The Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings & the Tomb of Seti 1

‘ Make beautiful your resting place in the West, make splendid your resting place in the City of the Dead, Thanks to your just way of life, it is here that your heart and soul can rest’
Merikare

‘I am yesterday today and tomorrow,
And I have the power to be born a second time'
The Book of the Dead

Across the river Nile on the western shore of Thebes, there lays a desolate winding valley that hibernates within a barren and silent city for the dead, where no life can sustain on its parched desert rocks. In ancient days this was a secret place with only one way into the valley, its dusty road was only followed by the ritual funeral entourage of ancient times, and if you go into the valley you can only return by the road that you came. The sides of the valley twist and turn and contorting into a mountain that forms a natural pyramid known as 'The Quorn', like the pyramids this is a ladder to the stars and eternal life. It encloses the subterranean tombs and final resting places of the once living Gods of Ancient Weset, the pharaohs of The New Kingdom. 

Try and imagine the tombs with an invisible passage of water that flows within a dark tunnel of fear and chaos that could ultimately lead you to the light and eternity. A golden barque that has soaked in the rays of the sun during the hours of the day will now be empowered to travel through the darkness of the night on this eternal carrier of light, and it waits for you. Your   mortal body is dead, you are incapable of speech, you cannot move,  you are traveling across the waters of chaos, you are helpless, you sense a macabre fear of something enclosing you in the water, suddenly the water begins to drain away, a demon snake known as Apophis has guzzled the water, and your barque is becoming trapped in sandbanks, but they are not sandbanks they are the obese fat crushing coils of this  gigantic snake that will trap the barque, while its demon eyes  will hypnotize the crew, enabling the snake to swallow their heads engulfing them in everlasting darkness. Panic and chaos ensues, help is desperately needed, the companions on the barque struggle to fight off this vile creature, that has swum in the waters of chaos for eternity, In the battle Heka stands on the prow of the boat his divine magic was given to the human race by Ra and with his magical incantations he will exorcise the snake, subduing it to his power.  Ra then calls for Set, the god of Darkness, war and Chaos to help them kill the snake whilst Heka has it in his spell, Seth leaps to the prow of the boat with his spear launching it at this terrifying demon serpent, it rises above the boat emitting a screech as its poisonous fangs launch towards them, Seth leaps onto the serpent and thrusts his sword into the back of its head.  Screeching it crashes into the waters of chaos launching the boat into a tidal wave through the caverns. Seth is washed across to the shore where he drags the serpent and hacks its goutiness body to pieces.  In contempt of Ra and the other companions he gloats that only he could save them from the threat of this Demon, Ra in his anger instructs Hu and Sia to guide the boat to safer waters, leaving Seth on the shore. Hu takes a deep breath, then releases the divine breath of life across the water, and the barque once more is thrust into fresher waters, the light and perception of Hu’s female partner Sia expresses the mind of Ra, and together the spiritual essence of these companions on the boat connect the soul with the heart of Ra once more and enable it to journey towards the light again leaving behind the terrible darkness and fear of attack.Only a   man with a pure and righteous heart  ould be offered the everlasting release and joy to be a part of the eternal cosmic cycle of renewal with the God Ra,   the alternative was a macabre and  sinister torment that would await an unrighteous man, before the new kingdom  those who were found guilty were damned to suffer a continuous cycle of everlasting torment in the outer darkness  of an area in the deepest recesses of the underworld, a place of continuous punishment that was infested with demons who had risen from the ranks of the damned themselves, killing and torturing each other. They would rip the protective mummy wrappings off each other, screeching and tearing each others flesh , their skin no longer protected, it rotted  and decomposed  Their hearts were ripped out and the ba soul was lost, never knowing the way to fly back to its bodily home again. Thirst and hunger ravished them, but they are denied the gifts of wine or bread, as their funeral gifts never reach them.,  they would sneak past the four baboons that guarded the Lake of burning fire only to find the water was not cool for them,  refreshing their thirst as it would for a righteous man, for the damned it was a place of destruction where burning, bloody water and the horrendous stench of putrefying burnt flesh  rose from its cesspools, for they were the brothers of Set, the God who murdered his own brother Osiris, and disguised himself as a pig to blind Horus thus causing  the eclipses of the light and sun. Their torment never ceased but each new dawn a ray of hope would spring forth inside their wretched bodies as a blinding golden barque passed overhead rays of light lit up the darkness for a second and as the ray of light passed over them, they would scream and beg for help, but the Righteous Barque of Ra sailed silently over them, completely oblivious to their cries and torment………………..  Only enter these portals of ancient Egypt to catch a glimpse of your possible destiny if you believe that you have lived a righteous life, for these tunnels are the passage between what we understand as Heaven and hell.

