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Mastaba of Ti

Monument at Saqqara · also called Tomb of Ti, Mastaba of Tiy, Tomb of Tiy Saqqara

In the Mastaba of Ti every scene has its hieroglyph captions: you can read what the farmers, boat builders and herdsmen are doing, and sometimes what they say. The reliefs, from around 2400 BC, are some of the finest of the Old Kingdom.

Ti was a high official of the Fifth Dynasty and overseer of the pyramids and sun temples of the kings Neferirkare and Nyuserre. Auguste Mariette found his tomb in 1865. It has a pillared court and a chapel carved in fine low relief, still partly painted. His wife Neferhetepes appears beside him in several scenes.

The walls show a great estate meant to feed Ti forever: ploughing and harvest, cattle crossing a canal, carpenters, potters and shipwrights. Short captions name each task. Above some workers, a line gives their words, a rare chance to read everyday speech from 4,400 years ago.

What to see and read

Hippopotamus hunt

Ti stands tall in his boat in a papyrus thicket, with fish, birds and hippos in the water below.

Workshops and shipyard

Carpenters, sculptors and shipwrights at work, each labelled.

Farm scenes

Ploughing, sowing, harvest and herds, with the herdsmen's speech written above them.

Serdab

Through a slot you see a copy of Ti's statue; the original is in a Cairo museum.

Signs to look for

  1. Bread on an offering mat R4ḥtp Bread on a mat starts the offering formula on the false doors.
  2. Sedge M23sw The sedge, nesu, king, follows in the same formula.
  3. Clump of papyrus M16ḥꜣ The papyrus clump fills the marsh scene and appears in captions about the marshes.
  4. Bull E1kꜣ The bull sign labels cattle in the farm scenes.
  5. Boat P1 The boat sign closes words for ships in the shipyard captions.

Reading the hieroglyphs here

  • The relief is very low. Hold a torch to one side to make the signs stand out.
  • Captions are small: photograph one line at a time and trace it in Hiero Lens.

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 was Ti in ancient Egypt?

A Fifth Dynasty official, around 2400 BC, who oversaw the pyramids and sun temples of the kings Neferirkare and Nyuserre.

Is the Mastaba of Ti open?

Saqqara tombs open in rotation. Ask at the ticket office if it is open when you visit.

Also at Saqqara

Monument

Step Pyramid of Djoser

The writing at the Step Pyramid is sparse but early. Here the king's own name, the Horus Netjerikhet, is carved inside a serekh on reliefs of his jubilee race, around 2650 BC; the name Djoser comes from much later visitors.

Monument

Serapeum of Saqqara

In the Serapeum the writing to find is on a few of its giant stone sarcophagi: columns of hieroglyphs and royal cartouches, among them the name of Amasis of the 26th Dynasty. The galleries were the burial place of the Apis bulls, living images of Ptah of Memphis.

Monument

Pyramid of Unas

The Pyramid of Unas holds the oldest Pyramid Texts, carved around 2350 BC: columns of hieroglyphs filled with blue paint that cover the king's burial rooms from floor to ceiling.

Monument

Pyramid of Teti

Inside the Pyramid of Teti, first king of the Sixth Dynasty (c. 2345 BC), the walls carry Pyramid Texts in columns of hieroglyphs under a gabled ceiling of stars. It is the second royal set of these spells, after Unas.

Monument

Mastaba of Mereruka

The Mastaba of Mereruka is packed with captioned scenes and long titles carved in hieroglyphs, in more than thirty rooms. Mereruka was vizier of King Teti around 2340 BC, and this is the largest tomb of any Old Kingdom official at Saqqara.

Monument

Mastaba of Ptahhotep and Akhethotep

Ptahhotep's chapel keeps some of the best-preserved colour of any Old Kingdom relief, with crisp painted hieroglyphs and a long offering list you can read item by item. The tomb dates to the late Fifth Dynasty, around 2400 BC.

Monument

Tomb of Horemheb at Saqqara

The reliefs in Horemheb's Saqqara tomb show him as army commander under Tutankhamun, around 1320 BC, with captions spelling out his military titles. On some figures a royal cobra was added to his brow after he became king.

Museum

Imhotep Museum

The Imhotep Museum, at the entrance to Saqqara, is named after the man whose name is carved on a statue base of King Djoser, the one inscription from his lifetime known to name him. Its well-lit cases hold inscribed finds from the site, a good place to learn the signs before the worn tomb walls.

Where it is

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