But who was Ay ? One thing is certain, he was not the legitimate heir to the throne and, to a certain degree, his reign could constitute a dynasty all of its own, just like that of his successor Horemheb. His origin remains obscure as does his possible domestic ties to the Dynasty of the Thutmosides who were in power up to here. We will not go there because no tangible fact exists. If his reign was brief, the military and political career of Ay was on the other hand very long, since it started under Amenophis III, covering the reigns of Akhenaton, Smenkare (one or several kings or queens with this name) and Tutankhamun, during which his influence continued to grow. Under Akhenaton, his importance was already manifested by his tomb at Amarna (N°25), one of the first to be dug, and the one which succeeds in including the most complete version of the Great Hymn to the Aten.
It can also be seen that under the Amarnian sovereigns, and especially under Tutankhamun, Ay actually held a quite exceptional status : Vizier, General of the Chariotry, Guardian and Regent of the Young King. The important power acquired by Ay was however shared with General Horemheb, without knowing precisely the respective share each had, but it seems certain that they both played a major role in the abandonment of the Amarnian heresy and in the return to the orthodoxy of Amon which would assure decades of peace and prosperity in Egypt. We are unaware of any negotiations or confrontations, if there were any, between the two men for the succession of the young king, but Ay took it and it seems natural enough that he followed Tutankhamun.
He is certainly the one who can be credited with the ostentatious funeral furniture put at the disposal of the young dead Tutankhamun in his tomb KV62. And it is he who - uniquely of all royal tombs - was represented in this tomb as officiant sem-priest to the mummy of the young king, carrying out the "Opening of the Mouth" ceremony (a role normally reserved for the deceased's son, who here is therefore a lot older than his "father"). In spite of his proof of devotion to the traditional dynastic god Amon, as shown in his architectural work as well as the usurpation of the stela written of the restoration (erected by Tutankhamun) the posterity will include him in the group of Amarnian sovereigns to which he was too obviously linked. His monuments would be usurped and his memory erased, as far as possible, by also omitting him from the royal lists such as at Abydos, for example, or by desecrating his tomb shortly after his funeral. It was Horemheb who was the origin of this persecution, and one can readily imagine that the relationship between the two courtiers had been stretched, or even hateful. In the end politically, when Horemheb become king, it was in his interest and that of Egypt to have the memory of this cumbersome predecessor disappear and to be disgraced before passing the Pharaonic inheritance to a new lineage of military origin like himself : the Ramessides. Those of the time wouldn't be ungrateful and for the official historiography from this moment, the legitimate successor of the last recognised Thutmoside, Amenophis III, would be Horemheb. About the actual reign of Ay there is almost nothing to say because there is practically no information. Ascending to the throne at an advanced age (at least 60 or 65 years), his death was surely natural. Only the monuments he had erected exist, these being relatively numerous in spite of this fast disappearance, but most are reduced to the faint traces. As is the case of his "temple of millions of years" which was levelled to the ground by Horemheb and who built his own temple over it. Personal vindication, more political than religious, which Horemheb held against his predecessor also manifested itself here.
The history of the tomb KV (or WV for West Valley) 23 is always vague regarding its original allocation. The absence of foundation deposits does not make it possible to know, with certainty, for whom it was originally dug : Amenophis IV, Smenkhare, Tutankhamun? The hypothesis most commonly accepted is that it was destined for Tutankhamun but that, being far from being finished at the time of the sudden death of the young king, he was placed in a non royal tomb in the main branch of the valley of the kings. One possibility is that one of the incomplete tombs, such as KV24 or WV 25 (view 02 , view 03 , view 01, view 04), close by, was initially planned for him. However, that as it may, the final situation is that Tutankhamun was buried in tomb KV62 and Ay in the KV23. This one was the last tomb used in the Western Valley.  The tomb was re-discovered in 1816 by Belzoni.
Lepsius made the first epigraphic survey of it in 1824 which was followed with a second by Piankhoff in 1958.
The first excavation was achieved by Howard Carter in 1908, which was completed by Otto Schaden in 1972.
The tomb is situated in the West Valley (view 48, view 49 , view 50),
It is very similar in iconography to that of Tutankhamun, to such a degree that it is possible that the same craftsmen worked under the same authority. The themes are superimposable, there is no classic kheker frieze, and the style of the representations is identical. The tomb presents a straight axial plan, without the bends in use during the pre Amarnian phase of the 18th Dynasty.
