WV23

Tomb WV23, also known as KV23, was the burial place of Ay, a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty, in the Western Valley of the Kings near modern-day Luxor. The tomb was discovered in 1816 by Giovanni Belzoni. Its architecture is similar to the royal tomb of Akhenaten at Amarna, with a straight descending corridor leading to a "well chamber" that has no shaft. This leads to the burial chamber, which contains the reconstructed sarcophagus, which was smashed in antiquity. The tomb was anciently desecrated, with many instances of Ay's image or name erased from the wall paintings. Its decoration is similar in content and colour to that of the tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62), with a few differences. On the eastern wall there is a depiction of a fishing and fowling scene, which is not shown in other royal tombs, normally appearing in burials of nobility.

==History== ===Burial=== Ay ruled as pharaoh during the late Eighteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom. He was a vizier under Tutankhamun, and later succeeded him as king. Ay was likely an old man when he became king and only ruled for four years. He was buried in WV23, a tomb in the Western Valley of the Kings thought to have been originally intended for Tutankhamun.