The Theban Tomb TT120 is located in

Sheikh Abd el-Qurna The necropolis of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna ( ar, شيخ عبدالقرنة) is located on the West Bank at Thebes in Upper Egypt. It is part of the archaeological area of Deir el-Bahari, and named after the domed tomb of the local saint. This is the mo ...

. It forms part of the

Theban Necropolis The Theban Necropolis is a necropolis on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes (Luxor) in Upper Egypt. It was used for ritual burials for much of the Pharaonic period, especially during the New Kingdom. Mortuary temples * Deir el-Bahri ...

, situated on the west bank of the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...

opposite

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...

. The tomb is the burial place of the ancient Egyptian official

Anen Anen or Aanen was an ancient Egyptian official during the late 18th Dynasty of Egypt. Biography He was the son of Yuya and Thuya and the brother of Queen Tiye, the wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. Under the rule of his brother-in-law, Anen beca ...

, who was the brother of

Queen Tiye Tiye (c. 1398 BC – 1338 BC, also spelled Tye, Taia, Tiy and Tiyi) was the daughter of Yuya and Thuya. She became the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III. She was the mother of Akhenaten and grandmother of Tutankhamun. In ...

, and became Chancellor of Lower Egypt, Second Prophet of Amun, sem-priest of Heliopolis, and Divine Father under the reign of

Amenhotep III Amenhotep III ( egy, jmn-ḥtp(.w), ''Amānəḥūtpū'' , "Amun is Satisfied"; Hellenized as Amenophis III), also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different ...

Tomb

TT120 is located between the tombs of Senenmut (

TT71 Theban Tomb TT71 is located in the Theban Necropolis, on the west bank of the Nile, opposite to Luxor. It was the tomb chapel of Senenmut, who was the steward and architect of Hatshepsut. The chapel is located in the necropolis area around Shei ...

) and Ahmose (

TT121 The Theban Tomb TT120 is located in Sheikh Abd el-Qurna. It forms part of the Theban Necropolis, situated on the west bank of the Nile opposite Luxor. The tomb is the burial place of the ancient Egyptian official Ahmose, who was the second prop ...

). There is no evidence the tomb was known to early explorers such as Wilkinson, Hay and Lepsius. The tomb was excavated in 1907 by the team of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was described in the 1920s by Norman de Garis Davies. In 1935, a passage from TT71 to TT120 was discovered. Since 1995 this tomb and

TT89 The Theban Tomb TT89 is located in Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, part of the Theban Necropolis, on the west bank of the Nile, opposite to Luxor. It is the burial place of the ancient Egyptian Amenmose, who was Steward in the Southern City during the rei ...

were part of the Royal Ontario Museum Theban Tombs Project. In 1998, a map of the tomb was published by Kamp.Lyla Pinch Brock, Jewels in the Gebel: A Preliminary Report on the Tomb of Anen, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt , 1999, Vol. 36 (1999), pp. 71-85

Forecourt

TT120 is a rock-cut tomb, and the forecourt is bounded by walls made out of flat stones layered with mud. These walls were covered with stucco. Kamp mentions a pedestal and an Osiris bed, by the facade and the north wall respectively. These structures are made of brick and the exact purposes of them is not clear. The facade of the tomb at the back of the forecourt is badly damaged.

Hall

The hall had three pillars and an architrave (which has since collapsed). In the rear of the hall is a possible shaft. The walls were decorated with harvest scenes and depictions of Anen and his wife or mother. The ceiling was also decorated. One scene in the tomb shows king Amenhotep III sitting with his wife Tiye. In front of them was depicted Anen. His figure was already destroyed in ancient times.Earl Ertman, Lyla Pinch-Brock: ''A crown of Queen Tiye in the Theban tomb of Anen'', in: ''Egyptian Archaeology'', 33 (autumn 2008), 16-17 Davies found a late period burial underneath the scene showing Amenhotep III and Tiye.

Inner room

The inner room is a long narrow room. The South wall depicted offering scenes, the fields of Iaru and boats on a trip to Abydos. The West wall showed scenes from the

Book of the Dead The ''Book of the Dead'' ( egy, 𓂋𓏤𓈒𓈒𓈒𓏌𓏤𓉐𓂋𓏏𓂻𓅓𓉔𓂋𓅱𓇳𓏤, ''rw n(y)w prt m hrw(w)'') is an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom ...

, including Anubis leading Anen before the Gods of burial. The inner room appears to have been completed but no evidence of the burial of Anen have been discovered in the tomb.

References

{{coord missing, Egypt Theban tombs

Tomb

Forecourt

Hall

Inner room

See also

References