It is thus compliant with the cannon of Amarnian royal tombs (but not in all respects).It is incomplete, and of the 7 rooms and corridors which it includes, only the burial chamber has been decorated, and again this decoration is minimalist - not to say sparse. In the corridors and rooms preceding the burial chamber, as previously for those of Tutankhamun and even Akhenaton, this could have been from choice.
Indeed, even while supposing an unforeseen death of the sovereign, the walls already built and smoothed could have received a coating of plaster and painted decoration, between the moment of the death and that of the funeral ceremony: but no such thing happened.It is starting from the following tomb, that of Horemheb, that decoration will again begin to be more abundant, and will even leave the burial chamber. More astonishing, but which could be explained by an imperative of time, is the pitiful iconography of the burial chamber, although the artistic craftsmanship is of quality.
Large characters occupy whole zones of the walls, which reduces as such the number of scenes; the texts are minimalist, coming from the Book of the Amduat (or Book of that which is in the underworld) and of the Book of Leaving by Day (better known under the inappropriate name of the Book of the Dead).Indeed, in this unventilated chamber, situated deep under ground, the sealers and pigments would take a considerable time to dry, much delaying the continuation of the work. The reason of this short delay granted to the painters is not however obvious, not here for Ay, nor again even less for Amenhotep III, where the type of representations would have been superimposable. All this happens as if the artists did not had the right to achieve the decor in the funeral chamber after the sovereign's death. Could it have been that they were afraid that the terrifying magical power of the representations might be freed prematurely ? It is necessary to recognise that the answer to this question currently has no answer. There are good reasons to think that Ay was finally buried in this tomb.In fact, fragments of the dismembered sarcophagus and its lid (intact) were found in situ, also various objects translating the reality of the burial : gilt disks made of copper, fragments of a wooden statue, pieces of faience (including uraei), ceramics and fragments of chests and altars. On the other hand, not a trace of canopic vases nor even of ushabtis. These could have been deliberately removed or withdrawn voluntarily at the time of the desecration of the tomb. Testimony to the latter, is the very meticulous work of hammering-out or excision of nearly all images and names of Ay and his wife Tiy. In the same way, dispersed on the floor of the valley, close to the tomb, were found fragments of the king's funeral equipment, another sign of the abhorrence to which he was fated. More difficult to explain is the presence of fragments of hammered gold leaf bearing the names of Ay and Tutankhamun in the well shaft of tomb KV58.
The first sections of the tomb (sections A to E of the plan) are potentially the same as those of tomb Amenhotep III, KV22. Although it was not completed, KV23 is not therefore "a small thing" as Gardiner thought it to be. All of these sections include no decoration, as mentioned previously. The entrance to the tomb (view 05) is via a staircase 6.12 m long (plan, A) situated one metre under the main level of the wadi. A doorway, 2.65 m in height, (stepped to receive an actual door) leads to the first corridor (B of the plan) of the same height. This measures 11.37 m long. Two small lateral niches in the walls were used for beams during the decent of the heavy sarcophagus. At the end this corridor is located a second door which leads to a second long staircase of 7.95 m (plan C, view 52). Two trapezoidal recesses are carved horizontally right and left, forming two shelf structures. The ceiling is irregular, with a height of 5.44 m. Another doorway leads to the second corridor (D of the plan) measuring 13.94 m with a height of 2.64 m. The following doorway leads to what would have been the Well Chamber (plan, E) which measures 4.14 x 4.01 x 2.98 m. Although 0.5 m lower than the floor at the end of the preceding corridor and, more importantly, 0.8 m higher than the floor of the next chamber, in this small unfinished room, the digging of a well shaft was never even started, not to any depth. However, it seems probable that an element which had become so symbolically important in the previous tombs (except those of Amarna) and which would be resumed thereafter, had not been considered. One can suppose that the lack of time explains its absence. The door leading toward the following room is 30 cm smaller than the previous one and offset towards the right. The reduction could be explained as making it easier for blocking, and the offset as merely a technical problem to accommodate the rock strata. We have now arrived in the room which finally acted as burial chamber for the king.
