Thebes - Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings on the West Bank of Luxor is a remote, desolate place with no vegetation. Rising above the area is the Qurn or Gurn (meaning "horn" in Arabic), a mountain which many regard as a natural pyramid shape which presides over the entire cemetery.

Relief of Horus and Anubis from the Valley of the Kings

This scene of Horus and Anubis paying honor to Osiris is on the lintel above a doorway in the tomb of Sethnakht (c.1190-1187 B.C.E.) in the Valley of the Kings. In order to balance the scene, Osiris is shown in profile facing both left and right. As god of the dead and the next life, he is mummiform, wears the atef crown, carries a crook-flail-was scepter, and has a curved false beard. Horus (on the left) symbolized the living king and has the body of a man and the head of a falcon. He wears the Double Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. His left hand holds an ankh, the hieroglyph for "life," while his right hand is raised in homage to Osiris, his father. Anubis (on the right) was the god of embalming and was a protector of the dead. He has the body of a man and the head of a jackal. His left hand extends over an offering table, while his right hand is raised in homage to Osiris.