L

tempt may now be made to describe briefly what Egyptian - after death to the body of a man of high rank who * * this life at Thebes towards the end of the XVIIIth according ling of the XIXth dynasty, that is to say about B.C. #: he facts are all known, and therefore nothing need ments. ed; it is only necessary to gather them together and them to a focus on the person of one man. We must then that we are living on the east bank of the Nile, : temple of Amen-Ră, “lord of the thrones of the n the fifteenth century before Christ. One morning he day has dawned, even before the officials who the early services in the temples are astir, we are 2d by loud cries of grief and lamentation, and on inquiries we are told that Ani, the great scribe of rings of the gods in the temple of Amen-Ră, is dead. was the receiver of the revenues of the gods of Abydos, as of Amen-Ră of Thebes, first prophet of Amen, : precentor who stood on the threshold of the temple g by morning to lead off the hymn of praise to the s death naturally causes great excitement in the temples he immediate neighbourhood ; as his forefathers for six generations have been temple officers of the highest it is certain that his funeral will be a great event, and umbers of the hereditary aristocracy and government ls will assist at the ceremony. He leaves no wife to n for him, for she is already dead, and is now lying in a ber of a splendid tomb, not yet finished, however, nine away across the river, awaiting the coming of her husShe was called Tutu, and belonged to one of the st and most honourable families in Thebes; she was a ber of the famous college of singers of Amen-Ră, and a member of the choir of ladies, each one of whom ied a sistrum or a tambourine in the temple of that god. began to hew out the tomb for himself and his wife many Tomb rs ago, and during his lifetime he spared neither pains nor of Ani. pense in making it one of the largest and finest ever known a person of lower rank than a king. Ani was not a very i man when he died, although his step was slow and his ick somewhat bent; in stature he was of middle height, and

Diodorus on Egyptian burial.

ceremony," and partly from his imagination. Before the coffin
containing the dead man was placed in the boat on the lake,
every person had the right to bring accusations against the
deceased. If any accuser succeeded in showing that the
deceased had led a bad life, the judges made a decree which
deprived the body of legal burial; if, on the other hand, the
accusation was found to be unjust, the person who brought it
was compelled to pay heavy damages. If no one stood forth
to bring an accusation, or if an accusation seemed calumnious,
the relatives of the deceased ceased to mourn and began to
praise the dead man and his virtues, and to entreat the gods
of the infernal regions to admit him into the place reserved
for good men. The Egyptians never praised the birth of a

\ man, as did the Greeks, for they believed that all men are

equally noble. The people being gathered together, add their
cries of joy, and utter wishes that the deceased may enjoy ever-
lasting life in the underworld in the company of the blessed.
Those who have private burial places lay the bodies of their dead
in the places set apart for them ; but those who have not, build
a new chamber in their house, and set the body in it fixed
upright against the wall. Those who are deprived of burial,
either because they lie under the ban of an accusation, or
because they have not paid their debts, are merely laid in
their own houses. It happens sometimes that the younger
members of a family, having become richer, pay the debts
of their ancestors, secure the removal of the condemnatory
sentence upon them, and give them most sumptuous funerals.
The great honours which are paid to the dead by the
Egyptians form the most solemn ceremonies. As a guarantee
for a debt, it is a customary thing to deposit the bodies of
dead parents, and the greatest disgrace and privation from
burial, wait upon those who redeem not such sacred pledges.
In this account also there are many details given for which
proof is still wanting from the Egyptian monuments.

* Thus Orpheus brought back from his travels in Egypt the ceremonies, and the greater part of the mystic rites celebrated in memory of the courses of Ceres, and the whole of the myth of hell. The difference between the feasts of Bacchus and of those of Osiris exists only in name, and the same may be said of the mysteries

of Isis and those of Osiris. I iodorus, I. 96.

