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headed gods, F, and utat and neferu on the front, a figure of Bes on the back, and a dog-headed ape holding on each side. Another example (B.M. 2556a) is inscribed on the top of the neck-piece with lotus flowers and an utat. 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 Aaua, the son of Heru, a prophet of Menthu, lord of Thebes, the son of the lady of the house Nes-Mut.

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pillows.

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

Atena, 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.1

Ushabtiu, l

was the name given by the

The working figures

in the

under

Egyptians to stone, alabaster, wood, clay, and glazed faïence 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. Zeit., 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.

tion of

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 implements 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, 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 inscrip tions.

Ushabtiu figures are generally inscribed with the VIth chapter of the Book of the Dead, which appears on them in three forms; the following, from Mariette, Catalogue des Monuments d'Abydos, p. 48, is an example of the first form :

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

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

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XVIIIth

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

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That is to say, the deceased addresses each figure and says, "O ushabtiu figures, if the Osiris," that is, the deceased, "is decreed to do any work whatsoever in the underworld, may all obstacles be cast down in front of him!" The figure answers and says, "Here am I ready whenever thou callest." The deceased next says, "O ye figures, be ye ever watchful to work, to plough and sow the fields, to water the canals, and to carry sand from the east to the west." The figures reply, "Here am I ready when thou callest."

The 6th chapter of the Book of the Dead, which also forms a part of the 151st chapter, is part text and part a representation of the chamber in which the deceased in his coffin is laid. In the representation of the funereal chamber which accompanies the 151st chapter of the Book of the Dead, two ushabtiu figures only are shown, and the same text is written by the side of each of them. See Naville, Das Todtenbuch, Bl. clxxiii, Einleitung, p. 180.

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