Tomb of the butchers

The Tomb of Iruka-Ptah - This tomb is known to the people of Saqqara as the “Tomb of the Butcher”. Iruka-Ptah held the position of head of the royal slaughterhouse during the Fifth Dynasty. He also held a vital position at court as head of the butchers of the royal palace.He took another title,“the purifying priest,” as his mission was to ensure the purity of the offerings before they were presented.The scenes in the tomb are related to his profession,It contains a scene of a large bull being slaughtered, skinned, and cut up in front of it. The tomb’s fame is due to the large numbers of statues carved into the rock.

There are eight statues on the left wall and four on the right wall. The eight wall statues on the left depict the owner of the tomb at different stages of his life.Sometimes he appears as a young man with a mustache, and other times he appears as an old man with wrinkles.One of the statues on the left wall also depicts a woman, perhaps his wife or a relative. The tomb is incomplete, possibly due to the fact that Erruca-Ptah was already very old when he began carving his tomb and there was not enough time to complete the tomb carvings.  The wall inscriptions of this tomb are not in a good state of preservation..Its most important engraving is the scene above the statues on the left wall, which depicts the slaughter of a huge bull.  What follows is the skinning of the animal in front of the owner of the terrace, and the scenes are brightly colored.  The figures of the carved inscription, as well as the hieroglyphic symbols, are much larger than others in other tombs.This may be due to the fact that Eru-keh-ptah was already quite old when he began carving his tomb and there was therefore not enough time to complete the tomb inscriptions.This hypothesis can be accepted because the tomb is incomplete, and there is a black diagram on the left wall.  Five wells were filled in at the end of the mastaba, which connected the upper part to the lower part.

The tomb of Eruka Ptah was discovered by Abd al-Salam Muhammad Hussein - an architect at the Egyptian Antiquities Authority - as part of a series of tombs, when he was cleaning the area south of the rising road to Unas at an embassy. He made a map showing the location of these tombs that he uncovered.This map is dated 1940, so perhaps they are  This year is the same year these tombs were uncovered.This cemetery was not published until Rachewiltz came to the Saqqara region as an assistant to Dr. Selim Hassan 1956-1957. He took advantage of his presence in the region and documented and published this cemetery in a book containing 30 pages in addition to some figures and pictures. Mcfarlrane recently re-studied and published the cemetery in a very valuable and useful study. Rachewiltz completed and added much to the study, and distinguished herself from it in studying new elements in the cemetery and with distinctive cultural comments.There is another study, carried out by Harpur on the cemetery. In an oral discussion with us, Harpur believes that this tomb belonged to another person who carved it and carved the rock statues and then left it and abandoned it for some reason, and Eruka Ptah came and exploited it and added inscriptions, colors and an imaginary door to it, and she relied in its restoration on the presence of some plaster.The writings are above some of the inscriptions

The tomb of Irukaptah, known as the "butchers' tomb," is renowned for its impressive collection of 14 statues that have remarkably well-preserved polychrom Tomb of the butchers is located within a row of tombs consisting of eleven tombs carved into the rocky cliff south of the Unas Road, the most important of which are the three tombs of Eruka Ptah, Akhthotep, and NY Ankh ra) . This cemetery is located to the east of the three tombs. We reach the cemetery through a group of  The newly constructed descending steps, heading from east to west, extend for several metres. The Tomb of Iruka-Ptah - This tomb is known to the people of Saqqara as the “Tomb of the Butcher”. Iruka-Ptah held the position of head of the royal slaughterhouse during the Fifth Dynasty. He also held a vital position at court as head of the butchers of the royal palace.He took another title, “the purifying priest,” as his mission was to ensure the purity of the offerings before they were presented.

The scenes on the eastern wall show Irukaptah and his family in a canoe, hunting birds with a throw-stick. Other men in smaller boats are also participating in bird netting and fishing.There are four rows of brightly decorated ships, although some of the lower ones are damaged. These ships are likely used for transportation and have cabins behind the mast. Additionally, there are preliminary sketches for statues that have been painted in red ochre but not yet carved. Moving along the eastern wall, there is a deep niche with remnants of a painting of Irukaptah seated above it. Inside the tomb, there are five burial shafts that have been filled in, indicating that at least ten family members were buried here. On the western wall, there is a false door stela and closer to the entrance, there are four more statues carved into niches. Three of these statues are male and one is female, but they were left unpainted. An unfinished seated statue was also discovered in the tomb.