The Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings, set back some kilometres from the Nile riverbank, under the peak of the pyramid-shaped mountain Al-Qurn, is the location where the pharaohs of the New Kingdom were buried.

The official title of the site was The Great and Majestic Necropolis of the Millions of Years of the Pharaoh, Life, Strength, Health in The West of Thebes, or more usually, the Great Field!

The cult of death and the lifelong preparation for the afterlife were the focus of all ancient Egyptians. The Valley of the Kings and other monuments on the West Bank necropolis are mute testimony to this obsession. Operating as a royal necropolis for approximately five centuries between the 16^th and 11^th century B.C. the Valley contains some 60 tombs, commencing with the tomb of Thutmose I and concluding with that of Ramses X. Often buried secretly and in haste, the pharaohs’ tombs, although heavily protected, rarely escaped the plundering of grave robbers.

The Valley of the Queens, further to the south was begun approximately half way through this New Kingdom period as a secondary necropolis for the royal partners of the pharaoh, due to growing space constraints within the Valley of the Kings. 

The acronym KV, for "King's Valley", is used to designate tombs located in the Valley with each tomb numbered in the order of modern discovery, to aid its identification. The graffiti on the walls of some of the tombs indicates that they already were an attraction in Greek and Roman times.

Most of the open tombs within the Valley of the Kings, such as KV5, built for the sons of Ramses II and containing at least 67 burial chambers or KV62, most famously belonging to Tutankhamun and discovered only in 1922 are included among the audios individual tracks detailing the most accessible and visited tombs within the Valley.

 

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