Egyptian belief and modern thought / by James Bonwick.

  • James Bonwick
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Egyptian belief and modern thought / by James Bonwick. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    21/474 (page 7)
    FUNERAL RITES OF THE EGYPTIANS. ELIGION is indissolubly associated with funeral rites. The dim shadowing of a belief is realized in the obscure burial ceremonies of the lowest savages. Prayerless and godless as men may be, they will in the interment of beloved ones evidence a faith in something beyond this life. When we discover in the rudest graves of prehistoric peoples some relics of hunting implements, or remains of food, we are conscious of a recognition ot another state of being. The bones of a dog found with the skeleton of a cave-man in the Pyrenees would indicate a religious hope of companionship heieafter. Let us, then, turn to the Egyptian tomb for a revelation of Egyptian ideas upon religion. The tombs themselves are interesting exponents of varying civilization in that country. To Belzoni, Dr. Lepsius and Mariette Bey are we mainly indebted for the story about them. In “ Pyramid Facts and Fancies,” some notice of them has been given, rendering it less necessary to enlarge here upon the subject. There are three parts. Above is the Mastaba, or chapel; near that is a Fit, some twenty to ninety feet in depth, leading, by a passage, to the Burial Chamber, in a corner of which stands the Sarcophagus. After the interment of the body, the pit was filled up, and the entrance concealed. The mastaba was open to passers-by, and was the place in which the friends of the deceased met to deposit their offerings, say their prayers, and hold their anniversary funeral festivals. Around the sides of this upper chamber