The Tomb of Merenpath has the longest entryway, 160 meters and the largest sarcophagus in the Valley. It is the second largest tomb of all of them. Merenpath was the son of Ramses II and waited a very long time to take the throne. He was already pretty old by the time he became pharaoh and that lasted for only 10 years. The tombs in the Valley of the Kings were cut into the rock 1200 years after the age of the pyramids. Since the pyramids were such easy targets for tomb robbers these pharaohs decided that discretion was a good thing in burials. They dug deep into the side of the mountains and covered the entrances with rock and rubble. Even with this effort to hide the tombs, of the 65 tombs that have been rediscovered in this Valley all but two were raided. Since the priests and the diggers all knew where the graves were, it was just a matter of time before someone got into them.
A little hike to get to the entrance
The sign for KV8, Kings Valley 8
Decorations start right away
Doing a dance!
Down we go
Offering Horus a gift
The sarcophagus is so large we needed to be a level up to get a picture
A fine looking chap
It was big and the space was very open
A closed off space
With some figures on the wall
Lots of damage due to floods
What remains is surprisingly colorful
Carved into the rock
This shows how large the burial chamber is
It must be six feet tall or more
A huge lid
A starry sky above
Rows of vultures
Back out we go
