Mastaba of Ti

Mastaba of Ti
Serdab at the Mastaba of Ti
Interactive map of Mastaba of Ti
29°52′38″N 31°12′42″E / 29.87722°N 31.21167°E / 29.87722; 31.21167
TypeMastaba
LocationBadrashin, Giza, Egypt
History
Builtc. 2400 BC
Site notes
Discovered1865 by Auguste Mariette

The Mastaba of Ti is an ancient Egyptian mastaba at Saqqara, built for Ti, an official of the Fifth Dynasty. Its chapel decoration includes scenes of farming, fishing, marsh hunting and boat construction. The tomb also contains two serdabs, enclosed chambers for funerary statues.

Ti and his career

Ti, also spelled Ty, was a senior official during the Fifth Dynasty. His responsibilities included supervising pyramids and sun temples at Abusir. His career and the royal names recorded in his tomb are among the evidence used to date the monument.

Dating and construction

The dating of the mastaba has been debated. Johannes Auenmüller identifies two main positions in earlier scholarship: one associates the tomb with the reigns of Neferirkare and Niuserre, while the other places it later, between Niuserre's reign and the end of the Fifth Dynasty.

These differences reflect the use of several kinds of evidence, including inscriptions, architectural features and the style of the decoration. Auenmüller argues that the construction history extended from at least Neferirkare's reign to that of Niuserre, with the decoration probably completed under Niuserre. His analysis distinguishes the historical dating of the monument from its position in a sequence based on artistic style.

Architecture and serdabs

The mastaba contains two serdabs. Such chambers enclosed funerary statues and could communicate with the chapel through small openings. The chapel was the area in which visitors brought offerings.

Luiza Osorio G. Silva discusses Ti's serdab as an example of the relationship between statues, visibility and funerary ritual. She notes that the chamber would originally have been almost completely dark. In her interpretation, the openings in serdabs should not be understood solely as a means for visitors to see the statues inside.

Silva connects the figures beside the opening in Ti's tomb with the presentation of offerings and incense. She interprets the opening as allowing the statue to receive their scents and thus participate in the rituals of the chapel while remaining concealed.

Chapel decoration

The chapel's agricultural scenes depict work with hoes and ploughs, as well as sheep treading the soil after sowing. Fishing scenes include the use of traps and seine nets, together with the preparation and drying of fish. Other scenes show marsh hunting, cattle and boat construction.

Henri Wild documented the chapel through photographs and line drawings in the second fascicle of Le tombeau de Ti, published in 1953. The volume also includes diagrams identifying the positions of scenes and inscriptions on the walls, pillars and architrave.

References

  1. 1 2 Auenmüller 2014, p. 7.
  2. ↑ Wild 1953, plates CXI–CXIII, CXIX, CXXIII and CXXIX.
  3. 1 2 White, Jon Ewbank Manchip (1970). Ancient Egypt: Its Culture and History. Dover Publications. p. 63. ISBN 9780486225487.
  4. ↑ "A Virtual tour through the Tomb of Ty". Discover Egypt's Monuments. Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
  5. 1 2 Auenmüller 2014, pp. 7–18.
  6. ↑ Silva 2024, pp. 67–68.
  7. 1 2 Silva 2024, p. 68.
  8. ↑ Wild 1953, plates CXII–CXIII.
  9. ↑ Wild 1953, plates LXXVII and CXXIII.
  10. ↑ Wild 1953, plates CXIX, CXXIV and CXXIX.
  11. ↑ Wild 1953, Avertissement; plates CXXX–CXXXII.
  12. ↑ Kellaway, Peter (1946). "The Part Played by Electric Fish in the Early History of Bioelectricity and Electrotherapy". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 20 (2): 112–137. PMID 20277440.

Bibliography