Akhenaten & Nefertiti - The Great Royal Wife - the Beautiful One has Come

Nefertiti was the great royal wife of King Akhenaten (formerly Amenhotep IV) her name translates to 'A beautiful One has Come, and indeed she was stunningly beautiful as a portrait bust of her was found on the 6th December 1912 by  a German archaeological mission led by Ludwig Borchardt during an excavation at Armarna, when the bust of Nefertiti was found lying in the ruins of the Amarna workshop of the sculptor Thutmose. despite a missing left eye on the bust, Nefertiti is still the  most beautiful female figure from Ancient Egypt. Nefertiti had many titles including:

Hereditary Princess 

Great of Praises 

Lady of Grace 

Sweet of Love 

Lady of The Two Lands 

Great King's Wife, his beloved 

Lady of all women

Mistress of Upper & Lower Egypt

It is believed that Nefertiti was daughter of the courtier Ay, who became pharoah after Tutenkhamun, Ay was the brother of Akhenaton’s mother, Tiy. 

Nefertiti bore six daughters within the 10 years of her marriage, to Akhenaten

Meritaten

Their eldest child Meritaten was born at Malkata towards the beginning of his reign, her name means, ‘She who is beloved of Aten'

Her name appears on an ivory writing palette – which probably belonged to her, in the tomb of Tutankhamun – her younger half-brother. Also a sarcophagus belonging to her was found within KV55 – which has recently been proven to house the mummy of Akhenaten.

Meketaten

Their second daughter Meketaten's  name means, ‘Behold the Aten’. Meketaten is frequently depicted in artworks from Amarna, and features with Meritaten and Nefertiti along boundary stelae of the new city of Akhetaten. She features with all of her sisters at the Parade of Foreign Tributes, and it has been said that she was married to her father – and died, presumably in childbirth 

Ankhesenpaaten (later Ankhesenamun)

The third royal daughter was born around Year 5  she later became the wife of her younger half-brother Pharaoh Tutankhamun, In Tutenkhamun's tomb two small foetus were found,  following his death she was married to his successor, Pharaoh Ay, who was also her maternal grandfather.

Neferneferuaten Tasherit

Was the first princess to be born at Amarna, Neferneferuaten was named after her mother, Nefertiti, whose name was changed to Neferneferuaten when the royals changed their names to embrace the Atenist religion. Her name means ‘Beauty of the Beauties of the Aten’, with the epithet ‘Tasherit’ meaning ‘Junior

Neferneferure

Princess Neferneferure's name means, ‘Beauty of the Beauties of Re’. who died  about the age of five, as she is not depicted at the mourning scene for Meketaten. Neferneferure is depicted on a crouching position upon a box-lid discovered in Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Setepenre

Princess Setepenre's name means ‘Chosen of Ra’, she was the youngest daughter and was about the same age as Tutankhamun. Akhenatens son by a minor wife. Setepenre is depicted with her sisters at the Parade of Foreign Tributes. It is likely that Akhenaten and Nefertiti’s youngest child died aged around three years of age, shortly before Meketaten, as she does not appear in the mourning scene.

Soon after Akhenaton’s 12th regnal year, one of the princesses died, three disappeared (and are also presumed to have died), and Nefertiti vanished. The simplest inference is that Nefertiti also died, but there is no record of her death and no evidence that she was ever buried in the Amarna royal tomb.

During his reign, Akhenaten enacted a series of shocking religious and societal changes, he instructed the Egyptians that they should only worship one God, The Aten, he closed all the temples of the Gods, and moved the capital to Akhetaten (Armarna, a completely deserted area with no influences of the previous religeon.) here  Nefertiti and Akhenaten are shown worshipping the Aten, or bathing in its radience with their children, Akhetaten grew quickly into a large, sprawling city on the east bank of the Nile River. Vast temples were dedicated to the Aten, left unroofed to be filled with light - thus eliminating the need for cult statues of the god. Offerings of bread, beer, cattle, fowl, wine, fruit and incense were given to the sun god on open-air altars. As the sun moved east-west over the temples, Akhenaten traveled north-south through the city in a golden chariot as the Aten’s representative on earth. 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

