Mastaba of Ptah-Hotep and Akhti-Hotep
Address:
Between Step Pyramid and Serapeum
Saqqara
12561 Cairo, Egypt
Phone:
+20 2 285 4509 (Tourist information)
Description:
The double mastaba tomb of Ptah-Hotep and Akhti-Hotep is just off the left of the road that leads up towards the refreshment area and the Mastaba of Ti in Saqqara. Ptah-Hotep was a priest of Maat, the Goddess of Justice, during the reign of Pharaoh Djedkare (predecessor of Unas, builder of the pyramid containing the earliest known Pyramid texts). Akhti-Hotep was his son, a vizier and supervisor of pyramid cities and priests. The Mastaba of Ptah-Hotep and Akhti-Hotep has a separate burial chamber and chapel for each of the deceased, and is considered to be one of the finest mastabas in Saqqara. The hunting and farming scenes in Ptah-Hotep's part of the tomb are particularly well preserved, still retaining lots of detail and much of their original colour. The mastaba of Ptah-Hotep and Akhti-Hotep is also interesting because not all of the reliefs have been finished, but are in various stages of completion. You can see different stages of the process whereby initial sketches were corrected in red by a master artist, before areas were chiselled away, cut with detail, and finally painted to produce the finished product.
Map:
