Valley of the Kings: which pharaoh lies where

The Valley of the Kings is a dry valley on the west bank of the Nile opposite Luxor, where New Kingdom kings were buried in cut tombs from about 1500 BC. On this site 27 rulers are recorded as buried there.

Why they moved from pyramids

A pyramid was easy to find and, as the First Intermediate Period showed, easy to rob. Thutmose I is thought to have been the first king to separate his tomb from his funeral temple, hiding the tomb in a hidden valley below a peak shaped like a pyramid, and putting the temple on the plain. His successors followed. Most later tombs have a long sloping corridor, one or more halls and a burial chamber, painted with texts such as the Amduat and Book of Gates.

Famous tombs

Tutankhamun's small tomb was nearly untouched when Howard Carter found it in 1922, which is why it is so well known; the tomb of Seti I is the most finely decorated, and that of Ramesses VI was open to visitors in antiquity. Ramesses II's tomb, KV7, was damaged by flooding. His sons' tomb, KV5, is one of the largest in Egypt.

Elsewhere

Kings of the Third to Sixth Dynasties lie at Saqqara, Dahshur, Giza and Abusir. Middle Kingdom kings lie at Lisht, Dahshur and Hawara. After the New Kingdom the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Dynasty kings were buried inside the temple precinct at Tanis in the Delta, where Psusennes I's silver coffin was found. The Ptolemies lie at Alexandria, in a place known as the Soma that has never been found.

In the Valley of the Kings

Rulers recorded here:

• Thutmose I Dynasty 18, 1504 BC to 1492 BC
• Thutmose II Dynasty 18, 1492 BC to 1479 BC
• Hatshepsut Dynasty 18, 1479 BC to 1458 BC
• Thutmose III Dynasty 18, 1479 BC to 1425 BC
• Amenhotep II Dynasty 18, 1427 BC to 1400 BC
• Thutmose IV Dynasty 18, 1400 BC to 1390 BC
• Amenhotep III Dynasty 18, 1390 BC to 1352 BC
• Tutankhamun Dynasty 18, 1332 BC to 1323 BC
• Ay Dynasty 18, 1323 BC to 1319 BC
• Horemheb Dynasty 18, 1319 BC to 1292 BC
• Ramesses I Dynasty 19, 1292 BC to 1290 BC
• Seti I Dynasty 19, 1290 BC to 1279 BC
• Ramesses II Dynasty 19, 1279 BC to 1213 BC
• Merneptah Dynasty 19, 1213 BC to 1203 BC
• Amenmesse Dynasty 19, 1203 BC to 1200 BC
• Seti II Dynasty 19, 1203 BC to 1197 BC
• Siptah Dynasty 19, 1197 BC to 1191 BC
• Twosret Dynasty 19, 1191 BC to 1189 BC
• Setnakhte Dynasty 20, 1189 BC to 1186 BC
• Ramesses III Dynasty 20, 1186 BC to 1155 BC
• Ramesses IV Dynasty 20, 1155 BC to 1149 BC
• Ramesses V Dynasty 20, 1149 BC to 1145 BC
• Ramesses VI Dynasty 20, 1145 BC to 1137 BC
• Ramesses VII Dynasty 20, 1137 BC to 1130 BC
• Ramesses IX Dynasty 20, 1129 BC to 1111 BC
• Ramesses X Dynasty 20, 1111 BC to 1107 BC
• Ramesses XI Dynasty 20, 1107 BC to 1077 BC