South Chamber
Section 11/20: The South Chamber of the Western High Gate of Medinet Habu.
According to Hölscher, the original purpose of this room may have been to house a staircase providing access to the upper floors of the Western High Gate. However, there was no archaeological evidence to confirm this theory, since the function of the room had changed dramatically in antiquity, thus wiping away the traces of its earliest use. During the 21st Dynasty this chamber was adapted for funerary purposes, and the remains of some of those tombs are visible in this section. The South Chamber continued in use even after the gate proper was dismantled sometime between the 22nd and 25th Dynasties; the tombs were then filled in and new foundations laid, possibly to support columns.
Project: The Epigraphic Survey in collaboration with the MoTA
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