KV 17

Sety I

Modern steps and a landing with benches precede twenty-six ancient steps leading to the beginning of corridor B. Modern retaining walls surround the entryway.

There is a column of text on the left (southeast) return giving the king's names and epithets.

This sloping corridor is decorated in raised relief. The left (southeast) wall shows Sety I before Ra-Horakhty, followed by the opening scene of the Litany of Ra and the opening text of this composition. The opening scene of the Litany appears for the first time in a royal tomb. The right (northwest) wall continues the text of the Litany of Ra and the ceiling is decorated with vultures, every other one cobra-headed. These alternate with texts giving the names of Sety I, and columns of texts run along the edges of the ceiling. A pair of holes for a wooden beam were cut in the walls toward the rear (southwest) end of this corridor. The right (northwest) hole was filled with plaster over which the columns of text were carved.

The outer lintel is decorated with a winged sun disk. The reveals and thicknesses are covered with texts of the Litany of Ra.

The steps descend at a steep thirty degree angle. Trapezoidal recesses are cut at the tops of the walls. Both walls at the top of the stairwell are decorated with the various manifestations of Ra from the Litany of Ra, both in the recesses and for almost the full length of the stairwell. Almost identical versions of the third hour of the Imydwat cover the left (southeast) and right (northwest) walls for the rest of the corridor, but these were left unfinished with only a part of the text carved in relief and the remainder simply drawn in outline. At the end of this corridor, on both walls is a drawing of Anubis. Under him on the southeast wall is Isis. She is replaced by Nephthys on the northwest wall. The ceiling is painted with a continuation of the Litany of Ra. A kneeling figure of Ma'at with outspread wings, flanked by cartouches of Sety I, decorated the vertical face of the overhang near the rear of this stairwell's ceiling.

Two kneeling figures of winged goddesses flank the cartouches of Sety I on the lintel, and the kings' names and titles appear on the outer faces of the reveals. On the right thickness are traces of two baboons, perhaps from the beginning of the upper register of the third hour of the Imydwat.

This sloping corridor is decorated with the fourth and fifth hours of the Imydwat on the right (northwest) and left (southeast) walls, respectively. Near the lower ends of these walls are outlines in black for what in later tombs are a pair of rectangular recesses.

The outer lintel is decorated with a winged sun disk and the reveals with the names of Sety I.

A shaft has been cut through the floor of this chamber. The five scenes on the left (southeast) side of the chamber show jackal-headed Anubis, Sety I being led by Horus to Isis, the king offering wine to Hathor, the king before Osiris, and finally the Western Goddess. On the right (northwest) side, the king is shown led by Horus to Hathor and to Isis, offering wine to Hathor, before Osiris, and there are also depictions of Osiris seated, and Anubis and Horus. The ceiling is painted with yellow stars on a blue background. It cannot be determined if the widening of the bottom of the shaft was intentional. The shaft has not yet been fully cleared.

The gate is undecorated.

This is a roughly square chamber with two rows of two pillars flanking the central axis. From the descent, the central tomb axis is displaced to the left (southeast). The left (southeast) side of the chamber is divided into three registers decorated with the fourth division (P)/fifth hour (H) of the Book of Gates. One scene represents the four "races" of mankind, for the first time in this composition differentiated by their physical characteristics. The right (northwest) side of the chamber is similarly divided into three registers and is decorated with the fifth division (P)/sixth hour (H) of the Book of Gates. On the rear (southwest) wall, the king is presented to Osiris and Hathor by Horus.

The descent is situated to the rear in the southern corner of pillared chamber F.

The outer thicknesses are decorated with texts and figures from the fifth division (P)/sixth hour (H) of the Book of Gates. On the inner thicknesses are texts from the beginning of the ninth and eleventh hours of the Imydwat.

The floor of side chamber Fa is several steps lower than pillared chamber F and has two pillars. On the left (southeast) wall and the left (northwest) part of the front (northeast) wall is the ninth hour of the Imydwat. The tenth and eleventh hours cover the right (southeast) part of the front wall, the right (northwest) wall, and the rear (southwest) wall. All the decoration is drawn in black outline only. There is a break in the bottom of the left wall into corridor G. On the pillars, the king is shown with several deities.

The top of this gate is damaged. On the thicknesses, Hathor holds a menat necklace up to the king. These reliefs were removed by Champollion and Rosellini and are now in the Louvre and Florence.

The continuation of the tomb bends slightly right (northwest) of the previous tomb axis. The walls are decorated with texts and scenes from the Opening of the Mouth ritual. There are many instances where vandals have cut out the king's cartouches, texts and figures.

