Rameses III Usermaatre Meryamun completed and was buried in this tomb
which was begun first by Sethnakht, before he abandoned it and usurped
KV14. The design and decoration is fairly typical of the later
Ramesside tombs but it has some interesting variations.
The entrance at the bottom of a steep staircase has the usual sun disc
with scarab and ram-headed god on the lintel and inside the first
corridor. Also in the entrance are two cow-headed pilasters on either
side (which seem to be unique to this tomb). Texts from the 'Litany of
Re' are depicted in the first corridor along with the usual scenes of
the king before Re-Horakhty. Two niches or side-chambers open off the
middle of the first corridor, uniquely decorated with pictures of
bakers, cooks, butchers, brewers and a leather-worker in the east
chamber, and pictures of sailing boats in the west chamber. The first
three corridors were originally decorated for Sethnakht.
The second corridor depicts characters taken from the 'Litany of Re',
with Anubis, Isis and Nephthys. The ceiling of the corridor shows a
disc containing a hawk with Isis and Nephthys depicted as birds on
either side. There are eight side-rooms along the length of this
corridor which were thought to have been added by Rameses III and each
one is decorated with interesting and unusual pictures. In the first
eastern side-chamber the walls depict Nile gods offering to some
interesting objects. The fourth side-chamber on the east shows
pictures of blind harpists before deities (for some reason harpists
were often blind), scenes which prompted Bruce to name this the
'Harpist's Tomb'. The second side-chamber on the western side of the
corridor has some beautiful paintings of objects from the king's
treasury including furniture, vessels, skins and baskets, some
probably coming from the Aegean Islands.
The end of the second corridor turns a sharp right bend. It was here
that Sethnakht abandoned the tomb because he ran into the roof of the
adjoining tomb of Amenmesse (KV10). Rameses relocated the axis to run
parallel with the original and carried on further into the hillside.
In the corridor and chamber formed by the bend the king is seen
offering to various deities.
The third corridor, decorated by Rameses III shows scenes from the
Amduat and the 'Book of Gates' and leads into a ritual well-room
before entering a hall with four pillars and a sloping floor. On the
east side of the pillared hall are scenes from the 'Book of Gates' and
representations of the four human races. The western side of this hall
opens into an annex with scenes of Rameses being led by Thoth and
Horus and being offered the feather of Ma'at by Osiris. Neith and
Selkis can be seen in the doorway.
At the entrance to the fourth corridor which descends further into the
tomb towards a vestibule and the burial chamber, a barrier closes the
rest of the tomb to visitors. This corridor depicts scenes from the
'Opening of the Mouth Ritual' and the king before various deities.
The eight-pillared burial chamber has suffered from severe flood
damage but was evidently decorated with scenes from the 'Book of
Gates' and the 'Book of the Earth'. There is no astronomical ceiling.
Side-chambers contain extracts from the 'Book of the Divine Cow' the
'Book of Aker' and the 'Fields of Iaru'. At the end of the burial
chamber is an extension of several further annexes.
The red granite sarcophagus of Rameses III was sold to the King of
France and is now in the Louvre. It's lid, which was found by Belzoni
was sold to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. The mummy of the king
was found in the Deir el-Bahri cache (DB320) is now in Cairo Museum. |
