glyphics are stiff and spiritless. Good examples of papyri of this Recension are the Papyrus of Heru-em-heb, written in hieratic (No. 10,257), and the Papyrus of Heru, written in hieroglyphics (No. 10,479). The vignettes usually occupy small spaces at the top of the columns of text. The Recension in use in the Ptolemaïc Period was the Saïte, but before the Roman Period it was customary to write other and newer funerary works on papyri, and little by little the Book of the Dead, as a whole, became obsolete. It seems as if an attempt was made to extract from the old work the texts which were regarded as absolutely necessary for salvation, and as if the older mythology was unknown to the Egyptians of the period. It is quite certain that many of the scribes copied texts without understanding them, and that the meanings of many vignettes were lost.

About the beginning of the Ptolemaïc Period the following works came into general use: 1. The SHAIT EN SENSEN

Like the great Book of the Dead, this work was declared to have been written by Thoth, the scribe of the gods, the "Heart of Rā." It contains a number of prayers for offerings, a series of declarations that the deceased has not committed certain specified sins, a statement that he has neither sin nor evil in him, and a demand that his soul be admitted into the heaven because "he gave food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, "clothes to the naked, and offerings to the Gods, and to the "KHU (beatified spirits)." A fine copy of this work is that written in the hieratic character for Kerasher on a papyrus in the British Museum (No. 9995). In the first part are copies of vignettes from the Book of the Dead, but the details are modified. to suit the religious beliefs of the period. Thus Thoth and not Horus introduces the deceased to Osiris, and Anubis and Hathor lead him into the Judgment Hall instead of Maat.

2. The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys, a work in which these goddesses lamented the sufferings and death of Osiris, and proclaimed his resurrection, and glorified him in the heavens. It was recited by two priestesses, who were ceremonially pure, on the 25th day of the month Choiak (December), and the words in the book were believed to be those which Isis and Nephthys actually said at their first mourning for their brother Osiris. Copies of them were written on papyrus and buried with the dead to ensure their resurrection and future happiness and glory,

3. The Festival Songs of the Two Tcherti, i.e., of the Two Weepers, Isis and Nephthys, a work similar in character to the preceding. It was recited on five days of the month Choiak (December), during which the great annual festival of Osiris was celebrated. The priestesses who sang the verses of the work wore lambs'-wool crowns on their heads, carried tambourines which they beat from time to time, and bore on their arms bandlets with the names of Isis and Nephthys written upon them. The recital of the work was preceded by an address by the Kher heb, or "Lector," and then the two priestesses sang the rhythmic sections of the compositions alternately.

4. The Litanies of Seker, a short composition of about 100 lines, containing two series of addresses to Seker, the god of the Other World. Fine copies of this and the preceding work given in the Rhind Papyrus (No. 10,188).

are

5. The Book of traversing Eternity (Shati en sebebi heh

80), a work in

which the happiness of the blessed dead is described, and an account given of a journey through the Other World by the deceased, who visits the shrines of the gods, and takes part in the services of praise which are performed there by the spirits and souls

of the righteous, and enjoys the offerings which are made to them by the faithful on earth (Papyrus No. 29, at Vienna).

6. The Book of May my Name Flourish, a work which was very popular in the Roman Period. It is, in reality, a development of a long prayer which is found in the Pyramid Texts of the VIth dynasty. Its object was to make the name of the deceased permanent in heaven and on earth, for it was a common belief, from the earliest to the latest times, that the man whose name was blotted out had no portion or existence in the other world. A nameless soul possessed no identity, and could not be introduced to Ra and the company of the gods. The British Museum possesses several copies of this work, written generally on narrow strips of papyrus, in a kind of hieratic, containing many demotic characters. (Nos. 10,108, 10, III, 10,112, 10,109, etc.)

7. Another work which obtained some popularity in the late period is the so-called Ritual of Embalmment. In this composition is given a large number of the formulas that were recited over the unguents, spices, and swathings during the process of embalming the body.

8. In all periods the burial of the dead was accompanied by the presentation of series of offerings.

Up to the end of the Vth dynasty a comparatively small number of names of offerings was inscribed on the walls of the tombs, and in the presentation of such offerings consisted the ceremony of Opening the Mouth of the dead. Under the VIth dynasty a new and enlarged list of offerings was drawn up, and a series of formulas was added to it for recital by the priest as object after object was presented to the mummy. In many of these formulas there were plays of words upon the names of the offerings, each of which was symbolical of some divine being, or object, or act. Several new ceremonies connected

The ceremonies of "Opening the Mouth."

with the purification and censing of the mummy, and the use of instruments in "opening the mouth and eyes" of the mummy were introduced at this time. To this List of Offerings, with its rubrics, the name of Liturgy of Funerary Offerings may be given. Under the XVIIIth dynasty a further development of the List of Offerings took place, and new ceremonies were added, and the work was henceforth known as the Book of Opening the Mouth. The visitor will see on the west wall of the Second Egyptian Room a large coloured drawing in which the performance of ceremonies connected with the opening of the mouth is represented. One priest is supposed to be touching the mouth of the mummy with the Ur-heka instrument, and is holding other instruments; the other priest is presenting vases of water. Behind them is the KHER HEB, or Lector, who is pouring out water from a libation vase and burning incense. The object of the Book of Opening the Mouth was: 1. To give the deceased a new body in the Other World, and to make him to be divine. 2. To establish communion between the living and the dead. In later days a statue of the deceased took the place of his mummy in the ceremonies, and then the chief object of the ceremonies, formulas, and offerings, was to provide a dwelling place for the Ka or double" of the deceased, and to make his soul to take up its abode in the statue. The Book of Opening the Mouth was in general use from the Vth dynasty to the first or second century of our era, that is, for a period of 4,000 years, and copies of it made in the Roman Period are almost identical with those found in the Pyramids of Sakkârah of the VIth dynasty.

9. An important section of the Religious Literature of Egypt is formed by works which were intended to be used as Guides to the Other World. The oldest of these is a work in which pictures are given of portions of Restau, in the kingdom of the god Seker, and of several parts of the Sekhet-hetep, or Elysian Fields, and their positions in respect of the celestial Nile are shown. The descriptions of these places and the formulas which were to be recited by the deceased are written in hieratic, and these were to be learned by men on earth so that their souls might recognize the various regions as they came to them, and repeat the sacred words at the right moments. This "Guide This "Guide" may be called the Book of enabling a man to travel over the ways of the Other World, but recent writers have named it the Book of the Two Ways. The finest and fullest copies of the work,