BURIAL CHAMBERS

BURIAL CHAMBERS TELL US ABOUT LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Rich Egyptians took their servants with them into the tomb. Not real flesh and blood servants, but figures representing everybody from cooks and brewers to butchers and weavers.

The Egyptians’ beliefs turned the figures into an inexhaustible resource. They provided their owner with everything he or she required. The dead person could face the future with a feeling of security.

The figures seen here are 4,000 years old and come from the tomb of the Treasury Master Gemni-em-hat. The tomb was discovered in 1921, slightly north of the Pyramid of King Teti at Sakkara. Shortly after the excavation, the Egyptian Antiquities Authorities sold the rich contents of the tomb to the Glyptotek.