KV23 ( WV23 ) – Tomb of Ay .. Part ( 17 )

It will be remembered that after the death of Akhenaten, and the short reigns of Smenkhkere and Tutankhamun, the throne was seized by a priest, " The Divine Father Ay ", who had no claim to royal descent, and was not even of high rank in the priesthood .

KV22 ( WV22 ) – Tomb of Amenhotep III .. Part ( 16 )

To reach this tomb we must leave the Valley of the Kings, and enter the Western Valley, which branches off from the road to the main valley about four hundred yards before the latter is reached .

KV20 – Tomb of Tuthmosis I & Hatshepsut .. Part ( 15 )

In mere extent this is one of the greatest tombs in the valley, being 700 feet in length, and reaching a vertical depth below the surface of about 320 feet .

KV18 – Tomb of Ramses X & KV19 – Tomb of Prince Mentu-hir-khopshef .. Part ( 14 )

KV18 – Tomb of Ramses X

This late Ramesside Pharaoh had a titulary as immense as he was himself unimportant, he was known as Ra-kheper-maet-setep-en-re and Ramses-Amen-hir-khopshef-mery-Amun .

KV17 – Tomb of Seti I .. Part ( 13 )

Judging from the available evidence, including that of the noble head of his mummy, which was found at El-Deir el-Bahari in 1881, Seti I was one of the best, as he was certainly one of the most dignified, of Egyptian Pharaohs,

KV16 – Tomb of Ramses I .. ( Part 12 )

We now return to what may be reckoned the central area of the valley, and passing the tombs of Ramses III and Amenmesses, we come to that of Ramses I, which, with No. 17 ( Seti I ) and No. 18 ( Ramses X ),

KV15 – Tomb of Seti II .. Part ( 11 )

Leaving No. 14, the tomb of Maiherperi ( No. 36 ) is passed, and a little beyond it we come to No. 15, the tomb of Queen Tausret's second husband Seti II .

KV14 – Tomb of Queen Tausert and Setnakht .. Part ( 10 )

As we have already seen, this tomb, which lies close to that of the chancellor Bay (*), was originally that of Queen Tausert . It makes the apex of a triangle of which the tomb of Siptah ( 47 ) and that of Bay ( 13 ) are the other two angles .

KV11 – Tomb of Ramses III .. Part ( 9 )

Setnakht and Ramses III had both had luck with their first tomb . Setnakht, as we have just seen, abandoned his on finding that he had pierced the wall of that of Amenmesses .

KV9 – Tomb of Ramses V and Ramses VI .. Part ( 8 )

This tomb was begun for Ramses V, whose full titulary may be given here, together with that of Ramses VI, who usurped his tomb, as an example of the ridiculous titularies of these Ramesside Pharaoh, the length of whose names was in inverse proportion to the strength of their reigns .

KV8 – Tomb of Merneptah .. Part ( 7 )

This tomb lies on the right, away from the interesting group which includes the tomb of Tutankhamun and other famous sepulchers .

KV1 to KV7 .. Tombs in the Valley of the Kings .. Part ( 6 )

KV1 – Tomb of Ramses VII

This tomb lies on the right-hand side of the road, in a little valley which leads westwards from a point before the barrier at the entrance to the valley is reached .

Historical notes .. Decoration & The funerary texts of the royal tombs at The Valley of the Kings .. Part ( 5 )

It will at once be noticed that the decoration of the royal tombs is of a totally different type from that with which we have become familiar in the mastabas of the Old Kingdom, and the rock-tombs of the Middle Kingdom, or that which we shall shortly see in the mortuary chapels of the Theban nobles .

Historical notes .. The most important tombs at The Valley of the Kings .. Part ( 4 )

With the story of the finding of the tomb of Tutankhamun the modern history of the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings closes for the present, though we have no warrant for the belief that the interruption is more than a temporary one .

Historical notes about discovery some tombs at The Valley of the Kings .. Part ( 3 )

A few years later ( 1898 ) Victor Loret, acting on information secretly supplied from native sources, discovered the tomb of Amenhotep II, which is now No. 35 in the valley . It had been plundered ;

Historical notes about The Valley of the Kings .. Part ( 2 )

It will be noticed that the general rule is that the earlier tombs in the valley, in accordance with what was the essence of the plan, are on the whole inconspicuous, as regards their outward aspect and entrance, compared with the later ones .

Historical notes about The Valley of the Kings .. Part ( 1 )

" We came to a part that is wider ", says Richard Pococke, the early Eastern traveler, writing in 1743 of his visit to the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings ( KV ), " being a round opening like an amphitheatre, and ascended by a narrow step passage about ten feet high, which seems to have been broken down thro' the rock … By this passage we came to Biban el-Meluke, or Bab el-Meluke, that is, the gate or court of the kings, being the sepulchers of the Kings of Thebes " .