respect they were inclined to pay to the memory of their parent. If the sons or relations were of the priestly order, they had the privilege of officiating on these occasions; and the members of the family had permission, and were perhaps frequently expected, to be present, whether the services were performed by strangers, or by relations of the de

The members of the family present when the services were performed.

ceased. The ceremonies consisted of a sacrifice,

No. 493. A woman embracing, and

weeping before, her husband's mummy. Thebes.

those of the priest;

similar to those offered in the temples, vowed for the deceased to one or more Gods (as Osiris, Anubis, and others connected with Amenti): incense and libation were also presented; and a prayer was sometimes read, the relations and friends being present as mourners. They even joined their prayers to and, embracing the mummied

body, and bathing its feet with their tears, they uttered those expressions of grief, and praises of the deceased, which were dictated by their feelings on so melancholy an occasion.*

The priest who officiated at the burial service was selected from the grade of Pontiffs who wore the leopard skint; but various other rites were performed by one of the minor priests to the mummies previous to their being lowered into the pit of the tomb, as well as after that ceremony. Indeed they continued to be administered at intervals, as long as the family paid for their performance; and it is possible that upon the cessation of this payment, or after a stipulated time, the priests had the right of transferring the tomb to another family, which, as I have already observed, the inscriptions within them show to have been done, even though belonging to members of the priestly order.

When the mummies remained in the house, or in the chamber of the sepulchre, they were kept in moveable wooden closets, with folding doors, out of which they were taken by the minor functionaries to a small altar, before which the priest officiated. The closet and the mummy were placed on a sledge, in order to facilitate their movement from one place to another; and the latter was drawn with ropes to the altar, and taken back by the same means when the ceremony was over. these occasions, as in the prayers for the dead, they made the usual offerings of incense and libation,

* Vide also Plate 84.

+ Vide Plate 83, 84.

On

No. 494

2

3

5

6

8

Tomb at Thebes.

Conveying the mummies on a sledge to the closet in which they were kept, after the services had been performed to them.-
The priest (fig. 8.) is pouring oil over them. On the altar are three vases of oil, cakes, a basket of grapes, and some other
things (which were indistinct from being much defaced). Below are two glass bottles of wine. Even in this serious subject
the priest, who supports it with his hands.
the Egyptian artists could not refrain from their love of caricature; and one of the mummies (fig. 4.) is falling down upon

1

with cakes, flowers, and fruit; and even anointed the mummy, oil or ointment being poured over its

1

2

3

head. Sometimes several priests attended. One carried a napkin over his shoulder, to be used after the anointing of the mummy; another brought a papyrus roll con

No. 495. Pouring oil over a mummy. The priest taining a prayer, or (fig. 1.) has a napkin on his shoulder. Fig. 2. holds the usual ritual de

a papyrus. The mode of placing the napkin is

remarkable, being the same as now adopted in the

East by servants while guests are washing their posited in the tombs

hands before meals.

Tomb at Thebes.

with the dead; and

others had different occupations according to their respective offices. They were not of the order of Pontiffs; but an inferior grade of priests, deputed to perform similar duties in lieu of the high priest, who, as already stated, officiated only at the burial, or on other important occasions.

Single oblations of various kinds were made to the mummies by individuals of the family, as well as by the priests; but many of the ceremonies, as well as the emblematic offerings, were of a singular kind, the meaning of which it is difficult to comprehend. One of these last has the appearance of some kind of instrument. It occurs in the names of several kings in the sense of "chosen §," or "ap

* Conf. 2 Kings, ix. 3. "Take a box of oil and pour on his head.” + Vide Woodcuts, No. 494, 495.

Vide suprà, p. 356. note; and Plate 85. where it is held before a mummy.

As in that of Remeses the Great, where it occurs as “the chosen of the Sun."

proved;" and is probably intended to point out the excellence of the gifts selected for the deceased, being used as the demonstrative sign accompanying the "chosen part" of the sacrifices in the temples and the tombs.

It is probable that lamps were kept burning in the tomb while these ceremonies were performing, or as long as it was open, as in the Roman sepulchres; a duty which fell to the charge of the keeper or servant of the tomb.

These funeral oblations answer exactly to the inferia or parentalia of the Romans, consisting of victims, flowers, and libations; when the tomb was decked with garlands and wreaths of flowers, and an altar was erected before it for presenting the

No. 496.

An altar, in the British Museum, showing,

that the trench is for carrying off the libation. The quently granite
or basalt; and

lower device is the ordinary hieroglyphic signifying
"chosen," as applied to offerings.

upon them are carved in bas relief the various

offerings they bore, which are the same as those