STRATEGIES OF COMMEMORATION UNDER KING TUTANKHAMUN
In the early twentieth century, King Tutankhamun was merely known by name, with few outstanding monuments. The king’s significance is based on his tomb (KV 62, i.e. Valley of the Kings tomb, no. 62) full of grave gifts, whose centenary rediscovery will be celebrated on November 4 this year. The king died young, which is perhaps one of the reasons his courtiers rose to great power. Many of Tutankhamun’s officials were buried in a central part of the necropolis of Memphis, known today as Saqqara, about 30 km south of modern Cairo. In one area of Saqqara, the Leiden-Turin excavation mission continues a long tradition of the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden that started with the endeavour to rediscover the tomb of Maya, the overseer of the treasury under the kings Tutankhamun and his successor Horemheb (c. 1319–1300 BC). This endeavour was deemed interesting, because the statues of Maya and his wife Merit had been in Leiden
