THE TRANSVERSE CHAMBER - continued

THE SOUTH WING

The frieze at the top of these wall has already been described. The main decoration is divided into two registers. As usual, in such a case, the top one is dedicated to what happens in the divine domain whereas the bottom one is here dedicated to the funeral ceremony, thus being the first events. The scenes of the three walls follow each other. The bottom banner is different from the one of the north wing, consisting of two thick lines, yellow and red, edged with finer black ones. In this south wing, this banner is high enough above the ground to have been preserved from the flooding.

To respect the logic of the scenes, they will be described by following them register after register from one wall to the other, starting on the east wall.

East wall, bottom register

(see )

Funerary barque and chest of canopic jars

The first scene, on the left, is extensively destroyed. It concerns the transportation, on the shoulders of priests, of the canopic chest containing jars with the deceased's viscera, under the care of Anubis. A large upright bouquet is at the front. A name appears in front of one the porters: "His son Amenabu". Above, on a white background, is a text thus transcribed by Davies: "Spoken by the men: 'Worn out is he who was calm for his city, and silent for his town, he who loved truth and hated duplicity.' ". This is a reminder that Osiris doesn't die, he is in lethargy, he "rests". He is sometimes called "the tired of heart". It is for this reason that the resurrection of Osiris is never mentioned, it is a continuity.

In front of the canopic chest is the funerary barque, decorated with pleated linen ribbons, white and red in colour. On the barque is a cabin, the top part of which is shuttered. Inside the cabin is the anthropomorphous coffin which rests on a mattress placed on a bed. Under the bed are four white bags possibly containing either the rest of the material used for the mummification (the comparison with packages forgotten by the embalmers of mummies is striking in by André Macke; analysis showed that they contained the natron used for embalming) or the deceased's clothing, ready for his rising. The coffin is flanked at the front and at the rear with a bouquet and protected by Isis, on the left, and Nephthys, who watch over the deceased as they watched over their brother (the husband of one and lover for the other) Osiris.

The funeral barque rests on a sledge and benefits from three different means of traction, probably corresponding to three phases of the transportation (see ).

First means of transportation: being carried
The shafts of wood supporting the barque rest on the shoulders of priests, most of whom have a the white ribbon of mourning fastened around their shaven skull. There are four of them at the front, spaced in pairs, but due to the lack of space, the artist was forced to present the four at the rear at the side of each other. In front of the foremost porters is the text: "Words spoken by the men: 'To the west, to the west, 0 favoured one, to the west! She receives here […] within her abode' " ("she" refers to Hathor or the goddess of the west). In front of those at the rear is the text: "Words spoken by the men who carry the one who is going to join his tomb: 'To the west, O favoured of the master' ". One of the porters in the front group is identified as "His brother, Amenheriib". Next to the cortege walks a man, being a mourner his two arms are raised above his head in a sign of grief. In front of him is a small naked boy in the same attitude. These represent "His son Amenabu; his son Bakenptah".

In front of the barque, turned to face it, a priest makes an encensement and a libation: this is another image of Amenabu, who here wears the feline skin of the sem-priest. The accompanying text says: "To make the encensement and the libation for the overseer of the altar, Nakhtamon. By his son, the lector-priest (?), Amenabu". It should be noted in the image that the two ropes, which are attached to the sledge, extend towards two sub-registers, which are in front of the scene (see ).

Second means of transportation: pulled by men
Located in the upper sub-register, five men pull on the rope. Their accompanying text is written in front and behind them; it is also strangely arranged and is again full of errors. It states: "Words spoken by the men who pull the deceased: 'To the west, to the west, 0 favoured one, to the west. Your son's son gives you a hand and you are being protected. O favoured one of Osiris, [..this section is incomprehensible…] you will be before him' ".

