This south wall is divided horizontally into two major areas. The upper section contains, in two painted registers, contains the funerary procession. The lower half is mainly undecorated, except for some rough cut reliefs over the sloping passageway to the underground burial complex. The top of the wall has a coloured kheker frieze, which in places is almost erase. View TB42 shows a section of the south wall, from the kheker frieze down to the top of the lower half, above the descent. South wall : The funerals and homage to the funerary gods
To the extreme right (west) of the scene (view TB42) Ramose and his wife, after the funeral, present themselves in front of Osiris and the gods of the hereafter. It is the outcome of the two registers of the cortege. On the top one, three porters, loaded with offerings, head toward "the first door of the hereafter", a blue coloured portal, reminiscent of a door from the world of the Dead. Beneath, the last duties are carried out for the dead Merytptah and Ramose, in their coffins in front of the white facade with the red door of "the chapel of the west" : this depicts the facade of the tomb. Behind it is placed the great figure of the goddess Hathor (view TB43) "who resides in the mountain, the mistress of the sky, Mehyt", wearing of the sign of the west, her feet on the rock, the symbol of the Theban mountain which shelters the final resting place of Ramose. Having cleared the doorstep, Ramose, very mutilated, can enter in the world of the hereafter under the protection of Hathor. The upper register procession
Six officiants precede the procession, preceded by a ritual lector-priest (view TB40). Arms raised in a sign of rejoicing, they are delighted with the deceased's happy post-mortem destiny. At the head, the mysterious "tekenu" (view TB39), which one interprets as a virtual "sacrifice", intended to accompany the dead. The catafalque seems to be really heavy, since it is pulled by no less than six oxen ! It is necessary to understand in fact that these draught animals are shared with the two catafalques which, also assembled on sledges, accompanied by men who hold their reins: one for the sarcophaguses (view TB38) which will fit inside the other as it is of custom for them to be proceeded in luxury funerals, and another for the great chest for viscera vases (the "canopic" vases) (view TB37). The lower register procession
• The mourners clothed in white, (for the women of which it is the profession) charged with moarning at during the funerary procession, are distributed in two groups. They interrupt the parade of porters of furniture and bouquets of lotus blooms (view 33). Several among them squat on the floor, their heads covered with dust as a sign of distress (view 34). Four among them hold their hand to their face, manifestation of an intense sadness. The second group of mourners, all standing, is very famous: their heads tipped backwards express the agitation of emotion. They turn their faces towards the catafalques which arrive in the upper register (view 38). Four other younger women distinguish by their red and yellow costume and their precise gestures : two beat their breast, two others present a miniature leg of ox on a dish. They all wear the klaft, this is a piece of material tied in the nape (view 35 and view 36) • The furniture brought to equip the vault is magnificently very detailed (view 40 and view TB38). One recognises perfectly the real objects, similar to those preserved in museums : caskets for ushabti, sandals, vases for perfumes made of alabaster and in "Egyptian blue", a chair and necessities for writing, four chests and more sandals, a bed and its headrest, a stool, a fan, a chest, amphora, floral bouquets. • The "friends" of Ramose, who close the procession (view 41), constitute in fact an official delegation : these are "the royal son of Kush" (i.e. the Vice King of Nubia), "the herald-in-chief of the king", "the chief of the Treasury", "the companions, heads of the Palace" and "the officials, leaders of the City". In brief, the men at the summit of administration at the time, accompany their leader, the prime minister, to his final home. South wall : Lower half
This lower area is largely undecorated. However, at the west end, over the decent to the underground burial complex, are four panels including images of Ramose facing the west and walking with his staff towards a tomb (see the bottom of view TB42 and view TB43). The first (largest) panel takes the form of a "false door", in which Ramose is accompanied by two priests. In the second Ramose brings bread and water towards a simpler doorway, a possible "gate" to the underworld. The third and fourth panels show Ramose simply standing with his staff in his left hand, again before successive "gates" to the underworld. There appears to be no connection between these figures and the following west wall.
