West part of the south wall and west wall
The west nave is as it were the way to "the beautiful West."
The representations on both sides follow from the start, seen on the south wall and continue onto the west wall (). The funeral rites comprise the sole theme; they will allow the deceased to access a second Life, an eternal one. The representations are quite difficult to identify because of the deterioration of the walls, but from similar scenes found in other tombs, for example in Rekhmire TT 100, one can reconstruct them.
South wall
()
The five registers of representations start on the south wall, in contact with the middle pilaster () and continue all over the west wall, ending at its junction with the north wall; they are only interrupted by the transition to the longitudinal hall.
a)- Register 1(Above)
Scene 1
A representation of the lake of fire, as seen on the vignette for chapter 26 of the Book of the Dead (BoD), and in the tenth scene of the Book of Gates. On each side are a flame and a Horus eye. Around the lake four baboons are sitting. At the top and for certain at the bottom, bound oxen were lying (now missing). The fire burns the enemies of Maat, goddess of justice, and of the balance of the world.
Scene 2
(Very difficult to see)
On the upper half of the register, before the falcon-headed god Re-Horakhty, the great cat (an animal with solar connotations) is sitting in an Iched tree, and cutting the head off a snake. That this vignette is from Chapter 17 of the BoD comes from the weighty evidence in the tomb TT359 of Inerkhau (); it is found there in the seventh hour of the Amduat, "I am the great cat, who split the Iched tree from which the morning sun arose in Heliopolis during the night of the combat, of the enclosing of the rebels and the day when we annihilated the enemy.”
.
Scene 3
In the half-register at the bottom a boat carries the deceased couple (centre) and two rowers, as is the case in Chapter 99 of the BoD where the "Formula for calling the ferry boat of the realm of the dead"
is found.
Scene 4
On a platform in front of a chapel with the door open, a statue of the deceased stands as if to leave the building.
Scene 5
Creation of (?) a coffin.
Scene 6
Two men erect a pair of small obelisks, as can also be seen in the TT96 of Sennefer.
Scene 7
These two dancers who are facing each other are difficult to interpret; Settgast speaks of "the best of the funeral dancers".
Scene 8
Stacked sarcophagi, of the type called "per-nu"
; they are not found in the Rekhmire’s or in other tombs.
Scene 9
()
Two men (or perhaps two women, as elsewhere) are kneeling before four pools that are shown on the west wall (). In their hands, they hold globular vessels, which are said in Rekhmire’s tomb to contain green eye paint.
We follow the scene onto the west wall
The pools are the limits of the sacred area. It is also said in TT 38 and TT 82 that what is accomplished (a libation?) takes place on the edge of the desert. A pool surrounded by date palms and bushes closes the scene. This "garden with pool" is in principle, part of the sacred area. It may be that the pool has a connection with the journey to Sais and rituals associated with it.
Scene 10
()
Four pairs of men carry on their shoulders, using poles, an anthropoid sarcophagus. The two female figures below the coffin are, according to the attributes they wear on their heads, Isis (front) and Nephthys (behind), the two sisters of Osiris. At the head of this procession is placed a man with braziers in his hands in front of a chapel surmounted by a frieze of rectangles; it is unclear whether it is the deceased or a lector priest.
b)- Register 2
Scene 11
The register starts with persons of both sexes in the process of lamenting. Women are more demonstrative, throwing their heads back and raising one arm above their heads. On the far left, men are more static, holding their heads in their right hands, these supported by the left forearm resting on the chest. This pose matches the typical mourning gesture of a post-Amarna period and at the start of the Ramesside era. In front of this group stand five mourners and lector priests who recite the text of the papyrus roll they hold up before them. Further to the right are two priests censing and libating. A woman, making a gesture of mourning, kneels before them and before an offering table. The text, provided for by four columns, was never written.
Scene 12
(, scenes 12 and 13)
The Tekenu
placed upon a coffin, which itself is on a sled, finishes the sequence of scenes. The Tekenu
is a part of the ritual of the funeral; Originally, it was a body wrapped in a skin, a role later played by a priest. It should be understood as a symbol evoking rebirth.