(Plan, F) If the usual rules had been respected, this room would represented the first pillared chamber for the tomb. However, in the end, it became the burial chamber, and had no pillars. Its long axis is perpendicular to the axis of the previous corridors, as a pillared chamber would have been. Its measurements are 8.89 x 6.46 x 3.92 m. In the centre of the room, slightly toward the right, four small square excavations in the ground indicates the site for stone blocks which supported the sarcophagus. The four walls of the chamber have been painted but non sculpted. The background colour is yellow, based on the model used for Tutankhamun, but more vibrant. The scenes decorating all four walls extend to ceiling height, the usual kheker frieze is absent. The decoration begins about 1 m above the floor, with double large red and yellow bands outlined in black, delimiting the upper areas. Two sets of red and yellow bands is unusual, normally it is only one red and one yellow. The area below the coloured bands remained unpainted. In each of the four walls, at the height of the coloured bands, was dug a small niche destined to receive the magic bricks. As already mentioned, the representations of Ay and his wife Tiy, as well as their names, have been erased everywhere. At the rear, entered through a doorway at the left side of the wall, is a secondary room, which would have continued the course of the tomb, transformed into an annexe (of 5.44 x 4.39 m) when it had become obvious that it could not be finished (plan, Fa). Viewing the decoration, wall by wall : A : East wall
We pass quickly across the short segment of wall, situated to the left of the entry, which only contains the yellow background and coloured bands (view 45). The part immediately to right hand is destroyed in its middle two-thirds, following the crumbling of the wall. The rest of the wall underwent important hammerings which reduced the quantity of the remaining scenes even further. This represents the unforgettable and unique character of the chosen themes : no other royal tomb (of the New Kingdom) includes a scene of hunting and fishing in the marshes (view 11). Moreover, the king is represented with his wife (view 12), another completely unusual point and one which invites thoughts about the filiation of the latter. These themes are only normally presented in the tombs of the private individuals. The apotropaic and symbolic character of these scenes is now well known, and has already been met in numerous other tombs. They are appropriate to the rebirth, and possess a strong sexual dimension. Besides which the only two representations of queen Tiy are here, with some of her titles remaining intact : "the Great Royal Wife, his beloved, the Lady of the Two Lands [Tiy], living" and "the heiress, great of praises, the Lady of the Two Lands, [Tiy], living". Noticeable, however, is the queen's completely passive attitude at her spouse's side. The absence of children, which are almost always found in the identical scenes in private tombs, corresponds well with the absence of progeny of the couple. The marsh represents the primordial aquatic environment and is likened to Nun, the primordial waters. In this environment, which is a reminder of the amniotic fluid, from which the deceased is going to be re-born of his own works, thanks to the feminine principle represented by his wife, likened to the goddess Hathor. It will be necessary to fight the evil forces which are likely to ruin gestation and which are represented by wild, aquatic animals such as the hippo, or aerial such as the birds of the marshes. While accomplishing the gesture of harpooning the pachyderm or by throwing his hunting boomerang at the birds, Ay contributes to domesticate, to make acceptable to the ideal Egyptian, this hostile environment : he accomplishes Ma'at and repulses Isfet. The scene where the king seems to pull some papyrus plants is more difficult to explain. The bruising of the umbels of papyrus reproduces a sort of rattling noise which is supposed to attract the goddess Hathor (mistress of love) out of the marsh, so that she attracts the deceased within. It is here that the explanation for the Hathoric sistra, which the goddess's priestesses hold in their hands and whose shaking produces a similar noise. But here, Ay certainly holds two-handed on to a stem (as is if pulling on a rope) with the intention to pull it.
Ay is represented, therefore, successively on three light craft, which float on a blue band containing zigzag motifs and which represent the Nile. It is difficult to make out the detail due to so much selective hammering, which also affects his name and that of the queen (view 07). The scene where he is going to strike with his boomerang is better preserved (view 09). He already holds by the feet, with his other hand, a group of ducks which try, in vain, to fly. It is understandable that they come from the undergrowth of papyrus situated behind him (view 10), where the artist represented them in a symmetrical group. It can be assumed that the king wears the klaft on his head, a great wsr-necklace and a long kilt made of white linen. In the scene of harpooning (view 08), which has disappeared today, the king was turned toward the entrance of the room. Besides the already mentioned aspects, another symbolic dimension is represented here : misfortune to anyone who would enter this chamber with the idea of doing evil herein! Unfortunately for Ay, it didn't stop the monument from quickly being desecrated. B : North wall
The major part of the wall is occupied by representations taken from the first hour of the Book of the Amduat, and the whole of the wall is very similar to that of the tomb of Tutankhamun. In a large rectangle occupying the whole width of the wall, twelve smaller rectangles are arranged symmetrically, in three rows of four. Each of them includes at one end a seated baboon, its name written in front of it (except for one). The names are curiously nearly all split with either precisely the same phonetic written form (ex: ibn), or with a slight difference (ex: djeheh and deheh). Above, in red hieroglyphs and in retrograde writing, two short introductions to the representation : "Names of the gods who open (the gates) for the (great) Ba" and "Names of the gods who sing praises to Ra when he enters into the underworld". The register situated above includes the barque of the day on which is represented the scarab Khepri, image of the rising sun, surrounded by two squatting images of "Osiris" : representing Osiris Ay (Ay having become part of Osiris, or his double). To the left of the barque are five divinities : from the right, Nehesi and Shu in typically Amarnian style, then Horus (hawk-headed), then Nebet-mesketet and finally Ma'at. To the right of the barque is the text (again in retrograde hieroglyphs) : "This god enters in the form of a ram", remembering that the ram is one of representation, possibly of Ra. C : West wall This wall includes two groupings and has an opening at its left side, the doorway leading to the annexe. 1) On the right, Ay, carefully hammered out, embraces Osiris-Wennefer, represented with dark green skin and an Atef crown with an uraeus (view 24, view 37, view 10). He says to the king : "I give you life, health, stability, as Ra, eternally".
