TAA i.3.9.10

                                   –           6            –    

immunity from molestation by building great mountains of stone

over their tombs, – like the pyramids, but when you consider

that a king had buried with him all his treasures and costliest

possessions for his use in the next life, it is obvious that this

very prominence, of a gigantic mom/<n>ument over the tomb, is a sure

advertisement to robbers of the likeliest spot to find treasure.

It is nott surprising, therefore, that after a time this method

of burial was abandoned, and we have enacted a battle of wits

between the kings and the thieves. Even the employment of large

companies of officials to guard the tombs was unsuccessful – in

fact in many cases it was through the connivance of these very

officials that the plundering was committed. In most cases these

robberies took place soon after the closing of the tomb at the

king<’>s burial, and so at the beginning of the 18th. Dynasty

which is the dynasty we are considering, scarcely a single Pharoah^sic

tomb was untouched. This was naturally a discomforting thought

for each succeeding king, and it is not surprising that some new

method was sought to render the king immune from the plunderer.

The difficulty was met, as was thought at the time<,> by forfeiting

the display and ostentation so dear to the Oriental mind, and

resorting to secrecy. And so, in this, the 18th. Dynasty, we have

the Pharoah^sic choosing a wild lonely spot for his tomb, – a place

where there is nothing but sand and rock and a deadly calm: an

arid desery/<t> waste without a breath of life. Not a blade of

grass, even, will grow there. – This is the Valley of the Tombs

of the Kings, a suitable place for the dead, and here indeed the

Pharoahs^sic thought that at last they could be sure of their bodies.

lying unmolested for all time in this desolate and uni<n>viting sport.

But all their trouble was to be ill-rewarded, for seek as they