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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    length. Chambers succeeded the former solitary room, but the cruciform shape was abandoned. The figures of the Ancient Empire are remarkable for the correctness of the chiselling, the freedom of tlie style, and the life-like expression of the features. The men are usually painted red, and the females of a lighter colour. The lower eyelid is bordered with a green band, which seems about the only conventional style. Under the Middle Empire the tombs cease to be, as before, elongated toward the north. The wonderful Necro- polis of Thebes is on the western side of the Nile. Diodorus spoke of forty-seven royal tombs being there, though only seventeen are spoken of in the days of the later Ptolemies. The royal dates appear on monuments of the Middle Em- pire. The fashion was established of being buried in par- ticular holy places, such as- the Necropolis of Abydos, associated with the burial of Osiris,, so much more import- ant a deity than under the Ancient Empire. At first, it would appear that no special religious character was at- tached to a burying place ; subsequently, holy sites were selected in preference. Some suppose that formulae for the consecration of burial ground then took place, and the tomb came more under the cognizance of the priesthood. The New Empire, from the eighteenth dynasty to the time of Alexander the Great, displayed more ostentatious wealth, but less taste. The tomb was a little temple. The ornamentation was rich, and gold was prodigally used. But the art of the Ancient Empire was extinguished. There were more relics, more prayers, more titles of gods, more worship of kings, but very few tables of offerings, and scarcer mention of the deceased and his family. We have no more such real imitation of nature, but more polished marble and granite. The finest painting of Egypt, and which is one of the