The other side of the door is more heavily damaged, but it showed Khonsu, his mother and son walkinginto the tomb, i.e. toward the western horizon, in “adoration of Ra when he sets on the western horizon.” Mother and son are similarly costumed on both reveals, but Khonsu is shown bald on the north reveal and with a wig on the south. On the ceiling of the doorway, birds in flight are drawn in a very formal style, laid out in ranks and files. (A much more pleasing scene of birds can be seen on the ceiling of the third doorway.)

CHAMBER ONE, SOUTH (FRONT) WALL, LEFT (WEST) HALF

 In the course of his work as First Prophet, Khonsu was expected to attend annual festivals held at various temples throughout the Theban nome. One festival in which he was a regular participant was that of the war god Montu at his temple in the city of Armant (also called Hermonthis), about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Thebes on the west bank  of the Nile. One Egyptologist believes that Khonsu was in fact First Prophet of Thutmes III, not at his memorial temple at Thebes, but at that temple’s endowment at Armant. The Montu festival forms the subject of most of the reliefs in the west half of the first chamber.

 The upper register of the front wall contains very busy scenes of Khonsu and colleagues worshipping the god Montu at his annual festival. Two men stand on the prow of a boat that carries a shrine of Montu. They are identified as brothers, but their relationship to Khonsu is unclear. One is the Vizier of Armant, Usermont, the other a priest of Montu, Huy. With them on the boat stands a shrine containing a model boat resting on a smaller shrine. That shrine houses the statue of Montu. On the bottom right of the larger shrine a small figure of King Rameses II offers to the god. On the prow of the larger boat, Montu wears a sun disk and pectoral collar. The rectangular body of water on which the boat sails is meant to be the Nile, and it is filled with fish. The boats are sailing from Armant to another Montu temple at the town of Tod, a few kilometers north.  The Montu bark is towed by two smaller boats, sailing side by side and tied to the bark with a heavy rope. The design of these boats suggests that they are not the usual towboats, but warships pressed into service for this grand occasion. Two men stand atop the boat cabin, jousting with sticks. In the  register above, four priests clad in panther skins cense huge piles of food offerings. The first priest in line is Khonsu’s father.

To the right, another shrine housing a bark and statue of Montu is censed by Khonsu himself, dressed in an elaborate gown and panther skin and standing beside a pile of food offerings. Below, in a scene topped by a band of lotus blossoms, sit Khonsu and his relatives. At left, Khonsu and his mother sit before an offering table with lit tapers on it being consecrated by a priest. The scene is badly damaged, but four women can be seen standing behind the priest observing the scene. At right, Khonsu sits with his grandmother, mother, and daughter. At left, his son offers a libation. 

LEFT (WEST) WALL The scenes in the upper register are a continuation of those on the front wall. Here, both Thutmes III and Rameses II are shown on the sides of the shrine of Montu. Below the outstretched wings of the vulture-goddess Nekhbet, the bark is towed by two vessels. On one of them, two men again joust with sticks. Above one man, who has dropped his stick, a text reads, “It is Amen who gives victory.” The boat is thought to be a military transport, not a warship or a towboat. In the small registers above, priests stand on shore ready to greet the vessels on their return from the festival. Khonsu is here too, as are his mother, wife, and daughter. Much of the lower register is missing, but it originally showed an island in a large, square pool on which ceremonies were performed for the mummy of the deceased. At right, family members including a son, Khonsu’s mother and sister, and others whose names and titles are missing, partake of a funerary repast.

 REAR (NORTH) WALL, LEFT (WEST) HALF

 This too is a continuation of the scenes of the Festival of Montu. The festival has ended and the shrine with the statue of Montu is now being carried back to the temple on the shoulders of eight priests. The High Priest of Montu, Ramose, walks alongside wearing an elaborate costume. The text reads in part, “Welcome! You have come from Tod and are at rest in Armant. All the people stand acclaiming!” At right stand the pylons of a temple of Thutmes III. (Today at Armant one can visit a Ptolemaic temple, but there are also traces of an earlier structure built by Thutmes III and added to by Rameses II.) Farther right, the shrine has been put away and Khonsu pours a libation before its closed doors.

