Deir el-Medina in the context of Workmen's village


Deir el-Medina in the context of Workmen's village

⭐ Core Definition: Deir el-Medina

Deir el-Medina (Egyptian Arabic: دير المدينة), or Dayr al-Madīnah, is an ancient Egyptian workmen's village which was home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the 18th to 20th Dynasties of the New Kingdom of Egypt (ca. 1550–1080 BC). The settlement's ancient name was Set maat ("Place of Truth"), and the workmen who lived there were called "Servants in the Place of Truth". During the Christian era, the temple of Hathor was converted into a Monastery of Saint Isidorus the Martyr (Coptic: ⲡⲧⲟⲡⲟⲥ ⲙ̄ⲫⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ ⲁⲡⲁ ⲓⲥⲓⲇⲱⲣⲟⲥ ⲡⲙⲁⲣⲧⲉⲣⲟⲥ) from which the Egyptian Arabic name Deir el-Medina ("Monastery of the City") is derived.

At the time when the world's press was concentrating on Howard Carter's discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, a team led by Bernard Bruyère began to excavate the site. This work has resulted in one of the most thoroughly documented accounts of community life in the ancient world that spans almost four hundred years. There is no comparable site in which the organisation, social interactions, working and living conditions of a community can be studied in such detail.

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Deir el-Medina in the context of Sennedjem

Sennedjem was an Ancient Egyptian artisan who was active during the reigns of Seti I and Ramesses II. He lived in Set Maat (translated as "The Place of Truth"), contemporary Deir el-Medina, on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes. Sennedjem had the title "Servant in the Place of Truth". He was buried along with his wife, Iyneferti, and members of his family in a tomb in the village necropolis. His tomb was discovered January 31, 1886. When Sennedjem's tomb was found, it contained furniture from his home, including a stool and a bed, which he used when he was alive.

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Deir el-Medina in the context of Aaru

Aaru (/ɑːˈr/; Ancient Egyptian: jꜣrw, lit.'reeds'), or the Field of Reeds (sḫt-jꜣrw, sekhet-aaru), is the name for heavenly paradise in Egyptian mythology. Ruled over by Osiris, an Egyptian god, the location has been described as the ka of the Nile Delta.

Ancient Egyptians believed that the soul resided in the heart, and that each individual would therefore undergo a "Weighing of the Heart" in the afterlife; each human heart is weighed on a giant scale against an ostrich feather, which represents the concept of the goddess Maat. All souls that successfully balance the scales will be allowed to start a long and perilous journey to Aaru, where they will exist in peace and pleasure for eternity. Conversely, hearts that are heavy with evil will tumble from the scale pan and fall into the crocodilian jaws of the goddess Ammit. Any souls that are subject to Ammit's "second death" are doomed to restlessness in the Duat.

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Deir el-Medina in the context of Tomb of Kha and Merit

The tomb of Kha and Merit, also known by its tomb number Theban Tomb 8 or TT8, is the funerary chapel and burial place of the ancient Egyptian foreman Kha and his wife Merit, in the northern cemetery of the workmen's village of Deir el-Medina. Kha supervised the workforce who constructed royal tombs during the reigns of the pharaohs Amenhotep II, Thutmose IV and Amenhotep III (r. 1425 – 1353 BC) in the mid-Eighteenth Dynasty of the early New Kingdom of Egypt. Of unknown background, he probably rose to his position through skill and was rewarded by at least one king. He and his wife Merit had three known children. Kha died in his 60s, while Merit died before him, seemingly unexpectedly, in her 20s or 30s.

The couple's pyramid-shaped chapel has been known since at least 1818 when one of their funerary stele was purchased by the antiquarian Bernardino Drovetti. Scenes from the chapel were first copied in the 19th century by early Egyptologists including John Gardiner Wilkinson and Karl Lepsius. The paintings show Kha and Merit receiving offerings from their children and appearing before Osiris, god of the dead. The decoration has been damaged over the millennia, deteriorating due to structural decay and human actions.

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Deir el-Medina in the context of Servant in the Place of Truth

sḏm-ꜥš m st mꜣꜥt, usually translated as Servant in the Place of Truth is an ancient Egyptian title that is used to refer to someone who worked in the Theban Necropolis, on the west bank of the Nile in Thebes. Set-Maat (Ancient Egyptian: st mꜣꜥt "Place of Truth") was the name of the workmen's settlement today known as Deir el-Medina. Several artisans had nicely decorated tombs here.

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Deir el-Medina in the context of TT1

TT1 is the burial place of the ancient Egyptian official Sennedjem and members of his family in Deir el-Medina, on the west bank of the Nile opposite Luxor. The funerary complex consists of three pyramid-shaped chapels dedicated to, from south to north, Sennedjem's father or brother, Sennedjem himself, and Sennedjem's son Khonsu. Of the three shafts associated with the chapels, only the shaft in front of Sennedjem's chapel was unrobbed. It leads to a series of underground rooms, including the extensively decorated burial chamber.

The undisturbed tomb was discovered in January 1886 in excavations by Gurnawi local Salam Abu Duhi and three others. The single room contained 165 objects, including over 20 burials belonging to family members of Sennedjem. Nine members of Sennedjem's immediate family were placed in coffins while the rest were placed on the floor. Sennedjem and his son Khonsu had the most elaborate burials, both being provided with a sarcophagus or outer rectangular coffin in addition to mummiform coffins, mummy boards and masks; these larger coffins were found disassembled and placed against a wall. For the other 11 people buried there, their exact relation to Sennedjem is unclear due to the lack of inscriptions.

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