'Cursed Tomb' of the Great Pyramid Workers Opened

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Winged Isis
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'Cursed Tomb' of the Great Pyramid Workers Opened

Post by Winged Isis »

'Cursed tomb' of the workers who built the Great Pyramid of Giza opened to the public 30 years after it was discovered : Reopening few tombs of the tombbuilders at Giza that is Ptah-Shepsedu, Nefer-Tjes and Petety (via Osirisnet, text and photos Ministry of antiquities and Osirisnet).

The Ministry of Antiquities has reopened few tombs containing the remains of the people who built the Great Pyramid of Giza. This is the first time they've been open since their discovery almost 30 years ago in the cemetery of workers.
Ptah-Shepsesu's was the first tomb in the cemetery to be uncovered. It is made of mudbrick with a long vaulted chamber and two false doors.

Crude hieroglyphs scrawled on the doors identify the name of the tomb-owner and his wife. At the back of the chamber are three burial shafts for the couple and their son. In front of the tomb there is a square courtyard with low walls of broken limestone. The tomb and courtyard are grand in comparison to the others uncovered around it. Pieces of granite, basalt, and diorite, stones used in the pyramid temples, have been incorporated into the walls.

The second tomb belongs to Nefer-Tjes, the ancient supervisor of the bakery in the Pyramids area. It is a simple tomb inscribed with beautiful hieroglyphic texts. It contains three limestone false doors and a stelae inscribed with the name of the deceased, his two wives and his 18 children. The false doors of his tomb are unique for their scenes of grain-grinding, and bread and beer-making. Inside the tomb there is a list of feast days and offerings for the deceased including bread, beer, birds and oxen. On the false door of his first wife Nefer-hetepes there is a list that records offerings of natron used in mummification, sacred water, oil, incense, kohl, 14 types of bread, cakes, onions, beef, grain, figs and other fruits, beer, and wine. On the third false door, two stelae represent Nefer-Theith standing while below him a man makes beer and another person pours it into jars.

The third tomb is for a worker named Petety who was the supervisor of the junior workers on the Pyramids. The tomb has a unique form with three open courts. Petety and his wife Nesy-Sokar are depicted separately because she was a priestess of the goddess Hathor. She is also described as beloved of the goddess Neith, shown standing on the doorjamb of the chapel in the traditional pose, one arm raised on her breast and the other behind her back. On either side of the entrance to the tomb Petety wrote hieroglyphic texts to protect himself and his tomb from tomb-raiders. Petety's curse threatens anyone approaching his tomb that "the priest of Hathor will beat twice anyone who enters this tomb or does harm to it. "Anyone who does anything bad to this tomb… the crocodile, hippopotamus and the lion will eat him," the curse says.

The site has been closed off since 1990. In recent years, experts with the ministry have been working to restore and develop the site as part of a longer-term plan to open up more archaeological sites to the public. As well as opening up the three tombs, Ashraf Mohi, director general of the effects of the Pyramids of Giza, said two other tombs discovered in the same cemetery have been reopened—including the tomb of KhufuKhaf, the son of King Khufu, who ruled between 2589–2566 B.C. The other tomb is Seshemnefer 4, which dates to the Sixth Dynasty, around 2340 B.C. This grave includes images of the cemetery owner with his family, bulls being slaughtered and birds and animals being hunted."


https://www.facebook.com/PetrieMuseum/? ... sKITXqhpDE


Carpe diem! :le:
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