The thing that is most unusual about Akhenaten and Nefertiti's relationship is that Akhenaten are shown in reliefs together and seem to appear as inseperable, Akhenaten and Nefertiti are often shown riding in chariots together and even kissing in public, they are shown as a happy couple enjoying the love a a family with their daughters, no other pharaoh has ever portrayed himself in this manner, occasionally queens were shown with their husbands, but in much smaller scale, and never with their children. I feel that Akhenaten and Nefertiti must have had a genuine romantic connection, a dynamic not generally seen in depictions of ancient pharaohs. In this image both Akhenaten and Nefertiti are bathed in the rays of life from the Aten

On arrival at Akhetaten Nefertiti changed her name to Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti, meaning "beautiful are the beauties of Aten, a beautiful woman has come," as a show of her absolutism for the new religion. 

Akhenaten went to great lengths to display Nefertiti as his  equal. In several reliefs, she is shown wearing the crown of a pharaoh or smiting her enemies in battle, no other pharaoh has ever portrayed his wife as an equal, their marriage and portrayal of their relationship is unique in ancient Egyptian culture.

If you would like to see an image of Nefertiti and Akhenaten when in Luxor, you must I would definitely recommend you to visit the Tomb of Ramose (TT55).  Ramose was the Vizier of both Amenophis 111, and Amenhotep1V (Akhenaten) the tomb is  situated on the hillside of Gurna based in an area known as the tombs of the nobles, in this tomb you can see the traditional tomb art and the amazing transformation that Armarna art brought to Egypt,  

The banquet scene for the funeral of Ramose is outstanding and stretches across the whole inner wall, this is so beautiful, there is no colour, just the eyes have kohline, the carvings and wigs are stunning. Akhenaten and Nefetiti are shown on the opposite wall beneath the Aten greeting envoys from other countries, the above image shows work in progress inside the tomb, it is dignitaries from other countries before Akhenaten and Nefertiti, the image of Nefertiti and Akhenaten has been vandalized as Akhenaten was known as a heretic king who had suppressed the worship of the God Amun, and by vandalizing their images it would symbolically deny them an afterlife, it is a mystery as to  what happened to this couple who defied thousands of years of the worship of Amun, and openly expressed their love and family.

Howard Carter & the Discovery of Tutankhamun's Tomb KV62

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 It encloses the subterranean tombs and final resting places of the once living Gods of Ancient Weset, the pharaohs of The New Kingdom. 

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

Taking the road that leads to the valley of the kings and passing a long sweeping bend you can see three unusual houses neatly spaced with domed roofs , passing beneath them as the moonlight glowed on the white walls of the house Howard Carter had used when working in The Valley of the Kings, I felt that it held ghosts from the past and memories of the presence of a determined yet stubborn man who had made a fantastic discovery. Entering Bilban el Muluk, the gateway of the Kings and passing through the winding avenue between its mountain walls, echoes reverberated round the bends and bounced off the high ridges and the ancient Madjay the bodyguards of the Kings of Egypt awoke from their slumber their ghostly army surrounded the edges of the Quorn

                                       Lord Carnarvon                   Howard Carter

Howard Carter (1874 –  1939) was the English archaeologist and Egyptologist who achieved fame in November 1922 on his discovery of  the most amazing  intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings, KV62 belonging to the young king  Tutankhamun, who had ruled during the 18th Dynasty. Despite the significance of his archaeological find, Carter received no honours from the British government. However, in 1926, he received the Order of the Nile, third class, from King Fuad I of Egypt.

