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Tomb of Rekhmire

Tomb of Rekhmire



Rekhmire was a governor of Thebes during the reigns of Tuthmosis III and his son Amenophis II. His tomb is one of more than 500 found in the Valley of the Nobles in ancient Thebes. Like most such tombs, Rekhmire's featured a reverse T shape, with a shallow front chamber followed by a long inner corridor. His is one of the finest painted tombs in the Theban necropolis.


Tomb detail Detail of Rekhmire's funeral procession from his tomb's inner corridor.
You begin facing east towards the door to the outside and the unseen entrance chamber (which forms the top of the T). After workmen finished carving this corridor, which slopes higher as one moves farther into the tomb, they prepared the wall surface with a mixture of earth and straw overlaid with a layer of plaster. Artists then painted scenes both from Rekhmire's life and funeral procession, and of the craftsmen whose efforts he oversaw: carpenters, goldsmiths, sculptors, masons, and many others.

Wall close-up Close-up of a woman high on the wall of the inner corridor.

As you spin around, zoom in closer to examine the fine paintings. See if you can make out the painted pair of small funerary obelisks, which Egyptians of the 18th Dynasty often placed before their tombs in honor of the sun god. At the opposite (western) end of the tomb, notice the empty niche, where statues of Rekhmire and his wife likely once stood.



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