The lost Tomb of Nebamun was an ancient Egyptian tomb from the Eighteenth Dynasty located in the

Theban Necropolis The Theban Necropolis is a necropolis on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes (Luxor) in Upper Egypt. It was used for ritual burials for much of the Pharaonic period, especially during the New Kingdom. Mortuary temples * Deir el-Bahri ...

located on the west bank of the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest riv ...

at Thebes (present-day

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...

) in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

. The tomb was the source of a number of famous decorated tomb scenes that are currently on display in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The location of the tomb was not revealed at the time of its discovery in order to maintain secrecy during a period of competition between excavators, and was since lost. Scientific analysis in 2008-09 indicated the tomb's location in the vicinity of

Dra' Abu el-Naga' The necropolis of Draʻ Abu el-Naga' ( ar, دراع ابو النجا) is located on the West Bank of the Nile at Thebes, Egypt, just by the entrance of the dry bay that leads up to Deir el-Bahari and north of the necropolis of el-Assasif. The nec ...

Discovery

Nebamun Nebamun (fl. ) was a middle-ranking official "scribe and grain accountant" during the period of the New Kingdom in ancient Egypt. He worked at the vast temple complex near Thebes (now Luxor) where the state-god Amun was worshipped. His name was ...

, who lived around 1350 BCE, was a middle-ranking official scribe and grain counter at the temple complex in Thebes. His tomb was discovered around 1820 by a young Greek, Giovanni ("Yanni") d'Athanasi, who at the time was working for Henry Salt, the British Consul-General.

Excavated artefacts

The tomb's plastered walls were richly and skilfully decorated with lively fresco paintings, depicting idealised views of Nebamun's life and activities. D'Athanasi and his workmen literally hacked out the pieces he wanted with knives, saws and crowbars. Salt sold these works to the British Museum in 1821, though some of the other fragments became located in Berlin and possibly Cairo. D'Athanasi later died in poverty without ever revealing the tomb's exact location. The best-known of the tomb's paintings include Nebamun fowl hunting in the marshes, dancing girls at a banquet, and a pond in a garden. In 2009, the British Museum opened up a new gallery dedicated to the display of the restored eleven wall fragments from the tomb. They have been described as the greatest paintings from ancient Egypt to have survived, and as one of the Museum's greatest treasures. Various scenes from the paintings have been used by artists in more modern times.

Lawrence Alma-Tadema Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, (; born Lourens Alma Tadema ; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom becoming the last officially recognised denizen in 1873. Born in Dronryp, the Netherlands, ...

incorporated a scene of geese herding for a wall decoration depicted in his ''Joseph, Overseer of Pharaoh’s Granary'' (1874), and

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

used part of a banquet scene as a compositional plan in his ''Ta Matete'' (1892)Philip McCouat, "Lost masterpieces of ancient Egyptian art from the Nebamun tomb-chhapel" Journal of Art in Society http://artinsociety.com

Gallery

File:Musicians and dancers, Tomb of Nebamun.jpg, Dancers and musicians File:Le Jardin de Nébamoun.jpg, ''Pond in a Garden'' showing date-palms, sycamore trees and a pool teeming with life; the sycamore goddess with her produce, is shown at top right. File:Cat, Tomb of Nebamun.jpg, Cat attacking birds File:Egyptian lute players 001.jpg, Musicians playing Egyptian

lutes A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can refer ...

. File:Tomb of Nebamun, Banquet.jpg, Tomb of Nebamun, Banquet

References

Bibliography

* {{coord missing, Egypt Theban tombs Ancient Egypt Ancient history