in bags or rings (7a and b); three feathers or heads of reeds, the emblem of a field (8); a scribe's tablet and ink-stand (9 a and b); a garland or wreath (10); and an emblem of pyramidal form, perhaps the seal or key of the sanctuary (11).

Thanksgivings for the birth of a child, escape from danger, or other marks of divine favour, were offered by individuals through the medium of the priests. The same was also done in private; and secret as well as public vows were made in the hope of future favours.* The quality of these oblations depended on the God to whom presented, or the occupation of the donor; a shepherd bringing from his flocks, a husbandman from his fields, and others according to their means t; provided the offering was not forbidden by the rites of the Deity. But though the Egyptians considered certain oblations suited to particular Gods ‡, others

inadmissible to their temples, and some more peculiarly adapted to prescribed periods of the year,

British Museum.

No. 482.
1, 2, 3. Vases of ointment, &c. on stands crowned with lotus flowers.
4. Bouquets of lotus and other flowers presented by the son of the deceased.
5. Table of offerings; the most remarkable of which are cakes, grapes, figs,
hind leg and head of a victim, two hearts, a goose, lotus flowers, and the
cucurbita.

6. Four vases on stands, with their mouths closed with ears of corn; over
them is a wreath of leaves.

7. The person of the tomb seated.

the greater part of the Deities were invoked with similar offerings; and in large sacrifices the same things were laid on all the Egyptian altars, with the exception of those expressly forbidden in particular temples.

Sistra were often held forth, generally by the queens and princesses, in the presence of the Gods, as well as the emblematic instruments, surmounted by the head of Athor; and the privilege of bearing them in the temples was principally confined to those who held the office* of pallacides. They frequently presented flowers at the same time head of Athor presented that they performed the peculiar rites required on this occasion.

No. 483. Emblems with the

to the Gods.

A singular ceremony is frequently represented of the king retiring from the presence of the God, to whom he has been performing a libation, and holding in his hand an emblem which, from its ap

the tail worn by the king taken off and held in his hand, since he is represented wearing it during the ceremony; and it differs also in form from that portion of the royal dress.

Sometimes a number of persons are seen beating themselves before the mummy of a dead person, under the usual form of Osiris; and another retires

holding one or even two of these emblems in his hand. But even this appears to be connected with a libation, which is performed in the compartment No. 485. Beating themselves. Thebes. below, as part of the same solemnity in honour of the deceased. The custom of beating themselves in token of grief is frequently mentioned by Herodotus, who explains that it was upon the breast, as throughout the East from the earliest times ‡ to the present day; and this is fully confirmed by the monuments themselves. Another remarkable offering, if indeed it be distinct from the usual censer, is

No. 486.

apparently a lamp made of glass, with a wick erect in the middle; which last is sometimes taken

A lamp? Thebes. out and held separately, as though the bearer were about to place it in the vase previous to its being lighted.§

The same

* In Plate 76. a priest appears to hold a royal tail in his hand, over a table or stand, during the ceremony of the coronation.

+ Herodot. ii. 85.

Conf. Luke, xxiii. 48.

This wick may have stood upright in the salt mentioned by Hero

form is given to the flame of the censers wherein the incense is burnt.

There is also a ceremony which appears to have some connexion with the dead, the purport of

No. 487. A game or ceremony.

which it is difficult to ascertain. Two persons, a man and a woman, hold the opposite ends of a cord, fastened in a knot around the centre of a pillar of wood, which, held in an upright position, Thebes. is struck against the

ground; the lower end being pointed, the upper round. It may be connected with some religious rite, or be one of their numerous games.

66

"The Egyptians," says Herodotus *, " are very religious, surpassing all men in the honours they pay to the Gods." The art of predicting future events, as practised in Greek temples, came from Egypt; and it is certain that they were the first people who established festivals, and the mode of approaching, and communing with the Deity." + Of the customary mode of doing this I have already spoken; and while praying or presenting offerings it will be seen from the sculptures that the

dotus in the lamps at Saïs. The lines may represent the twisted nature of the cotton wick, as they do the watering of the glass vase. Vide Vol. I. (2d Series) p.328. Herodot. ii. 62.

* Herodot. ii. 37.

+ Herodot. ii. 58.; suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 154.