| Kyky,
nicknamed Simut, held the post of "Livestock tally
scribe of Amon's estate" during Rameses II's reign
(New Kingdom, XIX Dynasty, c. 1230 B.C.) : i.e. he was inspector
of cattle to the administrative/financial organization of
the priests attached to the temple of Amon at Karnak, on
the east bank. He was buried in the vault in front of the
chapel, together with his wife Raiay and probably with members
of his family, Mery and Tutuia, whose statues were carved
in the niche on the north side of the reception space (view
4). Deeply devoted to the cult of Amun of Karnak's
divine wife, Kyky chose to be known as
Simut ("Son of Mut") in order the better to mark
his gratitude and devotion to Mut of the asheru (her temple
lies south of Karnak on the east bank), who had furthered
his career and guarded his life.
Kyky's tomb N° 409 is located
in the east-facing opening of the great rocky gully of Deir
el-Bahri .
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View 4
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Simut's chapel had a facade carved
out of the rock, its
entrance flanked by twin stelae .The inside was laid out
in the form of an inverted T to produce three sections for
liturgical use (view
4) : a transverse
hall or reception space (A) and a worship area (B), plus
a niche on the north side housing four rock-hewn statues
facing on to the courtyard. The geographical layout of the
constituent parts contravenes the theoretical dictates of
dogma, viz. that for the "Emergence into Daylight"
the whole should have its back to the west and face the
east ; but this is corrected by the arrangement of the scenes
portrayed, which read in the opposite direction to that
required by the compass points.
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THE RECEPTION SPACE - NORTH-SOUTH AXIS
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A literate man and well versed
in religious literature, Simut composed a long hymn containing
both his own life-history and also his paean of gratitude
to his divine patroness , and then had it carved and painted
in retrograde script (i.e. the text reads from back to front)
on the walls to the left of the chapel entrance (west) in
the reception room (A), of which it occupies the greater
part.
The whole of this reception chamber (A), which illustrates
the mystery of entry into solar renewal, is gaily adorned
with richly coloured friezes. They consist of vignettes
in which Kyky alias Simut and his wife worship a black
Anubis,
alternating with the emblem of Halhor of the West, here
oddly epitomized : above the hieroglyph for 'nome' (a
province
or department inhabited by humans) is the traditional full-face
head with cow's ears, and from this godhead springs the
lotus flower of renewal, synonymous with birth (view
30 ).
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..." A literate man and well versed
in religious literature, Simut composed a long
hymn containing both his own life-history and
also his paean of gratitude to his divine patroness
, and then had it carved and painted in retrograde
script..."
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Starting from the entrance, Simut
is shown praying in the "Emergence into Daylight"
and reciting hymns to the rising sun under the hangings
of an arbour of rushes plaited into coloured lozenges (view
8).
 On
the north-south axis
Simut's sung glorification of Mut covers the three walls
of the left-hand wing, ending on the north with a portrayal
of the chapel of the goddess in her glory, wearing her red
and white double crown as Queen of the Two Lands (view
12 bis).
This is the stage of contact with the underground world's
latent forces for rebirth, and of the sun's renewal with
which they are henceforth associated. So they come forward,
praying, towards Sokaris's boat in its gilded chapel, and
then towards Osiris, who is protected by a winged Isis.
The divine couple, sheltered by a dais topped with upright
uraei, are presented with a great heaped-up offering . Sokaris
in his boat marks the land voyage at the beginning of the
westward journey, and heralds the return to the morning
in the east. Osiris is the goal : melting into him in his
capacity of sun of the night, the Just man will (after the
necessary gestation) become part of the cosmic energy of
the sun's radiance.
The right wing (east)
The right-hand wing provides the ritual pictorial material
needed to understand the ideal journey into the bowels of
the earth, there to be transformed into light. This means
passing through doors (view 16) symbolizing the sequence
of the twelve night hours that must be traversed without
hindrance in order to arrive at the hour of sunrise, the
final turning-point in the odyssey of death that leads to
the "next life".
This next life is secured by righteous actions on earth
before the inevitable end
of human destiny. Simut took legitimate pride in a job well
done, and this motivated his career and made it successful
: thus he was at pains to give his lord Amun ample herds
of splendid cattle, properly fed, branded and counted by
him during his long years of service throughout Egypt.
Wearing the festive full loincloth, Kyky alias Simut checks
the procession of longhorns that his acolyte drives past,
and with his palette of inkwells in his hand moistens his
reed pen to enter the best number in the account-book of
Amun's Treasury (view
17).
To
be able to plead the legitimacy of their earthly actions
and ascertain their destiny, Simut and his family had to
undergo the preliminary rituals for entry into the West.
