The Ancient Egyptians held great reverence for the Jackal headed god Anubis, who oversaw the embalming and mummification process as well as escorting the deceased through the procedures for entering the underworld. When the person arrived for judgment, they would first declare their purity before an assembly of gods including Osiris. the Ibis-headed god Thoth was on hand to record the result of the judgment.

THE STORY OF THE FAMOUS BOY, KING TUT

In the 'weighing of the heart' from the Book Of The Dead, the heart of the dead person was balanced against the feather of Maat, or truth. If the heart was lighter than the feather the dead person was allowed to pass on into the underworld, but if it failed the test then the Eater of souls would devour the deceased.

Although we know a great deal about the life of Tutankhamun from the treasures found in his Tomb, there is still a great deal that remains to be discovered.

Questions like "Who were his parents ?" and "How did his tomb remain undiscovered? and "Was he murdered ?".

King Nebkheperura Tutankhamun remains the most famous of all the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, but in fact, he was a short lived and fairly insignificant ruler during a transitional period in history. Little was known of him before Howard Carter's methodical detective work, but the discovery of his tomb and the amazing contents it held ultimately ensured this boy king of the Immortality he sought.

The amazing interest sparked by the discovery and the publicity which has surrounded it ever since has helped to take an interest in Egypt's history to a much wider audience. Virtually overnight what had been the private passion of a few intrepid explorers became a public fascination with the past.

Tutankhamun was a Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. He was born Tutankhaten, probably in the royal city of 'Akhetaten'. The exact length of his reign is unknown but is thought to have been about 9 Years.

Before the discovery of his tomb, Tutankhamun was a shadowy figure from a chaotic period in Egyptian History, but a few tantalizing clues in inscriptions pointed to his existence and raised the possibility that there was a Royal burial, perhaps undiscovered for 4000 years, in the Valley of the Kings.

Although we know much about the goods that Tutankhamun took with him for the afterlife, information on his life is much less clear. Under his rule, the 'Amarna' heresy was ended, and a transfer of power back to Thebes, and then priesthood there, was begun.

Exactly how much of this would have been down to the 10-year-old king being debatable, but we do have a fairly good idea of who the 'power behind the throne' would have been. Tutankhamun's successor as Pharaoh, Ay, and Ay's successor Horemheb were the real power in the country. Ay was one of the top advisors to the Amarna kings, and Horemheb enjoyed the status of head of the army.

Perhaps the most impressive piece found in Tutankhamun's tomb is not the mask, although that is the most well known. The king's gold inner coffin, shown above, displays a quality of workmanship and attention to detail that is unsurpassed. The coffin is made of solid gold. It is 74" long, 20" wide, and 20" high. The king is shown as Osiris holding the crook and flail, traditional symbols of kingship. There is little doubt that the most famous icon from Ancient Egypt is the funerary mask of Tutankhamun. It is a stunning example of Ancient goldsmith's art. The mask itself is made of solid gold, inlaid with lapis lazuli, cornelian, quartz, obsidian, turquoise, and colored glass.

The king's burial was not, as is commonly believed, intact when it was found. Howard Carter who discovered the tomb believed it had been robbed twice shortly after the funeral. Only the burial chamber itself was untouched. Most of the small portable items included in the burial had been removed in antiquity. This included most of the jewelry and all of the essential oils. The large quantity of jewelry presently on display in the Cairo museum was mostly found on the mummy itself.

Tutankhamun's tomb contained an elaborate set of Canopic containers. The calcite Canopic chest, with the stoppers in the form of the King, contained four amazing canopic coffins. These seem to have been intended for the same individual as the second coffin, possibly Smenkhkare and there is evidence that the inscriptions on them had been modified to include Tutankhamun's titles. The difference in facial featured found on the models, shabtis, and coffins in the tomb seem to indicate that items were collected from various sources for burial.

The story of the hunt for the tomb of Tutankhamun is a long and complicated one involving lots of detailed scientific research, and even more luck. Theodore Davis had long sought the tomb of the missing pharaoh, who was mentioned in inscriptions. At one point a small hole was discovered in the Valley of the Kings containing some storage jars and flower garlands. The jars bore the name of Tutankhamun... could this be a clue that there could still be an intact burial in the royal valley?

