Understanding the news: Tomb of 19th Dynasty general uncovered at Saqqara
Head of the mission from Cairo University and Professor of Egyptology Ola el-Aguizy announced the findings on Tuesday May 8, 2018. While a lot of people might get excited about a royal tomb find, it is the tombs of non-royal Egyptians that tell us most about ancient Egypt.
Inscriptions in this tomb point to it being owned by a general who began his military career during the reign of Seti I which continued into the reign of his well known son: Ramesses II. The names of other family members listed in the tomb strongly suggest it is a family tomb and may contain more than one burial, which is not unusual.
The tomb has features similar to burials of the same period nearby, including a forecourt, a statue room, vaulted storage areas, a peristyle court[1] and chapels which have not yet been excavated.
There is still a lot more to do to complete the excavation, recording, analysis and conservation of this site but it looks very interesting so far!
Note: I have not used the name of the general due to inconsistencies in reporting. Based on the images I've seen so far, I have not been able to make an informed decision as to an appropriate rendering of the name in English. These inconsistencies are quite common in Egyptology and result from different languages rendering names according to their own systems.
(If you want to take a look or help out with translation they are in this image from the article linked below: https://www.egypttoday.com/images/Uploads/2018/5/9/380702-im.PNG the man's name is just above the head of the figure on the right)
The Iwr is fairly clear but I'm not familiar with the subsequent khy pattern and this might take me a while to work out.
As always this post may be updated in the light of new evidence/research.
See also:
https://egyptianstreets.com/2018/05/09/tomb-of-ancient-pharaonic-general-uncovered-near-cairo/
[1] Peristyle court is an open area with pillars on the sides. This is a common feature of New Kingdom temples and smaller versions formed part of the architecture of the tombs of those rich enough to be able to afford it.
https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/4/49630/Tomb-of-Army-General-during-King-Ramsses-II-reign-uncovered
Head of the mission from Cairo University and Professor of Egyptology Ola el-Aguizy announced the findings on Tuesday May 8, 2018. While a lot of people might get excited about a royal tomb find, it is the tombs of non-royal Egyptians that tell us most about ancient Egypt.
Inscriptions in this tomb point to it being owned by a general who began his military career during the reign of Seti I which continued into the reign of his well known son: Ramesses II. The names of other family members listed in the tomb strongly suggest it is a family tomb and may contain more than one burial, which is not unusual.
The tomb has features similar to burials of the same period nearby, including a forecourt, a statue room, vaulted storage areas, a peristyle court[1] and chapels which have not yet been excavated.
There is still a lot more to do to complete the excavation, recording, analysis and conservation of this site but it looks very interesting so far!
Note: I have not used the name of the general due to inconsistencies in reporting. Based on the images I've seen so far, I have not been able to make an informed decision as to an appropriate rendering of the name in English. These inconsistencies are quite common in Egyptology and result from different languages rendering names according to their own systems.
(If you want to take a look or help out with translation they are in this image from the article linked below: https://www.egypttoday.com/images/Uploads/2018/5/9/380702-im.PNG the man's name is just above the head of the figure on the right)
The Iwr is fairly clear but I'm not familiar with the subsequent khy pattern and this might take me a while to work out.
As always this post may be updated in the light of new evidence/research.
See also:
https://egyptianstreets.com/2018/05/09/tomb-of-ancient-pharaonic-general-uncovered-near-cairo/
[1] Peristyle court is an open area with pillars on the sides. This is a common feature of New Kingdom temples and smaller versions formed part of the architecture of the tombs of those rich enough to be able to afford it.
https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/4/49630/Tomb-of-Army-General-during-King-Ramsses-II-reign-uncovered
That's amazing. Thank you for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this post. It is exciting to read about this time in history.
ReplyDeleteI love Egypt
ReplyDelete