Monday, December 19, 2016

QV66 - Tomb of Queen Nefertari at The Valley of The Queens .. The Burial Hall and the Second Western & Eastern Annexe.. Part ( 3 )


We now pass out of the first hall and descend another staircase . This is decorated with figures which are admirably disposed so as to make the best of the space available .
On the left hand, Nefertari offers two bowls of wine or milk to Isis, behind whom sits Nephthys, while Maet, with outstretched wings, squats in the background . On the right, the queen makes a similar offering to Hathor, behind whom sits Selqet, with Maet, as before, in the background (19,20) .



Lower down are the winged uraeus (a symbol for the goddess Wadjet ), guarding two names of the queen, the jackal Anubis, couched on his shrine, and figures of Isis and Nephthys .



We now enter the burial-hall, which has four square pillars, and a sunk area in the middle space between the two pairs of pillars, where the sarcophagus stood, and which has steps leading down to it from both sides .



A small annexe opens off from the hall to right and left, and another opens from the middle of the rear wall . The four pillars are decorated with figures of the Inmutef priest ( enacting the role of Horus Supporter of His Mother ) (21,22), and Osiris and Queen Nefertari embraced by Hathor and by Isis .



The other decoration of the hall shows the various Arits ( or pylons of the underworld ), with their guardian demons, and the words of power which enable the queen to pass them all on her way to eternal blessedness . The work here has been much damaged by moisture .



The annexe to the left has the uraeus goddesses of south and north, with the names of Nekheb and Buto . On the left wall appear Imseti and Duamutef, who promise the queen " an abode in the Sacred Land ", and on the right wall the other two Children of Horus, Hapi and Qebhsnewef, repeat the performance . On the rear wall are the names and titles of the queen, with two figures of Thoth, holding in both hands a pole which supports the sky .



The annexe to the right has to the left a much-destroyed scene of the queen before the divine cow Hathor .



And to the left a scene of her before Anubis . The rear wall has a figure of a winged goddess, probably Maet or Isis . The head and the inscription which would have told us who it was have perished .



The rear niche, or annexe, the sanctuary of the tomb, is almost a total wreck, in which only the merest fragments of goddess figures can be seen .





Part ( 4 ) .. Coming SoOoOon .....
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