VILLAGE OF DEIR EL MEDINA Deir el-Medina is the current name of what was known in the past the ancient Set Maat, The Place of Truth. The village is located on the left bank of the Nile, opposite to Luxor, south-west of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, on the road that, from the ticket-office on the west bank of the Nile, leads to the Valley of the Queens. The village was built in stages and underwent successive enlargements. It was almost certainly founded at the beginning of the New Kingdom, by Thutmose I son of Amenhotep I who, with his mother Ahmose Nefertari, was venerated here. It was later expanded by Thutmose III and during the reign of Ramses III reached its maximum extension to about seventy houses inside the enclosure walls and about fifty out of it on an area of two hectares with an estimated population of about 1200 people. The only two entrances to the village were guarded by soldiers. The inhabitants of this village were the craftsmen and artists which built, during the New Kingdom, the royal tombs of the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. In order to go from the village to the Valley of the Kings, the workers had to overcome the hill that separates the two sites and they did so along a path still fit for use nowadays. On the brow they had erected some stone buildings used as places of rest and pray. The remains of these buildings are still visible today. The workers, directly employed by the king, in the person of his Vizier, were paid in food, clothing and other commodities. During the 29th year of reign of Ramses III these payments were stopped and workers consequently crossed their arms proclaiming the first strike in history ever documented. An additional source of income, always in nature, was derived from work carried out by private citizens. In a large pit, the Shaft of the Ostraca, on the north-east end of the Temple of Hathor and used by villagers as landfill, numerous documents, about 5000, written on papyrus and ostraca were found, which allowed us to retrieve a lot of information about the everyday life of ordinary people who lived here 3,000 years ago. The workers of the village were allowed to build their family graves in the hills overlooking the village. The tombs included a cultural chapel connected to a pyramid structure in brick. These elements were enclosed by walls and the access to the burial chamber was usually in the courtyard. About 500 graves of this type were found. One of the most beautiful among the few that were found untouched is that of Kha, architect during the reigns of Thutmose III and Amenhotep III, discovered by Ernesto Schiapparelli in 1906 and now completely rebuilt at the Museum of Turin. A temple dedicated to the goddess Hathor, north-east of the village, was built during the Ptolemaic Period, on pre-existing remains, by Ptolemy IV Philopator. It is enclosed by high walls of mud brick. In Christian times it was converted into a monastery; hence the current name of the village, Deir el-Medina, which means the Monastery of the city. The portal included in the boundary wall was built by Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos surnamed the Auletes. Once entered into the vestibule of the temple we can admire beautiful floral and hathoric columns and, on the left, a staircase leading to the terrace. Three doors respectively provide access to a shrine dedicated, from left to right, to Amon, Sokar and Osiris the first, to Hathor the central and to Amon, Ra and Osiris the far right. The decoration of these shrines shows the Pharaoh in the act of presenting offerings to the gods. For further informations visit my website: my-egypt.it/upper-egypt/deir-el-medina-1/
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 18:49:02 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015