Deir el-Medina
The settlement of Deir el-Medina was home to the royal artisans – the crews of men who excavated and decorated the tombs in the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens during the New Kingdom. The village takes its modern arabic name from the Coptic monastery that was later founded on the site. “The Village”, as it was known to its ancient inhabitants, was a state institution – set up specifically to house the royal craftsmen and their families.
The concept for the workmen’s community can be attributed to Amenophis I (1525 – 1503 B.C.), though the first houses only appeared during the reign of his successor, Tuthmosis I. The settlement underwent several phases of redevelopment. By the reign of Ramesses II, the settlement contained approximately seventy terraced houses. With the exception of its brief abandonment during the Amarna Period, Deir el-Medina saw continuous occupation right down to the closing years of the 20th Dynasty. It finally fell into disuse during the reign of the last Ramesside king, Ramesses XI, when the entire community was relocated to Medinet Habu due to unrest in the area caused by bedouin raiding parties from the western Libyan desert.
Today, the village comes alive for us through from a wide variety of sources – from the archaeological finds from the houses and tombs, funerary inscriptions, stelae, statues and graffiti, as well as from the thousands of literary, administrative and personal records that were found here. This treasure trove has vastly improved our understanding of the cultural, social and political identity of Egyptian society.
- Introduction to Deir el-Medina - 2:33
- The Evolution of the Village - 1:52
- The Western Cemetery - 3:24
- Local Chapels - 1:17
- Ptolemaic Temple - 0:55
- The Grand Puits - 1:09
