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.

to be condemned to sow the fields, to fill the canals with water,
and to carry sand from the West to the East. The ushabtiu
figures of the XIIIth dynasty are made of granite, wood, and
calcareous stone; the last substance was, however, that most
commonly used. The use of faïence for this purpose appears
not to have been known at that epoch. Generally the hands
are crossed over the breast, but sometimes they are covered up
in bandages. The hands do not hold any agricultural im-
plements as in the later dynasties; and the inscriptions upon
them consist usually of the name and titles of the deceased,
and resemble very closely those on the stelæ of this period.

The breasts of sepulchral figures of this period are sometimes
Descrip inscribed with a scarabæus having its wings outspread. Blue,
tion of
ushabtiu

green, brown, and red glazed faïence figures appear during the at various XVIIIth dynasty, and continue until the XXVIth dynasty, by epochs.

which time this substance has taken the place of stone, wood,
or metal. In this dynasty the figures first begin to carry a
hoe, mattock and basket. During the XIXth dynasty the
dress of these figures changes, and they are represented as
wearing the garments which the people for whom they are
made wore during their lifetime. In the XXVIth dynasty
these figures still hold the hoe, mattock and basket, and they
stand on a square pedestal and have a rectangular upright
plinth down the back. They were cast in moulds, and are
easily distinguishable by their light bluish-green colour.
Between the XXIInd and XXIVth dynasties ushabtiu
figures seem not to have been placed in the tombs, and
after the XXVIth dynasty they are made with less care, the
inscriptions grow gradually shorter, and finally the figures

become very small and bear no inscriptions whatever.
Ushabtiu Ushabtiu figures are generally inscribed with the VIth
inscrip
tions.

chapter of the Book of the Dead, which appears on them in
three forms; the following, from Mariette, Catalogue des Monu-
ments d'Abydos, p. 48, is an example of the first form :-

The second form (Mariette, Catalogue, p. 58) reads :

The third form, which agrees with the text of the 6th chapter found in papyri of the XXVIth dynasty, reads :

en

se

ástu
ḥu - nef

set'ebu

åm behold, be there smtten down for him obstructions there for a person