The Liturgy of Funerary Offerings Described — The First through Sixth Ceremonies

THE religious literature of all periods of Egyptian history proves that the Egyptians believed in a resurrection and in immortality, and that from the earliest to the latest times they performed ceremonies at, or in, the tomb, and recited formulae, which were part incantations and part prayers, with the view of assisting the dead to renew their life, to enjoy their existence in the Other World, and to escape from "dying a second time." We have already seen that so far back as the beginning of the IVth Dynasty, about B.C. 3800, it was customary to offer series of gifts of food, and drink, and raiment to the dead, and there is every reason to think that the presentation of such gifts was made by priests, who recited over them forms of words which were believed to sanctify the things offered, and to make them to become suitable for the needs of the dead. We know that certain kinds of food and drink were offered in certain quantities, and in a definite order, and that every detail of the ceremonies connected with their presentation was performed according to a system

which had then been in use for a very long time. The ceremonies and formulae of the liturgy of funeral sacrifice in their oldest forms belong, no doubt, to the earliest period of Egyptian civilization, and it is very probable that many of them were in existence in the Predynastic Period.

Among the oldest of the ceremonies which were performed for the benefit of the dead is that called the "Opening of the Mouth," and its object is explained by its name. The Egyptians realized at a very early period that it was useless to load the tables for offerings in the tombs with bread, beer, meat, fruit, and vegetables unless the dead could in some way partake of them, and the priests invented a series of ceremonies and composed formulae which were intended to bring about this desirable result. The belief in the importance of "Opening the Mouth" for the dead has long been known to Egyptologists, in fact ever since the publication of the text of the Saïte Recension of the Book of the Dead by Lepsius in 1842. In the Saïte Recension, as in the Theban, the XXIIIrd Chapter is devoted to the opening of the mouth of the deceased, and in the Vignette a priest is seen standing before a statue of the deceased, to which he addresses certain words. In his left hand he holds a vase of unguent, which played a prominent part in the ceremony performed by the priest whilst he uttered the prescribed formula.

The, XXIst and XXIInd Chapters were written with the view of "giving a mouth to a man in Neter

[paragraph continues] Khert," or the Other World, and in the Vignette the priest is seen standing and holding the Ur-hekau instrument in his right hand, and a vase in his left. He holds out the instrument towards the face of the deceased, and is, as we know from other sources, about to touch his mouth. In the text of the XXIIIrd Chapter the deceased says, "Ptah hath opened for me my mouth with his instrument of iron wherewith he opened the mouth of the gods." This is an important statement, for it shows that in the Ptolemaic Period a legend was extant that at some time during their existence the mouths of the gods needed opening, that the origin of the ceremony of "Opening the Mouth" was divine, and that it was performed in the mythological period.

The illustrated papyri which contain the Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead supply further details of the ceremony, and in the papyrus of Ani, in the Vignette of Chapter XXIII., we see a SEM priest, clad in a panther's or leopard's skin, performing one portion of it on a figure of the scribe Ani. In front of him are a sepulchral box for holding unguents, three instruments, and the instrument. In another Vignette in the same papyrus is a representation of the performance of the ceremony at the door of the tomb. The mummy of Ani is held upright by Anubis, and three priests are officiating; two hold the instruments to the face of the mummy, and the third reads the

formulae from a roll of papyrus in his hands. Between the mummy and the priests is a table loaded with offerings, and on the ground round about are the various objects which are used in the performance of the ceremony. Behind the priests are the cow and calf for sacrifice, and an assistant is seen bringing a leg of beef.

In the Papyrus of Hunefer this scene is repeated with some modifications and fuller details; these are illustrated by the accompanying block. In the upper register one priest presents to the face of the mummy four vases, and another holds in one hand the instruments, and presents with the other the Ur-hekau instrument, the head of which is in the form of that of a ram. The SEM priest stands behind holding a libation jar in his right hand, and a censer in his left. In the lower register are the cow and calf for sacrifice, two ministrants, the one bearing the heart and the other the leg of a bull, a sepulchral coffer, a table of offerings, and a stand on which are spread out a panther's skin or leopard's skin, and the instruments, vases, &c., which were used in the performance of the ceremony. Above these scenes are several short lines of text, which are entitled, "The Chapter of performing the Opening of the Mouth of the statue" [of the deceased]. This chapter contains two extracts from the "Liturgy of Funerary Offerings."

