The Ancient Egyptian gallery at the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery features over 600 objects. It covers "Belief", "Life", "Death" and "Afterlife". The mummy and the coffin of Horemkenesi, who lived at Deir el-Medina, arrived from Luxor in 1905. Ägyptischen Museums der Universität Leipzig, Germany The Ancient Egyptian gallery features over 600 objects. It covers "Belief", the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, including their views of creation, their gods and their rituals. "Life" - the social structure in ancient Egypt, childhood and a variety of different jobs from Pharaoh to farm labourer. "Death" - funerary belief, preparation of the body for mummification, coffin symbolism and tombs. And "Afterlife" - the ancient Egyptians' beliefs about what happened after death, and the need for grave goods, servants, food offerings, and possessions. https://www.gko.uni-leipzig.de/aegyptisches-museum/ The collections search page: http://museums.bristol.gov.uk/ During the 1890s archaeologists from the Egypt Exploration Fund (nowadays Egypt Exploration Society) were excavating the area at Deir el-Bahri, a complex located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the modern city of Luxor. At the time, archaeological finds not reserved for the national collection in Cairo, could be shared among the donors of funding for the excavations (namely museums and universities). The Bristol Museum sponsored the EEF and as a result received regular donations of finds. In 1905 the mummy of Horemkenesi in his coffin arrived from Luxor (KS2 resource,2003). The coffin was found in the pit-tomb of Mentuhotep II's queen Sadeh (Booth,2003,247), who lived nearly 1,000 years before Horemkenesi who became a secondary burial in her tomb within Mentuhotep's mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri. The tomb had laid undisturbed for 3 millennia. Horemkenesi lived during the turbulent times of the 20th and the 21st dynasties, around 1070 BC, in the period now called the Third Intermediate Period (Booth,2006,243). He either lived at Deir el-Medina or within the enclosure of Medinet Habu. His main job was that of an overseer of workmen at the Valley of the Kings. He also worked as a scribe at Deir el-Medina as he held a title "Scribe of the task in the Horizon of Eternity" (Booth,2006,243). Horemkenesi acted as a part time wab priest at the temples of Karnak and Medinet Habu. A rock inscription informs us that his father Huysheri also held the title of wab priest at Medinet Habu, suggesting the title might have been hereditary (Booth,2006,244). During Horemkenesi's early years the boy must have attended classes and was trained as a scribe. The lessons were held either at Deir el-Medina, where the school for the children of necropolis workmen was run, or at the nearby Ramesseum. Once the settlement of Deir el-Medina was abandoned, he would have been educated at the Temple of Medinet Habu (Janssen,2007,64). His career started during the reign of Ramesses XI (1098-1070 BC) and continued until at least year 20 of high priest Pinedjem I (1070-1032 BC) (Booth,2003,244). His main duties were inspecting tombs for damage, repairing the robbed ones and organising non-royal burials. His name can be found in several rock graffiti around the Valley of the Kings. His signature indicated which tombs he inspected. His name can be seen for example near the Seti II tomb. It was noticed in 1981 that Horemkenesi's mummy started to deteriorate and the decision was taken to unwrap the mummy to find information about Horemkenesi's physical characteristics and his health and also about the way the body was mummified (KS2 resource,2003). The mummy of Horemkenesi revealed a short, plump man, who was between 55 and 60 years of age at the time of his death. He suffered from arthritis in his shoulders and in his back, which must have caused him painful stiffness. The brain, which is normally removed, was left within the skull cavity intact. On the other hand his heart, which used to be left in the corpse, is missing in Horemkenesi's body. His ear lobes had large holes and several of his teeth were worn away down to the gum because the food contained sand (KS2 resource,2003). The mummy was buried in a 3-piece coffin, which was in fashion at the time. It is made of wood and is covered by a thin layer of painted plaster. Images of gods are depicted inside and out and prayers are written to protect the dead person and to help him on his journey to the Afterlife. The design of the coffin is a standard one, it was not made especially for Horemkenesi, but his name and titles were written into the spaces left empty within the text. The panoramas below were created by Robert Gibson from Sydney, Australia. 14 photographs I took in the gallery were rendered by him to produce these 3 wonderful images. Horemkenesi's mummy was covered by a colourful painted mummy board. On the floor of the bottom case is a figure of Osiris in the form of a djed pillar. Horemkenesi's mummy was covered by a colourful painted mummy board. The burial consisted only of the mummy within the coffin, over which garlands of plaited rush leaves were draped, but no grave goods belonging to Horemkenesi was found in the tomb. No amulets were found inside the linen wrappings, but feathers and small pieces of plant material were found inside his bandages. The canopic jars were also missing. A pair of leather sandals that were too small for his feet was found in the tomb (KS2,2003). To view the museum's records of the coffin, follow the links below: http://museums.bristol.gov.uk/details.php?irn=79677 http://museums.bristol.gov.uk/details.php?irn=79579 http://museums.bristol.gov.uk/details.php?irn=79678 To view the museum's records for the mummy group and the coffins, follow the link to the Search the Museum Collection at http://museums.bristol.gov.uk/list.php?keyword=horemkenesi&start=1 There are 585 individually numbered objects in the catalogue as all the items found within the coffins were kept and given a unique catalogue number. The elaborate list helps us to understand the wide scale of ingredients that were involved in the embalming process. All the coffins and remains of skin tissue from within the mummy wrappings are listed together with materials used during Horemkenesi's mummification process - natron used to dry the body, saw dust, straw and plant fibres to pack the body cavities to provide support, resins, minerals, charcoal and even beetles and larvae. As the methods of the artificial preservation of bodies in ancient Egypt changed and evolved over a long period of time, this list together with the medical report from 1981 provide better understanding of the process Horemkenesi's body was involved in. I would like to express my thanks to Sue Giles, the Senior Collections Officer-World Cultures, Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives, who granted me permission to use the photographs on this page and to Amber Druce, Curator-World Cultures, Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives, for her helpful comments. Photography © Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives Photographs by Lenka Peacock Text was compiled using the resources below Sources: 1. Wilkinson, R. H. : The complete gods and goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London : Thames & Hudson, 2003. 2. Clayton, Peter A.: Chronicles of the Pharaohs : the reign-by-reign record of the rulers and dynasties of ancient Egypt London : Thames & Hudson, 1994. https://www.gko.uni-leipzig.de/aegyptisches-museum/ Further bibliography Back to top

The owner of the tomb 3 at Deir el-Medina was Pashedu, who lived in the settlement during the reigns of Sety I and Ramesses II. He had the title "Servant in the Place of Truth on the West of Thebes". Pashedu's tomb no. 3 at Deir el-Medina The owner of the tomb 3 at Deir el-Medina was Pashedu, who lived in the settlement during the reigns of Sety I and Ramesses II. He had the title "Servant in the Place of Truth on the West of Thebes". He may also have been a "foreman" if he is to be identified with the person named in an inscription translated by Kitchen (Kitchen, 1993, p. 270). He was a stonemason responsible for the cutting of the corridors, chambers and pillared halls of the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Pashedu was the son of Menna and Lady Huy. He and his wife, called Nedjem-Behdet, had five sons and daughters. Pashedu's son, Menna, was undoubtedly named after his grandfather. From the inscriptions in the tombs, it appears that Kaha was also Pashedu's son (Davies, 1999, p. 166). TT3 was discovered in 1834 by conscripts from the Egyptian army. The Scottish artist Robert Hay visited the tomb shortly afterwards and recorded its decorated walls (Weeks, 2005, p. 464). At the bottom of the entrance stairs is the entrance to the first chamber, behind which is the second chamber. A short vaulted passage leads to the third, innermost chamber. The walls of the passage are painted on both sides with jackals of Anubis lying on top of large white shrines with cavetto cornices. The god Ptah-Sokar-Osiris is depicted in the form of a falcon in the vaulted area above the doorway. His elaborately painted wings stretch out below a wedjat eye. The falcon is seated in a boat. There are 15 lines of hieroglyphic inscription. Pashedu's sons, Menna and Kaha, kneel beside the boat and worship the depicted gods (not shown). All photography on the page © 2009 Mutnedjmet Pashedu and his wife sit in front of an offering table in a small boat on the Abydos pilgrimage. One of their daughters sits at Nedjem-Behdet's feet. Both are dressed in elegant pleated linen robes and have long, elaborately coiffed hair. The first deity is the falcon-headed Ra-Harakhty, followed by a human-headed Atum The back wall of the innermost chamber depicts the god Osiris-Onnophris, ruler of the realm of the dead, on his throne with Mountain of the West behind him. Osiris wears a nemes-crown and holds a flail and a sceptre. In front of him a seated god presents a bowl with burning cones. The inscription written in columns of black hieroglyphs contains the spell "light a lamp for Osiris". (Málek,2003,222). Behind the throne of Osiris a small kneeling figure of Pashedu is depicted. The picture on the left shows two corner scenes. The scene on the right was taken from the left front wall of the burial chamber. It is one of the best known scenes from Thebes. Pashedu is kneeling and bowing under a dom-palm at the edge of a pond. Around him are 21 columns of text. 17 are from chapter 62 of the Book of the Dead, the Chapter for Drinking Water in God's Domain. The left scene is taken from the right wall of the burial chamber. Pashedu and his daughter Nebnefret are standing in front of four male deities and a djed-pillar. Atum is followed by the scarab-headed Khepri (the morning form of the sun god), and the god Ptah. Behind Ptah stands the djed -pillar. On the vaulted ceiling of the innermost burial chamber there are sixteen deities, eight on each side. On the right side are Osiris, Isis and Nut. ...Nun and Nepthys... On the right side, there are: Hathor, Ra-Harakhty, Neith... ...Serqet, Anubis and Wepwawet ...Geb, Anubis and Wepwawet To view Mutnedjmet's flickr photostream follow the link to https://www.flickr.com/photos/26330013@N08/albums The text on this page was written by Lenka Peacock Photography © Mutnedjmet To view and browse the digitised version of The Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Statues, Reliefs and Paintings, (also known as Porter & Moss or TopBib) for this tomb, go to http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/topbib/pdf/pm1-1.pdf#page=27 Material for the Bibliography is gathered from an ever-expanding range of multi-lingual sources, encompassing both specialist and semi-popular Egyptological and Near Eastern publications, periodicals, museum guides, exhibition and auction catalogues, together with the growing wealth of web resources. The Bibliography also analyses a range of unpublished manuscripts, including those housed in the Griffith Institute Archive. Published in May 2014 by the Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, the volumes are constantly revised and augmented. Sources: 1. Davies, Benedict G.: Who's who at Deir el-Medina : a prosopographic study of the royal workmen's community Leiden : Nederlands Instituut voor Her Nabije Oosten, 1999 2. Weeks, Kent R.: The treasures of Luxor and the Valley of the Kings Cercelli : White Star Publishers, 2005 3. Kitchen, K. A.: Ramesside inscriptions : translated and annotated notes and comments I. Oxford : Blackwell, 1993. 4. Málek, Jaromír: Egypt : 4000 years of art London : Phaidon Press, 2003. 5. slideshow https://www.osirisnet.net/tombes/artisans/pached3/e_pached3_01.htm Further bibliography Back to top

Plan of a typical Deir el-Medina house and panoramas of the village The houses at Deir el-Medina Although the houses in the village varied in size they followed a fairly standard plan. The first room very often contained a rectangular mud brick structure, partially or completely enclosed except for an opening on the long side, which was accessed by three steps. Bruyère found remains of these structures in twenty-eight of the sixty-eight houses he knew of on the site. The function of the bed-like structures is still debated by Egyptologists. It has been suggested that they could have served as a birthing or nursing bed, or as a bed altar for ancestor worship. Fragments of several paintings from the outer walls of some of these structures deal specifically with themes of female life: labour, childbirth and daily care. It is thought that the villagers may have worshipped deities or prayed to a recently deceased relative in these bed-altars. It has recently been suggested (Brooker, 2009, pp. 44-53) that the front rooms at Deir el-Medina were used as gardens. This suggestion is supported by the existence of several clay models of houses from other sites in Egypt which show enclosed courtyards within the frontal space. Archaeological evidence suggests that gardens were created at lower levels than the houses. The majority of the floors in the front rooms of the Deir el-Medina houses were at lower levels - some 40 to 50 cm below street level. Textual evidence for the front room and its purpose is limited, but both instructions and love poetry suggest the importance of a private garden to an ancient Egyptian. The second room was the main living room and was higher than the first. The flat roof of the room was supported by one or two wooden pillars resting on stone bases. Archaeological evidence suggests that the second room had a sacred significance. Votive stelae have been found near shallow rectangular and vaulted wall niches that occur in several houses in the first and second rooms. Limestone offering tables were found near them. False door dedications were found in the second rooms of most of the houses. All this evidence seems to indicate that the second room was used, among other things, to communicate with and gain protection from those outside the bounds of ordinary mortal existence. Some houses had a small chamber off the second room, which seems to have been used both as a general storeroom and as a place to sleep. Beyond this room was a kitchen and a staircase to the roof, which was partly open to allow smoke to escape. Two cellars complete the dwellings. Plan of a typical Deir el-Medina house. Drawn by Lenka Peacock, after a drawing of Mary Winkes, in Pharaoh's workers. View of the east side of the settlement as seen towards west Take a stroll along the eastern (lower) side of the settlement of Deir el-Medina, viewing each house from east towards west. The main cemetery can be seen at the top of the photographs in the distance. Photography © Andy Peacock 2007 The origins of this breathtakingly beautiful panorama can be traced back to the walk over the Theban hills taken by Warwick Barnard from Sydney, Australia, in January 2007. The magnificent panorama was rendered by him from his six contiguous images and then processed into a reduced size image. The original was over 25 MB. For more quality photography visit http://www.pbase.com/galleria_rusticana/aegyptica Photography © Warwick Barnard 2007 The four panoramas below were created in December 2009 using photographic material obtained at Deir el-Medina at the beginning of that month. The author is Alan Vowles, UK North-south view of the settlement East-west view of the settlement and the Western tombs Photography © Alan Vowles 2009 The text on this page was written by Lenka Peacock Photography © Lenka and Andy Peacock, Warwick Barnard, Alan Vowles Sources: 1. James, T.G.H.: Pharaoh's people : scenes from life in Imperial Egypt New York : Tauris Parke, 2003. 2. David, A. Rosalie: The pyramid builders of ancient Egypt : a modern investigation of Pharaoh's workforce. London : Routledge, 1986. 3. Pharaoh's workers : the villagers of Deir el-Medina / edited by Leonard H. Lesko Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 1994. 4. Brooker, M. L.: A new approach of identifying the function of the elevated beds at Deir el-Medina. A thesis: The University of Birmingham, Master of Philosophy. Birmingham : University of Birmingham, June 2009. 196 p. 5. http://www.pbase.com/galleria_rusticana/aegyptica For more quality photography visit http://www.pbase.com/galleria_rusticana/aegyptica Further bibliography Back to top

Meretseger was a local goddess of the Theban necropolis. The evidence of her cult is prominent especially during the New Kingdom. She was depicted as a cobra, a cobra with a female head or even a female with a cobra’s head. Occasionally she was depicted as a scorpion with a female head. The goddess Meretseger Meretseger was a local goddess of the Theban necropolis. Evidence of her cult is particularly strong during the New Kingdom. She was depicted as a cobra, a cobra with a woman's head, or even a woman with a cobra's head. Occasionally she was depicted as a scorpion with a female head. Ostrakon dedicated to Meretseger Egyptian Museum, Turin From Deir el-Medina 20th dynasty Limestone Meretseger in the form of a coiled serpent in front of an offering table. Cat. 1522 Museo Egizio Information and photos Statue of the goddess Meretseger Egyptian Museum, Turin From Deir el-Medina 19th - 20th dynasty Limestone Meretseger is depicted as a cobra with a face of a woman. Old Fund (1824-1888) Cat. 957 Museo Egizio Information and photos Both images © Museo Egizio, Turin Photograhy by Lenka Peacock, 2019-2020 The name Meretseger written in hieroglyphs literally means “She who loves silence” . She was thought to dwell on the 450-metre high pyramid shaped mountain that dominates the valley. Through this topographic connection she was sometimes also known as “The peak of the West” or “The Lady of the Peak” . (Shaw 1995, 184) Meretseger was worshipped throughout the Theban necropolis, but especially by the artisans of the village, which lay in a barren pocket in the western hills south-east of the Valley of the Kings (Reeves 1996, 22). The village is now called Deir el-Medina. The community of artisans carved and decorated the tombs of the New Kingdom kings. They worshipped a wide range of deities from national gods such as Osiris, Ptah and Hathor to deified kings and queens such as Amenhotep I and Queen Ahmose-Nefertari. They also worshipped Asian gods that became popular in Egypt after the kings' conquests in Asia - the war god Reshep and the fertility goddesses Kudshu, Anat and Astarte, who was also a goddess of love (Tvůrci hrobů 1992, 17). But the ever-present danger of being bitten by the cobra, which was and still is plentiful in the Theban desert, made the worship of a snake a very important matter indeed. As in most cultures, the Egyptians regarded the snake as a source of evil and danger. Meretseger, the snake goddess, was worshipped in order to avert the danger posed by her physical manifestation. Prayers and offerings were made to her to prevent or cure snakebites (Shaw 1995, 262). The villagers had numerous small temples, chapels and shrines. Each individual chapel would have provided a local residence for the goddess and a place for offerings to her (Pharaoh's workers 1994, 90). The stelae dedicated to Meretseger did not come from the tombs of the villagers but from these small temples where they offered their devotions to her. One of the well-known votive stelae dedicated to Meretseger is that of Neferabu with a hymn to Meretseger. Neferabu was a moderately wealthy artist from Deir el-Medina who raised a large family and built a fine tomb for himself. The stela is part of a collection in the Turin Museum . Its number is 102. On the right side of the rectangular stela the goddess Meretseger is depicted as a snake with one human head and two snake heads standing in front of an offering. On the left side of the stela the hymn is written in 17 columns. It contains Neferabu's warning against Meretseger's powers. At the top of the hymn is Neferabu's thanks to Meretseger. Neferabu admits that he was ignorant and unwise, and that he could not distinguish between good and evil. He sinned against the Peak. He drew the punishment of the goddess. She had power over him. He promised to tell the workers to beware of the peak, for the lion dwells there. Now he understood that whoever sins against Meretseger will be persecuted. When he prayed to her, Meretseger came to Neferabu in the form of a sweet wind and forgave him. Again, he calls upon all ears to listen to his warning (Lexa,1920,280-281). "The Peak, she strikes with the strike of a fierce lion when she is after the one who transgresses against her. I called out to my mistress and found her coming to me as a sweet wind, and she was merciful to me, after she let me see her hand. She turned to me in peace, and she made me forget the sickness that was in my heart. So the Peak of the West is merciful when one calls to her." (Lichtheim,1976,107-108). Images © Museo Egizio, Turin Photograhy by Lenka Peacock, 2020 Stela of Hay Egyptian Museum, Turin From Hay's tomb no. 267 at Deir