Tomb Tour: Journey into the Afterlife
The most interesting things can be found in the most unlikely places. In an ordinary suburb in San Jose, California there stands a very unusual set of buildings. The original single building was built in the 1920s, today the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum contains the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts west of the Mississippi. With more and more artifacts being collected in the 1960s, along with the remodelled expansion of the main building new buildings were erected to house them all in the early 1960s, featuring a tomb that can still cause fear in guests who visit. This replica tomb, which was produced from a collection of common tombs from the Beni Hasan necropolis in Ancient Egypt, located 20 kilometers (12 mi) to the south of the modern city of Minya in Middle Egypt, is dedicated to Khnumhotep II.
Khnumhotep II (ẖnmw-ḥtp, "Khnum is pleased") lived during an amazing time in Egypt. The 1st Intermediate Period had already ended in 2055 BCE, giving way to the 11th Dynasty, the first of the Middle Kingdom. Under the pharaoh’s ultimate rule, regions of Egypt, called nomes (or sepat in ancient Egyptian), were under the more direct control of nomarchs, similar to governors today. Khnumhotep II, one of these nomarchs during the 12th dynasty, represented the Oryx nome, the 16th of Upper Egypt.
Buried in his elaborate tomb around 4000 years ago Khnumhotep II surrounded himself with treasures, carvings, and paintings, all things that would help him create and navigate to his perfect afterlife in the Underworld. As this all needed to begin long before he passed, Khnumhotep II hired many artisans to complete the work as quickly as possible. Carving out the sandstone from beneath the mountain, they created the passageways, large halls, and staircases all leading to his final resting place.
Before creating what is now called Tomb 3 (BH3), the artisans had to find a perfect location. The mountains as natural pyramids were an easier, and less labor-intensive way to represent the sun’s rays, the gift from Re, and the path to the heavens. While many mountain ranges are made up of igneous or metamorphic rock the range in which the 39 tombs of Beni Hasan were carved is sedimentary. Being an easier medium to carve into, you know the workers didn’t take that for granite. Walking up to the doorway, the hieroglyph carving becomes clear, it’s a prayer, praising the gods and asking them to give favor to Khnumhotep II. For this inscription, the glyphs are read from right to left, in the direction that the glyphs are facing, almost as if you were having a conversation. The first line and a half reads, “All hail the sun god Re, who rises in the sky’s eastern horizon. Behold! Behold! Khnumhotep!” (Figures 1 & 2).
Figure 1. Front opening of the replica tomb in the San Jose Rosicrucian Museum (photo taken by Whitehouse 2015).
Figure 2. Close-up view of the top portion of the hieroglyphic text around the tomb entrance.
Khnumhotep II's biography is recorded in the inner doorway. He was a member of a powerful family of nomarchs and officials which was likely founded by his grandfather Khnumhotep I and housed in Men`at Khufu. Khnumhotep II held many titles such as hereditary prince and count, foremost of actions, royal sealer, sole friend, member of the elite, overlord of Nekheb, and overseer of the Eastern Desert, a position which he held from Year 19 of Amenemhat II’s reign until at least Year 6 of Senusret II’s, the date which appears in Khnumhotep II's tomb. Like most nomarchs at the time he also held some priestly charges. (Grajetzki 2009: 110–1 , Kamrin 2009, Wicker 1998: 157).
Khnumhotep II had two wives, the first of whom was Khety, daughter of an unnamed nomarch of the neighboring 17th nome. Khety, like her husband, possessed numerous titles, including the daughter of a governor, king's acquaintance, foremost of actions, lady of the house, and was a priestess of Hathor and Pakhet. Tjat, Khnumhotep's secondary wife, held modest titles such as sealer, the only known female sealer in a local governor's court, lady of the house, and one who knows her lord. These differences, coupled with the fact that both consorts occur multiple times in Khnumhotep II's tomb, imply that the one between him and Khety was probably a politically planned marriage, while Tjat might have been his real love who was appointed sealer by him to be closer to her. (Grajetzki 2009: 136-8 & 160-1).
Walking carefully on the uneven, chiselled, ground, you’re entering the first passage. Here the darkness surrounds you, blending the walls with the ceiling and the floor. It’s a portal, leading you to a room lit with torches and lined with four columns. These carved columns, which are made to look like papyrus reed bundles, bring nature, and possibly a bit of home, into the first chamber. This room is the last that would have been open to the family and is made to bridge the gap between the living and the dead.
Figure 3. Front facade entrance to the museum, with painted papyrus reed bundle columns under the open roof with a procession of gods and goddesses and topped with lotus flower flare (Whitehouse 2015).
