But Kheruef’s tomb is seldom visited today; that of Ramose is by far the more popular, to a large extent because it lies on an easily accessible hillside close by the main road. Kheruef’s tomb is awkwardly located beside a narrow dirt track that tour buses cannot navigate. Much of it is in poor condition: its roof collapsed in antiquity and parts of the decoration were hacked out after the Amarna Period. The tomb was first visited by Europeans in 1886, and many travelers and scholars since then have described how it has continued to suffer. As recently as the 1940s, thieves hacked out pieces from its walls. However, what remains of the decoration is rightly considered among the finest examples of New Kingdom relief, and the tomb is well worth a visit.

Kheruef’s tomb, like that of Ramose, is decorated in a conservative style. Kheruef himself acknowledged that there was deliberate archaizing in the selection of scenes and texts, and he proudly states that, “It was His Majesty who did this in accordance with the writings of old. Past generations of people since the time of ancestors had never celebrated such rites...”

TT 192 was cut into the side of a large, irregular pit in the rugged floor of a part of the Theban Necropolis called the ‘Assasif. It lies a few hundred meters east of Dayr al-Bahari, near Metropolitan House, the grandly domed mudbrick building that served as headquarters for New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition in the 1920s and 1930s. The tomb can be difficult to find, but there are several guardhouses nearby where you can ask directions. Bring a flashlight with you, as there is no light in the tomb apart from what the guard can reflect inside with a broken mirror.

ENTRANCE Originally, a staircase and ramp sloped down to the tomb’s entrance on the east side of the open pit. But the staircase has never been excavated, and today you descend modern steps that lead to a short corridor.

Kheruef (who at birth was called Naa) was the son of an army scribe and a chantress in the temple of Amen. By the time he died, shortly after the death of Amenhetep III, he had risen to become Prince, High Official, Overseer of the Palace of the Great Royal Wife Tiy, Royal Scribe, and Seal Bearer of the King in Upper Egypt. His principal responsibility, and certainly the one in which he took most pride, was organizing the king’s Sed-festivals in regnal years 30 and 37.

The Sed-Festival, a ceremony of royal rejuvenation and renewal, was an important milestone in a king’s reign. It was a major event that involved thousands of people all over the country. There were scores of religious activities, ceremonies with banquets, music, dancing, processions, and official  events. Huge buildings were erected for its celebration. For Amenhetep III’s year 30 Sed-festival, a harbor was dug beside the royal palace in Malqata at the southern end of Thebes. It was one of the largest engineering projects ever undertaken in ancient Egypt, and was further enlarged for the king’s later festivals (one in year 34, another in year 37). Over fifteen million cubic meters of silt had to be dug out and carted away. Kheruef was probably in charge of these operations, and he discusses the Sed-festivals of years 30 and 37 in his tomb’s decoration. A text in the portico describes how Amenhetep III and Queen Tiy were rowed across the harbor during the festival rituals. (No mention is made of the festival held in year 34.)

PORTICO Across the open courtyard lies the entrance to what is today Kheruef’s principal tomb chamber. Originally, this was a portico with pillars along its facade, but it was walled up in 1943 to protect the reliefs on its rear (west) wall.
Scenes from the king’s year 30 Sed-festival cover the left (south) side of this wall, and scenes of the year 37 festival decorate the right (north). Left (south) of the doorway, Amenhetep III, Hathor, and Queen Tiy watch as eight princesses (the texts identify them as foreigners) present vessels of gold and electrum. The beautiful, youthful bodies are visible through sheer dresses, and ankles, abdomens, and especially faces are exquisitely modeled. Great care was taken with their braided hair, their sensuous full lips, and elaborately modeled eyes. Each wears a long side lock over a short wig and a small headdress. There is even more detail here than in the banqueting scenes in Ramose’s tomb. The great emphasis given to the long, carefully brushed and meticulously braided hair, by the way, identifies these figures with the goddess Hathor, who was known for her lush, jet-black hair.

Behind stand more examples of feminine beauty: acrobatic dancers bend low, their long intricately braided hair almost touching the ground as they execute elaborate steps accompanied by flautists, singers and clapping women. Their long fingers curve in a manner that foretells the style of the Amarna Period. Egyptologists and art historians have commented on the stiffness of these dancing figures and their lack of individuality, and it is true that they show a degree of conservatism, in marked contrast to the vibrant, almost erotic figures in the earlier tombs of Menna, Nakht, and, especially Rekhmire.

