Tombs of the Tomb Builders Part 2: Deir el-Medina - Ep 32

Written By Rachel Roden

In this episode, step inside Deir el-Medina, the remarkably well-preserved village of the artisans who built the royal tombs of ancient Egypt. Known in antiquity as Pa Demi or “the village”, this desert settlement near Thebes (modern Luxor) was home to the skilled workers of the Set Maat, the “Place of Truth,” where pharaohs like Tutankhamun, Ramesses II, Nefertari, and Hatshepsut were laid to rest.

Through tomb art, legal documents, and everyday texts, Deir el-Medina offers one of the most intimate portraits of non-elite life in ancient Egypt.

Explore the lives of three individuals whose stories survive in astonishing detail. Meet Ramose, the wealthiest man in the village, whose decorated tombs and appeals to fertility goddesses reveal private hopes for an heir. Follow his adopted successor, Qenherkhepeshef, a prolific scribe whose tomb preserved the famous “Book of Dreams,” a guide to omens written in red and black ink. Finally, Naunakhte, whose surviving will shows that women in the New Kingdom owned property and controlled how it was inherited.

Offline Sources Cited:

  • Blerk, Nicolaas J. 2021. The Contribution of Papyrus Ashmolean Museum 1945.97 (“Naunakht’s Will & Related Documents”) to Our Understanding of The Ancient Egyptian Testamentary Disposition and Succession Law. Fundamina 2021:101–142.

  • Cerny, Jaroslav. 1945. The Will of Naunakhte and the Related Documents. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 31:29–53.

  • Davies, Benedict. 1999. Who’s Who at Deir El-Medina: A Prosopographic Study of The Royal Workman’s Community. Egyptologische Uitgaven No. 13. Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, Leiden.

  • Dorn, Andreas. 2022. Tagging in the Valley of the Kings around 1200–1150 BC. Social practices and personal habits. TAG: Name Writing in Public Space. A Reader of the 2017 Conference about Tagging at Freie Universität Berlin, Edited by E. Birzin, J. Abarca and M. Hübner, Berlin 2022, 96–103.

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  • For transcripts of this episode head over to: https://archpodnet.com/tpm/32

  • Transcript

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Rachel Roden
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Tombs of the Tomb Builders Part 1: The Lost City of the Pyramid Builders - Ep 31