Several points of resemblance may be observed between the funeral processions of ancient Egypt and the above-mentioned ceremony: as in the female mourners; their heads bound with a fillet; the procession of the friends on foot; the head of the corpse foremost; the horses (or chariot) in the procession; and the ox or calf for sacrifice, the meat of which was probably given to the poor, like the visceratio of the Romans.

Of the magnificent pomp of a royal funeral in the time of the Pharaohs no adequate idea can be formed from the processions represented in the tombs of ordinary individuals; and the solemn manner in which a public mourning was observed in his honour, the splendour of the royal tombs, and the importance attached to all that appertained to the king, sufficiently show how far these last must have fallen short of regal grandeur. A general mourning was proclaimed throughout the country, which lasted seventy-two days after his death. "The people tore their garments*; all the temples were closed; sacrifices were forbidden; and no festivals were celebrated during that period. A procession of men and women, to the number of 200 or 300, with their dresses attached below their breast, wandered through the streets, throwing dust † and mud upon their heads; and twice every day they sang the funeral dirge in

* Diodor. i. 72. Vide suprà, Vol. I. p. 256.

The Greeks say "mud;" but in the dry dusty Egypt this would have been more difficult to find than dust in England, if we had so unpleasant a custom at our funerals.

honour of the deceased monarch, calling upon his virtues, and passing every encomium upon his memory. In the meantime a solemn fast was established; and they neither allowed themselves to taste meat or wheaten bread *, abstaining also from wine and every kind of luxury; nor did any one venture, from a religious scruple, to use baths or ointments, to lie on soft beds, or in any way to gratify his appetites; giving himself up entirely to mourning during those days, as if he had lost the friend most dear to him."

Considering the marked distinction maintained between the sovereign and the highest subjects in the kingdom, in a country where the royal princes walked on foot when in attendance upon their father, and even bore him in his chair of state upon their shoulders,-where the highest functionaries of the priestly order, the most influential of the hereditary nobles of the land, walked behind the chariott of their monarch, - we may readily believe how greatly the funeral processions of the wealthiest individuals fell short of those of the kings. But from the pomp of ordinary funerals, some idea may be formed of the grand state in which the body of a sovereign was conveyed to the tomb.

In the funeral processions of the Egyptian grandees the order was frequently as follows:

Conf. "As the bread of the mourners." Hos. ix. 4.

The greatest honour conferred on Joseph was permission "to ride in the second chariot which he (the King) had." This was a royal chariot, no one being allowed to appear in his own in the presence of majesty, except in battle.

1

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

different materials of which vases Alabaster was most common, as adopted the name "alabaster" to Συριῳ δε μυρῳ χρυσει αλαβαστρα.

* I have had occasion to notice the used for holding ointment were made. with the Greeks and Romans, who even signify a vase, as in Theocr. Id. xv. 112. + 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.

No. 500. The mummy's head, seen at an open panel of the coffin.

Thebes.

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.