Ancient Egypt History
gevity had allowed Ramesses to make adequate provision for her burial. She was to be interred in one of the largest tombs n the Valley of the Queens (QV 66). Her tomb was looted in antiquity, subsequently lost, and rediscovered in 1904 by the Italian Egyptologist Ernesto Schiaparelli. All that now remains of the queen's once impressive burial are the glazed knob inscribed for King Ay, some wooden shabti figures, many pottery fragments, a box lid, a small wooden djed pillar (symbolizing stability), splinters from a gilden coffin, a gold bracelet fragment, part of a sarcophagus lid, a pair of woven sandals and a pair of mummified knees - presumably Nefertari's - which are now housed in Turin Museum.
Nefertari plays a game of senet against an invisible opponent.
The movement of her pieces across the board symbolizes her own journey
towards the afterlife.Nefertari's tomb is today justly famous for its painted plaster decoration which, once sadly deteriorated, has recently been restored to its former brilliance by a team of international conservationists headed by the J. Paul Getty Museum. Beneath the dramatic ceiling - a deep blue night sky glittering with many hundreds of golden stars - the tomb walls and columns tell the story of Nefertari's spiritual and physical journey from death to a perpetual afterlife in the company of her fellow Egyptian gods. The antechamber presents the beginning of the tale. Here in various colorful scenes we see Nefertari as a bandaged and masked mummy lying on a bier, Nefertari as a beautiful woman playing an invisible opponent at senet (a board game with religious significance), and Nefertari being greeted by Hathor and Isis who, in their solar disks, cow horns and patterned dresses, look confusingly alike, and confusingly like Nefertari.
The goddess Maat stretches her feathered wings wide to protect the dead queen as she makes her way down the steps leading into the pillared burial chamber. Here, in the darkest and most private region on the tomb, we see representations of five of the twelve gateways leading to the Kingdom of Osiris. Nefertari will have to name each gate and each of its three divine gate-keepers before she can reach her own resurrection. Fortunately, spells from the Book of the Dead - including the answers to the many riddles - are provided to help the queen on her travels. The queen's pink granite sarcophagus (now represented by fragments of sarcophagus lid in Turin Museum) queen will eventually be reborn. The outcome of Nefertari's living face exposed, stands triumphant in a small room opening off the burial chamber.
