Maya (Egyptian)

Maya was Treasury chief among the ancient Egyptian kings Tutankhamun (about 1333-1323 BC) to Horemheb (around 1319 to around 1292 BC). He was one of the most important officials under these rulers.

Documents

In the grave of Tutankhamun ( KV62 ), objects found with his name, which he donated obvious at the funeral of the sovereign. A stele dated to the 8th year of this king and reported that Maya should tax the country and proffer sacrifice for the gods. He was obviously involved in the reorganization of the country after the reign of Akhenaten.

Maya initiated restoration work in tombs in the Valley of the Kings. In 8 of Horemheb he addressed the grave of Thutmosis IV, a new, after it had been likely, but at least partially deprived.

Maya is best known from his grave at Saqqara. The grave has already been discovered by the Lepsius expedition. The knowledge of the exact location of the grave was, however, quickly lost and blocks the grave decoration were sold to various museums. Only in 1986 could the grave be rediscovered and then fully excavated.

Grave at Saqqara

The grave of Maya and his wife Merit is located in Saqqara -South in the area between the Jeremias Monastery and the Pyramid of the district Djoserteti and parallel next to that of Horemheb, when he was still a general. In the 19th dynasty then the grave of Tia & Tia squeezed between the two graves.

The grave was first isolated from Prussian scholar Peter Carl Lepsius in 1843 and excavated in the superstructure and partially documented. Since the grave of the Treasurer of Tutankhamun is of historical interest, the Egypt Exploration Society in 1975 decided again to look for the grave that had long disappeared under the desert sand. First, the grave of Horemheb was discovered and the search for Maya grave was added only in 1986 again. In the grave of an army officer Ramose grave robbers tunnel was discovered, which led to another grave. There, the researchers made a sensational discovery: They found the grave of the Maya, which had also in the underground parts of magnificent grave decorations.

The superstructure of the tomb

The superstructure was designed as a temple and had a pylon and two colonnaded courtyards. The walls were decorated with fine relief. The statue rooms once contained several statues of Maya and Merit. This came as early as 1828 after suffering.

The underground grave system

The underground part of the tomb consisted of various rooms, some of which are also decorated with reliefs, which is rather the exception for private grave sites. In the first level there are a number of undecorated chambers and traces of secondary burials. In the lower level only remains of the original burial of Maya's family were found. Weil was at a depth of 22 meters, the rock of very poor quality, the builders had the grave decoration executed in the form of relief plates, which were attached with mortar on the rock faces.

The almost life-size reliefs show the grave proprietor of the veneration of the gods and are run by extremely fine quality in Spätamarnastil. Especially the color scheme: The reliefs are executed in a warm golden yellow, only the eyes and eyebrows indicated in addition to black. The grave of Maya is the oldest known Egyptian private grave with monochrome decoration, which, in the Ramesside period later became popular, especially in the 19th Dynasty.

Remains of burials

Maya and Merit seem to have been buried in wooden coffins, sarcophagi of stone there were no traces. The remains were distributed to various rooms of five people have been found. The grave robbers had torn the mummies normal.

  • No. 1: remains of a 40 - year-old man (probably Maya )
  • No. 2: remains of a 30 to 50 - year-old man (probably Nahuher, his brother )
  • No. 3: A 50 years old woman (presumably Henutiunu, the mother Maya )
  • No. 4: A 20-40 year old woman (probably Merit )

The two men have a close relationship after the anthropological analysis and were probably brothers.

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