The merit of discovering the "Liturgy of Funerary Offerings" belongs to Sig. Ernesto Schiaparelli, who in 1877 was able to prove that the contents of Papyrus

[paragraph continues] No. 3155 in the Louvre were identical in a large number of places with the text on the coffin of Butehai-Amen, in Turin. Butehai-Amen was a priest who flourished under the XXth Dynasty, and he caused a copy of the Book of Opening the Mouth to be written upon the two covers of his coffin in red and black ink. Devéria had examined this papyrus many years before, and he stated in his Catalogue des Manuscrits Égyptiens (Paris, 1881, p. 171) that it "contained a liturgical text entirely different from the ordinary funerary works, and that it was noteworthy by reason of the mention in it of the priests of different orders who officiated, and the description of the part which each individual performed in the funeral ceremony." In a valuable paper entitled "Le Fer et l'Aimant en Égypte," 1 he translated about a page and a half of the papyrus, and Sig. Schiaparelli believes that he cherished the thought of publishing the complete work.

The papyrus was-written for a priestess called SAIS. The lower portions of the first few leaves are wanting, and the writing is in places very difficult to read. Being convinced of the importance of the text, Sig. Schiaparelli spent a winter in copying it, and he devoted himself to the preparation of an edition of the text on the coffin in Turin, which dates from the

[paragraph continues] XXth Dynasty, and that of the Paris papyrus, which was written probably between A.D. 50 and 150. Neither text is accompanied by Vignettes, and many parts of them it is impossible to understand without illustrations. About this time, fortunately, his attention was called to a series of drawings of scenes in the tomb of Seti I. at Thebes which Champollion 1 had made and published. In these priests are represented performing ceremonies on the statue of the king, and the short texts which accompany them were quickly seen by Sig. Schiaparelli to resemble passages in the Liturgy of Funerary Offerings. From a paper by Professor Naville 2 he was able to identify a passage in the text on the coffin of Butehai-Amen, and with the help of the careful copy of all the scenes and texts in the tomb of Seti I., with which Professor Naville supplied him, he was at length able to give a rendering of the whole text, and to describe the ceremonies which were there illustrated.

The first part of his work, 3 i.e., the plates, appeared in 1881, and the two volumes of text in 1882 and 1890 respectively. In 1882 Professor Maspero published in his Recueil (tom. iii., p. 171 ff.) the first part of the texts from the Pyramid of Unas, which contains the oldest known form of the Liturgy of

[paragraph continues] Funerary Offerings, with a French translation of a portion of it. Another copy of this early form is found in the Pyramid of Pepi II. Nefer-ka-Ra, and this Professor Maspero published, with a translation of the whole, in a later volume of the same work, and in his complete edition of the "Pyramid Texts" entitled, "Les Inscriptions des Pyramides de Saqqarah," Paris, 1894. In 1884-5 Dr. J. Dümichen published the first two parts of his monograph 1 on the tomb of Peta-Amen-apt, a high priestly official who flourished under the XXVIth Dynasty, containing copies of the scenes and texts with descriptions, translations, &c., in German. The first part contains the complete text of the Liturgy of Funerary Offerings, and the second a version of the Book of Opening the Mouth; both works have Vignettes.

A year later appeared the first volume of the great French work on the Royal Tombs of Thebes, 2 containing all the scenes and texts in the Tomb of Seti I. Among these were accurate copies of the texts of the Liturgy of Funerary Offerings, as they are found in the tomb of Seti I. at Thebes, and the Book of Opening the Mouth. In 1887 Professor Maspero published a valuable paper in the Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, tom. xv., pp. 159-188, in which he treated the Book of Opening the Mouth at considerable

length, and explained the Vignettes and the texts of the version in the tomb of Seti I. Since that time the texts of several tombs at Thebes have been published, and the material available for the study of the texts and Vignettes has been greatly increased.

