Tutankhamun (Tutankhaton) - the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt from the XVIII dynasty of the New Kingdom, reign, approximately 1332-1323. BC e.

According to the general custom in ancient times, the deceased was put in the grave of everything that was considered the most valuable for him during his lifetime: the kings and nobles - signs of their dignity, the warrior - his weapons, etc. But they all "took" with them almost everything collected for his life, gold and other objects that do not rot. There were such kings and rulers who took the entire state treasury with them to the tombs, and the people, mourning the king, mourned the loss of all their property.

So the ancient tombs were treasuries in which untold riches were hidden. To protect them from plunder, the builders built entrances inaccessible to outsiders; arranged doors with secret locks, which were closed and opened with the help of a magical talisman.

Whatever efforts the pharaohs did not make in order to protect their tombs from looting, no matter how sophisticated they were in trying to resist the all-destroying time, all their efforts were in vain. The genius of their architects was unable to overcome the evil will of man, his greed and indifference to ancient civilizations. The untold riches that were supplied to the deceased rulers, members of their families and important dignitaries, have long attracted greedy robbers. Neither terrible spells, nor careful guards, nor cunning tricks of architects (camouflaged traps, immured chambers, false passages, secret stairs, etc.) helped against them.

Due to a happy coincidence, only the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun remained the only one that was preserved almost completely intact, although it was plundered twice in ancient times. The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb is associated with the names of the English Lord Carnarvon and the archaeologist Howard Carter.

Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter

Lord Carnarvon, heir to a huge fortune, was also one of the first motorists. In one of the car accidents, he barely managed to survive, and after that the dream of sports had to be abandoned. In order to improve his health, the bored lord visited Egypt and he was interested in the great past of this country. For his own amusement, he decided to do the excavation himself, but his independent attempts in this field were unsuccessful. Money alone was not enough for this, and Lord Carnarvon did not have enough knowledge and experience. And then he was advised to seek help from archaeologist Howard Carter.

1914 - Lord Carnarvon saw on one of the faience goblets discovered during excavations in the Valley of the Kings, the name of Tutankhamen. He met the same name on a gold plate from a small cache. These findings prompted the lord to obtain permission from the Egyptian government to search for the tomb of Tutankhamen. The same material evidence also supported H. Carter when he was overcome by despondency from a long, but unsuccessful search.

Tutankhamen's tomb found

Archaeologists have been looking for the tomb of the pharaoh for a long 7 years, but in the end they were lucky. Sensational news spread around the world in early 1923. In those days, crowds of reporters, photographers and radio commentators flocked to the small and usually quiet town of Luxor. Every hour reports, messages, notes, essays, reports, reports, articles rushed from the Valley of the Kings by telephone and telegraph ...

For more than 80 days, archaeologists traveled to the golden coffin of Tutankhamen - through four outer arks, a stone sarcophagus and three inner coffins, until in the end they saw the one who for a long time was only a ghostly name for historians. But first, archaeologists and workers discovered steps that led into the depths of the rock and ended at the walled entrance. When the entrance was vacated, behind it was a descending corridor, covered with limestone fragments, and at the end of the corridor - another entrance, which was also walled up. This entrance led to an anterior chamber with a side storeroom, a burial chamber and a treasury.

Having made a hole in the masonry, G. Carter put his hand with a candle in there and clung to the hole. “At first I didn’t see anything,” he later writes in his book. - Warm air rushed out of the chamber, and the flame of the candle began to flicker. But gradually, when the eyes got used to the twilight, the details of the room began to slowly emerge from the darkness. There were strange figures of animals, statues and gold - gold shimmered everywhere.

In the tomb

Tutankhamun's tomb was actually one of the richest. When Lord Carnarvon and G. Carter entered the first room, they were stunned by the number and variety of objects that filled it. There were gold-studded chariots, bows, quivers of arrows, and shooting gloves; beds, also upholstered in gold; armchairs covered with tiny inserts of Ivory, gold, silver and gems; magnificent stone vessels, richly decorated chests with clothes and jewelry. There were also crates of food and vessels of long-dried wine. The first room was followed by others, and what was discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamen exceeded the wildest expectations of the expedition members.

