History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 5 (of 12)Maspero, G. (Gaston)
History
History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 5 (of 12)
Maspero, G. (Gaston)
Civilization, Ancient; Egypt -- History -- To 640 A.D.; History, Ancient; Middle East -- History
flocked hither from all quarters of the world, they collected round the
tomb of Osiris, and there waited till the moment came to embark on the
Boat of the Sun. Seti did not wish his soul to associate with those of
the common crowd of his vassals, and prepared this temple for himself,
as a separate resting-place, close to the mouth of Hades. After having
dwelt within it for a short time subsequent to his funeral, his soul
could repair thither whenever it desired, certain of always finding
within it the incense and the nourishment of which it stood in need.
Thebes possessed this king's actual tomb. The chapel was at Qurnah, a
little to the north of the group of pyramids in which the Pharaohs of
the XIth dynasty lay side by side with those of the XIIIth and XVIIth.
Ramses had begun to build it, and Seti continued the work, dedicating
it to the cult of his father and of himself. Its pylon has altogether
disappeared, but the facade with lotus-bud columns is nearly perfect,
together with several of the chambers in front of the sanctuary. The
decoration is as carefully carried out and the execution as delicate as
that in the work at Abydos; we are tempted to believe from one or two
examples of it that the same hands have worked at both buildings.
[Illustration: 181.jpg THE TEMPLE OF QURNAH]
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Beato.
The rock-cut tomb is some distance away up in the mountain, but not
in the same ravine as that in which Amenothes III., Ai, and probably
Tutankhamon and Harmhabi, are buried.*
* There are, in fact, close to those of Ai and Amenothes
III., three other tombs, two at least of which have been
decorated with paintings, now completely obliterated, and
which may have served as the burying-places of Tutankhamon
and Harmhabi: the earlier Egyptologists believed them to
have been dug by the first kings of the XVIIIth dynasty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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