EGYPT🔆KV 11🔸Tomb of RAMSES III: Guided visit (Part 2️⃣)

The second corridor which held Ramses III in the world of the living ends here. Here the soul of the king will start his voyage into the kingdom of the dead. Immediately at the start of the underworld Ramses III presents himself to the gods, Atum on the left and Ptah on the right. In the scene on the left he wears the Deshret crown, symbol of lower Egypt and wears golden sandals as gold is associated with the flesh of the gods. Atum wears the Pshent, the double crown. The pharaoh is wearing a large linen dress, so thin and transparent that it was named the woven heir. We can see through the chended loincloth. He is wearing the straight hairpiece beard, one of the attributes of a pharaoh. Atum is wearing a curved hairpiece beard as all the gods, with the exception of Ptah. The divinity created himself as he emerged from the chaotic waters of the Nun, the oceans of origins. The king fumigates him with incense. Above his head the protective falcon holds between his feet the Shen ring, symbol of eternity. The elongated shape formed the cartouche that surrounds and protects the names of the king. In the right hand scene Ramses III introduced himself to Ptah in his naos. He's wearing the Kepresh headdress framed by two large ostrich feathers, similar to the Atef crown and topped with a solar disc. The king, bare chested, is adorned with a large usek collar. He is wearing the shendit and the golden sandals. Attached to his belt the bull's tail transmits to him the power and strength of the animal. Facing him the god Ptah, tightly sheathed like a mummy, wears on his head the blue cap of the craftsman, for whom he's the patron. It is embellished with two feathers, symbols of the air and a solar disc. Ptah is above all a god creator, the great god from Memphis to the old kingdom. Here his face is green to symbolize the perpetual cycle of vegetation. Under the protection of the vulture god Nekbet, patroness of Upper Egypt, Ramses III performs a purification with incense using an instrument called the arm of Horus. The receptacle in the middle of the arm contains balls of incense which the king blows into a cup filled with embers. You have to believe that the perfume of incense has pleased the gods for many millennia. On the other side of the cavity is a rare scene. The goddess Meret, wearing on her head a basket of lilies, the emblematic flower of Upper Egypt, makes a libation in a nemset jar towards the excavated part which leads to the tomb of Emon Mes. Meret is associated with feasting, singing and dancing. Entering in the room let's turn towards the north wall. Ramses III is facing three gods reunited in one, Ptah, Seker or Siris, which I will talk about later. He is wearing a close-cut wig surmounted by the uraeus, the rearing cobra, which can only be worn by the rightful heir to the throne. Assimilated to the eye of Horus, it is a weapon at the service of the pharaoh fighting against the enemies of the land. Above him is represented the Horus Behedet, the protective falcon often shown as a solar disc with two uraeae and outstretched wings. The king performs a purification by incense and an offering of sacred water to Ptah, Seker or Siris, wearing the Atif crown. The god is protected by the goddess Isis. The entity Ptah, Seker or Siris represents three complementary functions, creation, transformation and rebirth. Isis is both the mother goddess and the great healing magician. Most of the time she is shown with a seat on her head, but at the new kingdom she becomes closely linked to Hator and borrows her characteristic symbols, bull's horns around the solar sun. The incense given off by the arm of Horus chases away the demons as well as soothes and brings forth the soul of the divinity. The king holds three gold uras which give out three trickles of water drawn directly from the water table and consecrated by priests. By spreading on the ground it will purify the location. Here is a scene of a double offering to the gods Osiris and Anubis sitting back to back. The king is wearing new robes and hen dresses. Above the gods fly protective symbols, the falcon on the right and the eye of Horus with wings on the left. Both are holding a shen ring in their claws. The bottom of the wall, very damaged on the right, is decorated with motifs reminiscent of the city walls of Memphis. Ramses III wearing a pshent stands in front of Osiris, the supreme judge of the divine court, who alone can decide whether or not to grant eternal life. The king offers him a statuette of Matt, thus signifying his actions were in accordance with the precepts of the goddess. The god is represented in the form of a mummy in a tight funeral attire. He bears the attributes of his office of almighty master, the heka scepter in the form of a crook and the flagellum. He is wearing the atef crown surmounted with the solar disc and resting on ram's horns. We are now at the last scene of this room. The king is dressed in a pleated loincloth tied at the waist and a long linen skirt. His royal headdress, the nemes with blue and gold stripes, is held at the front by the protective cobra. As with Osiris, behind him the god is sitting on a seat supported by the hieroglyph Matt. He is holding the key of life, the ankh in his left hand and the divine scepter was in his right hand. After being the quintessential funerary god in the old kingdom, Anubis became later the lord of the necropolis and the patron of embalmers. He presents the deceased to the tribunal of Osiris for the test of the weighing of the soul. Ramses pours the purifying sacred water from the gold jar with a falcon's head. He tends to Anubis, the scepter Sekem, symbol of power and strength. The wadjet eye spreads its wings over the head of the god as a sign of eternal protection. Here we end the second part of our visit covering the offering scenes. In our final part we will accompany the pharaoh on his sacred voyage to the afterlife.