Tutankhamen's golden sarcophagus weighing 110 kg

The fact that the tomb was found at all was in itself an incomparable success. But fate smiled at G. Carter again, in those days he wrote: "We saw something that no man of our time was awarded." Only from the front chamber of the tomb, the English expedition took out 34 containers full of priceless jewelry, gold, precious stones and magnificent works of ancient Egyptian art. And when the members of the expedition entered the burial chambers of the pharaoh, they found here a wooden gilded ark, in it another - an oak ark, in the second - the third gilded ark, and then the fourth. The latter contained a sarcophagus made of a single piece of the rarest crystalline quartzite, and there were two more sarcophagi in it.

The northern wall of the sarcophagus hall in Tutankhamun's tomb is painted with three scenes. On the right is the opening of the mouth of the pharaoh's mummy by his successor Aye. Until the opening of the mouth, the deceased pharaoh was depicted in the form of a mummy, and after this rite, he already appeared in his usual earthly image. The central part of the painting is occupied by the scene of the meeting of the revived pharaoh with the goddess Nut: Tutankhamun is depicted in the robe and headdress of an earthly king, he holds a mace and a staff in his hands. In the last scene, Osiris hugs the pharaoh, his “ka” stands behind Tutankhamun.

The ancient Egyptians believed that humans had multiple souls. Tutankhamun had two statues of "ka", which were carried in the honorary row during the funeral procession. In the burial chambers of the pharaoh, these statues stood on the sides of the sealed door leading to the golden sarcophagus. The “ka” of Tutankhamen has a youthfully handsome face with wide-set eyes, looking with the impassive immobility of death.

Ancient sculptors and artists repeated it many times on chests, chests and arks. The dimensions of the statue of the twin spirit helped scientists to establish the growth of the pharaoh himself, since according to the burial traditions of the ancient Egyptians, these dimensions corresponded to the growth of the deceased.

"Ba" of Tutankhamen was guarded by a wooden sculpture depicting the pharaoh on the burial bed, and on the other hand, the sacred mummy was overshadowed by a falcon with its wing. On the figurine of the pharaoh, archaeologists saw carved words with which the pharaoh addressed the goddess of the sky: “Come down, mother Nut, bend over me and turn me into one of the immortal stars that are all in you!” This sculpture was among those sacrifices that the courtiers presented to the already deceased pharaoh as a promise to serve him and.

Pharaoh's mummy

In order to get to the sacred mummy of the pharaoh, archaeologists had to open several sarcophagi. “The mummy was lying in a coffin,” writes G. Carter, “to which it was tightly glued, since, having lowered it into the coffin, it was filled with aromatic oils. The head and shoulders, down to the chest, were covered with a beautiful golden mask, reproducing the features of the royal face, with a headband and necklace. It could not be removed, since it was also glued to the coffin with a layer of resin, which thickened into a mass as hard as a stone.

The coffin, which contained the mummy of Tutankhamen, depicted in the image of Osiris, was entirely made of a massive gold sheet with a thickness of 2.5 to 3.5 millimeters. In its form, it repeated the two previous ones, but its decor was more complex. The body of the pharaoh was protected by the wings of the goddesses Isis and Nephthys; chest and shoulders - kite and cobra (goddesses - patrons of the North and South). These figurines were placed on top of the coffin, with each kite feather filled with pieces of gems or colored glass.

The mummy lying in the coffin was wrapped in many sheets. On the top of them were sewn hands holding a whip and a rod; below them there was also a golden image "ba" in the form of a bird with a human head. On the places of the bandages there were longitudinal and transverse stripes with the texts of prayers. When G. Carter unfolded the mummy, he found a lot more jewelry, the inventory of which is divided by him into 101 groups.

