Valleys of the Royal Dead Quiz | Ancient History

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1. About 3,000 years ago, you could have instructed the ferryman on the Nile to take you over to the west bank. Your destination would have been 'Ta-sekhet-aar'. Why was the modern Valley of the Kings called 'The Great Field'?

Answer: Paradise was thought of as a lush field

For the Egyptians, the ideal paradise, life after death, would be spent in the Field of Reeds, dwelling with the gods, surrounded by lush vegetation and life-giving water. While the physical Valley was a place of great desolation and starkness, those who were buried there, by virtue of their death, were already dwelling in the Great Field and enjoying bliss.

2. Why was the valley chosen to serve as a royal burial ground?

Answer: All of these

The wadi making up the modern Valley of the Kings can be divided into the Western and Eastern Valley. Running for over a mile in length through a rugged landscape, The Gurn -- roughly shaped like a pyramid towers over it. The cobra goddess Meretseger, 'she who loves silence' presided as the protective deity.

3. Once discovered and assessed as suitable, for how long were royals secretly buried in the hillsides of the Valley?

Answer: About five hundred years

The oldest named tomb currently open to the public is KV 34, the last resting place of pharaoh Thuthmosis III. The first royal tomb was dug in about 1500 BC by the 18th dynasty of Egypt's New Kingdom. Pharaoh Ramesses XI of the 20th dynasty was seemingly the last to be buried before the valley was abandoned.

The current list is of 63 tombs, a huge number of funeral pits and some abandoned diggings. Every tomb is numbered, preceded by the initials KV for Kings' Valley. Note that only a limited number are open to the public.

4. For a long time, the tomb of Ramesses III, KV 11, was known as 'Bruce's Tomb'. Who was Bruce?

Answer: Named after James Bruce who first visited it

James Bruce visited the open tomb in 1769 and his copies of the wall scenes were published in 1790. Most famous of all was the picture of the harpist, and therefore the tomb was also called Tomb of the Harper. Today, KV 7 is one of the most visited by tourists. It is one of the longest tombs at 188 metres (611 ft). Its cracked ceiling has been reinforced with steel rods and plates.

5. In KV 19 lay prince Mentuher-khepshef. What makes his position unique in the Valley?

Answer: He is the only prince to be buried in his own tomb among pharaohs

The young son of Ramesses IX, is the only prince to have his own tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Discovered in 1817 by Giovanni Belzoni, the decorations are of excellent quality but the tomb is unfinished. The mummy of the prince has never been found.

6. Apart from the famous Tutankhamun in KV 62, which other pharaoh remained peacefully in his own coffin until 1898, even though thieves cleaned out all his treasures from under his nose?

Answer: Amenhotep II

In 1898 Loret discovered the venerable pharaoh still in his coffin in KV 35, with a garland of ancient flowers at his head. He did not wake up when the thieves cleaned him out. From about the 10th century BC, the tomb was used as a store room for other royal mummies when tomb robbing was at its height. For thirty centuries, Amenhotep II enjoyed the company of nine other kings. Bricked up in a seperate chamber, three other mummies lie, one of them hotly debated as possibly being Nefertiti herself.

7. One 19th dynasty king ordered the construction of almost an entire underground city to house his multitude of sons. This tomb is numbered KV 5. Who was the generous father?

Answer: Ramesses II

Ramesses II had a long life and a long reign. He boasted of having over a hundred children. It is not yet known how many of his sons could be buried in KV 5 because it is still being cleared of debris and explored. It has more than fifty side chambers and over 130 corridors, making it by far the largest tomb in the Valley. From the 1960s to 1990s tour coaches unknowingly parked above it and their vibrations damaged the tomb. Amenophis III was the famous father of Akhenaten, Tuthmosis I the father of Hatshepsut, while Seti I was Ramesses' own father.

8. In what tomb was the granite sarcophagus broken by ancient thieves, repaired by modern archaeologists, displayed in the Egyptian museum in Cairo for a century and then returned to the tomb in the 1990s?

Answer: KV23

The successor to Tutankhamen, Aye was buried in the now much-travelled sarcophagus in KV23. The tomb was first explored in 1816 by Belzoni but only thoroughly studied in the 1970s. KV 23 is one of the few tombs built in the West Valley. KV 10 belonged to Amenmesses and KV 57 to Horemheb, Ay's successor. KV 36 was dug for Maiher-peri, a non-royal.

9. KV 9 is a tomb with wide corridors and high ceilings. As such, it was conveniently made use of as a hermitage, a hotel and dining room in the centuries since its original occupants had it built. It contains nearly a thousand Greek, Latin and coptic graffiti on its walls. Whom did the ancient tourists unwittingly visit and whose guest book did they sign?

Answer: Ramesses V and VI

Sharing KV 9, Ramesses V and VI did not long enjoy peace and quiet before tomb robbers literally turned them out of house and home. Priests removed the royal mummies to KV 35 and left them there. KV 9 lay open for thirty centuries, visited by many awe-struck tourists, right down to the present.

It is one of the few tombs completely recorded and cleared, thanks to little flood damage. No other pharaohs are known to have shared an original tomb.

10. To round off the tour, we gaze out across the Valley of the Queens, a U-shaped wadi containing about 90 tombs of queens and royal children. One of the finest belongs to the favourite wife of Ramesses II. One of her titles was 'She for whom the sun shines', and her husband built her a temple at Abu Simbel. What is her name?

Answer: Nefertari

Providing her husband with her fair share of children, Nefertari was granted a magnificent tomb. Discovered in 1904 by Ernesto Schiaparelli, its beautiful wall paintings are justly world famous. But despite major conservation efforts, the tombs are once again off limits to tourists due to its fragile state. Sitre was queen to Ramesses I and Tyti wife to Ramesses III. Nefertiti, wife of Akhenaten, has no known tomb or mummy.

Source: Author sterretjie101

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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Valleys of the Royal Dead Trivia Quiz

Above the heads of some very regal dead, up to 5,000 tourists a day tread the Valley of the Kings and that of the Queens. Shouldn't they rather take off their shoes in reverence? Come and decide for yourself!

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