Ramses III
also had two tombs, both at Thebes. The reasons for this custom were
two: first, the desire to elude plunderers, and second, the wish to give
the ghost a _pied-a-terre_ on the sacred soil of Abydos or Sakkara.
As the inscription of Aahmes which records the building of the dummy
pyramid of Teta-shera is of considerable interest, it may here be
translated. The text reads: "It came to pass that when his Majesty the
king, even the king of South and North, Neb-pehti-Ra, Son of the Sun,
Aahmes, Giver of Life, was taking his pleasure in the _tjadu_-hall,
the hereditary princess greatly favoured and greatly prized, the king's
daughter, the king's sister, the god's wife and great wife of the king,
Nefret-ari-Aahmes, the living, was in the presence of his Majesty. And
the one spake unto the other, seeking to do honour to These There,*
which consisteth in the pouring of water, the offering upon the altar,
the painting of the stele at the beginning of each season, at the
Festival of the New Moon, at the feast of the month, the feast of the
going-forth of the _Sem_-priest, the Ceremonies of the Night, the Feasts
of the Fifth Day of the Month and of the Sixth, the _Hak_-festival, the
_Uag_-festival, the feast of Thoth, the beginning of every season of
heaven and earth. And his sister spake, answering him: 'Why hath one
remembered these matters, and wherefore hath this word been said?
Prithee, what hath come into thy heart?' The king spake, saying: 'As for
me, I have remembered the mother of my mother, the mother of my father,
the king's great wife and king's mother Teta-shera, deceased, whose
tomb-chamber and _mer-ahat_ are at this moment upon the soil of Thebes
and Abydos.
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