This tomb lies on the right, away from the interesting group which
includes the tomb of Tutankhamun and other famous sepulchers .
This is another of the lighted tombs, and is well worth a visit, especially for the sake of seeing the fine pink granite lid of the inner sarcophagus, which was disclosed when the tomb was cleared of rubbish . Merneptah, who succeeded his father Ramses II about 1233 B.C., had no better fortune than he . His mummy was re-interred in the tomb of Amenhotep II, and was there placed by mistake in the coffin of Setnakht, a proof of the flurry and haste with which the work was done . When it was discovered in 1898, the mistake was found out and rectified by means of the rough dockets on the mummy-bandages . Merneptah's position as the Pharaoh of the Exodus had by this time been shaken by the discovery of his Triumph Stele in 1896, so that the finding of his mummy was no longer such a shock to the people who ( quite superfluously ) believed him to have been drowned in the Red Sea, as it might otherwise have been .
The entrance has over the door the not uncommon triple representation of the sun, the disk for Rê, with the beetle and the ram-headed figure for Khepri and Atûm ; within it Isis and Nephthys adore the triple symbol .
Illustration of the tomb of Merneptah .
On the left hand (1), immediately inside the doorway, is an exceedingly beautiful coloured relief representing Merneptah before Harakhte, a piece of work in itself sufficient to show that art had not altogether declined since the time of the king's grand-father Seti I .
The corridor is adorned with texts from the Litanies of Rê, and a symbolical scene shows the sun-disk passing between the two horizons .
The second corridor has at its farther end, facing us as we enter, a figure of Isis, with Anubis, on the left hand (2), and another of Nephthys on the right (3) . The third corridor has representations of the boat of the sun-god being towed through the underworld (4) . In the scene on the left hand (5) notice the presence of Seth in the solar boat, along with Horus, Seth was not yet totally cast out and regarded as an equivalent of Satan . The use of the name Seti for two Pharaohs of the 19th Dynasty indicates that he was still in favour .
This is another of the lighted tombs, and is well worth a visit, especially for the sake of seeing the fine pink granite lid of the inner sarcophagus, which was disclosed when the tomb was cleared of rubbish . Merneptah, who succeeded his father Ramses II about 1233 B.C., had no better fortune than he . His mummy was re-interred in the tomb of Amenhotep II, and was there placed by mistake in the coffin of Setnakht, a proof of the flurry and haste with which the work was done . When it was discovered in 1898, the mistake was found out and rectified by means of the rough dockets on the mummy-bandages . Merneptah's position as the Pharaoh of the Exodus had by this time been shaken by the discovery of his Triumph Stele in 1896, so that the finding of his mummy was no longer such a shock to the people who ( quite superfluously ) believed him to have been drowned in the Red Sea, as it might otherwise have been .
The entrance has over the door the not uncommon triple representation of the sun, the disk for Rê, with the beetle and the ram-headed figure for Khepri and Atûm ; within it Isis and Nephthys adore the triple symbol .
Illustration of the tomb of Merneptah .
On the left hand (1), immediately inside the doorway, is an exceedingly beautiful coloured relief representing Merneptah before Harakhte, a piece of work in itself sufficient to show that art had not altogether declined since the time of the king's grand-father Seti I .
The corridor is adorned with texts from the Litanies of Rê, and a symbolical scene shows the sun-disk passing between the two horizons .
The second corridor has at its farther end, facing us as we enter, a figure of Isis, with Anubis, on the left hand (2), and another of Nephthys on the right (3) . The third corridor has representations of the boat of the sun-god being towed through the underworld (4) . In the scene on the left hand (5) notice the presence of Seth in the solar boat, along with Horus, Seth was not yet totally cast out and regarded as an equivalent of Satan . The use of the name Seti for two Pharaohs of the 19th Dynasty indicates that he was still in favour .
In the chamber which we now enter from the corridor,
we are faced by two representations, one to the left (6), of Anubis, with two
of the so-called Children of Horus before him ; the other, to the right (7), of
Horus-Supporter-of-his-Mother, with the other two .
The next chamber, which is entered by a short passage, has two pillars .
Immediately on the left, as we enter, is the king in the presence of Osiris (8)
; again, a block of flint protruding from the roof shows the difficulties which
the workmen often found of getting rock suitable for the fine surfaces required
for the reliefs or other decorations (9) .
A stairway leads down from this chamber ; and on the right hand another
two-pillared chamber opens off from the one in which we stand . This last room
is unfinished .
Passing down the stairway, we enter another corridor, which leads into a
chamber in which lies the great lid of the outer sarcophagus . It would seem
that the workmen found difficulties in the way of conveying this great mass of
granite into the burial-chamber, and left it where it now lies .
Another corridor brings us into the much-wrecked burial-hall, whose
vaulted roof is supported by eight damaged columns . The only object of
interest remaining here is the beautiful pink granite lid of the inner
sarcophagus, shaped like a cartouche, with the finely carved figure of
Merneptah resting upon it, as on a couch . The remainder of the sarcophagus has
been destroyed ; but this figure is in itself a sufficient demonstration of the
quality of Late Empire art . The remaining chambers are not important .
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