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Reading the tombs of the Valley of the Queens
13 October 2026
The Valley of the Queens, on the west bank at Luxor, holds the tombs of New Kingdom queens, princes and princesses, about 110 in all. The best painted ones date from the 19th and 20th Dynasties. Their walls are pages of the Book of the Dead: the dead person meets the gods, then passes a series of gates, each watched by armed guardian gods whose names had to be spoken aloud.
Only a few tombs are open at a time, in rotation. Nefertari's tomb (QV66) needs its own ticket and visits are short. Ask at the gate which of the princes' tombs are open that day.
Nefertari's name fills the first rooms
Ernesto Schiaparelli found the tomb of Nefertari, great royal wife of Ramesses II, in 1904, already robbed, with its paintings on fine plaster. Her name is everywhere, often in a cartouche. Nefertari, nfrt-iry, said "nefert-iri", means "beautiful companion": the heart and windpipe (F35) for nfr, "beautiful", the bread loaf (X1) for t, then the reed (M17), the mouth (D21) and the two strokes (Z4) for iry. It is often followed by mryt-mwt, "beloved of Mut", with the hoe (U7) and the vulture (G14).
In the antechamber, scenes from Book of the Dead spell 17 show her seated alone at a senet board. In the side room she stands before Thoth, the ibis-headed god of writing, asking for his palette and water bowl (spell 94), and the seven celestial cows and their bull feed the dead (spell 148).
Armed gatekeepers line the golden hall
Stairs lead down to the burial chamber, which Egyptians called the golden hall. Four pillars hold it up, painted with Anubis, Hathor and Horus-Iunmutef, a priestly form of Horus in a leopard skin, coming to meet the queen.
The walls carry spells 144 (in some editions 147) and 146 of the Book of the Dead, the spells of the gates and portals of the kingdom of Osiris. In spell 144 every gate has a keeper, a guard and a herald, and the dead must know each one's name to pass. Spell 146 gives the portals of the house of Osiris, each with its guardian. Look for the squatting figures with knives in their hands, many with animal heads. Each has its name in a column beside it.
Ramesses III leads his young son to the gods
QV55 belonged to Amenherkhepeshef, a young son of Ramesses III, and was found by Schiaparelli's team in 1904. Its paint is still bright, above all the blues and yellows. Ramesses III is the main figure. He offers to Shu and Ptah, embraces Isis and Hathor, and takes the hands of the four sons of Horus, Hapy, Duamutef, Imsety and Qebehsenuef, while the prince follows behind him.
Most of the cartouches in these scenes belong to the king, the father who speaks for his son.
In the burial chamber the guardians return, from spells 145 and 146 of the Book of the Dead. One of them, the fourth guardian, has the head of a bull. Beside the door of the chamber stands the priest-god Iunmutef in his leopard skin.
Khaemwaset's tomb was filled with later coffins
QV44, a tomb of another son of Ramesses III named Khaemwaset, was found by Schiaparelli's assistant Francesco Ballerini in 1903. Its first corridor shows the king before Ptah, Thoth, Anubis, Ra-Horakhty and Geb. Side rooms show the four sons of Horus and the goddesses Isis, Nephthys, Neith and Serqet, who guard the body.
Further in, the prince meets the genies who guard the gates of the kingdom of Osiris, as his brother does in QV55. If both are open, read the two tombs together, since they share the father, the gods and the gatekeepers.
The tomb was used again centuries later. Its finders counted more than forty wooden coffins of the 25th and 26th Dynasties inside.
Six signs carry most of the labels
A few signs carry most of the labels in these tombs:
One wall is enough for a timed visit
Visits are timed in Nefertari's tomb, so choose one wall and go straight to it: Thoth in the antechamber, or a gate in the golden hall. Painted plaster on a white ground reads well with the camera, and the labels of the gods are in neat columns. Never use flash, and check the rules on photography at the gate, since they change.
In the princes' tombs, start with the cartouches to find the king, then read the god's name in the column above each figure.
Questions
Who guards the Valley of the Queens?
On the walls, the guardians of the gates of the kingdom of Osiris from the Book of the Dead, armed with knives, and the four sons of Horus with Isis, Nephthys, Neith and Serqet protecting the body. At the valley's entrance a grotto was sacred to Hathor, perhaps tied to the rebirth of the dead.
Is Weneg a guardian god of the Valley of the Queens?
Weneg is known from a few Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts spells, as a son of Ra who holds up the sky, and the name also belongs to a 2nd Dynasty king. The guardians painted in the queens' and princes' tombs are the named gatekeepers of the Book of the Dead.
What did the Egyptians call the Valley of the Queens?
Ta-set-neferu, usually translated "the place of beauty". It can also be read as "the place of the royal children", fitting a valley where many tombs belong to princes and princesses.
Who is buried in the Valley of the Queens?
Queens, princes, princesses and some high officials, roughly from 1560 to 1130 BC. The tombs in the side valleys are earlier, from the 18th Dynasty. The famous painted ones are Ramesside.
Glossary
- ankh
- The sign of life, ꜥnḫ, a cross with a loop on top. Gods hold it out to kings in temple scenes.
- Book of the Dead
- A collection of spells written on papyrus and placed in burials from the New Kingdom on, to guide the dead through the afterlife. Egyptians called it the Spells for Coming Forth by Day.
- cartouche
- An oval ring drawn around a royal name, a loop of rope tied at one end. Kings wrote their two main names in cartouches.
- coffin
- A box for the body, of wood or stone, often shaped like a person and painted with spells, names and gods. Rich burials nested several coffins inside a sarcophagus.
- dynasty
- A line of kings counted together, usually one family. Egyptologists number Egypt's kings in about 30 dynasties, following the priest Manetho.
- New Kingdom
- Egypt's age of empire, about 1550 to 1069 BC, the time of Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun and Ramesses II.
- Old Kingdom
- The age of the pyramid builders, about 2686 to 2181 BC, from the 3rd to the 6th Dynasty.
- priest
- A servant of a god in a temple, who washed, dressed and fed the god's statue each day. A high priest led the staff of a great temple.
- pyramid
- A royal tomb with four sloping sides meeting at a point, built in the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza is the largest.
- Pyramid Texts
- The oldest religious spells of Egypt, carved in the burial rooms of pyramids from the reign of Unas, around 2350 BC, on.
- tomb
- A burial place: a pit, a mastaba, a pyramid or rooms cut into rock. Its chapel was where the family brought offerings.
People in this article
Where to see it
- Valley of the Queens site
- Tomb of Nefertari (QV66) monument
Sources
More to read
- Reading the Pyramid Texts in the pyramid of Unas Reading the Pyramid Texts in the pyramid of Unas at Saqqara: what the walls say, where to look, the signs to learn first and how to read them on the spot.
- Ten inscriptions to read at the Grand Egyptian Museum Ten inscriptions to read at the Grand Egyptian Museum: Tutankhamun's mask, throne and shrines, Ramesses II's colossus and obelisk, and what they say.
- Reading the tombs of the Valley of the Kings Valley of the Kings hieroglyphs: what to read in the tombs of Tutankhamun, Seti I, Thutmose III and Ramesses VI, and the signs to learn before you go.