The western bank of the Nile is the domain of the dead, but also of words.
The dead have been resting for millennia, set at the bottom of sumptuous tombs in the Theban necropolis, near Luxor.
The words themselves extend over the kilometers of underground galleries ignored by the looters of Antiquity.
In the darkness of these tombs, some rooms shine with their epigraphic treasures.
This is the case of tomb TT33.
France 5 sets out to discover it, in the new documentary by Patrick Cabouat,
Le Palais des hiéroglyphes.
In the footsteps of Champollion
.
Several labyrinthine arms
This site, known for a long time, has scared people for generations.
Located in a nearby necropolis of the Valley of the Kings, the lair is guarded by a sinister iron gate.
According to local legends, the tomb is cursed.
Claude Traunecker is only partly amused by these stories.
They wouldn't be completely wrong.
“There were very large colonies of bats that came out of the tomb when you entered it.
This caused accidents
, says the Egyptologist Emeritus of the French Institute of Oriental Archeology (Ifao) and responsible for the excavation of tomb TT33.
Several people almost fell into the well of gallery 12 because the bats extinguished their candles”
, he says.
Less bothered by the local fauna, archaeologists are now swooning over its countless hieroglyphs.
The walls are not lacking;
they stretch out in several labyrinthine arms, dug into the limestone over nearly 2.6 kilometres.
Consisting of 22 rooms, tomb TT33 would form one of the largest underground complexes in Egypt.
Specialists are particularly enchanted by a vault, a veritable “Sistine Chapel of ancient Egypt”.
As for the refined texts of the tomb, they offer specialists in Egyptian sacred writing delicious material on which to practice their science.
Claude Traunecker is moved by a poignant passage, addressed from beyond the grave
“to those who will come to be born, those who will come to stroll through the necropolis or seek formulas”
.
Elsewhere, a more esoteric passage boasts of the tomb owner's magical skill.
A nearby bas-relief can testify to this.
The feet of his procession of offering bearers have been hammered with a chisel to ensure their uninterrupted service in eternity.
Funeral bowels
To whom did this large and sumptuous tomb belong?
A prince of Egypt?
A Theban sorcerer?
A wealthy vizier, perhaps?
In the depths of the site, the Egyptologists Silvia Einaudi and Isabelle Régent progress quietly, equipped with a shaving light helmet and a breathing mask.
The pestilential and corrupt air of centuries has become charged with ammonia.
Time and smoke from ancient lamps have damaged some inscriptions, which researchers are struggling to understand using three-dimensional visualizations.
Fortunately, the name of the master of the place was revealed long ago by hieroglyphs.
Padiamenope.
A scholar, perhaps adviser to Taharqa, one of the "black pharaohs" of the 7th century BC.
The immersion in these funerary entrails,
alongside Egyptologists or guided by the digital reconstructions of the Ifao, is fascinating.
Bicentenary of the deciphering of hieroglyphs by Champollion obliges, the 87-minute film disperses during yet another return to this linguistic adventure, marked by a stop at the Turin museum.
A detour, alas, quite useless.
