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Stele of
Amāsis.

very little in common with those of older dynasties. earlier times the deceased was represented as being surrounded by his parents, brothers and sisters, wife and servants, but at this epoch the gods take their places, and he stands alone before Osiris, god and judge of the dead. In many stelæ of this period the name of the god Amen has been carefully chiselled out, by order of the "heretic king," Amenophis IV. A remarkable characteristic of stelæ at this time is the length and fulness of the inscriptions upon them. In the earlier times, private matters in the life of the deceased were passed over with little or no mention; now, however, full biographies become the rule, and the inscriptions cover not only the stela, but the walls of the chamber in which the mummies were laid. Sometimes such biographies are almost the only authorities for the history of a period, and the inscription of Amāsis is an example of this class of documents. Amāsis was a naval officer who was born about the time of the final war of the Egyptians against the Hyksos, and he was present at the capture of the town of Avaris, during the reign of Amāsis I., king of Egypt. He was specially honoured by this king for his prowess in battle, and he served in various campaigns undertaken by his successors, Amenophis I., and Thothmes I. The stele of the XIXth dynasty show a great falling off both in design and execution. The figures of men and women are poor, and their limbs are made out of all proportion to the rest of their bodies. The mode of wearing their clothes, too, has changed, a large portion of the body is entirely covered by the dress, and the figures wear a heavy head-dress, which falls squarely upon the shoulders. The hieroglyphics are carelessly engraved, and lack the spirit which indicates those of the XVIIIth dynasty. During the XXth dynasty the use of stelæ appears not to have been so general, and from about B.C. 1000-650 they almost disappear. The stela which belong to this period are few and small, and the designs are generally poor imitations of stelæ of an older date. The cause of this decline is not quite evident, but it may be either the result of the disquietude caused by the unsettled condition of Egypt through foreign invasions, or the consequence of some religious schism. It will be noticed

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that ushabtiu figures, as well as stela, become fewer and poorer during this same period. The stela of the XXVIth Stela of dynasty exhibit the features which are characteristic of the Empire. sculptures of this period. They occur in large numbers, they are larger in size, the hieroglyphics are small, but cleanly cut, and they have a beauty which is in itself sufficient to proclaim the time to which they belong. The inscriptions are copied from ancient texts, and as neither the scribe nor the sculptor understood at times what he was writing, frequent mistakes are the result. After the XXVIth dynasty stela were made of all possible designs and forms; the hieroglyphics are badly cut, the inscriptions are the ordinary formulæ, in which the deceased prays for sepulchral meals, and it is quite clear that the placing of a stele in the tomb had become a mere matter of form with the greater number of the Egyptians. In Ptolemaic times ancient models were copied, but the inscriptions are as often in Greek or demotic, or both, as in hieroglyphics. Stelæ bearing bilingual inscriptions, in hieroglyphics and Greek, or hieroglyphics and Phoenician, are also known. Subsequently it became the fashion to make the figures of the gods on stelæ in high relief, and the attributes and costumes of Greck gods were applied to those of Egypt.

The greater number of the wooden stela in European museums belong to the XXVIth and subsequent dynasties. They are rounded at the top, they usually stand upon two pedestals having steps on each side, and they vary in size from 6in. by 4 in. to 3 ft. by 20 in. The inscriptions and Ornamen scenes upon them are usually painted in white, green, red, stela yellow, or black, upon a light or dark brown ground. On the of the XXVIth and dynasty.

back are at times figures of the sun shedding rays ጠ standards of the east † and west

The large tablets have

with

three registers; in the first are the winged disk
pendent uræi wearing the crowns of the north and south,
the jackal-headed gods Anubis and Ap-uat, emblems of

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"life" and "power 11, etc.; in the second register are the

boat of the sun, in which stand a number of gods, Rā, Horus, Cheperȧ, Maāt, Anubis, etc., and the deceased, or his soul, kneeling at a table of offerings in front of the boat

tation of

Inlaid

stelæ.

Stelæ in glazed faïence.

in adoration of Ra; in the third register the deceased makes
adoration to a number of gods, and below this comes the
inscription. The smaller, and more numerous, tablets have
in the rounded part, the winged disk with pendent uræi,
and the inscription
Beḥutet neb pet "[Horus of]
Beḥutet, lord of heaven." The scene which follows is
divided into two parts: in the one the deceased stands or
kneels by the side of an altar in adoration before Ra-Har-
machis, and in the other he adores Nefer-Åtmu. Below
the scenes are two inscriptions which read from the middle of
the tablet to the sides, and contain, the one an address or
prayer to Rā when he rises, the other, an address to Rā when
he sets. Frequently a tablet is inscribed with the prayer to
Rā-Harmachis and Nefer-Atmu for sepulchral meals.

