UCLA

This research focuses on the performance and enactment of the royal funeral in antiquity, which is studied through the lens of New Kingdom royal burials in the Valley of the Kings (ca. 1550-1070BC). This allows for a redefinition of how we think about ancient Egyptian royal burials from the perspective of human action, by closely examining what objects were used to create a divine space, how they functioned within the final ceremonies to transfigure a deceased king into a god, and to understand better the transition of power between one ruler and the next. The research is approached holistically, engaging with archaeological, art historical, and textual evidence. The first chapter (Chapter 1) introduces the reader to the research questions, methodologies, and theoretical frameworks that are used while analyzing and investigating the royal funeral in ancient Egypt. The following chapter (Chapter 2) provides the reader with an overview of the landscape of the Valley of the Kings, its topographical features, and spends significant time hypothesizing how the king’s body was moved from their place of death to the final interment in the royal necropolis as well as possible participants and audience members for the king’s burial. The theme of creating a sacred space is woven throughout this chapter, as man-made features of the landscape, like enclosure walls and boundary foot paths, are discussed; examples are derived from both the Valley of the Kings in Luxor as well as the Royal Wadi at Amarna. The following three chapters (Chapters 3-5) are the main case studies for this research, which cover the reigns of Tutankhamun (18th Dynasty), Merenptah (19th Dynasty), and Ramses IV (20th Dynasty). All three provide archaeological, iconographic, textual, and/or material culture remains with which to study the royal funeral. Evidence as preserved is discussed in-depth, including relevant contextual and religious symbolism considerations of specific objects, icons, and/or social histories in order to ground the reader in the material better. The themes of creating the sacred (for both objects and the tomb), the king’s transformation into a divine being in the hereafter, as well as the transition between one ruling party and the next are all dispersed throughout each individual chapter. Finally, the concluding chapter (Chapter 6) summarizes the results of the research and suggests multiple avenues of further research. Here the author postulates about the role(s) of the king and his high officials in the royal funeral, audience participation on the day of the burial, how the king’s burial ensured the successful transition of the deceased into the hereafter, and what the royal funeral meant for manufacturing power and legitimizing rule in ancient Egypt.