DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4671#0032
i6
THE FUNERAL OF AN EGYPTIAN.
sycamore wood coffin made in the form of a mummy,
i.e., the god Osiris. The bottom and each side
were made of single pieces of wood pegged together,
and the rounded head-piece was cut out of a solid
block of wood. A face carved out of very hard wood
and a pair of hands were pegged on to the cover, and
a solid foot-piece was also firmly fastened to it. In
the face obsidian eyes and bronze eye-lids were
sometimes inlaid. The inside and outside of the
coffin were covered with a thin layer of plaster, upon
which the artist and scribe painted in bright colours
mythological scenes, figures of the gods, addresses to
the deceased by the gods, and their answers, and
extracts from chapters, or whole chapters of the
Book of the Dead. The outside of the cover was
ornamented in a similar manner, but the inside was
usually left plain, and in such cases a flat, thin, wooden
covering, made the exact shape of the mummy, and
having a carved face and painted with inscriptions
and mythological scenes, was laid immediately upon
the mummy. The cover was fastened to the coffin
by wooden dowels, through which pegs were driven,
and the space between the coffin and the cover
was filled up with liquid plaster. The mummy
with its coffin was then placed in a large, heavy,
wooden coffin, made in the same shape, and
THE FUNERAL OF AN EGYPTIAN.
sycamore wood coffin made in the form of a mummy,
i.e., the god Osiris. The bottom and each side
were made of single pieces of wood pegged together,
and the rounded head-piece was cut out of a solid
block of wood. A face carved out of very hard wood
and a pair of hands were pegged on to the cover, and
a solid foot-piece was also firmly fastened to it. In
the face obsidian eyes and bronze eye-lids were
sometimes inlaid. The inside and outside of the
coffin were covered with a thin layer of plaster, upon
which the artist and scribe painted in bright colours
mythological scenes, figures of the gods, addresses to
the deceased by the gods, and their answers, and
extracts from chapters, or whole chapters of the
Book of the Dead. The outside of the cover was
ornamented in a similar manner, but the inside was
usually left plain, and in such cases a flat, thin, wooden
covering, made the exact shape of the mummy, and
having a carved face and painted with inscriptions
and mythological scenes, was laid immediately upon
the mummy. The cover was fastened to the coffin
by wooden dowels, through which pegs were driven,
and the space between the coffin and the cover
was filled up with liquid plaster. The mummy
with its coffin was then placed in a large, heavy,
wooden coffin, made in the same shape, and