TT31, the tomb of Khonsu , also called To (or Ta) .

TT31, the tomb of Khonsu , also called To (or Ta) .



At the front, left, is Khonsu, who wears the panther skin (as a rule, an attribute of a sem-priest) over his tunic with sleeves. Frequently this is also described as a leopard skin, but in these pages 'panther' will be used. He has his two arms raised, palms forwards, in worship. Above, is the remains of the text of a solar hymn: "[An adoration of Re] when he arises on the eastern horizon... [by the high-]priest of the lord [of the Two Lands] Men[kheperre] (Thutmosis III), Khonsu, born of the mistress of the house, Tauseret."
• Standing behind Khonsu is "His mother, the chantress of Montu, Tauseret". She wears a long wig whose locks are fastened by a ribbon below the ear and on top of the wig is the customary Theban ointment cone, which takes here the shape of a shell. This is supposed to represent a cone of perfumed grease trickling into the hair and onto the dress, caused by the heat, its material reality is put in doubt and numerous people think than it represents a metaphor to designate perfumes in general. Two lotus flowers, one open, the other closed in button form, complete the symbolic group evoking being in the body of Nut-Hathor, the Theban mountain, at night and returning to the world in the morning. Tauseret wears a large necklace and bracelets on her forearms and also her wrists. With the left hand, she waves two stems of papyrus (?) which surround a Hathoric sistrum, supposed to attract the goddess Hathor by the noise of the rattle which it produces when it is shaken. In her other hand, she holds the counterweight of a Menat necklace, equally related to Hathor.
• The following character, of smaller waist, is "His son, head of the stable, Usermont living anew". He wears a wig which reaches his shoulders, a loincloth, but no upper garment. He holds in one hand two birds (probably ducks) by their wings. The duck was, in the Egyptian symbolism, related to sexuality and rebirth. He is followed by Mutia, the second wife of Khonsu. It can be seen that this one is represented distinctly smaller than his stepmother. Here, as elsewhere in the tomb, the deceased's mother always has precedence over the wives. If the end of the text is taken as a fact, two children had to come with their mother, but they have disappeared.
 According to Davies, there was another underlying scene to this one: it is now lost completely.

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