Latest / Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History / Ramses the Great's Royal Tomb KV7: A Pharaoh's Final Journey
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Ramses the Great's monuments — Abu Simbel, the Ramesseum, Per-Ramesses. But we haven't really touched on one of the most personal projects he ever undertook: his own tomb. Luna: Oh, his tomb in the Valley of the Kings? Lucas: Exactly. KV7. It's located in the main branch of the Valley of the Kings, on the west bank of the Nile near Thebes — ancient Waset. And it's a fascinating but often overlooked part of his legacy, partly because it's been so badly damaged over the millennia. Lucas: You see, by Ramses's time, pharaohs had been building tombs in the Valley of the Kings for about two hundred years. The idea was to hide the burial in a remote, guarded valley, away from the visible pyramids that were so easily robbed. But even that didn't work forever. Luna: So KV7 was robbed too? Lucas: Oh, absolutely. And not just once. In fact, Ramses's own mummy had to be moved several times by priests to protect it. It was eventually found in a cache with other royal mummies at Deir el-Bahri in the late 19th century. But the tomb itself was stripped of almost everything valuable within a few centuries of his death. Lucas: What's remarkable, though, is that the tomb's architecture and decoration are still incredibly impressive. KV7 is one of the longest tombs in the valley — over 160 meters in length, with a long entrance corridor, multiple pillared halls, and a burial chamber. The walls are covered with scenes from the Book of the Dead, the Amduat, and the Litany of Ra. Luna: Wait — the Book of the Dead and the Amduat are different texts, right? Lucas: Yes, they're different funerary compositions. The Book of the Dead is a collection of spells and prayers to help the deceased navigate the afterlife. The Amduat — literally 'That Which Is in the Underworld' — describes the journey of the sun god Ra through the twelve hours of the night, and the pharaoh identifies with Ra. Ramses's tomb has both, along with other texts. It's like a comprehensive guidebook for the afterlife. Lucas: One particularly striking scene is in the burial chamber. The ceiling is painted with astronomical motifs — constellations and the sky goddess Nut. And the walls show Ramses making offerings to the gods, and being embraced by Ra-Horakhty. The craftsmanship is exquisite, even in its damaged state. Luna: But why is the tomb so damaged? I mean, more than other tombs. Lucas: Partly because of its location — it's low-lying, and over the centuries, flash floods from the hills above dumped mud and debris into the entrance. Also, the tomb was used as a dwelling in later periods, and even as a quarry for stone. The limestone walls have been blackened by smoke from fires. And, of course, grave robbers smashed through walls and ripped out anything valuable. Lucas: But here's the thing — despite all that, modern archaeology has been able to recover a lot. Since the 1990s, a joint French-Egyptian mission has been working on the site, painstakingly clearing debris, conserving the wall paintings, and piecing together fragments of the sarcophagus and canopic chest. Luna: So they found parts of his sarcophagus? Lucas: Yes, but not intact. The red granite sarcophagus was smashed into hundreds of pieces — likely by robbers or later inhabitants. The team has been able to reconstruct some of it, and it's breathtaking. It was carved with scenes from the Book of the Dead, and would have been about three meters long. The lid alone weighed several tons. Lucas: And the canopic chest — the box that held his internal organs — was also destroyed. But fragments of alabaster jars have been found, and they were probably of the highest quality. Ramses spared no expense for his own burial. Luna: So what actually happened to his mummy? You mentioned it was moved. Lucas: Right. By the 21st Dynasty, about 150 years after Ramses died, tomb robbing had become so rampant that the High Priests of Amun took it upon themselves to collect the royal mummies and hide them. Ramses's mummy was first moved to the tomb of his father, Seti I, then later to a cache at Deir el-Bahri. It was found there in 1881 and taken to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Lucas: In the 1970s, it was actually sent to France for conservation — and that's when scientists discovered a lot about his health. They found that he suffered from arthritis, dental problems, and hardening of the arteries. He was probably about 90 years old when he died, which is remarkable for the time. Luna: It's strange to think of the most powerful pharaoh of Egypt ending up in a museum display case. Lucas: It is. But in a way, his tomb — KV7 — tells a story that's just as important as his temples. It shows us the fragility of even the greatest kings' legacy. Ramses built his monuments to last for eternity, but his own burial was violated and his body moved. And yet, the tomb still teaches us about his beliefs, his art, and his world. Luna: And it's still being restored. So in a way, it's getting a second life. Lucas: Exactly. The work continues today. The team is using modern technology — 3D scanning, chemical analysis of pigments — to learn more. They're even finding fragments of the original burial equipment that were thought lost. So KV7 is slowly revealing its secrets. Lucas: And that's a fitting legacy for Ramses. He wanted to be remembered, and he is — not just through his colossal statues, but through the very tomb that was meant to hide him forever.