Scene 13
A pair of Muu
dancers, who we recognize from their characteristic headdress, perform rites related to the transportation of the coffin. They welcome the mummy by performing the dance of Muu, and then they accompany it. They could represent the mythical ferrymen who are on the border between earth and heaven and are made available to the deceased for his passage to the opposite side.
In front of them are two chapels with a roof in per-nu
style
Scene 14
()
Four gods without arms, called "the gods of the great doors"
are visible in a chapel. This building is in the middle of the sacred area.
We continue to follow the register on the west wall.
There, the register is divided into two parts, above, transporting the coffin by land (see scene 10, above) and below, its transport by water (scene 15). A sarcophagus in the shape of a chest is upon a papyrus boat. Anubis and a man are standing beside the coffin. At the bow and stern of the boat, a woman is standing; in her right hand she grips his left forearm. Before her is a boat with a large coffin. An oarsman is there while another man stands in front of the coffin, an arm upon it.
The sign of the West appears behind a kneeling man, who presents a haunch of beef. The following coffin is perfectly identical (scene 16).
In each of the two upper registers are three gods seated in chapels with per-nu roofs (the third is erased) (scene 17); in the top register, the gods have heads of hawks and jackals; in the register below, they have monkey and human heads. Behind stand tables filled with offerings that could belong to the next scene. The two half-registers then display other tables of offerings, before which stand priests in recitation postures (scene 18).
c)- Register 3
Scene 19
On the far left comes a procession of five pairs of men (). These groups of male persons, grieving but tranquil, are always found in the Ramesside period. Their dress has a pleated goffered front-piece and they wear long wigs, which distinguishes them as high dignitaries. The first two are different: they have shaved heads and are clad in the dress of the vizier. All have their right hand placed on the ear or supporting the chin, while the right elbow is placed on the folded left forearm.
A cow and a calf, lowing, accompany the procession with mouths wide open. The calf lacks a front leg. This leg was cut off and would end up on the table of offerings (, before cleaning). This motif existed since the nineteenth dynasty in the funeral ritual. The representation is always placed - as here - among the bereaved people attending the ritual of the Opening of the Mouth or directly behind the priests.
Scene 20
Then follows a lector priest, his roll of papyrus in his hand, accompanied by two other priests clad in animal skins, one censes and libations, while the second performs the opening of the mouth ceremony by using an adze ().
Alongside these persons we find a chest, above which are represented its contents, the tools of the Ritual of Opening of the Mouth. This scene belongs to the ritual performed on the mummy stood upright before his tomb, wearing a scented cone and a stem with a lotus flower. Men and women who lament are placed between the mummy and priests; a female figure who is larger than the others, is doubtless the widow of the deceased. The mummy is supported on a stele bearing the sign of the West with its arms around him from behind (). It appears on the stairs that lead to an aisle containing papyrus columns (recalling of course the court of the tomb); this avenue leads to the entrance of the tomb. The architrave and cavetto cornice are still visible, as well as the barriers between the columns. Above the roof are set two large Horus eyes, a basin of water and a “shen”
sign . The tomb is symbolized by the typical pyramid of private tombs from the New Kingdom (). The pyramidion is dark, the pyramid itself is white. A door framed by a portico on columns should represent the entrance to the tomb. At the foot of the Theban mountain, the deceased hails the Goddess of the West with his left hand while his right clasps a piece of cloth; the goddess, bearing her emblem on her head, embraces Amenemopet with an arm around his shoulders, while her other hand supports his elbow.
We continue to follow the register on the west wall.
Scene 21
In close proximity is the tree goddess in a scene superimposed with that of the court and the vignette of Chapter 59 of the BoD. Turned to the right, the goddess seems to bend the tree trunk and provides water to a kneeling couple who have their hands held hollow to collect the liquid; with her other hand, she shows them a tray of food (as also seen in the TT1 of Sennedjem). The Ba birds of Amenemopet and Nodjmet are perched on the side of a basin and quench their thirsts likewise.
d)- Register 4
(, scenes 23 and 22)
Scene 22
On a low platform a lightly built chapel is placed in which there is a statue of Amenemopet standing entwined with the Djed pillar behind him. In front of the chapel a priest, bent double, censes and perhaps libates upon the offerings which decorate a small low table. He is accompanied by a lector priest who reads from his roll. Behind them are grouped twenty persons who lament in two half registers of ten each. The confusion of bodies is very interesting to study ().
