Page images
PDF
EPUB

Græco-
Roman

coffins and
their
decoration.

Sar

cophagi of

the Ancient

Empire.

Under the Ptolemies and Romans the forms of coffins and their decorations altered very much. Coffins are now made of thin pieces of wood, and are usually rectangular in shape, and the inscriptions upon them, like those on coffins of the earlier dynasties, are rarely extracts from the Book of the Dead. Sandals, pillows, red pottery, and papyri were often buried with the dead at this epoch. Stone coffins, covered with figures and inscriptions, are also common, but they are found chiefly in Lower Egypt. In the early centuries of our era, the decay of the art of making coffins followed that of mummifying, and the coffins are large, badly shaped and ugly, the inscriptions upon them are copies of old formulæ, but so carelessly written and so full of mistakes that they are unintelligible. The custom of laying mummies in old tombs increased greatly, and chapels, serdâbs, pits and sarcophagi-chambers were alike used for piling up mummies by hundreds and thousands; and one single roll of papyrus or parchment laid in a tomb contained the names of all those who were buried there. This was practically the end of the Egyptian system of mummifying and burial. Within a hundred years of the preaching of Christianity at Alexandria by St. Mark, a large part of the population of Egypt had become Christian; the resurrection of the body of Christ made the Egyptians hope for the resurrection of their own bodies, and though they could not eradicate from themselves all traces of their old belief, they abandoned gradually the making of their dead into mummies, and were content to lay their bodies in the earth, wrapped in linen cloths only, to await revivification.

Coffins of all periods were closed by dowels, let into cavities in the sides and cover, through which pegs of wood were driven; these were covered with plaster and painted, and were thus invisible.

SARCOPHAGI.

Egyptian sarcophagi are made of black or green basalt, granite, agglomerate and limestone. During the first six dynasties they are rectangular, and the cover is either flat like a plank, or vaulted. Running round the edge of the

inside of the cover is a projection about two inches deep, which is carefully chiselled to fit a hollow corresponding in size in the sarcophagus, and after the cover was lowered upon it, a layer of fine cement was run in between, and the sarcophagus became hermetically sealed. Not content with this, holes were drilled sideways through the cover and the sarcophagus, and into these pegs of wood were driven. Covers have usually at each end one or more projections, whereby it is easy to lift them; the magnificent sarcophagus of Chufu-anch (IVth dynasty), preserved at Gîzeh,1 has two rounded projections at each end of the cover. The sarcophagus of Mycerinus (IVth dynasty) found in his pyramid at Gizeh resembled a small building; it was beautifully sculptured, but was absolutely without ornament. Sarcophagi of this period have their sides made to represent the openings, vestibules, and doors of maṣṭabas, and the inscriptions upon them usually contain only the names and titles of their owners, and prayers that sepulchral gifts may be made to the deceased on the specified festivals. Of the sarcophagi of the VII-Xth dynasties nothing is known.

of the

During the XIth and XIIth dynasties, rectangular wooden Sarcoffins seem to have superseded, in some measure, stone cophagi sarcophagi, royal examples of which of this period are Middle unknown. A granite sarcophagus of this period at Florence resembles in form, style of inscription, etc., those of the first six dynasties.

Sarcophagi from the XIIIth to the XVIIth dynasty are unknown.

In the XVIIIth dynasty the sarcophagi of Memphis are in the form of a mummy, and are made of granite; they are very sparingly ornamented. A perpendicular line of inscription runs from the breast to the feet, and the surface of the cover on each side of it is divided by three or more lines of inscription at right angles to it into sections on which are inscribed figures of gods. The sarcophagus of Ai is a good example of the work of this period."

Empire.

1 For a cast see B. M. No. IIII.

2 For a scale drawing and inscriptions, see Lepsius, Denkmäler, Bl. 113d-g.

Sarcophagus of Seti I.

Cover of Sarcophagus of Ra

meses III.

In the XIXth dynasty sarcophagi become somewhat smaller, but otherwise differ very little from those of the preceding dynasty. They are usually made of granite, but alabaster, as in that of Seti I., was also used. This magnificent object and its cover were inscribed inside and out with scenes and inscriptions from the "Book of being in the Underworld," inlaid with a pigment of a light greenishblue colour. The cover was broken in trying to open it, but the sarcophagus itself is intact, and is preserved in Sir John Soane's Museum; the inscriptions were published by Bonomi, Sarcophagus of Oi Meneptah, London, 1864, and for translations see Records of the Past, vol. X., pp. 79 ff. The chief idea which underlies these scenes is that, just as the life of a man is identified with the course of the sun by day, so the life of the soul after death is identified with the passage of the sun in the nether-world, through which he was supposed to travel during the night. The scenes represent the various parts of the nether-world, and the beings who dwell in them: Isis and Nephthys, Horus the son of Isis and Osiris, Seb and Nut, the four children of Horus, are all inscribed on sarcophagi of this period, and all were supposed to assist in protecting the deceased, who was identified with Osiris. In this dynasty, large, painted, wooden sarcophagi, in the form of mummies, are also common at Thebes,

