El-Assasif ( ar, العساسيف) is a

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

near

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-ai ...

on the West Bank at

Thebes, Egypt , image = Decorated pillars of the temple at Karnac, Thebes, Egypt. Co Wellcome V0049316.jpg , alt = , caption = Pillars of the Great Hypostyle Hall, in '' The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia'' , map_type ...

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend wikt:downriver, upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. ...

. It is located in the dry bay that leads up to

Deir el-Bahari Deir el-Bahari or Dayr al-Bahri ( ar, الدير البحري, al-Dayr al-Baḥrī, the Monastery of the North) is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, Egypt. This is a part of ...

and south of the necropolis 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 ...

. El-Assasif contains burials from the 18th, 22nd, 25th and 26th dynasties of ancient Egypt, covering the period c. 1550 to 525 BC across all three dynasties.

Archaeology

In November 2018, France's

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ...

announced the discovery of two

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...

thought to be more than 3,500 years old with two perfectly preserved mummies and approximately 1,000 funerary statues in the Assasif valley near Luxor. One of the tombs with paintings where the female body found, was opened to the public in front of the international media, but the other one was previously opened by Egyptian antiquities officials. In October 2019, 30 coffins (3.000 year-old) were uncovered and presented, dating back to the

Twenty-second Dynasty The Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt is also known as the Bubastite Dynasty, since the pharaohs originally ruled from the city of Bubastis. It was founded by Shoshenq I. The Twenty-first, Twenty-second, Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-f ...

by the Egyptian archaeological mission in front of the Hatshepsut Temple. The coffins contain mummies of 23 adult males, five adult females and two children. The condition of the cachette is said to be exceptionally good, with many of the coffins sealed and intact, with high quality painting and preservation. According to archaeologist Zahi Hawass, mummies were decorated with mixed carvings and designs, including scenes from

Egyptian gods Ancient Egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt. The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion, which emerged sometime in prehistory. Deities represented natural f ...

hieroglyph A hieroglyph (Greek for "sacred carvings") was a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system. Logographic scripts that are pictographic in form in a way reminiscent of ancient Egyptian are also sometimes called "hieroglyphs". In Neoplatonis ...

s, and the

Book of the Dead The ''Book of the Dead'' ( egy, 𓂋𓏤𓈒𓈒𓈒𓏌𓏤𓉐𓂋𓏏𓂻𓅓𓉔𓂋𓅱𓇳𓏤, ''rw n(y)w prt m hrw(w)'') is an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom ...

, a series of spells that allowed the soul to navigate the afterlife. Some of the coffins had the names of the dead engraved on them.

Notable burials

18th Dynasty

* TT192 – Kharuef *AT28 - Vizier

Amenhotep-Huy Amenhotep-Huy was a Vizier of Ancient Egypt during the reign of Amenhotep III. Besides being Amenhotep III's Vizier, Amenhotep-Huy was also director of Upper and Lower Egypt and overseer of all the works of the King in Upper and Lower Egypt.O'C ...

TT188 Tomb TT188, located in the necropolis of El-Khokha in Thebes in Egypt, is the tomb of the Steward and King's Cupbearer Parennefer.Aldred, Cyril, Akhenaten: King of Egypt ,Thames and Hudson, 1991 (paperback), pp 91-92, It has been excavated by ...

–

Parennefer The ancient Egyptian noble Parennefer was Akhenaten's close advisor before he came to the throne, and in later times served as his Royal Butler, an office which brought him into intimate contact with the king. His titles include "The King's Cup B ...

22nd Dynasty

Cachette currently under investigation and restoration

25th Dynasty

* TT34 –

Mentuemhet Mentuemhat or Montuemhat (c. 700 BCE – c. 650 BCE) was a rich and powerful Theban official from ancient Egypt who lived during the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt and Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt. He was the Fourth Priest of Amun in Thebe ...

TT37 The Theban Tomb TT37 is located in El-Assasif. It forms part of the Theban Necropolis, situated on the west bank of the Nile opposite Luxor. The tomb is the burial place of the ancient Egyptian Harwa, who was Chief Steward of the God's Wife of ...

–

Harwa The ancient Egyptian official Harwa was the Chief steward of the God's Wife of Amun, Amenirdis I, during the 25th Dynasty. His tomb, TT37, is located in El-Assasif, part of the Theban Necropolis, on the West Bank of the Nile, opposite to Luxo ...

26th Dynasty

* TT27 – Sheshonq *

TT33 The TT-30,, "7.62 mm Tokarev self-loading pistol model 1930", TT stands for Tula-Tokarev) commonly known simply as the Tokarev, is an out-of-production Soviet semi-automatic pistol. It was developed in 1930 by Fedor Tokarev as a service pis ...

– Padiamenope * TT36 –

Ibi Ibi or IBI may refer to: Companies * IBI Group, a Canadian-based architecture, engineering, planning, and technology firm Places * Ibi, Nigeria, a town and administrative district in Taraba State, central Nigeria * Ibi, Spain, a town in the pr ...

* TT279 –

Pabasa The ancient Egyptian noble Pabasa was chief steward of the God's Wife of Amun Nitocris I during the Saite Period. He is buried in tomb TT279, which is located in the El-Assasif, part of the Theban Necropolis, near Thebes. His sarcophagus ...

* TT389 – Basa *

TT410 The Theban Tomb TT410 is located in El-Assasif, part of the Theban Necropolis, on the west bank of the Nile, opposite to Luxor. The tomb belongs to Mutirdis, the chief companion lady of the God's Wife of Amun during the time of Nitocris I, and Ps ...

– Mutirdis *

TT414 The Theban Tomb TT414 is located in El-Assasif, part of the Theban Necropolis, on the west bank of the Nile, opposite to Luxor. The tomb was originally constructed in the El-Assasif necropolis for the use of Ankh-hor and his family. Ankhor was th ...

– Ankhhor

References

Theban tombs {{AncientEgypt-stub