Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings, or Wadi el-Muluk (وادي الملوك) in Arabic, is a valley in Egypt where tombs were built for the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom, the Eighteenth through Twentieth Dynasties. The official name for the site was 'The Great and Majestic Necropolis of the Millions of Years of the Pharaoh, Life, Strength, Health in The West of Thebes', or more usually, Ta-sekhet-ma'at (the Great Field).

Selected reading

• John Romer, Valley of the Kings (Henry Holt, 1981) – Covers the history of the exploration of the Valley in chronological order.
• Nicholas Reeves and Richard H. Wilkinson, The Complete Valley of the Kings (1996, Thames and Hudson) – Details of all the major tombs, their discovery, art and architecture.
• Alberto Siliotti, Guide to the Valley of the Kings (Barnes and Noble, 1997) – A good introduction to the valley and surroundings.
• Kent R. Weeks, Araldo De Luca (photographs), Valley of the Kings (Friedman/Fairfax, 2001) – Spectacular photography of the best tombs.