SEKHMETS Revenge

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.

DISCOVER AHMOSE 1 THE WARRIOR KING at Luxor Museum

I arrived in a small room at Luxor Museum, where every visible surface was painted black and the ceiling was so high it was a reminder of the vastness of eternity; modern artists had not needed to impress the gods, but to simply remind us that we are standing in the presence of a King. To my surprise the frail body of Ahmose 1 laid within a glass case in the middle of this small room, and it was hard to imagine him as a warrior, but then I remembered how small David was and yet he had slain goliath in the bible, and so I decided it wasn’t sensible to let the small frame of this king influence my first impression.

As I walked around his glass coffin I was drawn to his amazing battle axe displayed behind a glass recess in the wall, the power of this axe convinced me that it could imbue any man with an indomitable strength of will both in life and battles, and I believe Ahmose had those qualities. His father king Seqenenre Taa had been killed with horrific blows to his head fighting the Hyksos, who had been driven from western Asia into Africa by instability and famine; they had settled at the delta and ruled northern Egypt.  After the slaughter of Seqenenre Taa in battle, Khamose the eldest brother of Ahmose became king and led his army to face the hyksos, he was also killed in battle, and so the title of King descended onto the shoulders of a young ten year old boy who became Ahmose 1, ‘The Moon is born’. After the death of her husband and eldest son, Queen Ahmose Nefertari guided her youngest and only son Ahmose 1 to become a great king, a king that united Egypt’s two thrones once more.
             
 I do believe that a man can become great with the influence of a strong woman; Eleven years after the slaughter of his father and brother Ahmose also went to battle to seek his revenge for their deaths, he marched his army into Avaris and finally defeated the Hyksos driving them out of Egypt, He then traveled south with his army and defeated the Nubian king, where he seized all the gold mines and reasserted Egyptian power and laid the foundations of the New Kingdom. Ahmose became known as the Glorious liberator, the Avenger of five wounds, the Unifier of Egypt and Great Conqueror, he presented his ceremonial battle axe to his mother Queen Ahmose Nefertari to celebrate the victory. Ahmose 1 ruled for twenty five years and his mummy was found by tomb robbers in the cache at Dier El Bahari along with his father and many other great Kings, Queens and Royalty.

DISCOVERING CLEOPATRA at DENDERA TEMPLE

At Dendera Temple I would walk on the same ground that probably the most famous of all queens, Cleopatra herself had walked in, and  made offerings to the Goddess Hathor the beautiful one, goddess of love, motherhood and female sexuality, the goddess of the cycles of life and fertility, a goddess whose priestesses were trained in the sacred tantric arts of adornment and lovemaking, one of the keys I think that would unlock Cleopatra’s mystical influence and charm.

Through the centuries of time some people are just born to live a simple life, while others are born to be great, the great don’t just live inside the pages of history, they make it happen, and like a human cyclone or turbulent whirl wind they inflame their surroundings and light a burning torch of life becoming a light in the darkness and centuries of history. Even when their whirlwind dies, it doesn’t really matter because they truly lived life to the full for that one moment in time, and the cyclone they created is acknowledged for all time. Cleopatra V1 was one of these people, she came to the throne at the age of seventeen with her younger brother Ptolemy X11 and like Hatshepsut centuries before her she wanted to rule alone. Although of Greek origin Cleopatra learnt the Egyptian language and like a lioness she took Egypt as the cub to her breast and fearlessly protected her heritage. Cleopatra like Hatshepsut was a very determined woman, at 22 she was delivered at the feet of Julius Caesar wrapped in an oriental rug, she desperately needed his help to end the struggle for power between herself and her younger brother Ptolemy X11, with the arrival of Roman re-enforcements her brothers army was crushed in a sea battle at Alexandria and the young king was drowned. Cleopatra and Julius Caesar became lovers and she bore him a son Caesarion, she now had ultimate power of Egypt, with the protection of Julius Caesar, who was Rome in the eyes of Cleopatra, sadly her misconception of Roman culture, and their dislike of her usurping Caesar’s roman wife would eventually lead to her downfall. In all of Egypt this is the only temple that shows a relief of Cleopatra with her son, they are shown on the rear wall of the temple in union with the goddess Hathor and her son Ihy, at the opposite end. Across from their image is a small chapel created for the Goddess Isis by Augustus, the Roman Emperor who would have taken Cleopatra in chains to Rome unless she had chosen to die with the deadly bite of a snake, and on her death he pursued her son Caesarian who was then betrayed into his hands and was murdered.

Of all the temples in Egypt Dendera Temple would have been the most important temple for Cleopatra, as a mother she would have come to Dendera to ask the Goddess Hathor for her love help and protection, during the pregnancy and birth of her son Ceasarion by Julius Caesar, and he was represented on the temple wall at Dendera alongside her as sharing her rule. After her death, The Roman emperor Augustus lured Caesarion back to Rome with promises of power, only to have him killed. Mark Anthony was the father of her other children - Ptolemy Philadelphus and the twins, Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios.

This temple was a place of pilgrimage where divine healing and magical cures took place in the sanatorium, and wondrous festivals were celebrated in the astrological cycles that are vividly painted in turquoise and gold on the ceilings that celebrated the birth of Horus and the union of Horus to the Goddess Hathor

DISCOVERING AKHENATEN AT LUXOR MUSEUM

LUXOR MUSEUM - DISCOVERING AKHENATEN



Having  spent the morning at the mummification museum I decided to use the evening to go in search of  Akhenaten, this can be rather difficult as his works were systematically destroyed after his death, no statues of this heretic pharaoh can be found in any temples in Luxor, although the tomb of Ramose offers a glimpse of Armarna art with the king practicing his vision of one god the Aten before he left Weset (luxor) to create his new Kingdom in a completely barren and deserted place that he named Akhetaten, the horizon of the Aten, now known as Armarna, this was also raised to the ground after his death, so unless you are an archaeologist there is only one definite place to find Akhenaten whilst on holiday and that is at Luxor Museum. Akhenaton had been a pharaoh like no other, his whole concept of life and spirituality was on a completely different level from any king that has ever ruled Ancient Egypt, he believed in one god two thousand years before the birth of Jesus Christ, and so I wanted to look on the form of Egypt’s most unusual and revolutionary pharaoh, to achieve this I knew there was only one place that I would be able to gaze on this metamorphous of a mortal,  so I jumped in one of the many caliches that were parked up at the back of Luxor temple and asked the driver to take me to Luxor Museum.

On arrival I headed towards the highest level of Luxor Museum to see Akhenaten. I wondered who was this king that had created so much turmoil within a society that had been dominated by their beliefs of many gods and the Priests of Amun for thousands of years?

