Picture: Nefertari at the Lesser Temple of Abu Simbel as Hathor.

Ancient Egypt Pictures

Nefertari, wife of Ramesses II, illustrates the increasingly complex role of the queen consort as she appears on the fecade of the Lesser Temple of Abu Simbel bearing the regalia of the goddess Hathor. Nefertari is perhaps the best example of a queen whose name and image are today well known, but whose life remains a tantalizing blank.

Nefertari's Painted Tomb

Tomb of Kheruef Plan - Tombs of the Nobles - Luxor, Egypt. Part XVI

Tombs of the Nobles, Luxor, Egypt.
Kheruef was steward to the Great Royal Wife Queen Tiy at the crucial period of the 18th Dynasty just before Amon was dethroned by Akhenaten, The tomb was never completed but the murals are carved in exquisite high relief.
The outer courtyard contains various other tombs and a wall has been constructed to preserve the reliefs of Kheruef. On the left-hand wall are delightful scenes from the Sed festival, the 30-year Jubilee of the Pharaoh. Amenhotep III and Queen Tiy are seated with Hathor behind them (a) watching a processional dance in their honour. Further along the wall (b) they leave the palace with eight slim princesses walking in pairs and bearing jars of sacred water.

At (c) delightful carvings of the ceremonial dance suggest a ritual of rebirth of life on the earth and include a jumping bird, a flying bird and a monkey. In the lower row are musicians with flutes and drums. Towards the end of the wall (d) is a sketch of the high priest and the text describes the celebration. The right-hand section of the wall is somewhat damaged. At (c) Amenhotep III is portrayed with his sixteen princes. With Queen Tiy he watches the erection of a column symbolizing the god Osiris (f). At (g) the Pharaoh and Queen Tiy are shown with the deceased nobleman behind them. Beneath the trio are the conquered cities.
The other nobleman of this era, when the royal capital was being shifted to Tel el Amarna, was Ramose. But while Ramose followed his master to the new capital, Kheruef remained in Thebes with the royal mother.

Tomb of Khaemhat Plan- Tombs of the Nobles - Luxor, Egypt. Part IV

Also spelled Khaemhet, Toms of the Nobles, Luxor, Egypt.
This is the tomb of the overseer of the granaries of Upper and Lower Egypt late in the reign of Amenhotep III (father of Akhenaten), a time when art and architecture were flourishing. It was also a time when religious
conceptions were undergoing a gradual change towards the worship of a single deity, the sun . The murals are in low relief and are carried out in precise and sensitive detail. This is particularly apparent in the treatment of Khaemhat's wig, with his own hair showing beneath.
The tomb comprises a large traverse chamber (1) with a niche on the left-hand side containing badly damaged statues of the deceased and the royal scribe Imhotep, a corridor (2) with scenes relating to the underworld and a second traverse chamber (3) containing three niches bearing statues of Khaemhat and his relatives. These too are in poor condition.
On the left-hand entrance wall of the first chamber at (a) is a remarkable representation of Renenutet (Renenet) ,the snake-headed goddess of the granaries. She is seated in a shrine and offerings are made to
her by three finely sculpted male figures. The child she nurses is symbolic of the new harvest . Further along the wall (b) is the bustling port of Thebes. The masts of many corn-laden vessels, the steering oars tipped with the head of the Pharaoh, the mastheads, the rigging - all are depicted in meticulous detail.
On the rear left-hand wall (c) is a scene showing servants of the vizier bringing in cattle. At (d) are damaged figures of the Pharaoh and his vizier. At the foot of the royal canopy are nine captive tribes whilst between the lion-legs of the throne are two captives: African and Asian.

On the right-hand rear wall (e) the enthroned Pharaoh (defaced) receives homage from Khaernhat and his officials. Further along (f) Khaemhet is being decorated by the Pharaoh; according to the inscription he was so honored in the thirteenth year of the reign of Amenhotep III (Akhenaten's father).
On the right-hand entrance wall (g) are a set of agricultural scenes including measuring the land, sowing and reaping. Khaemhat's chariot is drawn up near the fields and while a sleepy driver awaits the return of his master the horses take advantage of the break to graze.
In the corridor, on the left-hand side at (h) , is a fine representation of Osiris enthroned with Hathor standing behind him.

The complete Tombs of the Nobles at Luxor, Egypt.

Egypt : Shrine of Hathor Plan - Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (Deir El Bahri) - Part IV

Hatshepsut Temple (Deir El-Bahri), Luxor, Egypt: 

To the left of the Colonnade of Punt stands the Shrine of Hathor (D) . It has two roofed-in colonnades with Hathor columns leading to the shrine itself which comprises three chambers, one behind the other , and each with several recesses. In the colonnaded court is a large sacrificial scene on the southern wall (d) showing a boat containing the Hathor-cow with Queen Hatshepsut drinking from the udder. On the rear western wall is a representation of Thutmose II (replacing Hatshepsut) having his hand licked by the Hathor-cow.

