The Missing Prince And The Missing Papyri

Print
    
Prince Thutmose's schist recumbent bier (Soutekh67 / CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Missing Prince And The Missing Papyri

A strange mystery baffled Egyptologists when opening the tombs of kings who had been laid to rest in The Valley of the Kings. In 1816 explorer Giovanni Belzoni had reached the far end of the valley when he came upon and opened a tomb which proved to have been prepared for Prince Tutmose, the eldest son of the King Amenhotep III, now identified as the legendary Solomon.   What he found was very unusual.  To begin with there was no sign of any remains of the deceased prince and stranger still the tomb had been finished, but the walls of this tomb had not been decorated with the normal funerary illustrations and hieroglyphic spells, necessary for the departed king to find his way through the Duat or netherworld. 

Sarcophagus of Prince Thutmose's cat, Ta-miu (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Sarcophagus of Prince Thutmose's cat, Ta-miu (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Prince Twtmose

Some pharaohs have been found in unfinished tombs, but not finished and then undecorated tombs.  The Duat became a great feature of Irish folklore following the invasion and conquest of the Green Isle by Bronze Age Egyptians.   It is still remembered as the Tuath Dedanaan (Tatanen being the name of an Egyptian God or Goddess), and this too is thought of as another world where the little folk live.


Become a member to read more OR login here

Ancient Origins Quotations