Akhenaten was one of the sons of Amenhotep III, the pharaoh who had created the largest festival hall at Luxor Temple and whose colossal statues are known as the Colossi of Memnon, they sit alone abandoned at the side of the fields of the western shore, now only the foundations of Amenophis’ mortuary temple remain behind the lonely statues, and in the desert the scattered remnants of his palace can still be found, this huge palace was possibly where Akhenaten grew up. The palace area today is known to the local s as Malquata, which means the ‘place of debris’, Amenophis had named it ‘The Palace of the Dazzling Aten’, he created a harbor in front of the palace that from its place in the desert it still gave access to river Nile, so that he could sail straight from the palace in his golden Barque that was called ‘Aten Sparkles, obviously during the reign of Amenophis the Aten was beginning to rise in importance.

During his childhood Akhenaten was known as Amenhotep, he was never included in any festivals or ceremonies along with his family, he was a hidden child, excluded from the royal circle, rejected, possibly because of obvious signs of an illness that royalty would not accept, but yet his mother Queen Tiy showered him with her love regardless of the reason for his exclusion. His older brother Tuthmosis was the heir to the throne, but when he died suddenly, a new heir was needed and Amenophis was finally exposed to the people as the new successor to the throne.


I stood beneath his statue and was drawn by the hypnotic stare from  his elongated Asian eyes that viewed me from above , his  face was long with unusually broad cheekbones and a high forehead, a strong masculine jaw  fought against the supremacy of his wide and sensuous mouth that pouted somewhat, I felt that he would have known my innermost thoughts in life, I was un- nerved by his steadfast probe of my soul, never had a pharaoh been portrayed in such an unusual  manner before, his deep sensuous lips reminded me of the African race, his long face with highly pronounced cheek bones suggested European and his eyes suggested Asian, his face was a confusion and seemed to portray a man  possessing the features from all the four corners of the earth within one race, his athletic  arms and long slender fingers grasped the crook and flail firmly, but there was no impression of the raw brutality strength or power from  within his body that previous pharaohs had amplified, he was an enigma, a man whose body portrayed both male and female characteristics with his sweeping wide female child bearing hips,  his mind held the key to his power and his strength, the wealth of his position and centuries of belief that the pharaoh was a living god fueled his defiance of the priests of Amun to eradicate their powers and install  his chosen God the Aten to rule supreme, like a despot he blindly pursued his belief and forced his will over others, but his will  was only as strong as his own mortal life and his beliefs and suppression of the priests of Amun then ended with his mortal  life.

I left his steadfast gaze and followed the small pieces of talatat across the wall, Akhenaten had initially created a temple at Karnack that he dedicated to the Aten, and to fulfill his usual rapid need for renewal he used these small slabs of talatat to decorate his temple. Pharaoh Horemheb had been an army general during the reign of Akhenaten, after his death he destroyed the remains of Akhenaten's Sun temple and used its remains to fill his 10th pylon.

All the pieces of talatat that could be found to match, like a jigsaw have been pieced together again to create a small scene from within one of the Sun Temples that Akhenaten had created outside the eastern gate of Karnack Temple. He named his main temple Gempaaten which means “The Sun Disc is found in the Estate of the God Aten",  there’s defiance for you and a snub to authority, his temple had no roof and was created in the same style that his father Amenophis 111 had made the  festival hall at luxor temple, its offering tables were exposed to the warmth of the rays of the Sun,  the opposite  of  the dark secretive and covered chambers that had been created for centuries of worship in the temples of Amun. A special house within the precincts of Karnack contains the remains of the small pieces of the talatat .It is  almost like a  library for  the privileged where only the chosen few are allowed to have a glimpse of all the broken remains of Akhenaten's rule. In time someone will come that can put all the pieces together and recreate Akhenaten's dreams once more. Many layers of history have tried to destroy and eradicate this most unusual pharaoh, a man of peace, a man who made his own rules and defied the priests of Amun, a king not interested in following the traditions of dominance,  a man  that was eventually  broken by the overwhelming forces against him, enemies on his frontiers and a plague within his Capital that took the life of two of his beloved young daughters, his hopes were diminished and after his death his religion and the sanctuary he had created at Akhetaten was abandoned by his people,  the lonely life he had lead as a child, and his vision of one god, the Aten was rejected, he had brought Egypt to the brink of economic disaster with his non violent policy and his life of seclusion, his only interests in life had been the love of his wife Nefertiti his children and the worship of the Aten.

Regardless of his faults   I admired him for his determination to stand up for his own beliefs and for the obvious love of his wife and daughters; he had tried to create a haven of peace within a country that needed the wars and suppression of its neighbors to survive. Akhenaten was a rare pharaoh indeed and was not afraid to be shown in the tender embrace of his family something that no other pharaoh has ever been portrayed for, a man of the family, a child that had begun life as an outcast he blindly soared to the heights to live his dreams. Sadly his dream had broken him; he tried to change too much too soon. I sat and stared at his face for a long time, was this really him? Had he been as honest in his strange portrayal as he had been as open in is love for his wife and daughters? I sat and reflected for a long while, and then I left with the memory of his unusual face in my mind, as nothing else in the museum could compare to this enigma of a pharaoh.

Abydos Stargate - The Flower of Life Symbol - Hieroglyphic Symbols of a Helicopter, Submarine & Spaceship

Seti 1 built a large temple complex at Abydos about 3,200 years ago to honour the Egyptian pantheon, and to show that he too was divine
It is here inside his temple that you can find the controversial hieroglyphs, that are carved into one of the roof beams which was discovered in the early 1900’s. It is the infamous hieroglyphic symbols of a helicopter, submarine, and a spaceship. Some claim these strange symbols are just the result of later pharaohs, carving over old symbols, as they sometimes did to put down their own name instead, thereby distorting the original image. I am not sure what to think. 

There are two thouhts with regards to this image Haydn crouch wrote 'The "helicopter" image is the result of carved stone being re-used over time. The initial carving was made during the reign of Seti I and translates to "He who repulses the nine [enemies of Egypt]". This carving was later filled in with plaster and re-carved during the reign of Ramesses II with the title "He who protects Egypt and overthrows the foreign countries". Over time, the plaster has eroded away, leaving both inscriptions partially visible and creating a palimpsest-like effect of overlapping hieroglyphs'

Dorothy Eady also known as Omm Sety, claims that during Ancient times she was a priestess at the temple, and her name was 'Bentreshyt', amazingly she knew where to tell the archaeologists to dig for things, and she was always right. This temple has always been cloaked in mystery. It has been rumored to have an Ancient Stargate, an opening to another world.