After several seasons of unsuccessful excavating Theodore Davis decided there was nothing left to find in the Valley. Most people believed him, but there was one man who thought he had an idea where the missing tomb may be. His was a name which was to become almost as famous as that of Tutankhamun himself, Howard Carter.

Carter had a plan of the valley on which he marked all the spoil heaps and cuttings made by previous excavations. On this, he identified a small triangle that was covered over with the spoils from an earlier excavation. Carter thought that the missing tomb could lie under the mound of rubble and stone chippings and was determined to find out.

Carter's work in the valley was financed by Lord Carnarvon, who was after objects for his collection. The expense involved coupled with the lack of any finds had led to a decision to give up looking. To his credit, Howard Carter managed to persuade the Lord to finance one more season of excavation, to clear the triangle.

The excavations began, and soon some workmen houses were uncovered, anything under those would be untouched since the tombs in the valley were cut. By an amazing stroke of luck when the first hut was removed a stone step was uncovered, then another, and another until a flight of steps was cleared leading to a door, a sealed door. On this door were the marks of the necropolis guards, and the cartouche of Tutankhamun.

Lord Carnarvon was sent for immediately, and upon his arrival, the tomb was opened, to reveal a corridor filled with rubble. There were signs that a tunnel had been dug through one corner of the rubble. This showed that the tomb had been robbed after all.

After the corridor was cleared another sealed door was uncovered. This was the moment of truth... Howard Carter hammered a small hole in the blocking wall and as his eyes became accustomed to the darkness beyond he said, I see 'wonderful things' which were to change the face of Egyptology forever.

This reconstruction shows the moment Howard Carter removed the outer coffin from the sarcophagus. At the time it was noticed that the coffin was incredibly heavy, which should have given them a clue to the treasure which awaited them when the outer coffin was opened.

At the time of the discovery, there was a great deal of political activity in Egypt, which led to a ban on the export of antiquities. Lord Carnarvon, who was primarily a collector, was horrified by this as he had invested a great deal of money in the search for 'his' tomb.

A major incident that soured the relationship between the archaeologists and the Egyptian government was the discovery of this stunning head, which was found in a wine box in the tomb used by Carter as a workshop. The authorities claimed it had been deliberately hidden so it could be smuggled out of the country. This argument was strengthened by the fact that the head had not been given a catalog number. Carter maintained that the head was found while the entrance to the tomb was being cleared before the tomb itself was opened and he had just not got round to cataloging it.

There are several objects discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun which show clearly the state of flux which the country was in during his short reign. Two examples are shown here, the goddesses Isis and Selkis. The statues are in the more natural Amarna style, but the images on the side of the shrine are in the more orthodox style.

THE RAMESSEUM

One of the most impressive monuments of Thebes is the mortuary temple of Ramesses II, commonly known as the Ramesseum.

Much of the Ramesseum is very well preserved, so much so that the vaulted storerooms which once held supplies for the Pharaoh's cult still survive. In addition, the remains of the hypo-style hall and a number of massive statues all remain to give an idea of the original scale of the monument.

The state of preservation of the granaries at the Ramesseum is remarkable. The brick-built vaults cover a large area of the site and would have held food and provisions for the Pharaoh's funerary cult. 

Ramesses reign was notable for the number of new temples and buildings he had constructed throughout Egypt, and for the military campaigns, he undertook to secure and expand the borders of the empire.

The battle of Kadesh was one event in Ramesses' reign which he commemorated on more than one of his monuments.

All over the Ramesseum traces of the original color remains. These column capitals give some idea of the original quality of the paintwork with which the whole temple was covered.

TOMB OF AKHETATEN

The royal tomb at Akhetaten stands as a silent monument both to the destruction wrought in the Anti-Atenist backlash, and the destruction caused in modern times by man's greed and ignorance.

The tomb is yet another example of how the condition of ancient monuments has deteriorated more in the last 100 years than in the previous three millennia.

The tomb itself is of the 'rock-cut' type, it is a tunnel that descends into a rock face in the royal wadi at Amarna. The original plan appears to have been modified at least three times during its construction.