el-Medina 19th dynasty Limestone Another votive stela from the Turin Museum collection is the one dedicated to the goddess Meretseger by a deputy named Hay. Hay lived in Deir el-Medina during the reign of the 20th dynasty king Ramesses III (Tosi,1972,289). This round-topped stela bears a representation of Meretseger as a goddess with a female body and a cobra's head. The goddess Taweret standing beside her is depicted as a hippopotamus. Both goddesses have cow horns and sun discs on their heads. This shows a connection with the goddess Hathor, with whom Meretseger is often associated. The connection is related to the fact that in earlier times the pyramid mountain was sacred to Hathor (Reeves 1996, 17). Cat. 1606 Museo Egizio Information and photos Stele of Nebnefer Egyptian Museum, Turin From Deir el-Medina 19th dynasty Limestone The stela is divided into 3 registers. In the upper section there are 2 wedjat eyes with a shen sign above 3 zigzag lines representing water. The second, largest register is divided into 12 horizontal stripes. Each is occupied by a coloured snake facing to the right. In the lower register, 3 columns of hieroglyphic text worship the goddess Meretseger: "life, strength and health to the ka and the lady of the house Wab, the justified." To the right of the text the deceased kneels with her hands raised in worship. She is wearing a white robe. A lotus flower is placed on her wig. Behind her head are 4 hieroglyphs forming the phrase "in peace". To the right of the scene is an offering table with a vessel flanked by a bouquet of lotus flowers. Below the table there are 2 vessels on pedestals. The stela is framed by a narrow blue band in bas-relief. On the right side of the stela, starting halfway up, there is an inscription in black, flanked by two red vertical lines on each side, commemorating the "Servant of the Lord of the Two Lands in the Place (Seat) of Truth". Nebnefer and his son Pauebekhnu. On the left side of the stela there is an inscription in black, also flanked by two red vertical lines, commemorating Nebnefer and his daughter Henutshenu. Height: 27 cm Width: 17 cm Former Drovetti's collection Cat. 1533 = CGT 50060 Museo Egizio Information and photos Images © Museo Egizio, Turin Photograhy by Lenka Peacock, 2020 Ostrakon dedicated to Meretseger Egyptian Museum, Turin From Deir el-Medina 19th dynasty Limestone Meretseger in the form of a coiled serpent in front of an offering table Height: 12 cm Length: 17 cm Drovetti's collection (1824) Cat. 1659 Museo Egizio Information and photos Images © Museo Egizio, Turin Photograhy by Lenka Peacock, 2019 Statue of Meretseger Egyptian Museum, Turin From Deir el-Medina 19th - 20th dynasty (1292-1076 BC) Limestone Meretseger is depicted as a cobra with the face of a woman or a triple head (woman, snake and vulture). Old Fund (1824-1888) Cat. 956 Museo Egizio Information and photos Images © Museo Egizio, Turin Photograhy by Lenka Peacock, 2020 Stela of Parahotep dedicated to Amun-Re of Ipet, Meretseger and Amenhotep I Egyptian Museum, Turin From Deir el-Medina 19th dynasty Painted limestone Round-topped Meretseger was the goddess of the pyramidal peak that overlooks the Theban necropolis. Her usual name was "she who loves silence". She was primarily worshipped by the workmen of Deir el-Medina. Drovetti collection (1824) Cat. 1451/bis Museo Egizio Information and photos Images © Museo Egizio, Turin Photograhy by Lenka Peacock, 2019 Stela dedicated to the goddess Meretseger by the draftsman Nebra Egyptian Museum, Turin From Deir el-Medina 19th dynasty (1292-1190 BC) Painted limestone Drovetti collection (1824) Cat. 1590 Museo Egizio Information and photos Stela dedicated to the goddess Meretseger by Pendua Egyptian Museum, Turin From Deir el-Medina 19th dynasty (1292-1190 BC) Limestone Old Fund (1824-1888) Cat. 1564 Museo Egizio Information and photos Images © Museo Egizio, Turin Photograhy by Lenka Peacock, 2019 Images © Museo Egizio, Turin Photograhy by Lenka Peacock, 2020 Amennakht's votive stela British Museum EA 374 20th dynasty, about 1160 BC From Deir el-Medina Limestone The stela records Amennakht's prayer to the local goddess to remove an affliction "Praises for your spirit, Meretseger, Mistress of the West, by the scribe of the Place of Truth (st-maat), Amennakht true-of-voice; he says: 'Be praised in peace, O Lady of the West, Mistress who turns herself to grace! You made me see darkness in the day I shall declare Your power to other people. Be gracious to me in your grace!'" (Translation from the Museum label) © The Trustees of the British Museum Photograhy by Lenka Peacock Stela of Paneb British Museum EA272 19th dynasty, circa 1195 BC Limestone Rectangular shape Height: 19.3 cm Width: 17 cm In the upper register : Paneb, a foreman of the tomb workers, is depicted kneeling, worshipping the goddess Meretseger, who is in the form of a snake. The coiled cobra is undoubtedly Meretseger, the goddess of the Theban necropolis. The lower register : there are three kneeling male figures, Paneb's descendants. On the right there is Aapakhte, Paneb's son, together with his two sons - Paneb and Nebmehyt. Aapakhte was accused of crimes as an accomplice of his father. 3 images © The Trustees of the British Museum Photograhy by Steve Bayley 2005 Ostrakon of Khnummose British Museum EA8510 Painted limestone Black and red ink Height: 16.5 cm Figured ostrakon showing the workman Khnummose worshipping the serpent form of the goddess Meretseger. Jac Janssen suggested that this ostrakon had been used as a stela and that the work was not finished. Stela of Paneb British Museum EA273 19th dynasty, circa 1195 BC Limestone Round-topped Height: 20 cm Width: 13 cm Top register : kneeling Paneb depicted worshipping Meretseger in the form of a cobra headed goddess. Meretseger is seated on the throne. Lower register: Paneb's sons Aapakhte and Hadnakht are shown kneeling and worshiping. Stela dedicated to Meretseger UC14439 Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL Found at Thebes, probably from Deir el-Medina 19th dynasty, 1295-1186 BC) Limestone Width: 14 cm Height: 7.5 cm Upper part of a votive stela showing a coiled cobra with two feathers on its head. The name of the worshipper is illegible in the hieroglyphic inscription, the rest reads 'beloved of the goddess Meretseger'. 2 images © Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL Photography Lenka Peacock Ostrakon of Meretseger UC33812 Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL New Kingdom, 1550-1350 BC Possibly from Deir el-Medina Limestone Black ink Drawing of a serpent - a rearing cobra - in front of an offering table/vase/metal stand. The hood of the cobra is dilated and patterned. The base line is indicated. The stand resembles metal stands for vases found in Theban tombs. This form of stand appears on coffins, generally under the offering table depiction. Height: 7.3 cm Width: 9.4 cm Stela to Meretseger Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna , Egyptian - Oriental Collection Inv AE_INV_122 From Deir el-Medina New Kingdom, 19th-20th dynasty Limestone, painted Height: 20.7 cm Width: 14.2 cm Thickness: 3.3 cm Meretseger was the goddess associated with the pyramidal top of al-Qurn. She presided over the entire Theban necropolis. Her name means "she who loves silence". Meretseger was mainly worshipped by the craftsmen of the royal necropolis. The upper register: remains of a male figure standing on the right in front of an offering table. Meretseger, who is depicted as a goddess with a female body and the head of a cobra, is seated on her on her throne on the left side of the table, holding an ankh in her right hand and a in her right hand and a sceptre in her left hand. The inscription reads "Merest[sic]eger, Mistress of the West. Made by the apprentice Sha[...?]" The lower register: the ten snakes represent the cobra goddess Meretseger. Only seven snakes are visible, because the stela is in a fragments - the lower left part is broken off. Provenance: 1824 [1821] gift of Carlo Antonio Fontana 2 images © Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna Photography Lenka Peacock Figured ostrakon of the goddess Meretseger Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Egyptian - Oriental Collection Inv AE_INV_8304 New Kingdom 19th-20th dynasty, about 1315-1081 BC From Deir el-Medina (probably) Painted limestone Height: 11.3 cm Length: 16.6 cm Thickness: 2.9 cm This piece of limestone depicts the goddess Meretseger in the form of a coiled snake in front of an offering table, flanked on either side by a jug with an entwined lotus on a stand. Her headdress consists of two tall feathers and a sun disc. Three tall papyrus stems lean over the back of the snake. Provenance: 1948 Purchase The votive stelae from Deir el-Medina came from several small temples where the villagers had offered their devotions. The themes of the hymns and prayers are crime and punishment, repentance and forgiveness. These stelae are unusual because their texts do not show the pride of texts from other parts of Egypt. Their central concerns are humility and repentance. In the example of the stela of Neferabu, Meretseger is praised and worshipped in the traditional manner of the hymn and also prayed to in specific and personal terms. These personal prayers are an expression of the self-awareness of the individual person that comes to fruition in the New Kingdom. The personal piety of the Deir el-Medina prayers is not an isolated phenomenon of the developed individualism of the New Kingdom. Another example of conscious individualism can be found in the love poems preserved on Ramesside papyri (Lichtheim 1976, 104). In the workers' village of Deir el-Medina many shrines were erected to Meretseger. From all the archaeological evidence it seems that for the ancient people living in the Theban necropolis the local goddess Meretseger was at least as important as the great god of the dead, Osiris (Pharaoh's Workers 1994, 90). The cobra inspired awe through fear of its potential to cause great harm. It is difficult to distinguish between Meretseger as a local goddess for the necropolis and as a personal goddess for the people who lived and worked among the rocks where cobras might hide (Watterson 1984, 35). Sources: 1. Shaw, Ian, Nicholson, Paul: British Museum dictionary of ancient Egypt London: British Museum Press, 1995. 2. Reeves, Nicholas: The complete Valley of the Kings : tombs and treasure of Egypt's greatest pharaohs. London : Thames and Hudson, 1996. 3. Tvůrci hrobů egyptských králů : Jaroslav Černý a Dér el-Medina Praha : Náprstkovo museum, 1992. 4. Pharaoh's workers : the villagers of Deir el-Medina / edited by Leonard H. Lesko Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 1994. 5. Lichtheim, M.: Ancient Egyptian literature. Vol. II: The New Kingdom Berkeley : University of California Press, 1976. 6. Lexa, Fr.: Náboženská literatura staroegyptská. Dil I a II Kladno : Nákladem J. Snajdra, 1920. 7. Museo Egizio, English Turin : Fondazione Museo delle Antichità Egizie di Torino, 2019. Further bibliography Back to top

The Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum belongs among the most important collections of Egyptian antiquities in the world. The collection houses more than 12,000 objects. Deir el-Medina is represented in a wide variety of items. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria Construction of the Kunsthistorisches Museum by Gottfried Semper and Carl von Hasenauer, commissioned by Emperor Franz Joseph I, began in 1871 and was completed in 1891. The museum was to become one of the most important monumental museum buildings of the 19th century in Europe. It was designed to bring together and house the art and treasures collected by the Habsburg family over several centuries. http://www.khm.at/en/visit/collections/ egyptian-and-near-eastern-col lection/ The exhibition area is divided into four major themes: funerary cult, cultural history, sculpture and relief, and the development of writing. The halls display stone columns from the 18th dynasty, large statues and many unique and impressive objects. Highlights of the museum's exhibition include the Kaninisut Offering Chapel from the Old Kingdom, numerous sarcophagi and coffins, burial objects such as shabtis, sarcophagi and coffins, votive stelae, examples of the Book of the Dead, divine figures, pottery, objects of daily life such as clothing and cosmetics, and masterpieces of sculpture such as the Reserve Head from Giza. I would like to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to Dr Helmut Satzinger, Professor of Egyptology, University of Vienna, former Keeper of the Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, who so kindly gave his time and effort during my visit to the museum. All photographs were taken by Lenka Peacock in 2010 and are © Kunsthistorisches Museum. I would also like to thank Jan Kunst from Holland for his constructive comments, corrections and additions to the following text, and to Ingeborg Waanders, also from Holland, for her expertise, support and encouragement. Stele to Meretseger From Deir el-Medina New Kingdom, 19th-20th dynasty Limestone, painted Height: 20.7 cm Width: 14.2 cm Thickness: 3.3 cm Meretseger was the goddess associated with the pyramidal top of al-Qurn. She presided over the entire Theban necropolis. Her name means "she who loves silence". Meretseger was mainly worshipped by the craftsmen of the royal necropolis. The upper register: remains of a male figure standing on the right making an offering in front of a table. Meretseger, depicted as a goddess with a female body and a cobra's head, is seated on her throne on the left side of the table, holding an ankh in her right hand and a sceptre in her left. The inscription reads: "Merest[sic]eger, Mistress of the West. Made by the apprentice Sha[...?]" The lower register: The ten snakes represent the cobra goddess Meretseger. Only seven snakes are visible because the stela is in a fragmentary state - the lower left part is broken off. Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Egyptian - Oriental Collection Inv AE_INV_122 Provenance: 1824 [1821] gift of Carlo Antonio Fontana Stele of Khonsu New Kingdom 20th dynasty, reign of Ramesses III., 1198-1166 BC From Deir el-Medina (probably) Limestone, light, fine Height: 14.2 cm Width: 9.4 cm Thickness: 3 cm This round topped stele is divided into two registers. The upper part is in raised relief and depicts a ram in the form of a criosphinx facing to the left. His head is adorned with a composite crown. In front of the ram there is a lotus-shaped table with loaves of bread. The ram almost certainly represents the god Amun-Re. The lower register is executed in sunk relief and depicts three striding men. The arms of the first man on the right are raised in worship, while the other two men hold palettes and a lotus flower in their left hands. The lower left corner of the stele is missing. Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Egyptian - Oriental Collection Inv AE_INV_8212 Provenance: 1821 purchase by E. A. Burghart in Egypt Stele of Pamerihu New Kingdom 19th dynasty, about 1304-1201 BC From Deir el-Medina (probably) Limestone Height: 18.95 cm Width: 12.4 cm Thickness: 4.6 cm The round-topped stele is a votive relief by the sculptor Pamerihu, who probably lived in Deir el-Medina and worked for the royal wife Ahmose-Nefertari (c. 1570-1505 BC). She was the wife of the founder of the 18th Dynasty, Ahmose I (1570-1546 BC) and the mother of King Amenhotep I (1525-1504 BC), the first king to be buried in the Valley of the Kings. Ahmose Nefertari and Amenhotep I are often depicted together on monuments in Deir el-Medina. Both were worshipped in the settlement. Ahmose Nefertari is seated on a throne facing right in front of a table with a libation pot. She is dressed in a flowing, pleated gown, more typical of representations of elite women of the Ramesside period (c. 1295-1069 BC) than of the period in which the queen lived. On her head she wears the vulture headdress of the goddess Mut, consort of the god Amun of Thebes, surmounted by a solar disc and ostrich feathers. The cobra on her crown and the flail in her hand indicate her royal status. The lotus flower was often held by deceased women as a symbol of rebirth. There is a cartouche of Ahmose Nefertari within the hieroglyphic inscription consisting of 2 vertical columns in the right upper part of the stela. Another inscription is written in black ink at the bottom of the stele. It consists of 2 horizontal lines of hieroglyphs and contains an offering formula. The inscription is partially faded. Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Egyptian - Oriental Collection Inv AE_INV_158 Provenance: 1821 gift of C. A. Fontana Figured ostrakon of the goddess Meretseger New Kingdom 19th-20th dynasty, about 1315-1081 BC From Deir el-Medina (probably) Painted limestone Height: 11.3 cm Length: 16.6 cm Thickness: 2.9 cm This piece of limestone depicts the goddess Meretseger in the form of a coiled snake in front of an offering table, flanked on either side by a jug with an entwined lotus on a stand. Her headdress consists of two high feathers and a sun disc. Three tall papyrus stems lean over the back of the snake. Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Egyptian - Oriental Collection Inv AE_INV_8304 Provenance: 1948 Purchase Shabti of Sennedjem New Kingdom 19th dynasty, around 1300 BC From Deir el-Medina, Tomb 1 of Sennedjem Limestone, painted Height: 28.3 cm Width: 9.95 cm Depth: 8.8 cm Sennedjem lived in Deir el-Medina during the reigns of Seti I (1291-1278) and Ramesses II (1279-1213 BC). He was buried with his wife, Iyinofreti, and their family in a tomb in the western necropolis of the village, which was found intact and contained mummies of three generations of Sennedjem's family along with burial objects and the furniture from his home that had been used during his lifetime. One of Sennedjem's titles was "Servant in the Place of Truth". Shabtis functioned as representatives of the dead, their masters, and were expected to take their owner's place in performing manual labour in the afterlife. This finely painted limestone shabti from Sennedjem depicts a mummiform figure holding agricultural tools. The inscription is skilfully painted in eight horizontal lines of black pigment on a white background around the mummiform body and legs. The hieroglyphs include the name of the owner and parts of Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead (Shabti spell) in Middle Egyptian. Translation: "Illuminated is the Osiris, the one who hears the voice in the Place of Truth, Sennedjem true of voice. He says: Oh Shabti, when one commands and apportions the Osiris, the one who hears the voice in the Place of Truth, Sennedjem true of voice, for any work which is to be done in the realm of the dead, then distinguish yourself as a man of duty there, in tilling the fields, watering the banks, and moving sand from east to west. When one commands and apportions you to do this, every day, then you shall say every time: I am here, behold me, every time. The Osiris, the one who hears the voice in the Place of Truth, Sennedjem true of voice" (Hieroglyphic inscription, transliteration and translation from CD Egyptian Treasures in Europe - 1000 Highlights Multilingual Version v 1.0. 1999 ed.) Although the shabti serves as a representation of the person, the features of the figure are standardised, so we cannot consider this to be a portrait of Sennedjem. Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Egyptian - Oriental Collection Inv AE_INV_6614 Provenance: 1901 Purchase Another shabti of Sennedjem is in the collection of Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge see photo and description here Papyrus Ambras New Kingdom 20th dynasty, Year 6 of whm-msw.t Ramesses IX Location: in substance from Thebes Height: 20.9 cm Length: 41.2 cm List of documents written in hieratic script Rectangular papyrus sheet in horizontal format with two columns in horizontal lines: the right column consists of nine lines, the left column of twelve lines. Towards the end of the 20th dynasty, dwindling state resources led to shortages in the distribution of rations, perhaps not only to the community of workmen at Deir el-Medina. The resulting poverty of the Theban population, combined with diminishing fear of the authorities, had a predictable result: by 1064 BC all the major royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings had been looted. The workmen of Deir el-Medina were among the convicted tomb robbers. There are 4 key texts from which we derive information about the tomb robberies: Papyrus Abbott (=Papyrus BM 10221), Papyrus Leopold II and Amherst, Papyrus BM 10053 and Papyrus BM 10052. The second column of the Papyrus Ambras lists several documents - statements and acts of investigation - relating to tomb robbery and the involvement of the workmen in it. Among them are a receipt for the gold, silver, and copper identified as stolen by the workers of the necropolis, a statement regarding the copper object sold by the robbers from the Valley of the Queens, an interrogation act of the coppersmith Wares who broke into the tomb of a nobleman, and also an interrogation act of the tomb robbers Pay and Qaha Sethemhab. Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Egyptian - Oriental Collection Inv AE_INV_3876 (Papyrus Nr. 30) Provenance: over 1875 Ambras Acquisition: the name of the papyrus comes from the name of the Habsburg Ambras collection, which contained other art and ethnographical objects. The collection derived its name from the place where it was kept until 1806 - in the castle Ambras in Innsbruck. Wooden writing board New Kingdom 19th dynasty, about 13th century BC Probably from Deir el-Medina Wood coated with fine stucco, polished Height: 14.8 cm Length: 18.5 cm Thickness: 0.75 cm Wooden tablets like this one were used for writing and drawing exercises. They are called palimpsests. Successive texts were written on them, each one erased to make way for the next. This rectangular wooden tablet is covered on both sides with a layer of white stucco. There is a small hole near the edge for hanging the tablet when not in use. There are two different texts on both sides. The partially damaged texts are written in black ink in hieratic, a cursive script based on hieroglyphs for everyday use (for quickly writing letters and accounts). On one side (called verso here) there are ten horizontal lines, with lines 2-4 and 7-9 arranged in columns. Some text is missing, particularly line 5, because there is a crack in the gesso, which is visible on both sides. On this side of the panel are images of two baboons, the animal of Thoth, the god of writing. They may have been intended as a caricature of the teacher. Below the baboons there are traces of a drawing of a horse's head. The other side (here called the recto) has seven horizontal lines of text. Translation: Verso (1) The chief gardener Menkheper has been appointed to collect the tpy-fish (?) which are outside from the poor people that are with the watchman Amenemhat: (4) Bauef-re (5) ... (6) Mut (?) (7) Sepes-tut 2nd column: Regarding that which was found in the house: the representative Ahmose says to the represented (and) the speaker of the king Semnakht...... 3rd column: what the Court meeting said: Menkheper is right. The guardian Ahmose is wrong. Recto (1) What the official Amenhotep said: (2) the royal scribe Minmose said to the scribe Pai the following: "you were brought this message saying I have been informed by you what you have sent about this, namely: (I) have taken the people that were taking shelter/were hiding/were seeking protection with the overseer of personnel Nakht away. Why did you take this action? Did I not assign those people to you after you told (me) "I will not do anything bad?" (both translated by Ingeborg Waanders from Holland and Lenka Peacock using the German text of El-Kholi and his transcriptions into hieroglyphs, p. 60-62) Dating: The inscription on the tablet can be dated to the early 19th dynasty. Paleographic features such as the characters for p (in pn), mn (in Imn), m (hr-m) and the plural strokes can help us to date the document. Lexical features that aid dating are the negation bn and the preposition m-dj . Several Middle Egyptian grammatical features appear in the text, such as the form sdm.n=f and the negation nn (rather than the Late Egyptian bn ). Personal names such as Amenemhat, Menkhepere and Ahmose were common from the 18th dynasty onwards. (El-Kholi, 62) Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Egyptian - Oriental Collection Inv AE_INV_3924 Provenance: 1877/78 purchase by E. Bergmann Egypt Sources: 1. Kessler, D.: Die kultische Bindung der Ba-Konzeption. 2. Teil: Die Ba-Zitate auf den Kultstelen und Ostraka des Neues Reiches IN: Studien zur altagyptischen Kultur 29, 2001 153, Anm. 34 2. Huttner, M.: Die Votivstele des Vorarbeiters Chons IN: Gottingen Miszellen 178 (2000), 59-63 3. Wessetzky, Vilmos: Une stele dediee a Meresger. Bulletin du Musee Hongrois de.s Beaux-Arts 78, 1993, 15-19 4. Adel Mahmoud: Msw-hr = The sons of the Toms (IN: M. Eldamaty: Egyptian Museum Collections around the world. Studies for the Centennial of the Egyptian Museum Cairo, 2002) 774. PM I 2,2 737 5. Papyri und Ostraka aus der Ramessidenzeit mit Ubersetzung und Kommentar von Mohamed Salah El-Kholi. Siracusa : Museo del Papiro, 2006. 6. Parkinson, Richard: Cracking codes : the Rosetta Stone and decipherement London : British Museum Press, 1999. 7. Taylor, John H.: Death and afterlife in ancient Egypt London : British Museum Press, 2001. 8. The Cairo Museum masterpieces of Egyptian art / edited by Francesco Tiradritti London : Thames & Hudson, 1998. 9. McDowell, A.G.: Village life in ancient Egypt : laundry lists and love songs Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1999. 10. CD Egyptian Treasures in Europe - 1000 Highlights Multilingual Version v 1.0. 1999 ed. 11. http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/record.aspx?id=5591 12. http://www.khm.at/en/visit/collections/egyptian-and-near-eastern-collection/ Further bibliography Back to top

Sennedjem's tomb no 1 at Deir el-Medina lies within the Western cemetery. It was discovered intact in 1886. The opening and clearing of this intact burial place was overseen by Gaston Maspero, the head of the Antiquities Service at the time. Sennedjem's tomb no 1 at Deir el-Medina The tomb lies within the Western cemetery. It was discovered intact in 1886. The opening and clearing of this intact burial place was supervised by Gaston Maspero, the head of the Antiquities Service at the time. Twenty mummies, nine in coffins and eleven wrapped only in linen, were found in the vaulted burial chamber, which measures 5.12 m by 2.61 m and 2.40 m high. The owner of the tomb was Sennedjem, a "servant of the place of truth" who lived in the village at the beginning of the 19th dynasty and then shared this "house of eternity" with his wife Iyinofreti, their son Khons and daughter-in-law Tamakhet, and the lady Isis, wife of their second son Khabekhnet, together with their grandchildren. Both Sennedjem and his wife lived to a ripe old age. Iyinofreti's mummy, now in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, is that of a woman aged around 75. Sennedjem's house is in the south-west corner of the settlement. It is next to the house of his son Khabekhnet. Shabti of Sennedjem Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge E.9.1887. Limestone with pigment Height 21.5 cm. From Deir el-Medina, Tomb 1 of Sennedjem New Kingdom, 19th dynasty, reign of Seti I, 1294-1279 BC The shabti holds a broad-bladed hoe against his right shoulder and a pointed hoe against his left shoulder. A basket for seeds is depicted on his back, suspended from a rope over his right shoulder. The text calls upon the shabti as a servant, literally "hearer of the call", to act on behalf of Sennedjem when needed in any of the work being done at the necropolis. Shabti of Sennedjem Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna , Egyptian - Oriental Collection, Inv AE_INV_6614 New Kingdom 19th dynasty, around 1300 BC From Deir el-Medina, Tomb 1 of Sennedjem Limestone, painted Height: 28.3 cm Width: 9.95 cm Depth: 8.8 cm For the translation of the hieroglyphic inscription click here . Photo by Lenka Peacock,2004 © The Fitzwilliam Museum Photo by Lenka Peacock,2010 © Kunsthistorisches Museum For detailed description of the tomb, follow the link to osirisnet.net: https://www.osirisnet.net/tombes/artisans/sennedjem1/e_sennedjem1_01.htm To view and browse the digitised version of The Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Statues, Reliefs and Paintings, (also known as Porter & Moss or TopBib) for this tomb, go to http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/topbib/pdf/pm1-1.pdf#page=19 Material for the Bibliography is gathered from an ever-expanding range of multi-lingual sources, encompassing both specialist and semi-popular Egyptological and Near Eastern publications, periodicals, museum guides, exhibition and auction catalogues, together with the growing wealth of web resources. The Bibliography also analyses a range of unpublished manuscripts, including those housed in the Griffith Institute Archive. Published in May 2014 by the Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, the volumes are constantly revised and augmented. 22 September 2019, Nevine El-Aref for ahram-online "The anthropoid coffin of Sennedjem, who was the overseer of workers at Deir Al-Medina necropolis in Luxor, arrived to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC) where it was unpacked. Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany witnessed the unpacking process. The mummy of Sennedjem was removed from the coffin after the unpacking to enter the fumigation tent. El-Enany described the fumigation process like medical surgery, to restore and preserve the mummy under the direction of skilled restorers. Ahmed El-Sherbini, supervisor general of the NMEC, said that the coffins of Sennedjem and one of his wives are in a very good state of conservation and were previously exhibited at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, amongst the funerary collection of Sennedjem found inside his tomb discovered in 1886 by French Egyptologist Maspero. Both coffins are painted anthropoid coffins with mummies of the deceased inside" http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/351273.aspx Sources: 1. Farid, Hany and Farid, Samir: Unfolding Sennedjem's tomb In: KMT: A modern Journal of Ancient Egypt, Spring 2001. Pp. 1-8. 2, Hobson, Christine: Exploring the world of the pharaohs London : Thames and Hudson, 1990. 3. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/351273.aspx Further bibliography Back to top

The collections of the British Museum contain many objects from Deir el-Medina, comprising mainly of inscribed objects. Top of Page Anchor 1 Anchor 2 Anchor 3 Top of Page Anchor 1 Anchor 2 Anchor 3 Top of Page Anchor 1 Anchor 2 Anchor 3 The British Museum, London, UK The British Museum opened its doors to the public in January 1759. The Museum's origins lie in the will of Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), a physician, naturalist and collector, who wished that his collection of over 71,000 objects, library and herbarium should be preserved intact after his death. An Act of Parliament establishing the British Museum received royal assent in June 1753. The founding collections consisted mainly of books, manuscripts and natural history, with some antiquities and ethnography. King George II donated the "Old Royal Library" of the monarchs of England (now housed in the British Library in London) in 1757. www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk The Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan contains objects from every stage of the region's long history, from around 4500 BC to the late 14th century AD. The collection is one of the most comprehensive and magnificent in the world, surpassed only by the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Most of the objects in the collection have been acquired. The earliest and most important is the first collection of the British Consul General, Henry Salt, acquired in 1823. The earlier collection representing Egypt consisted of objects acquired by the British nation after the defeat of the French fleet at Abukir in 1802. A substantial part of the collection is the result of scientific excavations which began in Egypt shortly after 1881. Many objects come from a variety of gifts. The collections of the British Museum contain many objects from Deir el-Medina, mainly inscribed objects. The photographs are published with the kind permission of Dr Richard Parkinson of the British Museum's Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan and the British Museum's Photographic Officer. Objects previously or currently on display in the public galleries of the British Museum from the site of Deir el-Medina: Stela dedicated to "the Osiris, the able spirit of Ra" 19th dynasty, c. 1295-1186 BC British Museum EA 359 From Deir el-Medina Painted limestone The seated figures - Pennub and Khamuy - who are described as "able spirits of Ra" are seated on their chairs facing each other, holding lotus flowers in their hands. One of the forms used to commemorate deceased ancestors were small stelae. These were usually round or pointed. Some of them bore the figures of deceased individuals who were identified as revered ancestors by the epithet Akh-iker-en-Re , "the able spirit of Ra". The akh -spirits were the blessed dead, those who had attained a place in the sun-bark of the god Ra. Their magical powers protected them from the dangers of the afterlife. They could also use them for or against the dead and the living. To become an akh (plural akhu ), one had to know the magic spells, perform funeral rites and get the gods, especially Ra, to intervene on one's behalf. Over 50 stelae from Deir el-Medina attest to the existence of household cults dedicated to deceased relatives who had become akhu (Lesko, 1994, 112). The spirits could be dangerous if offended, and offerings to the akhu were both propitiatory and reverential. Stela depicting a deceased person British Museum EA 372 19th dynasty, about 1295-1186 BC From Deir el-Medina Painted limestone Pennub and Khamuy, who are described as "able spirits of Ra" . Stela of Penbuy From Deir el-Medina 19th dynasty Limestone British Museum EA 1466 This round-topped stela consists of two registers with representations in shallow relief accompanied by inscribed hieroglyphic texts. In the upper register Ptah, the god associated with craftsmen, is seated on his throne in a shrine on the left. To his right is an altar piled high with food offerings. Behind the shrine are four ears and above them three more ears. In the lower register, the guardian of the tomb, Penbuy, kneels on the right with his arms raised in an attitude of worship. To the left is a large ka-sign. A text, often in columns of varying length, contains a prayer to the Ka of Ptah by Penbuy. This stela is very well preserved, apart from some damage to the lower left edge, and most of the paint is intact. The background is yellow and the border shows traces of blue. The hieroglyphs are painted black and the lines between the columns are red. Ptah's hands and face are green, his cap is blue and his body is white. His beard and the outline of his eye are black, and his collars are yellow with a red border. The shrine is yellow with a red border and blue dots. The ears are black, blue and red. The food offerings are painted in a variety of colours. The human figure and ka-sign are red, and Penbuy's wig and features are black. His collars are blue and green and his skirt is white with red pleats. Height: 38.5 cm Width: 27 cm Stela of Wenenkhu British Museum EA 1248 Limestone Probably from Deir el-Medina The stela shows Wenenkhu and Penpakhenty worshipping the sun god. The sun god is depicted as a a falcon-headed mummiform figure seated in the sun barque. Height: 35.3 cm Width: 23.5 cm Amennakht, son of Ipuy, was the "scribe of the royal tomb" for thirty years from 1168 BC. He was the copyist of legal and administrative texts from Deir el-Medina, including the will of Naunakhte, the widow of Khenherkhepshef. He appears to be the author of five extant poems, including a lyrical poem about the neighbouring city of Thebes. Hieratic ostrakon British Museum EA 41541 From Deir el-Medina 20th dynasty, c. 1160 BC This poem is a rare example of a literary work by a known individual. It was probably circulated among the village literati and used as a copying exercise for Amennakht's apprentices. Red dots mark the ends of lines of verse. "Beginning of the educational instruction, saying for the path of life, made by the scribe Amen-nakhte (for) his assistance Hor-Min. He says: You are a man who listens to words so as to separate good from bad; Pay attention and hear my words, do not disregard what I say!" (Translation from McDowell,1999,139) Height: 20.5 cm Length: 16 cm Acquired in 1905. Amennakhte's votive stela British Museum EA 374 20th dynasty, c. 1160 BC From Deir el-Medina Limestone The stela records Amennakhte's prayer to the local goddess, Meretseger, to remove an affliction "Praises for your spirit, Meretseger, Mistress of the West, by the scribe of the Place of Truth (st-maat), Amennakhte true-of-voice; he says: 'Be praised in peace, O Lady of the West, Mistress who turns herself to grace! You made me see darkness in the day I shall declare Your power to other people. Be gracious to me in your grace!'" (Translation from the museum label) Height: 20.6 cm Width: 14.3 cm Ostrakon bearing an attendance record of workmen British Museum EA 5634 From Deir el-Medina 19th Dynasty, year 40 of Ramesses II, about 1239 BC Limestone Black and red ink This large ostrakon has hieratic writing on both sides. At the top of the first page the date is given as "year 40". As the writing has been identified as Ramesside, this must refer to the fortieth year of the reign of Ramses II, around 1239 BC. From the contents it is clear that the list is a summary of the absences of the workmen from their duties. 280 days of this year are recorded. Only about 70 of these days appear to have been full working days. Leaving aside holidays and other non-working periods, the royal tomb would have been largely completed by year 40 of Ramses' reign, and it is possible that the men were moved to other projects, such as the tombs of the queens in the Valley of the Queens. A list of forty names is arranged in columns of hieratic writing on the right-hand side of each page. On the left are dates written in black in a horizontal line. Reasons for absence are written in red ink above the dates. They are varied and give us a fascinating insight into some aspects of life in ancient Egypt. Illness figures prominently, with a couple of examples of eye disease being mentioned. There is another example of a man being absent after being stung by a scorpion. A labourer acted as a doctor and was often away treating others. Absences due to the death of relatives are recorded, as are references to purification rituals associated with childbirth. A workman was absent to bind (less likely to mummify) his colleague Hormose. Often a day's absence is due to a man 'being with his boss'; other sources show that labourers often worked for their superiors. Occasionally a man is away 'building his house' or at 'his festival', and there are examples of drinking, especially 'drinking with Khonsu'. There is mention of a Khenherkhepshef, who is also referred to in several places as 'the scribe'. Many of the people mentioned here are known from other documents of the period. It is thought that the tomb scribes would have written daily notes on small stone flakes and then compiled more formal accounts for the administrative records, the result of which would have been this large ostrakon (Strudwick,2006,206). Height: 38.5 cm Width: 33 cm The complete translation of the ostrakon can be found here Shabti of Kenherkhepshef British Museum EA 33940 From Deir el-Medina Shabti figures of the New Kingdom (c. 1550-1070 BC) were often carved in stone, with paint used to give the servants a lifelike appearance. This shabti is a particularly fine example. The heavy wig, with gold bands at the ends, rests on an elaborate and colourful collar. The reddish-brown colour of the face indicates that the figure is male. Ancient Egyptian women were usually depicted with paler skin, suggesting that they did not have to work in the harsh sunlight. The white paint on the shabti's arms and lower body indicates that the figure is mummified, identifying it with the god Osiris, who is also depicted with his arms crossed over his chest. While the god holds the crook and flail, symbolising kingship, this shabti holds two hoes, symbolising agricultural labour. Shabti figures were supposed to work for the deceased in the afterlife. A spell was used to activate them. Here, the Shabti spell is skilfully painted in horizontal lines of black hieroglyphs around the figure. The hieroglyphic text begins with Kenherkhepshef's name and title, 'scribe in the place of truth' (the royal necropolis). Height: 29.3 cm Width: 8.7 cm Depth: 5.3 cm Kenherkhepshef lived in the village of Deir el-Medina and was the official scribe of the tomb from at least regnal year 40 of Ramesses II until regnal year 1 of Siptah (c. 1239-1193 BC). It is now generally accepted that he was an adopted son of the scribe Ramose and his wife Mutemwia, who adopted him as an orphan or pupil to succeed Ramose in his job (Davies, 1996, 103). Kenherkhepshef's job was to keep a record of the workers who were employed in the construction of the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. His comfortable seat, by the workers' resting huts on the pass between the village and the valley, can still be seen. It is inscribed with his name to prevent anyone else from using it. Surviving documents show that Kenherkhepshef used labourers to do private work for him during official hours. He tried to use his office to get the workers to do the work without paying them. He was also accused of bribery on two occasions. Kenherkhepshef lived in the largest and most central hut in the settlement at the top of the cliffs. Unlike the other huts, it had three rooms. Each room was paved with limestone slabs. It could have been used as Kenherkhepshef's office, where he kept records of the work on the royal tomb and wrote his letters to the officials of the administration. There is still considerable doubt about the location of his tomb. Tomb No. 1126 is located at the southern end of the cemetery at Deir el-Medina. A double-seated statue of Kenherkhepshef and his wife was discovered in the chapel flanking the doorway leading to the inner chamber. Headrest of Kenherkhepshef British Museum EA 63783 From Deir el-Medina 19th Dynasty, circa 1225 BC Limestone This limestone tomb headrest is decorated with figures of Bes. The god's fearsome appearance and the snakes and spear he wields were intended to scare away the demons of the night. Height: 18.8 cm Width: 23 cm Depth: 9.7 cm Behind the headrest in the photo on the left is the front of the papyrus described below. Papyrus with a list of dreams and their interpretations British Museum EA 10683, Papyrus Chester Beatty 3 From Deir el-Medina 19th Dynasty, c. 1275 BC The meaning of dreams is a subject that fascinated the ancient Egyptians. This hieratic papyrus probably dates from the early reign of Ramesses II (1279-1213 BC). On each page of the papyrus a vertical column of hieratic signs begins with a line: 'if a man sees himself in a dream'; each horizontal line describes a dream, followed by the diagnosis 'good' or 'bad' , then followed by the interpretation of the dream. For example, 'if a man sees himself in a dream looking out of a window, good; it means the hearing of his cry' . Or, 'if a man sees himself in a dream with his bed catching fire, bad; it means driving away his wife' . The text first lists good dreams, and then bad ones. The word 'bad' is always written in red, which was