Third means of transportation: pulled by two pair of oxen
Strangely, the artist painted in blue the horns, the hooves and the muzzles of the oxen. Also, on the shoulder and rump of the nearest animal is the sign of a goose. At the far side of the animals is a drover, whose head of hair has been shaven in a tonsure style. He makes the beasts walk forwards with the help of a stick. He is accompanied by the text: "Spoken by the drover who is held behind the cattle who pull the deceased: 'To the west, to the west, O favoured one, to the west, where your eye will be opened, where your ear will hear and your stomach will be filled' ".
Behind the cattle follows a man who makes a libation of milk from a vessel, accompanied by the text: "Spoken by the one who sprinkles [the road in front of] the deceased: 'I purify the road for you with milk' ".

The two porters

On the top sub-register, is the end of the scene which starts on the south wall. On this east wall it shows two sons carrying baskets. These are identified as, on the right, "his son, his beloved, Bakenptah", and on the left "his son, Amenabu". The latter one says "My father is tired". Bakenptah carries three stems of papyrus and, suspended from the bend of his right elbow, a vase. On his left shoulder he supports a long pole, from which hangs a basket at each end. Amenabu carries an identical long pole with baskets. Amenabu holds a large bouquet in his right hand.

The corner between the south and west walls

(see and ).

This has deliberately been left rounded in order to be able to continue the action of the scenes. The two sub-registers are occupied with an identical scene. The funeral ceremony is, for the participants, a physical test, because the journey can be long. Thus places for cooling down are prepared, of which there are two examples. Food and drinks are stacked on pedestals; the group is surrounded with stems of papyrus and other plants. In front of each stands a man, leaning forwards, who seems to empty a crock on to the floor. This action enters in the setting of the ritual of the breaking of the red vases, intended to avert the malefic strengths which haunt the threshold between the world of the living and the one of the dead. The emptied vase is then broken. In the Theban tombs where it is represented, this representation always takes place in front of this type of pavilion containing a pile of offerings, often with grapes hanging from the roof and surrounded with branches from the palm tree. It is even likely that the different pavilions only form one of the various stages of the ritual (van Dijk).

South wall, lower register

()

Without interruption, the scene has moved into the funeral cortege, where nine women and five men are represented.

The men

(see )

The first, on the right, is a lector-priest, who reads the formulas of purification for the ritual of the opening of the mouth from the papyrus which he holds in his hands. The corner between the south and west wall is, here also, sufficiently rounded that the artist chose to place there a chest and on a small table above this is another table piled with offerings, these items are almost entirely on the west wall. The chest has the instruments used by the lector-priest. Among the four men who are standing behind him, three are the deceased's brothers. All make gestures of despair and have the white ribbon of mourning around their shaven skulls. Two of them wear capes fastened around their necks. The four are identified, right to left, as: "His brother, the chief butcher of Khnemet-waset (the Ramesseum), Petrisuemhebsed. His brother, his beloved, Amenheriib. His brother, his beloved, the chief of the doorkeepers in the treasury of Amon, Mehef, [justified?]". The fourth is identified by text positioned immediately in front of him: "The wab-priest, Hori"".

The females

They have at their head a lady who seems to be elderly, wearing a very long wig and billowing dress, she is "The mistress of house and chantress of Amon-Ra, Raia". Those who follow her are perhaps professional mourners, because they are designated as "Those who wail in front". With raised hands, they scatter dust on their heads. Davies states that one of them, third female from the right in the group, is supporting an elbow with the other hand and appears to have an injured arm with a bandage on it, which can just be seen in .

West wall, bottom register

(see )

The end of the earthly journey

As already stated, the items in front of the lector priest are mainly located on this west wall. Further to the right, the action takes place in front of the hill of the west (the ground being represented in a pink colour under the feet of the participants) where the tomb is located.
The ceremony which takes place in front of the tomb uses, besides the already seen lector-priest, three other priests (see and ). These three stand in front of another pile of offerings, placed in front of the upright mummy of the deceased. It is worth noting the skilfulness with which the painter knew how to represent the tangled arms of the characters. One performs a libation of water on the offerings, the second burns incense towards the deceased whilst also holding an adze, the third, definitely clothed in a leopard-skin (although the others almost certainly are), throws purifying water from fours vessels over the coffin, two streams in front of it and two behind.

