Zahi Hawass has released a new video, which premiered at Heritage Key, with some of the recent discoveries at Dra Abu el-Naga, including some details about the tomb of Amun-Em-Opet, the Supervisor of Hunters.

Dr. Hawass relates that his team has discovered three tombs at Dra Abu el-Naga, but previously not much had been detailed about two of them.  We knew that one of the tombs belonged to Amun-Em-Opet, a Theban court official who served as the Supervisor of Hunters at some point during the Eighteenth Dynasty, probably closer to the end than the beginning.  But all we knew about the other two tombs was that they were “undecorated.”  Odd, that, considering that they do indeed have some lovely decorations at the entrance, and are to my understanding unexcavated.

To see the video and get the rest of the details, check out Heritage Key, where I blog about it under my daytime name, Keith Payne:  Dr. Zahi Hawass’ Video with the Latest Discoveries from Dra Abu el-Naga.

One additional comment I will add here.  Ancient Egyptian tombs are often reused, so there is nothing too uncommon about that.  It turns out that Amun-Em-Opet’s tomb was commandeered at some point by someone identified only as “Ray.”  For some reason that tickled my funny bone.  There’s just something kind of, I don’t know, blues-y about having your tomb jacked by some cat named Ray.  It’s so very Third Intermediate Period..

Photograph ”Queen Ahhotep I’s sarcophagus.jpg” by Hans Ollermann, is provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons  and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of those files under the conditions that you appropriately attribute them, and that you distribute them only under a license identical to this one. Official license 

ALL OTHER photographs and text are copyright by Keith Payne, 2009, all rights reserved.

Nineteenth Dynasty

Might Makes Right—The Ramesside Period Pt. 1

1295 to 1186 BC

Toward the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty the Hittites managed to gain a foothold in Syria and Palestine, and conflict with the Hittites would become one of the defining features of the Nineteenth Dynasty.  Founded by Ramesses I, Horemheb’s vizier and appointed heir, the Nineteenth Dynasty saw both glory and prosperity—Ramesses II would practically invent the concept of branding by stamping his name on anything that wasn’t moving—but extended warfare would take a toll on the treasury with long-reaching consequences.  In the end, the dynasty would succumb to intrigues resulting from infighting between Merneptah’s sons, Amenmesse and Seti II.

Eighteenth Dynasty

The Egyptian Renaissance and the Dynasty of Celebrities

1550 to 1295 BC

The Eighteenth Dynasty marked a period of high culture, religious ideologies, political intrigue, and dynastic dramas.  The capitol is Memphis, with the religious center at Thebes, but the entire order is upset by Amenhotep IV, popularly known as Akhenaten, who changes the state religion and moves the capitol to Amarna.  His revolution is almost immediately reversed after his death.  Other luminaries include Ahmose I, Hatshepsut the Female Pharaoh, Tutankhamun, and Horemheb.