The tomb of Ti at the Step pyramid of Djoser funerary complex in Saqqara, Egypt.

© alonanola/Shutterstock

Mastaba of Ti

Top choice in Cairo Outskirts & the Nile Delta


The Mastaba of Ti was discovered by Auguste Mariette in 1865. This grand and detailed private tomb is not only Old Kingdom art at its best but also one of our main sources of knowledge about life in Old Kingdom Egypt. Its owner, Ti, was overseer of the Abu Sir pyramids and sun temples (among other things) during the 5th dynasty. In fact, the superb quality of his tomb is in keeping with his nickname, Ti the Rich.

A life-size statue of the deceased stands in the tomb’s offering hall (the original is in Cairo's Egyptian Museum). Ti’s wife, Neferhetpes, was priestess and ‘royal acquaintance’. Together with their two sons, Demedj (overseer of the duck pond) and Ti (inspector of royal manicurists), the couple appears throughout the tomb alongside detailed scenes of daily life. As men and women are seen working on the land, preparing food, fishing, building boats, dancing, trading and avoiding crocodiles, their images are accompanied by chattering hieroglyphic dialogue, all no doubt familiar to Ti during his career as a royal overseer: ‘Hurry up, the herdsman’s coming’, ‘Don’t make so much noise!’, ‘Pay up – it’s cheap!’.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Cairo Outskirts & the Nile Delta attractions

1. Serapeum

0.18 MILES

The Serapeum, dedicated to the sacred Apis bull, is one of the highlights of visiting Saqqara. The first Apis burial took place in the reign of Amenhotep…

2. Philosophers' Circle

0.21 MILES

This quite sad-looking group of Greek statues, the remnant of a collection of philosophers and poets set up as a wayside shrine by Ptolemy I (323–283 BC)…

3. Tomb of Akhethotep & Ptahhotep

0.32 MILES

This joint mastaba for Akhethotep and his son Ptahhotep has two burial chambers, two chapels and a pillared hall. The painted reliefs in Ptahhotep’s…

4. Pyramid of Userkaf

0.51 MILES

Northeast of the Step Pyramid is the Pyramid of Userkaf, the first pharaoh of the 5th dynasty (closed to the public for safety reasons). Although the…

5. Step Pyramid of Zoser

0.52 MILES

In the year 2650 BC, Pharaoh Zoser (2667–2648 BC) asked his chief architect, Imhotep (later deified), to build him a Step Pyramid. This is the world's…

6. Tomb of Mereruka

0.56 MILES

Mereruka was the successor to Kagemni as Pharaoh Titi's chief justice and his tomb, like Kagemni's, is full of preserved reliefs of daily life. Some of…

7. Tomb of Kagemni

0.59 MILES

The plump-looking chief justice under Teti, Kagemni appears in his own mastaba tomb as though he enjoyed the riches of the land, if the splendid and…

8. Pyramid of Teti

0.6 MILES

The Pyramid of Teti (2345–2323 BC), the first pharaoh of the 6th dynasty, was built in step form and cased in limestone, but today only a modest mound…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "egypt/saqqara-memphis-dahshur/attractions/mastaba-of-ti/a/poi-sig/1453975/1330429",
      "destination": "Cairo-Outskirts-&-the-Nile-Delta",
      "continent": "Africa",
      "country": "Egypt",
      "region": "Cairo-Outskirts-&-the-Nile-Delta",
      "position": "superzone"
    }