Ti's mastaba
| It is at north-east of the Serapeo and it is one of
the most interesting private tombs for the relief on the walls, which are
the most representative, both for the refinement of their making, as for
the originality of the compositions. It was discovered by Mariette in
1865. The main places are a wide court with 12 pillars, where a long
sloping corridor leads to a crypt where there still is the sarcophagus
excavated in the rock (on four pillars Ti watches the cardinal points),
and the chapel, from which through a slit, a copy of Ti’s statue is seen
in the serdab (the original one is in the Museum in Cairo). Even the hall,
the corridors and the room used as a storehouse for the provisions keep
precious colored relief. Ti, who lived in the first half of the V dynasty,
was the inspector for Neferirkara’s and Nauserra’s pyramids and solar
temples in Abusir, and the prophets’ supervisor. In the relief, that offer us scenes of everyday life both of the high dignitaries as of the people, (peasants, craftsmen, fishers) there are accurate details and a describing realism of a very high level, that let us know the activities and the usual actions of the inhabitants of the low valley of the Nile, and also the environment, the vegetation and the fauna of this area, in northern Egypt around 2400 BC. From “Ti’s trip on a boat across the Delta” we can know about the hippopotamus hunt in the marsh, among the papyruses. This hunt is one of the usual themes of this representation, included in the contexts of life; it will later become a ritual to symbolize Seth’s killing (the evil) by Horo. Actually, the whole world lives again in these figurative sequences, often with didactic texts that are precious for the study of the language.
|
Map
of Ti's mastaba
