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.

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    that something else was associated with the visit of friends. The prayers were not directed to the corpse. The offer- ings were not dedicated to the entombed. Supplications rose in the mastaba for the spirits of dear ones. Offerings came from the living to the living. The soul was a fact in the thought of Egyptians. Apart from the body, how- ever mysteriously associated with it still, it could welcome tears and kisses, appreciate presents, and be blessed by the gods in the entreaties of mourners. The offerings of food, drink, perfumes, oil, flowers, gar- ments, books, ornaments, incense, etc., might have been, as with many nations of the present day, evidences of a belief that the other life was like this, though in a spiritual form, and that the essence, as it were, of the objects so presented, would be useful as well as grateful. The very feasts of the dead, or banquets in their honour, were solemn seasons. While friends partook of the dainties provided, the aroma, or essence, could be accepted by the ghost of the departed. The modern wake, however, although a survival of the past practice, is, from its alcoholic associations, neither pious nor loving. But the offerings laid upon the sculptured and dedicated table, or Teblm, meant something more. They, like some of the prayers, illustrated the homage needful to be paid to the deceased. Removed from earth to the society of the “ great majority,” brought into connection with the deities themselves, they were something more than mortal. If yet to be benefited by the offerings and supplications of friends and relatives, they were grander in being, worthy of reverential respect, and demanding, in some sense, the homage paid to celestials. This was ANCESTOR WORSHIP. The tombs differ in appearance according to period. In the times of the Ancient Empire, or during the first dozen dynasties of the kings of Egypt, they have a grand simpli-