Explain the Importance of the Valley of the Kings during the Ramesside Period
The Valley of the Kings is seemingly a vast desert area where for almost 500 years of tombs and mummies were built and hidden. But going deeper into these tombs there is a much broader and significant importance. The importance of the Valley of the Kings was important for many different reasons and to many different people during the Ramesside Period. It was important for it’s religious worth, economic worth and most importantly, it’s historic value.
The Valley of the Kings was the burial place of the New Kingdom Pharaohs, as well as some of their relatives, officials and priests. It’s tombs being concealed by the cliffs of Western Thebes. Established by Amenhotep I the Valley of the Kings was not used as the burial place for a king until Thutmose I. It was in high regard to the pharaohs, as their tombs would be their resting place for eternity. It was also the place that ensured that they would reach the afterlife, successfully joining the gods, becoming one with Osiris and Re and the Heavens and Earth.
The Egyptian civilian population found the Valley of the Kings to be very important, as it was the reason behind the establishment of the workers village of Deir el Medina, which is one of the most remarkable sources for understanding the thoughts, feelings and issues affecting non-royal families of the New Kingdom. It provided those who were skilled to move with their families to a place with more economic benefits for themselves. Since the majority of Egypt’s population were illiterate and could not keep record of their activities, the accounts made by the workers of Deir el Medina gave historians an idea of what life was like for middle social class of Egypt. The workers being between the elite and peasant classes . The Valley of the Kings created the need or purpose for having this village built. The importance of the Valley of the Kings diminished as the New Kingdom ended. By the reign of Ramesses III the workers of Deir el Medina went on strike due to the growing stresses of security and payment. This indicating that the kings were no longer considering the Valley of the Kings to be in as high regard as it once was. The villagers soon were so neglected that they needed to leave their homes to seek sanctuary in the mortuary temple of Medinet Habu. Ramesses III’s reign was also when there was an attempt to rob the tomb of Ramesses II’s, which shows that the civilians of Egypt were becoming more desperate economically and that the power of the Kings was being questioned.
Each Pharaohs tomb provides a glimpse for historians of the life of the dead king, their influence, death and their religious beliefs. Such as with Ramesses I, who’s tomb is quite small and rushed reflecting his short reign of only two years. This shows that the now tradition of burying the dead king in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings was still active in the 19th Dynasty, the tradition also lasting through the 20th Dynasty.
The tombs built in the Ramesside period were important for their ‘innovation’ in design, "Innovation, however… is demonstrated by changes in tomb decoration. For the first time royal tombs were decorated for their whole length, and new underworld books were introduced to fill the space and continued being added into the 20th Dynasty… 'Everyday life' scenes were mostly abandoned, and instead the fate of the deceased in the next world was emphasised.” The plan of the tombs changed as well, from being bent or ‘L’ shape to following in a straight line and the position of the sarcophagus turned, so that it followed the symbolic line of East and West, the kings head facing the rising sun. The tombs were all different from each other, “no tomb was ever an exact copy of another, and stylistic differences are recognisable between artists and as one generation of artists replaced the next” Another innovation of the Ramesside Period was the Valley of the Queens and the tomb of Sety I. The Valley of the Queens is the location of over 80 tombs of the relatives and high-ranking officials of the king however; it wasn’t made the burial place for a queen until Ramesses I’s wife Satre. Sety I’s tomb is the longest and deepest and most complete tomb in the Valley of the Kings, which reflects the success during his reign.
The tombs the Valley of the Kings demonstrate the decline in Egypt’s economy during the 20th Dynasty, when tomb robbers began to steal the treasures of the dead kings. There is evidence of these robberies recorded on the documents known as the ‘tomb robbery papyri.’ These documents cover the reigns of Ramesses 3 and Ramesses 11, they give the names of the individuals involved in the robberies, what they were stole and the details of their interrogation and their punishment. It shows the desperation of some of the Egyptian civilians, in that they felt the need to rob these tombs, for things such as furniture, gold and the amulets that the dead kings were wearing. Some of the robbers had also set fire to the king and queen’s coffins after they had finished robbing it, demonstrating the loss of the prominence of kings’ as the New Kingdom ended.
The Valley of the Kings is consistently important for it’s historic value, as it reflects on the lives of the deceased and the prominent religious aspects of the period. Showing the decline of prominence of the kings through the Ramesside period. Its’ importance during the New Kingdom was quite significant and became even more important during the Ramesside period when having a tomb in the Valley of the Kings had become a tradition. However the significance steadily decreased towards the end of the period, with the decline in Egypt’s Empire.
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http://carlos.emory.edu/RAMESSES/1_valleyofthekings.html
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