considered the colour of ill omen. The papyrus had several owners before it was deposited in the necropolis of Deir el-Medina. It cannot be established who the original owner was, but it passed into the hands of the scribe Kenherkhepshef. On the other side of the papyrus, the scribe copied a poem about the Battle of Kadesh, which took place during the reign of Ramesses II (c. 1285 BC). The Dream Book passed to Khaemamen, the second husband of Kenherkhepshef's wife, and then to his son Amennakht (both added their names to the papyrus). The Dream Book was part of an archive containing a wide variety of literary, magical and documentary material that had been passed down through the family for more than a century. It was discovered sometime in the early 20th century, most likely in the Western Cemetery, but the exact location of the find, or the location of Kenherkhepshef's tomb, has since been lost. Height: 34.50 cm Gift of Mrs. Chester Beatty Hieratic Papyrus British Museum EA 10731 19th dynasty, circa 1200 BC From Deir el-Medina An amulet written in the distinctive cursive hand of Khenherkhepshef. The scroll was folded and worn around the neck. The text is a spell against a demon called Sehaqeq whose eyes are in his head, whose tongue is in his buttocks . Fragments of papyrus British Museum EA 10016.2. Ramesside Period, 1295-1069 BC. Probably from Deir el-Medina. Height: 8.3 cm Width: 52.8 cm Fragments of a painted satirical papyrus show comic representations of a range of animals mirroring behaviour of common people. The usual roles of humans in their everyday life are turned upside down. This particular portion of the papyrus pictured above is not very well preserved and it is not known whether the fragments are mounted in their original order (Houlihan,2001,66). From the right a hippopotamus assisted by another animal is brewing beer in a large pottery vat. Next to them a lady mouse is being tended to by a pair of servants - a mouse and a cat. She sits on a chair holding a big flower. In front of her a table full of offerings is positioned. Behind the mouse servant there is a lion seated on a chair either sieving flour of brewing beer (Houlihan,2001,67). Next to him a cat and another animal are carrying a large basket hanging from a pole they carry on their shoulders. On the left side of the papyrus, a missing animal was holding a crook or a sickle, perhaps performing agricultural activities together with the beast in front of it. Comic erotic scene British Museum EA 50714. Ramesside Period, 1295-1069 BC. Possibly from Deir el-Medina Limestone Black ink This ostrakon is difficult to interpret as it is in a fragmentary state. The figure on the right is male and is having intercourse with the figure on the left, who is probably a woman but could also be a man. The man penetrates her/him from behind, she bends over and turns her head towards him. The inscription in front of them records her speech, but is also incomplete: "Calm is the desire of my skin!" This type of drawing, depicting ancient Egyptian erotic activity, appears only in unofficial sources - on papyri, figural ostraca and graffiti. Rather than trying to interpret them as insights into sexual behaviour and everyday practices, Patrick Houlihan explains that they are clearly satirical in intent (Houlihan,2001,124,130-131). Hieratic ostrakon British Museum EA 5633 20th dynasty, c. 1100 BC From Deir el-Medina Limestone Black ink with some red lines Fragment of a limestone ostrakon with the text on both recto (18 lines) and verso (16 lines) containing a record of goods purchased by a Lady Webkhet. The recto text is written within red lines. Copy of Kemyt by an apprentice scribe Ramesside period, 1295-1069 BC Possibly from Deir el-Medina British Museum EA 5640 The work called Kemyt (The Compendium), an Egyptian word meaning 'that which is completed' or 'that which is completed', is mentioned in the 12th dynasty's The Satire of Trades (c. 1950 BC), so it must be older than that, suggesting that Kemyt was a standard text in the 12th dynasty. The greetings in Kemyt, found at the beginning of a letter it contains, are characteristic of formal letters dated to the 11th dynasty (c. 2000 B.C.), from which its origin can be deduced. The surviving copies are written in vertical columns divided by space lines, in red colour, rather than in horizontal lines written from right to left, which was the norm during the New Kingdom (James, 2003, 147-148). The appearance of the characters used is old-fashioned, characteristic of the early Middle Kingdom period. Why have more ostraca with parts of Kemyt survived than those with parts of other literary texts? There may be several reasons for this: the text of Kemyt is not particularly interesting (it is a model letter), so perhaps its simplicity and lack of difficulty for the young scribe meant that it could have been used by novice scribes. It could have been used as the first reader from which the student learnt to read and write the hieratic script. Thanks to its standard formulae and expressions, the exercise was easy to learn and hard to forget, making it ideal for teaching purposes. The characters on this limestone ostrakon are rather awkwardly written. The opening greeting, known to thousands of ancient schoolboys, reads: Your state is like living a million times! May Montu lord of Thebes act for you, Even as this servant desires! May Ptah South of his Wall sweeten your heart with (life), very (much)! (translation from the museum label) Anthropoid busts 77 examples of anthropoid or ancestral busts have been revealed during excavations at Deir el-Medina, further 11 busts are attributed to the site by their owners or dealers or can be connected to Deir el-Medina on stylistic grounds, and 3 more busts that were in the Luxor and Cairo antiquities markets in 1934-1935 (probably originating from Bernard Bruyère's excavations) that are now lost (Keith,2011,8-9).The busts generally do not bear inscriptions, only 5 bear signs. Typically small, they measure from 10 to 25 cm in height and are made of limestone or sandstone. We can assume that most were originally painted as remains of pigment on some are evident. The gender of the most of the busts is open to question (Janssen,2007,187). The figures are called 'ancestor busts'. They are thought to have been placed in the small shrine areas that seem to have been part of private houses , and to have played a part in the private worship of the family. Five busts were found in houses at Deir el-Medina, where they would have been placed in wall niches in the first and second rooms. The niches are of comparable size, so this seems likely. Rather than representing anyone in particular, the anonymous nature of the busts suggests that they represent all the ancestors that the family might wish to commemorate. Another theory is that they represent the 'able spirit' of those who had been authoritative in life, presumably the older members of the community. When times were hard, people turned to them for help, i.e. to a parent who was still remembered, rather than to an ancestor of long ago. Some of these would have been older women. Similar objects have been found at fourteen other sites from the central delta to the Third Cataract. They were found in or near houses as well as in tombs and temples. Whether the context was domestic or religious we cannot be sure, but it is assumed that the ancestor busts evoked memories of a deceased relative for the worshipper. Anthropoid bust British Museum EA 61083 Supposedly from Thebes, Egypt 19th or 20th Dynasty, 1300-1150 BC Painted limestone Features are carefully modelled, face, wig and wsh collar (a "broad" collar, a kind of necklace) are painted. Height: 24.5 cm Width: 15.5 cm Thickness: 9 cm Anthropoid bust British Museum EA 73988 19th dynasty, 1295-1186 BC Limestone Provenance unknown Stela with inset anthropoid bust British Museum EA 270 19th dynasty, about 1295-1186 BC Probably from Deir el-Medina Limestone This unique and unfortunately badly damaged stela incorporates two miniature ancestral busts above a scene showing the donor worshipping another bust. The busts shown in the upper part of the monument were once covered with a layer of plaster, most of which is now lost. Some colour remains to show that the face of the left bust was painted red, while the face of the right bust was painted yellow. Blue and black can also be seen around the busts. The background was painted yellow (Keith,2011,324). The lower register was left unfinished. Vertical lines and preliminary sketches are visible, but the surface was not fully worked. The figures are not painted, but were probably intended to be. 5 or 6 columns of text are mostly illegible. Nicola Harrington suggests that part of the inscription may read "...the revered one...of the Mistress of the House, Mut... ...justified" and concludes that the purpose of the stela may have been for a woman to address all her ancestors rather than a specific individual (Keith, 2011, 325). The cult of Amenhotep I From the 18th dynasty onwards, the main focus of religious worship in Deir el-Medina was the cult of Amenhotep I, especially in the form of the "Lord of the Village", together with his mother Ahmose-Nefertari. Jaroslav Černý pointed out that there were several forms of this cult in Deir el-Medina, corresponding to the statues, each of which had a particular name and was housed in the various sanctuaries established there (Černý,1927,182). Amenhotep I Djeserkare (1525-1504 BC) was the second pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. He was probably very young when he ascended the throne, so it is likely that his mother, Queen Ahmose-Nefertari (c. 1570-1505 BC), acted as regent for the first part of his reign. They are jointly credited with the founding of Deir el-Medina, where they subsequently enjoyed personal religious cults until the late Ramesside period. In addition to the modest temple that was primarily dedicated to the couple, they were also the secondary honoured guests in the chapels of the other gods. The deified king had many festivals throughout the year, during which his statue was carried in procession by the Wab priests. These activities were acts of devotion to the deified mother and son and were consistently and exclusively performed by the workers of the village (Ventura 1986, p. 63). The feasts were fairly regular events and were usually part of religious festivals associated with the cult. One festival involved the carrying of the statue of Amenhotep I into the Valley of the Kings, another may have been associated with the anniversary of his death. The deified king was invoked to settle disputes, especially those concerning property. In these oracles the image of the god, Amenhotep I, answered positively or negatively to the questions put to him. Since the priests of this particular cult were drawn from the ranks of the workers themselves, the answer would be a kind of consensus among the priests who carried the divine image. The god's oracular pronouncements, however they were made, carried great weight, and his processions were a high point in the life of Deir el-Medina. The textual and representational evidence associated with her cult at Deir el-Medina can be seen in cult statues, votive stelae, libation basins, paintings and inscriptions in tombs and on ostraca. More than fifty of the Theban tombs of private individuals contain inscriptions mentioning the name of Ahmose Nefertari. Below are examples of depictions of the deified couple. They come from Deir el-Medina and are now part of the British Museum collection. Fragments of wall paintings from the tomb of Kynebu: The deified ruler Amenhotep I (left) British Museum EA 37993 20th dynasty, c. 1129-1126 BC Painted plaster Height: 44 cm The deified queen Ahmose Nefertari (right) British Museum EA 37994 20th dynasty, c. 1129-1126 BC Painted plaster Neferabu was a worker from Deir el-Medina who worked in the necropolis sometime during the first half of the 19th dynasty. His activity can definitely be dated to the years 36 and 40 of Ramses II. Neferabu's title was "The Servant of the Place of Truth". The stela below may have come from his tomb TT5 or perhaps from one of the shrines at Deir el-Medina. The relief shows the deceased's sons and relatives, as well as the scribe Pabaki, the draftsman Pashedu and the scribe Ipu, carrying various funerary objects to be placed in his tomb. These include various boxes and stools. The tomb of Neferabu (TT5) provides an excellent platform from which we can attempt to construct his family tree. Neferabu was apparently the son of "The Servant of the Place of Truth" Nefferonpet and Mahi. Despite the fact that Amenmose is called "father" of Neferabu in TT5, it can be shown that he was actually the father of Neferabu's wife Ta-Isis (or Isis). There are a number of other stelae and objects from this tomb in the British Museum. The stela below is in good but incomplete condition. In the literature it is always quoted together with stela 150 (as BM 150+1754). Published by Kitchen in Rammesside Inscriptions, vol. 3, p. 774, part of 154. Also published in The BM hieroglyphic texts from Egyptian stelae etc., edited by T. G. H. James, Part 9: Plate XXX. Registration Number: 1931,0613.11 Fragment of a stela of Neferabu 19th dynasty Limestone From Deir el-Medina British Museum EA 1754 Acquired in Luxor Height: 17.5 centimetres Length: 52 centimetres Location: Gallery 63/11 Tjaroy , the great-grandson of Amennakhte, was "Scribe of the Royal Tomb" from 1091 BC. During his lifetime the villagers moved to the temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu. Tjaroy is known from his letters and had a reputation for jokes. He undertook many state missions, including one to the south to accompany army supplies. Many letters mention his concern for his family, including his son Butehamun, whose house survives. Letter from Tjaroy British Museum EA 10326 20th dynasty, 1071 BC From Thebes Tjaroy writes to his son Butehamun from Nubia - "the wilds where I am abandoned in this far-off land" - about various family matters. He assures him that he is getting on well "with my boss and he does not neglect me". He also answers his son's question about some documents that had been lost in a storm. Letter from Tjaroy's son British Museum EA 10284 20th dynasty, 1071 BC From Thebes In this letter Tjaroy's son Butehamun expresses his concern for his father to the Priest of Hathor and Troop-Commander Shedsuhor, who was with him on an expedition to Nubia. "Indeed you are good, and my father belongs to you. Be a pilot for the Scribe of the (Royal) Tomb Tjaroy! You know he is a man who has no courage(?) of his own at all, since he has never before made such journeys as now. Help him in the boat. Look after (him) with vigilance at evening as well, while he is in your hands, since you are journeying [...]. Now a man is wretched(?) when he has become troubled, when he has never before seen the face of fear (i.e. of a crocodile). Now your people are alive; no harm has come to them. I am writing to let you know." (Translation from http://www.britishmuseum.org/research accessed on 23.9.2012) The remains of Butehamun's house inside the temple enclosure of Medinet Habu Sarcophabus of Ankhnesneferibre British Museum EA 32 26th dynasty, about 530 BC From Thebes. Found by the French expedition in 1832 in the rock tomb above Deir el-Medina. Ankhnesneferibre was the last "God's Wife of Amun" or "divine adoratrice of Amun" before the Persian conquest in 525 B.C. She was a daughter of Psamtek II (595-589 B.C). Although the sarcophagus was found in the so-called "tombs of the Saite princesses" at Deir el-Medina, Ankhnesneferibre and several other women with the same title had tomb chapels at Medinet Habu, in front of the temple of Ramesses III. The sarcophagus was reused in Roman times by Amenhotep Pamontu, a late Ptolemaic or early Roman priest whose brother Montuzaf was buried elsewhere in the necropolis. Amenhotep Pamontu added the inscription around the upper edge of the sarcophagus base. He also added his own name to the cartouches of the princess and changed the pronouns in the text. The lid shows the princess clutching the royal staff and flail, symbolising her powerful position in Thebes. The office of divine adoratrice became a centre of power and influence in the late period. The inscriptions represent a variety of religious texts. They include portions of the Pyramid Texts, the Book of the Dead, several mythological texts, funerary recitations, magical texts, a hymn to the sun, hourly rituals for keeping watch over the deceased, and sacrificial formulae. The combination is unique. Length : 259 cm The text on this page was written by Lenka Peacock using the sources listed below. Photography by Lenka Peacock. All photographs © The Trustees of the British Museum. Sources: 1. Strudwick, Nigel: The British Museum masterpieces of ancient Egypt. London : The British Museum Press, 2006. 2. Taylor, John H.: Death and afterlife in ancient Egypt London : British Museum Press, 2001. 3. Pharaoh's workers : the villagers of Deir el-Medina / edited by Leonard H. Lesko Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 1994. 4. Shaw, Ian, Nicholson, Paul: British Museum dictionary of ancient Egypt London: British Museum Press, 1995. 5. McDowell, A.G.: Village life in ancient Egypt : laundry lists and love songs Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1999. 6. Janssen, Rosalind: Growing old disgracefully at Deir el-Medina In Ancient Egypt, December 2004/January 2005, pp. 39-44. 7. Janssen, Rosalind: The old women of Deir el-Medina: Paper delivered at the Institute, 8 December 2006. In Buried history: The journal of the Australian Institute of Archaeology, 2006, Vol. 42, p. 3-10. 8. Janssen, Rosalind and Janssen, Jac. J.: Growing up and getting old in ancient Egypt London : Golden House Publications, 2007. 9. James, T.G.H.: Pharaoh's people : scenes from life in Imperial Egypt New York : Tauris Parke, 2003. 10. Bierbrier, Morris : The tomb-builders of the pharaohs Cairo : The American University in Cairo Press, 1982. 11. Davies, Benedict G.: Who's who at Deir el-Medina : a prosopographic study of the royal workmen's community Leiden : Nederlands Instituut voor Her Nabije Oosten, 1999 12. Davis, Benedict G.: Genealogies and personality characteristics of the workmen in the Deir el-Medina community during the Ramesside period. Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Liverpool : University of Liverpool, February 1996. 13. Strudwick, Nigel and Helen: Thebes in Egypt : a guide to the tombs and temples of ancient Luxor London : British Museum Press, 1999. 14. Weeks, Kent R.: The treasures of Luxor and the Valley of the Kings Cercelli : White Star Publishers, 2005 15. Houlihan, Patrick F.: Wit & humour in ancient Egypt London : The Rubicon Press, 2001. 