West wall, south side : Ramose and the king, old style
Ramose, in several successive representations, carries sceptres (the last is dominated by a head of the ram of Amon) and bouquets to Amenophis IV sitting under a canopy in the company of the goddess of Truth Ma-at, daughter of Re (view TB16). On the pedestal, the names of the nine peoples traditionally dominated by the king of Egypt, "the Nine Bows", are inscribed in battlemented surrounding walls surmounted by the busts of foreign prisoners, an expressive way to designate countries under domination. The list of these names goes back into antiquity and became canonical; the concept is preserved to express the fundamental principle of domination by the king of Egypt on the neighbouring regions and even on Egypt itself. West wall, north side : Ramose and the king, new style
The decoration of the north side is in the style of Amenophis IV (who is not yet Akhenaton) and reflects the sweeping changes occurring in Egypt at this time. The tomb is proof that some artists had already moved to using the new style. King Amenophis IV and queen Nefertiti lean against a window of the palace (view 44 and view TB13). Note: its lintel is open at its middle, so that the royal couple benefits from the rays of the Aton disk ending in hands which dispense to them the signs "life" and "power". The door posts are richly decorated with classic regal themes : the king's (erased) cartouche is framed by the wings of the falcon, with protective cobras of royalty of South and North; a royal sphinx trampling on the enemy (view TB21). The bottom of the window remained smooth and without decoration. However, the Egyptians completely filled the framework with their compositions; there is in this detail an additional indication of the unfinished character of the decoration. To the immediate left of the window, a set of dignitaries, of which several are bent over in accordance with the Amarnian style of representation. In the centre of the window, king Amenophis IV, in a movement full of life, shoulders in profile, bending to address to his subject down below, the hero of the ceremony, vizier Ramose. Behind, relegated to the left of the setting, queen Nefertiti carries a fly swatter. People of the palace, amazed men and women, are present in registers superimposed to the left of the window. Some, like the "leaders of the harem" are bent double, in a sign of reverence, a way to present themselves in front of the king, typical of the new artistic style (view TB22, view TB46 and view TB48). The royal couple have been hammered out after the king's death, as well as all the cartouches which didn't consist of the name of Amon (view TB21), in order to eradicate all record and to prevent the creative magic of the images from making the cursed couple come alive again. These destructive actions were sponsored by the restoration of the cult of Amon, by the partisans of the return to orthodoxy. The beneficial rays with the hands charged with the sign of life "ankh" and power "was" have been respected, but have been broken by strokes at their beginning, which was supposed to break their power (view TB20). On the right-hand side of the window, the scene is drawn and not yet engraved. At the top, one attends the exchange of speech between Ramose and his sovereign. On the right, Ramose turns around, loaded of his rewards, attended by porters, in front of a crowd of people from the Palace who cheer him.
The Egyptians are bent in reverence, while the strangers remain upright, their arms raised, their palms directed toward the vizier, the gesture of respectful greeting and prayer. One recognises from their physical features and their adornments, a mixture of Nubians, men from the black Africa, people from the area of Syro-Palestinian and a Libyan. These people of foreign nations are represented with sensitivity and humanity, and not as grinning caricatures as is often the case from the reign of Horemheb (see for example "The civil tomb of Horemheb at Saqqara"). Further to the right, the remains of a scene, somewhat effaced, shows Ramose receiving bouquets from the priests of the temple. The remainder of the wall remained virgin. The decoration of the tomb of Ramose breaks off with these drawings, exactly at the time of the passage into the new style, very significant if one compares the south side of the wall with the north side. It shows up even in a scene on the right side with a "hand" more daring than on the other side. The cessation of the artistic activity in the tomb can be dated, therefore, to the 5th year of the reign of IV Amenophis, at the time of the foundation of Akhetaton, "the horizon of Aton", the new capital, in Middle Egypt. In fact the king heard everything, as he said in a speech, which has remained with us, that his senior officials are buried in the new capital. The second corridor and the last two rooms
At its far extremity, is a chapel with three niches, a central one and two lateral. They were intended to hold statuaries of the deceased, of which no trace has ever been found. The walls are prepared for the sculpture, but didn't receive any decor. Only the exterior of the doorway of the entry (view TB45 and view TB46) and the side wall thicknesses in the entry (view TB7), provide vestiges of the sculptured decoration.
The south thickness of the entrance passage, is decorated with a scene of Ramose and Merytptah exiting from the inner chamber, offering a daily salutation to the sun-god. The north thickness of the entrance passage, is decorated (view TB7) with a scene of Ramose returning, alone (as the area where Merytptah would have stood remains empty to accommodate the open door). The underground burial complex
The ceiling of the main square chamber is support by four square section pillars. In the centre of the room a "cylindrical thing" is, non identified on this day. An investigation is in progress... On the far east wall of this room are two doorways, the left-most giving access to a single chamber, while the right-most gives access to two chambers, one following the other. A doorway to yet another chamber is located at the far end of the south (right) wall, above which the vaulted area appears to have been built of individual blocks of stone (view ML62). A small trace of blue paint still exists at the top right-hand corner, but this there is no other indication that it was originally decorated. The remainder of the underground complex is devoid of decoration. Nothing was found inside any of the chambers, and may never have been used.
Unfinished monuments are the most frequent in Egyptian archaeology. For a civil servant who knew the two successive reigns of Amenophis III and Amenophis IV, the abandonment of his tomb, however magnificent and well advanced, takes a historic direction : it could be the consequence of the creation of the new capital where all courtiers had to follow the king in their functions, the same for their house of the hereafter, to Amarna in Middle Egypt. However, this final tomb of Ramose has not been discovered to this day. No mention of his name is found in Amarna, as it is uncertain as to whether he followed the sovereign to his new capital. However, his tomb to Thebes and the vault, no matter how remarkably well built the hallway and rear sections, never delivered the least bit of funerary furniture. The mystery which remains about the end of the life and the career of Ramose is bound undoubtedly to the unrest which didn't fail to mark Theban life at the time of the Amarnian revolution.
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