DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5538#0140
120 PHARAOHS, FELLAHS, AND EXPLORERS.
FUNERARY TABLET OF NAPU. ( 34 )
(Twenty-sixth Dynasty.)
Adoration to Osiris,
The Great God,
Lord of Abydos !
" May he grant sepulchral meals, beeves, geese, burnt incense, wine,
beer, linen vestments, vegetables, and all good, pure, and sweet things
to the Ka of the Holy Priest of Maut, Napu, Son of the Holy Priest
of Maut, Asi, and of the Lady Mautemhatinest."
To multiply examples Avould be easy. Such funerary tab-
lets are accumulated by hundreds in European museums.
Some are elaborately carved in granite and basalt; some
are painted on panels of acacia-wood. Some are from five to
seven feet in height; others are about the size of an ordina-
ry octavo volume. Few travellers come back from Egypt
without one of these smaller tablets, and few private collec-
tions are without a specimen. But from the earliest to the
latest, in the largest as well as in the smallest, the one most
remarkable feature of the formula is the voracious appetite
of the Ka. He is invariably clamoring for "beeves and
geese, wine and beer," fruits, bread, and the like. And the
proportions of his bill of fare put the most stupendous of
civic banquets to shame. He asks for " thousands" of all
these good things. An ox roasted whole would be of no
more account to him than a beef-lozenge to an alderman.
And it is yet more extraordinary that the Ka actually got
what he asked for; though not, perhaps, to the full extent
of his demands. The four oxen who dragged the funeral
sledge to the tomb on the day of burial were slaughtered
and cut up on the spot; gazelles and geese were also slain;
and these, together with great sheaves of onions and cucum-
bers, and basket-loads of bread, corn, dates, nuts, and other
eatables, as well as a number of large jars filled with wine,
milk, water, and barley beer, were deposited in the sepul-
chral chamber, and there walled up with the mummy.
Now this, it is to be remembered, was not by way of a
FUNERARY TABLET OF NAPU. ( 34 )
(Twenty-sixth Dynasty.)
Adoration to Osiris,
The Great God,
Lord of Abydos !
" May he grant sepulchral meals, beeves, geese, burnt incense, wine,
beer, linen vestments, vegetables, and all good, pure, and sweet things
to the Ka of the Holy Priest of Maut, Napu, Son of the Holy Priest
of Maut, Asi, and of the Lady Mautemhatinest."
To multiply examples Avould be easy. Such funerary tab-
lets are accumulated by hundreds in European museums.
Some are elaborately carved in granite and basalt; some
are painted on panels of acacia-wood. Some are from five to
seven feet in height; others are about the size of an ordina-
ry octavo volume. Few travellers come back from Egypt
without one of these smaller tablets, and few private collec-
tions are without a specimen. But from the earliest to the
latest, in the largest as well as in the smallest, the one most
remarkable feature of the formula is the voracious appetite
of the Ka. He is invariably clamoring for "beeves and
geese, wine and beer," fruits, bread, and the like. And the
proportions of his bill of fare put the most stupendous of
civic banquets to shame. He asks for " thousands" of all
these good things. An ox roasted whole would be of no
more account to him than a beef-lozenge to an alderman.
And it is yet more extraordinary that the Ka actually got
what he asked for; though not, perhaps, to the full extent
of his demands. The four oxen who dragged the funeral
sledge to the tomb on the day of burial were slaughtered
and cut up on the spot; gazelles and geese were also slain;
and these, together with great sheaves of onions and cucum-
bers, and basket-loads of bread, corn, dates, nuts, and other
eatables, as well as a number of large jars filled with wine,
milk, water, and barley beer, were deposited in the sepul-
chral chamber, and there walled up with the mummy.
Now this, it is to be remembered, was not by way of a