Tombs of Maya and Horemheb opened to public

[Avenging Angel]

Tombs of Maya and Horemheb opened to public




Tourists at Saqqara. Image: rick manwaring, Flickr
Tombs of Maya and Horemheb opened to public
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Tuesday, May 24, 2011  |  Featured, News

Seven tombs have been opened to the public for the first time in the New Kingdom Cemetery, south Saqqara, Egypt, including that of Maya – the treasurer of Pharaoh Tutankhamen and general Horemheb, who himself later became  Pharoah.

The Ministry of Antiquities is currently developing a management plan for the Saqqara site in order to enhance its value as a visitor destination as well as promoting local community involvement.

Maya and Horemheb, were important figures during the tumultuous Amarna Period. During this time, the ‘heretic’ Pharaoh Akhenaten closed Egypt’s most important temples in Luxor and moved the capital to a site in the middle of the desert called Akhetaten or Tell el-Amarna.

Akhenaten even changed the principal state god from Amun to the sun-disk, Aten. When Akhenaten died, his son Tutankhamen became Pharaoh. Deciding that he would restore order to Egypt, he moved the religious capital back to Luxor, reinstated the god Amun and abandoned Tell el-Amarna. In order to make all of these changes, Tutankhamen relied heavily on his treasurer and his general.
Stability in Egypt




Offering bearers in the tomb of Maya. Image: A Ripley

Maya was essential to restoring Egypt to her pre-Amarna glory,  implementing the schemes and funding required to reopen the temples in Luxor as well as build new temples and shrines to Amun to show that Tutankhamen was dedicated to restoring order. While Maya restored order within Egypt, General Horhemheb restored order abroad.
Stability abroad

Horemheb began building his tomb in Saqqara while he was a general under Tutankhamen. During this period, Horemheb would have been responsible for the foreign affairs of an empire trying to regain power after the Amarna period.  After the death of Tutankhamen and his immediate successor, Ay, Horemheb became Pharaoh of Egypt himself and left his tomb at Saqqara in favour of a more prestigious site within the Valley of the Kings.

However, all the hard work on this beautiful tomb was not wasted and his wife Mutnodjmet was buried there at the time of her death. The tomb is built and decorated in the Amarna artistic style and the interior design shows that it was meant to be a funerary temple.   The details of this tomb, which is the largest in the New Kingdom Cemetery, are fascinating and visitors can see that the Ureaus, or headdress was added to depictions of Horemheb after the original reliefs were made in order to show that he had become Pharaoh.  There are also depictions of Horemheb worshipping Maat, Re-hor-akhty and Thoth as well as scenes celebrating his military victories.

[Avenging Angel]

Large panorama Horemheb relief (RMO Leiden, upper part, Sakkara grave Horemheb southern wall 18d 1325 BC). Image: koopmanrob, Flickr
More tombs open

Along with these two tombs, five other tombs will also be open to the public:

    * The tomb of Meryneith- Meryneith – the steward of the Temple of Aten and the scribe in the Temple of Aten during the reign of Akhenaten. After the King’s death, he became the high priest of Aten as well as the high priest at the Temple of Neith. His tomb is built of mud brick encased in limestone blocks. At the very back of the temple there are three chapels for the offering cult of Meryneith. The central one shows a scene of metal workers and the bases of two small columns. A mudbrick pyramid may have originally stood here.

    * The tomb of Ptahemwia- Ptahemwia – the “royal butler – one of clean hands” to both Akhenaten and Tutankhamen. He was responsible for brining the King food and drink and his tomb contains the prestigious title of “Beloved of the King”. Ptahemwia’s tomb is also mud brick encased in limestone and contains three chapels. In one of these chapels was found 56 coffins from the New Kingdom. Most of them contained the bodies of children who were affected by disease.

    * The tomb of Tia- Tia – one of the top officials under Ramsess II, and the overseer of the treasury. He was married to one of Ramsess II’s sisters, also named Tia. His tomb was used as a mortuary temple to the god Osiris and contains depictions of  the married couple making a pilgrimage to Abydos, the cult centre of Osiris.

    * The tombs of Pay and his son – Raia-Pay was the overseer of the harem under King Tutankhamen. Pay’s tomb consists of a chapel that opened into a pillared court with three offering chapels. Pay’s son, Raia, began his career as a solider in the army, but took over his father’s post after his death. Raia added a courtyard, and two stelae, as well as carrying out renovations before being buried there. The two stelae were brought to Berlin when Richard Lepsius discovered them in 1928.

Some of these tombs were first discovered in 1843 by Richard Lepsius, but were not fully excavated until an Anglo-Dutch mission began in 1975. Between 1975 and 1998 the dig was directed by Geoffrey Martin who discovered many of the tombs.  Now a Dutch team from Leiden University, led by Dr.Maarten Raven, excavates at the site, rediscovering and restoring the tombs.
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