Carter was trained as an artist by his father, and having English friends that encouraged his interest he started work in Egypt at the age of 17 as an artist of tomb  decoration, Carter’s first job was at the beautiful tombs of Bani Hassan in middle Egypt with their magnificent wall drawings and inscriptions, In 1892 he spent a season at Armarna working for Flinders Petrie who was considered as one of the best field archaeologists of this time, Petrie really did not believe that Carter would ever become a good excavator, but Carter proved Petrie wrong by unearthing several important finds. leaving Armarna he worked with Édouard Naville at Deir el-Bahari, where he recorded the wall reliefs in the temple of Hatshepsut. 

Hoopoe bird in an acacia tree painting by carter from the tomb of Khnumhotep 111, Beni Hassan

When the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, an Englishman who was in Egypt for his poor state of health, wanted to dig at Thebes, Maspero recommended Carter to him,  and so In 1907, Carter began work for Lord Carnarvon, who employed him to supervise the excavation of nobles' tombs in Deir el-Bahri, near Thebes. Gaston Maspero, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, had recommended Carter to Carnarvon as he knew he would apply modern archaeological methods and systems of recording. Carter soon developed a good working relationship with his patron who had received the concession to dig in the Valley of the Kings. Carter made a systematic search for any tombs missed by previous expeditions, in particular that of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun who was originally named Tutankhaten, whose father was known as the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten, who insisted that Egyptians must worship only one God, the Aten. When Akhenaten died Tutenkhamun became King, he was only nine years old,  together with his child bride Ankhesenpaaten  they arrived back in Weset, (Luxor)  and 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, it’s people and The City of Amun. Tutankhaten changed his name to Tutankhamun and ruled Egypt for a decade, his wife Ankhesenpaaten became known as Anaksenamun. Tutankhamun was the 12th king of the 18th Dynasty, until the age of 19 when he died suddenly. Anaksenamun had lost her childhood friend, her husband and two small children whose fetuses' were also found in the tomb in tiny coffins. She was alone and just turned twenty one years old.

In 1914, Lord Carnarvon received the concession to dig in the Valley of the Kings. Carter led the work, undertaking a systematic search for any tombs missed by previous expeditions,

Unfortunately the first world war interfered with their search for Tutankhamun, during the war years Carter worked for the British Government as a diplomatic courier and translator  He enthusiastically resumed his excavation work to find the tomb of Tutankhamun towards the end of 1917.

By 1922, Lord Carnarvon had become dissatisfied with the lack of results after several years of finding little. After considering withdrawing his funding, Carter was so convinced that he would find the tomb that he suggested to Lord Carnarvon that he personally would pay for another seasons dig, so consequently Lord Carnavon agreed to fund one more season. Carter never gave up on his ambition to discover the tomb of Tutankhamun, he searched methodically with a blind determination to find the young Kings tomb. On 4 November 1922, his young water boy Hussien abd el Rassoul accidentally stumbled on a stone, so Carter told his workers to dig in this area and they uncovered a flight of 12 steps that led to a tomb entrance.  

Carter had the steps partially dug out until the top of a mud-plastered doorway was found. The doorway was stamped with indistinct cartouches of Tutankhamun. On November 26,Carter reached the door to the tomb and wrote of his excitement,  ''the day of days, the most wonderful that I have ever lived through, and certainly one whose like I can never hope to see again.'  another note in his diary said ' it needed all my self-control to keep from breaking down the doorway and investigating then and there.' Instead, he refilled the stairway with rubble, he sailed across the  River Nile and sent an important telegraph to Lord Carnarvon asking him to come to Egypt swiftly as they had found the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb Carter, waited an agonizing 20 days for Carnarvon and his daughter Evelyn to arrive from England Carter excavated the entire stairway of 16 steps, revealing the seal of Tutankhamun.

Carter wrote 'The decisive moment arrived. With trembling hands I made a tiny breach… . At first I could see nothing … but presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold—everywhere the glint of gold… . I was struck dumb with amazement, and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to stand the suspense any longer, inquired anxiously, 'Can you see anything?' it was all I could do to get out the words, 'Yes, wonderful things.'

