2,500-Year-Old Tomb of Egyptian Royal Scribe Explored in Abusir

CAIRO, EGYPT—Ahram Online reports that a tomb dated to between the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. has been discovered in an area of the Abusir necropolis reserved for high-ranking officials and military commanders of the 26th and 27th Dynasties. This tomb, according to Miroslav Verner of Charles University in the Czech Republic, belonged to a royal scribe named Djehutyemnakht. The tomb was looted and the upper part of the structure was destroyed in antiquity, Verner added. The burial chamber, situated at the bottom of the tomb’s main shaft, is decorated with texts and scenes, including a long sequence of spells against snake bites from the Pyramid Texts. “Interestingly, the snakes mentioned in them were on the one hand considered dangerous, but on the other hand, they acted as powerful protectors of the deceased and his mummy,” commented team member Marcel Bárta. A list of ritual offerings was found on another wall of the burial chamber. Hymns to the rising and setting sun, and depictions of the sun’s journey across the sky in his morning and evening sailing ships, were placed on the tomb’s ceiling. Djehutyemnakht’s stone sarcophagus also bears depictions of gods and hieroglyphic inscriptions intended to ensure his smooth entry into the afterlife. To read about the tomb of an Old Kingdom scribe and his wife in Abusir, go to "Together Forever."