KV35 – Tomb of Amenhotep II .. Part ( 19 )

This tomb lies westwards from the central area of the valley, the path to it leading past the tombs of Amenmesses ( KV10 ) and Ramses III ( KV11 ), on the left, and that of Haremhab ( KV57 ) on the right .

Its somewhat retired position apparently suggested it to the priests of the ninth century B.C. as a suitable hiding-place or a cache for the royal mummies which they despaired of protecting any longer in their own tombs .

The priests gathered a number of them together here, and here they were discovered by Victor Loret in 1898, among the famous royalties thus found being Amenhotep III, his father Tuthmosis IV, and Merneptah of the 19^th Dynasty . Amenhotep II was left in his sarcophagus, and though the experiment was not altogether successful, the tomb having been robbed, but the king still remains in his sarcophagus, though like the mummies in the Cairo Museum, he is no longer on view .

A modern steep flight of steps ( A ) descends to a sloping corridor ( B ), rather roughly cut, and a second flight ( C ) and corridor ( D ) bring us to the pit ( or well, shaft ) chamber ( E ), which is bridged like that of Tuthmosis III . The depth of the well is about 22½ feet ( 6.85 m ) and in the bottom of the well is a small rectangular chamber ( Ea ) apparently introduced for the amusement of the robbers . The two stairwells ( A, C ) and corridors ( B, D ) are undecorated .

Crossing the bridge we enter a two-pillared room ( F ), without decorations but in modern wooden floor, and in the left-hand corner of this room a stairway, once concealed, leads down to another short sloping corridor ( G ) .

This corridor in turn leads into the burial-hall ( J ), a six-pillared chamber, whose blue roof is adorned with yellow stars  on a dark blue background and a kheker-frieze at the top of its walls . The chamber is in rectangular shape and with modern wooden floor . There are four small rectangular holes in the lower level, two of them are in the bottom of the front wall ( south ) behind of the sarcophagus, and the other two are in the back of the last two pillars front of the sarcophagus . They were intended for the " magical brick niches " . These small clay bricks were fitted into the holes .

The walls of the hall are painted to imitate the tone of a papyrus, and are covered like the walls of the burial-hall of his father, Tuthmosis III, with scenes and texts from The Book of That which is in the Underworld ( The Book of Amduat ) . These are drawn in bold outline and are well preserved, and the whole texts and figures on the walls were painted in a black colour . The pillars of the hall show in bold outline Amenhotep in the presence of the gods ( Osiris, Hathor and Anubis ) .

The scenes of Amduat are begin from the left-hand of the front ( south ) wall behind the sarcophagus showing the first to third hours of The Book of Amduat, the right ( west ) wall shows the third to sixth hours, the rear ( north ) wall shows the sixth to eighth hours, and, finally, the left ( east ) wall shows the ninth to twelfth hours .

In spite of the theatrical taste displayed in the switching out of all the lights save that which is directed on the dead face of the Pharaoh, the effect of this well-preserved hall, with its weird decorations, its blue gold-starred roof, and its sleeping tenant, is undoubtedly impressive .

Behind the last pair of pillars, a part of the hall has its floor at a lower level, and here stands the yellow crystalline sandstone ( quartzite ) sarcophagus of the king, in which lies the anthropoid coffin containing the mummy . Both of the box and the lid are in cartouche-shaped, and the royal mummy of the king Amenhotep III, now, in Egyptian Museum in Cairo since 1937 . The sarcophagus was put in a pit with plinth blocks .

The decoration of the sarcophagus of Amenhotep II is exactly the same of the Tuthmosis III . It contains a representations of Nephthys and Isis kneeling on the symbols of gold at the head and foot end in arrangement to protect the dead king . On the two sides are Anubis and the four sons of Horus, Anubis, Imsety and Duamutef are in the side, and the other side are Anubis, Qebehsenuef and Hapi . A figure of the goddess Nut inscribed in both of the inside and the outside of the lid, and also at the bottom of the sarcophagus . In the middle of one side of the sarcophagus, we see a pair of Wadjet-eyes to let the king's mummy to look out .

From the hall, four small annexes open off . Three unidentified and naked ( they were freed from their bandages at an unknown time ) mummies, of which one is that of an elderly woman probably of the Queen Tiy, one that of a young woman, and one that of a young royal prince of about fourteen years of age, still lie in the first of these on the right ( Jd ) . They were neatly arranged side by side on the bare stone floor .

The second chamber to the right ( Jc ) contained nine royal mummies lying in coffins but only four of them were without coffins when Victor Loret opened it in 1898 . The mummies are of Tuthmosis IV, Amenhotep III, Seti II, Merneptah, Siptah, Ramses V, Unknown woman, Ramses VI, and Ramses IV . Its gate was carefully carved with limestone blocks and on the upper edge, some stones were missing and broken in the discovery by Mr. Loret . The nine mummies was arranged in two rows, six in the rear, and three in the front . All mummies were transferred to Egyptian Museum in Cairo in 1902 . The four side chambers are undecorated and is now inaccessible .

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