have but one upper chamber, which is built of brick, the stelæ are very deeply cut, the hieroglyphics and the figures are in relief, and display more vigour than at any other time; the inscriptions are terse, and the use of phonetic signs less common than in later times. These tombs can hardly be said to be oriented at all, for they are, at times, as much as twelve degrees west of the true north. In the second half of the IVth dynasty, maṣṭabas have a size and extent hitherto unknown; they are either built entirely of black brick or of stone. Their orientation becomes accurate, the figures and hieroglyphics are well executed, the formulæ become fixed, and the statues in the serdâbs, which are very numerous, unite the vigour of those of the first half of the IVth with the delicacy of those of the Vth dynasty. The famous wooden statue of the Shêkh el-Beled belongs to this time. In the Vth

dynasty maṣṭabas are not so large, but they are always built of stone; inside there are more chambers than one, approached by long passages, and the statues are not so characteristic as those of the latter half of the IVth dynasty. The maṣṭabas of the VIth dynasty show a decided decadence, and lose their fine proportions; the figures are in light relief, the formulæ become longer, and the chambers are built of brick and covered with thin sculptured slabs of stone.

of the

The walls of the upper chambers of maṣṭabas were Ornamen frequently covered with scenes which, according to M. tation Mariette, are without any representation of divinities and mastaba. religious emblems, the names of deities, and characters employed in the course of writing naturally excepted. The inscription which asks the god Anubis to grant a happy burial to the deceased, after a long and happy old age, to make his way easy for him on the roads in the underworld, and to grant the bringing to the tomb a perpetual supply of funereal gifts, is inscribed in bold hieroglyphics over the entrances to the tomb, and upon the most conspicuous places on the stele in the upper chamber. The scenes depicted on the walls of the maṣṭabas are divided by Mariette into three classes: 1, Biographical, 2, Sepulchral, and 3, those relating to funereal gifts. Biographical scenes are found in tombs of all periods. The deceased is

0

Scenes and in

scriptions.

represented hunting or fishing, taking part in pleasure excursions by water, and listening to music played before him accompanied by the dancing of women; he is also represented as overseer of a number of building operations in which many workmen are employed. It is tolerably certain that these scenes are not fictitious, and that they were painted while the person who hoped to occupy the tomb was still alive, and could direct the labours of the artist. The prayer that the deceased might enter his tomb after a

Winnowing Wheat. From a Vth dynasty Tomb at Sakkarah.

Netting Wild Fowl. From a Vth dynasty Tomb at Sakkarah.

long and prosperous life has a significance which it could The not possess if the tomb were made after his death. sepulchral scenes refer to the passage of the mummy in a boat to Amenta. The scenes relating to sepulchral gifts

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Bakers making Bread. From a Vth dynasty Tomb at Sakkarah.

Cattle on the March. From a Vth dynasty Tomb at Sakkarah,

Endowment of tombs.

represent the deceased, having colossal proportions compared
with the other figures, sitting or standing with a round
table before him, upon which fruits, flowers, vegetables, ducks,
haunches of beef, etc., etc., are placed. These offerings are
sometimes carried in before the deceased on the head or
hands of servants and others, who often lead beasts appointed
for slaughter; they were brought into the tomb in an
appointed order, and an endowment to ensure their pre-
sentation in the tomb on the specified festivals and seasons
was specially provided. The scenes in the tombs which
represent agricultural labours, the making of wine, etc., etc.,
all have reference to the bringing of funereal gifts; and it
seems that certain estates
nut ent pa t'etta,
"estates of the house of everlasting" (i.e., the tomb), were
set apart to supply palm branches, fruit, etc., for the table
of the dead. The act of bringing these gifts to the tomb
at the appointed seasons was probably connected with
some religious ceremony, which seems to have consisted in
pouring out libations and offering incense, bandages, etc., by
the

the tomb

cher heb or priest. The Egyptian called

pa t'etta, "the everlasting house," and he believed that the ka or "genius" of the deceased resided there as long as the mummy of his perishable body, cha, was there. The ka might go in and out of the tomb, and refresh itself with meat and drink, but it never failed to go back to the mummy with the name of which it seems to have been closely connected;' the ba or soul, and the chu or intelligence did not live in the tomb.

THE PYRAMIDS.

The royal tombs of the early dynasties were built in the form of pyramids, and they are, to all intents and purposes, merely maṣṭabas, the greater parts of which are above

1 Herz und Leib vereint bilden das oder die Persönlichkeit des Menschen, das dem Individuum eigenthümliche Wesen, die ihn von andern unterscheidet und mit seinem Namen in engster Verbindung steht. Brugsch, Die Aegyptologie, p. 181.

are tombs.

ground; they consist of the chamber in which funereal gifts were offered, the passage and the sarcophagus chamber. The Pyramids actual pyramid contained the passage and the sarcophagus chamber, but although the chamber, sometimes called temple or chapel, in which funereal gifts were offered, was a building separate from the pyramid, it nevertheless formed an integral part of the pyramid plan. On the western bank of the Nile, from Abu Roâsh on the north to Mêdûm on the south, is a slightly elevated tract of land, about twenty-five miles long, on the edge of the Libyan desert, on which stand the