Tomb of Djer
The tomb of Djer (tomb O) is located in Abydos ( Egypt ) in the part of the necropolis called Umm el-Qaab . Djer was the second or third ruler of the 1st Dynasty and ruled around 2980 BC. Chr.
The grave consists of a rectangular pit, lined with mud bricks, which is 10.4 × 9.2 m² and 2.54 m deep. There are niches on three walls of the chamber. The center of the chamber was once paneled with wood, with the niches remaining outside. Around the burial chamber there were 334 chambers for secondary burials and magazines in different rows. It is the highest number of recorded secondary burials on the grave of an Egyptian ruler. A large part of these burials were already heavily robbed. In some of the side burials, steles of the court buried here were also found.
At least since the 13th dynasty , the grave was thought to be the burial of the god Osiris and a picture of the god was placed in the burial chamber showing him lying on a bier. At a later time, a simple staircase leading down to the burial chamber was also built. King Apries (589 BC to 570 BC) built a chapel here. Above all, numerous ceramics from the New Kingdom and later times attest to the Osiris cult on this tomb (but also on other tombs in Umm el-Qaab). Two steles of the Djer must once have stood at the grave, one of which was found.
Because of the later re-use, only a few remains of the original grave equipment were found. The arm of a mummy, on which four bracelets partly made of gold were still found, deserves special attention.
A valley district stood on the edge of the desert. It is poorly preserved, but had a wall that encompassed an area of approximately 96.2 × 53.8 m. The wall was about three feet thick. There were gates in the north and east. Inside the fence were the remains of a temple. There were 269 side burials in two rows around the complex . These were built together by digging trenches, which were then lined with mud bricks.
literature
- Emile Amelineau: Le tombeau d'Osiris. Monograph de la decourverte faite en 1807-1898. Paris 1899.
- Eva-Maria Engel: The Royal Tombs at Umm el-Qa'ab. In: Archeo-Nile. No. 18, 2008, p. 38.
- WM Flinders Petrie : The royal tombs of the first dynasty: 1900. Part I (= Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund. Volume 18). Egypt Exploration Fund et al., London 1900, ( digitization ), pp. 8–9.