Om Sety went to live in Abydos in 1956 and dedicated her life to the Temple of Seti 1, she recalled how she had once fallen into a dimensional hole inside the temple, giving her a time travel glimpse into the past. Many report that during her years of dedicated service at the temple, she was often seen pressing her hands along the walls looking for some hidden doorway that might take her back to that place in time.

In ancient times Abydos was believed to be the birthplace of the God Osiris, and it is where his decapitated head was buried by his murderous brother Set. Abydos is the holiest of Necropolises, during pharaonic times, ancient Egyptians wanted to be buried there, and many made a pilgrimage to Abydos, as it was a sacred city and also the site of many temples. Most Eyptian temples have a single sanctuary known as the Holie of Holies, so perhaps the fact that the Temple of Seti 1 has seven large sancturies is what leads a spiritual air to this temple.Six of the sancturies have a false door to allow the Ka, or soul, to pass through. The only sanctuary that dosn't have a false door is the Sanctuary of Osiris himself, as he is the God of the underworld and can travel through both worlds. Solar Barques were originally kept in these rooms, they were used to escort the dieties during festivals, and it is believed that they transported them across the heavens.

I have worked with a friend called Caroline in the temples in Egypt, and she is a spiritual tour guide, she works with Meditations, and a Tibetan bowl in the Temples, In this photo you can see her in the temple at Abydos, she has just finished using her Tibetan Bowl that works on the energies, vibrations, and harmonies within the temple. If you look at the image you can see that she is surrounded by spiritual orbs, it is easier for a spirit to manifest as an Orb, than a whole body.

Abydos sits on a natural occurring Stargate portal, much like the Great Pyramids at Giza that are in direct line with the three stars of the Constellation of Orion's Belt.  Every Egyptian temple was created as an image of the cosmos and therefore to build a temple or add a new section became an act of creation.The pharaoh would consult the goddess Sheshat who embodied the essence of cosmic intuition, She was the Mistress of Architects, and with the pharaoh she would hold a foundation ritual known as ‘The stretching of the cord’ to measure and lay plans for the temples axis by aid of the stars

Ramses II the son of Seti 1, built a temple 300 yards northwest from his father's temple and  it is mysteriously referred to as the 'Portal Temple.' the Ancients considered Abydos the most sacred temple in all of Egypt there is alot of interest regarding Ancient Stargates and portals.  Many temples are said to be built on energetic Earth ley lines, may actually hide other portals into space and time that the ancients knew about.

The Abydos Stargate is part of the Osirion, a building that pre-dates Seti I’s temple. For centuries the Osirion was buried under layers of sand, protecting its secrets. It’s still partly underground and now flooded with green water. visible from the wooden staircase leading down to the water you can see two sacred geometry 'Flower of Life patterns of interlocking circles, on the granite walls. The Flower of life contains the patterns of creation as they emerged from the Great Void, everything is made from the Creator's thought. The patterns have been lasered onto the walls. It’s not carved or burned into the stone—it’s lasered on, telling us it was done by advanced tools. This is the oldest example of sacred geometry found anywhere.

Ramses 1 - A Story of Tomb Robbers & Saviours

Ramses 1 triumphant arrival at Luxor Museum followed an extraordinary tale of tomb robbers and eventual saviors.

Ramses was the Father of Seti 1, and the Grandfather of Ramses the Great, who was named after him. Ramses 1 was not of Royal birth, although he was born to a noble military family, he was the son of a Troop Commander named Seti.

Across the river at Dier El Bahari in 1888 the Rassul brothers, local tomb robbers, after severe beatings, and harassment of their village on the Westbank of Luxor, had eventually admitted that they had found the secret hiding place of forty great Kings, Queens and Royal Family. It is considered that Priests had removed the Kings from their own tombs to protect them from Tomb robbery when the High Priest of Karnack ruled, I think he probably moved them from their Tombs to use their treasures, as the days of Egypt's supremacy had died many years ago with the Loss of the Great Royal Kings

When the cache of forty Kings Queens and other Royalty was found at Dier El Bahari by Ahmed Rassul, The mummy of Ramses 1 was missing, although his sarcophagus was found with the rest of the kings. It appears that the Rassul brothers had sold Ramses 1 for seven pounds to a Canadian physician named James Douglas who had acquired the mummy for the owner of a museum at Niagra Falls.

Over a hundred years later In 1980 a German Egyptologist visited the museum and recognized the features of Ramses the great as he looked at this mummy, he was aware that the mummy of Ramses 1 had been missing from the cache, and also this mummy had its arms crossed and its hands appeared to have been grasping what could have been the symbols of royalty which indicated that it was a royal mummy.

In 1999 the Niagra Falls Museum closed and the mummy was sold to the Carlos Museum for two million pounds,. The museum arranged for cat scans and compared the details with the mummies of Seti 1 & Ramses 11 and were convinced that they had in their possession the mummy of Ramses 1, and with this knowledge they generously offered to return the ‘lost’ king to his homeland.

And so Ramses 1 arrived at Cairo airport, his sarcophagus was draped with the Egyptian flag, and he received a military escort even though he had been dead for thousands of years. Eventually plans were made to return him to the place of this throne and burial in ancient Waset, now modern Luxor,

A flotilla of boats escorted Ramses 1, along with Ahmose 1, 'The Warrior Kings', up the river Nile to a military celebration and welcome that waited for them on the Eastbank of Luxor. Their sarcophagus were then driven by horses through the town on a special white barque to a joyous reception held for them at Karnack Temple, from there they were driven to their new home and their final resting place within the new Military Wing that had been specially created for them at Luxor Museum the 'Warrior Kings' had arrived home to jubilation once more.

Ramses the Great and the Tree of Life

I walked through the Hypostyle Hall of the Ramesseum, the Mortuary Temple of Ramses the Great 'The Temple of Millions of Years'.

I arrived at the back wall of the Hypostyle hall to see one of my favorite relief’s, the beautiful Goddess Sheshat the inventor of writing holding the palm of years in her hand as she stands at the side of the tree of life, and draws a cartouche for the king in the presence of her husband Thoth the scribe of the gods.

The god Amun Ra is seated and he tells Ramses ‘I make your years on earth last in unending numbers, I make your lifespan more secure than the lifespan of heaven remaining in your own temple. I write your name in the holy Ished tree with my own hand, I have proclaimed you King on my Throne’.

Dendera Light bulbs in the Secret Crypt - Did Ancient Egyptians have an unusual form of Light energy?

