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Deir el-Medina

Site, Luxor (ancient Thebes) · also called Set Maat, Place of Truth, Workers' Village, Valley of the Artisans

Deir el-Medina's small painted tombs hold some of the freshest, most readable hieroglyphs on the West Bank, made by the craftsmen who decorated the royal tombs for their own families.

This was the craftsmen's village. It was founded early in the New Kingdom, probably under Thutmose I, whose name is stamped on bricks here. For about 400 years it housed the scribes, quarrymen, sculptors and painters of the royal tombs. They called their workplace Set Maat, 'the Place of Truth'.

Many villagers could read and write. Thousands of ostraca, notes on flakes of stone and pottery, were found here: letters, lists, work registers and school exercises. Few ancient communities are better documented. Some ostraca are in hieratic, the joined-up hand of scribes, and a few practice sheets copy hieroglyphs sign by sign.

The tombs climb the hillside above the house walls. Each has a small chapel under a pyramid top and a vaulted burial chamber below, where texts give the names and titles of real people. The village honoured Amenhotep I and his mother Ahmose-Nefertari as its patrons.

At Deir el-Medina

Monument

Tomb of Sennedjem (TT1)

TT1 is a single painted burial chamber full of clear Book of the Dead hieroglyphs on a warm yellow background. It belonged to Sennedjem, a craftsman of the royal tombs under Seti I and Ramesses II.

Monument

Tomb of Inherkhau (TT359)

TT359 is a small painted burial chamber where Book of the Dead scenes, including the cat of Ra killing the serpent Apep, sit beside family portraits, all captioned in clear hieroglyphs. It belonged to Inherkhau, a foreman under Ramesses III and Ramesses IV (c. 1150 BC).

What to see and read

Tomb of Sennedjem (TT1)

A vaulted chamber where Sennedjem and his wife plough and harvest in the fields of the afterlife.

Tomb of Inherkhau (TT359)

A foreman's tomb with the cat of Ra killing the serpent Apep.

Tomb of Pashedu (TT3)

If it is open when you visit: Pashedu kneels under a palm tree by a pool, beside clear columns of text.

The village street

Stone footings of about 70 houses along one street.

Temple of Hathor

A small Ptolemaic temple at the north end, with good examples of late hieroglyphs.

Names you can find here

Signs to look for

  1. Oar P8ḫrw The oar spells kheru in 'true of voice', written after the names of the dead in every tomb.
  2. Seat Q1st The seat spells set, 'place', in Set Maat, the Place of Truth, in the workers' titles.
  3. Feather H6mꜣꜥt The feather spells maat in the same title.
  4. Bread on an offering mat R4ḥtp The bread on a mat starts the offering formula painted in the tomb chapels.

Reading the hieroglyphs here

  • The site has its own ticket, which usually covers a few tombs. Which ones are open changes.
  • You can stand close enough to read single signs. Do not touch the walls.
  • Painted signs read well with the Hiero Lens live camera; aim at one column of text at a time.

Point your camera at a wall Hiero Lens boxes the signs and names them, on your phone; nothing is uploaded. On worn stone, trace a sign over the photo.

Questions

Who lived at Deir el-Medina?

The craftsmen who made the royal tombs in the Valleys of the Kings and Queens, with their families. Scribes kept records of their work, pay and absences.

Can you go inside the tombs at Deir el-Medina?

Yes. Usually two or three are open at a time on the site ticket, and each is small but brightly painted.

Where it is

Open in OpenStreetMap · Written from published sources and not yet checked on site by our team: displays and open tombs change.