Scene 23
Still in its chapel, the statue of the deceased (who has this time a perfume cone placed upon his head) is placed upright on a sleigh pulled by eight men (). In between the statue and men, a priest in an animal skin censes and lustrates.
Scene 24
()
Eight men in two groups carry the statue to a shrine, whose doors are being opened by a small priest.
Scene 25
Amenemopet is then led to Anubis by Isis and Nephthys.
We continue to follow the register on the west wall.
Behind the seat of Anubis are four "shelves" on which round loaves are laid out in rows. A swallow is perched there, perhaps an allusion to the festival of Sokar (represented at Medinet Habu) during which four birds were released. At the least one cannot fail to see it as a reference to Chapter 86 of the BoD, in which the deceased takes the form of a swallow and can come out into daylight.
Scene 26
We find Amenemopet, turned once to the left and once to the right, a model sail in hand, symbolizing the fresh breeze that the deceased desires in the afterlife (a reference to Chapters 38 A and B and 57).
e)- The following scenes extend register 3 to register 4
()
The Field of Reeds is, according to Chapter 110 of the BoD, surrounded by water and divided into four parts. The designations used are restored here from the BoD, because they are missing or no longer legible. At the top, the deceased cuts corn with a sickle (scene 27). Next he stands before three divine figures representing Great Ennead (scene 28); nearby, he rows to the "places" of the field designated by three names of towns almost obliterated (scene 29). Then we find him before falcon-headed Amsit and three ovals named "place of combat", "place of sacrifice"
, and "the greatest"
(scene 30) which are probably referring to the fight between Horus and Seth.
Below, a new reaping scene (scene 31) and one where the deceased’s arm is seen to reach a bird Benu (or bird-Ba) perched on the hieroglyphic sign of abundance that gives their strength to Kau of justification (represented by the three pairs of superimposed arms) represented by the Akh bird (scene 32).
Then comes the deceased seated before an offering table and four ovals named "place of offerings", "bright red", "luxuriant green"
, and "mistress of the two lands"
(scene 33).
Below we find him leaning over a body of water from which two channels flow.
In the underlying register, a little larger, there is a pool to the left, where two channels also depart (scene 34). The deceased is twice represented plowing with oxen (scene 35); at the bottom, four crouching gods belong to "the Great Ennead which is in the Field of Offerings"
(scene 36). At the end of this group of scenes the "mountain of water" is found (Wasserberg, scene 37) () on top of which sits a boat whose bow and stern end in snake heads and on which is a staircase. Above, two ovals represent "the birthplace of the god"
and "the place of combat."
f)- Continuation on the upper part of the wall
Scene 38
We return to the upper part of the wall which is divided into two registers of five, the ten colleges of the gods of the divine tribunal, as mentioned in Chapter 18 of the BoD, each time with the god, ibis headed Thoth, in the first position (). The accompanying texts were never written.
Scene 39
On the register below is the actual court (). This idea of a tribunal to try the deceased appears on the Fifth Dynasty. Thoth, god of knowledge, plays the role of master of ceremonies; he is this instance shown as a baboon sitting in a shrine too small for him, which is placed on a beveled ma'at
sign (). He wears on his head the crescent and the lunar disk and clasps a papyrus scroll in his right hand, while his left hand is extended toward a balance through an open door. Under the left hand balance pan, we see a kneeling figure - perhaps Anubis - looking towards Thoth. Upon the left pan is a representation of the goddess Maat and on the right pan, one of the deceased. The central balance support is topped with a jackal's head. At the foot of the balance appears "the devourer."
The goddess Maat oversees operations and holds in her right hand the balance weight which is attached to a representation of the feather of the goddess. The balance is (of course) always in balance, because it is the prerequisite for the deceased to gain the afterlife; otherwise he would be punished by the gods and/or delivered to the Devourer.
