Tombs of El Kab

Tuesday, November 24: After visiting the ancient city of El Kab, we crossed over into the desert to see tombs of the nobles of the late Second Intermediate Period and Early New Kingdom (as well as others). The most famous of these tombs is that of Ahmose, son of Ibana, whose biographical text details his role in the battles with the Hyksos under Ahmose as well as his career under Amenhotep I and Tuthmosis I. A nice website about several of these tombs can be found here.

Tomb 3: Paheri

Paheri is shown standing before scenes of agricultural work. The text before him states: "Watching the river in harvest season (and) the river in growing season, all the preparations made in the field by the governor ..."

Tomb 7: Renni

The tomb of Renni contains a series of very important scenes concerning the mummification of the body and the accompanying funerary rituals. Here we see the final preparation of the mummy on the lion-headed funeral bed. Above, the text reads "Making the purification of the scribe Renni, justified." To the left, we see the opening of the mouth ritual, identified by the text between the figures: "Opening of the mouth."

Tomb 5: Ahmose, son of Ibana

Here we see Ahmose standing before his biographical text. The hieroglyphs face towards the right, but you read the text beginning with the column on the left. The text starts: "As for the overseer of the boat crew, Ahmose, son of Ibana, justified, he says: 'Let me speak to you, everyone! Let me inform you about the favors which came to me ..."