Tomb of Seti I

Last updated
KV17
Burial site of Seti I
KV17, the tomb of Pharaoh Seti I of the Nineteenth Dynasty, Valley of the Kings, Egypt (49846343021).jpg
Interior of the tomb (upper pillared hall)
Egypt adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
KV17
Coordinates 25°44′23.3″N32°36′06.8″E / 25.739806°N 32.601889°E / 25.739806; 32.601889
Location East Valley of the Kings
Discovered16 October 1817
Excavated by Giovanni Battista Belzoni
Decoration Opening of the mouth ceremony, Book of Gates, Litany of Re, Book of the Dead, Amduat, Book of the Heavenly Cow
← Previous
KV16
Next →
KV18

Tomb KV17, located in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, is the tomb of Pharaoh Seti I of the Nineteenth Dynasty. It is also known by the names "Belzoni's tomb", "the Tomb of Apis", and "the Tomb of Psammis, son of Nechois". It is one of the most decorated tombs in the valley, and is one of the largest and deepest tombs in the Valley of the Kings. [1] It was uncovered by Italian archaeologist and explorer Giovanni Battista Belzoni on 16 October 1817.

Contents

Design

Previously considered the longest tomb in the valley until the discovery of the Tomb of the Sons of Ramesses II, at 137.19 meters (450.10 feet), [2] it contains well preserved reliefs in all but two of its seventeen chambers and side rooms. A portion of the tomb is still being excavated, known as Corridor K. Corridor K leads away, into the mountainside, from beneath the location where the sarcophagus stood in the burial chamber. The tunnel has not been properly excavated, as much of the tunnel has been filled with debris. Probing projects into the tunnel started around 2001; according to the Theban Mapping Project, "A project to geophysically explore the corridor was approved by the Supreme Council of Antiquities". [3] No results have been made public from this excavation, as of March 12, 2023.

Map of Valley of The Kings showing the location of KV17. KV 35 Tomb Valley of the kings (cropped).png
Map of Valley of The Kings showing the location of KV17.

The design of the tomb follows a "joggled axis [4] " style of architecture; the tomb entry's descending line is interrupted by a "wiggle" that changes to a sharper angle of descent when entering the tomb following the first chamber. The entry to the tomb consists of four hallways (A–D), each leading further underground; they have a number of murals depicting traditional religious imagery along with illustrations of Seti I before Ra. Deeper into the tomb, rooms F, Fa, J, Jb, Jc and Jd have intricately carved support pillars with well preserved decorations. It is also one of the first discovered tombs to have a vaulted burial chamber, [1] along with remaining examples of construction, such as plastered over postholes where wooden beams would have been. [1]

A shaft was cut into the floor of chamber E, its purpose unknown. [3]

Parts of the tomb ceilings have been painted with gold stars on a deep blue sky, a common motif in temples and tombs in Egypt. Numerous rooms in Seti's tomb use the motif, including rooms such as side chamber Jb with the Imydwat. There are many richly decorated rooms, with their own general themes.

The body identified as Seti's mummy was not found in his coffin upon Belzoni's discovery of the tomb, but rather in the royal cache DB320 amongst 36 other mummies. [5] His coffin (perhaps the inner or secondary coffin) was heavily damaged, as was his mummy. It has been postulated that priests of numerous dynasties attempted restorations of both his tomb and his coffin, but his mummy was finally moved in the Year 11 of Shoshenq I to cache DB320. [6] The outer coffin was going to be sold by Belzoni to the British Museum in 1817, but it was sold for $2000 USD to a British architect later that year, which now rests in the Sir John Soan's Museum London. [7]

Decoration

The entry corridors (Corridors B–D) are heavily decorated with symbols of the Pharaoh, like those of Ma'at and a list of Set's royal names and epithets. [3] One of the back chambers is decorated with the Opening of the mouth ceremony, which shows the Egyptian belief that a magic religious ceremony would open the lungs and throat of the mummy, allowing them to breathe in the afterlife. Considered a very important religious ceremony, a semi-complete depiction of this ritual provides an in-depth view of the pantheon of practices undertaken to ensure safe passage into the afterlife. [8] Further into the tomb are numerous depictions of King Seti with numerous Gods. Chamber F depicts images of Seti with Hathor, Horus and Neith, [3] along with intact mural examples of the Book of Gates.

