DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1034#0026
THE HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS.
removed by constant wetting with spirit and scraping,
No. 16 being the most difficult example to clean.
31. Another great change of custom took place
about 250 A.D. The mummies were no longer kept
in the house, after embalming, and consequently the
inducement to decorate them with portraits ceased.
In place of the portraits a new interest attaches to
this later age. The clothes of the deceased had no
place on a regular bandaged mummy, and would
naturally not be preserved if the interment was post-
poned for many years. But when the body Was soon
buried the best clothes were used to wrap it in, and
with it were often placed various objects, such as
toys, caskets, etc. These accompaniments of the
body, and its lack of elaborate preparation, show
conclusively that it was not kept as the portrait
mummies had been, but that burial took place while
sentiment was fresh. The date of this change is indi-
cated thus :—the portraits begin about 140 A.D. ;
three changes of fashion in jewellery succeed that;
while the large number of portraits, and of plain
interments of the same age, also point to at least a
century as the period of their use, or until about
250 A.D. On the other hand, a tomb with embroi-
deries (PI. xxi.) is dated about 340 A.D. by a fresh coin
of young Constantine; and of distinctly earlier age
than that is another' tomb (PI. xix.) with terra-cottas
of good work, glass, and many objects which recall
the third century, but which could scarcely be set
down to the fourth. Yet there was no portrait in
this tomb, and it was outside of the region of portrait
burial, though nearer to it than are most of the em-
broidery tombs. This therefore indicates immediate
burial to have come into fashion in the latter part of
the third century, and so agrees with the approximate
date of 250 A.D., which we arrive at by considering
the continuance of the pictures and the entire absence
of Byzantine feeling in them. Probably the great
spread of Christianity had brought immediate burial
into common usage again.
The mummies of this period are without preserva-
tive oils or resins ; the muscles and skin remain dried
on the bones, with some amount of dust; and they
are very fragile. The embroidered garments in which
they are buried are the worn clothes of the person ;
often patched and darned, and generally soiled and
rubbed through. The elaborate and expensive em-
broideries which we find, were therefore in constant
use, not merely intended for state costumes seldom
put on. This burial of embroideries probably con-
tinued until the cessation of interments at Hawara
about the beginning of the Vlth century. As late as
that time pagan burials continued there, as pots of
copper minimi are found as funeral offerings, bearing
the monograms of the Gothic kings contemporary
with Justinian.
CHAPTER IV.
THE HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS.
By F. Ll. Griffith.
32. The following translations are intended to give
the general purport of the inscriptions, apart from the
critical examination of special points, which would
need comparison with other texts, and more study
than can be given to them just at present. The
complete texts being here published, those who wish
to consider them in detail can do so independently of
the present renderings.
PL ii. Great sarcophagus of Ankhrui ; made of
wood, painted over a coat of stucco; now at Bulak.
OUTSIDE OF LID. Top register. The deceased adoring
hawk-serpent, who declares to him, " Beloved for ever,
I have set thy son in thy seat for ever ; as owner of
thy property for ever; by the decree of the gods
.... for ever, thy house shall not be destroyed for
ever."
Band. " Say the Sesennu, Oh Osirian, prince,
Ankhrui, we are giving. . . ."
Second register. The Sesennu, or eight elemental
gods, standing.
Band. " Says Osiris of many aspects, Oh Osirian,
prince, Ankhrui, hidden art thou in the great place
of concealment on the west of the lake, which thou
rejoinest morning and evening, living for ever."
Referring apparently to the deceased being identified
with the Osiris-crocodile daily plunging in the lake.
Third register. The Osiris-crocodile, human-
headed, in the lake.
Band. " Says Pet, coffer of the gods, amongst
them is established the Osirian, prince, Ankhrui, in
living day and night amongst us, living for ever."
Fourth register. Shu supporting Nut (= Pet), the
heaven, over whom sails the bark of Ra, morning,
noon, and evening; Isis and Nebhat giving forth and
receiving the disc.
Band. " Say Sokar, Isis, and Nebhat, we protect
thee, Osirian, prince, Ankhrui, as Osiris protects his
son, and as Isis; thou art established like them
renewing life, day, and night for ever."
