TT100

Theban Tomb TT100, also called the Tomb of Rekhmire, is located in Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, part of the Theban Necropolis on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Luxor. It is the mortuary chapel of the ancient Egyptian vizier Rekhmire. There is no burial chamber next to the chapel, and the vizier's tomb is elsewhere, perhaps even in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb is important both for its numerous painted reliefs and because it sets out the Duties of the Vizier.

Those duties involved managing state taxation and the state treasury, remaining impartial as a judge and enforcer of the pharaoh's orders in trials, managing the temple economies, appointing high state and religious officials, and overseeing the proper performance of religious rituals, all in accordance with Maat, the ancient Egyptian concepts of truth, balance, order, harmony, law and morality.

Rekhmire began his career at the end of the reign of Thutmose III, and his position was confirmed by that king's successor, Amenhotep II. His tomb lists over a hundred official titles. Sometime during the reign of Amenhotep II, however, traces of him were erased. The figures of Rekhmire and of his wife Meryt often appear erased or chiseled away, as do those of their children. Where the images were easily reachable they were completely removed by covering the silhouettes with red colour, and in other cases only the face was erased. It appears certain that Rekhmire fell from favour, and there is no evidence that he was ever buried in the tomb he built.

The tomb follows the inverted T scheme typical of its period, with one unusual feature. From the transversal room, about 21 m wide, 2.30 deep and 3.30 high, a corridor branches off at right angles. It is just over 2 metres wide and almost 27 metres long, and its ceiling rises from 3.30 metres at the entrance to over 8 metres at the far end. Almost every metre is covered with paintings arranged on several superimposed registers, and the wall paintings are among the best preserved and largest in the Theban Necropolis.

The paintings suffered again about 100 years later, in the reign of Akhenaten, when all symbols relating to the god Amun were removed. Further damage followed over the centuries. Locals opened a new entrance in the façade and made the tomb their home, and this seriously damaged the autobiographical text known as the Duties of the Vizier. Use as a home and stable, along with water infiltration, added to the harm. Rock-cut tombs of this kind are among the best-known monuments of Egypt, and the Valley of the Kings nearby became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 with the rest of the Theban Necropolis.

Rekhmire, who in his TT100 tomb, includes over a hundred official titles, started out his career at the end of the reign of Thutmose III and his position was confirmed by this king's successor, Amenhotep II. But sometime during the reign of Amenhotep II, the historical and archaeological traces of him were erased from history. The figure of vizier Rekhmire, as well as that of his wife Meryt, often appear erased or chiseled away—as if they were deliberately erased from history—as well as those of their children whose names have, however, been reconstructed as Takhat, Mutneferet and Henuttawy for the females; Amenhotep, Mery, and Senusert Kenamun for the males. In tomb TT100, a certain Baki and his wife At also appear but no knowledge of any familial ties with the Vizier can be determined. It appears certain that Rekhmire, somehow, fell from favour in the reign of Amenhotep II and there is no evidence that he was ever buried in the beautiful tomb which he constructed.