The tomb of Ramose  (TT 55).
This is located at the foot of the hill, at the heart of the present village of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna (view 1).
Practically no statues exist of Ramose, but one among them, fragmentary, has been located by Brigitte Goede in the Overseas-Museum of Breme (view BG2). We know nearly nothing of Ramose's family, other than the names of a few of his relatives. Ramose's wife was called Mery(t)ptah  . His father was Neby  and his mother was Ipuia  .
The plan of the tomb of Ramose, in an inverted "T" form, was traditional from the beginning of the 18th Dynasty. Externally, a stairway descends into a trapezoidal courtyard, of which nothing now remains (view 1). This gives access to a transverse pillared hallway, built into the hillside. This hypostyle hall, the only decorated part of the tomb, leads at its rear to a second hall with eight columns, which in turn leads to the chapel at the rear of the tomb. At the far left (south-west) corner of the main hypostyle hall is a sloping descent to the underground burial complex (view JH50). This is cut parallel to and alongside the south wall, in a westerly direction. The ceiling is now completely gone, reduced to hundreds of fragments found when the tomb was cleared. Some pieces indicated that the ceiling did originally receive both a patterned design and lines of coloured hieroglyphic text. A pyramidion, preserved in the Turin Museum (view TB3), and which could belong to our Ramose, had to have decorated the small pyramid which one usually found at the entry of the chapel. The tomb was modified for later burials in its rear part, and three vaults, of which one, during Ramesside times, was dug into the walls of the courtyard.
In the passage, on the south wall thickness (view TB6), the vestiges of reliefs show Ramose and his wife leaving in light of day while adoring Re the sun god. On the north side of the passage Ramose enters into his tomb, his eternal home. This arrangement reflects the interior arrangement of the great hallway, where the passage emerges: Ramose receives the funeral rituals in the north half, while on the southern half, he feasts with his close friends, taking part in the joys of eternal life. The inner door jams are much destroyed, and what does exist only reaches to a height of two-thirds that of the doorway. These contain columns of hieroglyphic texts.
The scale of this ample room and the grand scale of its decor surprises the visitor to Qurna, those familiar with the pretty painted but small tombs of the lower category notables. It gives the impression of entering into a palace, an impression very different from the one given, for example, by the narrow corridors of the tomb of the vizier Rekhmire under Thutmosis III, who lived in the previous century. It shows the taste and the wealth of the time, which is that of ostentation and imposing. Ramose, the first notable person in the kingdom after the Pharaoh, could aspire to such an ambition, thanks to the exceptional favour which he enjoyed through the Pharaoh. The scale of the character, as well as the king's presence on the walls, give to these walls the impact of a divine temple relief. These refined bas-reliefs could only have been sculpted thanks to the exceptional quality of the limestone in this part of the mountain. They testify of the apogee of art at court under Amenophis III, by the quality of the sculpture as well as by the aesthetics which they express. The colour which would have given them life was never realised. Only the eyes are painted, and not sculpted, in black lines, which show up harshly on the whiteness of the limestone, the finish gives an impression of a frozen ideal. On the other hand, the absence of the coloured layer enhances the exceptional quality of the sculpture (view 11). Only the north wall, the right end wall on entering, is totally devoid of decoration.