The principal versions of the Liturgy of Funerary Offerings and the Book of Opening the Mouth may now be summarized. For the Liturgy there are two copies of the period of the Ancient Empire, one in the Pyramid of Unas, and one in the Pyramid of Pepi II. Nefer-ka-Ra. Several Lists of offerings, more or less complete, from the mastaba tombs at Sakkarah are also available. Of the XIXth Dynasty there are the Lists in the tomb of Seti I. at Thebes and in his temple at Abydos. Of the XXth Dynasty there is the List on the covers of the coffin of Butehai-Amen; of the XXVIth Dynasty the List of Peta-Amen-apt; and of the Roman Period the List in the Papyrus of Sais, the priestess, in Paris. For the Book of Opening the Mouth there are: a copy, with Vignettes, in the tomb of Rekhmara at Thebes, of the XVIIIth Dynasty; a copy, with Vignettes, in the tomb of Seti I. at Thebes, of the XIXth Dynasty; a copy, without Vignettes, written for Butehai-Amen on the covers of his coffin, of the XXth Dynasty; a copy, with Vignettes, in the tomb of Peta-Amen-apt, of the XXVIth Dynasty; a copy, without Vignettes, written for the priestess Sais in the Roman period.

The reader who will take the trouble to compare

the various versions of the Liturgy and the Book of Opening the Mouth will find that, in all essentials, they remained unchanged from the IVth Dynasty to about the end of the first century. of the rule of the Romans in Egypt. The Vignettes, though we owe them to the funerary artists of the XVIIIth, XIXth, and XXVIth Dynasties, illustrate faithfully ceremonies which had been performed for many centuries before they were drawn, and the evidence which they afford may be used as a sure guide in determining the exact meaning of many obscure points in the rubrical directions and texts.

We may now give an account of the Liturgy of Funerary Offerings, derived from the texts in the Pyramid of Unas and the tomb of Peta-Amen-apt. The Liturgy was recited in a chamber of the tomb called "Tuat," and when the offerings had been brought there, the table for the offerings, or altar, was purified for the KA, or Double, of the deceased, and the service began. The formulae were recited by the Kher heb priest, who held in his hands a roll of papyrus, on which was written a copy of the service, and who directed the assistant priests; the ceremonies were performed chiefly by the SEM, Or SMER, priest, assisted by one or more ministrants. In the earliest times the ceremonies were probably performed over the mummy, but at a later period a statue of the deceased was substituted.

Footnotes

37:1 Mélanges d'Archéologie Égyptienne, tom. i., p. 45.

38:1 Monuments, plates 237, 243-248.

38:2 Aeg. Zeitschrift, Bd. xi., 1873, p. 29 ff.

38:3 Il Libro dei Funerali degli antichi Egiziani tradotto e commentato da E. S., Rome, 1881-90.

39:1 Der Grabpalast des Patuamenap, Leipzic, 1884-5.

39:2 Les Hypogées Royaux de Thèbes, by Bouriant, Loret, and Naville (Mémoires de la Mission au Caire, tom. ii., Div. i., Paris, 1886).

THE FIRST CEREMONY.

To cleanse and purify the statue so that it might become a suitable and permanent dwelling-place for the KA was the object of the first ceremony. The SEM priest took up a vessel filled with clean water,

The Sem priest pouring water from a libation vase into a libation bowl held by a ministrant.

in which salt or soda had been dissolved, and poured it into a bowl which was held in the hands of an assistant. He next walked round the statue four times, sprinkling the salted water on it on all sides, or perhaps washing portions of it, and meanwhile the Kher heb said four times:--

"O Osiris, everything which is hateful in Unas hath been carried away for thee; for that which was uttered in his name of evil hath Thoth come, and he hath carried it away to Osiris. I have brought that which was spoken in the name of Unas of evil, and have placed it in the palm of thy hand. The SA shall not be separated from thee, and thou shalt not be separated from it."