I wandered through the small sanctuaries inside Dendera Temple, and arrived at the Flame room which has an entrance in the floor to the secret crypts. I went down the steep wooden staircase, and had to virtually crawl under a small square entrance that open up into a small narrow passage that in turn opened up to long narrow chambers, the lighting seemed to glow an iridescent green, in this crypt an unusual relief shows what many people believe to be a light bulb. Some view the carvings as representing instead a typical set of symbolic images from Egyptian mythology. These depict a djed pillar and a lotus flower spawning a snake inside it, symbols of stability and fertility, respectively. 

I  have come across this unusual video that makes me wonder., Did ancient Egyptians create an unusual form of light energy ? In this short video it a scientist shows an experiment that recreates an unusual blue light - obviously it's not electricity as we no it today - but an interesting experiment 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygjCaehjIlo

Tutenkhamun & Anaksenamun's Children Foetuses Found in his Tomb

Tutankhaten and his child bride Ankhesenpaaten arrived back in Weset (Luxor) after their father Akhenaten had died. Tutenhaten was 9 years old when he became pharaoh, and he married his step sister Ankhesenpaten when he was ten, she was thirteen..

Under the firm grip of Ay his chief advisor and General Horemheb they began to repair the damage that had been done to Ancient Egypt’s religion under the rule of Akhenaten, who had closed all the Temples down and said they could only worship one God, The Aten. On their return to Ancient Weset (Luxor) Tutankhaten changed his name to Tutankhamun to show that he now followed the God Amun again and he opened all the Temples, he ruled Egypt for a decade, with his wife Ankhesenpaaten who became known as Anaksenamun.

Tutankhamun was the 12th king of the 18th Dynasty, until the age of 19 when he died suddenly, research has shown that he had severe knee injuries, one of his knee caps was almost apart, it is considered that his injuries would have been infected and gangreen would have killed him in a few days after an accident.

Anaksenamun had lost her childhood friend, her husband, and two small children whose foetuses were also found in the tomb in tiny coffins. This is the only tomb that has been found with new born foetus, apart from the son of Ramses 111 in the Valley of the Queens, where there is on display in a glass case a small foetus, it is considered that the WIfe of Ramses lost a child .tragically when her young son died.

In Tutankhmun's tomb one of the mummies was a newborn female of about 5 months old. The second mummy was female of  seven months old. After Tutenkhamun's death Anaksenamun found herself  alone and just turned twenty one years old.

Tutankhamun,s chief Advisor Ay could now see a way that he would be able to rule Egypt legitimately, he would marry Anaksenamun. In despair at the thought of having to marry this forceful old man Anaksenamun wrote to the Hittite king Suppliluliumas requesting that he send one of his sons urgently for her to marry. The request was extremely unusual and Suppliluliumas decided to send an envoy to confirm the request, once he was satisfied he sent one of his sons the Prince Zennanza, The prince never arrived, he was murdered as he crossed the Egyptianborder, possibly with the instructions of General Horemheb and so the Chief Advisor Ay seized the throne, and as was the custom when a king died, he administered the ‘Opening of the mouth ceremony’. The scene is detailed on the wall in the tomb overlooking the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun. Anaksenamun was forced into marriage with Ay and then she also disappeared from known records.

The Spectacular Tale of TUTHMOSIS 111 Gruelling March to the Battle of Megiddo

In 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte of France mounted an expedition to conquer Egypt, to his regret his military aspect was a failure and he was forced to withdraw from Egypt within three years, but the scholars he took with him to complete a survey and record all the aspects of Egyptian life  brought  Ancient Egypt to the attention of the world.

Tuthmosis 111 was given the title of 'The Egyptian Napoleon' by the French, because they were so impressed by his military genius and the fact that he spent most of his reign on campaign with other countries bringing them under the rule of ancient Egypt. With all the wealth of their tributes he made the Temples and Egypt very rich.  Karnack Temple reliefs show the Battle of Megiddo. The sixth pylon reliefs show all the important prisoners and what tribe they represented, taken into bondage as slaves.

The battle of Megiddo was one of the most important and earliest campaigns of his Tuthmosis reign. The prince of Kaddesh had united chiefs from the surrounding areas and together they were refusing to pay tributes to Egypt as they had not been enforced during the reign of Hatshepsut.  the spectacular tale of a grueling march of two months through the desert by Tuthmosis and his army to confront the prince of Kaddesh and his united enemies are given on the walls of Karnack Temple.

Tuthmosis arrived at Yemen which was the most northerly point of Egyptian supremacy; his spies had reported to him that the enemy had gathered at Megiddo. Tuthmosis and his generals met to discuss their final advance; they told the king that there were three possible routes to reach Megiddo. The most dangerous route was through the Amarna Pass which would be a constant source of fear every step they took as it was very narrow and they would have no defense from ambush or rock falls. Tuthmosis decided to go through this pass regardless of the advice of his generals; he was so determined in the belief that he would catch his enemies unaware that he rode at the front to guide his army. The march took twelve precarious hours until finally they emerged to the horror of the enemy who were totally unprepared for them as they had posted their armies on the other routes that they expected the Egyptian army to arrive at. The arrival and encampment is shown on the walls of Karnack Temple.

On the day of the battle Tuthmosis charged into battle on his gleaming chariot of electrum trampling his enemies underfoot. The enemy ranks fell into disorder with their men retreating and clambering up rope ladders to escape the ferocity of the Egyptian army. Unfortunately it is recorded that the foot soldiers were too keen to plunder from the fallen enemy soldiers, which resulted in the safe evacuation inside the city of the

remaining force. Tuthmosis was furious, he now had to lay siege to the city of Meggadio which took him a further seven months. Eventually the Prince of Kaddesh and his chiefs sent out 84 of their children with gifts and surrendered.

Tuthmosis returned to Thebes jubilant with all the spoils of his first campaign, the sixth pylon records than he had over 2,000 slaves including the children of the chiefs. 2,041 mares, 6 stallion’s and 161 foals, cattle, sheep, goats, metal stoneware and armour. Tuthmosis led a further 17 campaigns during his reign.

Tuthmosis 111 honored in every way the name of the God Amun and the memory of his Father and brother,  Tuthmosis 1 and Tuthmosis 11, but he systematically destroyed the name of Hatshepsut, and her image from the temples. 

In Karnack Temple he founded The Hall of Ancestors and erected the Hall of Pillars, and the chambers and corridors belonging to it on the east side of Karnack temple, The sixth pylon details the Battle of Megiddo. To the rear of Karnack Temple he created a Festival Hall, but instead of the usual papyrus columns, he created columns to look like the tent pegs that were used for his campaign tents.