16. Keith, Jean Lewis: Anthropoid Busts of Deir el Medineh and Other Sites and Collections : Analyses, Catalogue, Appendices / with contributions by Sylvie Donnat, Anna K. Stevens, Nicola Harrington Le Caire : Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 2011 17. Museum's website at www.thebritishmusuem.ac.uk 18. The British Museum's gallery labels 19. The British Museum's web site http://www.britishmuseum.org The depositories, store rooms and papyrus rooms of the British Museum On 19 November 2005, the class of Birkbeck College's 'Real Life in Deir el-Medineh' course visited the British Museum with Rosalind and Jac Janssen. Eleven objects from Deir el-Medina awaited us in the Ancient Egyptian Department. Study area/library of the department. All photographs on this page are © by Steve Bayley, a colleague on the course, and were taken by kind permission of the Trustees. by kind permission of the Trustees of the British Museum. The accompanying text was written by Lenka Peacock. Stela of Paneb EA272 19th dynasty, circa 1195 BC Limestone Rectangular shape Height: 19.3 cm Width: 17 cm In the upper register : Paneb, a foreman of the tomb workers, is depicted kneeling and worshipping the goddess Meretseger in the form of a snake. The coiled cobra is undoubtedly Meretseger, the goddess of the Theban necropolis. The lower register : there are three kneeling male figures, the descendants of Paneb. On the right is Aapakhte, Paneb's son, together with his two sons, Paneb and Nebmehyt. Aapakhte was accused of crimes as an accomplice of his father. Stela of Paneb EA273 19th dynasty, circa 1195 BC Limestone Round-topped Height: 20 cm Width: 13 cm Upper part: kneeling Paneb worshipping Meretseger in the form of a cobra-headed goddess in shallow relief. Meretseger is seated on a throne. Lower part: Paneb's sons Aapakhte and Hadnakht are shown kneeling and worshipping. Both registers are accompanied by simple incised text. The upper and lower corners of the left side of the stela are chipped, but otherwise the stela is well preserved. There are no traces of paint. Stela of Aapakhte EA35630 19th dynasty, circa 1200 BC Limestone Round-topped Height: 21.2 cm Width: 14 cm Depth: 2.5 cm Aapakhte was the son of Paneb and a royal craftsman and deputy of the crew at the Place of Truth. He is shown worshipping the god Seth. Both figures are carved in sunken relief and are accompanied by incised text. The writing of the text is irregular, as can be seen in the word ỉdnw and the reversal of the pḥty -sign in the name of the owner. The name of the craftsman is a play on the phrase aa-pehty , meaning 'great of strength', one of the epithets of Seth. During the Ramesside period, Seth became a patron of Egypt along with Amun, Ra and Ptah. Jac Janssen suggested that the stela probably came from the rock shrine of Ptah and Meretseger, judging from the limestone and the sawed-off lower edge. Stela of Khamaul EA344 19th dynasty Limestone Round-topped The stela depicts the deceased Khamaul seated. His left hand is extended towards an offering table piled with food. In his right hand he holds an object, possibly an ankh -sign. Khamaul is identified here as 3h ikr n R' , the term by which these stelae are known today. It can be translated as "the able spirit of Re" or "the one who is continually effective to/for/on behalf of Re". Khamaul represents the deified private ancestor to whom the living could make petitions. Most of the stelae were originally painted. We could see some remains of red pigment on the stela. Height: 19 cm Width: 13 cm Stela of Pabaki EA797 19th dynasty Limestone Round-topped Height: 38 cm (case) Width: 29 cm (case) This large 3h ikr nR' stela of Pabaki shows the deceased seated in front of an offering table. He is holding a lotus in his left hand. The lunette at the top depicts a deity seated in a sacred barque. Stela of Nefersenut EA316 19th dynasty Limestone Round-topped Nefersenut was the biological father of Paneb. He is depicted in the top register kneeling with a brazier containing an offering before the goddess Hathor, who sits on the throne. The lower register shows three kneeling figures. On the left there is Nefersenut's eldest son Paneb, who was to rise to the post of foreman of the workmen, next to him his son Aapakhte, and on the right there is the son of Paneb's daughter, Paneb's grandson. Four generations of Paneb's family are depicted here. A letter from Kenna to the god Amenhotep Hieratic ostrakon O.BM5625 Clearly dated ostrakon, well-written in horizontal lines Contains a letter, where Kenna complains that Merysakhme wanted to share the chapel that Kenna has rebuilt. Year 4 (of Ramesses IV), IV 3ht (inundation) 30. This day, the workman Kenna, the son of Siwadjit, reported to King Amenhotep, the Lord of the Village, saying: “Come to me, my good Lord. It was I who rebuilt the chapel of the workman Pakharu when it was collapsed. And look, the workman Merysakhme, the son of Menna, does not let me sit in it, saying: ‘It is the god who told me to share it with you’. So he said, although he had not built it together with me”. [At the bottom of the recto and at the top of the verso (actually the same side of the sherd] something is lost] verso “…… give the chapel back to Kenna, its owner. It is his, by order of Pharaoh, and nobody shall share it with him”. So said the god, in the presence of: [the 2 foremen, the scribe, the bearers of the god, and the entire gang], at the entrance of the tomb of Kaha. [Merysakhme had to swear that he accepted the verdict] A receipt for an ox Hieratic ostrakon O. BM 5649 Limestone Recto: Listo of goods delivered in return for an ox, showing value in deben with clearly marked numbers. An ox represented a substantial investment. Verso: Summary of various values "w makes y deben". Jac Janssen pointed out that texts without dates can sometimes be assigned approximate dates by studying the style of the writing and the language uses. The names of any known workmen mentioned in text can be used as clues. Given in exchange for the ox, which Amenmose brought: 5 smooth ghalabiyehs, makes 25 deben copper 1 smooth sheet, makes 10 deben 1 bed with matting, makes 25 deben 1 bed, makes 12 deben 1 hin (=½ litre) honey, makes 4 deben 15 hin oil, makes 10 deben 5 deben of scrap copper 1 wooden coffin, makes 20 deben 1½ khar of grain, makes 8 deben Given to him by Amenkha‘u: 5 deben Given to him: 1 pair of sandals Given to his daughter: 1 mat and 10 loaves (this is for the 5 deben) Given to him: 1 pot of beans Vs. Total 119 deben of copper (correct!) Translation from Janssen, Jac: Commodity prices from the Ramessid period : an economic study of the village of necropolis workmen at Thebes Ostrakon of Khnummose EA8510 Painted limestone Black and red ink Height: 16.5 cm Width: 20.2 cm Figured ostrakon showing the workman Khnummose worshipping the serpent form of the goddess Meretseger. Jac Janssen suggested that this ostrakon had been used as a stela and that the work was not finished. verso The verso shows several different inventory references, indicating the object has been in several different collections. Papyrus Salt 124 (verso) EA 10055 Late 19th dynasty, c. 1200 BC From Deir el-Medina The papyrus contains the petition of the workman Amennakhte denouncing the crimes of the foreman Paneb. Amennakhte felt that he himself should have been chief workman and that Paneb had taken the job from under him by bribing the vizier. His aim was to have Paneb dismissed on the grounds that he was unworthy and incompetent. The charges he lists here vary from criminal offences to evidence of bad character. The list of charges starts with claiming that he bribed the vizier with 5 servants to gain his appointment. a) He was charged with stealing ‘the cover of a chariot’ from the tomb of Seti II. b) Charges relating to goings-on with married women or women who were living with other men. Hel was one of the women mentioned. Herysunnebef, husband of Hel, was the other adopted son of Neferhotep, and he later divorced Hel, as we know from another source . c) Stealing stones from the tomb of Seti II for use in his own tomb and using the workmen to work in it (but maybe this wasn’t so bad as other people also used the workmen). d) The row with Neferhotep, which resulted in Paneb being punished by the vizier. Paneb appealed to pharaoh himself and had the vizier sacked. Paneb evidently was in favour with the right people! e) He stole the bed from the tomb of a colleague on which the dead workman was lying. f) He stole a large spike and hid it behind a big stone when a search was made for it. Other charges include sitting on the king’s sarcophagus when the king was in it, drinking and urinating. He also stole a model of a gilded goose from the tomb of Henutmire who was a wife of Ramesses II and daughter of Seti I. The goose was found in his house, and it may have been with this crime that Paneb went too far. How far are all these charges reliable? Some of them are not uncommon, but Paneb may have overdone things with the number and variety of his misdeeds. The alleged bribery of the vizier may in fact have been a gift, which Paneb gave in thanks after the event. Hieratic papyrus EA10416 (verso) Ramesside Period Former Salt collection Height: 23.5 cm Width: 22 cm 11 lines on the recto and 13 lines on the verso Jac Janssen suggested the grey colour of the sheet indicated a palimpsest ( a manuscript page from a scroll or book from which the text has been scraped or washed off and which was used again). In the commentary to his translation, Janssen summarises the text: A married man, very probably Nesamenope, had an adulterous relationship for 8 full months with an unnamed woman, incensing the friends and relations of his legal wife. They blamed the woman and threatened to beat her up as well as her people, but were restrained by a steward. In a message the steward sent to the woman he expresses his doubts as to the reasons for her behaviour and urges the man to go to court with his own wife, evidently in order to get a "legal" divorce - whatever that meant in those days - then he might live on with his lover if he chose. If, however, he neglects this advice, the steward washes his hands of him and will not again try to restrain the people when they seek out the woman (Janssen,1991,32). The text of this chapter on the page was composed by Lenka Peacock. Photography © The Trustees of the British Museum. The photographs were taken by Steve Bayley 2005. Sources: 1. Shaw, Ian, Nicholson, Paul: British Museum dictionary of ancient Egypt London: British Museum Press, 1995. 2. Janssen, Rosalind and Janssen, Jac. J.: Growing up and getting old in ancient Egypt London : Golden House Publications, 2007. 3. McDowell, A.G.: Village life in ancient Egypt : laundry lists and love songs Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1999. 4. Pharaoh's workers : the villagers of Deir el-Medina / edited by Leonard H. Lesko Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 1994. 5. Les artistes de Pharaon : Deir el-Médineh et la Vallée des Rois : Paris, musée du Louvre, 15 avril - 5 aout 2002 Paris : Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2002. 6. Bierbrier, Morris : The tomb-builders of the pharaohs Cairo : The American University in Cairo Press, 1982. 7. Janssen, Jac. J.: Late Ramesside letters and communications London : British Museum Press, 1991. (Hieratic papyri in the British Museum VI, 1991). Visit to the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum On the 3rd of March 2010 I joined the class of the Birkbeck College course "Real life at Deir el-Medineh" (taught by Rosalind Janssen). We visited the library of the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum with Rosalind and Jac Janssen. Rosalind's module is all about the details of daily life in a New Kingdom settlement. It aims to increase our understanding of the social life of ancient Egyptians as revealed by archaeology and texts, and to foster an awareness that real life was similar to - and yet different from - our own. Marriage, adultery and divorce, the roles of the village doctor, the wise woman and the scorpion charmer, the punishment of crime, the worship of the ancestors, making a living, going to parties, doing the laundry - these are the topics of the lessons. On Wednesday, ten objects from Deir el-Medina awaited us in the study area/library of the Ancient Egyptian Department. All photographs on this page have been taken by Lenka Peacock by kind permission of the Trustees of the British Museum. Ancestor bust of Muteminet EA 1198 Possibly from tomb 373 at Thebes 19th dynasty Limestone Height: 51 cm Width: 26 cm Thickness: 29 cm Date of acquisition: 1897 This finely carved bust is inscribed with three columns of hieroglyphic text. The main text bears a dedication to the sistrum player of Amun, Mut and Khonsu, called Muteminet (Mwt-m-int). The back of the bust is roughly finished. The bust is badly damaged at the base and at the back with much loss of the stone surface. There are some gouges on the body and face. Traces of black ink remain in the hieroglyph in the central column of the text. A parallel bust of Pendjerti, husband of Muteminet, was found in the tomb of her son Amenmose, no. 373 at Thebes. There is little doubt that this bust was one of a pair from this tomb. The royal scribe Amenmose is attested on several monuments and flourished in the reign of Ramesses II (L. Habachi in 'Studies in Honor of George R. Hughes' (Chicago, 1976), 83-103. Ostrakon EA5644 From Deir el-Medina Ramesside (late 19th dynasty) Pottery Height: 12.5 cm Width: 15 cm Thickness: 4.5 cm on one side (convex) only, seven lines of an incomplete text concerning payment made by Amenemope to the carpenter Meryre for a bed. Text: J. Černy and A.H. Gardiner, ‘Hieratic Ostraca’ (Oxford 1957), pl. 5644.3 Stela of Nefersenut EA316 From Deir el-Medina 19th dynasty Limestone Round-topped Nefersenut was the biological father of Paneb. Top register: the goddess Hathor is seated on a throne holding a sceptre in her left hand. She wears a crown of uraei consisting of 24 cobras. Nefersenut is depicted in the upper register kneeling before the seated Hathor with a brazier containing an offering. The lower register shows three kneeling figures. On the left is Nefersenut's eldest son Paneb, who was to rise to the position of foreman of the workmen, beside him his son Aapakhte, and on the right the son of Paneb's daughter, Paneb's grandson. Four generations of Paneb's family are represented here. After discussing all the objects that had been prepared for us in the library, we went to see some of the objects on display in the public galleries of the British Museum. First we went to the Nebamun Gallery to see the objects used by the craftsmen of Deir el-Medina: Top: Rectangular smoother with integrated handle EA 5986 Carved from one piece of wood. Such tools were used for smoothing plaster, for example in painted funerary chapels or on the surface of mud-brick house walls. Height: 5.8 cm Width: 4.3 cm Length: 17.2 cm Centre: EA 6045 Bronze chisel with a wooden handle and copper alloy blade. The blade is tapered at the cutting edge. Length: 25.4 cm Bottom: EA 15740 Bronze chisel, square at one end and tapering to a point. Length: 12.7 cm Palm Fibre Brushes EA 5555.1-3 Brushes are twisted and cut at both ends. Length: 13 cm ; Diameter: 1.9 cm Originally bought by Henry Salt Paint Brush EA 36893 Brush made of sticks tied together and frayed at one end; stained with red paint. Length: 28.2 cm Paint Brush EA 36889 Paint brush made of fine palm fibres tied together with twisted fibres. The fibres have been cut at one end to form a brush tip. Traces of red pigment remain on the end of the brush. Length: 24.7 cm Diameter: 2.8 cm EA 36892 Fibre brush held together with bitumen at one end and tied with cord. Length: 21.5 cm Scribal Palette EA 36825 Wood Rectangular 18th dynasty Length: 29.8 cm The upper surface is carved with a row of 9 oval inkwells to the right of the palette. There are two longer and narrower ink wells in the left corner. These wells show traces of the red, yellow and black pigments used by the owner. A column of inscription set in a recess begins with the title 'outline draughtsman (sesh-qed)' , but the name of the individual has been erased (except for the masculine determinative). Below the pen slit, a horizontal inscription reads 'the outline draughtsman, Min-nakht, true of voice'. Beneath this, three characters are roughly drawn in thick ink strokes: a falcon's head with a sun disk and uraeus, and two examples of a disk and a crescent. In the upper left corner there is an incised inscription on the thickness of the palette, wrapped around the corner: 'Amun-Ra' and 'Ptah lord of Maat'. Pigment Samples EA 5563, EA 5568-9 Small pieces of Egyptian pigment. Egyptian blue was the main pigment used to produce the blue colour in Egyptian paintings and sculptures. Ostrakon of a goose on her nest EA 56706 Limestone Ink drawing on one side 19th or 20th dynasty The drawing depicts a goose on its nest, with four eggs shown below the bird. There are two very faint drawings of goslings in red in the upper left corner. Possibly painted in black over a red design. Width: 8.2 cm Height: 6.5 cm Sources: 1. Shaw, Ian, Nicholson, Paul: British Museum dictionary of ancient Egypt London: British Museum Press, 1995. 2. Janssen, Rosalind and Janssen, Jac. J.: Growing up and getting old in ancient Egypt London : Golden House Publications, 2007. 3. McDowell, A.G.: Village life in ancient Egypt : laundry lists and love songs Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1999. 4. Pharaoh's workers : the villagers of Deir el-Medina / edited by Leonard H. Lesko Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 1994. 5. Les artistes de Pharaon : Deir el-Médineh et la Vallée des Rois : Paris, musée du Louvre, 15 avril - 5 aout 2002 Paris : Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2002. 6. Bierbrier, Morris : The tomb-builders of the pharaohs Cairo : The American University in Cairo Press, 1982. 7. The British Museum hieroglyphic texts from Egyptian stelae etc. Pt. 12 / edited by M. L. Bierbrier. London : British Museum Press, 1993. 8. www.britishmuseum.org/research Further bibliography Back to top Anchor 1 Anchor 2 Anchor 3

The majority of the stelae, held at Kingston Lacy, originated at Deir el-Medina. The stelae represent the earliest objects from Deir el-Medina to arrive on the British soil. They were brought back to England by William John Bankes (1786-1855). Kingston Lacy, Dorset, England The Ancient Egyptian Collection, assembled by John William Bankes (1786-1855) during his travels to Egypt in 1815 and 1818-1819, is the only surviving intact collection of 19th-century Egyptian antiquities in an English country house. The house became the property of the National Trust, UK, in 1981 after the death of Ralph Bankes. Some 100 objects have been on display in the Billiards Room since 1992. These include a collection of stelae, fragments of Theban tomb paintings, amulets, shabtis, reliefs, scarabs, bronzes, fragments of furniture and small divine statuettes. There is an obelisk from Philae and a granite sarcophagus in the grounds of the house. A collection of papyri (see below), mostly late copies of the Book of the Dead and several letters, and a recently discovered collection (in an unmarked crate in the basement in 2007) of 212 Upper Egyptian ostraka, represent the written sources of this collection. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/kingston-lacy Most of the stelae at Kingston Lacy are from Deir el-Medina. The stelae are the earliest objects from Deir el-Medina to reach British soil. It is thought that John William Bankes acquired the stelae during his second visit to Egypt in 1818 and that they were assembled by Henry Salt, the British Consul General, with whom Bankes was staying at the time. The year 1818 rather than 1819 is suggested because Giovanni d'Athanasi, Salt's agent and excavator, may have helped to collect them and he was working for Salt in 1818. 1818 is also the year in which Bankes is known to have collected a number of late Ramesside letters (see below) in Thebes. Jaroslav Černý published a description and translation of the stelae in 1958 in his "Egyptian Stelae in the Bankes Collection". In his preface to the publication he regretted the quality of the photographs of the stelae, which did not show the details of the hieroglyphs very clearly. Since then the stelae have been cleaned and conserved by the National Trust team. With the kind permission of the House and Collections Manager at Kingston, Lacy Robert Gray, I photographed the stelae in September 2011 and present them below, together with translations mainly by Jaroslav Černý, whose language has been modernised. Some names have been transliterated according to the usage in modern genealogical sources. All translated text is in italics. The collection has been numbered in what is believed to be the correct chronological order. The photographs were updated in April 2022 during our last visit to the collection. I would like to thank Rosalind Janssen, who specialises in Deir el-Medina, and Jan Kunst, a Dutch Egyptologist, for their constructive and interesting comments on the content of this site. I would also like to thank Ann Smith, from the UK, and Ingeborg Waanders, from Holland, for helping me to acquire valuable primary sources. All photographs were taken by Lenka Peacock and are © of The National Trust, UK. Bankes stela no. 1. Stela of draughtsman May From Deir el-Medina Late 18th, early 19th dynasty Limestone Height: 30 cm Width: 21 cm This is a round-topped stela with a double division. In the lunette - the spatial area in the upper part of the stela - the solar barque carries a solar disc over the sky, represented by the hieroglyphic sign pt (sky). On the right side of the barque a child is seated with his thumb in his mouth. The lower part of the stela consists of an image of a man standing at the bottom of the right side of the stela. He is looking to the right. His arms are raised in a pose of worship. Above and in front of the figure there are 10 columns with hieroglyphic inscriptions. The columns are written from top to bottom and read from left to right. The text consists of a hymn to the setting sun: "Praise to Re when he sets in the western horizon of the sky. You have appeared in the western half as Atum, who is in the evening, having come in your power, having no opponents, and having taken possession of the sky as Re. You appear and shine on the back of your mother, having appeared (as) the King of the Divine Ennead. I have done right in your presence, and I kiss the ground (for?) your crew, and I worship you as you travel through the heavens, your heart rejoicing. The Island of Flame has become peaceful, your enemies have fallen and are no more. The dwelling place of the evil dragon is doomed. Your body is Atum in the Boat of the Morning, the rightful one of the Two Lands. Beautiful is the boat of the evening when it has reached its end. (Said) by the draughtsman May, true of voice." This type of stela is called a Lucarne stela. A total of 13 Lucarne stelae from Deir el-Medina have been identified. This stela is an early example of its type because the owner is shown standing rather than kneeling in worship. Only 1 other stela - Turin 50043 - shares this feature, all other 11 stelae show the owner kneeling. The Lucarne stelae share the following characteristics - a sun barque shown in the lunette, usually placed above the pt sign - a solar disc or other representation of the sun god is depicted in the solar barque - The sun god is accompanied by other symbols related to him (worshipping baboons, wedjat eyes). - The owner either stands or kneels in worship before the barque. - Although the owner's relatives may be depicted, this is rarely the case. - The hymn, written in columns, praises the rising and/or setting sun. Lucarne stelae were made from the late 18th dynasty to the 20th dynasty. They measure between 30 and 55 cm (Goyon, 2007, 1953-1954). The owner of the stela was called May. He was a painter employed in the Theban necropolis and lived in Deir el-Medina in the 18th dynasty, around 1300 BC. His title was the "outline draughtsman of Amun" (Rice, 105-106). His tomb is located in the western necropolis of Deir el-Medina near the tomb of the architect Kha (TT8) and is numbered TT 338 . The wall paintings from May's tomb were removed from the walls and taken to Turin. They are on display in the Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy. The stela would have come from a niche in May's chapel, where it would have been placed on a stone pedestal. (according to Bernard Bruyère) When Deir el-Medina was excavated in the last century, these chapels were were partially or completely lost, as they were built above ground and made of mud bricks. Bankes stela no. 2. Stela depicting Huy From Deir el-Medina 19th dynasty, beginning of the reign of Ramesses II, 1270s BC Limestone Height: 46 cm Width: 28 cm This round stele is divided into 2 registers. The upper register depicts two deities seated on their thrones This round-topped stela consists of 2 registers. In the upper register two gods seated on their thrones are described in hieroglyphic inscriptions together with their epithets. The first one is Amun-Re, Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands, residing