Religion Ancient Egypt obliged people to arrange tombs, which, following the tradition of their religious ideas, always had the shape and structure of a home. The structure of the tomb, like the temple, was very similar and complex in its organization; the tombs were divided into above-ground and underground. Construction different types The tombs were the same, and they had the same parts: a room for the burial ceremony (crypt and sanctuary) and a burial chamber. Archaeologists distinguish two types of tombs in Ancient Egypt: above-ground tombs and ancient tombs located in the rocks.

Aboveground tombs were very similar in structure to a hut. An example of such a tomb is “Mastabas”, which translated from Arabic means a stone bench; they are undeniably a semblance of a house (Fig. 1). On the outside of this type of tomb, the treatment and selection of the door differs, internal organization and the design elements are similar to the living space. The ceiling is made of palm trunks, has holes for lighting, and even mats. The wall paintings reproduce scenes from Everyday life deceased.

When locating the above-ground and underground parts of the burial ground, the builders were guided by religious beliefs, which dictated the conditions for their location according to the cardinal directions - a person lying with his head to the east or west (sunrise and sunset sides) has the opportunity to be resurrected. The most ancient mastaba today is located near Saqqara. Men is buried in it; it is he who is credited with the unification of Egypt, the second pharaoh of the 1st dynasty.

The ground part of the complex looked like the graves of nomads. Neat brickwork covered a high earthen hill, inside there were 27 chambers, they were filled with things that the pharaoh might need in the afterlife: food, jugs of wine, weapons and fishing gear. The main material for the construction of the tomb was unfired brick, but individual elements, for example, doors were made of stone. The walls of the mastaba were about 3 meters high, with outside had many projections and recesses, ending in a flat, slightly sloping roof. The entire structure was enclosed by two stone ramparts with a wide passage between them.

The underground part of the mastaba was a room carved out of the rock; it was divided into five rooms of different sizes by partitions. There were no doors separating any of these rooms. Characteristic feature mastaba is the absence of holes in the walls and ceiling, as ancient people believed that souls of the dead have the ability to penetrate walls. In the middle was the largest chamber, which contained a sarcophagus with the mummy of the pharaoh. Like the pyramids, the mastabas had a false entrance, located in the eastern part of the superstructure, where a shallow niche was built for it. A flat altar was also installed there for the gifts brought by relatives and the reading of prayers. The size of the mastaba directly depended on the position in society of the deceased.

A striking example of tombs located in the rocks can be considered the tombs of the Theban dynasties, most of the Theban tombs of the ball were built during the reign of the kings of the XVIII and XIX dynasties, but the first burials of the Valley belong to the Old Kingdom, in the Middle Kingdom the Theban nomarchs were buried here - the governors of the pharaoh who ruled the fourth Upper Egyptian nome Waset. At the same time, the kings of the 9th and 10th dynasties founded their necropolis in Western Thebes, and the ruler of the 11th dynasty, Mentuhotep I, began the construction of a funeral complex in Deir el-Bahri, completely unusual for that time, which was completed under his successors. During the second transition period, the kings of the 17th dynasty chose Dra Abu el-Naga as a place for their burials. The rulers of the New Kingdom moved their necropolis to the Valley of the Kings, leaving eastern part the Theban Highlands to his close dignitaries. The Theban necropolises are located on the hills, foothills and gorges of the mountainous plateau on the western bank of the Nile, stretching from northeast to southwest for several kilometers along the edge of fertile land. In total, there are 13 necropolises in the city of the dead:

I. Necropolis of Intef.

II. Necropolis of Mentuhotep II and III.

III. Necropolis of Mentuhotep V.

IV. Necropolis of the XII-XIII dynasties.

V. Necropolis of the 17th dynasty.

VI. Necropolis of Drabu-l-Negga.

VII. Necropolis Asasif.

VIII. Necropolis of El Khokha.

XI. Necropolis of Sheikh Abd el-Gurna.

H. Necropolis Gurnet Murai.

XI. Necropolis of Deir al-Medina.

XII. The royal necropolis in the "Valley of the Kings".

XIII. The royal necropolis in the "Valley of the Queens".

Let us consider in more detail the five most ancient necropolises, which are among the most ancient Theban cemeteries.

