The legendary capital of ancient Egypt - Thebes, located near modern Luxor, is primarily remarkable for the fact that the famous Valley of the Kings is located in its vicinity. It is here, in labyrinthine tunnels, laid in the rocky ground, that burial chambers and niches are carved out, concealing many unsolved mysteries, over the comprehension of which scientists are racking their brains.
The Valley of the Kings must be continuously studied, because its colossal cultural layers help to answer the most difficult question about the dialectics of the formation, development, decline of civilizations, about the influence of the past on the present and future. Finally, about what is the meaning of human existence. Is permanent sacrifice commensurate, when the life of a person from the lower classes is not worth a penny in comparison with the ambitions and whims of the jaded, from birth to death bathing in luxury, the mighty of this world and their entourage?
The tombs of the Valley of the Kings, reluctantly raising an impenetrable veil over their secrets, admittedly, highlighted the main thing. The pharaohs, although they were considered the inhabitants of heaven and the sons of the gods, along with the representatives of the most insignificant lower classes, clearly realized the transience of life, the inevitability of leaving its stage. Exactly in accordance with the inscription on the fresco of one of the tombs: “The other resurrection after your death is doubtful. In the fleshly life, possess everything you can, thank every earthly day you have lived. This philosophy, apparently, was intended for the internal, personal use of the pharaohs.
A different people, lower on the estate ladder, lived in completely different dimensions, cruelly and clearly outlined by the ruling circles of ancient Egypt. Colorful details, details of this life were discovered and continue to be discovered by the contemporaries of the pharaohs, unsurpassed in their art masters of arranging tombs. Those who were respectfully called the Lords of the eyes and lips, warriors of the god Montu, warriors of the tombs.
CREATORS OF CHRONICLES
Every Egyptologist knows that the god Montu "specialized" in the protection of warriors. The country of pyramids and red-hot deserts differed from other states in that more than half of young men, as they would say today, were reservists, that is, when there was a threat of invasion from the outside, or it was necessary to wage wars of conquest, leaving peaceful professions, dressed in militaristic ammunition. And in a special, honorable position here was the class of decorators of the burial vaults of the nobility, who lived in the compact, closed to outsiders village of the Valley of the Kings, where, at the behest of the next pharaoh, food, water, everything necessary for professional activities and the best goods were delivered without interruption.
The privileged position of the Tomb Warriors stemmed from the fact that, according to the Royal Code, they directly participated in the arrangement of the afterlife houses of the pharaohs, their families, their dignitaries, conquering the sacred underground spaces in conditions of terrible heat, lack of illumination. The chambers prepared by them were intended both for the burial of mortal remains and for the exodus of incorruptible radiant souls to Heaven, as the cosmos was called in ancient Egypt. In addition, the Tomb Warriors were entrusted with the transportation to the crypts of the property of the deceased, usually of colossal values, which were also of no less cultural significance.
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Is it any wonder that these people, who, moreover, walled up, disguised themselves from the robbers of the tomb, were given the right to wear a tattoo of the Montu seal on their chest near the heart - a triangle surrounded by sun rays, inside which is a symbolic image of the All-Seeing Eye and crossed sharp spears. If so, during times of armed conflicts stone cutters, artists, sculptors of the Valley of the Kings led soldiers into battle. No one was embarrassed by the fact that, having died, they took to the grave the secrets of the craft, the chronicle information, which they knew from memory.
Pupils freed from military service had the knowledge necessary to recreate and copy fresco wall chronicles. The students knew the recipes for paints, knew how to cook them. Some of the "chronicle paintings", carrying especially important information to descendants, were covered with glass-like enamel, the chemical components of which, unfortunately, we can only guess.
Tomb of the Pharaohs
Glassy enamel was used exclusively in the paintings of royal tombs. The burials, where the mummies are not so high-class, were awarded only with paintings made with magnificent colors, obtained from plant fibers, clays and minerals. And the genre and informational themes of these “ordinary” murals were mainly focused on everyday scenes, like a blueprint, repeating from one such burial chamber to another.
Royal crypts are a completely different matter, because on their walls and ceilings, artists unfolded canvases of peaceful, military life, scenes of palace life, the daily activities of the pharaohs and their higher dignitaries. The tombs of the pharaohs are also full of inscriptions, the vast majority of which are deciphered. The preservation of these messages to posterity is in most cases excellent. Thanks again to the Tomb Warriors. In this connection, it is impossible to remain silent about how, by what means, they, erudites, ascetics of antiquity, weaved the historical canvases of their modernity, so that one could read, as it is written under one of the frescoes depicting the planets of the solar system, visible with the naked eye, “the threshold of the sands of unstable time."
Amber is more expensive than life
The inscription on the wall of one of the tombs, shedding light on the recipe for the preparation of glassy varnish, helped to unravel the riddle of why the decorators of the tombs were revered by the ancient Egyptians as the favorites of the god Montu. Learning that the paints of the painting of the "chambers of eternity" are silicate, mixed on liquid glass, the scientists learned that molten amber was added to them. There was a lot of amber needed, it was valued on a par with gold. In the literal sense, he was more expensive than life, because the Tomb Warriors had to win him back in bloody battles. It turned out that this sunny trophy often became more expensive for artists in armor than life.
Eloquent are the glassy frescoes of the royal tombs of the 2nd century BC, in which the ancient artists, perhaps surreptitiously, included, so to speak, a personal element - a red abstract image of the god Montu holding scales, on one side of which there are placers of sparkling amber, on the other - an allegorical image spear-pierced souls of warrior artists. Amber is clearly heavier, because the bowl filled with it is overtighten and tilted much lower. This is so that there is no doubt that it was necessary to die for the glassy varnish, before showing miracles of courage.
In the literal sense, amber was worth more than life, because the Tomb Warriors had to win back it in bloody battles
The asceticism of warriors - decorators of tombs - made an invaluable contribution to the cultural and historical heritage of mankind. Thanks to them, whose names we almost do not know, we have picturesque visual arguments in favor of the fact that people at different stages of evolution, striving for perfection, were able to do the perfect. Chariots, dams, water lifts, weapons, clothing, dishes, furniture, jewelry. Everything that was used in ancient Egypt. That, without which, modified, we cannot do now.