 Tutankhamun’s mummy lay within a nest of three golden coffins, which fitted snugly one inside another like a set of Russian dolls.  Two of Tutankhamun’s three coffins were made of wood, covered with gold sheet. But, to Howard Carter’s great surprise, the innermost coffin was made from thick sheets of beaten gold. 

As Carter  looked through the hole, the flashlight revealed gold covered couches in the shape of monstrous animals, he saw statues of the king, caskets, vases, black shrines,  beds, chairs, a golden throne, boxes, chariots.  In spite of evidence of break-ins in ancient times, the tomb was virtually intact, and would ultimately be found to contain over 5,000 items.

5 months after  Howard Carter discovered the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamen, his benefactor,  Carnarvon, aged 57, died, he had a mosquito bite that had become infected  the Earl's death was reported as Pneumonia which was thought to be only one of various complications, arising from the progressively invasive infection, that eventually resulted in multi organ failure. His sudden death within weeks of the tomb's official opening inspired gossip that the tomb was cursed. Lord Carnarvon  died in a hotel in Cairo on 5 April 1923. Lady Carnarvon retained her late husband's concession in the Valley of the Kings, allowing Carter to continue his work.

Finally, on October 28, 1925, almost three years after the discovery of the stairway, Carter gazed with awe and pity upon the mummy of Tutankhamun. Carter's meticulous assessing and cataloguing of the thousands of objects in the tomb took nearly ten years. 

After his discovery and the tomb was closed, Howard Carter retired from active field work. He began collecting Egyptian antiquities himself, and became moderately successful. He lived between his home in Kensington Palace and winters in Luxor where he would often be found at the Old Winter Palace Hotel, mostly keeping to himself. 

In 1932, following the closure of the tomb, Carter returned to London. He was unwell and Hodgkin’s disease was diagnosed. Carter died in March 1939 at the age of 65. 

Carters funeral was held on 6 March, only nine people attended his funeral.

The epitaph on Carter's gravestone reads: 'May your spirit live, may you spend millions of years, you who love Thebes, sitting with your face to the north wind, your eyes beholding happiness', a quotation taken from the Wishing Cup of Tutankhamun, and 'O night, spread thy wings over me as the imperishable stars'

The Amazing Golden Mummies Parade - 140 years after their discovery by tomb robbers in DB320

140 years have passed since the discovery of the tomb known as DB320  this undecorated tomb contained the most amazing group of the greatest Kings Queens and royal family members from the New Kingdom Period  and was discovered by tomb robbers, the Rassoul brothers who kept the tomb secret for ten years, living off the goods from inside the tomb

Eventually after the imprisonment and beatings, and harassment of the village people at Gourna one of the Rassoul brothers confessed to knowing the whereabouts of  the tomb that 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. 

Once the mummies were investigated the authorities made arrangements to transfer them to Cairo, and so 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 River 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 travelled 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. They sailed for three days, all the way from Luxor to Cairo, but on their arrival in Cairo, the customs inspection did not want to let the mummies into the capitol as they needed to find a legal definition for the mummies. The customs authority eventually agreed to let them in, but only under a label that embarrassing notification that they were salted fish,

On 3rd April 2021, in a stunning celebration parade worthy of the Kings and Queens, some of the same mummies were taken in  vehicles to the amazing new museum in a spectacular parade they travelled in specially decorated vehicles representing festival barques to their new home, specially decorated vehicles, with vintage horse-drawn carriages and men in ancient costumes guiding them, and a drum-beating military band building up excitement.

