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Entrance to tomb TT192
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Despite the degradation caused by the time and by past and recent vandalism, and despite its incompleteness, tomb 192 remains the one of the most important burials on a religious and historic level of the Theban necropolis and the largest private tomb of the XVIIIth Dynasty.
The tomb of Kheruef N° 192, steward of queen Tiy
(view
CD_04), is located close to the temple
of Deir el Bahari, more precisely in the Asasif district.
This sepulchre, characteristic of the tombs of the Asasif,
has nevertheless the characteristic having been laid out
not on the flank of the hill but in the plain beneath.
With his dark and often blackish aspect, its almost complete
absence of colour, the tomb seems little inviting. We will
see in this presentation that it is a matter nevertheless
of a monument of a great artistic quality and very important
quality for the troubled period situated between the reigns
of Amenhotep (Amenophis) III and of his son and successor
Amenhotep IV - Akhenaton, in particular posing the question
of the co-regency between the two sovereigns.
The tomb was initially studied by Adolf Erman. Then
Alan Gardiner and Davies, followed by Ahmed Fakry, then
the Epigraphic Survey of the University of Chicago did
the summary of the monument during the 50-60 years.
A preliminary remark: the decorations which we will
describe do not relate to the actual "tomb",
which is unfinished and ruined, but the court which is
open to the sky preceding it.
The abandonment of work seems to be due to a collapse of
the structures, even though some don't exclude political
reasons bound to the new dictates imparted by Akhenaton.
Two types of volontary degradation followed one another.
The destructive hacking dating
from the Amarna period,
which worked away mainly at the plurals of the word "god" and
on the name of Amon, which has erased the representations
on the entrance leading to the courtyard and the passage
which opened onto the first hypostyle room, as well as
of the vertical inscriptions before the king and behind
the queen in the kiosk of the third jubilee.
In any case
this name has not been touched in the king's cartouche
and no other divinity underwent the fate of the Theban
god.
According to the type of hamering, it appears that the
erasing of the figure of Kheruef, sometimes of his name
and his titles, as well as the one of the representation
of the officials who accompany him at the time of the festival,
seems to be of the same time as that of Amon.
The most probable reason of these Amarnian degradations
is the desire to eliminate the ceremonies which one identified
with the former faith, while removing the principal actors,
except the king and the queen. [NB:
in my opinion it could more simply be a question of a disgrace
having touched
Kheruef, because the whole festive decoration is respected,
and one knows that Amenhotep IV celebrated very early
in his reign, a new Sed-festival in Thebes.]
The post-Amarnian hacking was
carried out after Akhenaton's death, being incensed to
erase the name and the representations
of king, enters into the framework of "damnatio
memoriae" to which the reign was subjected as of
the time of Horemheb and especially under first Ramessides.
Besides, the increase of salt in the walls sometimes
induced destruction difficult to discern from vandalism.
After these testing beginnings, the architecture of the
tomb again undergoes modifications. During the XIXth
Dynasty, eight tombs were dug in the portico (plan C)
and in the southern and northern walls of the courtyard,
these installations then continued beyond the Ramesside
period. Certain of these tombs remain difficult to date
for they are uninscribed.
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C2_08
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| His mother Ruiu |
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C3_03
Kheruef
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If we know the titles and the responsibilities of Kheruef,
we know on the other hand nothing of the chronology of
its career, or moreover over his end, as we will see.
The name of Kheruef (view
C3_03) was not the birth name of the owner of
tomb 192. This was (Se)Naa (or Naai, such as it appears
on a Berlin statue), a name name which we find on five
occasions in the inscriptions still in place: two times
on the ceiling of the west portico and three times on the
columns of the first hypostyle room (plan, D).
Among his most important titles (view 8) which placed him
in the upper spheres of the government, there is, in addition
to "noble and governor" which are a frequent
naming, less accessible titles "true royal scribe", "steward
of the great royal wife Tiy", or again "bearer
of the royal seal" and "first herald of the king".
In the inscriptions we also know his responsibilities which
are more strictly connected to his activities during Sed-festivals,
notably the one of "governor of the palace",
which is enriched, on the statues found in the tomb, by "governor
of the palace in the function of the jubilee" and
of "servant of the king at the time of the jubilees".
Epithets underline his intimacy with the king, such as
for example "the great companion on the steps of the
throne, excellent confidant of the sovereign".
No allusion is made to his private life and neither a woman
nor a child are mentioned.
Kheruef certainly owes a part of his prestigious career
to the social standing which his parents occupied.
His mother, Ruiu, was "royal worshipper, chantress
of Isis, Mother of the God", "chantress of
Amon" and "mistress of the house". She
accompanies her son on a representation located in the
passage between the courtyard and the first hypostyle
room (plan, between C and D). His father, Siked, was "scribe
to the army of the Lord of the Two Lands".
 | | Location plan |
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All the decorations are sculptured and painted, either in raised relief (in
the dark areas), or in sunken relief (in the zones where the suns light can
hang on the wall). The paint has unfortunately widely disappeared. A great
part of the tomb, not cleared, presents a blackish base.
