 Entrance to the tomb of Amenhotep Huy | ||
| Qārat Ḥilwa · قارة حلوة | ||
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Qarat Hilwa (also Qaret (el) -Hilwa, Arabic:قارة حلوة, Qārat Ḥilwa, „pretty hill“) Is an archaeological site in the valley el-Baḥrīya about 2.5 km southwest of the city center el-Bāwīṭī away. Here is the tomb of Amenhotep, called Huy, from the beginning of the 19th ancient Egyptian dynasty, which is one of the oldest inscriptions in the valley.
background
Amenhotep, called Huy, was the ancient Egyptian governor of the Northern Oases (djesdjes). His origin and that of his wife Werly are unknown. Since no children are named in his grave, the family was probably childless. Stylistically, the grave can be assigned to the end of the 18th or the beginning of the 19th dynasty; the sun hymn in the front chamber can only have originated at the beginning of the 19th dynasty.
It is very unusual to find a grave of such a high-ranking administrator here in a foreign country and not on that theban To be found on the west bank, as his counterparts Pu-im-re (Theban tomb TT 39) or Sen-em-i'oh (Theban tomb TT 129) have done. But unfortunately we do not know its origin, which could perhaps explain this fact. At least he had his residence on site, which was rather the exception among the officials - and there are no other such graves on site. His main focus was agriculture (grain, wine, cattle).
The grave was examined for the first time from January 17 to 21, 1900 by the expedition of the German Egyptologist Georg Steindorff and partially published. The photographs taken by the expedition are of particular value today because the condition of the grave has deteriorated considerably since then. 1938 searched Ahmed Fakhry (1905–1973) opened the grave. He found traces of painting on the recessed relief. Fakhry was the first Egyptologist to publish the tomb extensively. Van Siclen made his documentation from 1981 on the basis of the photographs of the Steindorff expedition.
getting there
The site can be reached by jeep, bike or on foot by one el-Bāwīṭī along the trunk road 10 in the direction of Farāfra leaves. Less than a kilometer after leaving the town leads to 1 Slope to Qarat Hilwa(28 ° 20 ′ 19 ″ N.28 ° 51 ′ 5 ″ E) a runway in a north-westerly direction to the 1 Tomb of Amenhotep Huy(28 ° 20 ′ 27 ″ N.28 ° 51 ′ 0 ″ E). You have to run the last few meters.
Tourist Attractions
Don't forget to buy the ticket at the “museum” in el-Bāwīṭī. There is no sale on site!
The tomb of Amenhotep was built in the local sandstone hill by Theban craftsmen. The entrance in the southwest leads to the first of two consecutive rooms. One can only guess at the courtyard in front of the grave. In the back room there are two niches on the left and one niche on the right.
The front room is about 5.5 m wide and about 3.2 m deep. Two pillars, no longer in existence today, supported the ceiling. The scenes in the front hall suffered the most: the south-west corner is missing today, the depiction on the left rear wall is also missing today. Only a few remains of scenes have survived on the other walls. The images used to include the procession of the dead, the production and presentation of food and the adoration of the grave lord and his wife on the left wall. The remains of four porters with jugs can still be seen on the right entrance wall. The left back wall once contained the so-called negative confession of sin, i.e., Amenhotep denied that he had ever committed a sin and lists his deeds for those in need. On the right back wall remains of a scene can be seen in which the grave lord and his wife (no longer present) are standing on the right in front of the sun hymn and a mummy-shaped god, probably Osiris-Re. Amenhotep worships the sun god by saying:
"Heil, oh Re, when you rise ... your beauty is in my eyes. [You] cross (the sky) and [go to rest] in the night boat, [your heart is glad in] the day boat. You cross the sky in peace, all your enemies have fallen. [When you appear], you appear on your mother's back, you have appeared as the king of the nine (gods). Nut pays homage to your face, and Maat hugs you at all times. [You travel through the sky, your heart is happy, the sea] by Deswy (Djesdjes) becomes peaceful ... ”[according to van Siclen]. Parallels in this text have been known since the beginning of the 19th dynasty.
The rear hall is about 5.5 m wide and 4 m deep and used to have four pillars that supported the ceiling. The right entrance wall can still be clearly seen: the grave lord on the left oversees the gathering and storage of grain. In the upper register you can see five men carrying sacks of grain and setting them up in the granary. In the lower register you can see two officials on the left when recording the amount of grain. Behind it you can see four men filling sacks with the help of a grain measure, tying the sacks and carrying them away.
There are also two registers on the right wall. However, the lower part is shorter because the rear part of the wall is occupied by a bench and the front part by access to a burial niche. The upper register consisted of three scenes with the kneeling grave master and his kneeling wife: On the far left you can see both in front of a sacrificial table and a cow standing in front of the western mountains. The cow is certainly Hathor or the goddess of the west, she receives the deceased at the entrance to the realm of the dead. To the right of this there was the couple two more, worshiping the falcon-headed god Horus and the jackal-headed god Anubis. In the lower register you can see the kneeling couple in front of a shrine in the house of Osiris with the demon-like guardian of the gate, who carries a knife on his knees. In front of the gates, the grave lord has to recite the correct saying in order to be admitted.
The back wall is completely destroyed in the middle. On the sides you can see the mirror-image scenes of the married couple sitting in front of a sacrificial table. On the left wall you can see the entrances to two grave niches with few remains of inscriptions. The burial niches each consist of two roughly square, roughly 1.5 m wide rooms, one behind the other.
To the north (right hand) of the grave is another, but unfinished, building with several pillars. It is not mentioned in the literature: it could be a temple or another tomb.
accommodation
Accommodation is usually chosen in or around el-Bāwīṭī.
trips
The tomb is usually visited along with other archaeological sites in el-Bāwīṭī, in 'Ain el-Muftillā and with the temple of Alexander in 'Ain et-Tibnīya (Qaṣr el-Maqīṣba).
literature
- : Through the Libyan desert to the Amonsoasis. Bielefeld [et al.]: Velhagen & Klasing, 1904, Land and people: monographs on geography; 19th, Pp. 148–150, figs. 102–105 (on pp. 136–140).
- : The oases of Egypt. Vol. II: Barīyah and Farafra Oases. Cairo: The American Univ. in Cairo Pr., 1974, ISBN 978-977-424-732-3 (Reprint), pp. 85–90, Figs. 27–29 (English).
- : Wall scenes from the tomb of Amenhotep (Huy) governor of Bahria Oasis. San Antonio, Texas: VanSiclen, 1981 (English). Complete scientific publication of the grave.