Figure 4. Real example of a transportable false door from the Pre- or Early Dynastic Period (Whitehouse 2014).
In Egyptian mythology, the afterlife is not the end of life, especially if you are rich and powerful. It’s more of a continuation, or rather, it’s whatever you want it to be. But, because your spirit is still alive, it still needs to “eat”. To keep the ka (vital essence) alive as part of the 9 parts of the soul*, families bring food and drink and put it in, or next to, the offering bowl in front of a false door, a stone-carved optical illusion, mimicking a hallway to the afterlife where the deceased could pass through (Figures 4 & 5). Instead of leaving the food there to rot, the family would bless the food, recite specific incantations to release its spirit, and then take it outside to have a reunion picnic. In some cases, a priest would have been paid to enact these rituals if the family was too far away to do it themselves. In those cases, a local priest would bring the food and water for the rituals and then head back to the temple once the job was complete.
Figure 5. View of the false door and the offering bowls at base. The top decoration is a geometric shaped lotus flower. (Tomb Tour)
Sometimes, neither the family nor any priest could perform the rituals to feed the ka. For times like that, Khnumhotep II and his artisans followed a contingency plan. On the wall opposite the false door is a large carving depicting Khnumhotep II, sitting in front of a table piled high with all sorts of food such as bread (standing up vertically on the table), a bird, two pigs, and much more (Figure 6). Underneath the table are containers of wine, beer, and oil. While Khnumhotep II has all of his favorite foods, his pet monkey, carved beneath the chair, is eating dates out of a bowl because he wants to have his best friend with him for eternity. Finally, the hieroglyphs around the top of the relief are the incantations needed to bring out the spirit of the food. The carving is incomplete here most likely because the original is unreadable. This is all extremely useful because the ancient Egyptians believed that anything carved, sculpted, or painted within a tomb becomes real in the afterlife, therefore, with this relief, Khnumhotep II’s ka would be fed for all eternity.
Figure 6. Left wall from entrance doorwall with Khnumhotep II feast plan (Tomb Tour).
At the interior end of the first room is another doorway, which would have been sealed after the body was initially buried to help prevent grave robberies (Figure 7).
Figure 7. Passage doorway leading from offering chamber to steps burial chamber with sarcophagus lid sculpture.
Figure 8. View of eleven steps up to the offering chamber from the burial chamber. 11 is important in numerology and has many meanings depending on what the context is. Numerology is an aspect of Rosicrucianism. (Tomb Tour).
Through this now-open passage, 11 stone steps (Figure 8) lead down to the burial chamber, where the walls are covered in colorful paintings. These paintings tell the story of how Khnumhotep II will spend eternity, and how he’ll get there.
In the middle of the room is a pit with a raised empty sarcophagus symbolising the common occurrence of grave robbery (Figure 9). Grave robbing was often performed by the builders who worked on the tomb because they knew all the tricks and all the secrets. The sarcophagi and internal coffins were broken into routinely for the amulets and jewellery inside the mummy wrappings (Figure 10). This is also why there is a rectangular cut-out section in the middle of the eastern wall, the builders came back to find the statues that they hid (Figures 9 & 11).
Figure 9. Wide-angle shot of burial chamber with broken coffin lifted from hole in the floor (Tomb Tour). Inside there is fake broken pottery and fake metal artifacts (visitors often “dropped” garbage into the pit).
Figure 10. (Top) Examples of Ba birds and (bottom) Khepri Heart Scarabs, both of which were found in tomb, the scarabs were often placed over the heart inside the mummies’ wrappings.
Starting with the eastern wall. This is the wall of the morning, of daily life. Here, Khnumhotep II continues his duties as nomarch, watching over his servants on the land stretching from the Nile to the mountains (Figures 9 & 10). In this world, the animals and people are created through painting, like shadows, so no real people or animals have to suffer, or die, to create a perfect afterlife for another. The only other real person in these paintings is the woman standing behind Khnumhotep II, on an elevated platform, is his wife (unsure which one). The elevated platform, and the fact that her legs are painted together rather than how Khnumhotep II is shown, means that she died before her husband and before the room was painted. (Figure 10).
Figure 10. Close view of left side and middle of the east wall (Tomb Tour).
Above and in front of Khnumhotep II, there are lines of animals (both real and fictional), and farmers, fishermen, and artisans. Further to the right end of the painting, the shadow people are celebrating, and dancing, beautifully enjoying their shadow afterlives (Figures 11 & 12).