To the right of the doorway, Amenhetep III and Queen Tiy sit watching the performances of more dancers, this time nearly all male. To the right, in a large upper register, the king helps erect a djed-pillar, a potent symbol of royal endurance and resurrection and rebirth of the land. In the register below, men perform a stick dance similar to those performed in Egyptian villages today. In the bottom register, herdsmen lead cattle and donkeys. Some of the men have receding hairlines. Such scenes—herdsmen with unusual features and rows of dancers stylistically reminiscent of the Old Kingdom—are further examples of the archaizing tendencies in Kheruef’s tomb.

The doorway in the center of this wall has elaborate raised relief hieroglyphs on its left jamb. Note especially the detailed goose, the figure of the goddess Ma’at, and various snakes and birds. Beyond the door, broken columns are all that remain of the original hall, which apparently collapsed even as the tomb was being cut.

ENTRANCE (AGAIN) Walk back to the entrance corridor of the tomb. There is a fascinating scene here, but it is badly damaged.

The south wall of the entrance corridor, now on your right, between the doorway to TT 194 and an iron gate, is badly hacked up and covered with a thick layer of soot and grime. The scene here was so badly damaged that, until the 1950s, no one realized it held any interest. However, when the University of Chicago’s Epigraphic Survey began to record the decoration in TT 192, their artists and epigraphers spent literally hundreds of hours staring at the remaining traces on this wall. Only a fraction of the original carving was visible, but by observing it in different light and working as much like cryptographers as Egyptologists, the team was able to reconstruct the original. In 1980, the Survey finally produced two drawings. One showed only what was originally visible on the wall. A second showed what they could reconstruct. The differences between the two drawings are a tribute to the patience and skill of the team.

In the scene, Amenhetep IV pays homage to the god Ra-Harakhty. There is a large pile of food offerings before the king, and above it what was once a large, square, now blackened and almost destroyed. It is divided into smaller squares, each measuring about 2 centimeters (1 inch) on a side. There are 13 squares top to bottom, 14 left to right, a total of 182. Each square contains a single hieroglyphic  word, arranged to form two texts, one of which is read in vertical columns from left to right, the other in horizontal lines from top to bottom. For example, the top line of the word square reads: “Adoration of Amen-Ra, the divine god, beloved one...by the Perfect God, Neferkheperura, the Son of Ra, Amenhetep, Ruler of Thebes: Hail to you...”. The leftmost column reads: “Adoration of Ra-Harakhty, the good spokesman of the gods, by the Perfect God, the Son of Ra, Amenhetep, Ruler of Thebes: Hail to you...” The texts continue with more effusive praise of king and god.

Puzzle-like “word squares” similar to this have been found in other tombs and in New Kingdom temples. Such cryptographic texts were apparently intended to impress ancient visitors with the mysteries of religion and emphasize the magical powers of the written word.

Much of the damage to TT 192 occurred shortly after the death of Amenhetep IV, when Egyptians sought to erase any memory of him and the changes he wrought in religion and politics. The word square was defaced then, as were references to the king. Figures of Kheruef were also hacked out, perhaps because he was too conspicuously allied with the new pharaoh and his “heretical” beliefs.

There are two other unlit tombs nearby that you can also visit. They are not officially on the list of open tombs, but they are accessible. But take care: both have open shafts, some of them 10 meters (33 feet) deep, that pierce the floors of the pitch black chambers. One slip can mean serious injury. Walk cautiously and always stay with the guard or a companion.
Off the corridor on your left as you enter the courtyard of Kheruef’s tomb lies the entrance to TT 194, the Dynasty 19 tomb of Djehuty-em-Heb, an overseer of marsh dwellers and a scribe in the temple of Amen. On the left (east) wall just inside the entrance, he is shown standing in adoration before several gods.

On the right side of the Kheruef corridor lies TT 189, the tomb of Djehuty-Nakht, an overseer of carpenters and goldworkers in the Temple of Amen. The tomb has several damaged but decorated chambers, one of them filled with New Kingdom pottery. This is a labyrinth of cut and broken rooms, and its complex plan and unfinished state give an idea of how ancient quarrymen worked in a necropolis that had become crowded with tombs by the reign of Rameses II, when TT 189 was cut.

From" The Illustrated Guide to Luxor" by kent R.Weeks ,published by the American University in Cairo Press. Copyright © 2005 White Star S.p.a