We're quite linear in this country: computer programs are linear – zero, one, zero, one, we write in the linear fashion. And the Egyptians wrote to fit a space, completely differently. If they thought it'd look better, they abbreviated it or they cut up hieroglyphs or they moved them around.
Tutankhamun was actually in the tomb with wall paintings. In most Egyptian tombs you either got wall paintings or you've got a coffin, which is not in the right tomb. Anyway, in yellow, because the tomb was thought of as the house of gold, the house of eternity. They've all got that black line along the top, which, if you look, dips at the other end, so it's a sign for heaven.
Here you've got Tutankhamun, he's mummified, he's in white, the colour of mourning, and he's mummified because he's died. He is holding the royal regalia and he's got a green collar. Green is very much seen in collars throughout the tomb, because it’s to do with the resurrection. That we suspect, because of the Nile flooding and giving fertility and bringing life again in the colour green.
Above his head is his name, Neb Kheperu Re, which he is frequently referred to as 'Neb', which is 'Lord', 'Kheperu', which is the scarab, which is symbolic for rebirth, because the scarab comes out again from the earth, and there is 'Re', which is Sun. Nearly every pharaoh has got 'Re' is some way or other. And this is in the cartouche, which was a French name given to this shape, it was completely the Egyptian shape. Whenever you see the cartouche, you know it belongs to Pharaoh. So therefore you can date it, because you know what the Pharaoh's name was.
Ay was a succeeding Pharaoh and he is acting as a successor to open Tutankhamun's mouth to resurrect him. Tutankhamun is then successfully resurrected, so now his feet are open, he's no longer mummified. He is holding the ankh, the symbol of life and the staff. He's been greeted by Nut, the goddess Nut of the night, from which you get the French word 'la nuit'.
And when he successfully passed her by, he's being now greeted at the heaven by Osiris, the Son of their God. And Osiris was killed on Earth and dismembered and he has been resurrected. He is greeting Tutankhamun and he is in a mummified form, he is always represented like that. And with a green face, the symbolic colour for resurrection. And Tutankhamun has cupped his hand behind Osiris' head, which I love.
So we've got the west wall of Tutankhamun's tomb. And you've got the twelve baboons, which represent the twelve hours of the night. And the baboon is associated with the god Thoth, who is the god of writing, of scribes, of, I guess, intelligence, of Moon. And he was also to do with measurements, he can measure you, help measure, whether your heart and your life worked out if you could go to heaven or not go to heaven. Each baboon had different name, so in order to pass through each hour, you had to talk to the baboon, qualify his name and you can pass to the next hour. Have you waited through all of twelve hours, you can make it up to heaven. So you got Tutankhamun upstairs in boat, boat ready to carry him. And he got the six gods the other side representing his passage through the night.
This was actually the wall they broke through from the other side. That is where you can imagine Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter evenly coming through. Hathor is opening Tutankhamun's mouth symbolically resurrecting him. Anubis is behind him. I think, it's lovely, it's a protecting gesture on Tutankhamun's shoulder, saying “Hey, you're gonna come up with me into the next world!” He's the god of embalming, the jackal guarding his treasury in the next, in the north room. He's again looking after and protecting Tutankhamun.
And the life here on the Earth was transient. The houses were built of mud and brick, the tombs were made of stone. That's why we still have a record, because they haven't changed, they are still there. So thus he was buried within gold, within gold, within gold, because gold is immutable, it never changes.
These walls and all these paintings are about guidance and protection. And because he was a pharaoh, it's reinforced many-many times over. And the whole thing is greeting Tutankhamun and taking him up to heaven.
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