At the top right corner of the eastern wall, is the only place where the paintings are incomplete (Figure 12). This suggests that Khnumhotep II died at least 70 days before the paintings were finished. This is how long it takes to mummify a body, and the body must be buried once the process is complete. But, instead of leaving the area blank, the artist depicted an artist painting on the wall, as a promise to return to complete the work in the afterlife.
Figure 12. Close up view of the right side of the east wall (Whitehouse 2014).
The southern wall (Figure 10) shows two versions of Khnumhotep II taking part in his two favorite activities, hunting and fishing. On each side of the wall, he is standing atop his Nile boats made of bound reeds. At the same time he is bragging about himself and his skills, making sure that he stays young and strong forever, he is also showing that he creates ma`at or order, and justice from chaos. Diving deeper into the meaning of this wall of the mural, the attributes that Khnumhotep II displays, demonstrate the ma`at via the change from the chaos of the birds flying in every direction as they are frightened by his hunting cats in opposition to the depictions of Khnumhotep II. On the left, he has lined up three birds in his hand, and on the right spearing two fish with one hit. Additionally, the river is full of fish along with other animals such as the hippopotamus underneath the front of the boat on the right. On the boats he is standing on there are both male and female servants. They are depicted as much smaller than Khnumhotep II because he is the leader, and thus greater than the normal people who serve him.
Figure 13. The south wall of the burial chamber (Tomb Tour).
The west wall, or the wall of death, the setting sun, and the afterlife is where Khnumhotep II's journey truly begins (Figures 14-16). Here he must prove himself pure of heart before he will be welcomed into the afterlife by the god Osiris. In this painting, unlike the others, Khnumhotep II and his wife are finely dressed to impress the gods in front of them.
Figure 14. Close up view of the west wall showing Khnumhotep and his wife in fine clothing (Tomb Tour).
In Egyptian mythology, multiple tests must be passed to reach the paradise afterlife of the field of reeds. While tombs will depict different portions of the journey through the gates to the afterlife, like a cheat sheet for a test. This particular tomb art depicts what might be the most well-known of these tests: the heart-weighing ceremony (Figures 16 & 17). It begins with a series of 42 questions, one from each of the 42 gods and goddesses, which are all recorded by the god of knowledge and writing, Toth/Thoth. All of these can only be answered honestly, as it is believed that it was not possible to lie to the gods. All the answers must be ‘no’ as well. For example, the question would be “Have you ever killed anyone?” and the answer must be, “Hail Isis no, I have never killed anyone.” The questions would continue and become more difficult to answer ‘no’ to, questions like, “Have you ever lied?”
Figure 15. The right side of the west wall, shows a Khnumhotep II addressing and giving praise to the line of gods (Tomb Tour).
Figure 16. Northwest wall and north wall, from left to right: Seshat, (unknown god, possibly Atum), Ma`at, Horus (holding a bowl with the ankh and the ritual adze for the mouth opening ceremony, Isis, Khnum, Wadjet, Osiris (on the platform because he’s god of the dead), Sekhmet, Sobek, and Re (small at the back, either because he is on the solar barge or because they ran out of room). All of the gods except for Osiris are holding the ankh as a symbol of their immortal lives (Whitehouse 2014).
With each ‘yes’ answer the heart, weighed against an ostrich feather on the scales of Ma`at, becomes increasingly heavy. If the heart were to touch the ground, the demon goddess, Amut the Devourer (who is an amalgamation of a crocodile head, the upper body of a lion, and the lower body of a hippo), will eat the heart, and the person along with their soul will cease to exist. Khnumhotep II prepared for everything by giving extra praise to Anubis, the jackal-headed god of mummification, to win favor. Anubis is painted adding a weight to the side of the scales with the feather in case Khnumhotep II has done things that would weigh on his heart. Because the next panel is drawn, the heart proves to be light enough to pass the test.
Figure 17. North wall, the heart weighing ceremony and Horus leading Khnumhotep II into the afterlife.
Here, Horus leads Khnumhotep II into his afterlife, where Osiris, the Hero God of the Underworld, Isis, his wife and sister, and Nephthys, their other sister, are all waiting to welcome him to paradise. In front of the seated Osiris is an eye with a bird body holding a feather staff, this is a depiction of another part of Khnumhotep II’s soul, the ba (personality). Underneath the eye-bird are the four sons of Horus standing on a lotus flower shown like on the canopic jars: Imsety (jmstj) - liver, Hapy (ḥpy) - lungs, Duamutef (dwꜣ-mwt.f) - stomach, and Qebehsenuef (qbḥ-snw.f) - intestines (Dodson 2001: 561).