The style developed in the tomb are typically pre-Amarnian, of the best quality.
It is characterised notably by the appearance of new postures of salutation,
with the characters bent forwards, dating back to the end of the reign of Amenhotep
III
(view
C3_25).
Nothing in the decorative program of the tomb predicts the
aesthetic future imposed by Akhenaton (to see the
item on this subject), which shows that the decoration
of the tomb goes back to before year 4 of the reign of the
one here. Thus Amenhotep IV, in the rare places where it
was not hacked, is represented in normal proportions, without
the exaggerations which one will rediscover later (view
B_02).
The predominance of the representation of the sovereigns in the tomb are even
more striking than in the tomb of Ramose, a contemporary of Kheruef, to which
the sharpness of the decorations can be compared.
It is particularly clear in the representations of the 1st and the 3rd jubilees
of Amenhotep III (that is in years 30 and 37 of the reign). Curiously the second
jubilee, of year 34, is not represented. One can imagine that Kheruef did not
have a major role to play. The jubilee, or "Sed-festival" is a very
old ritual (the first trace goes back to king Djoser, of the IIIrd Dynasty),
intended for the regeneration of royal power. Theoretically it was celebrated
after thirty years of reign then every three or four years.
This prominence of the royal representations and the Sed-festival, in which
he played a great part, shows that the representations of Kheruef himself are
proportionally less important.
This invasion of the private burials of high-ranking personages of the kingdom
by royal iconography will reach its height under the following reign of Amenhotep
IV - Akhenaton.
Notice nevertheless that all these decorations are situated in what should
have been the courtyard, preceding the actual tomb which only begins in the
widening in the rock (see D on the plan). The decorative program would have
shifted towards the funerary register from here on.
The tomb of Kheruef was partially realised on the plain, contrary to the practice
established for the tombs of the XVIIIth Dynasty for the Theban necropolis.
The location of the residence of eternity, for the steward of the queen, was
not predetermined therefore by topographic imperatives. This offered the builder
the possibility of orienting the facade to the east and, exceptionally, to
allow the tomb to follow a true east-west geographical axis.
Tomb 192 penetrates the ground of the Asasif (view
B_01) by
means of a ramp with a slope of about 15° (view B_01), at the bottom
of which is located a hallway (plan, A), the walls of which were prepared
to receive a decoration. It is
only on the northern wall that this was carried out; a hymn dedicated to
the setting sun and a representation of Kheruef appear there.
The doorway (plan B)
The doorway (plan, B)
It is covered with inscriptions on the walls and on
the ceiling. The decor of the lintel offers representations
of Amenhotep IV accompanied by his mother, making some
offerings on the right to Atum and Hathor and Re-Horakhty
and Ma'at on the left.
The text explains the meaning of the scenes and names
the participants. The offering formula is repeated four
times, on each side of the doorposts with a different
god in each case.
The corridor behind the door is equally covered with
inscriptions on the walls and on the ceiling, though
they can hardly be recognised. The left (south) wall
is divided into two tables. Firstly, on the left part
of the wall, Amenhotep IV presents offerings to Re-Horakhty.
This scene, hammered to the point of being unrecognizable,
the only part of the representation remaining being of
the sovereign (view
B_09). Nevertheless, it could be
restored by the Epigraphic survey of the University of
Chicago. Between the god and the king appears a kind
of hieroglyphic quadrat "which can be read indistinctly
from right to left or from top to bottom in the manner
of a crossword puzzle, mixing and intersecting into a
unique and inseparable group the names of the two Pharaohs,
father and son, and those of the Amon-Re gods and Re-Horakhty.
It acts as a veritable theological-political text" (Dr
Francisco J. Martin Valentin).
On the right hand part of this wall Amenhotep
IV makes libations and adoration to Amenhotep III and
queen Tiyi, his parents. On the right hand wall, is located
a hymn to Osiris (view
B_06) in the presence of the owner
of the tomb. The titles of the latter are mentioned to
some extent, in particular that of intendant of queen
queen Tyi (view
B_08).
| THE COURTYARD, WEST WALL, SOUTH SIDE (plan, C2) |
This access leads into the great courtyard, open to the sky, (about 30m. long and 20m. wide), of which the
east wall (plan, C1) and west wall (plan, C2 and C3, view
CD_01) have the characteristic of not
being perpendicular to the central axis.
The courtyard is unfinished, but includes, nevertheless,
the most outstanding decorative program of the tomb, making
it essential to the knowledge of the last years of reign
of Amenhotep III.
Two distinct compositions are developed
on the walls of the west porch, one to the south of the
central axis (plan, C2), the other to the north (plan,
C3). They present the first and third jubilees of Amenhotep
III respectively.
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Wall West, side South (plan, C2).
according to Epigraphic Survey, Kheruef, Oriental Institute of the University
of Chicago
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| C2_01 |
C2_02 |
C2_09 |
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| C2_03 |
C2_04 |
C2_24 |
The west portico, south side (plan C2) (view C2_01, C2_02 and C2_09) is devoted
to the first of the three royal jubilees of Amenhotep III.
