I previously shared about the Great Sphinx in the Giza plateau which until now draw a big mystery to most historians and archaeologists. As much mystery it holds, the Valley of the Kings in Luxor still holds the biggest mysteries in all of Egypt if I may say.

The Valley of the Kings on the west bank of the Nile is said to be the first and earliest examples of a Necropolis. It's literally a city of the dead though, the Valley of the Kings houses pharaohs and Egyptian nobles and is among richest sources for ancient Egyptian history.

A Bit of History

Coined by scholars as The Great Field, the area was the preferred resting place of New Kingdom’ prominent individuals from 1539 BC to 1075 BC.

It appears that it was selected for such function for four reasons:

• it was an isolated location
• it has easy access
• it was not difficult to defend
• and at it south end lays al-Qurn, a mountain that when looked at from the Valley seems to be a pyramid.

The pyramidal shape is linked to the rays of the Sun and the various solar gods Egyptians worshiped at different times.

Most tombs appear to follow the same design, a blue print of three chambers, an antechamber and a sarcophagus compartment at a lower level, making tomb desecration more difficult. These sepulchers were also hidden away with little trouble.

The Valley has two sections, East and West. The East segment is the one most often visited by tourists for it contains the majority of the pharaoh’s tombs.

Tourism in the area goes back over 2,000 years. Graffiti in Greek, Latin, Coptic and various other archaic languages can be found everywhere.

The majority of the tombs have been looted.

Who is Buried There?

Among the many celebrities buried in the Valley of the Kings are:

• Ramesses VII (KV1) - Supposedly the first sepulcher to be identified and opened. The tomb is a small single corridor tomb itself is located West Bank of Luxor. "KV" stands for King’s Valley.
• Rameses II (KV7) The final resting place of what is known to be the greatest Pharaoh of Egypt. Numerous flooding have damaged the crypt to the point that is almost worthless as an archaeological site. In any case, Ramesses was not in his tomb for just about 72 hours. Fear of looting made the priest move his tomb around a couple of times, finally finding a resting place in the vault of Pinedjem II, a high priest, in the nearby complex of Deir el-Bahri. KV7 is not open to tourism.
• Sons of Ramesses II (KV5) - This is the largest funerary complex in the Valley of the Kings. At least five of Ramesses estimated 52 sons are buried here.
• Seti II (KV15) - While it seems that the decorating work was hastily done and it is incomplete, it has held well and it is a good site to visit.
• Seti I (KV17) - This tomb has 3 names, Tomb of Apis, Belzoni's Tombs and Tomb of Psammis, son of Necho.
• Thutmose I and Hatshepsut (KV20) - Believed to be the first royal tomb constructed in the valley.
• Thutmose IV (KV43) - Rediscovered by Howard Carter in 1903, the tomb of Thutmose IV has a dog-leg shape layout which is common in the 18th dynasty.
• Yuya and Tjuyu (KV46)- The mother and father of Queen Tiye. Believed to be the best preserved tomb in the valley prior to the discovery of King Tut's tomb.
• Nehmes Bastet (KV64) - Tomb of the Chantress of Amun named Nehmes Bastet who lived during the 22nd dynasty.

The Most Famous of Them All

Even though King Tut was somewhat an unimportant pharaoh, the discovery of the tomb of King Tutankhamen is the most famous site in the Valley of the Kings. Tagged as KV62, the tomb was found on November 1922 by Howard Carter and his team. The hordes of treasure found in the mostly undisturbed crypt has socked the world.

Carter and the most important members of his expedition became world celebrities. Thanks to a little known ruler who had died 3,000 years earlier. Various calamities that befell members of the expedition gave rise to a Curse of the Mummy legend. Carter, however, lived for another decade after his momentous discovery.

Most of the artifacts found at the tomb are now in the Cairo Museum.

There you have it guys, the who's who in the Valley of the Kings. To date, there are around 18 tombs that are open to the public for viewing in the valley.

If you find Egyptian history fascinating as much as I do, you may check some of my posts for further reading.

• The Great Sphinx of Giza
• The Tyrant and The Great Pyramid Builder - Khufu
• The Pyramids of Egypt
• The First Female Pharaoh of Egypt - Hatshepsut
  
  

Source(s):
_{Wikipedia - Valley of the Kings
Tour Egypt - Valley of the Kings - Tombs of the Pharaohs
Ask Alladin - Valley of the Kings
National Geographic - Valley of the Kings}



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