DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4669#0186
i.vs THE LAM) OF THE MONUMENTS
extensive, important, and celebrated tombs of the
ancient empire. It is now approached by a bank of
sand, which descends to the level of the floor. The
names and titles of the owner are duly recorded upon
the walls. Ti was the Chief Commissioner of Works
for Upper and Lower Egypt, Secretary of State to
three kings of the Vth Dynasty, and a priest, all
educated persons being more or less engaged in
ministrations to the gods. lie lived about 3566 B.C.,
and married a royal princess, who shared his tomb.
This probably accounts for its magnificence. It
gives us more illustrations of life in Egypt five
thousand years ago than any other monument at
present known. The porch (now blocked with
sand) gave access to a large chamber thirty feet
square, originally covered in, but now open to the
air; the roofing slabs are still upheld by square
columns round three sides of the court. From the
further corner a long, narrow, lofty passage leads
onward, passing a small chamber on the right and
ending in the Mastaba or chamber, in which is found
the false or Ka door. It was customary to represent
the entrance into the under-world by a doorway carved
in the stone, bearing generally upon the lintel the
name of the owner of the tomb. It is called the false
door. The Ka, Genius, Double, or Spiritual body
(for all these terms are used by different authors)
was supposed to pass through it, and (though in-
visible; receive the relations and friends who came
from time to time to visit him. The shaft which
leads to the Sepulchral Chamber is usually found
near the False Door, and is generally a perpendicular
well, but in the Tomb of Ti the shaft did not open
here. An inclined passage was discovered which led
extensive, important, and celebrated tombs of the
ancient empire. It is now approached by a bank of
sand, which descends to the level of the floor. The
names and titles of the owner are duly recorded upon
the walls. Ti was the Chief Commissioner of Works
for Upper and Lower Egypt, Secretary of State to
three kings of the Vth Dynasty, and a priest, all
educated persons being more or less engaged in
ministrations to the gods. lie lived about 3566 B.C.,
and married a royal princess, who shared his tomb.
This probably accounts for its magnificence. It
gives us more illustrations of life in Egypt five
thousand years ago than any other monument at
present known. The porch (now blocked with
sand) gave access to a large chamber thirty feet
square, originally covered in, but now open to the
air; the roofing slabs are still upheld by square
columns round three sides of the court. From the
further corner a long, narrow, lofty passage leads
onward, passing a small chamber on the right and
ending in the Mastaba or chamber, in which is found
the false or Ka door. It was customary to represent
the entrance into the under-world by a doorway carved
in the stone, bearing generally upon the lintel the
name of the owner of the tomb. It is called the false
door. The Ka, Genius, Double, or Spiritual body
(for all these terms are used by different authors)
was supposed to pass through it, and (though in-
visible; receive the relations and friends who came
from time to time to visit him. The shaft which
leads to the Sepulchral Chamber is usually found
near the False Door, and is generally a perpendicular
well, but in the Tomb of Ti the shaft did not open
here. An inclined passage was discovered which led