Treasures from the tomb

Throne of Tutankhamun

So, for example, on the body of the pharaoh, archaeologists found two daggers - bronze and silver. The handle of one of them is decorated with gold granulation and set with intertwining ribbons of cloisonné enamel. At the bottom, the decorations end with a chain of scrolls of gold wire and a rope ornament. The blade made of hardened gold has two longitudinal grooves in the middle, crowned with a palmetto, above which a geometric pattern is located in a narrow frieze.

The forged mask that covered Tutankhamun's face was made of a thick sheet of gold and richly decorated: the stripes of the scarf, eyebrows and eyelids were made of dark blue glass, the wide necklace shone with numerous inserts of gems. The throne of the pharaoh was made of wood, sheathed in gold leaf and richly decorated with inlays of multi-colored faience, gems and glass. The legs of the throne in the form of lion paws are crowned with lion heads made of chased gold; the handles are winged snakes twisted into a ring, supporting the cartouches of the pharaoh with their wings. Between the supports behind the back of the throne, there are six uraeus in crowns and with solar disks. All of them are made of gilded wood and inlaid: the heads of the uraeus are made of purple faience, the crowns are made of gold and silver, and the sun discs are made of gilded wood.

On the back of the throne there is a relief image of papyri and water birds, in front there is a unique inlaid image of the pharaoh and his wife. The lost gold ornaments that connected the seat with the lower frame were an ornament of lotus and papyrus, united by a central image - the hieroglyph "sema", symbolizing the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt.

In ancient Egypt, it was also a custom to decorate the bodies of the dead with wreaths of flowers. The wreaths that were found in the tomb of Tutankhamen did not reach us in very good condition, and two or three flowers crumbled into powder at the first touch. The leaves also turned out to be very brittle, and the scientists kept them in tepid water for several hours before starting the research.

The necklace found on the lid of the third coffin was composed of leaves, flowers, berries and fruits, various plants, mixed with blue glass beads. The plants were arranged in nine rows tied to semicircular strips cut from the core of the papyrus. As a result of the analysis of flowers and fruits, scientists were able to establish the approximate time of the burial of Pharaoh Tutankhamun - this happened between mid-March and the end of April. It was then that cornflowers bloomed in Egypt, the fruits of mandrake and nightshade, woven into a wreath, ripened.

In beautiful stone vessels, scientists also found fragrant ointments with which the pharaoh had to anoint himself in the afterlife, as he did in earthly life. These perfumes, even after 3,000 years, emitted a strong aroma ...

Now the treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamen are exhibited in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and occupy 10 halls there, the area of ​​​​which is equal to a football field. With the permission of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, research was carried out on the mummies of famous pharaohs. During the work, the most modern equipment was used, forensic doctors and even experts from Scotland Yard were involved in the case, who took x-rays of Tutankhamun's skull and found traces of a deep wound on the back of the head. And the English detectives came to the conclusion that the case was criminal, and 3,000 years ago, the 18-year-old ruler of Egypt became a victim palace coup and died instantly from a strong blow.

Many legends and mysteries are associated with the ancient Egyptian rulers. Archaeologists and hobbyists ancient history constantly interested in the graves and tombs of the pharaohs. And no wonder, because these are real treasures.

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Pharaoh's tomb: interesting facts

The pharaoh, who was literally equated with a deity, was considered the supreme ruler of ancient Egypt. He was sacredly revered and respected during his lifetime, and after his death they also showed a lot of honors, especially during the funeral. The tombs were equipped according to special schemes; they still know how to keep their secrets and secrets.