At the beginning of October 1817 Giovanni Belzoni arrived in the Valley of the Kings, he knew nothing of ancient Egyptian beliefs and so the tombs that he found amazed him, he found their radiance of colour astounding after he had walked through the barren wasteland of the deserts ridges, and worked in the scorching heat of the sun, searching for an entrance or portal that could possibly lead him to hidden treasure. He had left the Rammessium having safely transported the head of Ozymandias - Ramses 11 from the Rammessium to the Nile, and it was now sailing steadily to Cairo, so he gave his full attention to observing the rock formations in this valley, noticing how the limestone and shale had been shaped by ancient waterfalls. Within two weeks he had located six royal tombs. 

On the 16th October his workmen reached an entrance in an area that he had instructed them to dig, they cut a small channel through the sealed entrance for Belzoni to crawl through.  To his delight he had   discovered the largest tomb in the Valley of the Kings, the tomb of Seti 1 nothing that he had yet found had given him as much delight as the splendor of colour within the tomb of Seti whose walls of the tomb were covered with scenes of the king in the company of the gods on his journey through the underworld, and finally being united with them in paradise. Rituals hymns and texts from the Book of the Dead are carved in its walls, whose chapters were a powerful magical guide to help the spirit from wandering among the living and to help it to find its way home to enjoy an eternal life on this hazardous journey after the death of its mortal body. 

Entering Seti’s tomb Belzoni  went down a set of steps where beautiful poetic hymns  the  ‘Litanies of Re',  praise the Sun God Re in all his known names. Down a second set of steps in the second corridor   the 'Book of Amunduat  describes the twelve hours of the night in the underworld as the Sun God journeys through them on his solar boat. Crossing over a ritual well a hall with four pillars is found, and then into a larger hall with only two pillars where the book of Amunduat is portrayed again. The Egyptians believed in the immortality of a man’s soul and the indestructibility of the human personality, so the soul would need his physical voice and senses when he entered the Hall of Judgement. Seti stands in his mummy wrappings as the Opening of the Mouth ritual is given to him, during this magical ritual, the mummy of Seti is purified with water and incense, and anointed with sacred oils. His mouth, ears, eyes, nose and other parts of the body are touched with ritual implements to restore his senses and movement so that he can speak to the Gods in the hall of judgment. And defend his actions in life. The God Anubis would guide him towards the scales of justice where the gods waited in judgment of him. Standing before the Gods of the court Seti would recite

'My heart my mother, my heart my mother, my heart my coming into being. May there be nothing to resist me at my judgement, may the sherit not cause my name to stink, and may no lies be spoken against me in the presence of the God.’ Then an endless list of all the deceased attributes and qualities of his life are given to the gods, he must confess any wrongdoing, as his heart that is contained in a jar is weighed on the giant set of scales. On the opposite side of the scales the serene Goddess of Justice and truth, the Goddess Maat calmly lays down her feather of truth to weigh against the conscience and heart of Seti. The demon creature known as Ammit snarls at the side of the scales, its teeth waiting to rip and tear and feed on any unrighteous heart. Its grotesque body is the head of a crocodile while it lower part becomes an angry male hippopotamus, the evil demon side of Set who could morph into the form of dangerous animals. Thoth the scribe of the gods writes all the notes of the court and the judgment given.

