The Door To Afterlife Discovered

Life

oi-Devaki

By Devaki

Wednesday, March 31, 2010, 13:30

An Egyptian excavation team has unearthed a 3,500-year-old door to the afterlife. It was found from the tomb of a high-ranking Egyptian official near Karnak temple, in Luxor.

The six foot tall red granite door, to the afterlife is engraved with religious texts. It belonged to the tomb of User, the chief minister of Queen Hatshepsut, the long-ruling 15th century BC queen from the New Kingdom.

The door, known as a false door, was meant to be a threshold that allowed the deceased and his wife to interact with the world of the living.

This “interaction" was not for User.

More than 1,000 years after his death, the massive false door was removed from the tomb during the Roman Period. It was converted as the wall of a Roman structure.

User was a powerful man. He was the uncle of the well-known Rekhmire, who was the King Tuthmosis III's chief minister. He took office in the fifth year of Queen Hatshepsut"s reign, about 1474 B.C.

Viziers in ancient Egypt were powerful officials who oversaw the running of the kingdom's intricate bureaucracy. User held the position of vizier for 20 years, also earning the titles of prince and mayor of the city.

A chapel of User was also found at Gebel el-Silsila, a mountain quarry site at Aswan, showing the importance of the post of vizier in ancient Egypt, especially during the 18th Dynasty.