The journey of the deceased king on the left walls

The wall on the left of the entry :

On the wall of entry, to the left of the door, the king is received as on the right by the goddess Ma'at, then he worships before the God Ptah.

In front of and above Ma'at : "Words spoken by Ma'at, daughter of Ra, when she receives her son, the Osiris-king Men-Pehty-Ra so that he can be in front of the Great Ennead."
Behind the Goddess : "All protection, all life is around her."

The king pauses in worship before Ptah standing on a pedestal (). The God holds a composite sceptre with the signs of stability and power.
Ptah is evoked as a reminder of Chapter 82 of the Book of the Dead "Spells to take the form of the God Ptah; to eat bread, to drink beer, to finally be unfettered, to be a living being in Heliopolis".
One easily sees the Heliopolitan Solar influence, which Ramesses tried to restore, expressing itself here : Ptah is clearly the designation of Atum in Heliopolis (Barguet).

Above of the king : "The Osiris-king Men-Pehty-Ra, son of the sun, Ra-Mes-Su, justified before Osiris, Great God, Lord of the West, living in Busiris."
Before the king : "Worship the God, four times, so that he becomes like Ra."
Behind the king : "Like Ra.".

Above Ptah : "Ptah, Lord of the Truth, King of the Two Lands, Beautiful Face on his great seat, Great God, Lord of the Sky, Creator of the Two Lands."

Behind Ptah is a large Djed sign with an inscription infront and behind : "All protection, life, stability, power is around it like Ra, for infinite time and eternal time.".
Reference is made here to Chapter 155 of the Book of the Dead "Spells for the Djed or gold pillar". Considered as the backbone of Osiris, a mark of rectification and consolidation, the origin (vegetable ?) of the sign remains obscure. The Djed pillar was erected in honour of Ptah of Memphis, then of Osiris. The erection of a magnificant Djed is represented in one of the chapels of the temple of Sethy I (son of Ramesses I) at Abydos (view and view .)

The left side wall.

On this wall, there are two groups of representations: the king between Horus and Anubis and a scene of the Book of Gates (3rd division, register of the barque).

1) The king between Horus and Anubis

This scene seems have been added to fill an empty space.
The two gods hold the king by the arm. Anubis is represented as is the custom. Horus-Son-of-Isis, wears the Double-crown (). He thus acts here at this time as terrestrial heir to his father's throne, even becoming an Osiris.

Above the king and the figure of Horus is an inscription which continues behind the God : "Osiris-King Men-Pehty-Ra, Son of the Sun, Ra-Mes-Su, justified before Osiris"
"Words spoken by Horus, Son of Isis, Great God, living in the Land of Silence : "He established his son, Lord of the Two Lands, on the throne of (his) father Osiris."

Above Anubis : "Words spoken by Anubis Jmy-wt (= who-is-in-his-bandages)."

The speech of the gods is placed before them :
Before Horus : "I come before you, Lord of the Two Lands."
Before Anubis : "I come before you."

2) The rest of the left wall

It is decorated by representations taken from the Book of Gates, which form two registers (which is the 3rd division, or 4th hour, the register of the barque) ; minus a door (except for the leaf), the upper register, the lower register with the exception of the figure of Osiris who is in a niche on the back wall (see below).

At the top, above of the representations of the register, is an Egyptian cornice surmounted by a kheker frieze.
On the leaf which represents the door, a snake, Djedby, standing on his tail.
The text on the door is in retrograde writing : "He opens to Ra. Sia (says) to Djedby: "You can open your door to Ra. Open for the One of the Horizon (… he who gives light to the Hidden Chamber). This door is sealed when this Great God has entered there and those who are in their pylon moan when they hear the door close itself again on them."

First register

The barque () as well as the characters, are identical to those of the 2nd division (or 3rd hour) on the right-hand side wall.
The hauliers of the divine barque move towards nine coffins which contain black reclining mummies. These are: "The gods following Osiris who are in their chapels". They are the inhabitants of Douat, the blissful deceased who, even though inert and in lethargy will be able to resurrect themselves, to take advantage of the light of the sun and to get rid of their bandages, to acquire a new body as soon as the barque has arrived at their level. When the barque has passed, they will fall again in their initial torpor and will return to their mummified state while waiting for the next return of the sun.

Above is a text in retrograde writing : "This Great God is hauled by those of the Duat.
The journey of the mysterious region, (it is for) taking care of those who are in it. Ra says : "Haul me, you of the Duat, look (?) at me, it is I who follow your creator, use your arms! Haul me among them, move back toward the eastern sky, toward the place where Osiris rises, toward this mysterious mountain, (toward) this light which surrounds the gods. Receive me, when I come out of there, from the Mysterious region! Haul me, I take care of you by the hidden pylon of those of the Duat!"
"Ra says to them : "Look at me, Oh Gods, be powerful in your chapels! Arise, Gods! I have determined that you are inside your chapels! You are the guardians of souls, you who live on their decomposition, who breathes their light! Your exaltation comes from my disk, your good direction from my light! What is due to you is for you in the Duat, among what I ordered for you."
"Their offerings consist of meat, their beer is the Djsrt, their refreshment is water. They moan when they hear the doors close themselves on them!"

Second register

The second part of the division forms a second register. Twelve goddesses are located on two slopes, "the Hours which are in the Duat", forming two groups of six ( and ). Between the two groups, an enormous snake "the one who must be removed". Above of the snake, is an inscription : "Twelve to be extinguished are born in front of her, here it is that the hours swallow them."

