I'm Off My Beaten Track in Deir-El-Bahri ...

... today.  This post will be my last post from my notes in my Egypt Journal for this year.  There will be more posts in the New Year.  But for the moment, come and meet Sen Ned Jem ...

THEBES REVISITED

A 5.00 a.m. call and a 6.00 a.m. start from the plank that takes us from the boat. We're moored at Luxor, a place that was once the centre of the Ancients' world. Nefertari is tied to a boat, that is moored to another boat, that is roped to yet another boat, that is secured to the bank. I guess triple parking is acceptable here!

This bank of the river has a purpose-built promenade and is lined with new buildings of no character whatsoever. As we walked along the promenade to the tourist ferry I noticed a local pizzeria. MacDonald's seems to be all that is missing!

It's not the temples and monuments of Kings and Queens that we will be visiting today. We're headed to Deir-El-Bahri. This is the remains of an Egyptian village between the Valleys of the Kings and the Queens where the workers who decorated and built the tombs were housed.

What remains of the houses indicates that they were made of mud bricks and the interiors were plastered and painted. If you look closely, you can see small traces of the artwork. Each house had its own cellar - a hole in the ground in the floor of the main room which was covered with a large flat stone - to store grain, perishables, and wine. An early refrigerator then!

Above the village are the tombs of some of the notable workers. The most impressive is that of Sen NedJem. The tomb is accessed by a steep narrow stairway cut into the bedrock which leads to the entrance to the burial chamber. At 5 feet 2 tall, it's not often that I can claim to be too tall for a doorway. But I can here - the entrance is so low even I have to bend double. I spare a thought for our fellow 6-footers waiting for their opportunity to visit the tomb.

As I step into the burial chamber and stand upright again, I am confronted with a mass of bright colours. Shaped like a huge sarcophagus, the room is decorated with as much care and attention as that lavished on a Pharaoh. The atmosphere is humid, the air warm and stale, but the extravagance of the paintings in the tomb are well worth the effort.

Gazing around the walls I can see the full preparations for the afterlife. It's as though I've stepped into the ceremony itself. As the sun sets the body of the Sen Ned Jem is shown being prepared for burial by Anubis. Then he is carried in a solar boat to the court of Osiris. The god of the underworld sits in judgment with the help of the goddess of truth, Ma'at, and the god of wisdom, the ibis-headed Thoth. Finally, after judgment, we see Sen Ned Jem in heaven surrounded by his family and forebears.

I'm left wondering how long it took for Sen Ned Jem's to be prepared for him.  I'm also curious to understand how work allocation was done all those millennia ago.  If the primary reason for the existence of the village is to build tombs and decorate them for each successive Pharoah, who did the work for Sen Ned Jem?

Eventually, I have to leave the stunning artwork behind.  Our guide reminds us that there are other people waiting outside the tomb.  Reluctantly I make my way along the low corridor and out into the blistering heat of the morning.  It might only be just after ten, but it feels like I'm in a vast oven that has been left on.  Even the slight breeze is hot and there's not a scrap of shade anywhere.

Back on the boat, and I'm able to do a bit of research.  Sen Ned Jem was an official or artisan who lived in the 19th Dynasty during the reigns of Seti 1 and Rameses 2.  He may have been a scribe but as his mummy has not been x-rayed there is very little other information known about him other than the fact that he was a member of the community of tomb-builders...

It is possible, of course, that Sen Ned Jem's mummified body has now been examined. The above notes in my travel journal were made at the time of my actual visit.

If you enjoyed this post you might also enjoy my earlier posts about Cairo Giza Solar Sailing Tell-el-Amarna Assiut  Abu Simbel and Egypt generally - just click the links.