Inside Ramose

Main Hall

Though left unfinished, this is the finest carved tomb in the Valley of the Nobles. Ramose was a governor of Thebes and vizier of Egypt under both Amenophis III and Amenophis IV (better known as Akhenaten). It is significant not only for the quality of its paintings and low reliefs, but because the wall carvings show a transition between the formal style under Amenophis III and the new, looser style under Akhenaten. (Akhenaten was the "rebel" pharaoh who established the world's first monotheistic religion, based on a belief in the Aten, or sun disk.)

When you first open the Main Hall image, you find yourself facing northwest into the columned tomb. Originally the hall was meant to hold 32 stone pillars, many of which are now missing. You can see entrance steps leading down into the tomb mid-way along the right wall.

As you turn to the right, notice the exquisite reliefs along the right (east) wall. These show Ramose's family, friends, and others bearing offerings for the deceased. (Zoom in for a closer look at the hieroglyphs.) High on the south wall are well-executed paintings of Ramose's funeral procession.

In your examination of this room, look for a gaping hole behind a broken column. This leads to a dark passage that angles steeply down a series of dusty stone staircases to the unfinished burial chamber, which rests perhaps 100 feet below the Inner Hall.

Inner Hall

Despite the many months, if not years, that workers took to carve Ramose's tomb out of solid rock and begin illustrating its walls, the sepulcher was never completed. Midway through its construction, Ramose suddenly left Thebes and moved north to Tel el-Amarna, Akhenaten's new capital.

On the floor of the Inner Hall, you can see pedestals of the eight columns originally planned for this room; rubble from the columns still litters the floor. Notice, too, the seemingly freshly carved ceiling; in places, it looks as if stone masons might have chipped away the white rock yesterday. In the rear (west) wall is a crudely carved doorway to a small chamber, where inch-long chisel marks from the original carving out of the crypt can still be seen on the ceiling. At the other end (east), you look through a doorway into the Main Hall and the sunny front entrance.

Main Hall

Though left unfinished, this is the finest carved tomb in the Valley of the Nobles. Ramose was a governor of Thebes and vizier of Egypt under both Amenophis III and Amenophis IV (better known as Akhenaten). It is significant not only for the quality of its paintings and low reliefs, but because the wall carvings show a transition between the formal style under Amenophis III and the new, looser style under Akhenaten. (Akhenaten was the "rebel" pharaoh who established the world's first monotheistic religion, based on a belief in the Aten, or sun disk.)

When you first open the Main Hall image, you find yourself facing northwest into the columned tomb. Originally the hall was meant to hold 32 stone pillars, many of which are now missing. You can see entrance steps leading down into the tomb mid-way along the right wall.

As you turn to the right, notice the exquisite reliefs along the right (east) wall. These show Ramose's family, friends, and others bearing offerings for the deceased. (Zoom in for a closer look at the hieroglyphs.) High on the south wall are well-executed paintings of Ramose's funeral procession.

In your examination of this room, look for a gaping hole behind a broken column. This leads to a dark passage that angles steeply down a series of dusty stone staircases to the unfinished burial chamber, which rests perhaps 100 feet below the Inner Hall.