Luxor: Tomb of Nefertari (10/20/2023)

Friday, October 20, 2023 (continued)

Our included shore excursion continued to the Valley of the Queens, where we had exclusive access to the Tomb of Nefertari.

The landscape was full of openings of the now 100
known tombs of not only queens, but also princes
and princesses from c 1539-1075 BCE

Inside the first chamber are one of the two lions of Aker
(god of the horizon), the bennu-bird (Ba of Ra), Nefertari's
mummy flanked by goddesses Nephthys and Isis as kites
(birds), then a kneeling Heh (god of eternity); above are
stars, and below is script from the Book of the Dead

Two sons of Horus stand in front of Ra/sun and Shu/air
enthroned, then the seated Horus with two other sons

If anyone is interested, the four sons of Horus are Duamutef, Qebehsenuef, Hapi, and Imsety, who offered protection in the afterlife, and were often sculpted as the stoppers/tops for the canopic jars that held the internal organs.

Horus leading Nefertari

A composite Ra/Osiris with Nephthys on
the left and Isis on the right

A side chamber with a scene from the Book of the Dead
depicting the bovines that will keep Nefertari fed

The large offering bundle Nefertari gives to Osiris

Osiris on a throne

Stairwell relief showing Nefertari offering
nu/water jars to Isis

Anubis as a jackal

Looking back up the stairs with the goddess Neith
(creation) on the left and the goddess Serqet
(healing and deification of the scorpion) on the right

An Iwnmutef priest who worked
only in mortuary temples

Nefertari with text from the Book of the Dead

Child daemon holding knives and
guarding one of the gates through
which Nefertari must pass

Nefertari with Hathor

Tomb openings go on and on

Other tombs are cut into the mountainside

These are the remains of granaries or storerooms at
Ramesseum, the mortuary temple of Ramesses II

Next: Temple of Hatshepsut.