Tomb of Nakht

Tomb of Nakht (TT52)

• Location: Tombs of the Nobles, Luxor

Plan of Nakht's tomb. Photo from Wikipedia.

Nakht was the Scribe of the Granaries under during the reign of Tuthmosis IV. And as the guru of the grain, this tomb is aptly decorated in almost excess with scenes planting grain, harvesting, sowing, plowing, and grain preparation.

This tomb (TT52) was discovered by explorers in 1889 and documented by Norman de Garis Davies from between 1907 to 1910. It had initially been unearthed by local villagers a few years prior to 1889.

Nakht’s tomb has a typical design of middle-level New Kingdom Bureaucrats [1]. It consists of two chambers with only the first one being decorated. But, don’t disregard this small tomb, it packs quite a punch with that one chamber. The exquisite wall paintings give the visitor a feeling of stepping back 3,000 years. Warm earthy tones are painted onto the stark white background, making them stand out and command attention.

In addition to being Scribe of the Granaries, he was also an astronomer in the Temple of Amen at Karnak [1]. Though the paintings of the wall of his tomb focus on his duties as Scribe of the Granaries, agriculture and funerary banquets.

The art depicted on Nakht’s tomb is standard for the New Kingdom, daily life scenes and offerings to the dead but with an emphasis on the owner of the

Nakht overseeing the work. Photo from Wikipedia.

tomb. His day to day tasks, his hobbies, what he wishes to do in the afterlife, where he his get nourishment from (grain, wine, birds, etc) This differs from the Old Kingdom tombs where the main objection of the art was to ensure magical sustenance for the ka. The wall decorations of this tomb include agricultural scenes such as ploughing, sowing, digging and the processing of grain. There are images of the deceased, Nakht, organizing and overseeing this agricultural work as would be fitting with his title as Scribe of the Granaries.

Other images shows birds being caught in nets and then plucked; and gapes harvested, turned into wine. While still others depict Nakht’s hobbies, such as fishing and hunting birds, which he wishes to part-take in in the Afterlife. It’s both a way to magically ensure that he gets to participate in what he loves in the Afterlife, the Egyptians were all about as many safety nets as they could devise to ensure that they got the exact Afterlife they wanted, and also a way to celebrate life. For the Ancient Egyptians, the life and the Afterlife seemlessly flowed together, what you got to do in one you got to do in the other. One created their tomb as a place to with intention design the Afterlife they desired.

There are also images of Nakht and his wife Tawy being brought offerings by their son and another one by servants. A different drawing depicts Nakht and his wife making offerings to Ra. On either side of the entrance doorway are images of Nakht, his wife, and three rows of servants making offereings to Amon.

False door. Photo from Wikipedia.

When Nakht’s tomb was excavated a small but beautiful statue of the deceased in a kneeling position and holding a stele was discovered in a shaft leading to the burial chamber. Sadly, it was removed and during transport, enroute to New York, the ship it was was sunk in a U-boat attack during World War I and sunk in the Irish Sea.

Of special note in this tomb is the exquisite and famous painting of the female lute players playing alongside musicians and dancers. It’s as though at any second that scene will come to life and the tomb will be filled with melodious music. Each musician seems to have her own distinct personality, dress and hairstyle. It’s as though the artist was looking at a photo or a scene in action while painting this masterpiece. One musician is whispering something to the other while the third’s fingers skillfully flow over the harp. The quality of the wall paintings in Nakht’s tomb make this a good tomb to visit.

For the sake of not completely reinventing the wheel, which is all ready one superiorly designed wheel, I’m going to not painstaking

Famous lute player scene.

give you a blow by blow to every single detail on the walls of Nakht’s tomb. Instead, I’m going to let Kent Weeks do it for me. Purchase (or obtain by whatever means) a copy of Dr. Weeks’ The Treasures of Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. Dr. Weeks not only gives you a painstakingly yet engaging and well written blow by blow of Nakht’s tomb, it is also accompanied by beautiful photos and maps so that you will be able to effortlessly follow along, understand and appreciate Nakht’s tomb. This book is well worth the purchase.

Bird hunting scene. Photo from Wikipedia.

Receiving offerings. Photo from Wikipedia.

~ by Genevieve Hathaway on November 12, 2010.