Coming down and passing the 'Opening of the mouth ceremony, a six pillared hall that leads into the burial chamber of Seti where his ascension into Heaven would continue. Surrounding the pillared hall are small chambers that tell the legend of the 'Book of the Sacred Cow',  whose body is painted in red   where stars glow from beneath  her belly, and her legs are the  four cardinal points of the earth, between this  earthly space sail two barques of Ra, above her back is the heavens where he will ascend at each new dawn.  The text tells the myth of the conflict between Ra and humankind, when Ra was the Divine king of the mortal world and walked amongst his people. He had ruled for many centuries, and was very old, during this time he became disturbed by the rebellious noises from his people wondering if he was fit to rule because of his old age, he was angry that his people were now openly plotting a rebellion against him, when the people realized that Ra suspected them of rebellion they then worried that he would tire of them and wipe them out in a complete flood that would return Egypt into the watery abyss of Nun from which all life had originally been created.  Ra summoned Shu Tefnut Geb Nut and Nun,   the Gods of fire air earth and water, and finally Hathor for their advice He decided to send the eye of Horus to slaughter the humans as they tried to escape into the desert. Unfortunately the eye of Horus had manifested into Sekhmet, the fearsome lion goddess of retribution revenge and purification, and the fields became red with blood as she pounced on the terrified mortals, her teeth ripping their bodies apart and her claws hurtling the mangled flesh across the fields. Ra became anxious that Sekhmet would completely destroy the human race as her rage had become so ferocious. To save the people that were praying for his forgiveness in the temples he instructed a High Priest to grind up hematite and mix it with red ochre in 7,000 jars of beer, to make the beer look like blood. The priests worked all night, and when they were finished Ra instructed them to flood the fields with the red beer. Once again Sekhmet arrived on the fields of slaughter and she was ecstatic, assuming that she had found a sea of human blood, which she gulped down greedily. This had the desired result, as in her drunken state she was no longer aware of the people of Egypt and she was unable to continue with her massacre.  Ra’s compassion had saved the honorable ones, but after the trauma of the conflict he was weary and tired, and so he decided to abdicate, instructing Thoth to learn humans the skills that were necessary through literacy to lead a righteous life. Having saved his people from annihilation, Ra was exhausted and weary so he ascended to the Heavens on the back of the Divine Cow for some peace and quiet telling Nut that he wanted to leave this world and return to the Cosmos where he would create a heaven and prepare a dwelling place for all the righteous ones who spoke his name could follow.  When he spoke the words a great field of peace was created enclosed in the embrace of beautiful stars. The weight of Ra’s new creation of heaven was too much for Nut to bear on her own, trembling under the weight she almost collapsed, Ra immediately went to her assistance and instructed Shu to support her body, fearing that she might fall, Ra caused to come into being the Four Pillars on which the heavens are supported.  Turning to
Shu, Ra entreated him to protect these supports, and to place himself under Nut, and to hold her up in position with his hands.  Thus Shu became the new Sun-god in the place of Ra, and the heavens in which Ra lived were supported and placed beyond the risk of falling, and mankind would live and rejoice in the light of the new sun.

These side chambers and six pillared hall lead into the Burial Chamber of Seti, where the king's ascension to eternal life with the God's would continue. He would recite to them:  ‘Hail, Disk, and Lord of Rays, who rises on the horizon day by day!  Shine with your beams of light upon the face of Osiris Seti, who is victorious, for he sings hymns of praise to you at dawn, and he makes you set at eventide with words of adoration.  May the soul of Osiris Seti, the triumphant one, come forth with you into heaven, may he come forth in the Sektet boat, and may he cleave his path among the never resting stars in the heavens'.

  Having passed the hall of judgment, together   with Osiris, Seti would vanish into the night to re-appear more brilliantly at dawn on the eastern horizon where they would be purified in Nun, The Waters of Creation. Together they had overcome death and were re-born with the sun God Ra at dawn, when the deceased would have blessings of eternal life and happiness and it was believed that he would then dwell eternally on his own homestead in 'The Field of Reeds’ a place of fertility and everlasting beauty surrounded by canals and fields of wheat and corn.  Everything the king needed for this new life was sealed into the tomb with him, all his favorite possessions, his clothes throne jewels and even general household goods. Clay servants called shabati’s were placed in boxes in the tomb, they magically came to life when the king spoke to them. Their bodies were inscribed with chapter six of The Book of the Dead ‘O shabatis, if the deceased is called upon to do any of the work required there in the necropolis at any time......you shall say 'Here I am.  I will do it' this spell ensured that the king was not expected to do any hard manual work in his afterlife as the shabati’s would do anything that he required them to do for him.

When Belzoni arrived at the burial chamber he found an empty but beautiful translucent calcite sarcophagus, the body of Seti was missing, he had been removed along with all his worldly goods during the 21st dynasty by the priests of Amun, his body was eventually found in a hidden cache by Victor Lloret in the royal cache at Dier El Bahari in 1881. Belzoni was astounded by Seti’s  spectacular astronomical ceiling that was painted dark blue to represents the night sky and the heavens, the star constellations glow from their deep blue radiance. 

Belzoni was so thrilled at finding Seti's tomb, he spent many months recording it, he decided to recreate the tomb using plaster castings of it's walls so that he would be able to show the wonders of the tomb to the public , regrettably these have damaged the original relief's and the paintwork, although his innovative idea and installation art of Seti’s tomb caused an absolute sensation in Europe, and his travels inspired a  generation  of people to travel to this land of ancient Gods and Subterranean tombs.