in Waset, foremost of the Westerners, the great god. Behind Amun-Re sits his daughter Mut, Lady of Heaven, Mistress of the Two Lands. Behind the throne of Mut stands a goddess with the head of a lion. Jaroslav Černý translated the inscription which identifies her as the daughter of Re, the cobra. Jan Kunst, a Dutch Egyptologist, points out that to translate the name as "The Cobra" the feminine definite article tA should be used instead of the masculine pA . He suggests that the goddess might be Wadjet. Wadjet is sometimes referred to as the "Eye of Re" and can be depicted in leonine form or as a lion-headed woman, just like Bastet, with whom she was strongly associated. She was also strongly associated with Mut, which may explain her presence in this otherwise unusual combination. One of her epithets is "She of Pe", py.t , which may somehow (but not entirely) explain the pA . The cobra hieroglyph is probably the determinative for a goddess rather than an ideogram, as Jan Kunst explains in our private correspondence. A man is standing before the divine triad. His hands are raised in worship as he makes an offering, burning incense in a holder held in his left hand. The inscription reads: Made by the servant in the Place of Truth, Huy, true of voice. The lower register contains a procession of 2 men, 4 women and a small child. They are all facing the triad and are supposed to be following Huy. The columns of inscriptions around them give us their names, sometimes their titles and their relationship to Huy. The first man on the left - directly behind Huy in the procession - is Kaha, who was probably responsible for the erection of this stela. The inscription reads 'Made by the servant in the place of truth, Kaha, true of voice' . Behind Kaha is his brother Paherypedjet . Paherypedjet's hand touches the head of the child standing between Kaha and himself, his son Khuru . He is depicted as a small naked boy. This stela, representing three generations of the same family, is an example of the valuable source of information that helps Egyptologists to reconstruct the chronological framework of the labour force at Deir el-Medina. Behind Paherypedjet stands his mother Tanehsy , followed by his sister, the lady of the house, Tuy . The procession is completed by two women standing side by side, his son (sic.sister) Takhat and his sister Na'ay, true of voice . Huy served as an important official at Deir el-Medina in the early 19th dynasty. His title was "Chief Craftsman at the Place of Truth in West Thebes" (Davies, 1996, 15). Tanehsy, the first lady from the left, is the wife of Huy. She is the mother of Kaha who stands behind his father Huy in the procession - the first one on the left in the lower register of the stela. Kaha was a foreman for the "left side" of the crew at Deir el-Medina during the reign of Ramesses II (1279-1212 BC). According to a stela found in the courtyard of his tomb, TT 360, his title was "Chief Workman of Usermaatre-setepenre in the Place of Truth". Kaha's status was reflected in the fact that he occupied one of the largest houses in the 18th dynasty settlement (N.E.VIII) (Davies, 1996, 16). As Kaha's title on this stela does not indicate that he was a foreman, it could be dated to the very beginning of the reign of Ramesses II, as it is believed that Kaha was appointed to the foreman's post in the early years of the reign. The family relationships mentioned in the inscriptions refer to Kaha as the dedicator of the stela rather than Huy, the dedicatee. Kaha's wife Tuy is the woman standing behind Kaha's mother Tanehsy. It is believed that she and Kaha had a large family of at least 6 sons and 5 daughters (Davies, 1996, 16). One of the sons depicted here is Khuru, the little boy, standing next to his uncle - Kaha's brother - Paherypedjet. Takhat and Na'ay are both identified as Kaha's sisters, but I have found no evidence of a sister named Na'ay. We know that Na'ay was the name of Kaha's daughter, but a daughter would not have been an adult woman as depicted on the stela at this time in Kaha's life. In this particular case, the inscription definitely contains an error as the feminine ending for "snt" is missing and the word appears as the masculine form "sn" . The word is usually translated as "sister", but in ancient Egyptian relationships it does not only refer to a sister. Sometimes it also means a wife, a niece, an aunt, etc. The word "sn" , usually translated as "brother", is also used for male relationships between people of different generations who are related directly (an uncle, a nephew, etc.) or by marriage (a brother-in-law). Bankes stela no. 3. Stela of Ramose From Deir el-Medina Limestone 19th dynasty Height: 46 cm Width: 32 cm This round-topped stela consists of 2 registers. In the upper register a goddess is seated on a throne facing to the right. She wears a double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt and is described in the inscription as Mut, the Great, Lady of Isheru, Mistress of the House of Amun, Beautiful of Face in Hut-sekhem. Protection, life and dominion are around her every day, Mut's most popular epithet among the craftsmen. (Jauhiainen, 2009, 120). The same epithet also appears on Bankes stela no. 9. Hut-sekhem is located south-east of Abydos, it is the modern Hiw. In the Greco-Roman period it was known as Diospolis Mikra or Diospolis Parva. (Baines, 1996, 114). Mut is seated before an offering table piled high with ox meat and large bouquets of lotus flowers. Offering all good and very pure things to the lady of the Two Lands, the mistress of the House of Amun. In the lower register a man is depicted kneeling before the goddess with his hands raised in worship. Around and above him there are 9 columns with hieroglyphic inscriptions: Giving praise to Mut, lady of heaven, [mistress of] the House of Amun, with beautiful hand carrying the sistra, sweet of voice. Singers, be content with all she says, pleasing(?) to (your) hearts. May she give life, prosperity and health, intelligence, [favour] and love to the soul of the scribe in the Place of Truth, Ramose, true of voice with the great god. Ramose is one of the best-documented officials of Deir el-Medina. Although he was not born in the village, he became one of the richest men who ever lived there. He was the son of Lady Kakaia and a retainer of Amenemhab (someone who carried messages to officials in the Theban area). Ramose was born around 1314 BC (Booth, 2006, 185). He must have attended scribal schools before becoming a scribe at the temple of Tuthmosis IV. He then moved to Deir el-Medina where he married Mutemwia, "the lady of the house whom he loves". He was appointed "Scribe of the Tomb" by Vizier Paser in year 5 of Ramesses II (O.CGC 25671). He served in this position at least until year 38 of Ramesses II (O.CGC 25809) (Davies, 1996, 98). As Ramose and Mutemwia were continually unable to conceive a child, they prayed to various deities associated with childbirth and fertility. Stela 50066, now in Turin, is dedicated to Qudshu, the Asian goddess of love. There are many stelae and statues recording their pleas, but the couple remained childless. In the end they adopted Kenherkhepshef, like Ramose, probably a newcomer to the village, as an apprentice who would assume the role of the eldest son, take over Ramose's profession and perform funeral rites for them. Ramose's family occupied a house in the northern part of the village. He also owned some land outside Deir el-Medina and there are 3 decorated tombs attributed to him - TT7, TT212 and TT250. Ramose was a contemporary of the foreman Kaha of the Bankes stela no. 2. The next stela also belonged to Ramose. Bankes stela no. 4. Stela of Ramose From Deir el-Medina Limestone 19th dynasty Height: 43 cm Width: 32 cm This round topped stela is divided into 2 registers. The upper register contains the solar barque with images of a scarab beetle, representing the sun, at the stern, while the ibis-headed Thoth stands on the bow offering the Eye of Horus. The centre of the barque was once occupied by a spherical flint representing the solar disc, but it fell out and is lost. It was recorded as still in place by Sir John Gardner Wilkinson in the 1st half of the 19th century. A note was found in his manuscripts indicating that he must have seen at least this particular stele. On the bow of the stela the sun god is seated on a mat in the form of a child. A winged sun fills the curved top of the stela and hovers above the bargue. The lower part bears an image of Ramose kneeling in the lower left corner and 10 columns of hieroglyphic inscriptions which can be translated: "Adoration of Amun-Re, the bull residing in On, the chief of all gods, good god, beloved one, who gives life to all warm blooded-creatures and to all beautiful animals. Hail to you, Amun-Re, lord of the throne of the Two Lands, for most of Opet sut, bull of his mother, for most of his fields, wide of the gate, foremost of the southern land, lord of Madjoy, ruler of Pwene, most ancient in the heavens and eldest in the whole world, who dwells in all things. May you give life, prosperity and health, intelligence, favour and love and a mouthful of food of your giving until I reach the revered state in peace. To the soul of one who is excellent and beloved of his master, chief of the treasury of the house of Menkheperure, chief of the administration in the house of the chief seal-bearer, accountant scribe of the cattle of Amun-Re, assistant letter-writer of the hereditary prince, chief of the works on the west of Waset, chief of the treasury in the place of truth, Ramose, true of voice, from ....." The stela records a series of honours Ramose received before he was appointed to an administrative post in Deir el-Medina. In his commentary on the stelae, Černý thought that the "hereditary prince" mentioned in the text was the Prince Regent, future king Ramesses II. Later, Černý noticed that the first 4 columns of the text were identical with the beginning of the Hymn to Amun preserved on a papyrus now in the Cairo Museum and attributed this title to Amenhotep, son of Hapu, who had his own temple built by Amenhotep III near the temple of Tuthmosis IV where Ramose worked as a scribe (Černý, 1973, 318). Bankes stela no. 5. Aamek's stela From Deir el-Medina Limestone 19th dynasty Height: 51 cm Width: 33 cm This round-topped stela is divided into 2 registers. The lunette is occupied by an image of a sun barque carrying a seated Re-Harakhte, Lord of Heaven, the falcon-headed sun god, worshipped by a baboon. Above the barque are two wedjat-eyes, symbols of protection. The larger lower register depicts a kneeling man in a pose of worship. 9 columns of hieroglyphic inscription identify the owner as Aamek. This is the second example of a Lucarne stela in the Bankes collection. This time the owner is shown kneeling rather than standing, indicating a later date than stela no. The text praises the setting rather than the rising sun: "Hail to Re when he appears on the western horizon of the sky. Hail to you, Harakhte, Khepri who dwells in his boat, that is Re, Lord of Opet-sut, Amun who shines in a sky that has appeared in the western half of the sky. Your mother greets you who have come in your power, for there is no opponent to you. You have taken possession of the sky as Re, you are the god of the world, first in rank by your light, who sees mankind. The gods kneel before you in rejoicing, and all men kiss the earth, and the spirits as well. May I live to praise Your beautiful face, and may You make me rejoice in Your love, like all the righteous. For the soul of the servant in the place of truth, the choir leader in the place of eternity, Aamek, true of voice, son of .... of Barbaste Pakhuru." Re-Harakhte was a worshipped deity at Deir el-Medina. Many stelae were erected in his honour. Stelae no. 1, 5 and 13 of the Bankes Collection are dedicated to Re-Harakhte. The baboon in the solar barque of stela no. 5 represents the god Thoth. Thoth was also worshipped by the community in the form of an ibis-headed deity (stela 4) and a moon (Jauhiainen, 2009, 86). Aamek lived in Deir el-Medina during the early part of the reign of Ramesses II. He had the title "Servant in the Place of Truth". His second title - "3 n" - mentioned in the text was translated by Černý as "leader of the choir". Černý thought that he could have been the leader of the singers who accompanied the statues of the gods carried in processions during various festivals. Bernard Bruyère thought that the post was secular and translated it as "dans les ateliers des cimetières royaux" (Davies, 1996, 244), "in the workshops of the royal cemetery". Aamek was married to Wadjetronpet. Pakhuru, mentioned in the text and translated by Černý as "son", can be identified as either "son" or as "father" of Aamek. Pakhuru mentioned on the verso, line 6 of the BM Absence ostrakon EA 5634 could have been Aamek's son. Aamek probably occupied house S.E. VI at Deir el-Medina, as Bruyère found an inscription on the left jamb of the shrine of the house which reads " ... blessing on] my house, for the spirit of the Servant in the Place of Truth", 'Aamek, justified" (Kitchen, 2001, 486). His stone hut at the top of the cliffs was also identified by Bruyère during his 1934-1935 season. Aamek's tomb is TT 1164 of the western cemetery (Davies, 1996, 245). Bankes stela no. 6 Iyinofreti's stela From Deir el-Medina Limestone 19th dynasty Height: 49.5 cm Width: 32 cm The upper part of this circular stela with two divisions is occupied by a solar barque with a seated falcon-headed solar deity, here identified as Pa-Shu, the Great God, Lord of Heaven. Jan Kunst points out that the solar god is identified as pA Sw , which translates as 'the sun' or 'the light of the sun'. He could therefore be identical to the god worshipped by Akhnaten under the name of Aten. But his iconography is clearly borrowed from Re. The sms -sign, symbol of the followers, holds an image of the full moon and its crescent in front of Pa-Shu , named as Moon-Thoth, the great god. The lower register shows the kneeling dedicator of the stela, a woman called Iyinofreti. Behind her stands a man in a pose of worship. 9 columns of hieroglyphic inscription translate as: [Praising] to Moon-Thoth, great god, who listens to the prayers, kissing the ground for Pa-Shu, great god. Mercy! [You (two)] cause that I see darkness by day, upon the words of women. Be merciful to me, may I see your mercy." (So said) by the mistress of the house, Iyinofreti, the justified. Her son 'Anhotep. (Galan, 1999, 24) Iyinofreti was the wife of Sennedjem, a "servant in the place of truth", who lived in the village at the beginning of the 19th dynasty during the reigns of Seti I and Ramesses II. Their house is located in the south-west corner of the settlement and their tomb TT1 lies nearby on the slopes of the western cemetery. Iyinofreti's mummy, now in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, is that of a woman aged about 75. This is a votive funerary stela dedicated by 'Anhotep, Iyinofreti's grandson (and not his son as the inscription states). He would have placed the stela in the rock shrine. The text is often interpreted in Egyptology circles as a plea for relief from permanent blindness. The inscription refers to "the words of women" as the reason for Iyinofreti seeing darkness. In his commentary, Černý interprets the passage "You cause that I see darkness by day, upon the words of women" as her prayer for relief from blindness caused by women's gossip or quarrels. Sweeney (Sweeney, 2006, 136) agrees with Adel Mahmoud's recent discussion of the physiological information from Iyinofreti's remains, which links her advanced age, plagued by extensive tooth decay, with her plea for relief from blindness, supplemented by textual evidence. On the other hand, Galan believes that the passage in question could refer to possible testimonies against Iyinofreti by her peers (Galan, 1999, 28) and suggests that physiological blindness is not always an adequate explanation. In his article "Seeing darkness", he gathers the corpus of stelae with the text revealing God's punishment of a sinner who confesses his wrongdoing, begs for mercy and promises the proclamation of God's power upon forgiveness. A shift in the perception of the divine is evident here: Egyptian deities are willing to forgive past sins, rather than simply rewarding good and punishing evil. TThe texts do not usually specify the exact nature of the transgressions, nor do they always specify the punishment given. Apart from 3 instances, there are two phrases used to describe the sinner's situation: "you cause that I see darkness by day" or "you cause that I see the darkness you create". Usually the phrase is translated as "becoming blind". Galan's interpretation of the phrase "seeing darkness" is as a metaphor used to refer to the situation in which the deceased find themselves after the Final Judgement and before they reach the Hereafter, where god is. They implore God's mercy in order to have any sins removed and to be able to make contact with the divine. (Galan, 1999, 29-30) A new interpretation of the phrase is discussed by David G. Smith in his two-part article on solar eclipses during the New Kingdom (see the link to the online version of the article in Sources No. 18). According to Smith, during the reign of Ramesses II, when the stela was made, there were eclipses of such magnitude that they would have been experienced as unusual and disturbing events and could have been described as "loss of sight". He argues that this text and others with similar spells were produced in response to actual observations of astronomical phenomena, albeit couched in religious terms. Bankes stela no. 7 Bukanefptah's stela From Deir el-Medina Limestone 19th dynasty Height: 53 cm Width: 30.5 cm This is a large round-topped stela with four divisions. In the lunette the seated goddess is identified as Nebethotep of I-n-tore, Lady of Heaven. She wears a solar disc and cow horns on her head, holding an ankh in her right hand and a papyrus sceptre in her left. In front of her is a pile of offerings. Beside her, in a pose of worship, facing the goddess, stands the donor of the stela. The inscription above her head reads 'Made by the Lady of the House Bukanenfptah, true of voice' . Behind Nebethotep there is a large sistrum with the head of Hathor, guarded on each side by a cat. The inscription above the instrument identifies her as Nebethotep, Mistress of the Two Lands. The second register contains 4 lines of hieroglyphic inscription: Praise your soul, Nebethotep, kissing the earth to the Lady of the Two Lands. I praise your beautiful face every day in order to propitiate your soul. Be merciful to me that I may tell of your power to all who do not know you and to all who know you. For all people come to you in crowds, men and women alike, and they say, "Be merciful to Pipi the beautiful, for she is merciful. The lady of the house, Bukanenfptah, true of voice, she says: Every follower (of her) is in joy. No evil shall befall them, child after child. The next two registers are filled with a procession of men, women, and a child who must be seen by the viewer as following Bukanenfptah and all facing the goddess Nebethotep. The goddess Nebethotep seems to be a form of Hathor, the Solar Eye (Jauhiainen, 2009, 106). The procession is in a festive mood, some are beating tambourines, some are rattling wooden clappers, others are clasping their hands or simply carrying offerings in the form of lotus flowers or food. It has been suggested that the family is participating in the festival of Hathor, the Eye of Re, as the playing of tambourines and clappers was an important part of appeasing the angry Hathor on her return from Nubia (Jauhiainen, 2009, 106). All participants are identified by hieroglyphic captions. The first row starts from the left with The servant in the Place of Truth, Kasa, true of voice. Kasa is followed by his sister, the lady of the house, Bukanenfptah. Her son Nebamentet, her sister Ya and her sister Isis all walk behind Sheritre in the procession. The lower register shows her sister Pipia, her brother the soldier Maia, her brother the soldier Ramose, her sister Bendepentes, her sister Tewosret, her sister Ipu, her brother Tjutju and her brother Piay, the naked boy who closes the procession. This stela is extremely informative about Bukanenfptah's family relationships. Although she is recorded on the stela as Kasa's sister, she was his wife. Kasa's title was "Servant of the Place of Truth". They were both contemporaries of the foreman Kaha on Bankes Stela No. 2, which places them in the first half of Ramesses II's reign. Kasa was a joint owner of TT 10 with the "guardian" Penbuy. There is no surviving textual evidence that their relationship to each other. Bankes stela no. 8 Pyiay's stela From Deir el-Medina Limestone 19th dynasty Height: 53 cm Width: 40.5 cm This round topped stela is carved in well executed raised relief. It is the largest stela in the Bankes collection. In the lower part of the stela, 2 men stand in a pose of worship in front of an offering table and large bouquets of flowers. They are addressing Khnosu-in-Thebes, Neferhotep, Horus of..., who is depicted as a falcon with a crescent and a full moon on his head. On his forehead is an uraeus and around his neck is a massive collar. Jan Kunst explains that what we see here is the bow of the barque of Khonsu, together with the front part of the carrying poles. Apparently, the aegis of Khonsu, which adorned the bow and stern of the barque, was regarded as an embodiment of the god himself. 