For example, they searched for the tomb of Tutankhamun for six years, and when the archaeologists were already completely desperate, when the hope of finding a secret door was lost, a miracle happened. The tomb was not at all where it was supposed to be found. In 1922, the search was successful, and then many years of careful excavation, autopsy, and so on followed. You really should take the time to read a thorough description of the tomb of Tutankhamun, in which the mummy alone is striking in its size and luxury. When scientists dug out the entrance, the wall was walled up, but traces of robbers immediately became visible inside. No one can explain why they did not take out an uncountable amount of treasures from the tomb of the young ruler. It is unlikely that they were not found, most likely, another mystery is involved here. Inside the rooms there was so much gold, jewelry, dishes, clothes, shoes, interior items, symbols royal power, chariots, ships, that the head of the expedition had to stop excavations and go to negotiate with the authorities. Also found were two bodies of girls, the daughters of the pharaoh, who were born dead. To take out the treasures, it was necessary to carry out a separate railway to the grave.

Egyptian legends say that Tutankhamun ruled for only a few years and died at the age of 18-19, still a very young boy. But they buried the pharaoh with great honors, he was the last ruler of his dynasty.

They talked a lot about deaths, allegedly related to the excavations of the grave of the famous Tutankhamen. Many have been cursed. But is this really so, or is it just fiction of journalists, historians and other lovers of spicy stories? There was indeed an inscription on the wall of the tomb that death threatens those who dare to disturb the peace of the sleeping Tutankhamen. After the well-known excavation of the grave, many members of the archaeological team and their close relatives or friends died within 10 years. A series of deaths attracted the attention of the press and sensational news spread around the world. But many archaeologists were already old, someone had asthma, and someone after the discovery lived for more than a dozen years. So there is no reason to believe in the non-existent curse of the pagan gods. Although, of course, the fact that a special fungus is common in the tomb cannot be ruled out, many radioactive substances, poisons, and the mummy itself is thoroughly saturated with harmful bacteria. Still here you need to take into account the musty cave air. So death or poisoning can be explained with scientific point vision, not mystical. The inscriptions in the tomb honestly warn of possible consequences. The ancient Egyptians were quite intelligent and wise people They had access to many secrets.

Excavations in Egypt, the discovery of a new tomb, rumors of mythical bugs, mysticism and "curse", all this alarmed not only the world of science, but quickly leaked into other areas of society. Ancient Egyptian themes have become popular in world popular culture. Many books have been written, several science fiction films have been shot, one of which bears a quite predictable title - Tutankhamun: Curse of the Tomb (2006).

But the tomb of Tutankhamen is not the only one of its kind. Lot interesting facts known about the tombs of Khafre, Cheops, Nimrod. The largest tomb, which belongs to one of the wonders of the world, is the pyramid of Cheops. It is a very beautiful building, which has practically retained its original appearance.

In 2017, the monument of culture and architecture was visited by great amount tourists. Now there are not so often new excavations in Egypt. After all, much has already been found, everything is protected by law, scientists are trying to preserve and not damage what they managed to restore from the bowels of the earth. Although many are interested in the presence of burial places of the mysterious Nefertiti. It is said that her remains may be kept in Tutankhamun's tomb.

What is the name of the pharaoh's tomb?

Today, the names of the tombs of the pharaohs are very simple, they simply assigned the names of their owners or architects. So it is easier for scientists to classify the found burials. We have already told a little about what is known about Tutankhamun today, we also mentioned that outsiders had already visited the tomb before archaeologists. But how the robbers got into the treasuries is not exactly known. They risked their lives because there were guards everywhere, guards, caretakers. But, apparently, the treasures were worth it. By the way, during the fall of Egypt, economic difficulties, robbers were not only scammers, but also representatives of the royal family. It was not considered a sin to borrow a couple of golden bowls or frescoes from deceased ancestors.

Even if you have never been to Egypt, you probably know what the pharaoh's pyramid looks like. Pyramids were not like dwellings ordinary people, they resembled a peculiar form of a three-dimensional triangle and were located not just in a chaotic order from one another. It is difficult to say why the tombs of the pharaohs were in the form of a pyramid, but we should not forget that the ancient Egyptians never did anything for nothing. There was a meaning in everything, which sometimes remains a mystery to us. There are many versions of the construction of pyramidal buildings, but no one can claim to be right.

