Luxor, Egypt’s Valley of the Kings: Learn about the New Kingdom royal cemetery and the tombs of the pharaohs who lived there. Find out the names of the pharaohs buried in the Valley of the Kings, find out which pharaoh was the first, and learn other interesting facts about Egypt’s most famous landmarks and attractions before you go to heaven.

 

What is the purpose of  Valley of the Kings?

Tombs of pharaohs, queens, and other essential people from the 18th through the 20th dynasties of the New Kingdom.

 

When did the construction of the cemetery begin?

From the 11th century B.C. until the 16th century B.C., the Valley of the Kings was always being used.

 

Facts about Valley of the Kings:

  • Thieves broke into the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings and stole valuable items.
  • All of the tombs have portraits of pharaohs and inscriptions about their deaths.
  • At least 65 graves have been found, and more keep being found.
  • Egyptologists and archaeologists from all over the world go to the Valley of the Kings in Luxor to study the famous cemetery there.
  • After fixing the problem with the cracks between the layers of granite and the water getting into the tomb of King Amenemess, King Seth Nekhet was able to get Queen Tauessert’s tomb number 14.
  • King Ramses III fixed the problem by changing his father’s tomb, Seth Nekhet (Tomb 11).
  • Since the Nile flood broke up the rock in the Valley of the Kings, the builders of King Ramses II’s tomb had to dig through sedimentary stones to make a vaulted building plan.
  • After the terrible flood that ended the 18th dynasty of Pharaohs, the Nile mud covered all of the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings.
  • The steep sides of the Valley of the Kings have seven difficult drainage paths that lead down into the valley below.
  • In Luxor’s Valley of the Kings, many royal tombs were cut out of solid rock.
  • More than 2,100 pharaohs are commemorated in wall graffiti inside the royal tombs.
  • Tomb 9 was built for Ramses V and Ramses VI in 278 BC. It has more than a hundred inscriptions.
  • In 1799, Dominique Vivant, a French archaeologist, and the French Mission with him made the first official map of the Valley of the Kings.
  • Many people from all over the world have made documentaries about the tomb of King Tutankhamun. Now, so have filmmakers from Hollywood.
  • Most royal tombs aren’t huge; they only have a burial chamber that stairs can reach, a road that leads to an underground spring, or a complicated network of tunnels.
  • Many of the graves have not been used, and bones of animals have been found there.

 

Why did the pharaohs choose the Valley of the Kings?

The soil in this valley is different from any other because it is made up of layers of soft clay, limestone, and sedimentary rocks. During the Old Kingdom, the pyramids were built on the tops of the valley’s hills, which were arranged in a hierarchy.

The main goal of the fight against grave robbery at the royal cemeteries in the Valley of the Kings was to keep people from going into the Valley of the Kings. The valley doesn’t get much rain, so when it does flood, the only places that get wet are around the cemetery entrances, just like in King Tutankhamun’s tomb. Layers of thin, smooth rock, layers of rough stone, and surface layers are all different in terms of geology.

 

What are the difficulties in building tombs in the valley?

Building a pharaonic cemetery or taking care of a mummy is hard in the valley because of the surface layer and the layer of large boulders that are hard to dig through.

When it rains, water may find it easier to get into the tomb through the cracks in the rocks that separate the walls from the floor, and this could damage the art, writing, and mummies inside.

 

How are tombs built in the Valley of the Kings?

In one part, holes were cut into the spaces between the large layers of limestone. After the Nile flooded, rock falls and other stones were used to build another part of the pharaohs’ tombs out of what was left.

 

The other tombs near the Valley of the Kings:

The tombs in the valley of the queens were built for the king-pharaohs’ wives and sons and some of the royal family’s servants.

King Ramses, I built the tombs in the Valley of the Queens in 1301 BC. They are close to the graves in the Valley of the Kings.

Several Egyptian pharaohs are buried in the royal cemetery of Thebes, which includes the Valley of the Kings, and this area is close to Luxor, Egypt.

 

What is the royal tomb of the Valley of the Kings?

In ancient Egypt, the Valley of the Kings was Ta Siht Maat, which means “the Great Valley.” When the pharaohs were alive, it was called the Royal Burial Cities. 18th dynasty custom said that the pharaoh would be buried next to his father’s tomb, and the nobles would be buried in a carved chamber next to the royal tomb.

At the start of the 18th Dynasty, King Akhenaten moved his tomb to the city of Tal al-Amarna. King Tutankhamun then moved the graves to the Valley of the Kings. The 19th and 20th dynasties’ kings, like Ramses II, wanted their tombs to be built in the Valley of the Kings and the graves of their wives and children to be built in the Valley of the Queens.

Between the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens is the town of Deir al-Madina. This is where the pharaohs of ancient Egypt could find the skilled workers they needed to build their monuments.