Royal Tombs

With its worker’s village later called Deir el-Medina, the valley was called the Place of Truth or Set Ma’at, in ancient times. The workers of Deir el-Medina, who for generations since their community was established, could reach the Valley in about 30 minutes by walking along the steep mountain paths. Today, energetic folks may spend 45 minutes to an hour climbing the paths leading from the north side of the amphitheater of Deir el-Bahri and over the mountain ridge into the Valley of the Kings. Their efforts would be rewarded by splendid views of the Theban region.

Tombs in the Valley

The Valley contains 62 tombs to-date, excavated by the Egyptologists and archaeologists from many countries. Not all of the tombs belonged to the king and royal family. Some tombs belonged to privileged nobles and were usually undecorated. Not all the tombs were discovered intact, and some were never completed.

The powerful kings of the 18th and 19th Dynasties kept the tombs under close supervision, but under the weaker rulers of the 20th Dynasty, the tombs were looted, often by the very workers or officials supposedly responsible for their creation and protection. In order to prevent further thefts, the mummies and some of their funerary objects were reburied in two secret caches, not to be re-discovered until the 19th century of the modern era.

Visitors to Egypt have often journeyed into the Valley to view the accessible tombs, including Tut’s, but with the increasing tourism, urban and industrial growth, pollution, and rising groundwater, the tombs have suffered over the decades. Today their access is rotated, so that a smaller number of tombs are open at one time, and even then, many of the decorations and walls can only be seen behind glass.

According to Diodorus and Strabo, and Greek and Latin graffiti, two writers of ancient times, a few of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings were known and visited by ancient tourists during Ptolemaic times. Today, only a few of the 62 known tombs are accessible and open to the public. Eleven of the tombs, including Tutankhamun’s, Ramesses VI, Amenhotep II, and Seti I, have been set with electrical lighting

Entrance to Tutankhamun's Tomb

The earliest king buried in the Valley was Thutmose I, the latest, Ramesses XI. In 1922, Howard Carter found the last and possibly most well-known of these tombs, that belonging to the young King Tutankhamun. It lies directly opposite the tomb of Ramesses IX. For all the amount of treasure that had been found in this tomb, the space itself is small, and all but one room was undecorated. Directly across from Tutankhamun’s tomb lies KV5, where work continues to uncover what may be the last resting place of the 150 sons of Ramesses II.

Tomb of Ramesses VI

Ramesses VI had one of the largest tombs in the valley. His tomb is decorated with scenes from the books of the underworld, and the burial chamber is dominated by the shattered remains of the king’s massive granite sarcophagus.

The tomb of Ramesses I, who had a brief reign, is a single small chamber at the end of a steep corridor. It bears some similarity in its decoration with the tomb of Horemheb, while being more elaborate. The tomb of Merneptah, 13th son and successor of Ramesses II, is badly damaged but worth visiting. Psusennes I appropriated one of the sarcophagi for his own burial at Tanis.

Tuthmosis III Sarcophagus

The tomb of Thutmose III is the earliest-era tomb that can be visited. Its walls are covered with 741 different deities and its ceiling is spangled with stars. The first of the tombs usually accessible is that of Ramesses IX, listed as tomb 6, right next to Tomb 55, now inaccessible.

The tomb of Seti I is the largest and most elaborate of the royal tombs. It is often closed to visitors because of rock falls and a lack of ventilation. Giovanni Belzoni, the Patagonian Samson, first entered this tomb in 1817 and brought back the alabaster sarcophagus and canopic chest to England, where they rest in the John Soane Museum. Some large wooden statues of Seti I similar to the black and gilt statues of Tutankhamun now stand in the British Museum.

Column in tomb of Amenhotep II

The tomb of Ramesses II was begun for his father, Seti I, but abandoned, because the corridor cut into the adjacent tomb of Amenmesse. Belzoni removed the cartouche-shaped sarcophagus lid and it now rests in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. The box sits in the Louvre.

Situated at the southern end of another wadi is the tomb of Amenhotep II. In 1898, in its southwest chamber was found one of the caches of royal mummies. This tomb’s seclusion made it a good reburial place for the nine royal mummies placed here in order to protect them from further depredations. Thutmose IV, Amenhotep III, Siptah, and Seti II were among the re-buried. Amenhotep II was found still lying in his own sarcophagus.

Along with royal tombs, tombs belonging to officials were found more or less intact. One was Maiherpra, a Nubian prince educated at court with the royal princes, one of which became Amenhotep II. Subsequently Maiherpra held office under that

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