DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4859#0063
The
ceremonial
The funeral
booths
The presen-
tation of
burial gifts
THE TOMB OF TWO SCULPTORS AT THEBES
them. Little is now left of their words of encouragement. We can only
see that Thot, "master of divine lore," is invoked, and that the over-
throw of his enemies is promised to the dead.
It was the privilege of the rich that whenever they halted for any
purpose in making the round of their estates, their servants hastily ran
up a light shelter of reeds for their comfort. The dead were not less well
cared for. After making the traverse of the river, or the more tiring
passage through the fields on their way to their last home, they found
these little tabernacles offering them welcome refreshment and shelter;
as befits the dead, the food and drink have been purified by fumigation
and water by the friends who have provided them. Four such arbors
are seen awaiting the convoy, and "the sculptor, Nebnufer" has taken
the trouble to make his personal tribute to his dead master eternal, and
to emphasize it by the addition of a slaughtered animal.1
The procession of male friends, who show their regard for the dead,
not by tears and dust, but by substantial gifts of burial equipment,
is headed by nine men, each of whom carries two little caskets suspended
from a yoke on his shoulder (Plate XXIV). Each of these neat and
decorative outfits provides a meal and also all that is necessary for its
consecration. One of the reed caskets contains the food and the other
the drink. On top of the latter lies the censer, and the libation vase is
fastened on in front by means of clips formed like hands. The little
water-jar slung on the rope in a net probably provides for the porter's
own thirst, which in Egypt seems limitless. Thus by means of the
1 These tabernacles, however, may have been erected as a sojourning place for friends during a festival
of several days, as at the modern feast of Bairam. They are rarely shown in pre-Ramesside tombs and are
then not associated with burial, but with the voyage to Abydos (Tombs 57, 75), or with a festival in which
the statue of a king (Tombs 19, 5i), or, in imitation of royalty, the ordinary dead (Tombs 87, 100) was
drawn in a barge round a piece of water, perhaps the temple lake. In later times the erection of the booths is
shown as an incident of the interment, our tomb furnishing the first instance. The deceased is never shown
in them, but only ministrants within or without. In Tomb 85, however, ritual is performed on a statue in
a similar tabernacle, and in Tombs 57, 75 we see an empty chair there with a bouquet placed across it, as
if symbolizing life which is too ghostly to be shown in human form. There may be one booth for the man
(Tomb 57), two for the pair (Tomb 75), or four (in the earlier tomb, No. 87, and therefore unconnected in
our tomb with the double burial). The water-pots were afterwards thrown down and broken in a simulated
transport of grief, or to assimilate them to the state of the owner (Tomb kk and Fechheimer, Die Plastik,
PI. 167).
48
ceremonial
The funeral
booths
The presen-
tation of
burial gifts
THE TOMB OF TWO SCULPTORS AT THEBES
them. Little is now left of their words of encouragement. We can only
see that Thot, "master of divine lore," is invoked, and that the over-
throw of his enemies is promised to the dead.
It was the privilege of the rich that whenever they halted for any
purpose in making the round of their estates, their servants hastily ran
up a light shelter of reeds for their comfort. The dead were not less well
cared for. After making the traverse of the river, or the more tiring
passage through the fields on their way to their last home, they found
these little tabernacles offering them welcome refreshment and shelter;
as befits the dead, the food and drink have been purified by fumigation
and water by the friends who have provided them. Four such arbors
are seen awaiting the convoy, and "the sculptor, Nebnufer" has taken
the trouble to make his personal tribute to his dead master eternal, and
to emphasize it by the addition of a slaughtered animal.1
The procession of male friends, who show their regard for the dead,
not by tears and dust, but by substantial gifts of burial equipment,
is headed by nine men, each of whom carries two little caskets suspended
from a yoke on his shoulder (Plate XXIV). Each of these neat and
decorative outfits provides a meal and also all that is necessary for its
consecration. One of the reed caskets contains the food and the other
the drink. On top of the latter lies the censer, and the libation vase is
fastened on in front by means of clips formed like hands. The little
water-jar slung on the rope in a net probably provides for the porter's
own thirst, which in Egypt seems limitless. Thus by means of the
1 These tabernacles, however, may have been erected as a sojourning place for friends during a festival
of several days, as at the modern feast of Bairam. They are rarely shown in pre-Ramesside tombs and are
then not associated with burial, but with the voyage to Abydos (Tombs 57, 75), or with a festival in which
the statue of a king (Tombs 19, 5i), or, in imitation of royalty, the ordinary dead (Tombs 87, 100) was
drawn in a barge round a piece of water, perhaps the temple lake. In later times the erection of the booths is
shown as an incident of the interment, our tomb furnishing the first instance. The deceased is never shown
in them, but only ministrants within or without. In Tomb 85, however, ritual is performed on a statue in
a similar tabernacle, and in Tombs 57, 75 we see an empty chair there with a bouquet placed across it, as
if symbolizing life which is too ghostly to be shown in human form. There may be one booth for the man
(Tomb 57), two for the pair (Tomb 75), or four (in the earlier tomb, No. 87, and therefore unconnected in
our tomb with the double burial). The water-pots were afterwards thrown down and broken in a simulated
transport of grief, or to assimilate them to the state of the owner (Tomb kk and Fechheimer, Die Plastik,
PI. 167).
48