these that I obtained the hundreds of skulls that I collected for the late Professor Macalister of Cambridge. The absence of valuable funerary furniture and ornaments rendered such bodies of no account to the professional tomb-robber, and the inaccessible situation of the places where they were laid made it unlikely that they would be thrown out to make room for others, or be disturbed by any except the cemetery jackals and the wolf of the desert.

In the early centuries of the Christian era the tombs in the mountains of Egypt formed dwelling-places for a number of monks and ascetics, and it would seem that the statues and other objects in them suffered at their hands. An instance of the use of a rockhewn tomb by Pisentios, Bishop of Coptos, is made known to us by an Encomium on this saint by his disciple John.1 The tomb in which Pisentios lived was rectangular in shape, and was 52 feet wide; it had six pillars and contained a large number of mummies. The coffins were very large and profusely decorated, and one of the mummies was clothed in silk, and his fingers and toes were mummified separately; the names of those buried there were written on a small parchment roll (ǹ orтol&pion ǹ zwee è μеВрεпоп). Pisentios conversed with one of the mummies, who begged the saint to pray for his forgiveness; when Pisentios had promised him that Christ would have mercy upon him, the mummy lay down in his coffin again.

THE EGYPTIAN SARCOPHAGUS

is

IT is difficult to make a hard-and-fast distinction between the massive stone receptacle of the mummy and coffin, or coffins, of the deceased, and the huge wooden outer coffin, which served the same purpose as the stone receptacle to which the name of "sarcophagus generally given. Both kinds of receptacle were made of stone and wood, and both kinds appear in two forms, namely, the rectangular and the anthropoid. In Egyptological literature generally, sarcophagi" and "coffins are spoken of as if, to all intents and purposes, they were the same things. There is much to be said in favour of this custom2 when describing anthropoid sarcophagi and coffins of the New Kingdom, but when the sarcophagus is rectangular to me it represents the funerary chamber, and the coffin when it is anthropoid. The oldest Egyptian sarcophagi found at Gîzah are rectangular and are made of granite and limestone, and belong to the IVth dynasty; but examples of almost the same period are known in wood. The cover of the stone sarcophagus is either 1 For the Coptic text and a French translation see Amélineau, Étude sur le Christianisme en Égypte au Septième Siècle, Paris, 1887.

2 Lacau says,

"

La distinction courante mais vague entre les sarcophages' et 'les cercueils' ne m'a pas semblé utile à retenir . . Je me suis servi partout du mot sarcophage." (Sarcophages, tom. I, Cairo, 1904.)

1

flat, in fact a huge slab, or rounded, with raised ends. Running round the edge of the inside of the cover is a "rabbet," which is carefully chiselled to fit a hollow corresponding in the sarcophagus ; when the cover was finally lowered into its place a layer of fine cement was run in between, and thus the sarcophagus was hermetically sealed. In addition, pegs of wood were driven into holes drilled sideways through the cover and the sarcophagus. The cover was lifted by means of one or more projections at each end. A fine example of the sarcophagus of the IVth dynasty is that of Its sides are sculptured with

