THE TRANSVERSE CHAMBER (continued)

THE NORTH WING (continued)

Continuing the description of the north wing of the first (transverse) chamber.

The north (end) wall

This wall measures 1.96m wide by 2.18m high. The scenes are surrounded, as usual, with the same borders as those surrounding the scenes of the other walls of the chamber. The frieze, located above the top border, is however different, being composed of yet another plant motif (see ), but different from those of the two adjoining side walls.

The decoration has a representation of a tomb doorway at the centre, inside of which are reproduced characters and divinities, whilst either side of it are: Menna (at the top) and his wife (below).

Framework of the doorway

The framework of the door has a typical Egyptian coving at the top of the lintel, which bridges the two uprights. The whole thing is a deep salmon-pink in colour. The lintel and the uprights are inscribed in black hieroglyphic texts, bordered and separated with thin red lines.

The lintel contains, at its centre, a winged sun disk which has now lost much of its detail, appearing as a large black area. On either side is a short text, more complete on the left. This identifies it as: "The Behdetite, the great god, the lord of heaven, […]".

On the right doorpost, the text is in a very poor state, but says: "In the names of Horus and Anubis, to the chief of the divine dwelling be given everything that comes upon their altars to the Ka of the Overseer of the estates of Amon, [Menna], justified."

On the left doorpost, the prayer is: "An offering which the king gives to Osiris, Lord of Dadu (Lord of Mendes and Busiris) and Lord of Abydos, everything which is good and pure, [… overseer of the field] labourers of Amon, Menna, justified."
Note that the name "Amon" has not been destroyed on either side.
Between the arch of the doorway and the horizontal text area, on the left hand side, can still be recognised the image of Anubis in his form of the jackal, preceded (to the right) by the udjat-eye, the shen-sign and a small red goblet with a wide top (see ). Although greatly damaged, it would appear, from the remains of the two signs near the centre of the arch, that the right-hand side contained the same imagery.

Inside the door frame

The inner white area is encircled by a blue line which evokes the celestial space. This area is sub-divided into three registers, each with a long reed mat forming the bottom boundary. The green reeds are bound with yellow ties at the ends and centre. The top register contains the divinities, the middle one Menna and his wife, the bottom one has characters facing the centre.
The inner area is divided in three registers of unequal height, with a white background. In the upper and middle registers, some vertical red lines had been drawn to delimit hieroglyphic columns, but none of this text was ever inscribed.

Upper register. At the top,

just under the arch, is represented the grey winged solar disk, with traces of red beneath, the actual solar disc is almost totally lost through damage.

• On the right, facing east, the direction of the rising sun, sits Re-Horakhty accompanied by Hathor (or Isis, but she is usually shown with Harsiesis). In front of him is a golden pedestal on top of which is nemset-ewer; behind which is a lotus flower with a long stem. The solar god, sits a cubic throne resting on the Ma'at symbol. He has the head of a hawk with a tri-partite wig and the red solar disc on top. He wears a golden necklace, a yellow and white kilt with a ritual tail suspended from his blue belt. In his right hand he holds the ankh-sign and in the other the was-sceptre.
Behind Re-Horakhty stands Hathor, the lower part of her body is lost through damaged. On her head is a long black wig, surmounted by a red disk with a uraeus at the front and flanked by two blue horns. She wears a red tight-fitting dress with two shoulder straps. Hathor is adorned with a necklace, armlets and bracelets. With her left hand (lost through damage) she holds a was-sceptre, and with the right hand (also missing), she almost certainly held an ankh-sign.

• Facing west (left), the direction of the setting sun, is Osiris. Behind him is Imentet, with her back to the previous divinities. In front of Osiris, facing him, is Anubis.
Osiris is seated on an identical seat to that of Re-Horakhty, also placed on a blue Ma'at pedestal. His image, with green flesh, has suffered much damaged, but parts of his atef-crown, his hands, which hold the crook and flail, still exist. In front of his legs, still seen to be covered in a white garment, is another golden pedestal, nemset-ewer and a lotus flower.
Imentet, who stands behind Osiris, has lost much of her central detail through damage. Wearing the same type wig as Hathor, this one has a white headband which supports a feather at the back. On her head stands the imentet-sign, the ideogram of the west. This goddess is dressed almost identically to the one behind her.
Before Osiris stands Anubis, who has almost survived any damage. He has the anthropomorphic head of a jackal, the embalmer-god, with red flesh. He wears a tight fitting upper garment with supporting straps and a yellow and white kilt, again shown with a ritual tail. In his right hand he holds an ankh-sign, and with the other he holds a whip to his chest.

