

ar -s udimentay he ai intoduced

unltered and fom time to time may be

aden with micoscopic dust paticles

bone on the deset winds These partcesette on the oo of the tomb, but also,

over tme adhee to the wals, obscung

the bliance of the painting

The Gel s employing solarpowere

sensors to ensure constant measuements

Without such constant and pecise moni

torng to diect decsonmaing, the ris

of deteroraton wil not ony reman, t

wil ncease Ireversble damage wl cer

tainy occur

Damage by mosture, partcuay t

actvaton of salt leached fom the lime

stone motherock and paster of the tom

s cumulative At a cetain point, such

cumulatve damage to the pantngs each

a pont of no eturn At that tme, the on

remainng opton mght be restoation.

And restoation s fae

By contast, consevaton deals with

the authentic creation that yet remains

The conservators' at and science appy tothese precious artfacts of ou common

cutual heitage ony those methodoog

that take the "patent as t is No one can

rejuvenate t, eceate t, estoe it Even

ty is shee atce

hus, to make successfu use of al

the potential values and (sometmes con

cting) benets of a cultual heritage as



CONCLUSIN

vast and rich as that of Egypt, it s essential

that attenton be concentrated also on

management and custodanshp. Only n

ths way can we be cetan that a ste isnethe destoyed nor degaded n its

authenticty

Consevaton o such teasues can

be moe than cost eectve, povded that

the management s propey undetaken

and wisely administered. For exampe,

dsplay in the Egyptian Museum o

phaaonic mummes, usng GI-designed,

ntogen-lled cases, has poven excep

tonay successu. Today, the necessay

mechanisms, technques, ste-managementpans, and methodologies ae avaiabe.

Sometimes lackng are admnstative and

poltica wl.

A these are aspects of the present

and future that concen the G, as well as

the Egyptan authorities. he past traumas

o the tomb have been arrested ogethe,

we have managed to hat peviously n

exorabe processes of destructon. Now the

chalenge s to mantain a healthy eubrium, both in the tomb's envonment and

its vsitor management With the hep o

an nomed and appecatve pubic, we

pledge ou best efots to that task.

ay the tomb o Neetari yet endure

o al etenity.

Nevile Agnew

Associate Director, Programs

The etty Consevation nstitute

Nefertari on he west

wall, souh ide of

Chamber G.



16

Acknowledgments

This publication is the reslt of an excepional team effort by

the staffs of he Gey Conservaion Insie, he J. Paul Gey

Msem, and or consltants The conservaion of he wal pain

ings in he tomb took ove six years. When he Spreme Councilof Aniquiies of Egypt decided to open o tomb to visitors, we fe

i very impoan to conibe to a wider ndesanding of he

signicance of the omb by hose able o visit it as wel as those who

do not have the opportnity b sill ae interested in the subject.

ohn McDonald wote he ex, based on his extensive nowl

edge of ancient Egyp and of he omb itsef ae a memorabe

visit wih Getty staf. John Fare edied the manscipt, stuctur

ing many pas to sui both he images and the oganization of

he boo, and maing the scholarly angage of he ex accessible

to al eades. Nevile Agnew, of the Gety Conservaion Institute,

spevised the book from sta o nish and contibuted his know

edge of consevation and of he omb hough invauable sugges

ions. Chis Hudson, of the J. Pau Getty Museum, undeook his

project wih excepional enthusiasm and supeb professiona sils

We ae indebted o M. Hdson fo his tenacity, vision, and focus

Eveyone will be abe o beer appeciae the beay of he

tomb hans to he images prodced mosy by Guilermo Aldana

over his many yeas as phoographer wih the conservation team

The sperb design comes fom Vickie Kaen who ndesands he

needs fo visa impac, aeshetics, and harmony. The pblicaion

wold not have been a a possible wee i not fo Anita Keys whohas eenessy seen to it ha phoos, copy, poducion, and a my

iad detais al come ogethe a the right ime He peseverance

is equaed by he good humo nde pressure, ceativity, and

inventive management sils.

To al of them we ae indebted.

Migue Ange Cozo

Director

The Getty Consevation nsiute

HOUSE OF ETERN

Conservation of the W PaintingsProject Members 98-992

Executive Body

Mohamed Ibrahim Bak

ChamanEgyptian Antiquities

Organizatio

Migel Angel Corzo

The Getty Cnservatin

stitute

The late Ahmed Kady

Fm ChamanEgyptian Antiqities

Orgaizatin

Lis oreal

Fm

The Getty Cnservatinstitute

Gamal oukhtar

Fm ChamanEgyptian Antiquities

Orgaizatio

The ate Sayed Tawk

m ChamaEgyptian Antiquities

Organizatio

Conservation Team

Paolo Mora and

ara Sbordni Mra

Ad e-Rady Abd el

niem

Ad eNasser Ahmed

Girgi Capriotti

Luigi de Cesaris

Lrenz 0'Alessandro

Adam Franco

Giuseppi Girdan

AhmedAli Hussein

Lut Khaled

Adriano Lzi

Gamal Mahgub

Hussein Mohamed-Ali

Paolo Pastoelo

Stephen Rikerby

Saye A. el-Shaat

Christina Vazio

Scientific Team

arrag Ad el

Mouttaleb

Nabil Abd el-Sama

Nevlle AgewMokhtar S Ammar

Hideo Arai

Omar elArii

Mtawe Babouch

Kamal Barakat

auk eBaz

Asmaa A el-Deeb

ri Dehe

ichelle Derick

Feisal A H Esmael

Gaalla AGabala

Essam H Ghanem

H A amroush

BlssawiPig in

Shi Maekawa

dest Mntoto

Shawki Nakla

Atni Palet

Edardo Porta

Frak Preusse

Saeh A Saeh

Michael Schilling

afa Seddia

Photographer

Gillerm Adana

Research:

Art and History

Mahasti Ashar

Administration and

Management

Ahmed Ad el-Rady

Salah Baymy Basy

Sayed egazy

ary Helmy

Rmay Helmy

alat ohrem

Mhamed Nasr

Edardo Porta

Mahmoud Sadeq

Laura Sandes

Ine Yang Slaughter

Mohamed eSougay

Feryman

Faruk Fawey eDae





The '904 discovery ot Queen Neterari's omb

revealed o he word he exquisie beauy of

is magnificen painings, which rank among he

fines surviving maserpieces of ancien Egyp.

Reseaed again because of he decay and disine

graion of is fragie images he omb remained

hidden from he public uni 1995 when a nine

year program of meiculous conservaion and

monioring was compeed

John McDonad presens a compee guide o his

"house of eerniy, expaining he vignees and

exs ha el he sory of Neferari's fina journey

o immoraliy. He reaes he meaning of he myhs

and funera ries, shows how he royal ombs were

bui, and describes he life of Neferari, whose

i l b k i

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McDonald. The Tomb of Nefertari

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