Tombs of the Nobles, Luxor, Egypt.
This famous tomb of the scribe of the fields under Thutmose IV has some of the most beautiful representations to be found of harvests, feasts and hobbies. It is a fine tomb and the colors are brilliant, particularly on the ceiling of the inner chamber.
On the left-hand entrance wall (a) Menna can be seen before a table of offerings and further along the wall (b) are agricultural scenes with step-by-step portrayals of the grain being measured, recorded, winnowed and trodden. The ploughing and sowing is followed by reaping and, as in so many tombs, the artist has managed to add a human touch; in th is case a young girl removing a thorn from a friend's foot (bottom row) and two girls quarreling (immediately above). At (c) Menna stands before a ship coming in to dock with a cargo of stores.
On the left-hand wall of the rear corridor (d) are funerary scenes of the voyage to Abydos in fine detail and brilliant colour. Menna's heart is weighed before Osiris (the tongue of the balance has been destroyed). On the right-hand wall (e) is the famous fishing and fowling scene among the papyrus thickets. The deceased nobleman is enjoying his favorite pastime. Colored fowl rise from the rushes. Crocodile, duck and assorted fish can be seen in the water. Menna's little daughter kneels to pluck a lotus flower from the rushes. The mural is a magnificent example of the importance laid on depicting good things for the hereafter. It is spoiled only by the fact that Menna's face has been carefully hacked out of the wall.
The murals of the nobles' tombs have passed through three major eras of destruction. In very early times, when ancient tomb-robbers extracted the valuable funerary equipment, the enemies of the deceased also entered the chambers to destroy some of the happy representations that the deceased wanted to repeat in the hereafter. What other reason could there be for the severing of a boomerang, the destruction of a water-jar or the blinding of the eyes?
In the Christian era when many of the tombs were used as hideouts, some of the monks carefully plastered over the wall drawings and thus preserved them for us in excellent condition, so it wouldn't distract them when they pray, while others scraped the distracting representations completely off the walls. At the turn of the 20th century, before proper security measures were enforced on the necropolis, antiquity dealers removed whole sections of the invaluable murals and some of the most beautiful scenes may, consequently, be seen today in many of the museums of the world.
To the right of the fishing scene (f) is a ship (top row) from which one of the sailors leans over the side to fill a bowl of water from the river.
On the right-hand entrance wall (g) it can be seen that Menna usurped this tomb. Where his stucco has fallen off, the paintings of the original owner can be seen beneath. Perhaps it was the descendants of that owner who destroyed Menna's face as an act of vengeance.