REAR (NORTH) WALL, RIGHT (EAST) HALF

 Osiris sits in a brightly painted kiosk, his throne and costume painted in overdone color and detail; Anubis stands behind him. Note the traces of a small bird, with humanhead and hands, drinking water that has spilled from the offering table. This is the ba-bird of Khonsu, lapping up water that had been consecrated to Osiris. The priest who offers incense to the god is probably Khonsu himself, and he is accompanied by women and children including his mother, wife, son, and daughter. The boy is shown with impossibly long legs, either an artistic slip or an attempt to depict a gangling adolescent.

THE RIGHT (EAST) WALL

 is concerned with a ceremony for King Thutmes III. In the upper register at right, a bark carries the shrine and statue of the king, with Khonsu standing on deck making offerings. The bark is towed by a small boat rowed by ten sailors and commanded by Usermont, who also appeared in the Festival of Montu on the front and left walls. The vessels sail on a T-shaped basin, at the end of which (at left) stands Thutmes III’s temple. Eight priests welcome the procession with gifts. In the register below, women from the temple act as mourners for the dead king, wailing and pouring dust on their hair. Below, Khonsu, his wife, son, and daughter, sit in a small arbor or pavilion, watching herdsmen bring cattle, sheep, and goats for inspection from a funerary estate of Thutmes III. Khonsu also held the title of Overseer of Cattle for the temple of Thutmes III. A foreman named Kaka prostrates himself at Khonsu’s feet. As Khonsu looks out over the parade, he speaks to one of the herdsmen: “The animals of the god are thriving. Bring this calf to the temple!” The calf in question is hard to see, but it is carried in a rope bag over the shoulder of a herdsmen standing at the far left. He walks beside a tree with a small dog following behind. Most of the animals in this scene are scraggly and poorly drawn. The trees, on the other hand, are attractively done.

FRONT (SOUTH) WALL, LEFT (EAST) SIDE

 The upper register deals with the Hall of Judgment. Twelve gods, the Council of the Judgment Hall, sit at the top with the god Ra at their head and Khonsu and his mother at the rear. They include Atum, Shu, Tephenis, Montu, Osiris, Harwer, Isis, and Nephthys. Below, Anubis weighs the heart of the deceased on the balance as Thoth looks on and records the result. At left, Horus leads Khonsu and his mother to the shrine of Osiris. The text announces to the god that Khonsu “never wrought wickedness against the great ones in this land...He did what the king desired and that with which the gods are pleased.”In the lower register, we witness the interment of Khonsu and his mother (not his wife, as one might expect). His pyramid-capped tomb, with a columned portico and central pylon, has a painted stela asking visitors to pray for their continued well-being. Khonsu’s wife and daughter caress the mummies and two priests conduct the Opening of the Mouth ritual. Sixmourning women weep for the deceased. At right, the funeral procession is now partly destroyed and the sarcophagus, on a sled pulled by cattle, has disappeared. But the members of the procession are still visible, and one pours milk on the path to purify it before the sarcophagus passes by. At right, above the procession, two cattle are standing, one with its right leg cut off. The leg is bleeding profusely. Such amputations were apparently a common funeral practice after the Dynasty 18, and in some tombs, a priest is shown performing the operation.

CHAMBER TWO The lintel of the doorway into the second chamber shows Khonsu and his family offering incense and sistra to Osiris, Hathor, and RaHarakhty. Only tiny fragments of the decoration are preserved.

CHAMBER THREE The ceiling of the otherwise destroyed doorway is decorated with a superb example of Egyptian painting. The scene shows ducks flying in all directions through the foliage as if they had been  startled. Several nests can be seen in the branches. Some have eggs in them and one has two fledglings, their mouths open, tongues sticking out, demanding food. Near the nest sits a larger-thanlife locust (there is a second one farther to its left), one of the rare drawings of these insects in Egyptian art. The ducks are well-drawn and particular attention has been paid to their wing feathers. In the rear wall of the chamber is a large niche. The colors are well preserved and vibrant to the point of being gaudy. On its rear wall, Khonsu, dressed as a priest, offers to Osiris and Anubis. On the left wall, he offers  lotus and papyrus flowers to the Dynasty 11 king, Nebhepetra Mentuhetep, who wears the white crown of Upper Egypt. It has been suggested that the king was included here because his memorial temple in the Dayr alBahari cirque symbolized the west and was closely identified with the goddess Hathor. Indeed, on the right wall of the niche, Khonsu offers to Hathor.

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