Fifth register. The bark of Sokar with the shrine,
removed by constant wetting with spirit and scraping,
No. 16 being the most difficult example to clean.
31. Another great change of custom took place
about 250 A.D. The mummies were no longer kept
in the house, after embalming, and consequently the
inducement to decorate them with portraits ceased.
In place of the portraits a new interest attaches to
this later age. The clothes of the deceased had no
place on a regular bandaged mummy, and would
naturally not be preserved if the interment was post-
poned for many years. But when the body Was soon
buried the best clothes were used to wrap it in, and
with it were often placed various objects, such as
toys, caskets, etc. These accompaniments of the
body, and its lack of elaborate preparation, show
conclusively that it was not kept as the portrait
mummies had been, but that burial took place while
sentiment was fresh. The date of this change is indi-
cated thus :—the portraits begin about 140 A.D. ;
three changes of fashion in jewellery succeed that;
while the large number of portraits, and of plain
interments of the same age, also point to at least a
century as the period of their use, or until about
250 A.D. On the other hand, a tomb with embroi-
deries (PI. xxi.) is dated about 340 A.D. by a fresh coin
of young Constantine; and of distinctly earlier age
than that is another' tomb (PI. xix.) with terra-cottas
of good work, glass, and many objects which recall
the third century, but which could scarcely be set
down to the fourth. Yet there was no portrait in
this tomb, and it was outside of the region of portrait
burial, though nearer to it than are most of the em-
broidery tombs. This therefore indicates immediate
burial to have come into fashion in the latter part of
the third century, and so agrees with the approximate
date of 250 A.D., which we arrive at by considering
the continuance of the pictures and the entire absence
of Byzantine feeling in them. Probably the great
spread of Christianity had brought immediate burial
into common usage again.
The mummies of this period are without preserva-
tive oils or resins ; the muscles and skin remain dried
on the bones, with some amount of dust; and they
are very fragile. The embroidered garments in which
they are buried are the worn clothes of the person ;
often patched and darned, and generally soiled and
rubbed through. The elaborate and expensive em-
broideries which we find, were therefore in constant
use, not merely intended for state costumes seldom
put on. This burial of embroideries probably con-
tinued until the cessation of interments at Hawara
about the beginning of the Vlth century. As late as
that time pagan burials continued there, as pots of
copper minimi are found as funeral offerings, bearing
the monograms of the Gothic kings contemporary
with Justinian.
CHAPTER IV.
THE HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS.
By F. Ll. Griffith.
32. The following translations are intended to give
the general purport of the inscriptions, apart from the
critical examination of special points, which would
need comparison with other texts, and more study
than can be given to them just at present. The
complete texts being here published, those who wish
to consider them in detail can do so independently of
the present renderings.
PL ii. Great sarcophagus of Ankhrui ; made of
wood, painted over a coat of stucco; now at Bulak.
OUTSIDE OF LID. Top register. The deceased adoring
hawk-serpent, who declares to him, " Beloved for ever,
I have set thy son in thy seat for ever ; as owner of
thy property for ever; by the decree of the gods
.... for ever, thy house shall not be destroyed for
ever."
Band. " Say the Sesennu, Oh Osirian, prince,
Ankhrui, we are giving. . . ."
Second register. The Sesennu, or eight elemental
gods, standing.
Band. " Says Osiris of many aspects, Oh Osirian,
prince, Ankhrui, hidden art thou in the great place
of concealment on the west of the lake, which thou
rejoinest morning and evening, living for ever."
Referring apparently to the deceased being identified
with the Osiris-crocodile daily plunging in the lake.
Third register. The Osiris-crocodile, human-
headed, in the lake.
Band. " Says Pet, coffer of the gods, amongst
them is established the Osirian, prince, Ankhrui, in
living day and night amongst us, living for ever."
Fourth register. Shu supporting Nut (= Pet), the
heaven, over whom sails the bark of Ra, morning,
noon, and evening; Isis and Nebhat giving forth and
receiving the disc.
Band. " Say Sokar, Isis, and Nebhat, we protect
thee, Osirian, prince, Ankhrui, as Osiris protects his
son, and as Isis; thou art established like them
renewing life, day, and night for ever."
Fifth register. The bark of Sokar with the shrine,