1) This one, I admit, is just out of curiosity: I know that, in theory, mortuary priests were supposed to eternally keep the cult of the dead king alive by leaving offerings for him, saying prayers for him, et cetera. Now, obviously the 'eternal' bit didn't work out, or they'd still be at it to this day. So...does anyone know how long a king's mortuary priests would really keep at it, before they ran out of money/got bored/died out (and which of these is the correct option)?
2) Okay, this one is actually for the story: Apparently the mortuary priests were supposed to leave offerings of food and water for the dead king's soul to eat. Now where exactly would these offerings be left? (Dealing with a Valley of the Kings, totally-ripped-off-from-Tutankhamun tomb here) Would they just be left out in the open in the valley, in front of the tomb's entrance? Or was there some kind of altar or shrine?
When I visited the Metropolitan Museum in New York a year ago, there was a re-created Egyptian tomb that seemed to have some kind of small external shrine room with a small window that looked into a room with a statue of the deceased. Has anyone else seen this thing, and would that shrine be used for offerings? --I don't think the tomb was a KV tomb, but I'm willing to fudge a bit! ;)
3) And another one for the story: When visiting a tomb in the Valley of the Kings, how far inside could someone (*coughdeadking'smourninglovercough*) go? Would they just have to hang out in the valley beside the tomb entrance, or would they be able to enter, say, the outermost corridor or something?
