Here, however, little
has been found that will bear directly on the question of relations
between Mycenaean Greece and Egypt.
The Theban necropoles of the New Empire are by no means exhausted by a
description of the Tombs of the Kings and Shekh 'Abd el-Kurna; but few
new discoveries have been made anywhere except in the picturesque valley
of the Tombs of the Queens, south of Shekh 'Abd el-Kurna. Here the
Italian Egyptologist, Prof. Schiaparelli, has lately discovered and
excavated some very fine tombs of the XIXth and XXth Dynasties. The best
is that of Queen Nefertari, one of the wives of Ramses II. The colouring
of the reliefs upon these walls is extraordinarily bright, and the
portraits of the queen, who has a very beautiful face, with aquiline
nose, are wonderfully preserved. She was of the dark type, while another
queen, Titi by name, who was buried close by, was fair, and had a
retrousse nose. Prof. Schiaparelli also discovered here the tombs of
some princes of the XXth Dynasty, who died young. All the tombs are
much alike, with a single short gallery, on the walls of which are
mythological scenes, figures of the prince and of his father, the king,
etc., painted in a crude style, which shows a great degeneration from
that of the XVIIIth Dynasty tombs.
We now leave the great necropolis and turn to the later temples of the
Western Bank at Thebes.
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