The entry of the tomb opens up at the side of the west mountain. This area of the scene is almost entirely lost, but there still exists the pyramidal top, framed with two udjat eyes, which has been placed over the facade. A niche exists in the face of the pyramid intended to contain a kneeling statue whose prayer is written on a tablet in front of it (a statue stelophore). In front of the tomb, in the courtyard which became habitual - and ritual - in the Ramesside period, stands a large sized stela, of which only the upper part has survived. Leaning against this is the magnificent anthropomorphous sarcophagus of Nakhtamon. On his head is a cone of ointment, in front of which is an open lotus flower, the symbol of rebirth. At the feet of the mummy, the deceased is mourned by his wife, accompanied by a little girl (a daughter ?)

Nakhtamon and his wife in the mountain of the west

Further to the right, after the heavily damaged area, can be seen the beginning of the journey into the other world, being accomplish by Nakhtamon, regenerated by the rituals, and followed by his wife. By adopting the pink background for the whole composition, the artist cleverly combined the approach to the mountain with its undulating soil and the mountain itself.

Nakhtamon advances, his arms raised (see ). The folds of his stomach and extreme size of his pleated garment, are stylistic criteria of this date. Behind him is his wife, whose long wig is surmounted by the cone of ointment and the usual lotus flower. She holds in her left hand a holy water sprinkler as well as a Hathoric sistrum which produces the noise of a rattle. This is supposed to attract the goddess Hathor out of the mountain of the west so that she takes the deceased in her lap where he will be able to be reborn again of his own work.

This evidently works, since the goddess can be seen in the form of a cow, which is extended half out of the mountain. She has on her head a combination of a sun disk inside a lyriform pair of horns, surmounted with a pair of feathers, usually associated with the goddess. It is completed here, at the front, with a uraeus. Around the neck of the cow is another of this form of Hathor's typical attributes, the menat-necklace.
In the Theban tombs of the Ramesside period, the goddess Hathor is often represented associated with the Pharaoh, as here. She was close to Isis, and therefore often considered as the wife and the mother of Horus (which is shown in her name, Hwt-Hr, which can be translated "the house of Horus"). Her presence in the form of a cow symbolises her nourishing and protective role of the heir to the throne. In front of the cow stands the image of the pharaoh. His skin is black, the colour of the fertile soil, a symbol of rebirth. In front of him, on a pedestal, is an open lotus flower and a libation vessel.

The text surrounding Nakhtamon and his wife states: "Giving praise to Hathor, lady of Djeseru, mistress of the West, eye of Re, who is in his disk, sovereign of all lands, wide of gait (?) in the Sektet barque, moving freely in the Marandjet barque, the one who conceals the many (followers) of Ma'at and gives shelter to the justified. She extends her protection over [every son of (?)] the lands, and is kind to the one who enters and does not go forth again. Great and small are brought to the place of Truth. Let me pass and rest within her, because I am upright, I have not spoken lies wittingly and my mouth is free of offence".
The goddess answers: "Words spoken by Hathor, lady of Djeseru: 'To the west, to the west, O favoured one, to the west. Make your home in the necropolis, like the followers of Horus. All your kinsmen who are within it - both their hands greet […]' ".

East wall, upper register

Turning 180°, the upper register of the east wall can now be described. Although having already been described, it is worth noting that the artist showed evidence of ingenuity again by filling the empty triangular space, caused by the irregularity of the ceiling above the frieze, with a large horizontal image of a bouquet (see ).
Under the frieze, the upper register shows the beginning of the journey of Nakhtamon into the world of the beyond. It starts with his image, although most of his body is lost, with his arms raised. He stands in front a large text, written on a yellow background, in ten columns. The first part of this is a repeat of that found in the entrance, on the north wall.

