Author’s Note

Note

No one knows for certain how ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics were pronounced. Even Egyptologists don’t always agree on how to say them. A name as simple as Thebes can be pronounced “teebs” or “theebs”—and there are other possibilities, too.

Author’s Note

When I close my eyes, I can still see the photos from the first article I ever read about “King Tut” (aka the pharaoh Tutankhamun). I was about nine years old, the same age Tutankhamun was when he became pharaoh. I was awed by the golden treasures in his tomb—and even more by the tale of how that tomb was robbed, resealed, and discovered again thousands of years later. I’ve been fascinated by ancient Egypt and its tombs ever since. It was a pleasure to write more about those tombs in this book, and especially to write about their creators, the people of Set Ma’at.

The village of Set Ma’at really did exist. As Ra explains, its name meant “the Place of Truth. ” Located on the West Bank of the Nile across from Thebes, it was the home of the workers who built the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings (including the one for Tutankhamun). The village existed for roughly five hundred years, from about 1550 to 1080 BCE. Nowadays the site is called Deir el-Medina, and only the ruins remain, but those ruins are very important. From them, we’ve learned a lot about the lives of ordinary people in ancient Egypt.

We know, for instance, that the tomb workers lived very close together, in houses with several ground-floor rooms, a cellar, and a roof terrace. High officials like the Scribe of the Tomb lived in grander houses. Other topranked officials included the foremen, who oversaw teams of carpenters, stonemasons, sculptors, painters, and other artisans. (Often a foreman became the boss of Set Ma’at, instead of the Scribe. ) For a long time, there was a high wall around the entire village.

Tomb workers often passed their jobs from father to son, and children could begin working in the tombs at a very young age. Tomb workers made a better living than most people in ancient Egypt, so a talented boy like Kenamon could expect to do well. There weren’t enough jobs to go around, however. That’s one reason why some people from Set Ma’at became tomb robbers.

Tomb workers could only enter the Valley of the Kings at specific times, in teams, and under guard. They were closely watched. Nevertheless, some workers managed to steal treasures from right under the guards’ noses. Others joined gangs that broke into the tombs at night. There were also plenty of tomb robbers who had no connection to Set Ma’at at all.

To prevent break-ins, special guards patrolled the Valley of the Kings, keeping watch over the existing tombs and the tombs-in-progress. When royal finances were tight, fewer guards were hired, and tomb robberies became more frequent.

Pharaohs who were short on money also cut tomb workers’ wages. When payments didn’t show up on time, the workers sometimes went on strike. Usually the pharaoh and his advisors found the funds to pay them. Otherwise there would be no tomb—and that would mean a terrible afterlife for the pharaoh.

Ancient Egypt did not have coins or currency as we know them today. Instead, the tomb workers were paid in bread and beer and other goods. Bonuses could be paid in oil, salt, and meat. Set Ma’at also received many basic supplies from the government for free, including housing, water, vegetables, fish, firewood, pottery, and even clothing.

Workers also bargained (and sometimes gambled) with one another, not just for everyday items, but also for goods they could use in the afterlife. Their tombs were set into the cliffs near the village, just as this book describes, and they were much simpler than those of the pharaohs. If you ever go to Deir el-Medina, you can visit some of them.

Making these private tombs took up a lot of the workers’ spare time. But they had rich family lives, too. Children’s toys have been found in the ruins of Set Ma’at, and we know that villagers enjoyed games, parties, feasts, and festivals. They also kept pets, and they were fond of cats. Lively drawings of cats appear on a number of Set Ma’at ostraca (broken pieces of pottery with writing on them). It’s fun to imagine Kenamon making a sketch like that of Ra.

Believe it or not, there really were cat mummies in ancient Egypt. The most valuable were put into a cat-shaped mummy case, or sarcophagus. Many thousands of cat mummies have been found at Bubastis, a city that was dedicated to the worship of the cat goddess Bastet. One ancient account says that cats from all over Egypt were buried there. Sadly, many scholars think most of these cat mummies come from sacrifices at Bastet’s temple. Yet some cat mummies—especially the ones in beautiful cases—were probably much-loved pets, and their owners must have hoped to see them again in the afterlife.

The name of Boo, the guard dog, is a tribute to Abutiu (sometimes spelled Abuwtiyuw or Abwtjw), a real Egyptian dog who lived over four thousand years ago. He was a royal guard dog who served a Sixth Dynasty pharaoh. We don’t know who this pharaoh was, but he loved Abutiu so much that he ordered his masons to build a special tomb to honor him.

In ancient Egypt, the animal most associated with tombs (and with the god Anubis) was the jackal. According to recent DNA evidence, a more accurate name for the Egyptian jackal would be the African golden wolf. The name jackal has a long history, however. Outside of scientific circles, people are likely to stick with it, as I’ve done here.

Setnakht and Thutmose II were real pharaohs who were buried in the Valley of the Kings. Setnakht’s mummy was moved around and eventually disappeared. For the purposes of this story, I have relocated his tomb. Thutmose II’s mummy was discovered in 1881 in a cache of more than fifty royal mummies. No one is certain where his original tomb was—but it may yet be found. In fact, if you become an archaeologist, you may be the one to find it!

That’s one of the most marvelous things about ancient Egypt. There are so many mysteries waiting to be solved.

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