name of

of the

Egyptians what Jerusalem was to the Jews and Mecca is to the Mussulmans. The growth in the length of the chapters and the increase in their number was probably slow but sure ; and that revisions should take place from time to time is only what was to be expected.

The commonest name for the Book of the Dead in Egyptian Esyptian is a

pert em hru, which is gene- the Book

1 rally translated by "coming forth, or going out, by day ;” Dead. this was probably only a conventional name, and may account for the difficulty which scholars have had in agreeing as to its meaning. Another name is Re en seáqer xu, “The Chapter of making strong the beatified spirit.” (Naville, Einleitung, p. 24.) The author of the Book of the Dead was said to be the god Thoth.

The Book of the Dead is composed of a series of chapters, each one of which formed a distinct composition, which could be added to or omitted from a papyrus according to the wish of those who were causing a copy to be made.? Champollion divided the book into three parts chapters 1-15, 16–125, and 126 to the end ; but had this scholar lived to devote more time and attention to the subject he would have seen that these divisions were purely arbitrary.

The Book of the Dead treats of the dead man's journey The object through Amenti, and in it he speaks to the incorporeal gods Book of and beings who reside there, uttering the formulæ which will the Dead. deliver him from the foes who wish to impede his progress, reciting prayers, and chanting hymns to the great gods, with all of whom these compositions were supposed to enable him

1 A Theban papyrus never contains more than ninety chapters.

? Es ist aber auch eine unrichtige Vorstellung, dass dieses Buch ein einziges Ganzes, eine in sich abgeschlossene von Anfang bis Ende fortschreitende Beschreibung der Seelenwanderung sei, welche von einem Verfasser so und in dieser Ausdehnung herrühre. Es ist vielmehr eine Sammlung verschiedener für sich bestehender Abschnitte, die sich auf die Zukunft der Seele beziehen, unter denen einzelne mehr oder minder wichtige Stellen einnehmen, auch im Allgemeinen nach einer gewissen Regel, die aber nicht immer unverbrüchlich ist, angeordnet sind. Lepsius.

3 This subject is discussed by Lepsius in the Vorwort (p. 5) to his edition of the Todtenbuch. B. M.

P

to prevail. It contains texts which were ordered to be in-
scribed upon amulets and bandages for the benefit of the dead ;
it contains a plan of the mummy chamber and the arrange-
ment of certain pieces of furniture in it; it contains the text
of the confession of the deceased in the presence of the forty-
two assessors, and the scene of the weighing of the heart in
the judgment hall of Osiris; it has a representation of the
Elysian Fields, etc. In our limited space here it is impossible
to give the briefest summary of the chapters of the Book of
the Dead and their contents; the above notes are only in-
tended to indicate the best books and chief authorities on a
work which is so often referred to in these pages.

PILLOWS.
Materials The pillows which the Egyptians were accustomed to
of which
pillows are put under the heads of mummies were made of wood (syca-
made.

more generally), granite, alabaster and calcareous stone.
They vary from six to ten inches in height, and are often
made in three pieces, viz., the curved neck-piece, the column
and base. The column is usually round or square, and the
base is oblong. The neck-piece is sometimes supported by
two columns or pillars, fluted (B.M. No. 17,102), but it may
be joined to the base by six supports (B.M. No. 2543), or
even by twenty-one (B.M. No. 18,155). Pillows are made also
in the shape of animals, e.g., B.M. No. 20,753, which is in the
shape of a stag, the horns being curved downwards to form
the neck-piece. Neck-pieces and columns are sometimes
ornamented with ivory studs (B.M. No. 2541). The base is
frequently dispensed with, and the supports are made in the
form of the necks of ducks, the ends terminating in their
heads and beaks. Such examples have usually the ends of
the neck-piece ornamented with carvings of figures of the god
Bes (B.M. No. 18,156), and sometimes with grotesque figures
(apes ?) wearing plumes, and being led along by chains (B.M.
No. 2256c). Such animals greatly resemble those represented

on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser II. The column of a Ornamen. wooden pillow is ornamented in various ways, and the name of tation of

the deceased is often written upon it in hieratic or hieroglypillows.

phics. One example (B.M. No. 2529a) is inscribed with lion

headed gods, Filip, and utat and neferu on the front,

a figure of Bes on the back, and a dog-headed ape holding an eye Red on each side. Another example (B.M. 2556a) is inscribed on the top of the neck-piece with lotus flowers and an ut'at -On each end of the base are also inscribed lotus flowers, and beneath are versions of the 55th, 61st and 62nd chapters of the Book of the Dead ; this pillow Inscribed was made for Āāua, the son of Heru, a prophet of Menthu,

pillows. lord of Thebes, the son of the lady of the house Nes-Mut.

The use of the pillow is very ancient, and goes Antiquity Ni

of the back at least as far as the VIth dynasty; the beautiful pillow. example in alabaster from Abydos now in the British Museum,

No. 2533, made for the high official 1 1 Åtenă, probably

belongs to this period. For the use of models of the pillow as an amulet, see the article “Amulets." Pillows similar in size and shape are in use to this day among the tribes of Nubia, and they are found among the natives in several places along the west coast of Africa ; that the ancient Egyptians borrowed them from the peoples of the south is not likely, but that the use of them by the Ethiopians, copied from the Egyptians, spread from the Sûdân southwards is most probable.

USHABTIU FIGURES. Ushabtiu, nije was the name given by the The work.

ing figures Egyptians to stone, alabaster, wood, clay, and glazed faïence in the figures of the god Osiris, made in the form of a mummy, world. which were deposited in the tombs either in wooden boxes or laid along the floor; sometimes they are found lying in the sarcophagi and coffins. They were placed there to do certain agricultural works for the deceased, who was supposed

1 Observations on these figures by Birch have appeared in Aeg. Zeil., 1864, pp. 89-103, and 1865, pp. 4-20 ; Mariette, Catalogue des Monuments d'Abydos, pp. 46-48; and by Loret, Recueil de Travaux, pp. 90, 91.