The highly anticipated Pharaohs’ Golden Parade transporting the amazing royalty began their journey from Cairo’s Tahrir Square  at exactly 6:30 p.m. The vehicles were designed to appear like the ancient barques used to carry deceased pharaohs to their tombs they were transported from the 120-year-old Egyptian Museum in Cairo's central Tahrir Square to the newly inaugurated National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in the old Islamic city of Fustat. The mummies had their names inscribed on the sides and front of the vehicles in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and Arabic, signaling the start of the procession by moving in chronological order

The first festival barque was dedicated to the mummy of King Seqenere Tao 11 who had lived 300 years before Ramses The Great and had ruled Egypt under the Hyksos period of invasion.  Seqenere Tao was also found in the cache at Dier El Bahari, his mummy shows that he had died of a violent death, where blows from a battle axe had left a gaping hole in his skull, His son Ahmose 1 was also found in the cache, and his mummy now lies in the Warrior Kings section of Luxor museum along with Ramses 1 who had been sold by the tomb robbers for 7 Egyptian pounds

Ahmose-Nefertari was the first Great Royal Wife of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. She was a daughter of Seqenenre Tao and Ahhotep I, and royal sister and wife to Ahmose I. Her son Amenhotep I became pharaoh. Ahmose-Nefertari was deified after her death.

A 19-meter-high Ramses II obelisk surrounded by four sphinxes adorns historic Tahrir Square, the obelisk with it’s perfect sharp edged sides reach for the sun, paying homage to the god Ra, whose rays flash down it to highlight  bold vertical lines of deep inscriptions that inspire the traveler to utter the names of Ramses making him immortal once  more,   his authority of the land is invoked and assured again, The Horus, Mighty Bull, Exalter of Thebes, Favorite of the Two Goddess, establishing monuments for his father Amun who placed him on the Throne, Golden Horus seeking excellent things for him who fashioned him King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Usamatre, Chosen of Re.

As the vehicles moved, they encircled the obelisk and continued their 4.5-km journey to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, their final resting place. Roads were sealed off as the motorcade passed through empty streets before being greeted by a 21-gun salute upon arrival.

The number of mummies and coffins transported is 22 ,18 of the mummies are for kings, while 4 belong to queens. 

Among the mummies transferred those of  King Ramses II; King Seqenenre Tao; King Thutmose III; King Seti I; Queen Hatshepsut; and Queen Meritamen, the wife of King Amenhotep I; and Queen Ahmose Nefertari, the wife of King Ahmose I. 

Thutmose III  was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty, he was one of the strongest Pharaohs, a warrior king, who brought vast wealth to Egypt. When Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt they gave him the Name of the Egyptian Napoleon as they were so impressed with his victories that were written on the walls of Karnack Temple. Tuthmosis ruled Egypt for almost 54 years and his reign from the age of two and until his death at age fifty-six; however, during the first 22 years of his reign, he was coregent with his stepmother and aunt, Hatshepsut, who was named the pharaoh. 

Becoming the sole ruling pharaoh of the kingdom after the deaths of Hatshepsut, he created the largest empire Egypt had ever seen;  he spent most of his reign in 17 campaigns  and he conquered lands from the New Kingdom in northern Syria to the Fourth Cataract of the Nile in Nubia bringing great wealth to Egypt, he tried to erase Hatshepsut to deny her an eternal life by erasing her name from the monuments that she had erected

One of the festival barques transported 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 (who was also in the parade) 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. Hatshepsut ruled for 22 years, by the time of Hatshepsut’s death Tuthmosis 111 had risen up the ranks of the army to the Rank of Commander in Chief. 

When Tuthmosis 111 arrived back in Waset (Luxor) he had many of Hatshepsut's 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.

The inscription written on the obelisk from Hatshepsut in Karnack Temple expresses her devotion to Amon Ra:

I have created this work with a heart full of love for Amon

Initiated into his secrets of origin

Instructed through his beneficial power

I have not forgotten what he has ordained

My Majesty recognizes his Divinity

I have acted on his orders

It is he who has guided me

I have never slept because I was pre-occupied with his temple

I have never turned away from what he has commanded,

My heart moved intuitively with The Father

I have entered intimately into the plans of his heart

I have never turned my back on the Master of totality

But rather I have turned my face towards him. 

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. 

