Pollard, Joseph: The land of the monuments: notes of Egyptian travel (London, 1896)

CHAPTER XXIX

WES T E R N T II E B E S

Western Thebes—lis greal necropolis Goorneh Valley of the
Tombs of the Kings Bab-el-Moluk The tombs of Seti I.,
Rameses IV., Rameses IX., Meneptah, and ol Rameses III.,
" the I larper's Tomb."

THE portion of Ancient Thebes which lay on the
western shore of the Nile was called by the
inhabitants L'as-t, and indicated a connection with
the unseen realm of Uasir or Osiris—" the God
whose heart does not beat," the God of the just
and holy dead.

The western hills and valleys were devoted from
the earliest days of the ancient city to the abodes of
the dead, either in the mountain side, the valley, or
the desert, those " eternal mansions " were excavated
to which every Egyptian desired to pass when the
brief life of man was ended. The symbol of this

region of Uas-t t ,.... was the divine sceptre bearing

the greyhound's head, generally seen in the hands of
the divinities, and which implied the calm, repose,
happiness, and tranquillity of Amenti, the West, or
" land of the setting sun." Attached to the sceptre was