1914] on the Mortuary Chapels of the Theban Nobles 16S 



with invaluable evidence of the history, art, manners, and customs 

 of those far-off days. 



Before proceeding lo a more detailed examination of these 

 mortuary chapels, disclosed to us by the devoted work of the 

 great Egyptologists of the last century, a few words must be given 

 to the origin and the selection of the site of the great Theban 

 Necropolis. 



The great line of fracture through the Cretaceous Limestone 

 Plateau, which stretched from the Archean Mountain Chains of the 

 Arabian Desert far into the Saharan Desert, became the path by 

 which the Nile found its way to the Mediterranean. Irregularly 

 subsided blocks along the edge of the great line of faults consti- 

 tute a series of foot-hills, while deep canyon-like valleys have been 

 eroded in the plateau itself. The Cretaceous rocks consist of layers of 

 varying thickness of cherty limestones separated by bands of shale. 

 These foot-hills have determined the site of the cemetery, and the 

 formation of the rocks the individual position of the mortuary 

 chapels. 



From very early days it had been the custom in Egypt for the nobles 

 and great officials to cause their funeral chapels and burial places to 

 be constructed in the vicinity of those of their kings or rulers. The 

 sovereigns, who were deified after death, had great temples erected in 

 close proximity to their burial place, which, up to the time of the 

 12th Dynasty, was protected by a structural tumulus, known to us 

 as a pyramid. The sovereigns of the ISth, 19th, and 20th Dynasties, 

 however, selected sites for their burial chambers in the deep-cut 

 valleys in the great limestone plateau, but placed the funeral temples 

 in close proximity to the water and cultivated land on the edge of 

 the Nile valley. The Theban Nobles placed their mortuary chapels 

 and burial places on the hills, close to and overlooking the mortuary 

 temples of their rulers. Hence, visitors to Thebes will find that 

 from the great mortuary temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu, 

 on the south, to the temple of Sete I at Drah Abu Nagah, three 

 miles to the north, these hills are honeycombed with the open- 

 ings of these chapels, while the intervening slopes are pitted with 

 minor tombs. 



The problem which faced the Egyptian architect who was in- 

 structed to provide a dignified mortuary chapel for a high-placed and 

 wealthy Egyptian noble or official in one of these hills, the right of 

 burial in which was only granted by royal favour, was of a three-fold 

 nature. In the first place, the mortuary chapel had to face the rising 

 sun (hence, only the eastern face of the hill was available). Secondly, 

 a suitable layer of rock had to be found which was of the necessary 

 thickness for the proposed excavation. Thirdly, as the inviolability 

 of the mummy was essential for its resurrection, a safe and abiding 

 resting place had to be provided in close connection with the chapel,. 



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