Middle register. This is occupied by two couples, represented sitting back to back, each pair being Menna and his wife. Although the columns for inclusion of descriptive text were produced, the fact that these are empty does not confirm that this is who they are. On both sides, the face of Menna has been destroyed.
In both images Menna is seated on a black chair. His black wig is surmounted by a cone of fragrant grease. He wears a broad multicoloured necklace, armlets and bracelets. He is clothed in a long semi-transparent overgarment, with short sleeves, over a white kilt retained by a belt at the waist. On the right side image, he has his left hand to his chest in which he holds a bouquet of lotus flowers and two buds; it his his right hand in the other image. The other hand is held stretched out above his knees.
Both of Henuttawi's images are virtually identical. Although shown positioned behind him, his wife will actually be seated, in her pale wood chair, next to him. The backrest of her chair can be seen, whilst his would have been hidden by her image. She wears a thick black wig, held in place by a headband with a lotus at the front, is topped with a cone of fragrant grease. Her clothing is composed of a long sheath dress which extends to her ankles. The upper part is of a yellow colour until the waist, from where the rest is white. A deep yellow coloured drape, highlighted with red lines, hangs over her shoulders. She is adorned with a broad necklace, armlets and bracelets. She holds one arm around Menna's back, in a gesture of affection, in her other hand she holds a folded piece of material.

Bottom register. The lower

register, the less in height of the three, is badly damaged in the central area and in the position of the face of one of the females. The imagery consists of two symmetrical and identical groups, each consisting of three characters who face towards the middle.
The first, the one closest to the centre, is a man who wears a short black wig, on top of which is a cone of fragrant grease. In both images he has his hands raised in front of him. He wears a semi-transparent over-garment with short sleeves, which extends to just below his knees. Beneath this he wears a short white kilt.
Behind him stands a woman in white tight-fitting dress. She also holds her hands raised in a gesture of worship. Only seen on the right-hand image, the other is badly damaged, her black wig is held in place by a headband with a lotus and has a grease cone on top.
At the two extremities of the register, is a character with a shaven head. He wears a necklace, armlets and bracelets. He is dressed in a white kilt. On the right-hand side, his right hand (left on the other side) holds the stem of an umbel of papyrus, whilst in the other hand, he holds a small basket containing a conical bread.
It is almost certain that the two leading characters, of each group, are a son and a daughter of Menna, followed by a servant. However, again because there is no descriptive text, it is possible that these two are Menna and his wife.
The centre of the register is now lost through damage. Here probably stood a pile of offerings. The only remains can be found on the left side. These include two red vessels and the green stand of a table.

Outside the door frame

On either side of the frame are represented standing images of Menna (at the top) and his wife (below). It is assumed that they are Menna and and his wife, but with no descriptive text, only the columns for it to have been created, this cannot be confirmed. They each have their hands raised in worship, each standing on a reed mat, in front of a pile of offerings.

Upper images: Menna. On the right, Menna's face no longer exists, whilst on the left, all of his head, his shoulder and his right arm are totally lost.
He wears a broad necklace and multicoloured armlets and bracelets. He has a long transparent over-garment with short sleeves and a white kilt with an overlapping front-piece, tied by a belt. The altar in front of him, with a green supporting leg and a white tray, contains the same items on both sides: a checkerboard basket containing grapes, with breads on either side and on top. Above the breads are cutlets of red meat, all topped with a tied bunch of vegetables. Beneath the tray is a red container with a white lid, around which wrap the stems of two lotus buds.

Lower images: Menna's wife. In both images, she has survived almost intact.
She is dressed almost identically in both images, matching what she wore in the middle register inside the door frame. As with Menna above, she stands in front of food offerings, again arranged on the same style altar, but with slightly different contents. On the white tray is a basket filled with grapes, two green gourds and two round breads, there are also two yellow heaps of figs. On top is a cutlet and a haunch of red meat and filly topped by a sheaf of lotus: an umbel and two buds. Under her tray are two red jars of different shapes (more easily seen in the left image) and with white lids. Again the stems of lotus scroll up around the containers.