We can judge how the rulers of the ancient kingdom looked like from the mummies found. In the field of embalming bodies, creation, the Egyptians had no equal in the whole world. This people possessed countless mysteries and secrets, Egyptian science was really at a high level of development. Perhaps close communication with the pagan gods and the other world helped the Egyptians to achieve such high results.

You will probably be interested to know what the first forerunners of the tomb pyramids were called. These were original mastaba buildings. It was the first pyramid of Djoser that consists of steps that resemble mastabas.

Inside, the pyramids, with their countless number of corridors, hiding places, rooms, tombs, resemble mysterious caves. Great value it was given to make painting in different rooms, it was the so-called decor. Until now, the adornment of sarcophagi in the tombs has not ceased to cause admiration. Until then, the inhabitants of ancient Egypt did not think of anything. At that time, the cult of the dead was so developed that not just essentials were placed in the tombs, but even chariots, ships, all treasures. The Egyptians made sure that the representatives of the authorities on earth did not need anything even after the transition to the other world. The architecture of the pyramids will not leave anyone indifferent, because everything here is thought out to the smallest detail (ventilation, protection from the effects of the external environment, protection from moisture). Centuries have passed, and many things have retained a beautiful appearance, which would not have happened if they had simply been buried in damp earth.

Of course, since so much attention was paid to the construction of graves, then we can already talk about the palaces of the pharaohs. If these magnificent buildings were preserved in their original form, then modern architects would have something to learn from their ancestors. The Egyptians were far ahead of the development of civilization, they really managed to leave behind a unique mark.

Just look at the unusual rock temples, which, by the way, were also created by hand. Sometimes it took several centuries to build the original temple. Huge niches, corridors, rooms, sometimes even whole streets are found in some special rocks. Among tourists, the city in the rock called Petra, which is located on the territory of modern Jordan, is extremely popular. Rock temples were built in honor of the gods and also played the role of tombs.

The looting of tombs at all times brought fabulous profits. Hunters to engage in such an unscrupulous occupation appeared simultaneously with the construction of the first tombs.

The ancient Egyptians believed that the deceased was supposed to give to the next world everything that he used during his lifetime. Together with the mummies of the pharaohs, a myriad of things and jewelry fell into the tombs. The funeral of the pharaoh was surrounded by mystery, but dozens, if not hundreds of people, knew about them anyway. No wonder the legends are so widespread that all the participants in the burials were then killed. Robbery of tombs began under the pharaohs: papyri with records have been preserved litigation, testifying to the incredible corruption among the priests and courtiers. Gravediggers digging out a new tomb could stumble upon an old burial and loot it. The undertakers who placed the mummy in the family tomb may have been tempted to take something from past funerals. No matter how they locked the tomb, no matter what traps they built there, treasure hunters still got to the royal tombs.

With the advent of the New Kingdom, the rules for the burial of the pharaohs changed - they divided the funeral temple of the deceased pharaoh and his burial. This was done in order to save the graves from human greed. They began to bury the kings in underground crypts, in a desert valley in Thebes. Soon this sun-scorched area was called the "Valley of the Kings".

Burials were built by builders who lived in a village on the site of the current Deir el-Medina. The workers, well paid from the treasury, kept the secrets of the royal burials. At the end of the New Kingdom, Egypt was overwhelmed by drought, poor harvests, and famine. The village of artisans fell into decay. The workers themselves began to rob the graves. Neither patrols, nor round-the-clock security, nor harsh punishments for being caught red-handed helped. There is evidence that the officials not only did not counteract the looting, but they themselves were almost officially engaged in organizing these crimes. Treasures of the pharaohs were processed to fill the depleted treasury.