Prayer of Nakhtamon

(see )

"Worship of Osiris-Wennefer by the Osiris, the overseer of the altar in the house of Usermaatre-Setepenre (the Ramesseum) , Nakhtamon, justified. He says: 'I have come to you, lord of the sacred land, Osiris, ruler of eternity, the eldest son of Geb, the first born of the womb of Nut. I make reverence to the lord of the necropolis, who magnifies the sky with his arms. I am a second Thoth. I rejoice at all that he has done. He brings you breath for your nostrils, life and happiness to your beautiful face. He [……] from Atum for your nostrils, O ruler of the west. He causes the light to shine on your chest. He illuminates the dark road and subdues the pain attached to your body, thanks to the efficiency of the spells which are on his lips. He pacified for you the two falcon gods, the brothers. He submitted to his profit the violence of their dispute. He overpowered for you the two sister goddesses. The Two Lands are at peace under you, because he made disappear the discontent on their faces (becoming again?) as two brothers one with the other. Your son Horus is victorious in front of all the Ennead of the gods. There has been given to him his kingship on land, the uraeus on his forehead in the entire country. The throne of Geb has been assigned to him and the beneficial office of Atum fixed in the handwriting of Thoth'. By the Osiris, overseer of the altar of Amon, Nakhtamon, justified".

Passage through the doors

Nakhtamon now has to face the guarded doors of the underworld. This makes reference to chapters 144 to 147 the Book of the Dead. Each door is guarded by ferocious and armed demons, who must repel the strength of evil and their representatives. The deceased, thanks to the funeral ritual and to the Book of the Dead on papyrus, of which he is endowed, is capable of clearing these dangerous obstacles and progress towards the hall of Osirian judgement.
Nakhtamon is going to pass through six "doors" (two rows of three) indicated by a right-angle design at the right-hand side of each of the six images. These are formed by a colourful series of rectangles on the four outer ones and black rectangles on the inner two. On top of each is a roof of three different types. the order of the six doors is from right to left, upper then lower rows. Roofs 1 and 4 have a frieze of khekeru, 2 and 5 have a golden frame, whilst 3 and 6 have a roof composed of a coving with the representation of a long snake in front of which is an udjat-eye. In each doorway are seated three demons on a carpet. In each case the nearest one to Nakhtamon holds a large blue knife. In the four outer scenes (1,3, 4 and 6) the foremost of the group of demons is terrifying because he has an animal head. In the other two cases it is the last of the demons who has the animal head.
Nakhtamon, kneeling, pays homage, giving the appropriate phrase, to the divinities. In alternate scenes he has a shaven head, whilst in the others he wears a wig, see door 3 (), top left, and door 4 (), bottom right.
Above Nakhtamon, as he kneels before the trio, the text simply states an introduction, such as: "Recitation when reaching the first barrier (by) Nakhtamon".
In the first encounter, at top right, in the text behind him is his utterance: "They give you bread and offerings, water and wine". In the second encounter (behind the first) : "To speak above in peace, you receive breath". No other utterances have been added to the following four encounters, thus, according the designer/artist, he needs say nothing more.
So, after having heard the magic words recited by the deceased, he is allowed to proceed to towards the place of Truth, where the heart of the dead is weighed in the balance against a figure of Truth (Ma'at).

Joy after success

()

The end of the above sequence is in fact on the south wall, but it is more logical describe it here. Nakhtamon is in company of his wife, Kemenaa. Both are turned to face what has happened and show their joy. Both have their arms raised making the sign of the ka. Each have a festal cone on their head. Nakhtamon hold the feather of Truth (the symbol of Ma'at) and placed in his waistband is a mast with a sail, which symbolises the recovered breath. The text above them simply names them: "Thus says the overseer of the altar, Nakhtamon. Thus says his sister, mistress of the house, Kemenaa". It is also possible that this scene takes place after the weighing of the heart, which takes place behind them, although they already appear in that function, immediately behind them, facing in the opposite direction.

