Wahtye's tomb

After Sixtygrit told us Wahtye's tomb was discovered intact undisturbed I went off and read all the results. One after another the reporting said all the same thing having copied each other. Only a few offered more photos. None offered expanded insight.

"Filled with statues and colorful hieroglyphs." Right. Where colorful means red on tan. Only a few showed color beyond a basic palate.

The central rectangular chamber has niches with extremely rudimentary statues. I've not seen the likes of them, predating the classical style. The wig styles are ancient as wigs get. The figures are clunky almost comical. The writing is ancient, the very beginning of the Old Kingdom writing. It's like Chaucer to English where modern English readers go, "What am I even reading?"

It's a tomb obviously, so all the writing will be religious and stiffly formulaic. But this is the beginning of the formulas. The only places you'll see natural writing are in the depictions of everyday life. It's only in those areas where the rules are eased, where the pictures and writing are less serious.

I'm disappointed in the reporting. The modern reporters, writers themselves, always give the ancient writing the short shrift. The ancients are talking their asses off writing what they think is important, they've covered the walls and ceiling with writing and all the reporters give us is the name and few titles.

* Wahtye
* Royal purification priest
* Royal supervisor
* Inspector of the sacred boat.

All that is in the formulas. And the formulas are around the false doors.

When I was a kid I didn't understand the false doors. All that trouble for doors that don't work. Like, yeah, they're really going to fake me out.

They are carved in the style of palace facades. They're the places where the spirit world and the natural world intersect. They're the places where offerings are put and where a portion of the spirit can pass into this world and where they can partake of the spirit of the offerings. The offerings don't even have to be material, they can be spoken. They're spirit offerings, basically prayers.

I just don't understand how anyone can get all worked up about discovering an undisturbed tomb but have no interest whatsoever about what all those words say all over the place. Completely covering the walls and not wasting an inch. All they care about is the possible treasures that might be found in the chambers yet to be opened. And since that's the case, you f'k'n materialist grave robbers, just leave their resting places alone.

After twenty-five or so websites all saying the same crap, I lost respect.

Ask the guy what the hieroglyphs say. ALL of them. He spent his whole life learning to read them, got his doctorate, so ask him to interpret ALL of the walls. And don't let him off with "it's an offering." Ask him, what the offering is specifically, what is the exact wording, long form or abbreviated? Did they really offer material things or just say a prayer? Through the king to a god, then which king, and which god, which epithets are used for the king and the god? Where are the titles of the deceased. Show us the formulas, and no skipping around. Show us how you know what you think you know. You say, his wife, his mother, what are their names? Their ages. their titles. The workers depicted, what are they saying. Tell us their names, explain what they're doing.

But no.

All we get is "a lot of colorful hieroglyphs." Because nobody gives a flying f about what they said or how they said it. Just show us the jewelry, show us treasures.

I do not understand the prosaic interest.

Look how goofy the feet are on this statue. This was the best at the time, available to non royals. The royals got all the best craftsmen in the whole country. While the writing is extremely elegant. Exceedingly compacted. The family was buried inside a book chiseled and painted in stone. The statues themselves are words.

The king didn't give an offering. He didn't handle any material offering. He is the intermediary. The middleman in a prayer. The earth representative. The guy that makes the offering valid by evoking his name. Very much the same thing as saying, "in Jesus' name we pray."