Nehmes Bastet[1] or Nehemes-Bastet[2] was an Ancient Egyptian priestess who held the office of "chantress"; she was the daughter of the high priest of Amun. She lived during the Twenty-second Dynasty (approximately 945–712 BC) and was buried in tomb KV64 in the Valley of the Kings.[3] It was excavated in 2012 and discovered to be a reuse of a tomb for the burial of a woman of an earlier dynasty, whose name, as yet, is unknown.

Stela depicting Nehmes Bastet worshipping the composite funerary deity Ra-Horakhty-Atum-Osiris

According to an inscription on her coffin, she was the daughter of Nakhtefmut, the high priest of Amun who held the office of "the Opener of the Doors of Heaven" at Karnak, an important temple during that dynasty. A wooden stela that accompanied her burial depicts Nehmes Bastet worshiping before a composite deity with attributes of both a sun-god and the god Osiris.[2][4]

Burial edit

On 25 January 2011, the upper edge of the shaft of KV64 was discovered and the tomb was excavated and described in 2012 by Dr. Susanne Bickel and Dr. Elina Paulin-Grothe, a team from University of Basel in Switzerland.[5][6][7] Her funerary stele and intact coffin containing her wrapped mummy were found sitting on top of a layer of fill at the far end of the chamber. Her coffin is constructed from sycamore wood with acacia pegs and is covered with yellow decoration on a black background.[1]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Bickel, Suzanne; Paulin-Grothe, Elina (2012). "Preliminary Report on the Work Carried out During the Season 2012" (PDF). University of Basel Kings' Valley Project: 1. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  2. ^ a b Bickel, S.; Paulin-Grothe, E. (2012). "KV 64: two burials in one tomb". Egyptian Archaeology. 41: 36–40.
  3. ^ "Egyptian tomb holds singer Nehmes Bastet's remains". BBC News. 16 January 2012.
  4. ^ "New archaeological discovery at the Valley of the Kings - Ancient Egypt - Heritage - Ahram Online". english.ahram.org.eg. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  5. ^ Batrawy, Aya (15 January 2012). "Rare tomb of woman found in Egypt Valley of Kings". The Guardian. London. Associated Press.
  6. ^ Smith, Julian (July–August 2012). "Tomb of the Chantress". Archaeology.org.
  7. ^ Susanne Bickel, Princesses, Robbers, and Priests - The unknown side of the Kings' Valley, Presentation at a conference at the Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy, 14 October 2017, Online; KV 64 is discussed at 27:30 onward