10 columns of hieroglyphic inscription in the upper part of the stela read: Offering which the king gives to Khonsu-in-Thebes, Neferhotep, Thoth, lord of Upper Egyptian On, scribe of truth of the Divine Ennead, who gives an office to him whom he loves, and a lifetime in his home. Breath is in his grasp, and fate and fortune are from him. How happy is he who is in his favour, evil shall never overtake him. He gives life, prosperity, health, and happiness, a good old age and sound speech, no faulty act of his being brought up until (he) has reached the place of the righteous. To the soul of the chisel-bearer in the Place of Eternity, Piay, repeating life, and (to) the chisel-bearer of Amun, Piay. Černý believed that the first man on the left, worshipping Khonsu-in-Thebes, was the "Sculptor in the Place of Eternity" Piay, who lived in Deir el-Medina during the first half of Ramses II's reign. The name of the sculptor Piay appears on several objects and in several tombs. He married Nofretkhau and had several children with her: Neferronpet, Nakhtamun, Ipuy (also sculptor, TT 217), Sahte, and Henutmehyt (Davies, 1996, 213). The man standing behind him was probably his son of the same name, Paiy. His title "Sculptor of Amun" may explain the fact that his head is shaved as he may have been a priest in the temple of Amun. Bankes stela no. 9 Nekhemmut's stela From Deir el-Medina Limestone 19th dynasty Height: 52 cm Width: 35 cm This round top stela is divided into 2 registers. In the upper register a winged sun fills the curved top of the stela and hovers over 5 columns of hieroglyphic inscription. The 3 columns on the right identify a standing king as Lord of the Two Lands, Usermaatre-setepenre, Lord of Appearances, Ramesses-Meryamun, endowed with life like Re forever and ever. Ramses II seems to have been worshipped at Deir el-Medina during his lifetime. The cult continued at least until the end of the Ramesside period (Jauhiainen, 2009, 182). He offers jugs of wine to two goddesses seated on their thrones opposite each other. The one on the left is identified by the first column of the hieroglyphic inscription as Mut, the Great, Lady of Isheru. She wears on her head the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. The same epithet appears on Bankes stela no. 3. The second goddess is Hathor, Lady of the West, Lady of the Sky. Hathor's headdress consists of the solar disc and cattle horns. Her name and epithets are written in the second column from the left. In the lower register 2 men and 2 women are depicted kneeling in the pose of adoration. The hieroglyphic inscription above their heads reads: Giving praise to your soul, Hathor, mistress of the West, kissing the earth before Mut, the great, L ady of Isheru, by the servant in the Place of Truth, Nekhemmut, his sister, Lady of the House, Webkhet, his son Khons, his daughter Tamek(et), true of voice, and his daughter Tasak(et), true of voice. Nekhemmut appears in the family tree of Sennedjem. In a scene in the tomb of Sennedjem's son Khabekhnet TT2, Nekhemmut is mentioned as a son of Khons(ii), who was a brother of Khabekhnet and a son of Sennedjem and his wife Iyinofreti, who is depicted on Bankes stela no. 6. Davies identifies Webkhet as the wife of Nekhemmut rather than his sister and suggests that she was a daughter of Khabekhnet and Sahte, which means that the couple were cousins (Davies, 1999, 55). The stela names 3 of their children: son Khnos and daughters Tameket and Tasaket, but only 2 of them are depicted. We know that the couple had another child named Amenkhau (Davies, 1996, genealogical table 7). The offspring are all depicted as adults, but it has been suggested that since the stela is dated to the reign of Ramesses II by his cartouche appearing in the upper register inscription, this may be an artistic device and they may have been only children of a younger age (Davies,1996,56). This would be consistent with the fact that the fourth child is not depicted, perhaps because the stela was executed before the child was born. Nekhemmut is believed to have been born around year 25 of the reign of Ramesses II. He probably lived into his 70s as there is textual evidence that he became foreman of the crew in years 11-15 of Ramesses III's reign (O.Geneva MAH 12550). Ostrakon Gardiner 57 tells us that he worked on the right side of the crew. Bankes stela no. 10 Penrennut's stela From Deir el-Medina Limestone 20th dynasty Height: 50 cm Width: 33.5 cm This round topped stela is divided into 2 registers. In the upper register the owner of the stela is depicted in a pose of worship in front of an offering table. He is the servant in the place of truth, Penrennut, true to voice. To his left are two deities. Lord of the Two Lands, Djeserkare, Lord of Appearances, Amenhotep, true of voice, the deified king Amenhotep I, and behind him his mother Ahmose-Nefertari. Khonsu-Thoth, the benevolent god, sits on a shrine or pylon behind the queen. He is depicted as a small naked boy with a side lock of youth and a thumb in his mouth. The hieroglyphic inscription above and around him also mentions Penrennut's (his) brother, the servant Seti, true of voice, his brother, the servant Hori, and his brother Sobekmose. They are not shown in the scene. In the lower register, 3 men and a boy stand worshipping the deities. Two of them are holding large lotus flowers. 11 columns of hieroglyphic inscription from left to right. 8 men are mentioned in the lines: the first man is identified as the true servant Amenemone, true of voice. His son Nebamun, true of voice. His son Qenamun. His son Amenkhau. The inscription near the second man reads: The servant Huy, true of voice. His son Mentpahapy . The third in the procession is his father Nakhtmin . The child is the son of his son Panakhtemheb . Penrennut was a workman at Deir el-Medina. His title was servant in the Place of Truth. He was married to a woman named Tadehnetemheb. His father was called Nakhtmin. Nakhtmin is the third man in the procession and he is followed by Panakhtemheb who is his grandson and therefore the son of Penrennut. The relationship of the first man in the procession, Amenemone, to Penrennut is not stated on the stela. Perhaps he is a workman from the reign of Ramesses IV, who is known to have been the father of the workmen Seti and Hori, both of whom are named in the upper register as Penrennut's brothers. In fact, they were both brothers-in-law of Penrennut (Davies, 1996, 251-252). Other sons of Amenemose are named in the lower register as Nebamun, Qenamun, and Amenkhau. A limestone offering table of Penrennut, "servant in the Place of Truth", is in the collection of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology at University College London, UC 14446 . Bankes stela no. 11 Pamedunakht's stela From Deir el-Medina Limestone The 1st part of the 20th dynasty Height: 37 cm Width: 26.5 cm This round-topped stela is divided into two sections. In the upper register the deified king Amenhotep I, Lord of the Two Lands, Djeserkare, stands on the right side in front of the Theban Triad, to whom he makes an offering. The father of the triad is identified by the inscription near his head and his headdress as Amun-Re, Lord of Happy Encounter. Behind him standshis consort Mut, who is not mentioned in the inscription. The hieroglyphs above the head of the third deity identify him as Khonsu, the god of the moon, Amun-Re and the child of Mut. In the lower register there are 2 men kneeling in worship. They are surrounded by 12 columns with hieroglyphic inscriptions. Two of the columns in the middle of the stela are damaged. The text was reconstructed by Černý and appears in brackets in the translation: Giving praise to your soul Amun-Re, lord of Happy Encounter, and kissing the earth before your name by the hand of the wab-priest of the Lord of the Two Lands in the Place of Truth, Pamedunutenakht, true of voice, son of the Servant in the Place of Truth [to the West of Waset] Hay, true of voice, and by the hand of his beloved son Amenhotep-neferenwaset, true of voice. Pamedunakht, son of Hay, is known to us from several sources. A rectangular stela in the British Museum EA 342 shows Pamedunakht, wab-priest, making offerings to the god Ptah. The stela was purchased by the museum from Henry Salt in 1821. Another small stela is in the Burrell Collection in Glasgow. It shows Pamedunakht worshipping Amun-Re as on the Bankes stela. The Glasgow inscription gives Pamedunakht's title as wab -priest of all gods, sculptor of statues in the House of Gold. Černý explains that the House of Gold is an expression for the sculptor's workshop (Černý, 1958, stela 11). Another source of our information about this workman is the rock graffito No. 839 (Davies, 1996, 89) from the Theban necropolis, dated to the first year of Ramesses IV (Černý, 1958, stela 11). Another appearance of this rare name comes from TT2 where Pamedunakht is mentioned - together with 5 other men - as one of the sons of the chief workman Nekhemmut (Bierbrier, 1980,103). 3 of them are known to have been his sons, but the other 3 - including Pamedunakht - are not. Bierbrier suggests that he may have been Nekhemmut's son-in-law (Bierbrier, 1980,104). Bankes stela no. 12 Stela of Tjay and Pentaweret From Deir el-Medina Limestone 20th dynasty Height: 34.5 cm Width: 25 cm According to Černý, the stela once had a round top, but this has been chipped away. The stela bears the image of two gods facing each other. The god standing on the left is identified by the hieroglyphic inscription near his head as Amun-Re, Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands . The deified queen, mother of Amenhotep I, shakes the sistra in her hands and is identified by the inscription in a cartouche as the Lady of the Two Lands, Ahmose-Nefertari. A column of hieroglyphs is placed behind the queen's back and reads Made by the wab-priest of the Lady of the Two Lands, To, true of voice, son of the scribe Amennakht, true of voice. At the bottom of the stela, below the line indicating the ground on which the gods stand, there is a line of a hieroglyphic inscription. It reads from right to left: Made by the scribe of the House of Eternity, Pentaweret, true of voice. Scattered among the cliffs of the Theban Necropolis are several graffiti bearing the name Tjay. Tjay appears to be a "scribe" and to be a son as well as a father of Amennakht. The sons of the scribe Amennakht are recorded in various graffiti as Tjay, Amennakht, the Draftsman, Harshire, Amenhotep and the scribe Pentaweret (Davies, 1999, 131). Evidence from TT 23 of the royal secretary Tjay has shown that the name To was used as a diminutive form of the name Tjay. Thus, Davies concluded that To, son of the scribe Amennakht, and the scribe Tjay were one and the same person (Davies, 1999, 132). Textual evidence based on two graffiti and one papyrus place him firmly in the years 1153-1134 B.C.: year 29 of Ramesses III (graffito no. 3021), year 4 of Ramesses IV (graffito no. 2609) and year 7 of Ramesses VI (papyrus Turin 1885) (Davies,1999,133). To/Tjay's titles include "Scribe in the Place of Truth West of Thebes", "Royal Scribe in the Place of Truth West of Thebes, and "Scribe of the tomb" (Davies,1999,131). The second dedicator of the stela is named as the scribe Pentaweret, who is known from Theban graffiti No. 785 and No. 2864 as the son of the scribe Amennakht. He was the brother of To. The stela is dedicated to Amun-Re an Ahmose-Nefertari by two brothers, sons of the scribe Amennakht. Bankes stela no. 13 Stela of Harmose From Deir el-Medina Limestone 19th or 20th dynasty Height: 39 cm Width: 25.5 cm This is the smallest stela in the Bankes collection. It is an example of a stela that was appropriated at a later date. The original stela was a simple one with no carvings. It had its decoration and inscriptions painted in black. Only the traces of the winged sun disc at the top and the partially preserved inscription on the upper right part of the stela remain. Černý read and reconstructed it as By the servant in the Place [of Truth] on the West [of Thebes] ..., true of voice, (and) his beloved son ... The stela was later reused. An attempt was made to cut a smaller stela - measuring about 29 by 21 cm - out of the original stela. The piece broke in two and was repaired with plaster. The second stela is decorated in bas-relief. Traces of red and yellow pigments and, according to Černý, gold leaf can still be seen on the face of the god and on the solar disc on his head. The newer stela is dedicated to the falcon-headed Re-Harakhte, the same deity to whom Bankes stelae no. 1 and 5 are dedicated to. Re-Harakhte stands on the left facing an offering table piled with bread and vessels. He is identified by an inscription near his head as Re-Harakhte, the Great God, Lord of Heaven. Another hieroglyphic inscription appears at the bottom of the smaller stela: Made by Harmose and his son Khaemnun. Both names, Harmose and Khaemnun, appear on various objects and in several murals from Deir el- Medina, but it is not possible to identify with certainty a Khaemnun, son of Harmose. Bankes stela no. 14 Pesherenese's stela From Deir el-Medina Limestone 21st dynasty Height: 43.5 cm Width: 28 cm Černý believed that this round topped stela had also been reused. Although the names of the dedicators are dated to the end of the 21st dynasty, the style of the stela belongs to the 18th dynasty. The arrangement of the contents, together with the use of the pair of wedjat eyes and the depiction of a person smelling a lotus, all point to a pre-Amarna style. The stela was probably carved in the 18th dynasty and reused in the 21st dynasty. It has a short hieroglyphic inscription on the curved top. It reads Life to the good god Djeserkare-Amenhotep , the deified king Amenhotep I, who together with his mother Ahmose-Nefertari was credited with the founding of Deir el-Medina, where they enjoyed personal religious cults until the late Ramesside period. Below is a pair of wedjat eyes, a symbol of protection. The round object in the shape of a circle, painted red with a ring around it, sits on a small pedestal resembling the hieroglyphic sign for "m" . The meaning of the symbol is unknown. Below the wedjat -eyes there are 9 short columns of hieroglyphic inscriptions. The first part of the inscription is written in the first 6 columns from left and is read from right: For the soul of the servant in the Place of Truth, Nespautytowe, true of voice, and his son Haemtawer, true of voice. The remaining 3 columns are read from left to right and translated as: The son of his son, Pesherenese, true of voice. Below the inscription there is an offering scene carved in raised relief. Two men, identified as Nespautytowe and his son Haemtawer, are seated on a wide couch and the third man, the grandson Pesherenese, stands facing them on the right. Between them is a small table laden with ox meat and vegetables. Pesherenese adds to the pile by placing another offering on top. Nespautytowe, seated closer to the table, is smelling a lotus flower. His son Haemtawer rests his left arm on his father's shoulder. Below the offering scene there are 3 lines of hieroglyphic text: Offering which the king gives to Osiris, foremost of the Westeners, great god, lord of the necropolis, that he may give invocation-offerings and all good things whereon a god lives to the soul of the servant in the Place of Truth, Nespautytowe, true of voice. Černý tells us that the name of Nespautytowe appears in several rock graffiti and on an ostrakon, and he places the type of name towards the end of the 21st dynasty. The family, especially the grandson Pesherenese, must have lived during the turbulent times and probably witnessed the departure of the inhabitants of Deir el-Medina. They were once thought to have moved within the safer walls of the nearby temple of Medinet Habu, but recent research by Robert Demarée of Leiden University suggests that under Ramesses IX the community took refuge near the temple of Deir el-Bahri, where they built tombs for the priests of Amun, and under a new chief of a new dynasty at Thebes the ruling elite seem to have been ordered to empty the royal tombs and recycle the objects. The current display of the collection of stelae in the former servants' quarters. The Bankes Papyri Collection, British Museum, London A group of late Ramesside papyri collected in Thebes by William John Bankes (1786-1855) on his second trip to Upper Egypt in 1818 has an interesting modern history. I.E.S. Edwards, Keeper of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum from 1955 to 1974, learned of the existence of the papyri collection at Kingston Lacy from Prof. P.E. Newberry and wrote to H.J.R. Bankes to offer him access to them. The only problem was that the family did not know where to find them. During Edward's first visit, all the likely areas around the house were searched, but to no avail. On his second visit to Kingston Lacy, the collection was finally located, having been carefully placed between the pages of a large atlas kept in the library. Transliterations and translations of two complete papyri were published by Edwards in 1982 in his journal article The Bankes papyri I and II. The remaining documents in the collection were all fragmentary. In the 1950s and 1990s, all the Bankes papyri were transferred from the National Trust to the British Museum for specialist care, conservation and storage. Hieratic Papyrus Collected in 1818 by William J. Bankes Transferred from the National Trust 1996-2010 Reg. No. 10302, 75019, 75022 © The Trustees of the British Museum In all, there are 16 separate documents, some of which consist of several fragments. They are a particularly exceptional group of manuscripts because they include previously unknown letters by the most famous Ramesside correspondents - the necropolis scribes Dhutmose and Butehamun - and the missing half of a previously published letter, now known to have been written almost certainly by the famous general Payankh. The first half of the letter was published by Jac. Janssen in his Late Ramesside Letters and Communications (pp. 37-39, pl. 23-24). The fragment (now BM papyrus 10302) was later joined with another larger piece (BM papyrus 75019) and four adjacent smaller fragments (75020). In 2006, ten of the Bankes papyri were published by R.J. Demarée in his book The Bankes Late Ramesside Papyri. The papyri were conserved by Bridget Leach of the Museum's Conservation and Scientific Research Department. Sources: 1. Čern‎ý, J. Egyptian Stelae in the Bankes Collection. Oxford, 1958. 2. James, T.G.H. ‘Egyptian Antiquities at Kingston Lacy, Dorset (The Collection of William John Bankes)’. In : KMT 4(4), winter 1993-94, 20-32. 3. Goyon, Jean Claude and Cardin, Christine: Proceedings of the 9th International Congress of Egyptologists, Vol. 1 Peeters Publishers, 2007. 2031 p. 4. Davis, Benedict G.: Genealogies and personality characteristics of the workmen in the Deir el-Medina community during the Ramesside period. Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Liverpool : University of Liverpool, February 1996. 5. Picking up the Pieces by Jonathan Downs | Published in History Today Volume: 57 Issue: 9 2007 6. Baines, John and Jaromír Málek: Atlas of Ancient Egypt Oxford : Andromeda, 1996. 7. Rice, Michael: Who is who in Ancient Egypt London : Routledge, 2002. 8. Booth, Charlotte: People of Ancient Egypt Stroud : Tempus, 2006. 9. Černý, Jaroslav: A community of workmen at Thebes in the Ramesside period Cairo : Institut Francais d'archeologie Orientale du Caire, 1973. 10. Kitchen, K. A.: Ramesside inscriptions : translated and annotated notes and comments Vol. III Oxford : Blackwell, 2001. 11. Jauhiainen, Heidi: "Do not celebrate your feast without your neighbours" : a study of references to feasts and festivals in non-literary documents from Ramesside Period Deir el-Medina. Academic dissertation Helsinki : University of Helsinki, 2009. 416 p. 12. Galan, Jose M.: Seeing darkness. IN : Chronique d'Egypte, Vol. 74, Number 174/1999. p. 18-30. 13. Sweeney, Deborah: Women growing older in Deir el-Medina IN : AH 19, 2006, p. 135-153. 14. Bierbrier, M.L.: Terms of relationship at Deir el-Medina IN : The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 66, 1980. pp. 100-107. 15. Robins, Gay.: Women in Ancient Egypt. London : British Museum Press, 1993. Fig. 50 16.. Private correspondence with Jan Kunst, Amsterdam, Holland 17. http://www.diskdoctor.co.uk/texts/Solar%20Eclipses%20%28Dave%20Smith%29%20-%20Part%201.pdf 18. http://www.diskdoctor.co.uk/texts/Solar%20Eclipses%20%28Dave%20Smith%29%20-%20Part%202.pdf 19. Edwards, I.E.S. : The Bankes papyri I. and II. IN: Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 68, 1982. pp. 126-133. 20. Janssen, Jac. J.: Late Ramesside letters and communications London : British Museum Press, 1991. (Hieratic papyri in the British Museum VI, 1991). 21. Demarée, R.J. : The Bankes Late Ramesside Papyri London : British Museum, 2006. BM Research Publication 155 Further bibliography Back to top

Deir el-Medina is one of the best preserved ancient settlements in the whole of Egypt. It is situated in a small secluded valley in the shadow of the Theban hills, on the west bank of the Nile, across from modern-day Luxor in Upper Egypt. Deir el-Medina is one of the best preserved ancient settlements in all of Egypt. It lies in a small secluded valley in the shadow of the Theban hills on the west bank of the Nile, opposite modern-day Luxor in Upper Egypt. The site is unique for the unparalleled wealth of archaeological, artistic and textual evidence that has survived and from which we can reconstruct many aspects of the daily lives of its ancient inhabitants. This website serves as a comprehensive resource, offering a glimpse into the past and present of this fascinating archaeological site. Our collection of photographs, taken during our visits to Egypt and various museums housing artefacts from Deir el-Medina, provides a visual narrative to complement the historical accounts. Through these images we aim to transport you to this ancient settlement and immerse you in its rich history. Updates June 2026: New DeM lectures at the ME Mgr. Lenka Peacock Somerset, UK Contact: lenkapeacock@gmail.com Copyright © 2005-2026 Lenka & Andy Peacock unless otherwise stated. All content, design and images on this website are copyright and may not be reproduced for any purpose without the written permission of the copyright holder. Any material forming part of this website may not be used for publication on any other website without permission. Thank you for visiting!

