CHAPTER VII. The Burial of the Dead.

The most casual observer, on examining the Egyptian collection of any of our European museums, will be at once struck with surprise on seeing how large a portion of it relates to the sepulchre and funereal rites of an Egyptian. The most splendid objects, the best workmanship, and the costliest things, were dedicated to the tomb of the deceased by the loving relatives. It will be readily understood that all tombs were not equally beautiful, for then as now the magnificence of a funeral depended upon the will and the power of the relatives to pay for it ; but apparently every one did his best to make the tomb of his friend or beloved as magnificent as his circumstances permitted.

The making of tombs, as well as their decoration, appears to have been carried out by one of the grades of the priests, who no doubt persuaded those who could afford it to indulge in a splendid funeral, for this not only tended to their own magnificence, but to their profit. And it is very certain that only the wealthy could afford to indulge in the luxury of a tomb, with its chambers and costly decorations of rows of hieroglyphs and vignettes : also the cost of the cofifins and the process of mummifying would be considerable. The

K 2

[48

THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

tombs themselves belonged to the priests, who apparently kept several in readiness for the family of the deceased to choose from. Inscriptions and chapters of the Book of the Dead and other sacred books were inscribed also upon its walls, as well as pictures which represented the life of an ordinary mortal, so that the series would apply equally well to the life of any

Female Mourners for the Dead.

purchaser; the only part left blank in the text beingplaces in which the names of the deceased and his titles could be filled in. We have copies of the Book of the Dead in which the name of the deceased is wanting entirely, the reason being that the friends of the dead man went in a hurry to the place where inscribed papyri could be bought, and finding one 'ready made' which suited their purse, they buried it with him, not taking

THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 1 49

the trouble to have his name inserted in the places where it should be.

The friends of the dead of all classes endeavoured to bury a copy of the whole or part of the Book of the Dead with their beloved, for it was considered of the greatest importance that the deceased in his journey and wanderings through the nether world should possess the mystic power imparted by the magic words, formulae, and prayers of the book, which was supposed to be of divine origin, having been written by no less a deity than Thoth, the recorder of the destinies of mankind. The greatest frauds were perpetrated in this way, for the scribe, knowing that in all probability the papyrus would never be unrolled, would not take the pains, if he were lazy, to write carefully and well, or if he were ignorant would make hundreds of mistakes ; while if he were both ignorant and lazy, he would produce such hopeless confusion in an inscription that not even the most learned scribe or priest could make sense of it. Again, if the scribe were ever so well disposed, but had to copy from a hieratic version, and did not understand what he was writing, he would undoubtedly make scores of blunders.

When an important person needed a tomb, the purchase was usually effected by means of a legal docum.ent ; but if a man died in debt the tomb was seized by the creditors, who could even prevent the deceased from being buried therein. Diodorus tells us that the Egyptians called their houses hostelries, on

I50 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE,

account of the short time which they dwelt in them ; but they called the tombs * eternal dwelling-places/ This latter statement is fully borne out by the inscriptions, for they call the tomb ' house of everlasting.' ^

From investigations made by Mariette at Sakkarah, it appears that a tomb, or viastaba, of the ancients Empire consisted of a chamber or series of chamber above ground, a narrower chamber or corridor, and a deep pit sunk into the rock, which led to a vault for holding the sarcophagus. When a visitor entered the chamber and looked around, he saw the walls (frequently covered with pictures), and a stele facing to the east, which was always covered with a hieroglyphic inscription. This chamber was always found without a door, and the stele with the inscription appears to have been the most important part of the chamber ; while in the corridor next to the chamber were placed images or statues of the deceased. Often this part of the tomb had no communication whatever with the other parts of it, for it was walled up entirely and for ever : at other times a small square opening was made in it, in order to allow the perfume of the incense offered in the other chamber to come in to the statues. The pit or well was square, and varied in depth from 40 to 80 feet ; there was neither staircase nor ladder leading from the upper part of the tomb to the bottom of the pit, and unless

_ , pa t et.

THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 151

provided with a rope ladder, it was impossible for a visitor to descend. Following a narrow passage leading from the pit, the sarcophagus chamber was reached, in one corner of which stood the sarcophagus itself. How difficult it was to break into a tomb to do harm to the mummy is at once seen, since it would be necessary to obtain entrance to the chamber or chapel, to break through the partition wall separating the chamber from the corridor, and to find means of descent into the pit itself.

Let us go back again to the first chamber. Within the chamber, and over the door of the tomb, the same inscription was carved, which prayed : ' May Anubis, who dwells within the divine house, grant a royal oblation. May sepulture be granted in the nether world, in the land of the divine Menti, the ancient, the good, the great, to him {i.e., the departed) who is faithful to the great god. May he advance upon the blissful paths upon which those advance who are faithful to the great god. May the funereal oblations be paid to him at the beginning of the year, on the feast of Tehuti, on the first day of the year, on the feast of Uaka, on the feasts of the Great and of the Small Heat, on the apparition of Sechem at the feast of Uaka, at the feasts of each month, and the half-month, and every day.' ^ Other prayers ask that the god will ensure the gift of funereal offerings to the deceased,

« Renouf, ' Hibbert Lectures,' p. 131 ; ' Revue Archeologique,' p. 82, vol. xix., 1869.

152 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

and that he will cause him to be buried after a ' happy

old age/

But the tomb, besides serving for the abode of the

dead, was also the page upon which the biography of its builder was written. The rich and wealthy Egyptian first chose out his place of sepulture, and when all its parts were built under his own superintendence, he caused the principal passages of his life to be drawn in vivid colours upon the walls of the upper chamber. He was depicted leading a life of luxur>% he hunted, he fished, he made expeditions, he was surrounded by a large retinue of servants, and nothing of importance was omitted from^ these illiistrations of his life. At times the builder did not live to finish his tomb, hence Mariette found at Sakkarah a number of incomplete tombs ; and he mentions a curious case where a tomb was built for one Ape-em-ankh, but in the corridor two inscriptions are found stating that he gave up his own tomb to his wife and to his son, who died very young.

But how were the poor buried > Judging from the skeletons which remain, they were simply buried in the sand to the depth of about a yard ; for traces of neither coffins nor bandages have been found. In the latter days of the Egyptian empire, stelae which were erected by the friends or family of the deceased often contain a summary of his life, his titles and various offices, his good works, and he is made to speak and proclaim his good deeds. The following translation will illustrate this custom.

THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 1 53

STELE OF NEXT-AMES.

1. Dated the ist day of the month of the spring

of the year of the Majesty of Her Ra, the

powerful bull, the saffron diademed, the lord of the two crowns, the supremely mighty, the destroyer of the Asiatics, the golden hawk, the creator of the two earths ;

2. king of the north and south, chief of the nine bows,

Ra-;)^eperu-ari-mat, son of the Sun of his belly, lord of diadems, godly father Ai, god, ruler of Uast, Osiris, lord of Abydos beloved, giving life.

3. May south and north, and Anubis upon his

hill grant to me glory in heaven, power upon earth, and triumph in xer-neter.^ May they grant that I go in and come forth from my tomb,

4. that my majesty refresh its shade, that I drink water from

my own cistern every day, that all my limbs be solid, that the Nile

5. give me bread and flowers of every kind at the season,

that I pass over the length of my land every day without ceasing, and that my soul

6. may light upon the branches of the trees which I have

planted. May I refresh my face beneath my sycamores, may I eat bread of their giving,

7. may I have my mouth wherewith I may speak like the

followers of Horus, may I come forth to heaven, may I descend to earth, may I be not shut out upon

8. the road, may there not be done to me what my ka

execrates, may my soul never be captive, may I be in the midst of the obedient, among the faithful. 1 Or Hades.

154 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

9. May I plough my fields in Sexet-Aaru, may I attain the ' Field of Peace,' may one come out to me with jugs of beer and cakes,

10. the cakes of the lords of eternity, may I receive my slice from the joint upon the table of the great god; I the ka of Next- Ames, first prophet of the god Ames.

T I. He says : I have done the behests of men and the will of the gods, wherefore I have given bread to the hungry, and I have satisfied the indigent. I have followed

12. the god in his temple, my mouth hath not spoken

insolently against my superior officers, there hath been no haughtiness in my step, but I have walked measuredly {gradatim), I have performed the law beloved by the king.