The tomb of the pharaoh survived only for the reason that 180 years after his burial (about 1325 BC), the entrance to the tomb was accidentally littered with debris.
The Papyri of the Tomb Raiders, a collection of official documents, reports lists of suspects in the crime, inventories of stolen property, and confessions made under torture. During interrogation in the Great Prison of Thebes, suspects were beaten with sticks and their arms and legs were twisted. The punishment for robbery was death.

Authentic confession of an Egyptian tomb raider dating back to the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses VI (circa 1151 BC).

We, as usual, under the cover of night, went to rob the tombs and found the burial place of Pharaoh Sobekemsaf in one of the pyramids ... Using copper tools, we made our way into the pyramid ... We found the entrance to the underground chambers and began to descend, holding lit torches in our hands.
In the burial chamber, we found the sarcophagi of the pharaoh and the queen. We opened them and tore off the covers in which they rested ... The king had a lot of amulets and gold jewelry around his neck, and the sacred pharaoh was all covered with gold and lined with precious stones. We took away all the gold and all the utensils found near the coffins, among which were vessels made of gold, silver, bronze ... Then we set fire to the coffins ...

A few days later, the authorities found out that I had robbed the burial place, and they arrested me ... I immediately bribed the guards, got out and joined my accomplices ... So I became addicted to plundering tombs ...

In 1907, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, George Herbert, hired the Egyptologist and archaeologist Howard Carter to observe and excavate in the Valley of the Kings, and 15 years later, the long-awaited moment came - the opening of Tutankhamen's tomb. Photos of those years will tell us how it all happened.

Searches in the valley, which lasted for many years, gave very modest results, which eventually brought the wrath of the employer on Carter. In 1922, Lord Carnarvon told him that from next year he would stop funding the work.

1923 Lord Carnarvon, who financed the excavations, reads on the veranda of Carter's house near the Valley of the Kings.

Carter, desperate for a breakthrough, decided to return to the previously abandoned dig site. On November 4, 1922, his team discovered a step carved into the rock. By the end of the next day, the entire staircase had been cleared. Carter immediately sent a message to Carnarvon, imploring him to come as soon as possible.

On November 26, Carter, along with Carnarvon, opened a small hole in the corner of a door at the end of the stairs. Holding the candle, he looked inside.

"At first I couldn't see anything, hot air rushed out of the room, causing the candle flame to flicker, but soon, as my eyes got used to the light, the details of the room slowly emerged from the mist, strange animals, statues and gold - gold glitter everywhere."
Howard Carter

A team of archaeologists have discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun, a youth king who ruled Egypt from 1332 to around 1323 B.C.

November 1925. Death mask of Tutankhamen.

Despite traces of the tomb having been visited twice by ancient robbers, the contents of the room remained virtually untouched. The tomb was stuffed with thousands of priceless artifacts, including a sarcophagus with the mummified remains of Tutankhamun.

January 4, 1924. Howard Carter, Arthur Callender and an Egyptian worker open the doors for their first look at Tutankhamen's sarcophagus.

Each object in the tomb was carefully described and cataloged before removal. This process took almost eight years.

December 1922. A ceremonial couch in the shape of a Heavenly Cow, surrounded by supplies and other objects in the front room of the tomb.

December 1922. Gilded lion bed and other objects in the hallway. The wall of the burial chamber is guarded by black statues of Ka.

1923 A set of boats in the treasury of the tomb.

December 1922. A gilded lion bed and an inlaid breastplate among other objects in the antechamber.

December 1922 Under the lion bed in the front room are several boxes and chests, as well as an ebony and ivory chair that Tutankhamun used as a child.

1923 The gilded bust of the Heavenly Cow Mehurt and the chests were in the treasury of the tomb.

1923 Chests inside the treasure chest.

December 1922. Decorative alabaster vases in the front room.

January 1924. In a "laboratory" set up in the tomb of Seti II, restorers Arthur Mays and Alfred Lucas are cleaning one of the Ka statues from the front room.