South wall, upper register

The left-hand side of the register has already been dealt with. Nakhtamon and Kemenaa are introduced by Horus into the chamber of judgement. The god wears the double crown and holds in his hand a was-sceptre. The accompanying text (on a white background, and very damaged) begins with: "In peace towards the Place of Truth". The deceased's heart, now lost through damage, was placed on a tray of the balance, whilst a representation of the goddess Ma'at (Truth) would have occupied the other. Anubis, to the left of the support, steadies the balance, his hand held under the plummet. Sitting on top of the balance is the small figure of Thoth, the baboon, supervising the weighing. The two trays are in balance, the deceased is justified, which will prevent him from being swallowed by the monstrous devourer, at the other side of the support, now apparently deliberately destroyed although still maintaining the form. This was the image of the terrible female monster, Ammut, whose forepart is that of a crocodile and her hind-part that of a hippopotamus, who awaits her prey should he have failed the weighing.

At the top of the balance is an extraordinary representation, unique in all Theban tombs, of an male image in opposition to Ammut, with arms and legs spread apart and equipped with wings as if flying above it (see ). He is surrounded with small blue lines which he seems to radiate: "his entire image is surrounded with pale blue flames, similar to vibrations emanating from his being" (C. Desroches-Noblecourt) . In each hand he holds the sign of life (the ankh) ; he wears the royal shendyt loincloth. This certainly doesn't represent the deceased's Ba (his soul), but almost certainly that of a Pharaoh, which would have been more certain if the head had not been destroyed by pillagers.
Representations of the winged Pharaoh are known, evoking Horus on earth. As on a block dating from the time of Thutmosis IV, originating from the 3rd pylon at Karnak (see ). This sovereign also declares (Urk IV, 159.13) : "I flew away skywards like a divine falcon". A recently restored small statue made of alabaster, which is in the Manchester Museum (), constitutes another example of this. A representation of this type also exists in the temple of Sethy I in Abydos, on the staircase leading to the cenotaph ().
Mrs. Desroches-Noblecourt, followed by Obsomer, sees here "a clever graphic transcription of the new falcon king (Ramesses II) who flies off to take possession of the throne", thus supporting the hypothesis of the rising into the sky of the deceased king Sethy I. The debate is possibly not closed, but in any case there is an apparently insoluble question: what is this representation doing here, above the balance of justification of Nakhtamon??

West wall, upper register

(see )

After have been declared just of voice (= justified, acquitted) by the court, the couple, of which virtually nothing now exists, are lead by Horus and Thoth into the presence of Osiris, sovereign of the Duat (the underworld). Nakhtamon, leaning slightly forwards, his right hand holding his left shoulder in sign of respect, declares (the text begins in front of Horus and continuous above the couple) : "I have come to you with truth in my heart, O Osiris, (Lord) of the living. There is no falsity in my heart. I do […] truth every day, because I know that you live in it. Spoken by the Osiris, the overseer of the altar of the Ramesseum […]. Spoken by […] of Amon, Kemenaa, in peace. to his place".
In front is Thoth, with his scribe's palette in his hand, who records the result of the weighing. The text in front of him declares: "Words spoken by Thoth, lord of Hermopolis, judge of the Ennead, 'Behold, the name of the overseer of the alter, Nakhtamon, is before us and his heart has emerged in righteousness. No abomination has been found in him […]' ".
He is followed by Horus, accompanied by the text: "Words spoken by Horus, protector of his father, beneficial heir of Wennefer: 'Behold, I introduce the overseer of the altar, Nakhtamon, I have just examined him on the balance. Nothing blameworthy has been found against him. Make that his heart is returned to its place, as with all just men' ".

In front of Thoth, at the foot of the platform of Osiris, offerings have been piled on four monopole tables.

The scene representing Osiris is very damaged. The god is seated on a platform, under a decorated wooden building. His seat is the usual cuboid shape with colourful side. His shroud is decorated with a motif of feathers. Behind him, he is protected by Isis; in front of him, the Four Children of Horus (which are discussed fully in this ) stand on top of an open lotus flower.