I. Necropolis of Intef. It was in this necropolis that archaeologists discovered a huge number of dedicatory steles near the walls of the tomb, in most cases the name “Intef” was mentioned on them, which determined the modern name of the necropolis. The burials of this necropolis look like either elongated pits - graves, or rock-type tombs slightly dug into the ground. The calm landscape of the area, without mountain protrusions, obliged people to dig a 3-4 meter deep open front courtyard in the hard soil, the back wall of which formed the front side of the tomb, and the interior rooms were located in the thickness of the hill. Rectangular holes in this wall they led from the front courtyard into the interior of the tomb, which seemed to be framed on the front side by columnar columns forming an open gallery. Usually, passages to the side rooms were also cut out on the sides of the front open courtyard, which created the impression that the front courtyard was surrounded on three sides by a colonnade. Of the almost 100 tombs of this type, three of the largest tombs can be distinguished; their open front courtyards reach a width of 60-70 meters, and they are deepened into the ground by 5-7 meters. Scientists suggest that they belonged to the first three pharaohs of the XI dynasty: Intef I, Intef II and Mentuhotep I.

II. Necropolis of Mentuhotep II and III. occupies the southern side of the gorge at Deir el-Bahri, joining from the south the nearby magnificent temple of Queen Hatshepsut. The gorge got its name from the Coptic monastery located here in the early Christian period, which in Arabic means “Northern Monastery.” The new necropolis was created in order to correspond to the changed position of the rulers of Thebes, who became the pharaohs of all Egypt. The construction of this necropolis was started by Mentuhotep II, but completed by Mentuhotep III. He managed to create architectural ensemble exceptional in its beauty and grandeur. It combined a mortuary temple and a tomb, combining the experience of ancestors and the skill of modern masters of that time, which was reflected in the architecture of the temple of Queen Hatshepsut.

The wide and majestic road framed by statues of rulers ended in a spacious courtyard, which in the west opened into a gallery formed by two rows of quadrangular stone columns. A wide ramp in the center of this gallery led to the first terrace on which the sanctuary stood. The main part of the sanctuary was surrounded on three sides by a gallery of two rows of quadrangular columns covered on top, and in the very center of the sanctuary there was a massive base for the pyramid towering above it, surrounded by 140 columns of the same type. All the columns were covered from above. To the west of the colonnades of the first terrace there was an open courtyard, also surrounded by columns. In the center of this courtyard began the entrance to the underground burial chamber of Mentuhotep III, and behind the open courtyard stretched a huge hypostyle hall with 80 columns in the form of octagonal stone pillars, and even further the holy of holies... the entire structure, resting in the extreme west on the steep slope of a steep rock. While Mentuhotep III placed his burial chamber under an open courtyard behind the pyramid, the complex's first builder, Mentuhotep II, created it directly under the base of the pyramid. In addition to the majestic tombs for the rulers, there were also mass graves for fallen soldiers (about 60). Egypt architectural temple pyramid

III. Necropolis of Mentuhotep V. Enormous construction work was carried out in this necropolis. Huge construction work was carried out here. About 80,000 cubic meters of limestone rock were moved, most likely to create a tomb-temple complex such as existed at the necropolis of Mentuhotep II and III at Deir el-Bahri. However, due to the change of dynasty, all work was suspended. After the vizier of Mentuhotep V Amenemhet became Pharaoh Amenemhet I and the founder of the new, XII dynasty, the capital of Egypt was transferred to the north of the country to the city of Ittawi. The royal court left Thebes, and therefore the necropolis of Mentuhotep V was abandoned, thus the huge tomb of the pharaoh and the tombs of his nobles were unfinished.

