ArchaeoVideo: El Dr. Farouk Gomaa habla de la Tumba de Montuemhat


La tumba de Montuemhat es la más grande de Tebas, dice el Dr. Gomaa.


`The tomb is one of the largest in Thebes,´ says Dr Farouk Gomaa, the highly-respected archaeologist from the University of Tübingen in Germany who is leading the exploration of the burial monument of Montuemhat, in a new video interview for Heritage Key by Nico Piazza. Clearly, Montuemhat was a powerful and influential figure in ancient Egypt if he was able to carve out such a substantial resting place for himself in the necropolis of the pharaohs. Yet you won’t find him on any Egyptian king lists.
In this latest ArchaeoVideo from the Theban tombs, from where Sandro Vannini has been taking photographs for the new `The Lost Tombs of Thebes: Life in Paradise´ book, we learn about the hunt for the chamber of Montuemhat, who from around 660-648 BC was Mayor of Thebes, and a highly skilled and crafty diplomat. Egypt underwent some tumultuous changes during his time in office, as the last Nubian kings of the 25th Dynasty, Taharqa and Tantamani, were driven back into Nubia, first by the invading Assyrians, then by the first kings of the 26th Dynasty.
Against this unstable backdrop, Montuemhat managed to maneuver himself into a position whereby he effectively ruled Upper Egypt (it probably helped that his wife, Wedjarenes, was a granddaughter of the Nubian king Piye). History reports that he held onto power right up until his death, after the Nubians had been cleared out, even though he was himself probably of Nubian blood. This allowed Montuemhat plenty of time in which to build for himself his impressive tomb at Thebes – a dense complex that extends over multiple levels, with various halls and a large open court at its centre.
Work must have begun on the tomb when Montuemhat – who additionally held the title of the Fourth Priest of Amun – was only a young man, raising the possibility that it may have originally been built for his father, Nesptah the elder (who was mayor of Thebes before Montuemhat). Inscriptions within his tomb give Montuemhat such glorious titles as `eyes of the king in all the land´, `prince of the deserts´ and `keeper of the gate of the deserts´.

Comentarios