Then comes a very interesting scene because calls upon the king's Ka, as it is found for Tutankhamun and before this, for Amenhotep III.
The representation of the Ka has not been mutilated, probably because it was thought that it represented the kas of other royal before Ay or because the name used in the Serekh doesn't in fact correspond to one of the coronation names of Ay and that, therefore, it wasn't represented on the list provided to the people charged with the work of desecration. At the same size as the king, it carries on its head the representation of a serekh, which appears in the arms of a Ka sign and where is inscribed a Horus name : "tjehen kheperu", or "brilliant (or radiating) with apparitions". This title had already been borne by Tutankhamun, but not as a Horus name. In its right hand it holds an Ankh sign of life, and in the left a staff. Further left, we find the king and his Ka, this time in front of the goddess Nut, "Mistress of the sky" (view 16, view 17). On her wig, she wears a headband with the uraeus (view 36). In her two upturned extended hands can be seen the hieroglyph for water, and the gesture is clarified above : "to make Nyny", that is to say a ritual of welcome and purification. Finally, Ay is found before another Hathor who wears on her head her traditional attribute, a solar disk surrounded by a pair of horns. The goddess wears a magnificent tripartite wig, sexual symbol par excellence in the Ancient Egypt. In what remains of the royal representation, she also holds him in a more intimate manner than the other goddesses (view 34). She is designated here as "Mistress of Heliopolis". Ay wears here the white crown of Upper Egypt, it is the only thing that can be said about him. 2) Behind this group of scenes, to the extreme left of the wall, is found a very original and also unique scene.
D : South wall
Notably, in the lower section of the wall, texts coming from chapters 141, 142 and 144 of the Book of the Dead, arranged in 49 columns. In the upper register, are vignettes from chapter 130, with representations of two solar barques. In the one on right are found the Ennead (view 30, view 29). From right to left they are identified as Re-Horakhty, Atum "Lord of Heliopolis", Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis and finally Horus. Behind this barque stands Nephthys. The vertical legend says of these gods "they are going to be the protection of this good god (= Ay) for eternity and all time". Then comes a second barque which includes at its prow a net surmounted of two hieroglyphic signs for fire. In the boat are two standards, on each is perched a hawk (view 27, view 47, view 46). The text above invokes the keepers of the gates of the underworld.
(View 21) The secondary function, as an annexe, was assigned to this room when it was realised that it was impossible to proceed further, probably after the death of Ay. It measures 5.44 x 4.39 x 2.12 m and probably contained part of the funerary furniture. It is unpainted and un-inscribed.
The sarcophagus is in red granite and adopts the shape of a shrine of Upper Egypt (Per Wer). It measures 2.96 x 1.20 m and 1.79 m high. The interior of the box is engraved with texts from the Book of the Dead. On the outside face are found, on the corners, the four protective goddess with extended wings: Isis, Nephthys, Neith and Selkis. On the two long sides are represented two winged solar disks. On the rounded lid are found prayers and hymns.
The extraordinary destiny of the Father Divine Ay, a common man (finally, certainly not quite …) having reached the extraordinary status of Pharaoh, Living God, ended in this small tomb with minimal decoration and which it was destined to desecration, probably very soon after the funeral ceremony. Bound too much to the Amarnian kings who preceded him, firstly Horemheb, then the Ramessides, tried to make any memory of him disappear, while depriving him of the necessary representations of his life after death and by omitting him from the royal lists. Fortunately they didn't completely achieve this and we always have this moving monument to his past glory and his name continues to be uttered.
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