Initially, the tomb started as a fairly typical royal burial place. It is unusual in that it was the first of its type to have a steep ramped entrance. There are two major modifications to the main corridor, a suite of rooms used for the burial of Meketaten was excavated off the main passage, and a long curved corridor which may have been intended to lead to another burial area was added.

The archaeological evidence shows that Akhenaten was originally buried in the tomb. Fragments of his granite sarcophagus and his canopic chest were found both inside the tomb and in an associated dump. There is also evidence of a second sarcophagus, that of Meketaten. Interestingly in view of the prominence of Nefertiti at this time, there is insufficient space in the main burial chamber for it to have been intended for two sarcophagi.

Another unusual feature of this tomb is that the pillared hall contains only two pillars, instead of the usual four. It was originally thought that two were removed after the tomb was completed, but there is no evidence of this work on either the floor or the ceiling of the chamber. It does appear that there were plans to extend the tomb and probably to situate the burial chamber further down the corridor.

One interesting hypothesis was that the angle of descent of the tomb passage would allow the light of the Aten to penetrate down as far as the burial chamber, to where the Sarcophagus lay. One possible hole in this theory is that in previous 18th dynasty tombs a second passage would have descended from the pillared hall to the burial chamber and this would not have been in line with the first, so if the tomb had been completed the light of the Aten would not have penetrated to where the sarcophagus lay.

The archaeologists who excavated the tomb described the damage as 'systematic'. The shabti figures and sarcophagi were smashed and broken to such an extent that few fragments remained more than a few centimeters in size. Most of the cartouches in the main corridor and burial chamber were hacked out in antiquity, but the vast majority of the damage done to the 'Meketaten Annexe' occurred in 1931 when locals removed the plaster-work from the walls for sale on the antiquities market. It is unfortunate that no detailed study of these reliefs was carried out prior to their destruction as a great deal of information was lost. One famous find made at the tomb was a small cache of jewelry. It is thought that this was removed when the tomb was officially dismantled, perhaps by someone who intended to hide the gold and collect it later.

THE LUXOR MUSUEM

Another of the highlights of the Luxor Museum is the modern bright gallery where statues from the Luxor temple Cachette are on display. Over a period of years most of the space inside the temple where pious nobles could place their statues became used up, so to alleviate this problem the priests took several of the existing statues and buried them within the temple precincts. This had the double advantage of clearing space for new offerings, and also preserving the sculpture in near perfect condition.

DEIR-EL-MEDINA / DEIR EL-MADINA

One of the highlights of the west bank at Thebes is the workers village of Deir-el Medina. This amazing array of houses gives an amazing impression of what life was like for the people who excavated and decorated the tombs in the nearby Valley of the Kings.

The builders of the royal tombs were considered to be 'holders of secrets' and were kept apart from the general population. This was probably a wise precaution as the builders would have inside knowledge of the positions of the royal tombs, both those under construction and also those which were accidentally broken into during excavation work.

This chap is Inherka, and he is one of the finest tombs preserved in the Valley of the Artisans. Inherka was 'Deputy master of the two lands in truth square' during the reigns of Ramesses III and Ramesses IV. He was responsible for the coordination of the teams working in the royal valley. 

Another fine tomb belonged to the 'Servant in Truth Square' Sennedjen. Sennedjen's tomb was discovered in 1886 and was one of the few intact tombs ever discovered in Egypt. This 19th Dynasty tomb is considered by many to be the best in the Necropolis as it was untouched since antiquity and the decoration in the main chamber is substantially intact. This decoration includes the famous image of Anubis attending to the tomb owner's mummy.

