Wall 3

Another very damaged wall in the tomb, it seems to be the counterpart to wall 4 which bears the text and images relating to Senneferi's voyage to the Lebanon.

Right part

The German Egyptologist Kurt Sethe was of the opinion that this wall showed Thutmose III sending Sennefer on a mission to Lebanon to obtain wood. Nothing is preserved at the right-hand end of this wall, but if Sethe's interpretation of the surviving text is correct, it seems very likely that part of this space would have been filled with a scene of the king in a kiosk not unlike that attested on wall 4. In front of the king would have been a figure of Senneferi, although any serious attempt at a reconstruction is made next to impossible by the poor preservation of the original decoration.

Three parts of the decoration survive. Click on small photos to see larger versions.

The text of the king probably sending Sennefer to Lebanon is reached at approximately 3 m from the right-hand end of the wall. The photos above show the one main area of text and another isolated strip. From this you can imagine that the translation will be very fragmentary.

Only a few signs survive from the end of the speech of the king, written in retrograde style (i.e. it faces left but the first line would have been at the right, representing the words as coming from the mouth of the king. It mentions the "noble terraces [of cedar]", a reference to the Lebanon.

The right-facing text is an encomium of praise of the king by Sennefer. Again, the translation is broken:

1   [Senneferi replied to his majesty]
2    I said … the lector priest …
3   made you excellent to place you on his throne …
4   for millions of millions (of years) for the happiness of the rekhyt and the gods …
5   under your charge, for you are happy with / you take the inheritance of [your] father Atum … [for he knows that you are]
6 one who does what is excellent, for that which you recognises is established [perhaps on a throne?] …
7 who builds his tzwt (possibly something on which gods stand). Your breath of life …
8   before you, for we adore your perfection, for we live ///
9    the uraeus is upon you … palace …
10 -12 unclear
13    … to? your eyes …
14    Your tongue is the balance of the two lands, it is the plumb-bob of the Nine Bows, it is the sun for the divine? ///
15 Egypt, his statue is on earth, he has made you [through the exactness of his heart]

(The rest is lost)

The second part of Eichler's article on these texts in TT99 ('Die Reisen des Sennefri (TT 99)', Studien zur altägyptischen Kultur 26 (1998), 215-228) considers the context and type of the texts on Walls 3 and 4. He makes the interesting suggestion that the text should be grouped with the so-called 'Königsnovelle', with its formal structure of praise of the king, which is clearly reflected in the text on Wall 3. There are examples of such texts in other Theban tombs, notably TT131. The difference in TT99 is the addition of the episode of the Lebanon visit on Wall 4; for this, Eichler suggests a particular parallel with the Punt text of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari. This combination of features seems particularly apposite, particular in view of the fact that Senneferi's text is not much later in date.

Left end

A small isolated area of text is found at the left end; its relation to the other texts on the wall is unclear, but could be part of another sub-scene.

It has not yet been possible to suggest the meaning of this text, nor of its context.

A description of how we document the paintings will be found here.