KV2
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KV2 |
|
|---|---|
| place | Valley of the Kings |
| Discovery date | in ancient times |
| excavation | Edward R. Ayrton , Howard Carter |
| Previous KV1 |
The following KV3 |
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The ancient Egyptian tomb KV2 in the Valley of the Kings is the tomb of Pharaoh Ramses IV , 20th Dynasty ( New Kingdom ). It is located in the main valley between KV1 and KV7 . The peculiarity of this tomb is that it is one of the few that have preserved tomb plans. One of them is a papyrus (Papyrus Turin 1885) that is in the Egyptian Museum in Turin .
Discovery and excavation
KV2 has been open since ancient times, as there are over 700 Greek and Latin graffiti and around 50 Coptic tombs throughout the tomb. The first visit in modern times by Claude Sicard in 1718 was followed over the years by various researchers and archaeologists , including Richard Pococke (1737-1738), James Bruce (1768), James Burton (1825) or John Gardner Wilkinson (1825-1828) ). During these visits only plans of the grave were made. The first epigraphic work was carried out from 1828 to 1829 by the Franco-Tuscan expedition. The first excavation work was undertaken from 1905 to 1906 by Edward R. Ayrton for Theodore M. Davis , who at that time had the excavation license for the Valley of the Kings. Ayrton discovered several foundation stone depots at the entrance. After Lord Carnarvon received his excavation license in 1914 , Howard Carter worked in the tomb in 1920 .
Nicholas Reeves wrote a description of the finds in 1984, the epigraphic documentation was done in 1990 by Erik Hornung in Two Ramesside Royal Tombs: Ramses IV and Ramses VII.
history
Under his father, Ramses III. , a grave has already been laid in the Valley of the Queens for Prince Ramses . In this necropolis in ancient Thebes it was not usually kings but queens, royal children or high officials who were buried. Jean Yoyotte was able to grave QV53 in 1958, the fifth son of Ramses III. assign, Ramses IV.
After Ramses IV's accession to the throne , the selection for a tomb in the Valley of the Kings took an unusually long time, according to Erik Hornung. Usually this happened within the first year of a king's reign. Hornung suspects the reason for this is a completely new planning concept for the tomb, according to which "every king tried to surpass his predecessor". An ostracon with hieratic script cites year 2, second month of flooding , day 17 as the date and names the vizier Neferrenpet and Hori as the people involved , “to look for a place where a grave for User-maat-re Setep-en -amun (Ramses IV.) could be beaten. "
architecture
Grave KV2 is a grave with a length of 88.66 m that leads straight into the rock and no longer steeply into the depths, as in previous royal graves. It has a total size of 304.88 m² and has three corridors, three chambers and three side chambers at the end. The burial chamber has a size of 60.53 m² with a 5.22 m high ceiling. Overall, the ceilings of the tomb are quite high and the corridors and ramps are quite wide compared to other graves in the valley. The combination with ramps has been documented occasionally since Ramses II .
Edward R. Ayrton uncovered a total of nine foundation stone depots at the rock-covered entrance during his excavations from 1905 to 1906, one of which still contained founding objects. Howard Carter found five other pits intact. The total number of these pits is unusual, especially since some were unused.
A special feature of this grave are two preserved plan sketches. One in the shape of a papyrus and one in the shape of a limestone ostracon. The Papyrus Turin 1855 was identified by Karl Richard Lepsius as a plan of KV2. Even if the plan does not exactly correspond to the actual shape of the grave, it still provides valuable information. For example, the individual rooms are labeled hieratically with their functions . For the burial chamber, the papyrus also shows that the sarcophagus was or should be surrounded by five shrines, also known as coffin shrines. Shrines, as they later found Howard Carter in the burial chamber of Tutankhamun . However, there were only four there, not five.
Ayrton found the ostracon at the grave entrance. Both drawings show the grave in a simplified depiction of the final stage, with locked and bolted doors. While the sketch on the ostracon was probably just a simple drawing by a workman, the papyrus plan was probably for a more serious use and may have been used for consecration purposes. Similar "models" are known, in addition to the foundation pits, of the foundations of temples.
Due to time constraints, the original tomb seems to have been worked out in a very simplified manner. This resulted in a change in the well chamber and first columned hall as well as the burial chamber. The original plan appears to have been changed due to the king's death. For example, the actual pillared hall was converted into a burial chamber.