November 29, 1923. Howard Carter, Arthur Callender and an Egyptian worker wrap one of the Ka statues for transport.

December 1923. Arthur Mays and Alfred Lucas work on the golden chariot from Tutankhamun's tomb outside the "laboratory" in Seti II's tomb.

1923 Statue of Anubis on a funeral stretcher.

December 2, 1923 Carter, Callender and two workers remove the partition between the front room and the burial chamber.

December 1923. Inside the outer ark in the burial chamber, a huge linen veil with golden rosettes, reminiscent of the night sky, covers the smaller ark.

December 30, 1923. Carter, Mace, and an Egyptian worker carefully roll up a linen cover.

December 1923. Carter, Callender and two Egyptian workers are carefully dismantling one of the golden arks in the burial chamber.

October 1925. Carter examines Tutankhamun's sarcophagus.

October 1925. Carter and a worker examine a solid gold sarcophagus.

Tombs of the rulers of the archaic period

At the end of prehistoric times, there were no special burial places, the dead were usually buried near settlements and villages. They were buried in the ground near the huts.

With the advent of copper tools and implements, more attention was paid to the funeral rite and burial places.

In Badari (Upper Egypt), the walls of the graves were laid out with mats, in some graves a canopy was built over the body of the deceased. Graves, lined with bricks and consisting of several rooms, appeared for the first time in the Negada culture.

After the unification of the northern and southern lands, the pharaohs of the I and II dynasties began to specifically emphasize their wealth and power. They built huge tombs, arranged magnificent funerals. The example of the pharaohs was followed by high-ranking nobles. Archaeologists found and unearthed royal burials archaic period in Saqqara - " city ​​of the dead» the first capital of a united Egypt - Memphis. The same graves were found in Abydos, in the area of ​​the Upper Egyptian city of This. According to assumptions, symbolic graves and tombs of ancient rulers were located in Abydos. Both parts of the state, despite the fact that they were ruled by one pharaoh, were still quite independent, so the pharaoh had to be buried in two places - naturally, one of the burials was symbolic.

The "city of the dead", like the city of the living, was located on the border of the desert and fertile land, even the tombs resembled residential buildings in their shape. The tombs at Abydos and Saqqara represent two main types of burial structures. The difference between them is clearly visible in the authentic tomb of Queen Merneth in Saqqara and her symbolic burial in Abydos.

The buildings were massive, had a blocky shape, the walls were smooth, as is customary in the south. They stood in the courtyard, which was surrounded by a wall. Inside the tomb there was a central burial chamber, around which several chambers could be located. In the tomb of the northern type, the building was decorated with flat blades with figured teeth. Inside the tomb, the tomb of the pharaoh was surrounded a complex system chambers and rooms. An example of this type of funerary building is the tomb at Saqqara, which is believed to belong to the pharaoh Aha. Its underground part was divided into five separate chambers, the middle chamber probably contained the pharaoh's body in a wooden sarcophagus. The rest of the rooms could contain his personal belongings. A brick building with 27 rooms towered above the burial chamber. Hunting equipment was stacked in these rooms, there were vessels with wine and dishes with food, and other utensils that the pharaoh might need in the afterlife lay here. The outer part of the tomb and its elevated building were separated by deep niches. It was surrounded by two low walls. It is possible that between the inner wall and the eastern wall of the tomb there was a place for sacrifices. Here relatives brought gifts and food for the inhabitant of the grave. Outside, the walls and the building of the tomb itself were decorated with stucco ornaments.

Of course, there is no clear boundary between these two main types of burial structures. The tomb of Pharaoh Meni, who united the country, is also divided by pillars in Negad.

