Arriving at the valley, we take the path to the right, which leads to
the tomb of Nefertari, the favourite queen of Ramses II, familiar to everybody from
the frequent repetition of her graceful figure on the colossi of the great
king,
and from the dedication to her as well as to Hathor, of the smaller
rock-temple at Abu Simbel, an almost unprecedented honour, which shows how great
her influence with Ramses must have been . On our right hand as we go up the
path towards the tomb, the tombs of Queen Meritamûn ( 68 ), Queen Bant-Anat (
71 ), and Queen Dewetôpet also known as Dua Tentopet ( 74 ) lie below the Ghafîr's Hut, with other unidentified
tombs ; while the tomb of Queen Nebttaui ( 60 ) lies to the left, in the midst
of a cluster of unidentified tombs .
Nefertari, whose beautiful name means " Beautiful Companion or
Beautiful on the Inside and the Outside ", was already married to Ramses
II in the first year of his reign ; and, although her husband was a much
married man, whose wives or concubines " were probably as readily
accumulated as those of an Arabian Khalifa ", or those of the Wise King
Solomon . She appears to have retained her hold upon the affections of her
grandiose lord in spite of these vagaries of his fancy . The date of her death
is not known ; she was worshipped in later days, as were other important
royalties . She contributed two sons whose names we know, to the enormous list
of the children of Ramses II, the ninth son, Seti, and another son named
Anub-er-rekhu . Another queen, Ist-nofret ( or Isis-nofret ), was, however, the
mother of the king's most important sons, his second son Ramses ; Khaemweset,
who was the fourth, and is the famous wizard prince of the magic tales, and the
favourite son who should have succeeded but for his early death ; and the
thirteenth son, Meneptah, who did actually succeed his too long-lived father .
Ist-nofret was also the mother of the king's eldest and favourite daughter,
Bant-Anat, who became his wife, according to the strange Egyptian custom, so
that Nefertari's influence must have been very great since it was retained
apparently to the end of her life in the face of such competition .
Her tomb is on the whole worthy of her position in history, though its
decoration has suffered a good deal, especially in the rear part of the
burial-hall, and has been described as " poor and coarse " . All the
same, it is unquestionably effective, and the singularly graceful figure of the
queen herself, which is handled with an approach to realism in the colouring, and
with a feeling of freedom and sympathy somewhat rare elsewhere, would in itself
be sufficient to give the tomb distinction .
One of the outstanding characteristics of the Egyptian painter is his mastery
of bold and accurate line ; in this feature of his art the designer of the
decoration in Nefertari's tomb ranks high . The figures are executed in low
relief, painted, on two inches of stucco, and the ceiling is, as usual,
decorated with stars .
A staircase, with the usual inclined plane in the middle of it, leads
down to a hall, which has on two sides ( front and left ) a ledge, with cavetto cornice, similar
to that in one of the chambers of the tomb of Seti I, and probably meant for the
reception of offerings .
On the right side of the entrance, the queen adores Osiris, who has
Anubis behind him and the four " Children of Horus " in front of him
(1) .
On the wall to the left of the entrance, we see in succession the
queen's Ka playing a game of which the Egyptians were
extremely fond, and to which, in certain circumstances, they attached magical
associations (2) .
The Ka then comes out to adore
the rising sun, which appears between the two lions, Yesterday and Tomorrow (3)
. Then the Benu bird ( phoenix ) of Heliopolis, a blue crane, watches as a
symbol of resurrection, by the bier of Osiris, over whom Nephthys and Isis, in
the form of hawks watch also (4) .
Over the door leading into the next corridor are the four "
Children of Horus ", Imseti ( human-headed ), Hapi ( ape-headed ),
Duamutef ( hawk-headed ), and Qebhsnewef ( jackal-headed ) (5) .
On the projection to the right of the door, Neith stands to receive the
queen (7) .
And on the opposite projection is a similar figure of Selqet (8) .
Between these projections, on the right of the door leading to the side
chamber, Horus leads the queen to Harakhte and Hathor enthroned (9,10) .
And on the left Isis leads Nefertari into the presence of Khepri, the
beetle-headed god of resurrection (11,12 ) .
The thickness of the door into the small side chamber has on either side
a figure of Maet, the goddess of truth .
On the right is a ram-headed figure of the setting sun, here identified
with Osiris, and supported by Isis and Nephthys (13) .
Next comes a scene of the queen adoring the seven sacred cattle, the
bull, and the four steering-oars of the sky (14) .
On the rear wall of this chamber, is a double scene in which Nefertari
presents offerings to Osiris ( left ), and Atûm ( right ) (15,16) .
Next, on the left wall of the room, the queen stands before Thoth (
ibis-headed ), who has the frog Heqt squatting before him (17) .
And finally on the left of the door she offers the sign for fine linen
to Ptah, who stands before her in a shrine, with the Dad symbol of Osiris
behind him (18) .
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