East wall, either side of the entrance
On the north side, Ramose makes offerings accompanied by his wife, Merytptah, and his servants, shown in three rows of three. He burns some offerings, whilst pouring over this the content of a vase of perfume, to the gods Amon-Re, Anubis and Hathor. Some of the servants had the favour to have their identity inscribed in black paint in front of them, such as the one at bottom right, Bakenimen. The much smaller sub-register portrays a procession of offering bearers and butchers (view BG01) . A large portion of this section is badly damaged, in particular the figures of Ramose and his wife. On the south side, Ramose sacrifices some offerings to the sun divinities Amon-Re, Re-Horakhty, Atum and Khepri (view TB35); he is not accompanied by his wife. He is assisted by six papyrus carrying officials, arranged in two rows (view TB36). The top row of officials is almost totally destroyed. As on the north section, the lower register portrays a procession of offering bearers and butchers (view 24). On this south side, the procession is led by three singers. Some inscriptions to the painting have been added to identify some of the protagonists. Note the empty columns, on both sides, which would have eventually contained hieroglyphic texts. East wall, southern part : Ramose offers and shares a banquet with his parents and his close friends
Ramose is seated twice, to the right of centre, facing left (north), in scenes of great size in two registers, where many characters are seated, in well ordered couples, distributed either in front or behind the vizier. The extremity of the scene, the junction with the south wall can be examined in view TB22. They are strangely similar, presenting the standard of beauty current at that time with youthful features, while at the same time sophisticated and slightly effeminate. The differences which one can discover result from variations of costume and adornment. If not for the texts which designate them, above their heads, we would be incapable of distinguishing them. Only Ramose is recognisable by the clothing relating to his responsibility, his vast starched tunic, held at the shoulders by straps, and the naked head in the lower register. Merytptah, his wife, is seated behind him, named: "the royal ornament (the title of a royal concubine), the chantress of Amon, the favourite of Mut". Behind him, his parents, Heby, chief of the livestock of Amon and his wife lpuia, clothed in a dress of the fashion of the previous generation, a sheath with straps. Words quoted by Ramose: "make an offering, twice as pure ... for the ka of my father and my mother and for my brothers in the necropolis". These "brothers" are seated facing him. At the top, Amenhotep, "chief of the recruits", with a woman at a smaller scale crouched down at his feet. Known from other documents, he could be another son of Heby, by a different mother from the one of Ramose; behind, another man designated as "his brother", "great steward of the king to Memphis" with his wife: these are Amenhotep and May (view 9), which we will find in the lower register. Then a man who has lost his name, like the four other men who are in the upper part of the damaged wall. The exact parental relationships between these characters and the vizier are problematic, because the Egyptians used the same name, "sen" to designate brother, brother-in-law, cousin, husband and lover. In addition, the freedom of Egyptian art permits the representation of the same individual several times in the same scene. Ramose and his wife are represented a second time on the lower register; behind them, a trio composed of Amenhotep and two women, his wife May and between them Merytptah. Amenhotep is probably the father of Merytptah married to the vizier, represented at his side
The following couple, to the left, (view TB1) is that of his brother May, chief of the king's horses (hieroglyph of the horse, view 12) and royal messenger to the foreign countries and his wife Werener, "favourite of Mut of Isheru". Notice the particularly neat work of the wigs of the characters. Behind them, two characters are seated side by side (view 18) : another brother, Kechy superintendent of the hunters of Amon" and another, whose name is lost, priest of the funeral temple of king Amenophis III. Apparently, Ramose didn't have any children. East wall, northern part : The funerary rituals for Ramose
View TB8, view TB10 and view TB9 At the top, a strictly composed image represents fourteen helpers who each bring the oily preparations dedicated on the left, and the products for the body, such as make-up, the resins and fragrant herbs, in sealed jars (view TB25, view TB26). They arrive in front of Ramose and his wife who, seated, become intoxicated by holding to their nostrils the waisted vases full of fragrant ointment (view TB5). An amusing detail, repeated several times in the tomb, is the presence under the seat of the vizier of his tame goose (view TB29). One notices that it has been hammered out by the zealots of Akhenaton, because it represents one of the animals linked to the god Amon. His parents are located behind them, which means at their side, if one takes into account the artistic principle of folding back the figures and the elements of composition, in force in Egyptian art.
The traditional scene of the great offering, well known since the Old Kingdom, is reproduced here. The main priest, equipped with a leopard skin, stands on the right to a greater scale, dominating all the action (view TB4). The "menu" of the dead, i.e. the chart of available food, written down on a square gridded table, alternate with two rows of officiants kneeling on the ground, who each bring four dishes (view TB27). They compose two reminiscent friezes of the genii of prosperity which decorate the plinth of the walls in the divine sanctuaries. The officiants purify the tables, purify the air with incense, recite the ritual incantations. The last, who is turned around, is the one who encloses the scene while moving backwards, erasing all trace of steps from the ground behind him. A very important ritual more especially represented at this time is the deceased's purification. Installed on a white case like a vat made of alabaster, Ramose receives the streams which are poured on him by the priests from vases of consecrated form. The comparison with a real shower stops there! Ramose is fully dressed, in his clothes of pomp moreover, holding a staff in the shape of the sign for "incense" . As the most often in the Egyptian art, the image is not a factual narration which must accept the requirements of realism, but it constitutes a message which it is necessary to be read here as the "purification of Ramose" (view TB24, view 28 and view BG1). The last tableau (view 30) is particularly gracious. Before Ramose and his wife, Merytptah, stand three young girls, who are not named and who hold the role of the daughters which Ramose didn't have. They present consecrated accessories to the vizier while saying : "receive the sistra and the counterweights of the Menet-necklace of Amon". These feminine emblems, bound to the rituals of the goddess of love, Hathor, are supposed to renew the youth of Ramose.
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}