When Tutankhamen’s tomb was cleared of all its wealth and finery, they came across a small box that held a lock of his grandmother’s hair. Tests were concluded in the 1970's on a piece of the hair and it confirmed that the 'Elder Lady' was the grandmother of Tutankhamun, the mother of Akhenaton, and the Great Wife of Amenophis 111- Queen Tiye, was the daughter of a chariot officer and therefore a commoner so it was unusual that she was the Great Wife of a King. Amenophis 111 obviously loved and respected his wife because he also had her depicted on statues with him, she embraces his leg on the colossi of Memnon

The music for the parade of the Golden Pharaohs'  is composed of the Isis hymn at Deir el-Shelwit at western Luxor, one of the most beautiful and powerful Hymn for Isis, and from the pyramid text, 

The Hymn to Isis during the Pharaohs’ Parade in Hieroglyphics 

“Oh, Humans and Gods who are in the mountains

She’s the great Lady 

Praise to you isis who gives birth to the Light

Praise to Isis mistress of the west and all Lands 

Praise to Isis the eye and Will of Ra 

Praise to Isis that Gives all that is good and blessed to Egypt”

 

 

The Holy Barques of the Gods and Kings in Ancient Egypt

 The holy Barque of Ra began its journey  across the sky each day at sunrise and was known as Mandjet As the Barque of Ra descended into the west in the evening, it entered the underworld where the Apophis snake waited to attack it. 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 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 caverns and darkness of the night on this eternal carrier of light, and it waits for you, your perilous journey through the underworld has begun. 

The Nile River was the source of life for the ancient Egyptians and it played a huge part in their religious beliefs. At night, the Milky Way was considered to represent the heavenly River Nile, and the solar barques of the deceased kings sailed the milky way with their companions to help them travel through the perilous hours of the night, to hopefully reach eternity at sunrise. Other gods, as well as the souls of the justified dead, would travel on the barque with Ra to protect him and his barque from Apophis during its journey through the underworld. Every night the gods, souls, and humanity joined together to battle chaos and darkness and preserve life and light, and each time they won, the sun rose in the morning, and the dawn light was an assurance that all was well with Ra and life on earth would continue. As the barque sailed across the sky, however, Apophis returned to life in the underworld and would be waiting again once night fell; and so the battle would have to be fought again.

All the pharaohs and the Gods had their own holy Barques, The barques could be actual sailing vessels or ceremonial barques carried on poles in festivals. Amenhotep 111 (also known as Amenophis) had his palace at Malkata on the West Bank on the edge of the desert, the palace had its own harbour and a canal that lead to the River Nile, so that he could sail down the canal onto the river, Amenhoteph's barque was called 'Aten Sparkles'.  The Goddess Hathor whose earthly home is Dendera Temple had a barque that she would travel in once a year to visit her husband the God Horus,  in his earthly home of Edfu, her barque was called 'Great of Love'

On the ceiling in the court of Heaven at Dendera Temple there is a  procession of barques that 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.

The Pharaohs built beautiful barque chapels inside Karnack Temple that can be seen in the open air museum in the precincts of Karnack Temple. the materials used were various shades of alabaster, turin, limestone, and the most unusual barque chapel in the museum was created by Hatshepsut for the God Amun. Hatshepsut began the creation of the Red Chapel during the later years of her reign to replace the alabaster chapel of Amenophis 1 and as original as ever she chose to make it from Red Quartzite blocks, an unusual choice of material to use as it has a deep red ochre colour and not normally chosen for a barque shrine. The rectangular shape has three doorways, two rooms, and an open roof.  The first room is a small vestibule and the larger second room was the sanctuary to shelter the boat of Amon on a small altar of rest.  The floor is paved and has a gully that the waters of purification would flow through during the ritual ceremonies

In the tombs  pharaohs had miniature boats made of wood and clay that were buried next to the mummy, in this way these boats were of the utmost importance to ensure the deceased passage to another life.

The  ship of Khufu is an intact full-size vessel that was sealed into a pit at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza around 2500 BC. The ship was discovered in 1954 by an Egyptian archeologist and has been fully reassembled and is on display in the Giza Solar boat museum, Khufu would sail through the heavens in the afterlife in this amazing vessel.