Thebes, the city of god Ammon, is a prominent testimony to Egyptian civilization. It was the capital city of Egypt during the middle and new kingdoms. The city had temples and palaces at Karnak and Luxor and the necropolises of the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens(UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 2010).
Ancient Thebes in Egypt during the middle and new kingdoms
Ancient Thebes is one of the most famed cities of antiquity. It was the capital city of the ancient Egyptian empire at its zenith. The area included four complexes- Karmak, a UNESCO world heritage site, 1979 and Luxor, the valley of kings and the valley of queens. The city lay on either sides of river Nile with its main part situated at the Nile’s east bank. On the west bank was the Necropolis (city of the dead). This area contained the royal tombs and mortuary temples. In addition, it included the houses of priests, soldiers, craftsmen, and laborers whose devotion was to the service of the Egyptian rulers. Other than the four complexes, the royal mortuary temples, the palace of Amenhotep III and the tombs of nobles are the other chief sites of Thebes (Dorman, 2016).
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In the New Kingdom, the Pharaohs hid their tombs in the secret Valley of the Kings in the western Thebes. Due to this, ostentation had to be concentrated in their mortuary temples, which rivaled each other in size and magnificence. As much as the mortuary temples were designed for the performance of rites connected with the mortuary cult of the builder, they had to be dedicated to Ammon who was the supreme god of Thebes. These mortuary temples had to have the character and essential form of a New Kingdom temple. The mortuary temples were built in a sequence conforming to a topographic arrangement from north to south. Although most of them have obliterated over time, a few of them still remain and they include: the temple of Hatshepsut, the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III, the temple of Seti I, the Ramesseum (mortuary temple of Ramses II the great) and the temple of Ramses III (Dorman, 2016).
Egyptian Culture during the Middle and New Kingdoms
In ancient Egyptian society, the Egyptians interacted with many deities who they believed were present and were in control of the forces and elements of nature therefore, their religion was based on the need to provide for the gods and gain their favor. Formal religious practices centered on the pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who was believed to possess a divine power by virtue of his position thus he acted as the intermediary between the people and the gods. Furthermore, he was obliged to sustain the gods by rituals and offerings so that they could maintain order in the universe. Due to their great beliefs in gods, the state dedicated enormous resources to Egyptian rituals and to the construction of the temples. An important aspect of the Egyptian culture was the belief in the afterlife and funerary practices (Montserrat, 2000).
The Egyptians made great efforts to ensure that their souls survive after death and they provided tombs, grave goods and offerings in order to preserve the bodies and the spirits of the deceased. The Egyptians believed that the human body possessed ka and ba . When a person dies, the ka (life force) abandons the body while the ka (set of spiritual characteristics unique to each individual)remains. Therefore, the funeral rituals were meant to release the ba from the body so that it can freely move to rejoin with the ka so that it can live on as akh. The Egyptians preserved the body of the deceased so that the ba can return to it each night to receive new life before emerging in the morning as an akh ( Montserrat, 2000).
Preservation of the body was a fundamental part of the Egyptian funeral practices as it was considered necessary for the survival of the soul. Although Egyptians before the early dynastic period buried their dead in the desert and they would be mummified by the arid conditions, they adopted the use of tombs for greater protection of the deceased. They insulated the body from desiccating effect of the sand and thus subjecting it to natural decay. They developed an elaborate embalming practice in which the corpse was to be artificially desiccated and wrapped then placed in a coffin. Once mummification had occurred, the mummy was brought to the tomb from his house in a funeral procession that included the friends and relatives and a variety of priests. Before the mummy was buried and the tomb sealed, the priests would perform a variety of rituals such as the opening mouth ceremony that restored the person’s senses and gave them the ability to receive the offerings (Owen, 2010).
The Reason for the Creation of Underground Tunnels and Tombs
In early Egyptian history, the dead were buried in small ditches in the desert. As their civilizations progressed, their religion and burial practices expanded. They stopped burying their dead in the desert and prepared tombs for them. They took extra measures to prepare their dead and preserve the deceased for afterlife. They gave goods and possessions that were to be used by the dead to preserve their souls. The bodies were embalmed and buried in coffins within another tomb and jewelry and items of sentimental valuewere buried along with them.
