KV17
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| KV17 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Burial site of Seti I | ||
| Location | East Valley of the Kings | |
| Discovery Date | 16 October 1817 | |
| Excavated by | Giovanni Battista Belzoni Howard Carter |
|
| Decoration | Opening of the Mouth | |
| Previous : KV16 |
Next : KV18 |
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Tomb KV17, located in Egypt's Valley of the Kings and also known by the names "Belzoni's tomb", "the Tomb of Apis", and "the Tomb of Psammis, son of Nechois", is the tomb of Pharaoh Seti I of the Nineteenth Dynasty. It is one of the best decorated tombs in the valley, but now is almost always closed to the public due to damage. It was first discovered by Giovanni Battista Belzoni [1] on 16 October 1817.
The longest tomb in the valley, at 136 metres[2], it contains very well preserved reliefs in all of its eleven chambers and side rooms. One of the back chambers is decorated with the Ritual of the Opening of the Mouth, which stated that the mummy's eating and drinking organs were properly functioning. Believing in the need for these functions in the afterlife, this was a very important ritual. The sarcophagus is now in the Sir John Soane Museum in London. A very long and still incompletely explored tunnel leads away into the mountainside from beneath the location where the sarcophagus stood in the burial chamber
KV17 was irreparably damaged when Jean-François Champollion, translator of the Rosetta Stone, physically removed two large wall sections with mirror-image scenes during his 1828-29 expedition. The scenes are now in the collections of the Louvre and the museum of Florence.
The tomb became known as the "Apis tomb" because when Giovanni Belzoni found the tomb a mummified bull was found in a side room off the burial hall.
[edit] References
- Reeves, N & Wilkinson, R.H. The Complete Valley of the Kings, 1996, Thames and Hudson, London.
- Siliotti, A. Guide to the Valley of the Kings and to the Theban Necropolises and Temples, 1996, A.A. Gaddis, Cairo.
Belzoni, Giovanni Narratives of the operations and recent discoveries in Egypt and Nubia:..., 1820
[edit] External links
- Theban Mapping Project: KV17 - Includes description, images, and plans of the tomb.
- Finding of the tomb of Seti I by Belzoni
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