The tomb of Horemheb Djeserkheperure Setepenre has been closed to
visitors for several years while undergoing restoration (after
suffering flood damage) which is now completed. He was the last king
of Dynasty XVIII.
The king who had served as a royal scribe and general in the courts of
Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten), Tutankhamun and Ay, built for himself a
large tomb in the centre of the Valley after becoming king to replace
his earlier tomb at Saqqara. Unfortunately his Theban tomb was
unfinished at his death but is interesting in that it shows us a great
deal about the methods of decoration.
The traditional staircases and descending passages lead to a well-room
(with shaft) decorated with scenes of the king before Anubis, Harsiesi
and Isis, Hathor, the Western goddess, and Osiris (on the left) and
Horus, Hathor, Osiris, Anubis and Harsiesi (on the right). The walls
are brightly coloured on a grey-blue background.
The well-room leads into a two-pillared antechamber, again with scenes
of the king offering to the various deities. A sunken staircase leads
down through another descending corridor and staircase to a vestibule
and it is here we begin to see the transition in style to the much
larger tombs of Dynasty XIX.
The burial chamber is on a straight axis to the corridors and
antechambers and is a large six-pillared sarcophagus hall with
Horemheb's red granite sarcophagus still in situ. The hall has the
familiar star-ceiling. The design features vary from earlier tombs
with a slope from the first pillars to the 'crypt' area down a flight
of steps and then a series of three lower chambers (probably for
storage) cut behind the burial chamber. The main sarcophagus hall has
the usual four lateral annexes; the one at the western end has a
beautiful painting of Osiris before a djed-pillar. The scenes in the
burial chamber are incomplete and seem to have been interrupted at
various stages of work, some areas showing the grids, sketched-in
figures and corrections on the background of plaster. We also see the
introduction of painted incised relief carving for the first time in a
royal Theban tomb. Another innovation is the 'Book of Gates' (a
reference to the 'gates' which separated the twelve hours of the
night) which is depicted for the first time, but the final carving
only completed in some places. The incomplete state of the burial
chamber is rather a mystery because Horemheb reigned for 28 years -
ample time to complete a tomb!
This tomb is much more interesting because of its unfinished
condition. The figures depicted represent the transition from the late
Amarna period, which Horemheb tried to completely wipe out, to the
more formal style of the Ramesside period, but more than that they
give us an insight into the techniques and methods of design used by
the artists and craftsmen of Deir el-Medina during the New Kingdom. |