In the first chamber (e) Hatshepsut or Thutmose III is represented with several of the deities. The color is excellent, especially on the ceiling which is decorated with stars on a blue sky. The second room (f) shows Hatshepsut (scraped) making offerings to Hathor. who stands on the sacred barge beneath the canopy. This

is a relief of unusual beauty. Ehi, son of Horus, is the little nude boy who holds a sistrum in front of the queen. The third room (g) has an unusual pointed roof and the wall reliefs show Hatshepsut (on each of the side walls) drinking from the udder of the cow, Hathor, with Amon standing before them. On the back wall is another particularly beautiful relief of Hatshepsut standing between Hathor and Amon with the latter holding before her face the hieroglyph symbol of life.

Egypt : Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut Plan (Deir El Bahri)

Hatshepsut Temple (Deir El-Bahri), Luxor, Egypt:
Framed by steep cliffs and poised inelegant relief, stands the temple of Deir el Bahri . Justly deserving its name Most Splendid of All, it was the inspiration of the beautiful Queen Makere Hatshepsut, daughter of Thutmose I. What strikes one. first when approaching this temple is its unity with nature. Far from being belittled by the stark purity of the cliffs behind, the temple was so designed that the cliffs form a backcloth.

Hatshepsut, whose royal line age to the Great Royal wife of Ahmose made her the only lawful heir among Thutmose I's children, his sons being by minor wives, was prevented by her sex from succeeding as Pharaoh. She consequently married her half-brother Thutmose II. During his reign and her subsequent co-regency with Thutmose III she retained power in her capable hands.
To appreciate the temple of Deir el Bahri one must know a little of the character of the beautiful woman who conceived it. She was indisputably iron-willed and not willing to let the fact that she was a woman stand in her way. She assumed a throne name-Makere. She wore a royal shirt and ceremonial beard, the badges of kingship.She proved her right to the throne in numerous reliefs of her divine birth.

Once Hatshepsut had secured her right to the throne she embarked on the building of temples and monuments and also on the restoration of damaged sanctuaries. This was perhaps especially important to her since she could hardly record her name in history through military conquest and sought to do so through architectural magnificence. The obelisks she had erected in Karnak temple were so placed that the glittering tips should inundate the Two Lands just as it appears in the horizon of heaven. And she planned her mortuary temple to be no less spectacular. Her architect Senmut, whilst drawing inspiration from the adjacent 11th Dynasty temple of the Pharaohs Mentuhotep II and III, carried it out on a very much larger scale. Adopting the idea of the terrace and adding an extra tier, he made such imposing use of it that he deserves special credit. He designed a terraced sanctuary comprising courts, one above the other with connecting inclined planes at the center. Shrines were dedicated to Hathor and Anubis and chambers devoted to the cult of the queen and her parents.

It was a labor of love, for Senmut, who first entered the service of Hatshepsut as tutor to her daughter Neferure, had ambitions and abilities that took him high on the ladder of success. He not only ended with no fewer than forty titles but conducted himself as a member of the royal family, enjoying privileges and prerogatives never before enjoyed by a man of humble birth. He was Hatshepsut's supporter and lover and doubtless also her political adviser. He was also granted a privilege accorded to no official before or after : that of constructing his tomb near the mortuary temple of his monarch.

Hatshepsut had two tombs. Her body was found in neither. The first she had dug in the Valley of the Kings, where all members of the royal family were laid to rest in the 18th Dynasty. The second, after she became monarch, was in the Taker Zeid Valley, south of Deir el Bahri and overlooking the Valley of the Kings. The former tomb was so designed that the corridors, burrowed 213 meters beneath the barrier hill, should lead to the tomb chamber itself directly beneath the mortuary temple. It was as though, while wishing to construct her tomb in the royal valley, she wanted at the same time to conform to the ancient practice of linking the tomb with the mortuary temple. She never achieved her goal. Bad rock or other causes led to the passage being continued in a swerve of 98 meters below ground level and then abandoned. It is devoid of relief and inscription and, apart from limestone slabs relating chapters from the Book of the Dead in red and black sketch form, is a rather pathetic and crude passage. In her red sand stone sarcophagus the body of her father Thutmose I had been laid to rest, until the priests of the 20th Dynasty removed his mummy to the shaft of Deir el Bahri for safe keeping. In fact Hatshepsut's sarcophagus had been enlarged to receive his body. Why was Thutmose I laid to rest in his daughter's tomb? Because his own had already been used by Thutmose II, who died prematurely after a short co-regency with Hatshepsut. And Hatshepsut's mummy?It probably suffered the same fate as her statues and representations in murals. For, when Thutmose III finally asserted himself and expelled her from the throne, his years of frustrated energy swelled forth in a campaign of destruction when he obliterated from every temple throughout the land, but from Deir el Bahri in particular, every reference to the female Pharaoh.