They were mummified and wrapped in protective cloths ; and
then their bodies (which had become that of Osiris, the
exemplar of their faith in survival) were packed in cartonnage
casings and coffins. They then took to the water, and crossed
the river from Thebes to the west bank. The cartonnage boxes
show through the walls of the catafalque, which stands on
the deck of a huge ceremonial barge.
(view
19).
The prow and poop of the transport lighter are shaped like
papyrus corollas and gaily decorated with long scarlet
and
gold ribbons. The left-hand tug has almost reached the
bank : in the stern the helmsman slackens the tow-rope
(view
22). Protected by Anubis, the deceased's Canopic chest
is brought ashore on the shoulders of porters.
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View 24
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The
keening women mourners lead the procession, then stop further
on at the approaches to the place of entombment : reinforced
by the women of the family, they sing loud and long both
of the grief of those who are left behind and of the brilliant
future awaiting the hallowed mummies. Porters pacing slowly
carry the mummies on their shoulders aboard a boat with
a catafalque, a portable miniature version of the big cross-river
(view
24).
Before them the cows of the funeral ritual are led along
: just as at ploughing-time, their hoof-prints mark out
the way for the new Osiris who comes after, leading him
to the West .
The ceremony will include going through the motions of "Opening
the Mouth". This very ancient piece of liturgical acting
suggested that by reciting sacred texts and performing symbolic
gestures over the outer wrappings of mummies, the deceased
could be given back their ability to see, smell, hear, speak
and act .
The supreme acknowledgment was represented by the weighing
of the heart under the direction of the ibis-headed Thoth.
Just as in the past Simut recorded the correct tally of
Amon's cattle, so the scribe here enters the precise result.
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View 27
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Anubis adjusts the vertical pivot, assisted by the "Devouring
One", personification of variable destiny (with her
head mutilated) , the reckoning is true and the scales are
in balance, for Simut's heart, like his wife Raiay's, was
veracious. And the feather placed to the left on the hanging
tablet is proof of it, for this is the sign of order and
balance observed according to divine law : this is Maat,
and vouchsafes the couple which has abided by it the radiant
future they hope for (view
27 ).Hence the whole of this reception chamber (A),
which illustrates the mystery of entry into solar renewal,
is gaily adorned with richly coloured friezes.
The
ceilings
The repetition of the motif makes an unusually luxuriant
decoration for the ceilings.
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view 32
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A area partitioned by long yellow-ochre strips, with blue
hieroglyphs recounting the high points of Kyky's (Simut's)
career, also allows space on the ceiling to set out the
essential prayer formulae, for which there was no room on
the wall (view
32). The background often changes : here the squares
are white and blue and the florets red on a white ground.
Then, keeping the heading of the boxes alternately blue,
red, white and bright ochre, the painter changes to white
and ochre squares with red and blue florets (view
34).
Then Osiris's vine holds sway, its
branches, leaves and bunches of grapes on two compartments
to the east clinging to the supporting trellis represented
by the overhang of the ceiling alternating with blue bunches
intermixed with florets . The vine is universally recognized
in Egypt as a botanical symbol of the renewal of life.
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THE PASSAGE TO THE ROOM B
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In the passage to the place of
family worship (B), Kyky pays a floral tribute to Osiris
.
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View 44
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On that day (the "Festival of the Valley"), thanks
to the artificial light of lamps, the rock-hewn statues in
the north niche (now unfortunately mutilated) emerge from
the shadows (view
44).
This little family worship place also had a twofold function:
its
left-hand (west) side contained the access to the steps down
to the
spacious underground vault, in which Simut and his family
would spend eternity. The opening, later walled up, should
have been refaced and then decorated ; in fact, only some
features were roughed out in bold red-ochre brush-strokes.
The
painting opposite (likewise unfinished) is the key to all
the hopes nourished for millennia by the people of the Nile
Valley : "Emergence into the Daylight" (view
42).
Simut and his family, just and duly acknowledged as such,
are entitled to worship the daytime sun, Re-Harakhti in
his triumphal aspect as the falcon of the morning wearing
a solar globe. Osiris of the night, his nocturnal mutation,
makes him the life of the day .Below, Horus, the king with
the double crown, symbol of the Pharaoh who mediates all
links between earth and heaven, guides his subjects to the
creator (view
43).
No matter that their mummies no longer exist, despoiled
by looters and scattered to the winds of the jebel : their
names remain, their memory is perpetuated, and our modern
colour slides bring them back to the eternal life of which
they nourished hopes so many years ago .
The tomb of Kyky has recently been
restored by the Getty Conservation Institute.
Original page created by Thierry Benderitter
© Copyright OsirisNet 2007
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