TOMB TT212

Originally the tomb complex consisted of an outside courtyard, giving access to a chapel with a large niche at the rear. The chapel and courtyard no longer exist today, all that survives are the remains of the niche, now resembling an alcove, dug into the rock surface of the western mountain. The part which was built from mud bricks, which preceded it, having almost disappeared completely. When the quality of the remaining decoration is seen, one can only regret the almost complete destruction of this monument.

The surviving alcove, with its arched ceiling, measures 1.90m in height, 1.55m wide and 1.60m deep. Its floor level was located about 0.5m above that of the chapel. Originally, the chapel (of which remains have been recovered in the ground) measured 3.90m from the north to south (width) and 2.05m from east to west (deep). It certainly had an arched ceiling. Some of the remains are of an agricultural scene with fruit trees and two ploughs facing each other. It is the only tomb of Deir el-Medineh, together with TT217 (Ipuy) and TT266 (Amennakht), to include some scenes of everyday life, in this particular case, a representation of work in the fields.
It is possible that the tomb complex had been surmounted by a pyramid, and the pyramidion in Turin (to see page 1) could come from this tomb, whilst the stela, Bankes 4, was located in a inset area of the pyramid.
The courtyard preceding the chapel had already disappeared completely before or when Bruyère cleared the area.

Alcove west wall

At the centre is an enormous damaged area which has been infilled. It was almost certainly in here that there was a statue, cut directly into the stone, or an image of Hathor, the cow goddess coming from the mountain of the west, as in the tomb of Ken, TT4 (see ). The wall is divided into three registers.

1) - Upper register : arched section

Ramose kneels in worship in front of the rising sun (see ). The deceased is clothed in a large white, heavily pleated, linen garment with a triangular front-piece and wide sleeves. He stretches both of his arms, raised, in front of him, palms turned towards the front. He is surrounded by a yellow ochre background which includes ten columns of multicoloured hieroglyphs, producing a hymn to the sun.
In front of him is the mountain of the west, whose undulations are marked by pink and red undulations. Emerging from the mountain are the arms of the goddess Nut, holding the solar disk portrayed as emerging between two maintains. Nut accepts the sun when it sets and retains it during the night. She gives it back to the world in the morning and, as portrayed here, then emerges between the two hills of the horizon.

2) - middle register

This register is divided by the central, now missing, area of the wall.
Re-Horakhty is on the right, seated on a low cubic chair. Above his falcon head, the god has a solar disk surrounded by the uraeus cobra. In front of him are parts of a standing female character, of which only the outline, drawn in red, wears a red band around her head. The band supports a feather, partly coloured blue. This is probably Ma'at (see ). Columns of erased hieroglyphs surround the representations.
On the left side of the central area, can be seen columns of text, limited at the top by the convex roof of a chapel and below by a structure which is impossible to identify (see ).

3) - bottom register

Very little has survived of this register other than, on either side of the in-filled central area, the lower portion of several standing characters (see the bottom of the full image of this wall, above).

Alcove north wall

The deceased and his wife are in worship before Osiris and Isis. Note should be made of the very abundant use of the marvellous blue pigment, an expensive colour, which also indicates the wealth of Ramose.

Ramose pours incense over a table of offerings, which is piled with foods.

Osiris is seated on a cubic chair. He wears a white shroud, fastened at the waist by a red scarf whose flaps spread on to his thighs. His face is painted in blue, whilst his hands, which hold the nekhakha-flail and the heka-crook, remain yellow. A large usekh-necklace spreads on to his chest. The god wears an impressive atef-crown.

Isis, whose face is lost, is seated behind her brother/husband, whom she surrounds with her arms. Her wig, which is held in place by a large red headband, is surmounted by a mortar on which rests a pair of lyriform horns framing a solar disk, with a uraeus at the front. Possible confusion with Hathor is resolved by her name, Isis, being written above her head.

Alcove south wall

This possibly included the deceased making offerings of incense to Harsiesi and Thoth, but currently no image or detail is available.

Alcove arched ceiling

This was divided into four images areas by yellow bands carrying texts (see the top of ). Three of the areas are partially preserved. Two, those nearest the chapel (east), have deteriorated seriously since the time of Bruyère, because virtually nothing is left to describe.

North-east image: located on the right, on entry, is totally lost.

North-west image: located against the rear wall, on the right. This has the image of the barque of Re surmounted with two winged eyes. It is propelled by a rower, resting on his knees in front of the god, who is seated on a chair at the centre of the boat. At the bottom, below the boat, is an oblong area of water, full of lotuses and fish, of which only a small section has survived.

South-east image: Ramose is seated on a stool under a tree laden with figs, above an area of water on which some lotuses float. Today, virtually nothing is identifiable.

South-west image: this is the only fully preserved panel (see photo opposite). On a white background can be seen "Re-Horakhty, the great god, master of the sky". His space is delimited at the top by a large lapis-blue pt sign (= the sky), and below by a platform, sloping at the front and of the same colour, the mAa sign (= truth), on which the god is seated. He holds in his hand a sign of life. His blue wig is surmounted by an enormous solar disk surrounded by a snake. Behind him, can be read: "all protection, life, stability, power, vitality for infinite time and eternity".

Standing in front of him, with both hands raised in worship, is Ramose, dressed in his long pleated white garment, adorned by a broad necklace.

The partially reconstituted agricultural scene

In the rubble of excavation, Bruyère gathered the fragments of a scene of the cutting of wheat and a scene of tillage which had been on the east wall, next to the entry. Below trees laden with fruit, is seen a peasant driving his plough harnessed to two oxen.

The accompanying text is as follows: "The servant Ptahesankh tells his master, scribe Ramose, justified: 'the field is in very good state and the grain will be excellent… I supervise the cows, (named) West and Beautiful Stream.' ".

It is obviously about a realistic scene, which indicates that Ramose, besides handmaids, also had some agriculturists in his service. Like a certain number of men of Deir el-Medineh, he was a landowner and possessed cattle whose renting was a substantial source of income. Farmers tools were also recovered in the village, as well as silos. On the other hand, it is ignored as to where the workmen held lands.
On a stela dedicated to Hathor, is found Ptahesankh, where he is designated as "servant of Amon". Perhaps the lands of Ramose came to him from the domain of Amon?
In the three tombs of the village, where one finds rustic scenes of this type, two (TT212, under discussion here, and TT217) date from the time of Ramesses II, whilst the third, TT266, seems to date from the beginning of the 19th Dynasty. Later, this type of scene disappears completely to the benefit of a merely religious decorative program.