From the way in which Osiris is mentioned in this passage it is clear that the cult of this god was general in Egypt when this Liturgy was drawn up, and that be was already recognized as the god of the dead. The effect of the sprinkling of water over the statue, or the washing of it with water, was to remove the sins of the deceased from him, and to cleanse his body and Ka. There can be no doubt that the Egyptians in all periods attached very great importance to the use of water ceremonially, and there is good reason for believing that they regarded it as one of the principal sources of life since the gods were created from water, and Nu, the great god of the celestial deeps, was the father of the gods. They believed that water possessed a mysterious power which made itself manifest under the form of life, and it may be noted in passing that, in the scenes in which Thoth and Horus are pouring out water over the heads of kings, the water is indicated by series of ankh signs, i.e., "life, life, life." Dümichen has already in this connection pointed out the fact that in the "Tale of the Two Brothers," Anpu put the heart of

his younger brother Bata into a vessel of water; when the heart had absorbed all the water it came to life. Water not only washed away sin, but gave new birth and life to the dead.

The Gnostics, who preserved many ancient Egyptian beliefs, attached great importance to the use of water ceremonially, and, according to Irenaeus (Haeres, 1, 2, § 5), they threw oil and water over the heads of the dying to make them invisible to the powers of darkness. The ancient Egyptians certainly dissolved salt, or soda in some form, in their "holy water," and it is probable that they pronounced some formula over it before sprinkling it upon the dead. The sprinkling of the dead was the first and most important of burial ceremonies among the Egyptians for thousands of years, and it is probable that it was adopted, under the name of baptism of the dead, by many sections of the Christian Church. For centuries certain Christians actually baptized the dead, and they continued to do so in spite of the prohibitions of many Councils.

The exact meaning which is to be attached to the word tu or "evil" is not quite clear; 1 it was certainly connected with the words of Unas, but whatever it was this "evil" was carried to Osiris by Thoth. Here we see Thoth acting as a sort of advocate for Unas with Osiris, and playing his part as the "lord of divine words," and author of holy books, with which we are familiar from the texts of the Theban Recension of the

[paragraph continues] Book of the Dead. In the Judgment it was he who "weighed words," and who weighed the heart of the dead man in the Great Balance, and reported the result to Osiris. It is the "words" of Unas which are in question here, and in Egypt both gods and men judged a man by his "words." The sprinkling of the water caused Thoth to carry the words of evil uttered by Unas, and place them in the hand of the god.

The words which were said by the Kher heb here, as in many other places in the Liturgy, were to be repeated four times. The Egyptians divided the earth into four quarters, over each of which a god presided, and in order to secure for the dead permission to move about freely through these quarters of the world, formulae, whether of blessing or of banning, were repeated four times, once for each god, and certain offerings were made in quadruplicate. The gods of the four quarters of the world at the time when this Liturgy was drawn up were Horus, Set, Thoth, and Sep, and they were probably the gods of the four cardinal points also. Later, however, their places seem to have been taken by the four sons of Horus, Mestha, Hapi, Tuamutef and Qebhsennuf, each of whom presided over one of the four pillars that held up the sky. The priest by walking round the mummy or the statue four times, and sprinkling water as he went, bestowed upon the Ka the power to journey into all parts of heaven and earth, and made him a pure being in respect of the four gods of the four quarters of the earth.

At the end of the first formula quoted above come the words, "The Sa shall not be separated from thee, and thou shalt not be separated from it." By the word Sa, the Egyptians understood that mysterious energy and life-giving power which existed in the gods, and which for want of a better name we may call the "fluid of life." Its source was the Sun-god, by whatever name he is called, Horus or Ra, and Ra, in the text of Unas 1 is said to be "Sovereign of the divine Sa". The gods and goddesses received this Sa from Ra and communicated it to those whom they loved upon earth. According to M. Moret. 2 the fluid of life could be transmitted from the being who possessed it to the person to whom it was desired to transfer it, by embracing that person and by making "magnetic passes" along the back. M. Maspero also describes the Sa as a sort of "magnetic fluid," or "aura," which could be transmitted to a person by laying hands on him, or by making passes over the nape of the neck or the spinal column. The phrase setep sa means something like to "make passes." The Sa was transmitted to a king from the statue of a god by placing the arms of the statue round him, and by laying one of its hands on the nape of his neck as he knelt before it. 3