13. I understood his commands, in my place I watched to

exalt his will, I rose up for his worship every day, I gave my mind to what

14. he said without ever hesitating at what he determined

with reference to me, I took uprightness and fairness, I understood the things about which I should keep silence.

15. The lord my king refreshed and favoured me for my well

doing, he saw that my hands were vigorous through my heart, he advanced my seat exceedingly, he placed me in the council chamber, me,

16. the ka of Next- Ames, triumphant, the superintendent of

the prophets of the lords of Apu. Says he : O ye living upon earth, living for eternity, enduring for ever, ye priests

17. and ministrants of Osiris, everyone learned in divine

traditions ; when ye enter my sepulchre and pass

THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 1 55

through it, do ye utter your prayers by my tablet and do ye proclaim my name without cessation in

18. the presence of the lords of law. So may your gods

favour you, and may ye transfer your dignities to your children after a full old age, provided that ye say,

19. 'May Osiris grant a royal oblation to Next-Ames, lord of

fidelity, superintendent of works in the temple of Ai, prince and first prophet of Ames and Isis. May his memorial abide in the seat of eternity.'^

* 'Trans. Soc. Bib, Arch,' vol. viii., Part III., p. 29S,

m6

CHAPTER VIIT.

The Mummy.

The ancient Egyptians are the only people known who have succeeded in bringing the art of embalming or mummifying to perfection. They believed that the

vSoul with Symbols of Liie and Breath revisiting Mummied Body.

soul would revisit the body after a number of years, and therefore it was absolutely necessary that the body should be preserved, if its owner wished to live for ever

THE MUMMY. 157

with the gods. This belief appears to be very old, and allusion is made to it in the Book of the Dead. The Egyptians attributed to man a soul, which they

represented as a hawk with a human head ^, a ka

\ \ or image, and a shadow ^ ; this last was given back to him in his second life. The ka or image is the being to whom funereal gifts were made. It must not for a moment be imagined that the Egyptians worshipped the statues of the deceased, for it was the living ka which was supposed to reside in the stone or wood that was the object of adoration. The ka was not an attribute peculiar to man, for every god had one, and in one place we are told that the god Ra has seven souls and fourteen kaic (plural of ka). The soul, however, had its own body, and was supposed to be able to eat and to drink.^ The soul was an emanation from the god of the universe, and after it left the body it was doomed to undergo a series of existences, until it arrived at a fit state of purity to be absorbed into its original counterpart

The Greek historians mention three ways in which mummies were made. In the first, the brain was extracted through the nose, and the intestines were

^ The whole of this subject is exceedingly difficult : the reader is referred to Mr. Le Page Renouf s article on the Ka, in ' Trans. Soc. Eih. Arch.,' vi. p. 405 ; and to M. Maspero's monograph on this matter. Also for a discussion on the Soul and the Shade, see Dr. Birch's paper in ' Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch.,' viii. pt. III. ; and Mr. W. H. Rylands, F.S.A., has drawn many scenes from the monuments illustrating this subject.

158 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

removed. The body was then filled with myrrh, cassia, etc., after which it was steeped in natron for seventy days. After the seventy days were over, the body was washed and swathed in linen bandages gummed on the inside until every part of it was covered. In the second, a material, called oil of cedar, was introduced, which dissolved the intestines, so that they could be removed without mutilating the body. It was then laid in natron, which dissolved the greater part of the flesh, and left only the skin and bones. In the third, the body was merely salted for seventy days, and then given back to the friends. The first method would cost about ^^250 of our money, the second £60, while the third would be very cheap.

An examination of the mummies shows that many different processes of embalming were in use at different periods in Egypt ; and that the Egyptians possessed a good knowledge of the use of medicines and anatomy. The intestines that were taken out of the body were dedicated to the four genii of the Amenti or Hades, whose names were Amset, Hapi, Tuaumutef, and Kebhsenuf To the first were dedicated the larger intestines, to the second the smaller intestines, to the third the heart, and to the fourth the liver. These were placed in four jars, which had covers made in the shape of a man, an ape, a jackal, and hawk respectively. These jars were placed in the tomb with the sarcophagus, and in the pictures which are painted on the outside of mummies, these are often seen standinL{ beneath the bier.