Decorations
Much of the wall decorations in KV2, which are not limited to the chambers, are practically intact. Some of the hieroglyphic inscriptions in the corridors, in contrast to the other decorations that are painted on, are worked and painted in recessed relief. The decoration program of the grave consists of both old and new elements, which are laid out as follows:
- Grave entrance after the steps (A): The goddesses Isis and Nephthys pay homage to the sun disk, in which the sun god is depicted once in his morning form ( scarab as Chepre ) and evening form (ram head)
- 1. Corridor (B): the king in front of Re-Harachte and scenes from the litany of Re
- 2. Corridor (C): Scenes from the Litany of Re
- 3. Corridor (D): Scenes from the Book of the Caves
- Antechamber (well chamber - E): Scenes from the Book of the Dead , mainly Proverb 125
- Burial chamber (F): Scenes from the Book of Gates (Book of Gates) and the Amduat ; Ceiling: scenes from the sky books
- Last corridor (shortened - G) and end rooms (Ga, Gb, Gc)): scenes from the Book of Caves , depictions of the king and burial objects
On the ceiling of the burial chamber (also coffin chamber) the books of heaven replace the previous “astronomical” representations as the vault of the sky. There are also lists of deans on the Chamber's pages . Together with the double depiction of the goddess Nut bending over the earth, these form a frame. On the left, Nut is supported by the god Schu . The dominant color in this room is yellow, the color that symbolized gold, the metal of the gods. The burial chamber thus became the per-nebu ("gold house").
Sarcophagus and mummy
The cartouche-shaped sarcophagus made of red granite was damaged by grave robbers in ancient times and the lid was removed. It is oriented to the west and measures 3.50 m in length, 2.95 m in height and 2.06 m in width.
The king's mummy was found in 1898 in the grave of Amenhotep II , KV35 , which served as the “royal depot”. It was probably brought here at the time of King Smendes I (21st Dynasty). This is indicated by a graffito by the scribe Penamun, which dates from the 16th year of the reign of this ruler and mentions, among other things, the second restoration of the mummy Amenhotep I.
Finds and grave goods
The only finds from inside the tomb are believed to have come from subsequent burials from the Third Intermediate Period . In general, KV2 contained furniture, plant remains, human mummies and parts of grave equipment.
Edward R. Ayrton and Howard Carter found numerous grave goods that were probably "thrown" out of the grave and lay in the rubble at the entrance: ostraka, ushabti made of wood, calcite and faience, and fragments of wood and glass. A special group of the finds were pottery shards that still had plaster and paint residues and were partly given the name Ramses II .
Ayrton also uncovered "rubble from coarse Coptic and Roman huts" that were believed to have been animal stalls. There was also a broken Coptic carving board , fragments of ostraca and a letter on papyrus that was still locked. According to Herbert E. Winlock , the grave was one of the most important Coptic settlements in the Valley of the Kings.
Trivia
The spaciousness of the tomb corresponded to a "palace". It was therefore used as a "hotel" on many expeditions, including by Jean-François Champollion , Ippolito Rosellini , Robert Hay , and later Theodore M. Davis . Tombs were often used on various occasions in the Valley of the Kings after they were excavated. For example, KV4 , the grave of Ramses XI. , during the excavation of KV62 by Howard Carter as a dining and storage room or KV55 for the photographic work of Harry Burton and other graves as a laboratory.
See also
literature
- Erik Hornung : The Valley of the Kings. Beck, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-406-47995-2 , pp. 53-57.
- Erik Hornung in: Kent R. Weeks , Araldo de Luca: In the Valley of the Kings - Of funerary art and the cult of the dead of the Egyptian rulers. Weltbild, Augsburg 2001, ISBN 3-8289-0586-2 , pp. 240–243.
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Bertha Porter , Rosalind LB Moss : Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Statues, Reliefs, and Paintings. several volumes, 2nd edition, Griffith Institute, Oxford 1960 and 1964.
- Volume I, Part 2: The Theban Necropolis. Royal Tombs and Smaller Cemeteries. 1964, Reprint 1999, ISBN 0-900416-10-6 , pp. 497-500. ( PDF ; 22.3 MB)
- Nicholas Reeves , Richard H. Wilkinson : The Valley of the Kings. Mysterious realm of the dead of the pharaohs. Bechtermünz, Augsburg 2000, ISBN 3-8289-0739-3 , pp. 162-164.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Nicholas Reeves: Excavations in the Valley of the Kings, 1905/06: a Photographic Record. In: Communications from the German Archaeological Institute, Cairo Department. (MDAIK) Vol. 40, 1984, pp. 228-230.
- ↑ Erik Hornung: The Valley of the Kings. Munich 2002, p. 55.
- ↑ Erik Hornung in: Kent R. Weeks , Araldo de Luca: In the Valley of the Kings - Of funerary art and the cult of the dead of the Egyptian rulers. Augsburg 2001, p. 240.
Coordinates: 25 ° 44 ′ 29 ″ N , 32 ° 36 ′ 8 ″ E