Within the mud-brick enclosure wall at Deir el-Medina stands the small building of the Ptolemaic temple dedicated to the goddesses Hathor and Maat Ptolemaic temple of Hathor The most prominent temple in Deir el-Medina is the Ptolemaic Temple. It was dedicated to the goddesses Hathor and Maat. The building itself is small, but it is one of the best-preserved examples of a temple from this period still standing today. It is surrounded by a high mud-brick wall. Its complex includes the sites of several New Kingdom temples and small chapels built by the inhabitants of Deir el-Medina on the northern side of their settlement. The view of the northern side of the settlement as seen and photographed by Warwick Barnard during a balloon flight over the settlement in January 2007. Inside the mud-brick wall is the small building of the Ptolemaic temple. Photography © Warwick Barnard 2007 The mud-brick enclosure wall and the entrance gate. The gate was built and decorated by Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos (80-58, 55-51 BC) and features scenes of the king offering sacrifices to various deities. The temple itself was built and decorated in the 3rd century BC. Work was started during the reign of Ptolemy IV Philopator (222-205 BC) and then was continued for the next 60 years under Ptolemy VI Philometor (180-164, 163-145 BC) and Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II (170-164, 145-116 BC). The small temple building lies within a mud-brick enclosure wall within which there are also numerous New Kingdom chapels erected by the inhabitants of Deir el-Medina. To read more about these chapels, follow the link here. Dozens of Greek, Demotic and Coptic Christian graffiti cover the walls of the temple. Hathoric and floral columns and extensive decoration are characteristic of this temple. This is the view looking through the columns above the curtain wall. The curtain wall is covered with reliefs depicting the king making offerings to various gods. Below is the eastern face of the curtain wall - Ptolemy VI Philometor facing Amun-Ra and Hathor. View towards Mammisi (the birth house) of Ptolemy IX Soter II (116-80 BC) and Cleopatra III. Both are shown here in the wall relief, facing Amun, Mut and Khonsu(who are not visible in the photo). The temple itself is entered through a vestibule with two papyrus columns. The pronaos, beyond the vestibule, is defined by a pair of columns, pillars and curtain walls. The view on the left looks from the vestibule through the pronaos into the central chapel. Plan of the temple drawn by Lenka Peacock: The figures on the columns show Amenhotep, son of Hapu, and Imhotep, both architects who were deified after their deaths. The photo was taken in the vestibule, looking through the pronaos towards the North Chapel. A painting by David Roberts (1796-1864) sketching himself in the vestibule of the Temple in 1838. Compare the inside of the temple as photographed in February 2007... This offering scene below comes from the lower part of the portico of the Pronaos. It dates from Ptolemy VI Philometor. The goddess is a female fecundity figure - the counterpart of all the images of Hapy that can be found around the lower part of the walls. The sign on her head stands for 'marshes', meaning that she represents one of the farms or estates that supported the temple. The calf in the marsh could represent Hathor, Neith or Mehet-Weret. ...with the interior of the temple as recorded by the Commission des arts et des sciences in Description de l'Egypte by the artists, who arrived in Egypt with Napoleon's army in July of 1798. They called the site "du temple de l'ouest" in their publication. This is a detail of a hieroglyphic inscription from the southern side of the doorway to the Pronaos. This beautiful double glyph is a sign A80 with a phonetic value Htr . It is used as a determinative. The western wall of the Pronaos is covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions. Its deep reliefs depict the king, Ptolemy VI Philometor, making offerings to Hathor-Isis and Maat. Detail of the window - there are two Hathors and a lotus placed between them. The west wall in the pronaos. On the left is the square Hathor column and in the foreground the stairs leading from the left side of the vestibule to the roof of the temple. Pronaos - View of the reliefs on the west wall. The upper register from the right: Nun, Nut, Heh, Hauhet, Kek, Kauket and Hathor, all holding symbols of life, receive the worship of Ptolemy VI Philometor. The decorated ceiling in the pronaos preserves ancient colours. Mineral based pigments were used to decorate the reliefs. Pronaos - View of the reliefs on the north wall. The upper register: Osiris, Isis-Hathor, Horus, Nephthys-Maat. The lower register: Amun-Re, Mut, Khonsu, Montu, Tjenenyet. In both registers the gods are worshipped by Ptolemy VI Philometor. The southern chapel The doorway on the left leads into a long and narrow chapel. It is dedicated to Amun-Sokar-Osiris. The well-carved wall reliefs depict scenes from the judgement of the dead. Similar scenes are usually found on tomb walls or on papyrus scrolls. The carved figures, although Ptolemaic, are well proportioned and well modelled. Part of a scene on the southern wall of the chapel. The goddess Maat leads a figure of the deceased king (Ptolemy VI Philometor) towards the Hall of Judgment. Above the king, forty-two judges sit, ready to pronounce their verdict on his fate. Horus and Anubis weigh the deceased's heart. The heart is balanced on a scale against the feather of Maat. The ibis-headed Thoth stands to the right and records the result. A lion-hippopotamus-crocodile figure called Ammit sits nearby, ready to devour the heart of the unjust. The four sons of Horus stand above a lotus flower. The face of Osiris (not visible in the picture), seated on the throne. The image below shows an animal-headed genii, which can be seen in the upper left register of the of the doorway of the southern chapel. A four-headed ram depicted on the lintel above the door (inside the chapel). Detail of an offering table with blue lotus flowers in front of the throne of Osiris on the west wall of the southern chapel as decorated by Ptolemy IV Philopator. The lintel over the central chapel door with seven heads of Hathor. The central chapel The central chapel was dedicated to Hathor by Ptolemy IV Philopator. The wall reliefs show Hathor receiving offerings from him, his sister Arsinoe, and Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator (145 BC), who continued the decoration of the chapel. Ptolemy VI Philometor making an offering to Amun-Re, Mut, Khonsu, Hathor and Maat. Ptolemy IV Philopator and the queen Arsinoe III are making offerings to Min Amun-Re. Ptolemy VI Philometor making an offering to Amun, Amunet, Montu-Re, Maat and Raet. South wall. King Ptolemy IV Philopator offering to Hathor of Dendera and Horus. Ptolemy VI Philometor making an offering to Amun-Re, Mut, Khonsu, Hathor and Maat. Ptolemy VI Philometor makes offerings to Amun-Ra, Mut, Khonsu, Hathor and Maat. The reliefs were restored by Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II, Cleopatra II and Cleopatra III. The north chapel The doorway on the right leads to the North Chapel dedicated to Amun-Ra-Osiris. The reliefs show the king in front of various deities including Hathor, Isis, Nepthys, Horus, Anubis, Mut, Amun and others. Northern (right) wall of the chapel Nut Osiris Anubis Nepthys Ptolemy VI Philometor Horus Isis Southern (left) wall of the chapel Ptolemy VI Philometor Hathor Amun-Ra Amun-Ra Iat Maat Isis Detail of the papyrus and lily frieze. Details of reliefs and inscriptions on the temple walls. Wast (Weset) - the ancient name for Thebes, modern Luxor. The outer (rear) wall of the temple. Octavianus (who became Augustus in 27 BC and the first Emperor of Rome) offering to the goddesses Raet and Tjenenyet. The remains of earlier structures on the north side of the temple within the enclosure wall. The text on this page was written by Lenka Peacock Photography © Lenka and Andy Peacock Sources: 1. Wilkinson, R. H. : The complete temples of Ancient Egypt. London : Thames & Hudson, 2000. 2. Bomann, Ann H.: The private chapel in ancient Egypt : a study of the chapels in the workmen's village at el Amarna with special reference to Deir el-Medina and other sites. London : Kegan Paul International, 1991. 3. Strudwick, Nigel and Helen: Thebes in Egypt : a guide to the tombs and temples of ancient Luxor London : British Museum Press, 1999. 4. McDowell, A.G.: Village life in ancient Egypt : laundry lists and love songs Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1999. 5. Pharaoh's workers : the villagers of Deir el-Medina / edited by Leonard H. Lesko Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 1994. 6. Ventura, Raphael: Living in a city of the dead : a selection of topographical and administrative terms in the documents of the Theban necropolis Freiburg (Schweiz) : Universitatsverlag, 1986. 7. Černý, Jaroslav: Le culte d’Amenophis 1er chez les ouvriers de la nécropole thébaine, BIFAO 27 (1927). Further bibligraphy Back to top

Irynefer's tomb no 290 at Deir el-Medina. It lies at the far end of the Western cemetery and shares the forecourt with the earlier tomb of Nu and Nakht-Min TT 291. Irynefer's tomb no 290 at Deir el-Medina The tomb is located at the far end of the western cemetery and shares the forecourt with the earlier tomb of Nu and Nakht-Min TT 291 . It consists of an entrance, an antechamber and a burial chamber. The owner of the tomb was Irynefer, a necropolis workman of the Ramesside Period. He lived in the village in the 19th dynasty during the early part of Ramesses II's reign. His title was the "Servant in the Place of Truth". Photography © Elvira Kronlob 2011 The entrance to the tomb was identified by Bernard Bruyère during the season of 1922/1923. Bruyère's drawing of the exact position of the tomb and its surroundings can be found in his manuscript MS 2004 0144 017, dated Januray 31st 1923, which was digitised by IFAO. It marks the outline of the tomb and numbers it as 290: http://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/archives/bruyere/?id=MS_2004_0144_017 Bruyère's dig diary MS_2004_0144_018 from January 27th 1923 mentions excavations in the Northern area of the Western necropolis, where a large court with 2 tomb entrances was discovered. Each entrance had a shaft in front of it. Bruyère suggested that P1 (on his plan) could be entrance into Irynefer's (AriNefer) tomb. Fragments of several ancient Egyptian objects and a lamp from Christian times were found in this area. http://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/archives/bruyere/?id=MS_2004_0144_018 Another, later, plan dated February 9th 1923 comes from Bruyère's manuscript MS 2004 0144 027 and shows the name of AriNefer with a question mark: http://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/archives/bruyere/?id=MS_2004_0144_027 The photographs of the entrance to the tomb and its immediate surroundings in November 2011. Unless otherwise stated, all the photographs on this page are © Elvira Kronlob 2011-2012 The steps leading down towards the entrance into the antechamber The tomb is one of the most interesting of the Ramesside tombs due to its beautifully decorated vaulted burial chamber. A short passage leads to the burial chamber. It is decorated with hieroglyphs and a reclining jackal of Anubis looking towards the entrance of the tomb. The brick vault of the burial chamber was plastered and decorated with colourful scenes and inscriptions giving the names and titles of family members. The background of the scenes was painted yellow. The scenes include illustrations of various spells from the Book of the Dead, images of funerary deities, demons and manifestations of the deceased's ba and shadow. All photographs of the interior of the burial chamber are © by Elvira Kronlob 2012 and were taken in autumn 2012. I am very grateful to her for taking them and for giving me permission to publish them on our website. We will start the tour of the tomb by looking to the right of the entrance towards the north wall. Irynefer stands in the centre with his hands raised in worship towards a frieze that decorates this wall and extends over the western wall. It is interspersed with protective symbols and hieroglyphs in which the baboon is followed by an uraeus separated from the next by a feather, symbol of Ma'at (Germond, 2001, 244). The right side of the upper register is mostly destroyed. Below the destroyed scene in the middle register, Irynefer kneels before Osiris and two gatekeepers. The upper register of the northern wall shows a representation of the god Khepri seated in front of an offering table and a sep priest standing behind him. At the entrance the visitor faces the western wall and the frieze described above. In the shrine within the frieze Ma'at and Shu are seated on the left. In front of Shu there are 42 judges of the dead (Osiris is the 43rd judge). Here Irynefer swears that he has not committed any of a list of 42 sins (each judge is responsible for 1 sin) and recites a text known as the "negative confession" from the Book of the Dead. "...I did not cause the suffering of the people, nor of my relatives.... " The upper register above the frieze depicts various deities. Next to the shrine is a representation of Irynefer worshipping Horus in the form of a falcon. Horus holds a flagellum, the symbol of regeneration and rebirth, which gave him the power to decide who would enter the afterlife. The lower register on the far side of the western wall shows Anubis leading Irynefer to Osiris seated on his throne. Above the scene with Osiris is the vignette of the unusual Spell 135 of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Although the text of the spell is not present, the depiction of 5 deities, 7 stars and a disc against a dark background occurs in 5 other 19th dynasty tombs from Deir el-Medina. According to David G. Smith, the spell could be a reference to the flash of the solar corona and to "Bailey's Beads", flashes of light that occur at the precise moment of a total eclipse (for source see below bibl. 11, 12). "Another spell to be said when the moon is new on the first day of the month. Open, O cloudiness! The bleared Eye of Re is covered, and Horus proceeds happily every day, even he the great of shape and weighty of striking-power, who dispels bleariness of eye with his fiery breath." (Faulkner, 2000,123) The image on the south wall, on the left side of the burial chamber, shows the mummification of the deceased, who is lying on a bed with lion heads. The mummification is performed by Anubis, the jackal-headed god of the dead. The last wall to be described within the burial chamber is the eastern wall. In the lower register, we see Irynefer standing in the solar barque worshipping the phoenix, the symbol of the sun god of Heliopolis. The phoenix in the form of a grey heron wears the solar disk, the image of Re and assures Irynefer of his future rebirth in the manner of the sun (Germond, 2001, 258). In the register above, the couple is praying to a young bull-calf standing between 2 sycamore trees, the sacred trees of Heliopolis, the calf being a prefiguration of the solar bull moving through the sky (Germond, 2001, 239). Horus with the cow goddess Hesat, a manifestation of Hathor, on a reed mat by a pond, are depicted above the calf scene. The following scene spans both registers: Irynefer's parents, whose age is indicated by their white hair, pay homage to Ptah, the patron deity of craftsmen. Irynefer himself kneels in front of Ptah's throne and offers a figure of the goddess Ma'at (Hawass, 2009, 195-197). The rear part of the eastern wall is divided into two registers. The upper register is dominated by an extraordinary scene: it shows the worshipped god Ptah standing in front of the enshrined black shadow of the deceased and two ba-birds. One flies, the other sits in front of a black sun. Just above the arch of the entrance to the chamber is the green-skinned winged goddess Nut, whose name is indicated by the hieroglyphs above her head. Nut kneels before Horus and Hesat. We now turn to the last representation in the chamber, which is located at the top of the eastern wall near the entrance. The scene is very similar to a scene in TT3, the tomb of Pashedu: Irynefer kneels before a dom palm and drinks from a pool of fresh water (Dodson, 2008, 266-269). The illustration belongs to a spell for "drinking water in the necropolis" in the Book of the Dead. The design had to accommodate 3 different viewpoints: the pool is seen from above, Irynefer is kneeling on the bank on the far side so as not to obscure the water, and the tree is growing on the near side of the pool so as not to obscure the kneeling figure (Málek, 2003, 242). To view more photos of the inside of the tomb, follow the link to Claudia Ali and Ali Na'im's web site at http://www.leben-in-luxor.de/luxor_kultur_graeber_tt290_irunefer.html In the summer of 2010 Irynefer's tomb was briefly opened to visitors; by autumn 2010 it was closed again. In the middle of December 2011 the tomb opened while Sennedjem's TT1 closed. Jane Akshar described her visit to the tomb on her blog at http://luxor-news.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-tomb-opens-at-deir-el-medina.html Objects from the tomb are scattered around the globe in several museums. Photography Lenka Peacock © Petrie Museum, UCL Stela of Irynefer 19th dynasty From Deir el-Medina Sandstone Musee du Louvre. C311 Painted stela of the 'Artisan of the Royal Tombs', Irynefer and his family. The stela comes from the tomb chapel. Upper register: from left: Anubis seated behind Osiris, both facing the divine Amenhotep I and his mother Ahmose Nefertari. The 2 lower registers show Irynefer and his wife censing in front of his parents and brothers. In contrast to the wall painting in Irynefer's tomb, where both Irynefer and his wife wear white wigs, this stela shows Irynefer's father Siwadjyt as a white-haired man. These two examples, of which there are only a few, suggest an old age. They all seem to come from the New Kingdom, especially from the tombs of Deir el-Medina (Janssen, 2007, 159-161). Stela of Irynefer 19th dynasty From Deir el-Medina, tomb 290 Limestone Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology , University College London, UC14545 The lower part of this round stela is missing. The upper part shows the remains of a raised relief of the god Ptah facing forward. At the bottom of the right side of the stela there are remains of a man with his arms raised in worship - his head is turned to the left and his hands survive. The lower left side shows the remains of a pile of offerings. The rest of the stela is filled with 5 columns of hieroglyphic inscriptions identifying the worshipper as Irynefer, the Servant in the Place of Truth. Height: 22 cm Width: 20.5 cm Photography Soloegipto 2009 © Musée du Louvre To view Bruyère's drawing of the place where the stela was found, go to http://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/archives/bruyere/?id=MS_ 2004_0144_035 Irynefer before a table of bread 19th dynasty From Deir el-Medina Musee du Louvre. E12965 Found in the tomb of Irynefer. Irynefer is seated on a rock, brandishing two knives. The short text above the offerings indicates that the knives are sharpened. The text of five vertical lines above gives the names and affiliations of Irynefer. The knives are supposed to express Irynefer's power over evil. Perhaps this ostakon was intended to invoke protection. Photography Su Bayfield 2008 © Musée du Louvre Further web sites featuring the tomb: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/Irunefert.htm To view and browse the digitised version of The Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Statues, Reliefs and Paintings, (also known as Porter & Moss or TopBib) for this tomb, go to http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/topbib/pdf/pm1-1.pdf#page=372 Material for the Bibliography is gathered from an ever-expanding range of multi-lingual sources, encompassing both specialist and semi-popular Egyptological and Near Eastern publications, periodicals, museum guides, exhibition and auction catalogues, together with the growing wealth of web resources. The Bibliography also analyses a range of unpublished manuscripts, including those housed in the Griffith Institute Archive. Published in May 2014 by the Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, the volumes are constantly revised and augmented. Sources: 1. Dodson, Aidan - Ikram, Salima: The tomb in ancient Egypt : royal and private sepulchres from the early dynastic period to the Romans London : Thames & Hudson, 2008. 2. Janssen, Rosalind and Janssen, Jac. J.: Growing up and getting old in ancient Egypt London : Golden House Publications, 2007. 3. Hawass, Zahi: The lost tombs of Thebes : Life in paradise. London : Thames and Hudson, 2009. 4. Germond, Philippe and Livet, Jacques: An Egyptian bestiary : animals in life and religion in the land of the Pharaohs. London : Thames and Hudson, 2001. 5. Bierbrier, Morris : The tomb-builders of the pharaohs Cairo : The American University in Cairo Press, 1982. 6. Les artistes de Pharaon : Deir el-Médineh et la Vallée des Rois : Paris, musée du Louvre, 15 avril - 5 aout 2002 Paris : Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2002. 7. Faulkner, R. O.: The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead London : British Museum Press, 2000. 8. Málek, Jaromír: Egypt : 4000 years of art London : Phaidon Press, 2003. 9. http://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/archives/bruyer 10. http://www.leben-in-luxor.de/luxor_kultur_graeber_tt290_irunefer.html 11. http://www.diskdoctor.co.uk/texts/Solar%20Eclipses%20%28Dave%20Smith%29%20-%20Part%201.pdf 12. http://www.diskdoctor.co.uk/texts/Solar%20Eclipses%20%28Dave%20Smith%29%20-%20Part%202.pdf Further bibliography Back to top

Located in the western cemetery at Deir el-Medina, TT218 belonged to Amennakht, TT219 to Nebenmaat and TT220 to Khaemteri, who all held the same title of "Servant in the Place of Truth" during the reign of the 19th dynasty's king Ramesses II (1,279 BC-1,213 BC) TT218, TT219 and TT220 "Three tombs of the ‘Servants in the Place of Truth’ open to the public at Deir el-Medina" Three tombs were opened to the public for the first time on 13 May 2016, following the completion of their restoration, Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Anany announced in his statement. Located in the western cemetery of Deir el-Medina, TT218 belonged to Amennakht, TT219 to Nebenmaat and TT220 to Khaemteri, who all held the same title of "Servant of the Place of Truth" during the reign of King Ramesses II of the 19th dynasty (1,279 BC-1,213 BC), said Mahmoud Afifi, head of the Department of Ancient Egyptian Antiquities at the Ministry of Antiquities. All three tombs were originally excavated by Bernard Bruyère in 1928. They are located in the southern part of the western necropolis, between Sennedjem's TT1 and Irynefer's TT290. The tombs belong to one family - the tomb chapel of Nebenmaat (ii) TT219, located between those of his father Amennakht (xxi) TT218 and his brother Khaemteri TT220, can be dated accurately to the first half of Ramesses II's reign on the basis of the dates contained in the mostly intact painted scenes on the tomb walls. They are of great importance in the compilation of invaluable genealogical data (Davis, 1996, 278). The recent IFAO season completed preparations for the opening of the tomb complex to the public. Past missions have been spent clearing the tomb floors, making topographical plans, photographing the walls and their paintings, and installing wooden floors, electricity and finally glass panels to protect the painted scenes, said Cédric Gobeil, director of the IFAO mission to Deir el-Medina. The courtyard of this group of tombs leads to the first antechamber with polychrome paintings similar to those in the tombs of Sennedjem, Pashedu and Inherkau. The second antechamber, in which the plastered walls were painted white, leads to the tomb complex. TT218 is almost identical in decoration to the first antechamber. It contains traditional views of family members engaged in various activities, as well as illustrations of various spells from the Book of the Dead and images of funerary deities. It belonged to Amennakht and his wife Iyemwaw. The burial chamber of Nebenmaat and his wife Mertseger in TT219 is completely different: its walls were painted in a monochrome style - the background is white with scenes painted in yellow, red and black. This style of decoration is unique in Egypt: of the 53 decorated tombs at Deir el-Medina, only 22 are monochrome. The scenes include the image of Nebenmaat as a priest censoring and libation to his parents, a motif of the deceased and his wife with gods and family members, an image of Anubis tending to a mummy on a couch, and views of offerings made by the deceased to divinities and by Mertseger and her sons to various gods. An illustration of the funeral procession to the tomb also adorns the walls. The vaulted ceiling bears images of the gods and the deceased. Further into the tomb we find TT220, which belonged to Khaemteri and his wife Nofretsatet. The walls in this section are quite damaged, but traces of scenes show that they were painted in a monochrome style on a white background. The scenes include images of deities, a motif of a mummy on a couch, a view of a funerary banquet and an illustration of Anubis jackals. Press report from the Luxor Times magazine with many photos taken inside the tombs and with an excellent video including interviews with Cédric Gobeil (Egyptologist, IFAO) and Mostafa Al Saghis (Director of the South Qurna Antiquities Area) conducted above the site of Deir el-Medina and inside the burial chambers of TT218 and TT219: http://luxortimesmagazine.blogspot.nl/2016/05/exclusive-footage-ancient-egyptian.html On the occasion of the commemoration of a century of archaeological work (1917-2017) carried out by the IFAO at Deir el-Medina, an exhibition organised by Hanane Gaber, Laure Bazin Rizzo and Frederic Servajean brought together objects from the excavations preserved at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and documents from the IFAO archives (excavation diaries and photographs). In addition to the installation of objects from Deir el-Medina that are normally displayed in different rooms of the museum, the general public and researchers were able to discover a virtual visit to an unpublished tomb from Deir el-Medina - TT218-TT219-TT220 - on screens installed in the room. The visit was carried out by @Olivier Onezime, a research engineer at the IFAO. The 3D model of the tombs is now available on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ifaocaire/videos/2199129870114222/? hc_ref=ARQvm414sXi9Venx8vAGLxJEiv3Zi5hPlNU7e6WWtz9HnZePOQGd4MPYCilJcyov9bQ Sources: 1. Davis, Benedict G.: Genealogies and personality characteristics of the workmen in the Deir el-Medina community during the Ramesside period. Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Liverpool : University of Liverpool, February 1996. 2. Dodson, Aidan - Ikram, Salima: The tomb in ancient Egypt : royal and private sepulchres from the early dynastic period to the Romans London : Thames & Hudson, 2008. 3. http://luxortimesmagazine.blogspot.nl/2016/05/exclusive-footage-ancient-egyptian.html 4. https://www.facebook.com/ifaocaire/videos/2199129870114222/? hc_ref=ARQvm414sXi9Venx8vAGLxJEiv3Zi5hPlNU7e6WWtz9HnZePOQGd4MPYCilJcyov9bQ Further bibliography Back to top