1

2

No. 499. Closets containing

figures of Gods.

First came several servants carrying tables laden with fruit, cakes, flowers, vases of ointment*, wine and other liquids, with three young geese and a calf for sacrifice, chairs and wooden tablets, napkins †, and other things. Then others bringing the small closets in which the mummy of the deceased and of his ancestors had been kept, while receiving the funeral liturgies previous to burial, and which sometimes contained the images of the Gods. They also carried daggers, bows, sandals, and fans; each man having a kerchief or napkin on his shoulder. Next came a table of offerings, fauteuils, couches, boxes, and a chariot§; and then the charioteer with a pair of horses yoked in another car, which he drove as he followed on foot, in token of respect to his late master. After these were men carrying gold vases on a table, with other offerings, boxes, and a large case upon a sledge borne on poles by four men, superintended by two functionaries of the priestly order; then others bearing small images of his ancestors, arms, fans, the sceptres, signets, collars, necklaces, and other things appertaining to the king, in whose service he had held an important office. To these succeeded the bearers of

* I have had occasion to notice the different materials of which vases used for holding ointment were made. Alabaster was most common, as with the Greeks and Romans, who even adopted the name "alabaster" to signify a vase, as in Theocr. Id. xv. 112. Συριῳ δε μυρῳ χρυσει αλαβαστρα. These were sometimes spread over the tables of offerings as table. cloths. Vide Plate 86.

‡ Vide suprà, p. 298. note †.

§ Vide Vol. III. p. 176.

a sacred boat, and the mysterious eye* of Osiris(?) as God of Stability †, so common on funereal monuments, the same which was placed over the incision in the side of the body when embalmed, was the emblem of Egypt, and was frequently used as a sort of amulet, and deposited in the tombs. Others carried the well-known small images of blue pottery representing the deceased under the form of Osiris, and the bird emblematic of the soul. Following these were seven or more men bearing upon staves, or wooden yokes, cases filled with flowers and bottles for libation; and then seven or eight women, having their heads bound with fillets, beating their breasts, throwing dust upon their heads, and uttering doleful lamentations for the deceased, intermixed with praises of his virtues.

One is seen in the picture turning round, in the act of adoration, towards a sacred case containing a sitting Cynocephalus, the emblem of the God of Letters, placed on a sledge drawn by four men ; the officiating high priest or pontiff, clad in a leopard skin, following, having in his hand the censer and vase of libation, and accompanied by his attendants bearing the various things required for the occasion.

Next came the hearse, placed in the consecrated boat upon a sledge§, drawn by four oxen and by seven men, under the direction of a super

*Vide Plate 83. and suprà, p. 269.

+ Given also to Pthah in the same character.

This emblem of Thoth seems to correspond to the book carried on the desk of palm-sticks at the Moslem funerals.

intendant, who regulated the march of the procession. A high functionary of the priestly order walked close to the boat, in which the chief mourners, the nearest female relatives of the deceased, stood or sat at either end of the sarcophagus; and sometimes his widow, holding a child in her arms, united her lamentations with prayers for her tender offspring, who added its tribute of sorrow to that of its afflicted mother.

*

The sarcophagus was decked with flowers; and on the sides were painted alternately the emblems of Stability and Security (?) two by two (as on the sacred arks or shrines †) upon separate panels, + one of which was sometimes taken out to expose to view the head of the mummy within.

These two emblems are frequently put into the hands of the mummies, as may be seen in the

This perhaps represents the four bases of Iamblichus. It appears to be called rar. Vide suprà, p. 266. and Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 253. 341. + Vide the ark of Neph on the exterior of these two volumes; and Contents, p. xxiii.

+ Vide also Plates 83. and 85.

coffins of the British Museum and other collections. The first appears to be a sort of stand used by workmen for supporting vases, or other things they were chiseling which required a firm position; and the other resembles the knot or clasp of a belt worn by the Gods and Kings.*

Behind the hearse followed the male relations and friends of the deceased; some beating their breasts; others, if not giving the same tokens of grief, at least showing their sorrow by their siNo. 500. a. Knot of a belt. lence and solemn step as they walked, leaning on their long sticks. These closed the procession.

Arrived at the sacred lake, the coffin was placed in the barist, or consecrated boat of the dead, towed by a larger one furnished with sails and oars, and having frequently a spacious cabin ‡, which, in company with other sailing boats carrying the mourners and all those things above mentioned appertaining to the funeral §, crossed to the other side. Arrived there, the procession went in the same order to the tomb; at which the priest offered a sacrifice, with incense and libation; the

* Vide suprà, p. 26. note *.

+ The boat which carries over the bodies of the dead is called baris." Diod. i. 96. Vide infrà, p. 433. Baris signifies the" boat of the sun."

It is probable that Strabo alludes to these boats with cabins under the name of thalamegi or thalamiferi, in which the Egyptians made parties of pleasure on the water. Lib. xvii. p. 550. Some were very small, and towed on the lakes of their pleasure grounds by servants. On the cabin of the baris is the case containing the Cynocephalus.

It

women still continuing their lamentations, united with prayers and praises of the deceased. frequently happened that the deceased, with his wife, if dead at the time of his funeral, was represented seated under a canopy*, in lieu of the coffin. Before him stood an altar laden with offerings; and a priest, opening a long roll of papyrus, read aloud the funeral ritual, and an account of his good deeds," in order to show to Osiris and the Assessors the extent of his piety and justice during his life." When the boats reached the other side of the lake, the yards were lowered to the top of the cabin; and all those engaged in the ceremony left them and proceeded to the tomb; from which they appear to have returned by land, without recrossing the lake.

Such was the funeral procession of a basilicogrammat, or royal scribe, a member of the priestly order. He lived during the four successive reigns of Thothmes III., Amunoph II., Thothmes IV., and Amunoph III., and held the office of tutor to one of the young princesses, as the sculptures inform us, which represent him nursing her on his knee, while entertaining a party of friends. This, since it shows that the education of the daughters of kings was entrusted to members of the priestly order distinguished for their talents, is another trait of resemblance in the customs of

*This canopy was very similar to that mentioned by Herodotus, of wood, gilt, in which the statue of a God was placed in processions. Vide suprà, p. 310.

+ Vide Plate 12. Vol. II. p. 222.