Pashedu's tomb number 3 of Deir el-Medina

Pashedu's tomb no. 3
at Deir el-Medina

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The page was last modified on May 1st 2009

Sources:
1. Davies, Benedict G.: Who's who at Deir el-Medina : a prosopographic study of the
royal workmen's community
Leiden : Nederlands Instituut voor Her Nabije Oosten, 1999
2. Weeks, Kent R.: The treasures of Luxor and the Valley of the Kings
Cercelli : White Star Publishers, 2005
3. Kitchen, K. A.: Ramesside inscriptions : translated and annotated notes and
comments I.
Oxford : Blackwell, 1993.

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The owner of the tomb 3 at Deir el-Medina was Pashedu, who lived in the settlement during the
reigns of Sety I and Ramesses II. He had the title "Servant in the Place of Truth on the West of
Thebes". He might have also been a "foreman", if he is to be identified with the person named in an
inscription translated by Kitchen (Kitchen, 1993, p. 270). He was a stone mason, responsible for
cutting the corridors, chambers and pillared halls of the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings.
Pashedu was a son of Menna and the lady Huy. He had five sons and daughters with his wife, called
Nedjem-Behdet. Pashedu's son Menna, was without any doubt named after his grandfather. From
inscriptional evidence in the tombs it seems that Kaha also was Pashedu's son (Davies, 1999, p. 166).
TT3 was discovered in 1834 by Egyptian army draftees. Scottish artist Robert Hay visited the tomb
shorty afterwards and recorded its decorated walls (Weeks, 2005, p. 464).

At the bottom of the entrance stairs there is
an entrance into the first burial chamber,
behind which the second burial chamber lies.
A short vaulted passage leads into the third,
innermost burial chamber. Anubis jackals that
lie on top large white shrines with cavetto
cornices are painted on both sides of the
passage walls. There is the god
Ptah-Sokar-Osiris in the form of a falcon
depicted within the vaulted area above the
doorway. His elaborately painted wings
stretch out below a wedjat-eye. The falcon
sits in a boat. There are 15 lines of a
hieroglyphic inscription. Pashedu's sons Menna
and Kaha both kneel beside the boat
worshipping gods depicted (out of the picture).

The rear wall of the innermost
burial chamber with the god Osiris
on his throne and the mountain of
the West behind him. Osiris wears
a nemes-crown and holds a flail
and scepter. A seated god before
him presents a bowl with burning
tapers.

Pashedu and his wife sit before an offering
table in a small boat of the Abydos
pilgrimage. One of their daughters sits at
Nedjem-Behdet's feet. They both wear
elegant pleated costumes made of fine linen
and have long and elaborately coiffed hair.

There are sixteen deities on the
vaulted ceiling of the innermost
burial chamber, eight on each side.
On the right side, there are:
Osiris, Isis and Nut...

The image on the left records two corner
scenes. The scene on the right comes from
the left front wall of the burial chamber. It
is one of the best known scenes in Thebes.
Pashedu kneels and bows down beneath a
dom-palm at the edge of a pond. There are
21 columns of text around him. 17 come from
chapter 62 of the Book of the Dead, the
Chapter for Drinking Water in God's Domain.
The left scene comes from the right wall of
the burial chamber. Pashedu and his daughter
Nebnefret stand before four male deities and
a djed-pillar.

The first deity is the
falcon-headed Ra-Harakhty,
followed by a human-headed Atum.

Atum is followed by the scarab-headed Khepri (the
morning form of the sun god), and the god Ptah.
Djed-pillar stands behin Ptah.

...Nun and Nepthys...

On the right side, there are:
Hathor, Ra-Harakhty, Neith...

...Serqet, Anubis and Wepwawet.

...Geb, Anubis and Wepwawet.

To view Mutnedjmet's flickr photostream
follow the link to
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26330013@
N08/sets/72157621577749765/