In the XXth dynasty, granite was much used for sarcophagi, but the form has changed, and the deceased is represented lying on the cover. He wears a thick, square beard, his hands are freed from their bandages, and hold

in them f

†, and ; beneath the long tunic the feet

appear, and on the sides of the sarcophagus are figures of the four children of Horus and of other funereal gods. A most interesting example of this period is the sarcophagus of Rameses III., which is made in the form of a cartouche O; the cover is preserved in the Fitzwilliam Museum (for a description of it see the Catalogue), and the sarcophagus is in the Museum of the Louvre. On the head, outside, is the figure of Nephthys, with outstretched wings, emblematic

of her protection of Osiris; the inscriptions give the names
and titles of the king, and refer to the course of the sun
in the nether-world. On the other side, by the feet, is Isis,
also with outstretched wings; on one side is Ap-uat, and on
the other Anubis, each jackal-headed. The two sides are
ornamented with scenes and inscriptions referring to the
passage of the sun, who is being towed along in his boat
through the various divisions of the nether-world by their
gods, and to his attack, defeat, and slaughter of Āpepi,
his chief enemy. Two scenes at the feet, in which Neith
and Isis promise to put together the limbs of Osiris,
complete the ornamentation of the outside.1 At the
head, inside, are the solar disk, a mummy with a disk and
star on his head, and a head of a goddess on each side
holding out an arm, the hand of which supports a being
who pours out water on the head of the deceased in the
form of a mummy.
On the sides are figures of an ithy-
phallic god, hawks, etc., forming scenes from the "Book of
being in the Under-world." At the foot is the god Cheperȧ
in a disk around which are twined the folds of a serpent;
above is the head of a ram being adored by figures of the
king, by the sides of which are the cartouches of Rameses III.
On the bottom of the sarcophagus is the figure of Hathor,
goddess of Amenta, with wings outstretched to receive the
deceased.

The sarcophagi of the XXVIth dynasty are usually rectangular, and are made of green and black basalt, and variegated hard stone. Many of the scenes and inscriptions upon them are copied from sarcophagi of the XIXth and XXth dynasties, but long extracts from the Book of the Dead are characteristic of this period, and some sarcophagi Sarare covered entirely with such funereal inscriptions, with cophagi of the exception of the spaces occupied by the figures of the Empire. deceased and Nut, on the outside and inside of the cover respectively, and the figure of Hathor on the bottom inside.

2

1 For a fuller description of this sarcophagus see De Rougé, Notice des Monuments au Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1872, pp. 173-175, and Seyffarth, Beiträge, 2-5, Bl. 6.

E.g., the sarcophagus of Ānch-nes-nefer-åb-Rā, B.M. No. 32.

the New

Sarcophagi of the GræcoRoman period.

Such sarcophagi are beautifully sculptured, carefully inscribed, and the attention given to detail is marvellous.

After the XXVIth dynasty sarcophagi are sometimes rounded at the head, and the covers have human faces; they are ornamented with rows of figures of gods, the four children of Horus, a number of genii of the netherworld, and inscriptions which state that they have taken the deceased under their protection. Rectangular sarcophagi which taper slightly towards the feet, and are narrower at the base than at the top, are also common.

In the XXXth dynasty massive sarcophagi of granite, basalt and agglomerate, highly polished and beautifully sculptured, become very plentiful; they are found chiefly in Lower Egypt. The inscriptions and scenes upon them are extracts, more or less complete, from the "Book of being in the Under-world," and, in arrangement, they greatly resemble those of the earlier dynasties; a fine example of this period is the sarcophagus of Nectanebus I., B.M. No. 10.

Under the rule of the Ptolemies and Romans wooden sarcophagi became very common; they consisted of two parts, viz., the board upon which the deceased in his coffin was laid, and the rectangular, vaulted cover, which is, at times, as much as eighteen inches high. The planks from which the covers are made are rarely more than an inch thick, and they are let into four rectangular uprights, which are often made of a hard wood with a fine texture. The vaulted cover has, at times, a gilded hawk upon the top, and a cornice running round the four sides; it was fastened to the board, upon which the coffin stood, by its uprights, one at each corner, which, projecting slightly below the lower edge of the sides, fitted into four rectangular cavities cut in the board. The inside and outside of the vaulted cover are painted in gaudy colours with figures of the gods, the signs of the Zodiac, and inscriptions in hieroglyphics; when the deceased was a Greek, his name and that of his father were also inscribed in Greek. The mummies which belong to such coffins are covered over with a linen cloth on which is painted the god Osiris, with the features of the deceased, wearing the atef crown, and holding and ; on each

« PreviousContinue »