Userhat, a commoner of the 19th
Dynasty, had a most unusual
position, apparently with grave responsibilities. He was
called Neferhabef, "First prophet of the Royal Ka of
Tuthmosis I". Of course in ancient Egypt, the Ka
was a person's soul. Actually, this means that he served in
the cult temple of Tuthmosis
I, probably "the Mansion of
the Ka of Aakheperkare, as the Temple of Thutmosis was named.
He actually served during the reigns of Ramesses I and
Seti
I.
We know that his mother and father were Khensem and Tausert,
that he had another wife named Shepset (Hatshepsut), along
with two other wives and probably one son and one
daughter. The names of the second two wives, however,
were obliterated from his tomb, TT 51, in the area know as the
Tombs of the Nobles on the West Bank at Luxor (ancient
Thebes). This tomb is not to be confused with an apparent
other Userhat who occupied tomb number
56.
Right: Offerings are presented to Userhat
and his wife, Shepset
This tomb was discovered by Sir Robert Mond on January 10,
1903. It appears that he never completely cleared the tomb.
That task was left to Norman de Garis Davies who, working with
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, began finishing the clearing
in 1909. Davies published his work in the tomb in 1927
under the title, Two Rammeside Tombs at Thebes.
The tomb is said to be one of the most beautiful in Thebes.
Yet, in 1941, vandals and thieves cut out five large pieces of
the walls, and then apparently proceeded to chisel out the
eyes of most of the figures. Some of the work has been
restored, and luckily, we have Davies' drawings that were
completed prior to this destruction.
Left: Priests dressed in leopard skins
perform purification rites while women grieve.
The tomb has a typical T-shape, with a courtyard, followed
by a short corridor leading into the vestibule. Only
this section of the tomb is open to the public, but the tomb
continues through another short corridor into a four pillared
hall with a ritual shaft in its northern corner. This
room finally leads through a third short corridor into the
burial chamber. Only a stelae located in the courtyard
and the vestibule are decorated.
The stelae in the courtyard has fragmentary scenes of the
funeral ceremony prior to the mummification of Userhat. On the
lower part of the stelae is text describing offerings.
Entering the vestibule and turning left, on the first wall
we find several scenes, including the weighing of the heart
(or soul) of the deceased, a representation of Osiris and
Hathor, Userhat worshiping before a falcon-headed Re-Harakhty,
and again the funeral ceremony prior to Userhat's
mummification. On the left rear wall of the vestibule
are more scenes showing men bearing gifts, the deceased
leaving a temple and priests with flabellum and the cartouche
of Tuthmosis I serving his ka.
The first scene on the right rear wall shows Userhat with
probably two of his wives and a son making an offering to
Osiris and to two other gods. Next, on the same wall we
find priests dressed in leopard skins and grieving women. The
priests are carrying out a purification rite and fumigations
while the woman make offerings before the deceased and one of
his wives.
On the next short wall the deceased is depicted with his
wife, Shepset, and mother, Tausert. They are seated under a
fig tree with three small birds perched on its limbs. Overhead
there are three spirits in the form of birds with human heads.
The tree goddess serves them water, bread, figs and
apples. This scene is the earliest known Egyptian art
with shading.
Userhat, dressed as a priest, kneels on a
slap of ritually pure alabaster while undergoing purification
rights
The front right wall of the vestibule begins with a
scene depicting Userhat kneeling before a offerings, Userhat and his family bring offerings to a shrine of
Harmachis. (behind the shrine is a goddess of the Underworld called
the 'Lover of Silence'): Here we also find scenes of a
pilgrimage to Abydos, a common decoration in private tombs, as
well as Userhat and his wife before Osiris and Anubis. These
are followed by scenes of worship, depictions of the gods,
Anubis, Osiris and Thoth, purification rites, and the deceased
before the offerings.

Userhat's wife, along with either other
wives or other female relatives
Not much was found in the way of funerary equipment.
Mond apparently found a large stone shawabty figure along with
a number of small terra-cotta shawabty, while Davies reported
finding only one other shawabty figure made of charred
wood.
References:
| Title |
Author |
Date |
Publisher |
Reference Number |
|
Guide to the Valley of the Kings |
Siliotti, Alberto |
1997 |
Barnes & Noble Books |
ISBN 0-7607-0483-x |
|
Valley of the Kings |
Weeks, Kent R. |
2001 |
Friedman/Fairfax |
ISBN 1-5866-3295-7 |
|
Valley of the Kings |
Heyden, A. Van Der |
|
Al Ahram/Elsevier |
|
Archives
|