The Tomb of Nekht-pa-Aten ( No. 12 )
Tomb No. 12 belongs to Nekht-pa-Aten . This tomb,
which was to have been of the same type as Tombs 10 and 13, has only had its
facade and entrance completed . Inside there is a small area of floor, and the
upper parts of three columns have been detached and remain as square pillars of
rock .
Though this was but a doorway to a projected tomb, the owner had laid
claim to it ; for those who excavated it found traces of three columns of
hieroglyphs in ink on both jambs outside . The first column probably contained
an adoration of the Aten and of Royalty, the second the prayer, and the third
the titles of the official . No trace of these inscriptions now remains .
Yet the owner of this unprepossessing sepulchre, then,
was a man of the highest rank, an erpa- and ha-prince, chancellor, and vizier . It might be conjectured that he was a
man of modest prospects, and, being suddenly ennobled on the downfall of May,
astutely profited by that lesson and avoided ostentation, like Apy and Ramose .
Most probably these three officials were deprived of more stately tombs by the
deplorable quality of the rock at this point .
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The Tomb of Nefer-kheperu-her-sekheper ( No. 13 )
Tomb No. 13 is belongs to Nefer-kheperu-her-sekheper .
The tomb of this official, who in his zeal out-did Kings in taking an epigram
for a name, was opened by M. Urbain Bouriant in 1883, and cleared completely by
M. Georges Émile Jules Daressy in 1893, but not for the first time ; for they
found written on the ceiling in smoke, " Robert Hay opened this tomb 1830
", and " Charles Laver 1830 measured this tomb " .
Tomb 13 is interesting only for its architectural
features . Not that these differ from those employed elsewhere in this
necropolis ; for there are several tombs where the same forms have been used on
a larger scale, and carried nearer to completion . Yet owing to its admirable
proportions, to its spotless whiteness and good preservation, this tomb, even
in its half-finished state, is one of the most pleasing examples of
rock-architecture in Egypt . It is the only instance here where the
cross-chamber, supported on a single row of columns, has been carried so far
towards completion as to convey any idea of the ultimate effect ; and no one
can see it without being struck by the fatal loss of beauty in larger tombs,
such as Nos. 16 or 25, where the columns are crowded together, mutually
blotting one another out, and forming mazes rather than buildings .
The chamber is divided down the centre by a row of six
papyrus-bud columns . The two central ones are set wider apart to afford an
aisle in the axis of entrance, and, in conformity with this, their abaci carry
architraves parallel with the axis as well as the ends of the longitudinal
architraves . The latter rest, or are feigned to rest, at both ends on
pilasters, which, according to custom, are furnished with a roll-moulding at
the corners, and are surmounted by a cavetto-cornice and abacus . The columns (
Plate 37 ) are of the 8-stemmed type ; but, like all those in this necropolis,
they have much more graceful proportions than their successors in the Northern
group . As they stand, they are without bases and spring from the rough floor .
They are pure white, for the columns of this group do not seem to have been
meant to receive colour .
A portal is set in the back wall, which might have led
to a second chamber or shrine, had the enterprise been carried to a finish .
The chamber retains traces of its embryo form, the narrow cross-corridor tomb,
in the portals in which the front half of the chamber terminates to right and
to left . These are double in form, showing a doorway within a doorway, a
handsome decorative feature which we shall meet with frequently in these tombs .
The chamber is not well laid out, being askew with the axis, and the transverse
architraves are still more seriously out of the square . The heightening of the
room towards the back, however, may be an architectural means of increasing its
apparent size .
As is plain from the plates, the chamber is only half
finished, and this in a curious manner, the upper part being in a final state
down to the last detail, save inscription and colour, while the lower part is
untouched ; so that the slim columns seem to be emerging slowly and without
injury from a subsiding bank of rock . This feature, though very marked in this
tomb, is noticeable in nearly every other .
Burial-Place :- It is evident that there was no longer
any hope of completing the tomb when the burial was made . As soon as the
central aisle was finished to the foot of the columns and the whole area was
cleared well down below the capitals, the quarriers confined their labours to
the North-East corner, where the stairway to the sepulchre was usually placed .
Disengaging the columns first, they then sunk a well at the spot without
staying to remove the intervening rock, and, forming a stairway in it, burrowed
into the Eastern wall without paying any heed to the original plan of the tomb .
The stairway was carried little further than was absolutely necessary, and from
the level landing at the foot a rough and slightly descending gallery was
driven at right angles to it, of size sufficient to receive a coffin . The two
galleries to right and left immediately on entering the stairway may, or may
not, be contemporary in date .
Exterior :- The entrance to the tomb was neatly
finished, but no traces of any designs are now apparent . The jambs and lintel
outside were similarly prepared, and here a hasty attempt was made to commemorate
the deceased, and to secure for him some measure of preternatural grace .
Inscriptions were, no doubt, duly sketched out on both jambs . All that is now
visible is, on the right, the lower half of a column cut in the plaster, and,
on the left, the lower third of all four columns similarly cut, and fragments
of the upper part decipherable through the mordant power of the ink on the
surface ( Plate 37 ) . The abandonment of the work was so unforeseen that the
royal prenomen on the right jamb
has not received its cartouche . We here learn that the owner was "
Governor of Akhetaten ", and by holding this responsible post took rank as
" head of the notables " .
Part ( 23 ) .. Coming SoOoOon .....
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