Hapi the God of the Nile Symbolically Unites Upper & Lower Egypt

Two colossal statues of Ramses 11 sit firmly on the throne of two lands at the entrance into Luxor Temple, Ramses head is erect and proud with eyes that hold a calm and steady gaze into the future, on each side of his leg his beloved Royal Wife Queen Nefertari is sensuous and elegant; she displays her divine and naked beauty wearing only a simple pair of shoes, whilst her left hand gently embraces his leg. Standing between his legs a small image of his eldest daughter Merit Amon is also portrayed, who also became his wife; the figure of Merit Amun is badly damaged and barely recognizable. Like her mother she was greatly loved by Ramses and was known as ‘The one who fills the forecourt with the scent of her fragrance' and 'the beloved of the Lord of The Two Lands', 

On the  sides of this throne the god Hapi- Meht of Upper Egypt and his twin Hapi- Reset of Lower Egypt face each other, both of them hold the plant of their region, a lotus and papyrus that they pull tightly, creating a knot that symbolizes the union of upper and lower Egypt. The knot symbolically gathers around a windpipe and at their feet are the lungs of Egypt. At the base of the throne, a row of Nubian and Asian men taken in battle are portrayed with their arms tied behind their backs, their necks are bound leashing them together in slavery this symbolized the Ramses will bring all nations under the rule of Egypt.

If you go across the River Nile onto the Westbank the first piece of History you will see are the Colossi of Memnon, two colossi of Amenophis 111 also sat on the Throne of Two Lands and here you will see the same relief of the Gods of Upper and Lower Egypt, Hapi, on the sides of the Colossi of Memnon.

The figures embracing the Legs each side of Amenophis 111 are his wife Tiye and his mother Mutemwiya

Hatshepsut - 'Fashion for me the body of my daughter and the body of her Ka, a great queen shall I make of her"

Queen Hatshepsut Maatkare ‘Foremost of Noble Ladies, Truth is the Soul of Re'  ruled as the fifth pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt, she was the favorite daughter of Tuthmosis 1, and was married to her half brother also known as Tuthmosis. Hatshepsut and Thutmose II had a daughter named Neferure, who grew to become a Gods Wife of Amun. After having their daughter, Hatshepsut could not bear any more children.

When their father died her husband ascended the throne and became Tuthmosis 11 the 4th king of the 18th Dynasty. Tuthmosis married the courageous and energetic Hatshepsut to strengthen his right to the throne. He had a short reign with Hatshepsut when he died,  and so his son who was only two years old by a minor wife, was appointed heir and he became Tuthmosis 111, Hatshepsut became 'Guardian of the Throne' and reigned on behalf of the boy.

Initially Hatshepsut was content  to reign as regent in the early years.  During the reign of her father Tuthmosis 1 Hatshepsut had been allowed to be involved with the dealings of his government, which had obviously inspired her confidence and a strong will to get her own way in life, and so she initially used  the strength of her father's favoritism to her benefit,  she  also held  a very strong position among the Theban priests as the mortal' Gods wife of Amun,'  this position alone offered her  a superior  power,  as to be the living wife of the God Amun Ra is higher than to be the wife of a king.  with this power  and support of the priesthood of Amun, she was able to seize control she cast aside the young Tuthmosis and she sent him  away to train as a priest and scribe and then later as a soldier.

Hatshepsut ruled for 22 years, by the time of Hatshepsut’s death Tuthmosis had risen up the ranks of the army to the Rank of Commander in Chief. 

During the years that Tuthmosis was away from Waset (luxor) Hatshepsut declared herself as Pharaoh and began to dress as a man, the Osiride  statues of her at her Mortuary Temple of Dier El Bahari represent her as a king with a false beard. The relief’s  portray that it was the divine intention of both her  earthly father Tuthmosis 1, and her heavenly father Amun that she would rule Egypt, In the birth Colonnade it declares:


‘Amen –Ra called for the God Khumn the Creator and Fashioner of the Bodies of Men.’ Fashion for me the body of my daughter and the body of her Ka, a great queen shall I make of her, and honor and power shall be worthy of her dignity and glory’  ‘Amun-Ra answered Khumn ‘It shall be done as you have said.  So Khumn fashioned the body of Amen-Ra’s daughter and the body of her Ka, the two forms exactly alike, and more beautiful than the daughters of men. He fashioned them with clay from the air of his potters wheel and Heqet goddess of birth with the frogs head, knelt by his side holding the sign of life towards the clay that the bodies of Hatshepsut and her Ka might be filled with life and breath, and so one of the greatest queens of Egypt was announced to the world. 

When Tuthmosis 111 arrived back in Waset  he had many of Hatshepsuts cartouches and images erased so that her name would be forgotten, and she would be denied an eternal life, he had a wall built around her obelisk in Karnack Temple to bind the energy of the obelisk.

In 1903 Howard Carter found an undecorated tomb in the Valley of the Kings that had been pillaged in antiquity, inside the tomb laid the mummies of two women, this tomb was not of much interest to Howard carter as it did not contain treasure that it was his ambition to find, so he sealed the tomb and wrote a few notes of its condition and whereabouts. Three years later Edward Ayrton entered the tomb that had been registered as KV60 to collect one of the women who was laid in a coffin so that she could be shipped to Cairo; the inscriptions identified her as Sitre, who was the wet nurse of Hatshepsut. The tomb was then sealed again leaving the remaining woman alone to the silence of more years in an empty tomb,  its whereabouts were then lost and the lady forgotten about until another eighty years had passed, and then in June 1989 an archaeologist named Donald P Ryan rediscovered the tomb again, rubble and sand were cleared away until he was able to climb down a staircase leading into the depths of the tomb where fragments of pottery wooden coffin pieces and mummy wrappings littered the floor. Arriving at the burial chamber he found the mummy of the abandoned lady lying in the middle of the room. 
Although no inscriptions were found that could help identify the lady she was obviously of importance and high ranking as she had been buried in the Valley of the Kings, although the tomb she was found in was undecorated I began to wonder could Tuthmosis 111 have wished to deny Hatshepsut the pleasure and magical words with the prayers of a decorated tomb? That would assist her journey to an eternal life.


In a niche Dr.Ryan also discovered a small piece of a face from a coffin, thieves had removed the gold foil covering, but this fragment had a notch at the chin which could have been used to hold a false beard, Hatshepsut wore a false beard to represent herself as a pharaoh. 
The mummy was taken to Cairo and quite a few years later it was scanned and it revealed that it was an obese woman between the ages of 45 and 60 who had bad teeth who had also suffered from cancer, evidence of which can be seen in the pelvic region and the spine.