Sennedjen was a workman at Deir el-Medina who lived at the beginning of the 19th Dynasty. This is what Morris Bierbrier says about his intact tomb in his little book "The Tomb-builders of the Pharaohs": "His mummy, coffins and funerary equipment were recovered as well as those of his wife, Iineferti, his sons Khons, his daughter-in-law Tameket, and a lady Isis who may have been a granddaughter or daughter-in-law, or both if she married her uncle. Coffins and funerary objects of other members of the family were also found. The tomb had been used for two generations of family burials. The objects were all taken to Cairo but were unfortunately dispersed before adequate documentation was compiled. Sennedjen and his wife who had lain side by side for millennia were rudely divorced. as were their son, Khons, and his wife Tameket. Iineferti and her son, Khons, were awarded to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where their coffins now rest. Their mummies, however, were transferred to the Peabody Museum in Cambridge, Mass. Tameket journeyed to the Berlin Museum, while her father-in-law, Sennedjen, remained behind in Cairo. Some of the minor finds were also kept in Cairo but others were scattered to Paris, Copenhagen, and Moscow."

Gaston Maspero, himself, excavated the tomb. A Spaniard, Eduardo Toda, made the most detailed notes of the discovery although by modern standards these were woefully inadequate.

Egyptian History, by Egypt Tours of Chicago

Tomb of Penout, Egypt

RAMESSES II

Ramesses the Great ascended to the throne at the age of 25 and in his 67 year reign he undertook an unparalleled building program. No other pharaoh built so many temples or erected so many colossal obelisks and statues. It seems that everything was done on a grand scale as the Pharaoh had over 100 sons by dozens of the women of his harem.

Ramesses took part in the first recorded major battle in history. This happened at Kadesh and although proclaimed as a great victory actually ended in more of a stalemate. Several reports of this battle survive in tomb inscriptions from the period, as well as in Hittite and other records.

Perhaps Ramesses' most famous construction was the massive rock cut temple at Abu Simbel, in what was Nubia. He was also responsible for his mortuary temple, the Ramesseum, at Thebes. This temple had several huge statues of the King including a colossus weighing over 1000 tons.

The head shown above from the British Museum, was removed from the Ramesseum by the Italian adventurer Giovanni Belzoni who was also the first European to enter the temple at Abu Simbel on the 1st August 1817.

THE GOD THOTH

The god Thoth was worshiped in the form of an Ibis, and is often shown in human form with the unusual head of that bird. Thoth was primarily thought to be the god of wisdom. He was patron of arts and science and also the patron god of scribes. He was the inventor of the words of god, or Hieroglyphs.

Thoth is particularly familiar from the famous judgment scene shown in the Book of the Dead, Here the heart of the deceased was tested for purity by weighing it against the feather of the goddess Maat, symbolizing truth. If the heart failed the test it was thrown to the 'Eater of Souls'

One of the most impressive monuments of Thebes is the mortuary temple of Ramesses II, commonly known as the Ramesseum. Much of the Ramesseum is very well preserved, so much so that the vaulted storerooms which once held supplies for the Pharaoh's cult still survive. In addition the remains of the hypo-style hall and a number of massive statues all remain to give an idea of the original scale of the monument. 

The state of preservation of the granaries at the Ramesseum is remarkable. The brick built vaults cover a large area of the site and would have held food and provisions for the Pharaohs funerary cult. Ramesses reign was notable for the number of new temples and buildings he had constructed throughout Egypt, and for the military campaigns he undertook to secure and expand the borders of the empire. The battle of Kadesh was one event in Ramesses' reign which he commemorated on more than one of his monuments. All over the Ramesseum traces of the original color remain. These column capitals give some idea of the original quality of the paintwork with which the whole temple was covered.

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TAKEAWAY:

Visiting Egypt. is like going on one of a lifetime pilgrimage. Each living person has to visit Egypt at least once. Egypt is a country with more than one-third of the entire monuments on the face of the planet. When you visit Egypt, some things are a must-see and must-visit. Here are the Top Things to see when visiting Egypt. Cairo, The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), The Pyramids, The Sphinx, Memphis, Sakkara, The Bent Pyramid, The Red pyramid, The Oasis of Fayoum, Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Habu, Tomb of Tausert, King Tut Tomb, The Mummy Room, Tomb of Sennedjen The Temple of Ramessum, Deir el-Medina, Tomb of Akhenaten, Nefertari’s Tomb, Luxor temple, Karnak Temple, and Abu Simbel Temples. These are the main highlights that you need to see while visiting Egypt, regardless if you are embarking on a Nile Cruise or doing Egypt by land.