DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.30604#0146
FUNERAL CEREMONIES.
In illustration of the ceremonies which accompanied the burial of the dead
the reader will rind extracts from different texts printed in the Appendix on p. 264 ff.
To these may be added an extract from the curious ritual which was in vogue in
the Vth and Vlth dynasties, and which commemorated the ceremonies which were
performed for the god Osiris. It is to be noticed how closely the deceased is
identified with Osiris, the type of incorruptibility. Osiris takes upon himself “ all
that is hateful” in the dead : that is, he adopts the burden of his sins ; and the dead
is purified by the typical sprinkling of water. While the gods are only accom-
panied by their kds, the deceased, in right of his identification with a higher power,
is accompanied by his Tet1 also, that is, by his Osiris.
Throughout the ceremony, the Eye of Horus,2 * * * * * which is representecl by various
substances, plays a prominent part, for it is that which gives vigour to the heart of
the dead and leads him to the god. That portion of the ceremony which was
believed to procure the unlocking of the jaws and the opening of the mouth of
the deceased, or of the statue which sometimes represented him, was performed
after the puriffcation by water and incense had been effected ; and hereby was he
enabled to partake of the meat and drink offerings, wherein the friends and
relatives also participated, in order that they might cement and seal their mystic
unity with the dead and with the god with whom he was identified.8
1 Some fifty years ago, M. Reuvens expressed his belief that the jj represented the four quarters
of the world, and according to M. Maspero it unites in itself the four pillars which support the sky and
Osiris, whom they preserve from chaos; see Recueil de Travaux, t. xii., p. 79, note 3; and Etudes de
Mythologie, t. ii., p. 359.
2 On the eyes of Horus, see Lefdbure, Le Mythe Osirien—Les Yeux d'Horus, Paris, 1874; and
Grebaut, Les deux yeux du Disque Solaire (Recueil de Travaux t. i., pp. 72, 87, 112-131).
8 To discuss the origin and aevelopment of animal sacrifice among the early Egyptians lies outside
the scope of this work. For information on the significance of sacrifice among the Semites, in whose
customs many originally Egyptian ideas probably survived, see Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites,
p. 294 ff. On the origin of sacrificial acts, see Max Miiller, Natural Religion, London, 1889, p. 184;
and E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. ii., p. 340. Whether the Egyptians regarded the sacrifice of
bulls, geese, etc., at the tomb as expiatory offerings, can hardly yet be decided.
In illustration of the ceremonies which accompanied the burial of the dead
the reader will rind extracts from different texts printed in the Appendix on p. 264 ff.
To these may be added an extract from the curious ritual which was in vogue in
the Vth and Vlth dynasties, and which commemorated the ceremonies which were
performed for the god Osiris. It is to be noticed how closely the deceased is
identified with Osiris, the type of incorruptibility. Osiris takes upon himself “ all
that is hateful” in the dead : that is, he adopts the burden of his sins ; and the dead
is purified by the typical sprinkling of water. While the gods are only accom-
panied by their kds, the deceased, in right of his identification with a higher power,
is accompanied by his Tet1 also, that is, by his Osiris.
Throughout the ceremony, the Eye of Horus,2 * * * * * which is representecl by various
substances, plays a prominent part, for it is that which gives vigour to the heart of
the dead and leads him to the god. That portion of the ceremony which was
believed to procure the unlocking of the jaws and the opening of the mouth of
the deceased, or of the statue which sometimes represented him, was performed
after the puriffcation by water and incense had been effected ; and hereby was he
enabled to partake of the meat and drink offerings, wherein the friends and
relatives also participated, in order that they might cement and seal their mystic
unity with the dead and with the god with whom he was identified.8
1 Some fifty years ago, M. Reuvens expressed his belief that the jj represented the four quarters
of the world, and according to M. Maspero it unites in itself the four pillars which support the sky and
Osiris, whom they preserve from chaos; see Recueil de Travaux, t. xii., p. 79, note 3; and Etudes de
Mythologie, t. ii., p. 359.
2 On the eyes of Horus, see Lefdbure, Le Mythe Osirien—Les Yeux d'Horus, Paris, 1874; and
Grebaut, Les deux yeux du Disque Solaire (Recueil de Travaux t. i., pp. 72, 87, 112-131).
8 To discuss the origin and aevelopment of animal sacrifice among the early Egyptians lies outside
the scope of this work. For information on the significance of sacrifice among the Semites, in whose
customs many originally Egyptian ideas probably survived, see Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites,
p. 294 ff. On the origin of sacrificial acts, see Max Miiller, Natural Religion, London, 1889, p. 184;
and E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. ii., p. 340. Whether the Egyptians regarded the sacrifice of
bulls, geese, etc., at the tomb as expiatory offerings, can hardly yet be decided.