DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14563#0250
214
EGYPT, PAST AND PRESENT.
made for tlie funeral. The coffin, or mummy-case, was then
carried forth and deposited in the hearse, drawn upon a
sledge as already described, to the sacred lake of the nome;
notice having been previously given to the judges, and a
public announcement made of the important day. Forty-
two judges having been summoned, and placed in a semi-
circle, near the banks of the lake, a boat was brought up
expressly for the occasion, under the direction of a boatman
called in the Egyptian language, Charon; 1 and it is from
hence,' saj'S Diodorus, ' that the fable of Hades is said to
be derived, which Orpheus introduced into Greece. For
while in Eg37pt he had witnessed this ceremony, and he
imitated a portion of it, and supplied the rest from his own
imagination.'
"When the boat was ready for the reception of the
coffin, it was lawful for any person who thought proper, to
bring forward his accusation against the deceased. If it
could be proved that he had led an evil life, the judges de-
clared accordingly, and the body was deprived of the ac-
customed sepulture; but if the accuser failed to establish
what he advanced, he was subject to the heaviest penalties.
When there was no accuser, or when the accusation had
been disproved, the relations ceased from their lamentations,
and pronounced encomiums on the deceased. They did not
enlarge upon his descent, as is usual among the Greeks, for
■they hold that all Egyptians are equally noble; but they
related his early education and the course of his studies;
and then, praising his piety and justice in manhood, his
temperance, and the other virtues he possessed, they suppli-
cated the gods below to receive him as a companion of the
pious. This announcement was received by the assembled
multitude with acclamations, and they joined in extolling
the glory of the deceased, who was about to remain forever
with the virtuous in the regions of Hades.. The body was
EGYPT, PAST AND PRESENT.
made for tlie funeral. The coffin, or mummy-case, was then
carried forth and deposited in the hearse, drawn upon a
sledge as already described, to the sacred lake of the nome;
notice having been previously given to the judges, and a
public announcement made of the important day. Forty-
two judges having been summoned, and placed in a semi-
circle, near the banks of the lake, a boat was brought up
expressly for the occasion, under the direction of a boatman
called in the Egyptian language, Charon; 1 and it is from
hence,' saj'S Diodorus, ' that the fable of Hades is said to
be derived, which Orpheus introduced into Greece. For
while in Eg37pt he had witnessed this ceremony, and he
imitated a portion of it, and supplied the rest from his own
imagination.'
"When the boat was ready for the reception of the
coffin, it was lawful for any person who thought proper, to
bring forward his accusation against the deceased. If it
could be proved that he had led an evil life, the judges de-
clared accordingly, and the body was deprived of the ac-
customed sepulture; but if the accuser failed to establish
what he advanced, he was subject to the heaviest penalties.
When there was no accuser, or when the accusation had
been disproved, the relations ceased from their lamentations,
and pronounced encomiums on the deceased. They did not
enlarge upon his descent, as is usual among the Greeks, for
■they hold that all Egyptians are equally noble; but they
related his early education and the course of his studies;
and then, praising his piety and justice in manhood, his
temperance, and the other virtues he possessed, they suppli-
cated the gods below to receive him as a companion of the
pious. This announcement was received by the assembled
multitude with acclamations, and they joined in extolling
the glory of the deceased, who was about to remain forever
with the virtuous in the regions of Hades.. The body was