Onions in Roy's tomb

A mural detail in the tomb of Roy shows a Sem priest in a leopard skin performing a fumigation with incense and a libation in front of a large bundle of onions, tied at the top by a red and white handle. This “bouquet” of onions was offered during the Feast of Onions and was meant to return the breath of life to the underworld god Sokar. Roy was an 18th dynasty royal scribe during the reign of Horemheb. His tomb (TT 255) can be found in the Necropolis of Dra Abu el-Naga on the Westbank at Luxor. It is one of the socalled “Tombs of the Nobles”