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Primary sourceSculpture14th century BCE (reign of Tutankhamun)

Tomb of Horemheb

14th century BCE (reign of Tutankhamun)

The Saqqara tomb Horemheb built as Tutankhamun's army commander, decorated with reliefs showing his military role and courtly duties under the king.

Reliefs from this tomb record Horemheb's military service under Tutankhamun, showing the king's reign through his commander's eyes.

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Carved limestone relief with traces of red and colour, in registers: at top, figures seated at a table with offerings; middle, a man driving a yoke of oxen pulling a plough and a figure with cattle; bottom, small figures and a seated man. Vertical columns of hieroglyphs at right.
Relief of Horemheb, 18th Dynasty, reign of Tutankhamun. Memphite Tomb of Horemheb, Saqqara.

About this source

What it is

This tomb at Saqqara was built for Horemheb before he became pharaoh, while he served as commander of the army under Tutankhamun. It was never used for his burial, since he later built a different tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Its reliefs were looted in the 19th century, and the tomb's location was later rediscovered and excavated in the 20th century.

Why it matters

The carved scenes record the military and administrative side of Tutankhamun's reign, showing Horemheb presenting foreign captives to the king and standing in for him in official duties. It reveals how power worked around the young pharaoh, with high officials like Horemheb carrying out much of the real governing.

Look closer

  • What do the scenes of captives suggest about how Egypt dealt with foreign peoples?
  • Why might a powerful official build himself such an elaborate tomb while still serving another king?
  • What does it tell us that Horemheb later became pharaoh himself?

This sculpture is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Tutankhamun on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Photograph of the gold funerary mask of Tutankhamun against a black background. The mask shows a stylized face with inlaid blue eyes and eyebrows, a striped blue and gold headdress, a vulture and cobra emblem on the brow, a blue false beard, and a collar of colored inlays.Artifact

Primary source

Mask of Tutankhamun

c. 1333 BCE

Black and white photograph of a wooden figure wearing a striped royal headdress with a uraeus cobra, crossed arms holding ceremonial objects, and hieroglyphic inscriptions in columns on the lower body.Photograph

Primary source

Photograph of Tutankhamun's Shawabti Figure

Harry Burton · 1920s

Interior wall of an Egyptian tomb painted gold, with rows of painted baboon figures and hieroglyphs in boxed panels, a boat scene at top left, and a painted standing figure of a pharaoh at right. A glass display case is visible at the bottom.Artifact

Primary source

Tomb of Tutankhamun

14th century BCE

Black and white photograph of two men inside a tomb opening the carved, hieroglyph-covered gilded doors of a shrine. One man in a light cap kneels and reaches toward the doors, while another man in a jacket leans over from the right. Carved relief figures and inscriptions cover the panels.Photograph

Primary source

Opening the Doors of the Fourth Shrine in Tutankhamun's Tomb

Harry Burton · 1920s

Photo of the Restoration Stela, a tall round-topped reddish stone stele in a museum with carved relief figures at the top and rows of hieroglyphic text below, with a diagonal crack running through it.Document

Primary source

Restoration Stela

Tutankhamun · c. 1326 BCE

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