IV. Necropolis of the XII-XIII dynasties. Due to the fact that the royal court was now located in the new northern residence, the necropolis in Thebes was not so large. The pharaohs built their pyramids according to ancient custom near its capital Ittawi. All small burials of that time were carried out mainly in the old necropolises of the XII dynasty in the Deir el-Bahri area. Several larger burials with wide forecourts and colonnades appeared during these years on some hills in the Sheikh Abd el-Gourn area, their structure was similar to the tombs in the Intef necropolis. Also, a small complex of burials from the XII Dynasty arose on the hills southeast of Deir el-Bahri. The most significant burial of that time can be considered the tomb of Intefoker - the vizier of Sonusert I; it was larger in size than the burials of other nobles created in the Theban city of the dead. The beginning of this tomb was a long corridor in the thickness of the rock, and the end was a wide square chapel, at the rear edge of which a vertical shaft opened that led to the burial chamber; the walls were decorated with scenes from the life of an ordinary working person.

V. Necropolis of the 17th dynasty. During the era of the New Kingdom, the burials of this necropolis were plundered. They resembled small but quite tall pyramids without interior spaces, usually located under the pyramid in the rock, or at its eastern edge, it was from such rooms that a vertical shaft or a descent with steps led to a burial chamber with a sarcophagus carved into the rock. Due to the fact that the necropolis was looted, only two sarcophagi were discovered. Here, at the southern edge, there were mass graves of soldiers.

The remaining eight necropolises arose later, during the era of the New Kingdom, and it was they who determined the characteristic appearance of the Theban city of the dead. Of these, two necropolises are royal - the “Valley of the Kings” (Вiban el-moluk) and the “Valley of the Queens” (Вiban el-harim). The other six necropolises are filled with tombs of private individuals, mainly nobles - close pharaohs of the 18th-20th dynasties; courtiers, priests and high-ranking dignitaries were buried in these tombs. It was believed that in this way they get the opportunity to afterlife stay close to their rulers. A necropolis was allocated for the tombs - the Valley of the Nobility; it was located along the eastern slope of the Fmvan mountains. In fact, it consists of 5 cemeteries grouped around the rock massifs of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, Dra Abu el-Naga, Asasif, Qurnet Murey, el-Khokha and el-Tarif. The nobles could not afford tombs like the "houses of eternity" of their rulers. They are usually composed of such parts as an open courtyard, the space of which was limited by the walls of the sanctuary leading underground to the burial chamber. Starting from the 19th dynasty, the entrance to the courtyard changed; now it was made in the form of a giant gate (pylon), which was at that time mandatory element architecture of Egyptian temples. Funeral steles were installed in the courtyard, and statues of the buried person were installed in the sanctuaries. The sanctuary was considered the main room for reading sacred texts and sacrifices. From above, the facade of the tomb was surrounded by tomb cones or cylinders - “nails”, which went up to the “caps” into the thickness of the walls. Another feature of indicating that a tomb belongs to a specific owner can be considered the designation of his name on the cones on the outside; his earthly and posthumous titles were also located there. A special decoration of the tombs of the royal nobles were reliefs and paintings; they reflected the most significant scenes from the life of a servant of the Egyptian rulers. Thus, the paintings of the tomb of the vizier Thutmose III and Amenhotep II Rekhmir are a unique source that tells us about the life and duties of this official; all images are accompanied by text accompanying the painting.

Gods of the New Millennium [with illustrations] Alford Alan

TOMBS OF THE PHARAOHS?

TOMBS OF THE PHARAOHS?

There were supposed to be three tombs in this amazing Great Pyramid in case the pharaoh died during construction. And the textbooks say this quite seriously! Experts at the British Museum explain the "features of the internal configuration of the pyramid by changes in plans during construction." This is directly related to the traditional version that each of the chambers was intended to be a tomb, and that the builders therefore changed their plans during construction.

Is there any evidence to support the still-current idea that the Great Pyramid was indeed intended to serve as a tomb? This assumption - that the king's (or queen's) chamber in the Great Pyramid served as a tomb - falls apart in the face of the evidence we have. To the surprise of many who accepted the tomb theory at face value, no remains, no mummies, or anything related to a burial or tomb were ever found in the Great Pyramid.

Arab historians who described Mamun's entry into the pyramid claim that there were no traces of burial there, nor any traces of robbers, since top part The pyramid was very carefully sealed and camouflaged. It is clear that grave robbers would not seal the robbed tomb - they would try to get out as quickly as possible! The obvious conclusion from these considerations is that the pyramid was intended to remain empty.