Embalmers typically eviscerated the dead before embalming them but preserved the organs in jars and boxes.Cairo museum had a small wooden box that they also decided to scan as it bore the cartouche, or royal seal, of Hatshepsut and contained a liver, the scan revealed that also inside this box was a tooth.  An important dentist was asked to study the tooth as the mummy was missing a tooth, and it was found to be an exact match for the mummy.


I have always admired Hatshepsut, and I do believe that you can’t keep a good woman down, she deserves the best, and I wonder if that is also why her Osiris statues smile as they survey the land from the terrace of her mortuary temple, this woman who became a King has risen again and will take her rightful place.

Experience the Macabre Fear & Chaos of a Journey through the Tombs in Ancient Egypt

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 at dawn. A Solar 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 the God of Chaos has guzzled the water, while its demon eyes  will hypnotize the crew, enabling the snake to swallow their heads engulfing them in everlasting darkness, you are helpless, help is desperately needed, the companions on the barque struggle to fight off this vile creature, the enemy of the Sun God Amun Ra, 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 (magic) 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 (command) and Sia (perception) who guides the barque 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 would 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 in the Hall of Judgement 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.

The Tomb Amun-her-khepeshef - Eldest son of Ramses 111 - In the Valley of the Queens

Leaving the ticket office I rode towards the Mortuary Temple of  Medinet Habu, jostling and bumping along like a rally driver over rough terrain I attempted to avoid all the pit holes  along the edge of the desert, to my right the black tarmac road  weaved its way towards the Valley of the Queens where it cut through the base of the Valley like a flowing river  and  arrived at the entrances of the tombs of the two young sons Amun-her-khepeshef and Khamwese that Ramses 111 had adored and is shown to escort them through the perils and gates of the underworld himself. The ancient Egyptians gave the Valley of the Queens the name Set Neferu, meaning ' Seat of Beauty', it was also known as Ta-Set-Neferu, meaning 'The Place of the Children of the Pharaoh'. The tomb of Prince Amun-her-khepeshef was discovered in 1903

Amun-her-khepeshef was the eldest son and appointed heir of the pharaoh Ramses 111, his son by the Great Royal Wife Tyti. He was named after a son of Ramses the Great, he died at the age of 15 and was buried in a beautifully vibrant tomb in the Valley of the Queens. Amun-her-khepeshef held the titles of Royal Scribe, Cavalry Commander, Royal Fan Bearer and the Superior of the Two Lands. It was considered that a person held a very high rank as a Fan Bearer as they walked directly behind the King and were the closest to his royal presence

On the East wall of the first courtyard at Medinet Habu Ramses rides back from the battle with the Sea People triumphant in his war chariot, Amun - her- khepeshef and Khamwese his sons proudly walk behind his chariot.

Ramses must have loved his son greatly as he buried him in a stunningly colourful and beautifully decorated tomb, it is one of the most popular tombs in the Valley of the Queens. His mother was so distressed by his death that she miscarried a baby, and the small foetus is now in a glass display case at the end of the tomb 

The Screaming Mummy and a Plot to murder the king Ramses 111

In 1881 eight anonymous mummies were  found near to the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut.  One of the coffins was found abandoned in the  corridor alone, whilst the remainder of the  mummies were in the burial chamber, there were no  inscriptions on the coffin  to indicate the man's name and the coffin had also been sealed down to prevent escape His ears had been pierced which is a sign of high birth or priesthood, yet his body was wrapped in a sheepskin, this is considered to be  a ritually unclean burial.

DNA tests have shown that it is the mummy of  Pertwere, the son of Ramses 111  whose mother Tiy a lower wife was found to be the main culprit instigating a death plot to murder Ramses 111. Tiy wanted her son Pertwere to succeed to the throne.

A  priest who practiced the arts of  magic created wax figurines potions and wrote magical spells , In ancient Egypt words were magical, and had the power to evoke the  of power  life and death. The spells cast against Ramses and the black magic did not kill him and unfortunately for the conspirators of this devious plot, their intentions were considered as deadly and as serious as an actual physical assault on Ramses, the magic invoked was as terrible a threat as trying to cut him down with a sword. Thirty conspirators of the harem were put on trial, they were sentenced to death and told to commit suicide in front of the court or in their cells, after their trial, ten judges also faced trial for having taken meals with the accused during the trials, they were condemned to have their ears and nose cut off.

After the detailed scan of Pharaoh's mummy, well preserved at the Cairo Egyptian Museum, they discovered that Ramses III's throat was slit through the spine, cutting the trachea, esophagus and large blood cells of the neck, according to scholars the Pharaoh was caught by the killer behind his back and slit from behind

The mummy of Pertwere hands and feet were bound together, and his face was distorted showing him screaming in terror, and his genitals had been sliced off.

Because Pertwere was not prepared for burial with the mummification process his soul  would be cast into the chaos of eternal death instead of the eternal life that  the ancient Egyptians craved,  it would be considered a just punishment  for trying to usurp his fathers throne . The other conspirators were burnt to death, as fire destroys the body so they would have no chance of an eternal life.

The Mummy of Pertwere is on display in the Egyptian Museum at Cairo. Recently Ramses body has been put through a scanner and it was discovered that his throat had been cut. An Eye of Horus amulet, representing healing and protection, was placed around Ramses III’s throat to help heal him for his afterlife

Hatshepsut’s name had reached as far as the circuit of heaven and encompassed the great circle (the sea)

Hatshepsut's Trading Expedition to the Land of Punt

Hatshepsut had a peaceful reign, she concentrated on trade rather than conquest, the walls of her temple shows her famous trading expedition to the Land of Punt, now known as Somalia. To indicate their willingness to submit to an Egyptian sovereign the people of Punt showered the Egyptians with gifts for Hatshepsut. Their gifts included gold and ivory, great heaps of precious balsams and incense for the temples, animals plants and trees for transplantation on the Egyptian soil,  this is recorded on the punt colonnade, where small African houses are shown standing on wooden stilts, beautiful tropical birds are carved flying across the sky and lots of varieties of fish are recorded

Hatshepsut’s name had reached as far as the circuit of heaven and encompassed the great circle (the sea) the best of myrrh was upon her limbs and her fragrance was of divine dew, whilst her odour was mingled with the land of Punt. Her skin was gilded with electrum that shone like the stars at night

Foreign lands were regarded as the personal property of The Goddess Hathor, and the goods that the Egyptians obtained from these countries were considered to be gifts from Hathor, so the return to Thebes with all the treasures from Punt would have been the cause for great celebrations. Now that her reign was strengthened and successful, Hatshepsut made plans with her architect Senemut to build herself a Mortuary Temple fit for a King, and so her unusual three storied columned temple rose up the side of the Theban Mountains of El Dier El Bahari. When looking at a map I realized that the temple with its entrance ramps is in direct line with Karnack Temple the House of Amun on the East Bank, Sheshat the Goddess of the Cosmos guided the priests with her skills of the stars and heavens, the temple is also aligned to the winter solstice sunrise, which in our modern era occurs around the 21st or 22nd of December each year.