Scene 40
The judgment was positive, Amenemopet is led by Anubis before Osiris who is the president of the court and Lord of the underworld.
Scene 41
This large scene occupies the height of three registers. The deceased, sitting on his heels before an opulent table of offerings, praises the god ().
Of Osiris and his throne, only the feet are visible. Behind him, a female silhouette spreads her wings protectively. Before Osiris stands a bulwark top on which are the four children of Horus and two deities. Above the feet of Osiris appears the "imiut"
. The imiut or nebride represents "the wrapping" (that is to say the mummy). This is an animal skin, without head and feet, hanging off the end of a stick, to end in a container. This addition is always provided with ribbons that could symbolize links or halters for animals. The nebride is shown nearby the rites connected with mummification or near the divine tribunal; it is closely linked to renewal, it can be considered a vector of strength and of life. The entire area that lies between the nebride and the goddess is in the hall of Osiris. The ceiling of this room is high, and topped by a frieze formed of alternating uraeus, solar discs and feathers of Maat (); in the centre were two representations of Anubis facing each other. Below the hollow moulding, another frieze of uraeus which we see in turn rests on an architrave made of papyrus, lotus, and lily flowers.
g)- Register 5 (the lowest)
Scene 42
()
We see five women, in loose tunics and long wigs, who hold the left hand a sistrum and menat, while the right hand is placed on the small of the left arm or shoulder. There are variations from one to the other. In front of them Amenemopet is led by Anubis into a building with two successive doorways, probably the smallest being that of the building ().
Scene 43
()
Three superimposed women "smell the earth", with hands and likewise chin flat on the floor; the significance of this scene is unknown.
Scene 44
()
On the right, Amenemopet and Nodjmet are kneeling before Thoth who is standing before Osiris and Horus, both in a chapel. The four "windows" above the couple are sebekhet
chapels surmounted by a snake whose tail hangs down to the floor (). In the first are two male deities in the second a lion-headed deity in the third, a human head divinity and one with a vulture's head, and in the fourth a rabbit-headed god. These representations belong to BoD chapters 145-146, "to enter by impenetrable doors the kingdom of Osiris in the field of reeds"
. This means that the gates of the underworld will be passed through to reach Osiris. During the Ramesside period, this scene is often nearby to those of the funeral. Thoth acts as an intermediary, so we think of the court of the dead, which is nearby.
We follow the register on the west wall where the representations are less well preserved ().
Scene 45
The deceased and his wife honour four mummified deities in their sarcophagus. These could be the children of Horus, Imsety, Hapi, Duamutef and Quebsenuef. They are often the intermediaries in the celestial journey of the deceased. They are also described as Canopic ().
Scene 46
Further to the right, the couple are seated in a chapel made of light materials; before it are two tombs whose architrave is dominated by a pyramid formation which should be interpreted as a torch. The torches are used as well in the funeral ritual in the temples. Assmann thinks that representation could be related to the ritual of lighting the torches at the New Year holiday. The priest on the left, who is in motion, has become barely visible.
The rest of registers 4 and 5 merge into one.
Scene 47
Adoration of the Henu
boat by the couple. Offerings are piled up on a table, over which four angular containers surrounded by lines are destined to receive coloured fabrics. They will be brought to the gods on sledges - here, they will be in front of the boat which is on a pedestal in a boat altar. The boat has a central chapel; and it is decorated in the stern by the head of a deer, fish and three birds and at the bow with a steering oar (an example: in TT409 of Kyky). At its feet are two chests and libation vases.
Scene 48
To the right of the boat Amenemopet and Nodjmet advance, each with a large stem of papyrus () towards a deified couple formed by the Pharaoh Amenhotep 1 and his mother, Queen Ahmose Nefertari, (). The two sovereigns are sitting in a chapel whose roof is crowned by a frieze of uraeus (). The roof is supported by papyrus columns. The king wears a crown combining a solar disk, uraeus and ram's horns; it looks like the Atef crown, with a headband and a uraeus. The queen wears a crown with tall feathers and a sun disk, set on a modius. The two deified sovereigns shared a common temple on the west bank of Thebes. Later in the Ramesside period, they will become the very popular patron saints of the Theban necropolis.