Moreover, the very idea that the upper chambers of the Great Pyramid were intended for burial is in no way compatible with the fact that the tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs were never placed high above ground level. Moreover, when examining many other pyramids in Egypt, no evidence was found that at least one of them was used as a tomb.

According to the traditional view, the pyramid-building mania began with one of the first pharaohs of the Third Dynasty, Djoser, around 2630 BC, a few years after the beginning of Egyptian civilization. For some reasons unclear to us, the pharaoh decided to abandon the simple tombs made of clay bricks, which were used by his predecessors, and built the first stone pyramid in Saqqara. This was a very ambitious project, apparently unique and unprecedented in Egypt (although similar ziggurats had been built in Mesopotamia several centuries earlier). In this construction, Djoser was assisted by an architect named Imhotep, a mysterious person about whom we know little. The Pyramid of Djoser was built at an angle of approximately 43.5 degrees.

IN early XIX centuries, two “funeral chambers” were found under the pyramid of Djoser, and during further excavations underground galleries with two empty sarcophagi. Since then, it has been believed that this pyramid served as the tomb of Djoser and his family members, but in fact his remains were never found, and there is no hard evidence that Djoser was actually buried in this pyramid. On the contrary, many prominent Egyptologists are now convinced that Djoser was buried in a majestic, richly decorated tomb found in 1928, located south of the pyramid. They could only conclude that the pyramid itself was not intended to serve as a tomb, but was either a symbolic tomb or a clever way to distract the attention of grave robbers.

Pharaoh Sekhemkhet is considered to be Djoser's successor. His pyramid also has a “burial chamber”, and in it - again empty sarcophagus. The official version says that the tomb was robbed, but in fact, the archaeologist who discovered the chamber, Zakaria Ghoneim, saw that the sarcophagus was closed with a vertical sliding door, sealed cement. And, again, there is no evidence that this pyramid was intended as a tomb.

In other, less well-known pyramids of the III dynasty, the picture is the same: the step pyramid of Khaba turned out to be completely empty; next to it, another unfinished pyramid was found with a mysterious oval - like a bathroom - room - sealed and empty; as well as three more small pyramids in which no traces of burials were found.

The first pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, around 2575 BC, was Snofru. The pyramid-tomb theory has been dealt another blow, as it is believed that Sneferu built not one, but three pyramids! His first pyramid in Medum turned out to be too steep and collapsed. Nothing was found in the burial chamber except the fragments of a wooden coffin, which is believed to represent a later burial. Snofru's second and third pyramids were built at Dashur. The second pyramid, known as the Pyramid of Bent, is believed to have been built at the same time as the pyramid at Meidum, since the angle of the walls was suddenly changed mid-construction from 52 degrees to a safer 43.5 degrees. The walls of the third pyramid, called Red - after the color of the local pink limestone from which it is built, were built at a safe angle of approximately 43.5 degrees. These pyramids contain two and three "burial chambers" respectively, but all of them turned out to be completely empty.

Why did Pharaoh Snefru need two pyramids standing next to each other and what were these empty chambers supposed to mean? If such efforts were already expended, then why was he buried in another place? Surely one fake tomb would be enough to confuse tomb robbers?!

But it is believed that Khufu was the son of Sneferu, and therefore we can establish the supposed date of construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza without having the slightest evidence that any of the pyramids were intended for burial at all. Meanwhile, in all the books, in all the guidebooks and television documentaries, it is categorically stated that the pyramids of Giza, like all the pyramids in Egypt, were tombs!

In general, we see in this an excellent example of how any, even the most ridiculous theory, can take over people’s thoughts. And then scientists are forced to defend the accepted theory, inventing more and more ingenious arguments, such as, for example, the fact that the builders of the pyramids at Giza “changed their plans.” These scientists are too arrogant to honestly tell us “we don’t know” and too hesitant to challenge prevailing opinion. Well, and we - will we continue to blindly believe what these scientists instill in us?