Originally Myrrh trees lined the entrance ramps and its lower terrace up into the temple; these were the trees that had been sent from the expedition to punt and are shown being transported in large baskets on the reliefs in the temple.

The White Queen - A Daughter and Great Royal Wife of Ramses 11

In the fields and undergrowth at the side of the Rammessium lie the ruins of a small chapel where a beautiful statue of the face of Merit –Amun was unearthed. The chapel is known as The Chapel of the White Queen, who was the eldest daughter of Ramses and Nefertari who also became one of her father's  Royal Wives.

Meritit-Amun was a priestess of Het-Hert  (Hathor) at the Temple at Dier El Medina, she held many beautiful titles and was obviously loved by her father to have her chapel so close to his mortuary temple. Meritit-Amun titles were;

'The one who fills the forecourt with the scent of her fragrance',
'Superior of the Harem of Amun-Re' '
The Eldest daughter of the King and Nefatari with the splendid face, Magnificent in the Palace,
The beloved of the Lord of two Lands,
She who stands by her Master like Sophis is beside Orion, and
One is satisfied with what is said, when she opens her mouth to the Lord of the Two Lands'
Her tomb is in the Queens Valley no 68.

The Goddess Nut at Dendera Temple

Entering the Temple of the Goddess Hathor at Dendera I weaved my way through the giant columns with the face of Hathor reaching the ceiling and pointing in all the four directions of the earth, walking towards the corner of the Hypostyle Hall  I recognized the outstretched arms of Nut the goddess of the sky, her name is pronounced Noot and means night, her elegant arms and legs were the pillars to the earth, her face was so beautiful and serene. Her slim elongated body snuggly wraps itself around the corner of the room and her long back extends across this length of ceiling creating her nightly shroud of Heaven, I followed her around as her elegant legs curved around the next corner of the hall as she gave birth to the sun in the morning, and each new day the first rays of light shine down onto the face of 'The Golden One’ the Goddess Hathor that had been deeply cut into the ceiling. I think the face of Hathor still shines today.  During the daylight Nut and her husband Geb are separated but once the light of the day diminishes she gradually draws down to lay on the body of her husband Geb and the earth succumbs to darkness.  Nut was the barrier that separated the forces of chaos from the ordered cosmos of the ancient world.

Gazing up at the ceiling, a row of Heavenly barque sailed across the night sky beneath the starlit body of Nut.  I can see Taurus the bull and Sagittarius the half man half horse pulling back on his bow with his arrow poised on the future. A tiny barque sails directly beneath the sun and the first ray of light a barque carries an open lotus flower that appears to have a snake rising from it; this is a representation of Ihy, the son of Hathor and Horus, as he appears for the first time out of the primordial sea.  He was the beautiful child of brilliant light, the offspring who lights humanity with the rays of the sun and floods the land with gold. On a slightly larger barque in front of Ihy sit his mother Hathor and the goddess Isis, the procession of barque carry all the gods of the sky, surrounding them and above their heads are golden stars which represent the homes of departed souls, and the silver and golden star gates to travel back and forth between heaven and earth.

`I am a soul, I am a star of gold, Here I am, O Ra, I am your son, I am a soul, a star of Gold.’

The Tomb of Queen Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens

The Tomb of Queen Nefertari


Queen Nefertari was The Great Royal wife of  Ramesses the Great and her name means Beautiful Companion

In the Valley of the Queens on the West Bank of the River Nile, Ramses created an exquisite tomb for Nefertari the Incomparable, Beloved, Glory for her Soul.

Queen Nefetari’s coffin was not found in her tomb,  it was discovered by the tomb robber Ahmed Rassul who was looking for his goat near to the temple of Hatshepsut at Dier El Bahari, 3,000 years after her death in the cache known as DB320. Nefertari was surrounded by forty Great Kings,  and royalty along with her husband Ramses the Great . It took sixteen men to lift its weight from the tomb and move it alone.

It was thought that priests had removed the Kings and Queens from their own tombs in this isolated place from the Valley of the Kings and Queens, they were found by the tomb robber Ahmed Rassul

The Royal mummies  were taken from their hiding place near the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut at Dier El Bahari  and were carried by donkeys and mules to the banks of the Nile where they were transported to Cairo. Women came to the river bank and wailed in mourning for the deceased kings and their kin. Never in the history of any nation has there been such an awesome entourage of deceased royalty, the glory of Ancient Egypt rose again as their Ancient Kings and Queens  traveled to safety in Cairo, their final resting place, where modern scientists now continue the work of some of the ancient priests to protect and preserve the mummies of their kings.

Below is a short video of Nefertari,s tomb.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1g-BSiJmu0

The Rassul Tomb Robbers & their discovery of Tomb 320 A Cache of forty mummies of Kings at Queens

After visiting the Rammessium Cafe that is owned by the Rassul family at the side of the Rammessium Mortuary Temple, I was shown a black and white photograph of Ahmed Rassul the tomb robber, so I photographed it and then I painted it. Ahmed is standing with his mother, daughter and grandaughter, outside their home which was a tomb high on  the hillside facing the Rammessium mortuary temple. Looking very closely at the photograph I realized that Ahmed's mother was actually wearing a pharonic collar!

Ahmed Rassul was searching the hillside for a lost goat, he could hear it bleating and so he followed the sounds until he found himself stood at the edge of a shaft that the goat had obviously fallen into,  Ahmed climbed down a rope into the shaft, once inside the tomb he realized he had found a great collection of mummies, so he retrieved the goat and went in search of his brothers to tell them of his discovery, together the brothers decided that they needed a plan to  keep people away from the tomb and protect their discovery ensuring their wealth to come. They returned to the tomb and threw a dead donkey inside the shaft, the stench of the donkey as it decayed would erase any further curiosity from others, and possibly convincing any suspicious minds that a demon had woken in the tomb. Over the next ten years the tomb robbers prospered with their treasure trove that gradually made its way to the hands of collectors and auction houses. Eventually The Antiquities service realized that a tomb must have been found, and so Sir Gaston Maspero sent one of the museum staff Emil Brugsch to discover where the artifacts were coming from. Emile presented himself as a wealthy buyer which gained the trust of the traders, and finally led him to the Abd Rasul Brothers. The brothers were arrested and tortured and despite a severe beating on the soles of the feet they would not give their discovery away, eventually after a month they were released, but then the police harassed their family and the villagers at Quarna continuously, until eventually one of the brothers confessed to the police where the tomb was to avoid any further harassment of themselves or the rest of the villagers.