Later, when Akhenaten removed references to Amon from the temples of Egypt , the inscriptions of Deir el Bahri were further mutilated. Ramses II endeavored to restore them but the workmanship was inferior. And in this condition the beautiful temple remained, with only minor alterations taking place until Christian monks setup a convent there. Sadly, but understandably, they too scraped the walls and added to the overall desecration.

Explore Deir el Bahri (Hatshepsut's Temple) in details:
Lower and Central Courts - Hatshepsut's Temple - Deir El Bahri - Part II
Punt Colonnade - Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (Deir El Bahri) - Part III
Shrine of Hathor - Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (Deir El Bahri) - Part IV
Birth Colonnade - Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (Deir El Bahri) - Part V
Srnall and Upper Courts, Sanctuary - Hatshepsut Temple part VI

Egypt : Kurna: Mortuary Temple of Seti I Plan, Luxor, Egypt.

Luxor, Egypt :

Seti I was the Pharaoh who fought against the Libyans, Syrians and Hittites in an effort to win back the empire of Thutmose III. He succeeded in reconquering territories spreading from Mesopotamia to the island of Cyprus and carried home vast treasures to adorn his temples, hath this one at Kurna and the marvelous one at Abydos. Seti encouraged art and architecture, and his two temples with no doubt hold some of the most exquisite relief work in the entire Nile Valley.

Whilst approaching this 19th Dynasty mortuary temple it would be as well to remember that the execution of funerary art was inherited from long-established traditions and was considered sacred. Similar themes and unvarying treatment followed from one dynasty to the next, the only real difference lying in the competence of its execution. It is here that the real value of this temple lies. The reliefs show that craftsmanship had reached a remarkable stage of maturity. There is little doubt that the artists in Seti's reign were aware of foreshortening and knew how to cope with it. Yet they interpreted their figures as did the artists of the Old Kingdom, never violating the pattern of established art . They merely concentrated their efforts on precise and refined detail.

This temple, apart from being constructed to continue the cult of the deceased Pharaoh and to honor Amon, was also built in reverent memory of Seti's father, Ramses I, who died before constructing a temple of his own. It was not completed by Seti I, but by his son, Ramses II, who supplied the missing reliefs and inscriptions.

Of the original length of some 158 meters only about 47 meters of the temple remain, mostly the area containing the sanctuary, Its halls and ante-chambers. Most of the frontal courts and pylons are in ruin but because of the execution of the reliefs, a visit is immensely  worthwhile. For example, just beyond the eight remaining columns of the colonnade are three doors leading to the inner part of the temple. The walls between, at, carry representations of the provinces of Upper Egypt - a woman and a man alternately - bearing dishes laden with flowers, cakes and wine (to the left) and similar representations of Lower Egypt (to the right), On their heads the former have lotuses, the emblem of Upper Egypt. The latter have papyri, that of Lower Egypt. Above the left-hand relief the Pharaoh offers incense to the barge of Amon carried by priests. And above the right-hand relief he appears before various deities. It is immediately apparent that the lines are sensitive and refined while the drawing is boldly executed.

The hypostyle hall which we enter through the middle doorway has slabs on the roof of the central aisle on which there are flying vultures, the winged sun-disc and the names of Seti I between two vertical rows of hieroglyphs. Low on the walls Set II and Ramses II are seen before various deities. At (b) and (c) are Mut and Hathor, nourishing Seti.

On each side of the hypostyle hall are three chambers. The last two on each side, (d), (e), (f) and (g), have fine reliefs which depict Seti offering incense or performing ceremonies in the presence of the deities. In chamber (d) Thoth, the God of Science, can be seen before the sacred barge of the Pharaoh (on the left-hand wall) while (on the right-hand wall) the Pharaoh is seated before an offering table. On the rear wall Seti is depicted as the god Osiris, seated in a shrine surrounded by deities. Chamber (h) bears the sunken, cruder reliefs of Ramses II, who enters the temple (to the right) and offers incense to Amon, Mut and Khonsu to the left).

Beyond the hypostyle hall is the sanctuary (B).which has four simple square pillars, and the decorations on the sidewalls depict Seti I offering incense before the barge of Amon. The base of Amon's sacred barge still stands here. The chambers beyond are in ruin.

In the right-hand division of the temple is a long hall of Ramses II (C). Again we can compare these sunken reliefs with those of the main building. They are clearly far inferior work.

On the corresponding left-hand division of the temple Is a small shrine constructed by Ramses I (D) and probably usurped by Ramses II. Adjoining it are three chambers. In the middle one. (i) Seti offers incense to the barge of Amon and, on the rear wall , is a stele shaped like a door, to Ramses II, who appears in Osiris form presided over by Isis as a hawk. The two flanking chambers have reliefs dating from Ramses II and show him before the deities.