more photos

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site details

0700-1800 daily summer
0700-1500 daily winter
E£20 for 3 tombs
E£40 tutankhamun
E£10 camera per tomb
no flash
no video cameras

relevant links

traveloque 2/14
theban mapping project

history

New Kingdom

18th Dynasty
19th Dynasty
20th Dynasty

Thutmose III
Tutankhamun
Ramesses II
Merenptah
Seti II
Tausert
Ramesses III
Ramesses IX\

Tomb of Ramesses IX

This tomb is long, straight, and very deep. Ramesses IX, another of the many pharaohs of the Ramesside Dynasty (the 20th Dynasty), built this tomb just hear the entrance to the valley. It has been open since antiquity and 46 ancient tourists left grafitti on the walls.

A long corridor leads to a pillared hall and burial chamber. THe sarcophagus is missing -- taken by some tomb robber, I suppose. The resurrection of the king is still shown on the walls by Khepri, the scarab of incarnation, representing the full reborn sun at dawn.

The ceilingof the burial chamber is yellow on dark blue, and shows a scene from the Book of Night with jackals and Nut riding a ship into the afterlife. The sunken reliefs of the earlier tombs has given way to painting on a flat surface and the style is definitely inferior to that of the earlier tombs inthe valley. THe waning power of the 20th Dynasty is very evident in their art.