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Egypt has many prominent tourist attractions that were built thousands of years ago by the ancient Egyptians, and one of the most prominent historical and archaeological places and areas in Egypt is the Valley of the Kings. In this topic, we will learn about the location of the Valley of the Kings, what its function is, and some other information.

Where is the Valley of the Kings located?

• The Valley of the Kings is located in the southern side of Egypt, and it is an attractive tourist attraction visited by thousands of tourists every year from home and abroad.
• The frequency of tourists to the Valley of the Kings and Queens increases greatly to learn about the treasures of the ancient Egyptian civilization of the Pharaohs in the winter seasons, with the aim of enjoying the warm Egyptian climate in winter.
• The Valley of the Kings and Queens area is an area belonging to the tombs of the kings and queens of Egypt in its ancient Pharaonic times.
• They believed that they would return to life again and that there is life after death, and therefore they wanted to bury themselves in this valley after equipping it with their own treasures inside their graves.
• Therefore, when discovering ancient tombs, the discoverer finds traces and gold with the dead that are treasures belonging to these kings and queens.

See also: Where is Luxor located? What is it called?

What is the Valley of the Kings?

• The Valley of the Kings is the narrow, closed valley located on the west bank of the Nile River, which is located next to the rocks of Mount Thebes behind it in the city of Luxor.
• The geography of the Valley of the Kings indicates that it is located on some deep lands surrounding the highlands in all directions, so it resembles a huge crater in an irregular shape.
• Its highlands are located in the middle of the edges of the western plateaus, and in the Valley of the Kings on its eastern side is the Karnak Temple, which is 3 km away from it, and tourists can reach the Valley of the Kings from the city of Luxor.
• This is done by crossing the Nile River to head to the western mainland, and this is done by entering the plain by crossing the Temple of Seti I, located in the village of Qurna.
• Then pass to the western side of the desert road, which is characterized by many curves and passes through hills. The distance of the Valley of the Kings Road is approximately five kilometers.

Valley of the Kings tasks

• The Pharaohs wanted to prepare the valley to be a tomb for them containing all their treasures because they believed that they would be immortalized forever.
• The story of choosing the Valley of the Kings to be a burial place for the kings and queens of the Pharaohs goes back to King Thutmose I, the third king of the 18th Dynasty, who was king from 1501 to 1540 BC.
• This king wanted to choose a grave in which he would be buried in an isolated place and behind good rocks, in order to protect his body and preserve it from the arrival of thieves.
• Which made him ask Al-Muhannad Anini to look for him in a place characterized by a low plain in the middle of the plateaus and hills and behind the mountain rocks.
• In fact, the engineer searched for this place and built it with all architectural means, and he recorded the story of the selection of the tomb of Tuthmosis I, which is still present on its walls.
• He wrote, meaning, “I single-handedly supervised the selection of a rock tomb for King Thutmose I without anyone realizing it.”

See also: What you don’t know about Queen Bilqis

Where did the Egyptians bury their bodies?

• The ancient Egyptians believed without a doubt that they were immortal and would return to immortal life again without being exposed to death again, and for this reason they would fully prepare their tombs with the needs and treasures that would enable them to live well when they returned to life.
• The ancient Egyptians worked to mummify their dead so that they would not rot over time, and they worked hard to choose their burial place carefully, bringing large and huge coffins to place their dead in, thinking that it would protect their bodies from damage.
• But before the dynastic eras and during the ancient Egyptian era, the ancient Egyptian used to build his cemetery on the edges of desert areas far from agricultural lands filled with water, which are characterized by their distance from the flood waters that flood southern Egypt annually.
• He also chose his cemetery to be on the slopes of plateaus and hills, so as to be completely away from various natural factors, such as humidity, which works to decompose and destroy bodies.

Burial method in the time of the Pharaoh kings and queens

• Since God created this universe, the method of burying the dead has been known, which God Almighty taught us through the story of Cain and Abel, and that is when God Almighty said in Surat Al-Ma’idah, “Then God sent a crow searching the earth to show him how to hide his brother’s evil.” God Almighty has spoken the truth.
• The only way to bury the dead was in mountainous areas, and they buried the dead at a depth of 3 to 4 meters underground.
• Then the ancient Egyptians worked to follow other methods of burying the dead, with the area of ​​the cemetery being 7 meters in length, 5 meters in width, and its depth being approximately 3 metres.
• The ancient Egyptian Pharaoh was interested in making a clay lining for the sides and walls of tombs from within, and then covering them with wooden boards cut from trees, so that they would not be exposed to sand collapse.
• But the tombs of the kings and queens of Egypt differed from the tombs of ordinary people in their size and shape.
• In contrast to the kings, they contained attractive decorations and shapes, as well as the floor of their tombs being made of mud brick, which made them distinct from other traditional tombs.
• During the design of the tomb, a staircase was made that reached the bottom of the tomb to the surface of the earth, and the design of building private rooms next to the tombs of the king or queen spread to store food, furniture, tools for decoration, hunting, and combat weapons owned by the king. In each tomb, there is a plaque containing the king’s information after his burial.

Burial ceremony for the kings and queens of the Pharaohs

After the death of the king or king, his body is mummified, and after that, preparations are made for the solemn funeral celebration, as the wall texts found in the tombs indicate the details of the funeral of the deceased, which are represented in the following points:

• The king’s funeral procession begins with his relatives, that is, his wives, children, servants, and individuals carrying flowers, essential oils, and jars of perfume.
• Then it is part of the team of senior priests and clerics who carry the holy water bottles, then they work to place the coffin of the deceased, with the clerics around it and the utensils, perfumes, and perfumes they carry.
• Behind the coffin will be the relatives of the deceased king, including sons, wives, relatives and acquaintances, who will tie their heads and smear their faces with perfume and Nile blue dye.
• They tear their clothes, slap their faces, and beat their chests. Some of the women also mention the good and bad deeds of the deceased in multiple ways until his funeral ceremony ends.
• After the end of the king’s funeral ceremony, the coffin is carried on the shoulders of the men to bring it into the cemetery, then they gently move it until it slides into the descending corridor, the floor of which has been sprinkled with holy water and fine sand.
• After that, the king’s furniture is placed in his room to store it, and his weapons, tools, and treasures of gold and jewelry are also placed there.
• His wife is inside the tomb and does not leave it until the end after she places flowers next to him as a farewell to him. After she leaves, the site workers close the king’s tomb and hide its door permanently.
• They would break the pottery tools and place them in a pit near the cemetery, to indicate the presence of a cemetery near this pit.

See also: What you don’t know about the Valley of the Queens