The Significance of Banquet Scenes in The New Kingdom Theban Private Tombs

are highly symbolic monuments. They belonged to a group of high officials who desired to guarantee their rebirth in the afterlife and to retain their identity and memory for all time. These tombs provide a wealth of information regarding the deceased's life, accomplishments, and social status. Additionally, they provide insight into Egyptian religious beliefs, rituals, and deities, as well as numerous other social, economic, and artistic realities of the era.This paper aims to discuss the iconography of banquet scenes in the Theban private tombs focusing especially on the food consumption as a significant practice in ancient Egypt, especially during New Kingdom Period, through number of tomb scenes. This paper depends on a descriptive- analytical methodology to identify the term of banquets, describe the iconography of ancient Egyptian banquets, investigate the occasions of banqueting, clarify the function of banqueting, finally discuss the economic and social consequences of banqueting. This paper would conclude that the tombs banquets scenes created direct communication between the living and the dead by means of food ritual, music, songs, and dancing.