[paragraph continues] When the statue had exhausted the store of the power which was in it, it was able to obtain a fresh supply from the Other World. The object of making passes before the statue of the dead, or his mummy, was to give a place in the fore-front of the company of the KHU, or "Spirits," in the Other World. This is certain from a passage in the text of Pepi I., wherein it is said, "The passes by which he obtaineth the fluid of life having been made over him by [Ra] and Horus, he is at the head of the KHU" (l. 695).

Footnotes

44:1 Maspero renders it by Mauvais.

46:1 Line 562, Suzerain de la vertu divine. Maspero.

46:2 Le Rituel du Culte divin journalier, Paris, 1902, p. 99.

46:3 Contes Populaires, p. 165.

THE SECOND CEREMONY.

The ceremony of the sprinkling of water having been completed, the second ceremony begins. The SEM priest, or one of his assistants, took in his hand a censer in which incense has been placed, and having set fire in it, and made the incense to burn, he walked with it four times round the statue or mummy, and censed it, whilst the Kher heb recited the following four times:--

"Let him that advanceth advance with his KA.

"Horus advanceth with his KA.

"Set advanceth with his KA.

"Thoth advanceth with his KA.

"Sep advanceth with his KA.

"Osiris advanceth with his KA.

"Khenti-maati 1 advanceth with his KA.

"Thy Tet shall advance with thy KA.

"Hail, Unas! The arm of thy KA is before thee.

"Hail, Unas! The arm of thy KA is behind thee.

"Hail, Unas! The leg of thy KA is before thee.

"Hail, Unas! The leg of thy KA is behind thee.

"O Osiris Unas! I have given unto thee the Eye

The Sem priest carrying the censer of burning incense.

of Horus, and thy face is filled therewith, and the perfume of the Eye of Horus is to thee."

This formula begins with an address to the statue, or mummy, which is bidden to advance, just as do Horus, Set, Thoth, Sep, Osiris, and Khenti-maati, i.e., the dweller without eyes (the Horus of the dark night when neither sun nor moon is visible), These gods are

not separated from their KAU, and the KA of Unas, as the equal of their KAU, shall be with him. With his KA, however, shall come his Tchet, or Tet,, or, i.e., his backbone, or pillar which supports the backbone. The, as Prof. Maspero has shown, represents the tree-trunk which was worshipped at Mendes in connection with Osiris; it was animated by Osiris, and was all-powerful in supporting the dead because of the presence of the god in it. Under the Middle and New Empires the is often seen painted on the bottoms of the insides of coffins, and when coffins were intended to stand on their feet, the was generally painted on the back outside. Thus when lying down the mummy rested on his and when standing up was supported by it. The KA of the deceased comes with him because it is supported by Osiris, and it comes with one leg and one arm before him, and one leg and one arm behind him. The exact signification of these expressions is unknown, but about the translation of the words there is no doubt.

We next see that the incense with which the mummy is censed represents the Eye of Horus, or the Sun, and the use of the expression dates from the time when Horus was the greatest of the gods of heaven, and the sun was regarded as his eye. The sun was, of course, the source of heat and light, and therefore of all

life, and "Eye of Horus" was a synonym for everything which was beneficial for the living and the dead. The hot fumes of the incense surrounded the mummy or statue and gave warmth to it, the smoke rose up before its face, which it covered with a sort of layer, and the general effect of the ceremony was to make the deceased pure and warm. The first ceremony removed sin from the new dwelling-place of the KA, and the second continued its purification, and gave to it the quickening beat which was derived from the Eye of Horus. The pungent smell of the incense formed a sort of atmosphere for the dead, and was pleasant to them.