The layout of the burials of the archaic period in many cases predetermines the layout of the ensembles of tombs and burials of the Old Kingdom: The ascent road led to the building of the tomb, next to which there was a sacrificial altar in the courtyard. Starting with the complex of the tomb of Pharaoh Ka, the last king of the 1st dynasty, one more element was added to these elements - the chapel of the cult of the deceased pharaoh.

mastabas

As a result of the development of the shape of the graves and tombs of the rulers of archaic times, mastabas appeared. This is the earliest type of tombs of the pharaohs of the Old Kingdom period. The mastaba has the form of a truncated pyramid with several rooms inside and an underground burial chamber.

Mastabas were built from unbaked bricks.

The valley, located behind the tomb of Pharaoh Mentuhotep I, turned into a permanent burial place for the pharaohs. Another valley located next to it became the burial place of members royal families and know.

Strabo visited Thebes and the burial place of the pharaohs, which today is called the Valley of the Kings.

He wrote that in this valley there are rock tombs of forty Egyptian pharaohs (today we know 60 rock tombs of Egyptian pharaohs). These tombs are very interesting and worth seeing. As you can see, already in the times of the Roman Empire, these monuments of Egyptian architecture were considered places that attracted the attention and interest of travelers. Naturally, even then the tombs were robbed long ago, only a few escaped this fate. In vain the entrance to the tomb was carefully masked.

Thutmose I was the first Egyptian pharaoh who was buried in the Valley of the Kings. The tombs of the first pharaohs of the 18th dynasty are relatively small; the burial chamber, in which the pharaoh's sarcophagus stands, is decorated with pillars and has an oval shape. As a rule, the path through the premises makes at least one bend, and in some cases it is built along an irregular curve. In later times, the tombs became more extended, and at the end of the 19th dynasty their layout again became linear. Some burials extended hundreds of meters underground. For example, the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut was 213 m long and went to a depth of 97 m. At the end of the tomb is a burial chamber with a sarcophagus.

The vault of the royal tombs was usually cylindrical in shape. The walls were decorated with colored bas-reliefs and paintings. They depicted life in the afterlife, the path of the deceased, the life of the gods. These wall paintings and bas-reliefs are excellent examples of ancient Egyptian art. The tomb symbolized afterworld where the sun travels every night. Because of this, each room, corridor of the tomb had its own name. In the tomb of Ramesses IX, the descent was called "the first corridor of the god." The deep shafts found in other tombs were probably also related to this system of symbols. According to the results latest research these mines were identified with that deep cave, over which the boat of the sun god was supposed to proceed. The pharaoh's sarcophagus was made of pure gold, and religious objects in the burial room were also made of gold. Therefore, it was called the "golden house". However, the whole royal tomb deserved such a name. It contained huge treasures. Judging by the jewels that were found in the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen, small in comparison with other tombs, one can imagine what treasures the tombs of the great pharaohs kept.

The straightening of the internal layout of the tombs is associated with the strengthening of the cult of the sun god; the first such tombs were built in Akhetaten, the capital of Pharaoh Akhenaten. The linear layout of the interior served to ensure that the rays of the Sun could penetrate as far as possible, reaching the most remote corners of the tomb, the burial chamber and the pharaoh's sarcophagus. Since the entrance to the tomb was walled up, this had a purely symbolic meaning.

So, the pharaohs of the New Kingdom tried to hide the location of their tomb. But they did not lose faith in the divine power of the pyramid, just its role was assigned to the mountain that towered over the valley. The symbolism of the Sun continues to live. The pharaohs of the New Kingdom built their mortuary temples far from their tombs, on the border of the desert and fertile land.

After the New Kingdom collapsed, the rulers of Egypt stopped building rock tombs in the Theban Mountains. The pharaohs, no matter how hard they tried to disguise the entrance to their graves, the robbers were looking for him. Therefore, the Egyptian kings, starting with the pharaohs of the XXI dynasty, began to build underground burial chambers on the territory of the temple of Amun in the new capital of Tanis. This area was considered sacred and was surrounded by a wall. In Thebes, the so-called "houses of Ka" were erected at the same time, following the example of the ancient symbolic tombs of the pharaohs in Abydos.