Tombs were built with respect to the status one had while alive. the poorest people were buried in shallow graves and their graves had straw outer coverings. The bodies were wrapped in linen and buried in a fetal position. Since everyone had to be buried with grave goods to ensure survival of the souls after death, the poor were buried with very little goods such as little meat or a necklace of shells. In other times, the poor would bury their dead next to the gravesites of the rich so that they can share in the abundance of the grave goods left for the rich. The tombs of the lower class Egyptians were built at the downstream end of the Wadi (represented the downstream end of the Nile River). The tombs were made of wood and reed and were lined with mud bricks with a low reed fence surrounding the tomb. The tomb would hold three to five mummies particularly from the same family (Mortuary Practices of Ancient Egypt, 2016).
The tombs of upper class Egyptians were situated at the upstream end of the Wadi. The tombs were made of subsoil bedrock just like the necropolis. The stone tomb were surrounded by animal burials such as hippos, cattle, dogs among others (some of these animals were mummified and had civic ceremonial significance). Although some of the stone cut tombs were not elaborate or decorated like others, they still indicate a higher social class status in the Egyptian society. The stone tombs were similar to mastabas (rectangular, flat-topped stone-built structure that covered deep shafts leading to the burial of the tomb owner). Within the royal cemeteries, nobles and courtiers were found buried in the mastabas. In the royal families, the tombs would hold three to five mummies but not necessary of the royal blood as it may hold mummies from the royal court (Mortuary Practices of Ancient Egypt, 2016).
Necropolises of the Valley of the Kings and the valley of the queens
A necropolis is vast ancient cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The valley of kings is a valley in Egypt in which tombs were built for pharaohs and influential nobles of the new kingdom (18th to 20th dynasties of the ancient Egypt). The valley is found on the west bank of the Nile opposite Thebes within the Heart of the Theban Necropolis. The valley contains 63 tombs and chambers on both the west and the east valley (the east valley is where most royal tombs were erected). Any Egyptian new kingdom royal figure was to be buried in the valley of kings making it the principal burial grounds in the state (Weeks, 2012).
Only the royals were buried within the valley in the large tombs in the 18th dynasty. Whenever a non-royal was buried, they were buried in a small rock cut chamber close to the tomb of their master. The royal tombs were decorated with scenes from Egyptian mythology and explained the beliefs and funerary rituals that occurred at the time. Currently, almost all the tombs seem to have been robbed in antiquity though they still give an overview of the opulence and power of the pharaohs. Builders of tombs took advantage of the available geological features when constructing the tombs and mainly used the raw materials found in the area. While some tombs were quarried with existing limestone clefts, some were behind slopes of scree and others at the edge of rock spurs created by ancient flood channels (Weeks, 2012).
The valley of queens (Ta-set-neferu) was a place where the wives of pharaohs were buried in ancient Egypt. The valley of queens consists of the main wadi (contains most of the tombs), the valley of rope, valley of the prince Ahmose, the valley of the Dolmen and the valley of the three pits. The valley of queens has close proximity to the valley of kings and this could have been a factor during selection of its location. At the entrance of the valley, there is a sacred grotto dedicated to Hathor that could be associated with rejuvenation of the dead. The tombs in this valley included numerous mummies of members of the nobility including the head of the stables and a vizier. The early tombs in this valley were simple in form and consisted of chambers and shafts for burial. Some of the tombs were stretched in size to create room for more than one during burial (Tour Egypt, 2013).
References
Dorman, P. F. 2016. Thebes: Ancient City, Egypt. Encyclopedia of Britannica. Retrieved on October 23, 3016 from https://global.britannica.com/place/thebes-ancient-egypty/
Montserrat, D. 2000. Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt. Routledge: 36
Mortuary Practices of Ancient Egypt. 2016. Tombs of ancient Egypt. Retrieved on October 23, 3016 from www.myweb.usf.edu/-liottan/index.html
Owen, J. 2004. Egyptian Animals Were Mummified Same Way as Human. National Geographic News . Print.
Tour Egypt. 2013. Valley of the Queens in Thebes, Egypt . Retrieved on October 23, 3016 from Www.M.Touregypt.Net/Queens.Htm
UNESCO World Heritage Center. 2010. World Heritage List: Ancient Thebes with Its Necropolis . Print
Weeks, K. 2012.Atlas of the Valley of the Kings. Theban Mapping Project. Print