Running the length of the majority of the west and north walls there are also paintings near the ceiling depicting the process of mummification as performed by the priests of Anubis. The final step of this is on the west corner of the north wall in which a priest, wearing the mask head of Anubis is blessing the body before it is finally interred in the tomb. The following images show a procession of people (likely servants) bringing flowers and gifts to the tomb. Also, the text underneath the line of gods and the heart-weighing ceremony murals would have been full passages of the “Book of the Dead”, the guidebook for souls to make it into the field of reeds/paradise.
The last painted section in the burial chamber is on the ceiling. The goddess of the heavens, Nut, is stretched across the sky wearing her gown of stars (Figure 18). She is said to give birth to the sun each morning and swallow it again each night while giving birth to the moon. This cycle encapsulates every generation's birth, death, and rebirth, and how Nut will watch over and protect this burial.
Figure 18. Ceiling showing Nut and the night sky.
Around the room there are multiple holes in the plaster and cracks in the limestone, these were in the original rock-cut tomb and likely occurred when earthquakes struck. Of course, because this replica is only a few rooms in a small museum multiple rooms and many murals were left out.
This tomb, composite or not, is a perfect example for people to learn about the cultural importance of the journey to the Egyptian afterlife. It may look frightening on the outside, but inside, the ancient Egyptians only wanted to bring nature, protection, family, fun, and love along for the ride.
The general information came from working as a tour guide and the script we memorized. But followed up with further research and some rabbit holes. If you live near or plan to visit San Jose, California, USA, stop by and see this museum located at 1660 Park Ave, San Jose, CA 95191. For the rest, check out a 3D walkthrough by heading over to
https://egyptianmuseum.org/workshops/tomb-tour
If I could get on my soapbox for a moment, while I love that this museum tries to educate people and gives hundreds of students full tours almost every day, this museum probably shouldn’t exist anymore. Repatriation is much more important, especially because many of the artifacts that were stolen in the 1920s and 30s are just sitting in back and side closets. Even artifacts on display are not treated as they should, the windows are not properly sealed and though we would record the temperatures and humidities a few times a day, nothing would be done to regulate these variables. This oversight causes the stonework to slowly disinetrigate.
The people working and volunteering at the museum are wonderful, but the owners didn’t seem to care (in my experience) about the artifacts or the history they have been allowing to be destroyed. The importance of preservation for the future is extremely important and especially when that can coincide with giving things back to the proper owners, it’s an extremely easy decision. Unfortunately, it’s not my choice to make.
Aside
* The 9 parts of the soul that are referenced in most ancient Egyptian funerary texts are:
Khet /Kha or the "physical body"
Sah or the "spiritual body"
Ren or the "name, identity"
Ba or the "personality"
Ka or the "double" or "vital essence"
Ib or the "heart"
Shut or the "shadow"
Sekhem or the "power, form"
Collectively, these spirits of a dead person were called the Akh after that person had successfully completed its transition to the afterlife (Budge 1895).
Works Cited and Further Reading
Budge, E. A. W. (1967). The book of the dead: The papyrus of Ani in the British museum. Courier Corporation.
Cooper, W. R. (1873). The Serpent Myths of Ancient Egypt: Being a Comparative History of These Myths Compiled from the" Ritual of the Dead", Egyptian Inscriptions, Papyri, and Monuments in the British and Continental Museums. Robert Hardwicke.
Dodson, Aidan (2001). "Four Sons of Horus". In Redford, Donald B. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. pp. 561–563.
Eyre, C. (1976). Fate, crocodiles and the judgement of the dead: some mythological allusions in Egyptian literature. Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur, 103-114.
Grajetzki, W. (2009). Court Officials of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. (No Title).
Kamrin, J. (1999). The Cosmos of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hasan (1st ed.). Routledge.
(2009). The Aamu of Shu in the Tomb of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hassan. Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections, 1(3), 22-36.
Mourad, A. L. (2020). Foreigners at Beni Hassan: Evidence from the Tomb of Khnumhotep I (No. 14). Bulletin of ASOR.
(2021). The Tomb of Khnumhotep I at Beni Hassan.
Pinch, G. (2002). Handbook of Egyptian mythology. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.
Wicker, F. D. P. (1998). "The Road to Punt". The Geographical Journal. 164 (2).
Images:
Tomb Photos were lifted from the walkthrough, the cover photo is my own from the temple of Isis on Philae, Egypt.
Music:
'Bring Me The Sky' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
'A Kind Of Hope' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
'The Long Dark' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
'Life In Motion' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
'Adrift Among Infinite Stars' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
