The Valley of the Queens is the burial place of queens in ancient Egypt. It was known in ancient times as “Ta-Set-Nefru”, meaning: “the place of the Pharaoh’s sons” or “the place of beauty.” Because in this place the queens of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties (from 1550 to 1070 BC) were buried, in addition to many princes and princesses and a number of the nobility. The graves of these individuals were maintained by priests who performed daily funerary rites and prayed for the dead nobles.
The valley is located near the famous Valley of the Kings, on the west bank of the Nile River in Luxor Governorate.
The reason for choosing this site as a burial site is not known precisely, and the proximity of the site to the workers’ village in Deir el-Medina, as well as to the Valley of the Kings, may have been a factor in this choice. Another consideration is the presence of a sacred cave dedicated to Hathor at the entrance to the valley, and This cave may be associated with the rejuvenation of the dead or their rebirth in the other world.
Although the valley was a major burial place during the 18th and 19th Dynasties for queens, princes, and some nobles, it was no longer a royal burial site after the conclusion of the Twentieth Dynasty. Many of the tombs have been extensively reused, and many have been modified to accommodate multiple burials. In some cases, this included digging burial pits in existing cemeteries. Not much is known about the use of the Valley of the Queens during the Ptolemaic era. During the Roman period we see widespread use of the valley as a burial site again. During the Coptic period, some shelters were erected in some of these cemeteries to house hermits and monks. Cemeteries such as QV60 (Nabtawi) and QV73 (Hanout Tawi) show signs of the Coptic Christian presence. The wall scenes representing the deceased and the Egyptian gods were covered with layers of plaster, and Christian symbols were engraved or painted on top of them, and sometimes Christian symbols continued in these tombs until the seventh century AD.