The text which comes with these representations, is in retrograde writing, which reads :
"They are held on (edges) of their lake, they direct Ra."
Ra : "Listen, Oh hours, the requests are addressed to you, act on your account, among you! The place of your rest is your pylons, your breasts are in the darkness, your posteriors in the light. Stop (?) the Hereret snake, you who live on what comes out of him. Your portions are in the Duat! Swallow the children of Hereret so that you can lead me. It is I who formed you, I acted so that you pay homage to me! You are satisfied, Oh my inhabitants of the Duat!"
"Their offerings consist of breads, their beer is Djeseret, their refreshment is water. The offerings which are presented to them consist of that which comes from before the blissful mind."

From where do these mysterious hours come and where do they go? (Hornung, Barberio).
Every hour has a clear side and a dark side, representing the part of the hour that moves toward light and the one already gone. These goddesses are represented upright on two triangles surrounding the body of the time-snake. These triangles include a dark part and a clear rippled part representing darkness and the primordial waters (Nun).
The snake represents a sort of mass of time from where are extracted the hours which are then swallowed there again.

The back wall.

1) The niche

In the lower register of the 3rd division (4th hour) of the Book of Gates, We find Ramesses I in the form of Osiris, in his particular form of "The one who is the Head of the West", standing on a wavy snake. In front of him is stands another snake, Meseret, "the Flame", represented as an uraeus.
A ram-headed god "The one who is in the divine pavillion" stands behind Osiris, raised arms and hands placed on the shoulders of the latter, his feet on two vases. The divine pavilion designating the place of embalming, presided over by Anubis, the ram-headed god is thought to be an unusual variant of Anubis.
The other walls of the niche are not decorated.

2) The back wall, on the left

The king is knelt making the ritual Henu gesture between a god with the head of a dog and another with the head of a falcon, who personify the Powers (nb: once improperly named souls) of the cities of Pe and Nekhen. These primordial powers represent the Lower Egypt (Pe = Buto, in the Delta) and the Upper Egypt (Nekhen = Hierakonpolis), and therefore the country from one extremity to the other ().

The text above the scene :
"Words spoken by the Powers of Pe when they cheer the Horus of the horizon, their son, the Osiris-king Men-Pehty-Ra, son of the sun, Ra-Mes-Su, justified like one them.
Words spoken by the Powers of Nekhen when they cheer the Lords of the Eternity and the Osiris-king, Lord of the Two Lands, Men-Pehty-Ra, justified like one of them."

The king is then standing in front of the God Khepri ().
We have here an important religious innovation, because it is the first time that one finds represented, in a tomb, a solar divinity. The new concept of the nightly merger of the Ba of Ra with the corpse of Osiris is found here for the the first time.
The king presents to the God in one hand an vase of ointment and makes the gesture to dedicate four caskets with the other. These Meret caskets are intended to contain fabrics or clothes ().
The God is seated on a low cuboid throne placed on a mat and a pedestal; he holds a sceptre and the Ankh sign of life.

Above of the God, one reads : "Atum-Ra-Khepri who illuminates the Two Lands and the Duat, Great God, Lord of the Ma'at."
The three forms of the sun (early, at the zenith and at setting) are invoked thus. While choosing to represent Khepri with the head of a scarab, one implies regeneration, rejuvenation, of the star at its early rising.

Above of the king : "Osiris-King Men-Pehty-Ra, son of the sun, Ra-Mes-Su, justified before the council in which is the tiller of the land, Lord for (of?) Eternity (and) Forever."

Before the characters : "Present the Medjat ointment. To carry the four Meret caskets, which one does for him eternally."

Thus the king advances since the entrance toward Osiris, the perpetuation of life, by the right wall and toward Khepri to become eternal and towards the continuation of social function by the left.

The sarcophagus

Sitting in the funeral chamber of which it occupies a great place () is the red granite sarcophagus whose lid has been broken by the pillagers when they raised it.
The sarcophagus has been finished hastily The sarcophagus was hastily finished as its decoration testifies. Indeed, it is simply painted in yellow, the texts and figures not having had the time to be incised.
Moreover, the representations of the two goddesses, sisters and protectors of their dead brother Osiris, are rather clumsily carried out. As was custom, Isis is at the foot () and Nephtys at the head of the sarcophagus. The two goddesses hold the hieroglyphic sign "nub" which represents gold. With the employment of the yellow colour, one sees here the allusion to the Chamber of the Gold, which is the name of the funeral chamber. Gold, material of the flesh of the gods, will also be the one of the king.

The funeral material

When Belzoni discovered the tomb, it didn't contain much.
Two life-size wooden statues of guards however did survive in the tomb, once covered and inlaid with fine gold leaf. Added to this are statues with animal heads, some of near-eastern inspiration, of which a curious statue in wood with the head of turtle, are of obscure significance. They are currently, for the most part, in the British Museum.

The mummy of Ramesses I

Following plunderings of the necropolis, the priests of Amon, in XXIst Dynasty, moved the mummy (as with others) to the tomb of Amenophis (Amenhotep) II.

All trace of the mummy was then lost until it was found in America. Initially in the Niagara Falls Museum, it went then to the Museum of Atlanta in Georgia. There, some experts identified it as being very certainly the one of the first of the Ramesses'. It was repatriated then in Egypt in 2003. Welcomed like a head of state, the mummy has been exposed for a few monthes in the Cairo Museum. Since march 9th 2004, it is , in a new special room called "warrior pharaohs".

This "saga" is found in the section of this site for this time and in .

Queen Sat-Ra, wife of Ramesses, also broke with tradition when choosing not to buried with her spouse, but in a parallel valley to the Valley of the Kings, and which would become the Valley of the Queens, of which she would be the first occupant.