Footnotes

47:1 Dümichen, "the dweller in the town of Sekhem (Letopolis)."

THE THIRD CEREMONY.

The third ceremony of purification was performed by means of water, in which two different kinds of incense had been dissolved. The rubric in the text of Unas mentions "two balls" of incense, but that of the text of Peta-Amen-apt says that one ball shall be of incense of Shet pet, i.e., of the incense prepared from the salt found in the Natron Valley, and the other of the salt which is found near the city of Nekheb, or Eileithyiapolis. Shut pet was a portion of the Sekhet-Hemam, or "Field of Salt," known to-day as the "Wadi an-Natrun," which lies about forty-five miles to the northwest of Cairo, and the incense made from the salt deposits here was called "Incense of the North." The incense made from the salt deposits near Nekheb was

called "Incense of the South." The KA whose statue had been purified by incense from each place was free to journey through the North and South of Egypt, and in a sense it made him "lord of the Two Lands," i.e., of all Egypt. The priest, having dissolved the balls of natron in the water in the vessel, poured it out into

The Sem priest pouring water from a libation vase into a libation bowl held by a ministrant.

a bowl held by an assistant. He then took the bowl, and, going round the statue four times, sprinkled it with the water of the natrons of the South and North, whilst the Kher heb repeated the following words four times:--

"This libation is for thee, O Osiris, this libation is

"for thee, O Unas; it cometh forth from thy son, it cometh forth from Horus.

"I have come and I have brought unto thee the Eye of Horus, that thy heart may be refreshed therewith. I have brought it [and placed it] under thee, [under] thy sandals, and I have presented unto thee that which floweth forth from thee. Whilst it is with thee there shall be no stoppage of thy heart, and it shall be with thee with the things (or, persons) which came forth at the [sound of the] voice."

The libation now poured forth represents the moisture which Horus sends forth from himself and from his Eye, and is intended to take the place in the body of the deceased of that which flowed forth from him before death, or during the process of mummification. The deceased is identified with Osiris, and Horus therefore becomes his son. This fluid of Horus will make the heart of the deceased to live again, just as the water in which the heart of Bata was placed in the Tale of the Two Brothers, having been absorbed, made it to live. So long as a supply of it exists in the body of the deceased his heart shall not stop, and this supply was provided among the "things which come forth at the voice," i.e., the offerings. We have already seen that pert kheru is a name given to offerings, because they were believed to appear when the deceased, or the priest, ordered them to appear, and it is clear that the words pertha nek kheru in the text here refer to the offerings. The Egyptians attached great importance to

spoken words, and they regarded the power of speech and the gift of the voice as mighty weapons, both for the living and the dead. The KAU, or Doubles, of the dead who had learned to utter words correctly, and who knew the proper tones to employ in uttering them, were in a position to go where they pleased and to do what they liked, for no god, spirit, fiend, or devil, and no inanimate object, could help obeying the commands which they uttered. The order for food or water having been given by them, food or water appeared forthwith.

In the passage translated above are the words "that which floweth forth," which I have used as the equivalent of the Egyptian word ertu. The exact meaning of the word is "effluxes," or "outflowings," and the determinatives show that by ertu we are to understand the strong-smelling liquid which exudes from a dead body. Several passages in the Book of the Dead support this view, as the following examples will prove. In Chapter LXIIIB. 2, we have, "I have lifted up the efflux from Osiris;" in Chapter CXIX., "Pure are the effluxes which are borne away from thee;" in Chapter CXLVII. 6, "I have come unto thee, Osiris, pure one of effluxes;"

in Chapter CXLIX. (Aat XIII.), "Like the stream from the effluxes coming forth from Osiris;"