embalmment

to the

An attempt may now be made to describe briefly what Egyptian happened after death to the body of a man of high rank who departed this life at Thebes towards the end of the XVIIIth according or beginning of the XIXth dynasty, that is to say about B.C. monu1400. The facts are all known, and therefore nothing need ments. be invented; it is only necessary to gather them together and to bring them to a focus on the person of one man. We must imagine then that we are living on the east bank of the Nile, near the temple of Åinen-Rā, “lord of the thrones of the earth," in the fifteenth century before Christ. One morning before the day has dawned, even before the officials who conduct the early services in the temples are astir, we are awakened by loud cries of grief and lamentation, and on making inquiries we are told that Ani, the great scribe of the offerings of the gods in the temple of Amen-Rā, is dead. As he was the receiver of the revenues of the gods of Abydos, as well as of Amen-Rā of Thebes, first prophet of Àmen, and the precentor who stood on the threshold of the temple morning by morning to lead off the hymn of praise to the sun, his death naturally causes great excitement in the temples and the immediate neighbourhood; as his forefathers for five or six generations have been temple officers of the highest rank, it is certain that his funeral will be a great event, and that numbers of the hereditary aristocracy and government officials will assist at the ceremony. He leaves no wife to mourn for him, for she is already dead, and is now lying in a chamber of a splendid tomb, not yet finished, however, nine miles away across the river, awaiting the coming of her husband. She was called Tutu, and belonged to one of the oldest and most honourable families in Thebes; she was a member of the famous college of singers of Amen-Rā, and also a member of the choir of ladies, each one of whom carried a sistrum or a tambourine in the temple of that god. Ani began to hew out the tomb for himself and his wife many Tomb years ago, and during his lifetime he spared neither pains nor expense in making it one of the largest and finest ever known for a person of lower rank than a king. Ani was not a very old man when he died, although his step was slow and his back somewhat bent; in stature he was of middle height, and

of Ani.

Death of Ani.

his features had a kind but dignified look, and though comparatively few loved him, all respected him for his uprightness and integrity. He was a learned man, and knew the literature of Egypt well; he himself wrote a fine, bold hand, and was no mean artist with his pencil. He was a tried servant of the king, and loved him well, but he loved his god Amen more, and was very jealous for his honour, and the glory of his worship in the temple of the Apts. All his ancestors had been in the service of the god, and it was even said that the

oldest of them had seen Amen, who, until the expulsion of

the Hyksos by the kings of Thebes, had occupied the position
of a mere local deity, suddenly become the national god of
Egypt. Whether Ani believed in his innermost heart any or
all of the official religion is another matter; his official posi-
tion brought him into contact with the temporal rather than
the spiritual affairs of the Egyptian religion, and whatever
doubts he may have had in matters of belief, or concerning
the efficacy of the magic of his day, etc., etc., he said nothing
about them to any man.
For some days past it had been seen that Ani's death was
to be expected, and many of his colleagues in the temple had
come to see him from time to time, one bringing a charm,
another a decoction of herbs, etc., and a few had taken it in
turns to stay in his room for some hours at a time. One
night his illness took a decidedly serious turn, and early in
the morning, a short time before daybreak, when, as the
Orientals say, the dawn may be smelled, Ani died. The
news of his death spreads rapidly through the quarter, for all
the women of his house rush frantically through the streets,
beating their breasts, and from time to time clutching at their
hair, which is covered with handfuls of the thick dust of the
streets, after the manner of Anpu in the Tale of the Two
Brothers, and uttering wailing cries of grief. In the house,
parties of mourning women shriek out their grief, and all the
members of the house add their tears and sobs. The steward
of the house has, however, sent across the river to the
cher-heb or priest who superintends and arranges the
funerals of the wealthy and great, and informed him of
Ani's death, and as quickly as possible this official leaves his

house near the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, and
together with his assistants, makes his way with all haste to
Ani's house. Having arrived there he takes Ani's body into
his charge, and proceeds to discuss the method by which the
body shall be preserved, and the style of the funeral. While
his assistants are taking away the body to the embalming
house, he sends quickly to the western bank of the Nile, and
summons his chief mason to his presence; after a short time
he arrives, and the cher-heb instructs him to go to Ani's tomb
with a body of men, and to finish hewing whatever chambers
and pillars remain in a half completed state, to plaster the
walls, and to paint upon them scenes for which he supplies
him with details and notes. The cher-heb knows that for
many years past Ani, and one or two of his friends among
the scribes, had been writing and illuminating with vignettes
a fine copy of the “Book of the Dead”; he remembers that
this work remains unfinished, and he therefore sets a skilful
scribe to finish it in the style in which Ani would probably
have finished it. Parties of professional mourners are next
organized, and these go round about the city at stated times,
singing in chorus, probably accompanied by some musical in-
strument, funereal dirges, the subjects of which were the short-
ness of life and the certainty that all must die, and the virtues
of the dead man. These dirges were sung twice daily, and
Ani's friends and colleagues, during the days of mourning,
thought it to be their duty to abstain from wine and every
kind of luxury, and they wore the simplest and plainest
garments, and went quite unadorned.
Meanwhile it was decided that Ani's funeral should be
one of the best that money could purchase, and as while he
was alive he was thought to be in constant communion with
the gods, his relatives ordered that his body should be mum-

mified in the best possible way, so that his soul ba, and his intelligence oxu, when they returned some thousands of years hence to seek his body in the tomb, might find

histolka or “genius” there waiting, and that all three might

enter into the body once more, and revivify it, and live with it for ever in the kingdom of Osiris. No opportunity must

Ani's body given to the embalmers.

Dirges for the dead.

Object
of em-
balmment.