Wooden stelæ were sometimes inlaid with glass figures and hieroglyphics of various colours in imitation of the scenes and inscriptions on tablets of an earlier date. A remark

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able example of this class of work is B.M. 5-25 which,

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according to Dr. Birch, is inscribed with the name of Darius, and represents this king making offerings to Anubis, who is seated on a throne under a winged disk and stars; behind the god is Isis, with horns on her head, and a sceptre in her hand.

That sepulchral stela were sometimes made of glazed faïence, we know from B.M. No. 6133, a fine example of a light blue colour, in which the deceased Amen-em-ȧpt, a royal scribe, is standing in adoration before the god Osiris, who holds a flail and crook. This interesting object was probably made about B.C. 1000, when the art of making glazed faïence of a fine blue or green colour was at its greatest perfection.

VASES.

The Vases found in Egyptian tombs are made of alabaster, diorite, granite, basalt and other kinds of hard stone, steatite, bronze, wood, terra-cotta, faïence, and glass. The shapes of vases are various, but the following are the most

common:

1. ), 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, □, O. Vases were Use of

vases.

placed in the tombs to contain the offerings of wine, oil, unguents, spices, and other offerings made to the temples, or to the dead in their tombs. Among hard stones capable of receiving a high polish, granite, diorite and alabaster were those most commonly used for making vases. Granite and diorite vases are usually without inscriptions, and were made during all periods of Egyptian history. Vases of alabaster are very much more numerous, and as this material was comparatively easily worked, and readily lent itself to form symmetrical and beautiful shapes, it was a great favourite with the Egyptians. They were sometimes inscribed on the front, the flat part of the rim, or the top of the cover, with inscriptions recording the names and titles of the deceased persons with whom they were buried; thus they are valuable as giving the names of kings and officials of high rank, pedigrees, etc., and as showing at the same time the wonderful skill of the Egyptian vases. alabaster worker at a period nearly four thousand years B.C. Alabaster vases were in use from the IVth-XXVIth dynasty, and the Persian kings had their names inscribed upon them in Egyptian and cuneiform. Arragonite, or zoned alabaster, was used for large vases and liquid measures; a beautiful example of this material is B.M. No. 4839, which has two handles and a cover, and is inscribed with its capacity

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Value of

inscriptions on

"eight hen and three quarters." Vases in glazed steatite are not common, and I believe the oldest to be B.M. No. 4762, which is inscribed with the name of Thothmes I., B.C. 1633. Vases in bronze are ancient, tolerably numerous, and of various shapes; among them must be classed those, in the shape of buckets with handles, which are ornamented with scenes in relief, in which the deceased is represented adoring various deities; they belong chiefly to the period of the XXVIth dynasty. Models of vases in wood were also Models made and placed in the tombs. They were sometimes painted to resemble glass (B.M. No. 9529d), and were sometimes covered with plaster and gilded, examples of which are B.M. No. 9529e and 9529f; both were made for the tomb of Rameses II.; the former is inscribed ouatchu,

of vases.

Glass

vases.

Vases in glazed faïence.

"stibium," and the latter

1

20 mesṭemet,

mestemet, "stibium." The use of glass for vases is very ancient, and Dr. Birch states that the earliest dated example of Egyptian glass is a small dark blue fragment inscribed with the prenomen of Antef III., of the XIth dynasty. The next oldest example is a small vase or jug with one handle, of a fine turquoisecoloured, opaque glass, ornamented in yellow, with a border round the neck, and three trees round the sides, and inscribed with the prenomen of Thothmes III., B.C. 1600; the handle has stripes of white and dark blue, and round the neck where it joins the thick part of the vase, is a row of white spots. The vase is 3 in. high, and its greatest diameter is I in.; the British Museum number is 4762. Vases made of variegated and striped glass are represented on the walls of tombs of the XIXth and XXth dynasties, and it seems that the terra-cotta and wood vases, or models of them, belong to that period. The next oldest examples are the small black, opaque glass vases,, mottled with white spots, which formed part of the funereal paraphernalia of the princess Nesi-Chensu, about B.C. 1000. Transparent glass seems not to have been made in Egypt much earlier than the XXVIth dynasty. Vases in faïence glazed with a blue or green colour are at least as old as the XIXth dynasty; a beautiful example of this date is B.M. No. 4796, with lotus leaves, rosettes, and a line of hieroglyphics around the outer edge, in white or light yellow, upon a lavender-coloured glazed ground. The inscription records the name and titles of Rameses II., about B.C. 1333. About B.C. 1000, small vases and libation jars were glazed with a beautiful light bluish-green; the vases of Nesi-Chensu are fine examples of this work (B.M. No. 17,402, and 13,152). During the XXVIth dynasty flat, circular, convex vases or bottles made of glazed faïence became common; the neck and lip were in the form of the capital of a papyrus column, with an ape at each side, and where the

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1 Catalogue of the Egyptian Antiquities at Alnwick Castle, p. 179, and Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, Vol. II. p. 142.

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