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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    monuments throughout eternity, In making the serdab in the mass of the tomb, and in isolating it from all com- munication with the exterior air. Sometimes, however, a little rectangular opening, which has been discovered in one of the partitions of the principal chamber, notifies that a straight passage leads from that opening to the hidden statues, and that one could, in certain cases, pronounce there the words that the statues were reputed to hear, or more probably where the perfume of the incense was made to pass.” The statuettes, in fact, belong to the Ancestor worship. But why so many, amounting sometimes to thousands, of these little images should have been thus studiously stowed away, is a curious circumstance. They are often referred to in the Ritual, or Bible of the Egyptians, as in the 6th and noth chapters of.that “Book of the Dead.” Covered with hieroglyphics, we have important religious ideas brought before us, not less than particulars about the deceased. On many we have long passages from the Divine writings, with formula of funeral ceremonies, etc. In their hands are certain agricultural tools, referring to the destined work in the Elysian Fields. The figures are sometimes called ousnebtiou. In addition to these figurines, the tombs contain sepul- chral boxes. They are about two feet cube, and are referred to in the sixth chapter of the Ritual. They are usually dedicated to the god Osiris. Models of sepulchral boats, employed in the conveyance of the dead, are also observed. The baris, or boat, is of sycamore wood, and appears as early as the eleventh dynasty. Sepulchral cones are found chiefly in tombs from the eleventh to the eighteenth dynasty. They are of red terra cotta, 9 inches high and 3 inches diameter, and of the shape of the holy sacra- mental bread. On the bases are inscriptions, giving the
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