Prince Mentuherkhepshef is unique.
He is the only prince to be buried in his own decorated tomb (KV19) in the Valley of the Kings.
Mentuherkhepshef was a son of King Ramesses IX from Egypt’s 20th Dynasty.
Inside the tomb are seven scenes showing the prince adoring or making offerings to various gods. One of these is Ptah-Tatenen.
In the 19th Dynasty, Ptah-Tatenen first appears as a union of two Memphite gods, Ptah and Tatenen, who was then worshipped as a royal creator god.
He is depicted in human form wearing a crown consisting of a pair of ram’s horms, surmounted by a sun disk and two tall feathers.
Many of us are familiar with Ptah, an ancient god who self-created and then thought the world into being.
Tatenen is lesser-known but also appeared early on in Egyptian mythology. He was born in the moment the primordial mound rose from the watery chaos and so became god of the fertile earth emerging from the receding waters of the inundation.
Photo: Kairoinfo4U