and in Aat XIV. of the same Chapter, "I shall not be destroyed by the effluxes which come forth from Osiris." The effluxes of Osiris here referred to are undoubtedly the humours which were believed to have drained out of the body of Osiris when Horus and his "sons" were embalming it. From the above passages it is clear that the Egyptians regarded these humours as pure or holy, for they represented the very essence of the god. Now the Egyptians were not the only people in the world who attached mystic power and importance to the fluid which ran out from the dead, but though the texts make it certain that they did, we cannot learn from them exactly why they should do so. The reason is, however, not far to seek. Mr. Crawley tells us (Mystic Rose, p. 287) that communion with the dead is most exactly reached, and the identity of eating with a person and eating him most clearly shown, in the common Australian practice in which mourners drink the humours of the decaying corpse, or eat its flesh. The Kurnai anoint themselves with decomposed matter from the dead. It is done in the Kingsmills to "remember

him." So in Timorlaut mourners smear themselves with the fluids of the corpse. The Aru islanders drink them "to effect union with the dead man." Some of the liquid is kept in order to injure enemies. The object of drinking the liquid is, clearly, to obtain the qualities of the dead man, his strength, and, perhaps, his vital power, and it is possible also that those who indulged in such practices did so with the idea of avoiding injury from the departed spirit. What the Egyptians did with the humours of the dead is unknown, but in the case of great and holy men, that which drained from their bodies was certainly turned to some good account by the living. The custom of draining the dead body of its moisture is common enough among modern peoples of Central Africa, as we may see from the account of a great Baluba chief's death quoted by Sir H. Johnston (Grenfell and the Congo, ii., p. 655). "When an important Luba chief expires, every one, great and small, must mourn in a subdued tone; the members of all the brotherhoods come before the house where the body lies to perform dances; the women violently strike their hatchet and hoe against each other. This deafening hubbub lasts a day. . . . During this time a young slave is obtained, his neck is broken by a heavy blow, and he is laid by the corpse for two days. He is the chiefs boy attendant. His wives, squatting near him, do not cease their lamentations. Some days pass in this way without other incidents, after which the stiffened limbs

are forcibly bent, and the body placed in the wicker 'coffin. In the house two stages are raised, one above the other; on the upper one is placed the coffin, on the lower one a large earthen pot. The body decomposes; a noxious liquid infested with maggots escapes from it and falls into the receptacle; it is left there for several weeks." The Belgian missionary who describes the chief's burial does not tell us what was done with the "noxious liquid," but, as human flesh and bones form an important element in the "medicines" which are prescribed by medicine men in Central Africa, we are probably justified in assuming that the liquid was used in the same way.

THE FOURTH CEREMONY.

The first ceremony removed evil or sin from the body of the deceased, the second gave it warmth, and the third restored to it the humours which had been expressed from it. For the fourth ceremony the SEM priest dissolved five grains of incense made from the salt deposits near the city of Nekheb, i.e., "Incense of the South," in a libation vase of water, and, having poured it into a vessel, walked with it four times round the mummy or statue, and sprinkled it each time. The name given to this libation water is "Semman," and of the five grains of salt, or alum, which it contained, one was for Horus, one for Set, one for Thoth, one for Sep, and one for Osiris, that

is, for the deceased himself. Whilst the SEM priest walked round the statue the Kher heb said the following words four times:--

"[Here is] Semman! [Here is] Semman!

"Open thy mouth, O Unas, and taste thou the taste thereof in the halls of the god, for Semman is the emission of Horus, for Semman is the emission of Set,

The Sem priest pouring water from a libation vase into a libation bowl held by a ministrant.

for Semman is the stablisher of the heart of the two Hawk-gods (i.e., Horus and Set). Thou art cleansed with hesmen (natron), and thou art like unto the followers of Horus."

The libation thus poured out either represented the essence of Horus and the essence of Set, which was the

source of the strength of their hearts, and the substance which gave them life, or was believed to be transmuted into that essence through the words of power spoken by the Kher heb. The power of the Semman water was great, for as soon as it touched the face of the deceased his mouth was opened, and he was able to taste the emission, or life essence, of Horus and Set. Having tasted it, his whole being was changed, and he became a new creature, and henceforth he was a counterpart of the Shemsu Heru or "Followers of Horus." The Horus here referred to must not be confounded with the twin-brother of Set. The Horus who is always associated with Set is "Horus the Great," or "Horus the Elder," the Haroeris of the Greeks, but the Horus mentioned in the Liturgy in connection with "Followers" is "Horus, the son of Isis."

