On Friday I attended an EES lecture by Dr Francesco Tiradritti of the Italian Archaeological Mission to the Theban Tombs, held at the The Society of Antiquaries of London. It was a fascinating lecture, and I must admit that up until then I had known very little about the Late Period tombs in this area, so the talk was a true eye opener for me.
The renaissance, or Archaic Revival, of the Late Period has long held a fascination for me, and it’s normally something I think of as having been “kicked off” – as it were – by the Pharaohs of the 26th Dynasty. But these classical Saite signatures, such as the passion for (exquisitely executed!) scenes in the Old Kingdom traditions, and even the inclusion of parts of the Pyramid Texts, can be seen in Harwa’s tomb (TT37, El Assasif) at the height of the 25th Dynasty.
Harwa was the Great Steward of the Adoratrice of Amun, during the reign of Taharqa, and possibly acted as a vassal ruler of the south under him, since the Pharaohs of the 25th Dynasty remained in Nubia and only held power through the Priesthood of Amun, hence Harwa’s great importance. The scale of his tomb would indeed suggest this, for although it’s layout is entirely different, in it’s ambitious design, and in the quality of carving, it is certainly the equal of some royal tombs.
Sadly, time has been unkind to Harwa’s eternal home. Only fragments of the decoration survive, having been re-used for subsequent burials during the Late period, and functioning as a chapel to Osiris in Ptolemaic times. Dr Tiradritti also presented some of the tombs later history that had been unearthed during excavations, including an earlier Italian visit to the tomb by soldiers during the Second World War, leaving behind part of a biscuit packet for future generations.
Thankfully, the team have been able to take advantage of changes in technology over the long course of their work so far (excavation began in 1995, and there is still much work to be done) and this has allowed maps, images and also a complete catalogue of decorative fragments found to be made available on an online database. This has also allowed for digital reconstructions of numerous wall scenes to be made, allowing a much better understanding of the tombs original design.
A multi-lingual web portal has now been online for ten years, and is available at http://www.harwa.it
All in all, it was an interest and enjoyable lecture, and I certainly took home some new insights from it. Plus, the reception was excellent, particularly the cheesecake.
