Siptah’s reign (circa 1197–1191 BCE) fell during a period of dynastic instability following the death of Merenptah. His tomb was begun and partly completed under the supervision of Chancellor Bay and was left unfinished at the king’s early death. KV47 lies in the southeastern branch of the main wadi of the Valley of the Kings, positioned near KV32 and KV44, and its plan and iconographic program align it with the series of tombs constructed for the later Ramesside monarchs, though with notable irregularities caused by geological and political constraints. The tomb was first entered in antiquity and suffered from periodic flooding that damaged much of the decoration. The mummy of Siptah was later relocated to the royal cache in tomb KV35 (Amenhotep II) where it was discovered in 1898.

circa 1197-1191 BCE

Layout
KV47 follows the bent-axis plan typical of Nineteenth Dynasty royal tombs but in a simplified and truncated form. The tomb extends approximately 105 meters into the limestone hillside. The entrance cuts through a steep slope and opens onto a descending corridor sequence (corridors B and C) leading to a well chamber (E), which was never fully excavated or lined. Beyond the well chamber, a pillared hall (F) was hewn, followed by the burial chamber (J), which occupies the core of the monument. The builders encountered a fault line in the rock that forced a modification of the plan: the axis shifts slightly to the left after the well chamber, producing a characteristic kink noted by Ayrton. The burial chamber, larger than those of most private tombs but smaller than those of earlier kings, contains a rectangular pit cut to receive the sarcophagus and a number of side niches that were never decorated.

Pharaoh Siptah's sarcophagus is a large, cartouche-shaped sarcophagus made of red granite, located in his tomb, KV47, in the Valley of the Kings. It is decorated with scenes from the Book of the Earth, and the lid features the pharaoh's effigy along with protective deities and symbols like Isis, Nephthys, and a crocodile. While Siptah's mummy is not in the sarcophagus, his calcite inner sarcophagus was found with other funerary equipment, though these items are now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

circa 1197-1191 BCE

Decoration Program
Decoration in KV47 follows the established Ramesside corpus but was executed only in the initial corridors and parts of the burial chamber. The entrance and first corridors bear excerpts from the Litany of Re, rendered in yellow figures on a blue-grey background. The style of the reliefs, though precise, is less refined than that of the earlier reigns of Seti I or Ramesses II, with outlines frequently drawn in red and left uncorrected. In the later corridors and in the burial chamber, traces of scenes from the Book of Gates and the Book of the Dead can be discerned, though many are incomplete or lost to flood damage. The ceiling of the burial chamber preserves portions of astronomical decoration—yellow stars on a dark blue ground—indicating continuity with the celestial themes prominent in royal tombs of the period.

Inscriptions identify the owner as “the Osiris, King Siptah, justified”, accompanied by representations of deities including Re-Horakhty, Osiris, and Anubis. The combination of texts—primarily solar and underworld compositions—reflects the transitional theology of the late Nineteenth Dynasty, uniting solar regeneration and Osirian resurrection motifs. The absence of scenes from the Book of Caverns, increasingly common in later Ramesside tombs, underscores the unfinished nature of the decorative scheme.

Today, KV47 remains an important monument for the study of late Ramesside funerary architecture, illustrating the persistence of the royal tomb tradition under conditions of political and economic constraint. Its architectural irregularities and incomplete decoration provide a valuable index of the shifting resources and shortened reigns that characterized the close of the Nineteenth Dynasty.