The "Followers of Horus" were a group of beings who were closely connected with Osiris, and having "followed" him in this world they passed after him into the Other World, where they became his ministrants and messengers, partaking of his immortal nature, and sharing his life. Horus the Elder was "followed" by a group of beings also, but these were of a totally different character, for they were called "Mesentiu," i.e., "workers in metal," or "blacksmiths." In some texts the followers of Horus, the son of Isis, are identified with the metal-workers of

Horus the Elder, and it is possible that this is the case in the Liturgy. On the other hand, the deduction to be made from our text seems to be that the essence of Horus and Set introduced into the body of the deceased changed his nature into theirs, while the cleansing with natron made him a counterpart of the followers of Horus, the son of Isis. He thus possessed the nature of Horus, the oldest god of heaven, and the nature of a "follower" of the son of the man Osiris, who rose from the dead and became the ever-living god and judge of the dead.

THE FIFTH CEREMONY.

The next ceremony continued the process of assimilating the deceased with the gods. The priest, having dissolved five grains of incense made from the salt deposit in a place in the Natron Valley called Shet pet," "Lake of Heaven," in a libation vase of water, and poured it into a vessel, walked with it four times round the mummy and sprinkled it each time. As he did so the Kher heb said the following words four times:

"Thou art purified with natron, and Horus is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron, and Set is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron, and Thoth is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron, and Sep is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron, and thou art stablished among them.

"Thy mouth is the mouth of the sucking calf on the day of his birth."

It is possible to translate "Thou art purified with

The Sem priest pouring water from a libation vase into a libation bowl held by a ministrant.

natron as Horus is purified with natron," &c., as did Dümichen, but it seems better to render the passage without the addition of "as" in each member, for it is clear that the salted water was offered as much to the deceased as to each god. The effect of this sprinkling was to give the deceased power to take his place with

the gods of each of the four quarters of heaven, and to make him their equal. In the last line of the passage, "Thy mouth is the mouth of the sucking-calf on the day of his birth," we appear to have an allusion to the calf figured in the Vignettes to Chapter CIX. of the Book of the Dead, which is entitled "The Chapter of knowing the Souls of the East." In the Theban Recension we see the deceased standing in adoration before Ra-Harmachis, between whom and the deceased is a spotted calf. In the Saïte Recension the deceased stands in adoration before the Boat of Ra, which is about to pass between the two "Trees of Emerald" into the sky. In the Boat are: 1. Ra-Harmachis, with the sign for wind above his disk. 2. The deceased. 3. A calf with a star above his back. The text tells us that the Souls of the East are Ra-Harmachis, the Calf of the goddess Khera (?), and Neter-tuai, or the planet Venus. The "Sucking-calf" must therefore be the name of a morning star which was associated with the rising sun, and with Isis as a morning star. It seems clear, then, that the passage in the Liturgy signifies that the deceased is identified in it with the star which was born in the sky at sunrise; as its mother was Isis the star was a form of Horus, son of Osiris and Isis, and the deceased is therefore the son of Osiris, that is, Horus.

THE SIXTH CEREMONY.

In the next ceremony the SEM priest continues the purification of the deceased, and on this occasion he takes in his hand a ball of incense and lifts it up before the face of the mummy, or statue. We may assume that he does this four, or even five, times, and offers four balls of incense, one for Horus, one for Set, one for

The Sem priest presenting a ball of incense.

[paragraph continues] Thoth, and one for Sep. Meanwhile the Kher heb says:--

"Thou art purified with natron, and Horus is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron, and Set is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron, and Thoth is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron, and Sep is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron, and thy KA is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron,

"O thou who art stablished among thy brethren the gods.

"Thy head hath been censed for thee, thy bones have been cleansed thoroughly for thee, and thou art filled with that which belongeth unto thee. O Osiris, I have given unto thee the Eye of Horus, and thy face is filled therewith, and it spreadeth its odour about thee."