^mi

l\l%..

I^^l

im

Mummy of the lady Katebt, a Musician of the God Amen, from TheVc = Now in the British Museum.

THE MUMMY. l6l

When the friends of a poor person wished his intestines to be under the protection of these genii, and could not afford to go to the expense of alabaster or wooden jars, they caused four waxen figures of these gods to be made, and placed inside the body with the intestines.

When the body had been mummified, and wrapped up in linen bandages, it was a common thing, if the deceased was a person of rank or a priest, to enclose it in what is called a cartoiinage. The cartonnage was a thin casing made of plaster and linen, and it covered the whole body, fitting closely. In the earlier days the face was painted only, but in the time of the Ptolemies the face and ears were often gilded, and the eyes, eyebrows and lids made of glass or porcelain. On the top of the head a scarabaeus or beetle was painted holding the sun between its antenncE, while at the foot was painted a figure of Nut or heaven, overshadowing the mummy, and Isis and Nephthys, the wife and sister of the Osiris or mummy, stand one on each side of it, with wings stretched out to protect the deceased. At one time the mummy of the deceased is represented as being visited by his soul, or with the sun shining upon him, and at another the judgment scene from the one hundred and twenty-fifth chapter of the Book of the Dead is shown, with the soul of the deceased being weighed in the balance before Osiris, the great god of the dead, while the four genii- of the dead look on. The scenes depicted on the cartonnages vary, very few being exactly alike. On some mummies scarabaei, necklaces, rows of beads,

L

1 62 THE DWELLERS ON THE NH^E.

breastplates, and figures are found ; and at times objects which were used by the deceased in life have been buried with him, as in the ca^e of the sacred bard An;^-hapi, whose cymbals were found with his mummy, and may be seen in the British Museum. In the last days of the Egyptian empire a portrait of the deceased was painted and laid upon the face of the mummy ; and over the mummy of a child in the British Museum there is a covering on which is painted the face and figure of the little Greek. The hair was mummified, and wrapped in bandages and laid at the foot of the mummy.

The mummy being arranged in its gaudily painted cartonnage, was then placed in a coffin or case of sycamore wood, which was usually made to represent the form of a man. As the mummy, so the coffin was made according to the amount of money the friends of the deceased could aft*ord to pay. The rich indulged in most beautiful cofiins, covered inside and out with scenes and chapters from the Book of the Dead, allegorical representations, etc., while in the later days under the Ptolemies, zodiacs are often found. The outer case of all was made of stone, and was sometimes covered entirely with hieroglyphs, and at other times various scenes were introduced to illustrate the text. The magnificent stone sarcophagus of Hor-em-heb in the British Museum is inscribed with a series of pictures representing the passage of the sun through the hours of the day, and above each scene are lines of hieroglyphs saying what gods are portrayed, and what is meant by

THE MUMMY. 1 63

the pictures. The scarabaei which were deposited with the mummy were made of various substances, and were usually inscribed with the thirtieth chapter of the Book of the Dead, which has for its vignette the deceased

Scarabaeus inscribed with a part of the Thirtieth Chapter of the Ritual ot the Dead.

adoring a scarabaeus, and whose rubric directs that this chapter should be * said over a scarabaeus of hard stone. Cause it to be washed with gold, and placed within the heart of a person. Make a phylactery anointed with oil,

L 2

164 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

say over it with magic : My heart is my mother, my heart is my transformations.'^

The figures placed with the dead were called nshabtiic, and were -inscribed with the name of the deceased and the sixth chapter of the Book of the Dead. They were supposed to do for the deceased in Hades all the work that would otherwise fall to his lot, such as the ploughing of fields and drawing water.

Besides men and women, the Eg}'ptians also mummified cats, crocodiles, snakes, birds such as the ibis and hawk, and many other creatures.

' Dr. Birch, in Bunsen's ' Egypt,' v. 139.

Ushabti Figures containing the Si\th Chapter of the Ritual of the Dead.

16/