Scenes from the Opening of the Mouth ritual are represented on the jambs.

Five steps lead into corridor H. The upper part of the side walls were cut back to form a recess along each side. In these recesses are scenes from the Opening of the Mouth ritual. Below them, decoration on both walls is dominated by part of the Litany of the Eye of Horus, a composition originally derived from the Pyramid Texts. The ceiling is decorated with yellow stars on a blue background. Again, vandals have been at work here, cutting out texts, figures, and cartouches.

A winged disk decorates the outer lintel, and the reveals are decorated with the king's names. There are two cobras on the thicknesses, one representing Nekhbet (on the southeast) and Wadjet (on the northwest).

Squeezes taken of scenes in this chamber in the nineteenth century caused considerable loss of color. The king is shown with various deities. The ceiling is painted with stars.

The burial chamber J is divided into two parts. An initial raised section contains two rows of three pillars arranged along the central axis. Two subsidiary chambers (Ja, Je) lead off from the left (southeast) and right (northwest) walls of this pillared section. Three stepped descents on either side and between the last pair of pillars (3 and 6) lead to the sunken rear part of the burial chamber which has a vaulted ceiling. A rectangular pit is situated at the northwest end of the chamber, giving access to the beginning of corridor K. Gates in the left and right walls lead to subsidiary chambers (Jb) and (Jd), respectively, and a gate at the left (southeast) end of the right wall leads to side chamber Jc. Recesses are located at floor level in the left and right walls, and there are pairs of magical brick niches higher up in these walls.

The walls of the sunken end of the chamber are covered with three hours from the Imydwat, and the walls of the preceding pillared area are decorated with the first, second and fourth divisions (P)/second, third and fifth hours (H) of the Book of Gates. Large winged kneeling figures of Isis and Nephthys are located at the tops of the left and right walls respectively below the vault of the ceiling. On the ceiling itself are astronomical figures. Pillar 2 has suffered structural damage. The face of its mirroring pillar, pillar 5, across the central axis, was removed by Lepsius. On the remaining pillar faces are representations of deities and compositions of the king before various deities. To the southeast there is a recess which served as a small shrine, perhaps for the canopic chest. Its decoration shows the four sons of Horus on the left (northeast) wall, Osiris on the rear (southeast) wall, and Anubis opening the mouth of Osiris, on the right (southwest) wall.

On the outer lintel is a winged sun disk. The thicknesses were decorated with the cobra goddesses Nekhbet and Wadjet.

On the thicknesses of the gate the king and his ka offer ointment.

The walls of this subsidiary chamber off the left (southeast) wall of the upper chamber of the burial chamber are decorated with the third division (P)/fourth hour (H) of the Book of Gates.

The inner thicknesses bear representations of Nekhbet and Wadjet as cobras over the plants of Upper and Lower Egypt. The outer thicknesses, which have been partly cut away, had representations of the goddess Hathor.

Chamber Jb has two pillars and wide benches midway up the left (northeast), right (southwest) and rear (southeast) walls. There are four shallow recesses in each of the vertical faces below decorated with depictions of funerary objects, such as animal-headed beds, chests, and shrines. The walls above the benches are decorated with the sixth, seventh and eighth hours of the Imydwat. Depictions of Osiris are found on the pillars, although the front (northwest) faces have been damaged. The left (northwest) end of the left bench has also been broken. A recess has been cut in the left (southeast) end of the right wall above the bench. A panel above the gate gives the king's names protected by Wadjet and Nekhbet and a dado pattern of pairs of djed pillars and tyet knots is located on the front (northwest) wall.

A passage at the rear of the burial chamber leads to this unfinished, undecorated chamber. Four pillars stand in a row on a southeast/northwest axis and have suffered damage from rock movement, particularly pillars 3 and 4, over corridor K.

Carter completely rebuilt this gate in the left (southeast) end of the rear (southwest) wall of burial chamber J in brick masonry, topped with an arch, to repair substantial damage to this wall due to collapse brought about by weakening of the stone at the base of the wall over corridor K. The gate is unusually thick and may originally have had compound jambs.

This gate in the left (northwest) end of the right (northwest) wall of the lower part of the burial chamber has traces of anthropomorphized djed pillars painted on the thicknesses.

This undecorated chamber is located to the southwest of burial chamber J

This gate is cut in the right (northwest) wall of the front raised part of the burial chamber J. The right (northeast) thickness shows Sety I offering boxes of colored cloth.

The walls are decorated with the Book of the Heavenly Cow. The figure of the cow depicted on the rear (northwest) wall has suffered loss of color due to squeezes taken in the nineteenth century. Other walls have suffered acts of vandalism.