Map of Belzoni's discoveries in the Valley of the Kings. KV17 is marked as "6. Great Tomb of Samathis". Belzoni's Valley of the Kings.jpg
Map of Belzoni's discoveries in the Valley of the Kings. KV17 is marked as "6. Great Tomb of Samathis".

The tomb is covered floor to ceiling by detailed murals and reliefs. The ceiling of the vaulted burial chamber depicts a series of astronomical motifs, with golden stars on a deep blue background. Other decorations are religious in nature, including depictions of the Litany of Ra, the Book of The Dead, the Imydwat, the Book of The Heavenly Cow and depictions of Seti with various deities. There are also depictions of the King alone, standing in the pillars of the room. [3] Each room is heavily decorated, both wall and ceiling, along with numerous columns and floor skirting. Much of the floor skirting is damaged, due to both the ravages of time and the damage due to excavation.

Archaeology and conservation

The tomb was uncovered by Italian explorer and early Egyptologist Giovanni Battista Belzoni [9] on 16 October 1817. Upon entering the tomb, Belzoni found the wall paintings in excellent condition with the paint on the walls still looking fresh, and some of the artists' paints and brushes still on the floor. [10] The tomb became known as the "Apis tomb" upon the discovery of a mummified Apis Bull found in a side room off the burial hall [11] when Belzoni uncovered the tomb.

Depiction of Osiris in the Tomb of Seti I. Jean-Pierre Dalbera La tombe de Sethi 1er (KV.17) (Vallee des Rois, Thebes ouest) -7.jpg
Depiction of Osiris in the Tomb of Seti I. Jean-Pierre Dalbéra

Much of the structural damage to the tomb before the 1950s and 1960s was caused by Belzoni. Belzoni, in an effort to bring back pieces of Egyptian art, damaged much of the work within the tomb. He made "squeezes", a form of copying artwork by pressing wet wax, plaster and sometimes paper against the reliefs; when they dried, the color was pulled away, and a negative impression was made of the carvings, but it also damaged many of the reliefs and carvings. [12] Beyond the use of "squeezes", Belzoni also hacked off large pieces of relief to send back to Europe, along with clearing rubble that held back flash floodwaters; the tomb subsequently flooded, damaging large portions of the structure and damaged the reliefs in the entryway. [13]

The outer layer of the sarcophagus of Seti I, removed on behalf of the British consul Henry Salt, is located in the Sir John Soane's Museum in London since 1824. Jean-François Champollion, translator of the Rosetta Stone, removed a wall panel of 2.26 x 1.05 m (7.41 x 3.44 ft) in a corridor with mirror-image scenes during his 1828–29 expedition. Other elements were removed by his companion Rossellini or by Karl Richard Lepsius in the German expedition of 1845. The scenes are now in the collections of the Louvre in Paris, the Egyptian Museum in Florence, and the Neues Museum in Berlin. [14] [15]

A number of walls in the tomb have collapsed or cracked due to excavations in the late 1950s and early 1960s causing significant changes in the moisture levels in the surrounding rocks. [16]

There have been a number of recent 21st century attempts at preservation, both through image-mapping projects like the Theban Mapping Project and the Maidan Project, and through intense laser scanning of the reliefs on the walls of the tomb by the Factum Foundation leading to much of the images within the tomb available to the public. A 3-D scan of the temple was made available in 2002, allowing viewers to 'walk' through the tomb through a series of 3d photos. Restoration has been a nearly constant effort, as the tomb remains closed due to damage.

Facsimiles of two rooms from the tomb, the Hall of Beauties and Pillared Hall J, were made by the Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Conservation in 2017. [17]

Tourism

Due to excavation and the damages of improperly regulated tourism, visitations may or may not be possible, as archaeology efforts in the 1950s and 1960s have made parts of the tomb unstable. However, as of 2023, the Tomb is open for visitations. [18] The price of entry into the tomb, as stated by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, is EGP 1800 for adult foreigners and students, but for Egyptians the ticket price is EGP 500 for adults and EGP 250 for students. [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seti I</span> Egyptian pharaoh

Menmaatre Seti I was the second pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the New Kingdom period, ruling c. 1294 or 1290 BCE to 1279 BCE. He was the son of Ramesses I and Sitre, and the father of Ramesses II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomb of Tutankhamun</span> Ancient Egyptian tomb

The tomb of Tutankhamun, also known by its tomb number, KV62, is the burial place of Tutankhamun, a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb consists of four chambers and an entrance staircase and corridor. It is smaller and less extensively decorated than other Egyptian royal tombs of its time, and it probably originated as a tomb for a non-royal individual that was adapted for Tutankhamun's use after his premature death. Like other pharaohs, Tutankhamun was buried with a wide variety of funerary objects and personal possessions, such as coffins, furniture, clothing and jewelry, though in the unusually limited space these goods had to be densely packed. Robbers entered the tomb twice in the years immediately following the burial, but Tutankhamun's mummy and most of the burial goods remained intact. The tomb's low position, dug into the floor of the valley, allowed its entrance to be hidden by debris deposited by flooding and tomb construction. Thus, unlike other tombs in the valley, it was not stripped of its valuables during the Third Intermediate Period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KV6</span> Tomb of Ramesses IX

Tomb KV6 in Egypt's Valley of the Kings is the final resting place of the 20th-Dynasty Pharaoh Ramesses IX. However, the archaeological evidence and the quality of decoration it contains indicates that the tomb was not finished in time for Ramesses's death but was hastily rushed through to completion, many corners being cut, following his demise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KV60</span> Ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings

Tomb KV60 is an ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. It was discovered by Howard Carter in 1903, and re-excavated by Donald P. Ryan in 1989. It is one of the more perplexing tombs of the Theban Necropolis, due to the uncertainty over the identity of one female mummy found there (KV60A). She is identified by some, such as Egyptologist Elizabeth Thomas, to be that of the Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Hatshepsut; this identification is advocated for by Zahi Hawass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WV23</span> Ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings

Tomb WV23, also known as KV23, is located in the Western Valley of the Kings near modern-day Luxor, and was the tomb of Pharaoh Ay of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The tomb was discovered by Giovanni Battista Belzoni in the winter of 1816. Its architecture is similar to that of the tomb of Akhenaten, with a straight descending corridor leading to a "well chamber" that has no shaft. This leads to the burial chamber, which now contains the reconstructed sarcophagus, which had been smashed in antiquity. The tomb had also been anciently desecrated, with many instances of Ay's image or name erased from the wall paintings. Its decoration is similar in content and colour to that of the tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62), with a few differences. On the eastern wall there is a depiction of a fishing and fowling scene, which is not shown in other royal tombs, normally appearing in burials of nobility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KV35</span> Tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep II in Luxor, Egypt

Tomb KV35 is the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep II located in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt. Later, it was used as a cache for other royal mummies. It was discovered by Victor Loret in March 1898.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KV20</span> Ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings

KV20 is a tomb in the Valley of the Kings (Egypt). It was probably the first royal tomb to be constructed in the valley. KV20 was the original burial place of Thutmose I and later was adapted by his daughter Hatshepsut to accommodate her and her father. The tomb was known to Napoleon Bonaparte's expedition in 1799 and had been visited by several explorers between 1799 and 1903. A full clearance of the tomb was undertaken by Howard Carter in 1903–1904. KV20 is distinguishable from other tombs in the valley, both in its general layout and because of the atypical clockwise curvature of its corridors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Cache</span> Ancient Egyptian tomb

The Royal Cache, technically known as TT320, is an Ancient Egyptian tomb located next to Deir el-Bahari, in the Theban Necropolis, opposite the modern city of Luxor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KV39</span> Possible tomb of Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep I

