No.494

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6 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

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

No. 495. Pouring oil over a mummy.-The priest

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 containing 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 Tomb at Thebes. hands before meals.

posited in the tombs 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 And

No. 496.

offerings.

that this last was

also done by the Egyptians,

is

are of stone, fre

An altar, in the British Museum, showing quently granite

that the trench is for carrying off the libation. The lower device is the ordinary hieroglyphic signifying "chosen," as applied to offerings.

or basalt; and

upon them are carved in bas relief the various

offerings they bore, which are the same as those

At

represented in the paintings of the tombs. one side projects a small spout, to which a channel, carried round the inside, is intended to convey the liquid of the libations; and some with two spouts are of a larger size, and intended for a greater number of offerings. Being very low, each was placed on a small pedestal or stool, which has been found, together with the flat altar stone it once supported, as figured on the monuments. The channel around the altar stone calls to mind the "trench" made by Elijah "round about the altar" at Mount Carmel *; though the object was not the same, the water with which this was filled being intended to prove the miraculous interference of the Deity, when the fire that "consumed the burnt sacrifice licked up the water in the trench," and that of the Egyptian altar being merely intended to carry off the libation poured upon it.

It is probable that when any of the sacerdotal caste died,. whose families could not afford the ex

Kings, xviii. 32. et seq. "And he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed; and he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, fill four barrels (pails) with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood. . . . . . And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. . . . . And the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench." The word barrels is in the Hebrew D', Kadim, properly pails or pitchers, as in Gen. xxiv. 14.; from 7, answering to the Cadus of the Latins. I cannot in this place refrain from adding my humble testimony to the accuracy of our translation of the Bible; which is the more surprising, as it was done without all the aid which an insight into eastern customs has in later times afforded.

*

pense of the liturgies, certain collections were made to pay for their performance; which being deposited in the hands of the priests, added in no inconsiderable degree to their revenues. And the fact, as Dr. Young observes, "that one moiety of a third part of the collections for the dead (priests of Osiris), lying in Thynabunun," when sold by "Onnophrist, one of the servants of the Goddess Isis," required no less than sixteen witnesses, plainly proves the value of this privilege.

Diodorus and the Papyri show that it was not an uncommon thing to keep the mummies in the house, after they had been returned by the embalmers to the relations of the deceased, in order to gratify the feelings which made them desirous of having those they had loved in life as near them as possible after death. Damascenius states that they sometimes introduced them at table, as though they could enjoy their society; and Lucian, in his Essay on Grief, says that he was an eyewitness of this custom. They were sometimes left in the house until the family could prepare a tomb for their reception; and the affection of a wife or husband frequently retained the body of a beloved consort, in order that both might be deposited at the same time in their final resting

* Vide Dr. Young's Discov. in Hierog. Literature, p. 60. 69. 74. + Properly Ouonnofre. Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 320. Vide suprà, Vol. II. p. 414. Silius Italicus also says, —

"Ægyptia tellus

Claudit odorato post funus stantia saxo

Corpora, et a mensis exanguem haud separat umbram."

(Punicorum, lib. iii.)