Once the Rassul brothers confessed to knowing the whereabouts of the tomb they begrudgingly led Emile Brugsch to the cliffs at the side of Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Dier El Bahari and he was guided down a rope into a tomb where to his amazement he found not one mummy case but the remains of over forty mummies. The tomb is known as DB320 it had originally been the family vault of Pinedjem 1 a High Priest of Amun during the 21st dynasty who had declared himself a king. During his rule He had removed some of the kings from their own tombs, possibly to acquire some of their wealth,  after his death further kings moved them again and amidst all the confusion the kings all finally were found in this one vault, Some of the mummy cases held the bodies of the greatest pharaohs of all time, including Seti 1 whose empty sarcophagus had originally been found in his tomb by Giovanni Belzoni, Ramses 11 ‘The Great’, Tuthmosis 1, the father of Hatshepsut, who had also been the first King to be buried in The Valley of The Kings. His burial had been carried out in great secrecy and entrusted to a High Court Official named Ineni, Tuthmosis 11 and his son Tuthmosis 111 princes, princesses, court officials and royal grandchildren. Queen Nefatari’s mummy case was also found in the cache and took sixteen men to lift its weight and move it alone. The Coffin of Ramses 1 was found in this vault but his mummy was missing, it has since been discovered that the robbers had sold Ramses 1 to a Canadian man for seven pounds

After 3,000 years of seclusion the Royal mummies left Dier El Bahari  and were carried by donkeys and mules to the banks of the Nile where they were transported to Cairo. Women came to the riverbank and wailed in mourning for the deceased kings and their kin. Never in the history of any nation has there been such an awesome entourage of deceased royalty, the glory of Ancient Egypt rose again as their pharaohs traveled to safety in Cairo, their final resting place, where modern scientists now continue the work of some of the ancient priests to protect and preserve the mummies of their kings.

The Tomb of Ramose - The Vizier of Akhenaten

Ramose was a Vizier under Amenophis 111 and then later his son Amenhotep 1V who changed his name to Akhenaten.

This tomb is so large and bright with a forest of low solid hypostyle columns representing bound bundles of papyrus, they expanded across the room from floor to ceiling, some of the columns were damaged and looked like large semi-carved boulders scattered across the floor. My eyes jumped between the columns as I eagerly sought out the reliefs on the surrounding walls; slowly I turned around, finally facing the door again. I was breath taken and stunned with admiration at what I saw. The whole exterior wall had the most beautiful carvings of Ramose and his family that I have ever seen in any tomb. I sat down to hold the vision of this excellent Armana art, and a sense of total calm washed over me as shafts of daylight streamed through windows cut into the ceiling along this exterior wall, bringing the awesome simplicity of  the polished limestone to life.

Ramose was stood at the side of the door, and I gazed at his eternally youthful yet handsome face, with his neat little goatee beard he wore an intricately plaited wig, his body radiating the power and position of a Vizier.  The gold collar of a nobleman surrounded his neck with a small beaded necklace, over these strung a heavily beaded heart necklace. On his upper arms and wrists he wore gold bracelets, to signify his office he wore a loose fitting cloak, and in one hand he carried a staff and in the other a large key. Priests made offerings to him, whilst the waters of purification flowed over his head like a sculptured rainbow. On the higher register Ramose is seated while three beautiful musicians shake their sistra to welcome him into the underworld, his wife Ptahmeryt stands behind him affectionately embracing her lord.

On the opposite side of the door Ramose is shown enjoying his funeral banquet with his father and mother, brothers and their wives. This is the most exquisite carving of a group of people I have ever seen within a tomb, the relief’s are life sized which subtly brings the image of this banquet of beautiful people to life, some areas of the wall have been damaged but others as flawless as the day the artist originally created this masterpiece. The smooth polish on the pale limestone carving highlights their cheeks, the only colour used is black within the orbs of their eyes and fine lines that accentuate the kholine around their eyes. The highly detailed and intricate work on the individual wigs as if a hairdresser had sat there for days meticulously weaving and binding. The gowns worn by the ladies seated behind their husbands subtly express the sheerest folds of fine linen. I was disappointed as I turned to the side wall and observed the difference of the small painted registers showing the traditional funeral procession that had obviously been started on whilst Ramose had been the vizier under the rule of Amenophis 111, imagine how wonderful it would have been to see this whole tomb created in the distinctive classical Armarna style.



On the painted walls of the tomb the personal belongings of Ramose are carried into the tomb by porters along with larger objects, including an elegant bed, and four wooden chests. Facing this row a group of women mourners raise their arms wailing with grief as tears stream from their eyes. finally the funeral procession arrives the tomb where the opening of the mouth ceremony is given outside the entrance to the tomb, underneath this scene I almost fell down a set of steps that lead to a gloomy entrance, I was told that this travels underneath the inner chamber and leads to the burial chamber that is not open for viewing. Avoiding this gaping shaft, I moved safely across to look at the back internal wall where the walls are carved once again, but without the same classical finesse of the banquet scene, and Ramose is shown standing before the newly installed  pharaoh Amenhotep 1V, who sits under a royal beldachin with the goddess Maat  behind him. Moving across this wall a doorway that leads into a very dark inner chamber that was unfinished and no access is allowed. passing this the final scenes are carved and penciled in and here the new style of art is portrayed, Amenophis 1V has rejected the god of Amun  and converted to his new religion worshiping one god, and he is now shown as Akhenaten with his wife Nefertiti standing behind him on the balcony of the palace beneath the rays of the Aten ,small hands on some of the rays hold the key of life,  the  enemies of this heretic king have mutilated and gouged  the images of Akhenaten and Nefertiti symbolically destroying the possibility of their next life. So much beauty and passion on the edge of turbulence are expressed on the walls of this tomb. Ramose stands beneath the gouged bodies of Akenaten and Nefertiti and he receives a gold collar for his services as vizier yet his image has endured the attack of religious fervor

I looked at the final scenes portrayed,  Ramose is receiving a group of foreign delegations, the craftsmen had sketched  these on the wall ready for the carvers to follow after them , the carvers never came, the tomb was abandoned the work  left unfinished, Akhenaton had decided to move his court to Armarna and Ramose would have followed as his vizier. The exterior wall of this tomb is a breathtaking masterpiece of art, but like Akhenaten what had started in glory ended like the final wall within this tomb, totally devoid of expression, blank, a wall expressing the wilderness of a revolution that had run out of time before its completion like the work portrayed on its walls.