Nicholson, Charles: Aegyptiaca (London, 1891)

catalogue of egyptian antiquities. 67

posed to contain some of the drugs used in the
operation. The four well known vases for the
preservation of the viscera of the deceased are
disposed on the ground, two on this, and two on
the other side of the bier. At the head of the
embalmed is seated on her knees Isis, and at the
foot, in the same posture, Nephthys. Both goddesses
are veiling their faces in the attitude of mourners, or
of persons wrapped in the contemplation of the
dread mystery of the future state. Three shrines
containing snakes with human arms and legs, two
of them bearing scorpions, are placed between the
mummy and the end of the picture, perhaps intended
to express that the biting, stinging, and painful
diseases to which the deceased or mankind in general
are subject during life, were passed away and closed
in their shrines, when the spirit departed from the
body.

Between the embalmer Anubis, and Anubis who
introduces into the place of judgment the person of
the deceased, are four youths, bearing food and flowers
towards the Hall of Judgment.

These are the offerings made to the divinity by
the friends and relations of the deceased, for the safe
conduct of the soul through the various trials it will
have to sustain in its progress through Hades, or
they are to represent, that the deceased during his
life reverenced the gods, and made offerings at their
shrines.

The deceased, attended by Anubis, stands at a
distance from the throne of the Judge, at the
threshold of the Hall of Judgment, with, elevated

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