Tomb KV39 in Egypt's Valley of the Kings is one of the possible locations of the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep I. It is located high in the cliffs, away from the main valley bottom and other royal burials. It is in a small wadi that runs from the east side of Al-Qurn, directly under the ridge where the workmen's village of Deir el-Medina lies. The layout of the tomb is unique. It has two axes, one east and one south. Its construction seems to have occurred in three phases. It began as a simple straight axis tomb that never continued past the first room. In the subsequent phase, a series of long descending corridors and steps were cut to the east and south. It was discovered around 1900 by either Victor Loret or Macarious and Andraos but was not fully examined. It was excavated between 1989 and 1994 by John Rose and was further examined in 2002 by Ian Buckley. Based on the tomb's architecture and pottery found, it was likely cut in the early Eighteenth Dynasty, possibly for a queen. Fragmentary remains of burials were recovered from parts of the tomb but who they belong to is unknown. KV39's location may fit the description of the tomb of Amenhotep I given in the Abbott Papyrus but this is the subject of debate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KV7</span> Tomb of Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II

Tomb KV7 was the tomb of Ramesses II, an ancient Egyptian pharaoh during the Nineteenth Dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exploration of the Valley of the Kings</span>

The area of the Valley of the Kings, in Luxor, Egypt, has been a major area of modern Egyptological exploration for the last two centuries. Before this, the area was a site for tourism in antiquity. This area illustrates the changes in the study of ancient Egypt, beginning as antiquity hunting and ending with the scientific excavation of the whole Theban Necropolis. Despite the exploration and investigation noted below, only eleven of the tombs have actually been completely recorded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KV1</span> Tomb of Ramesses VII

Tomb KV1, located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, was used for the burial of Pharaoh Ramesses VII of the Twentieth Dynasty. Although it has been open since antiquity, it was only properly investigated and cleared by Edwin Brock in 1984 and 1985. The single corridor tomb is located in Luxor's West Bank, and is small in comparison to other tombs of the Twentieth Dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KV4</span> Ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings

KV4 is a tomb in the Valley of the Kings (Egypt). The tomb was initiated for the burial of Ramesses XI but it is likely that its construction was abandoned and it was not used for Ramesses's interment. It also seems likely that Pinedjem I intended to usurp this tomb for his own burial, but that he too abandoned the plan. KV4 is notable for being the last royal tomb that was quarried in the Valley and because it has been interpreted as being a workshop used during the official dismantling of the royal necropolis in the early Third Intermediate Period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KV16</span> Ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings

Tomb KV16 is located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. It was used for the burial of Pharaoh Ramesses I of the Nineteenth Dynasty. The burial place was discovered by Giovanni Belzoni in October 1817.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KV15</span> Ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings

Tomb KV15, located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, was used for the burial of Pharaoh Seti II of the Nineteenth Dynasty. The tomb was dug into the base of a near-vertical cliff face at the head of a wadi running southwest from the main part of the Valley of the Kings. It runs along a northwest-to-southeast axis, comprising a short entry corridor followed by three corridor segments, which terminate in a well room that lacks a well, which was never dug. This then connects with a four-pillared hall and another stretch of corridor that was converted into a burial chamber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KV30</span> Ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings

Tomb KV30 is an ancient Egyptian tomb located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. It likely dates to the mid-Eighteenth Dynasty and was used for the burial of an unknown individual. It may have been discovered by Giovanni Belzoni in 1817, working on a commission from the Second Earl Belmore. It was excavated in 2009-2010 by the University of Basel's Kings' Valley Project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KV44</span> Ancient Egyptian tomb containing ten burials

KV44 is an ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, Egypt. It was discovered and excavated by Howard Carter in 1901 and was re-examined in 1991 by Donald P. Ryan. The single chamber accessed by a shaft contained three intact Twenty-second Dynasty burials; the remains of seven mummies from the original interment were found within the fill. The original cutting of the tomb is dated to the Eighteenth Dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KV21</span> Ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings

Tomb KV21 is an ancient Egyptian tomb located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. It was discovered in 1817 by Giovanni Belzoni and later re-excavated by Donald P. Ryan in 1989. It contains the mummies of two women, thought to be Eighteenth Dynasty queens. In 2010, a team headed by Zahi Hawass used DNA evidence to tentatively identify one mummy, KV21A, as the biological mother of the two fetuses preserved in the tomb of King Tutankhamun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valley of the Kings</span> Necropolis in ancient Egypt

The Valley of the Kings, also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings, is an area in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the Eighteenth Dynasty to the Twentieth Dynasty, rock-cut tombs were excavated for pharaohs and powerful nobles under the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt.

The majority of the 65 numbered tombs in the Valley of the Kings can be considered minor tombs, either because at present they have yielded little information or because the results of their investigation was only poorly recorded by their explorers, while some have received very little attention or were only cursorily noted. Most of these tombs are small, often only consisting of a single burial chamber accessed by means of a shaft or a staircase with a corridor or a series of corridors leading to the chamber, but some are larger, multiple chambered tombs. These minor tombs served various purposes, some were intended for burials of lesser royalty or for private burials, some contained animal burials and others apparently never received a primary burial. In many cases these tombs also served secondary functions and later intrusive material has been found related to these secondary activities. While some of these tombs have been open since antiquity, the majority were discovered in the 19th and early 20th centuries during the height of exploration in the valley.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "KV17 (Tomb of Seti I) – Madain Project (en)". madainproject.com. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
  2. ↑ Bossone, Andrew (April 17, 2008). "Pharaoh Seti I's Tomb Bigger Than Thought". National Geographic News. Archived from the original on April 20, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-19.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Sety I | Theban Mapping Project". thebanmappingproject.com. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  4. ↑ "Tomb of Sety I (KV17)". egymonuments.gov.eg. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  5. ↑ Bart, Anneke (2004). "The Mummy Cache Found In DB320".
  6. ↑ "View 19'th Dynasty Royal Mummies from DB320 & KV35". members.tripod.com. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  7. ↑ "Sarcophagus of Seti I". www.soane.org. 2019-05-16. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  8. ↑ "Opening of the Mouth". www.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  9. ↑ Dunn, Jimmy. "The Tomb of Seti I" . Retrieved March 7, 2014.
  10. ↑ Romer, John; Romer, Elizabeth (1993). The Rape of Tutankhamun. Michael O'Mara Books Limited. p. 107. ISBN   1854791699.
  11. ↑ "KV17 (Tomb of Seti I) – Madain Project (en)". madainproject.com. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  12. ↑ Foundation, Factum. "Factum Foundation :: Squeezes, an invasive conservation technique". www.factumfoundation.org. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  13. ↑ Wüst, Raphael & McLane, James (2000). "Rock deterioration in the Royal Tomb of Seti I, Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt". Engineering Geology.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ Coppola, M.; Bracci, S.; Cantisani, E.; Magrini, D. (2017). "The Tomb of Seti I (KV17) in the Florence Egyptian Museum. Integrated Non-Invasive Methods for Documentation, Material History and Diagnostics". International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. XLII-5/W1: 127–135. Bibcode:2017ISPAr42W4..127C. doi: 10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-5-W1-127-2017 . hdl: 2158/1120382 .
  15. ↑ Hornung, Erik (2001). "The Tomb of Seti I". In Weeks, Kent R. (ed.). Valley of the Kings: The Tombs and Funerary Temples of Thebes West. VMB Publishers. pp. 195–211. ISBN   978-8854009769.
  16. ↑ Romer, John; Romer, Elizabeth (1993). The Rape of Tutankhamun. Michael O'Mara Books Limited. pp. 25–30. ISBN   1854791699.
  17. ↑ Foundation, Factum. "Factum Foundation :: The Tomb of Seti: recording and facsimile". www.factumfoundation.org. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  18. 1 2 "Tomb of Sety I (KV17)". egymonuments.gov.eg. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.