This first jubilee took place during the 30th year of the reign, the 27th day
of the 2nd month of the 3rd season (shemu), according to the inscription engraved
before the royal canopy.
The ceiling (views C2_07 and C2_08) ) is covered with a motif of small flowers
associating a double central circle and blue "petals" on
a red base. Lines of blue hieroglyphs take up elements
of the functions of Kheruef with his name of (Se)Naa.
In the lower register to
the left of the scene of the reward of Kheruef, completely
hacked out (see below), come the princesses, the eight "Girls
of the Great", doubtless foreign princesses who were
raised in the Egyptian court, to guarantee the loyalty
of their vassal fathers to their overlord, making libations
to the king (view C2_03, C2_04, C2_24).
This procession, remained unfinished, is composed of four
groups of two princesses, clothed in the same manner, bearing
the same crown, and carrying two different types of vases.
A small table separates them surmounted by the same flask,
above which is inscribed: "Performing purification
four times".
The text between the crowns indicates
their position in comparison to the king during the festival: "To
ensure that they hold themselves on the steps of the throne
in front of the dais in the presence of the king".
The text line above them describes the quality of their
containers (gold and electrum) and the freshness which
they offer to the sovereign. One will notice the grace
of the faces and the elaborated character of the hairstyles
which make this scene one of the most beautiful reliefs
of the XVIIIth Dynasty.
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| C2_17 |
C2_16 |
C2_27 |
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| C2_28 |
C2_29 |
C2_30 |
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| c2_05 |
c2_06 |
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Behind the princesses extend
registers presenting the festive activities which
surround the ceremony. Dancers move about on two registers
to the sound of the instruments of the seated and standing
musicians.
On the upper register, fifteen dancers carry out dances
of different types: some, standing, look at successively
at the ground then the sky while their arms are relaxed
or folded back, others, kneeling, carry out, in pairs,
arms movement (view
C2_12 and C2_28). In front of them, a monkey,
a calf, a duck seem to
equally participate in the dance (view C2_05 and C2_06).
At the back, priests appear to supervise the dances. The
text line above the upper register could be a song, of
which the meaning would be mimed by the gestures of the
dancers.
On the lower register, other women dance, sing and play
music. To the left of the register, flutists accompany
the dancers and seated singers, while to the other extremity,
is seen a tambourine player (view C2_29), an instrument
which seems to do make its first appearance here. One of
the singers, isolated from others, holds her hand to her
ear to better appreciate her own timbre (view C2_29).
The whole scene is under the title "This is his protection,
that of the king, Neb-Maat-Re (Amenhotep III). Come oh
Sobek, to the son of Re, Amenhotep, Lord of Thebes, given
life, and do what he loves!"
Graffiti were sometimes drawn later, written (view C2_17)
or painted
(view
C2_14
and view
C2_15), representing the same graffiti of a
partially and awkwardly engraved character, worked in a
different colour).
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C2_26
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The register above the princesses
and dance scenes, very damaged, introduces the pharaoh
and his wife, always in the dress of the jubilee, leaving
the "Ceremonial Palace of the House of the Jubilation" (view
c2_26). The king wears the costume of the Sed-festival
and the white crown of Upper Egypt, on the front of which
is
a
falcon surmounted by an uraeus. The queen wears a diadem
with an uraeus with horns enclosing the solar disc. Kheruef
(hacked out) the accompanies them while they are hauled
in the night solar barque and welcomed by their daughters
and priests.
At the right end of the wall
we find the sovereigns.
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| C2_20 |
C2_19 |
C2_18 |
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| C2_21 |
C2_31 |
C2_32 |
They are seated in the company of the goddess Hathor under
a richly decorated kiosk surmounted by a frieze of uraei (view
C2_20, C2_19, C2_18, C2_21).
The kiosk rests on a base formed from Rekhyt (view
C2_22 view
C2_25), these birds with raised arms are
usually associated with the subjects of Lower Egypt (or
can be rebels).
Below them, are rectangles containing the two traditional
plants Upper and Lower Egypt, the lotus and the papyrus.
The king wears the Double Crown, holding in hands the emblems
of royalty, the crook and flail. He wears the straight
beard as in the other scenes.
The king is seated on a throne having as its back a vulture
with wide-spread wings (probably the goddess Nekhbet) which
enclose his waist. His feet are placed on the Heb-sign,
the hieroglyph for "festival". He is encompassed
by the seated goddess Hathor "Mistress of Denderah",
and queen Tiy standing capped with a crown of high feathers.
The goddess holds in hand a curved branch of a palm tree,
the hieroglyphic sign for the years. At its base, one finds
the associated sign meaning hundreds of thousands (the
tadpole) and for million (the man with raised arms) (view
C2_31). Thus the goddess assures the king of an infinite
reign of hundreds of millions of Sed-festivals. The texts
confirm: the king is endowed with an "eternal lifetime,
like Re".
In front of the dais, in the lower register, Kheruef is
rewarded with the "Gold of Honour" (view C2_32),
but his picture was completely hacked out.
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