Khufuänkh, •×_f

a series of false doors and styles and floral ornaments, and there are two projections at each end of the cover. For a reproduction see Le Musée Egyptien, pl. XXI, and there is a complete cast in the British Museum (1111). The sarcophagus of Menkaurā (Mycerinus), found in his pyramid at Gîzah, was like a small building, and closely resembled that of Khufuankh as far as decorative treatment is concerned (see the drawings in Vyse, Pyramids, Vol. II, London, 1840, facing p. 84). Under the XIIth dynasty sarcophagi were made of granite and hard crystalline limestone. Thus the sarcophagus of Usertsen (Senusert) II, which Mr. W. Fraser found in the king's pyramid at Al-Lâhûn, is made of red granite and measures 8 feet 11 inches by 4 feet 2 inches by 2 feet; and the sarcophagus of Amenemhat, which Petrie found in the Pyramid of Ḥawârah, is of hard crystalline limestone, and measures 8 feet 10 inches by 4 feet by 2 feet 7 inches. It has a sub-plinth and a rounded cover, and is ornamented with the false-door decorations and styles that are so characteristic of the sarcophagi of the IVth and Vth dynasties. In the tombs of private individuals who lived under the XIth and XIIth dynasties the place of the stone sarcophagus was taken by large and massive wooden rectangular coffins, the best examples of which are probably those from Al-Barshah in the Museum in Cairo1 and in the British Museum2, and those from Meïr.3 The largest of these are nearly 8 feet long, and the covers are made of wood nearly 7 inches thick. The coffins of the same period from Bani-Ḥasan are smaller, but they are of the same type, and the decorations are of the same kind; Dr. Garstang has given a detailed description of the method followed in their construction.4 The great kings of the XVIIIth dynasty were buried in stone sarcophagi closely resembling those of the XIIth dynasty. Thus the sarcophagus of Thothmes I is made of a solid block of red crystalline sandstone and is about 7 feet 4 inches in length,

1 Described by Lacau in Sarcophages antérieurs au Nouvel Empire (No. 28083 ff.), Cairo, 1904.

2 See British Museum Guide, pp. 42, 43 f.

See Lacau, op. cit., No. 28061 ff.

• Burial Customs, pp. 164, 165.

and that of Queen Hatshepsut measures 8 feet 2 inches by 2 feet 8 inches by 3 feet 1 inch.1 Both are covered with figures of gods and hieroglyphic texts. The sarcophagus of Amenḥetep IV was made of granite, but it was smashed by the natives, who offered the cartouches cut from it for sale to tourists about 1890. King Ai and Ḥeremḥeb2 each had a granite sarcophagus with a cornice. Many of the sarcophagi from Memphis of this period are anthropoid in form; they are made of granite, their sides being sparingly decorated. The great Theban sarcophagi of the XIXth dynasty are also anthropoid in form, and are made of granite. 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 four lines of inscription at right-angles to it, into sections on which are inscribed figures of gods. The inscriptions continue down the sides of the sarcophagus. The sarcophagus of Hunefer the scribe, who flourished early in the XIXth dynasty, is made of grey granite and measures 7 feet 4 inches by 4 feet by 2 feet 7 inches.3

Under the XXth dynasty granite was used freely in making anthropoid sarcophagi and coffins, but the cover was treated differently, and it took the form of a thick slab, on which a figure of the deceased was sculptured in relief. The figure is often bearded, and the hands project, as it were from bandages, and grasp the amuletic

symbols of Osiris, ††, and Isis,. An unusual variation in the form

of the sarcophagi of this period is afforded by that of Rameses III, for it is made in the form of a cartouche O, and on the cover is sculptured in relief a figure of the king in the character of Osiris, and holding the and and, the symbols of the god's sovereignty and power. The cover is preserved in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and the sarcophagus is in the Louvre. The latter is ornamented with figures of the gods, and Vignettes from the great funerary work that describes the passage of the Sun-god through the hours of the night. The texts are lengthy extracts from the Book "Ammi Ţuat.'

Under the XXVIth dynasty most of the sarcophagi from Memphis and the Delta are rectangular in form, and are made of green and black basalt and variegated hard stone. A figure of the deceased in the character of a god or goddess is usually sculptured in relief on the outside of the cover, and on the inside a figure of the goddess Nut is usually found; inside, on the bottom of the sarcophagus, is a figure of Hathor-Amenti. The best examples of this period are entirely covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions containing texts taken from works akin to the Pyramid Texts, a result due to the 1 Davis, Tomb of Hatshopsitů, p. 81.

2 Davis, Tomb of Harmhabi, p. 91.

Budge, Catalogue (Fitzwilliam Museum), p. 4.

Vignettes illustrating the journey of the Sun-god through the Other World during the hours of the night; the texts describe the dwellers in the various sections of the Ţuat,

and give the addresses made to them by the god.

From the sarcophagus of Nekht-Her-Hebit, King of Egypt, about B.c. 378. (Brit. Mus. No. 10.)