TT33 (tomb)

The Theban Tomb TT33 is an ancient Egyptian tomb. Located in El-Assasif, it is part of the Theban Necropolis on the west bank of the Nile, opposite to Luxor. The tomb is the burial place of the ancient Egyptian Padiamenope, who was Prophet and Chief Lector Priest during the 26th Dynasty. Although it was open when Richard Pocoke visited the area in 1737 (he thought it was a subterranean palace) it was more fully examined and excavated in 1881 by Johannes Dümichen from the University of Strasbourg. Located not far from Deir el-Bahari, it is larger than most of the more famous pharaohs' tombs that are found in the necropolis. It is composed of twenty-two rooms connected by long corridors and distributed on three levels extending twenty metres below the level of the ground. The tomb owner served one or more pharaohs during the 25th to 26th Dynasty time period, and amassed enough wealth and power to build a labyrinthine tomb covered with hundreds of metres of frescoes and hieroglyphs. The tomb was and still remains the largest known non-royal site in the necropolis as of 2008. TT33 consists of 22 rooms, reached by flights of steps, ramps and vertical shafts. During 2004–2005, a joint team from the IFAO (French Institute of Oriental Archaeology, Cairo, Egypt) and the University of Strasbourg explored the chambers of the huge tomb. The official reopening was attended by notable officials from Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities and other archaeologists working in the area. Further planned work will concentrate on the cleaning, restoration and conservation of the tomb, which has been engraved with many important texts, such as Pyramid Texts, the Book of the Dead or the Great Netherworld Books (e.g. Amduat, Book of Gates and Book of Caverns.) The French Epigraphical Mission in Tomb...