DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3720#0286
HIERATIC WRITING. 269.-
so profusely employed; for whole temples are literally books,..
the walls of which are the leaves covered with hieroglyphs,,
to which the sculptures served only as vignettes, or illu-
minations. These consist of dedications, colloquies of gods-
and tings, prayers, calendars, lists of oiferings, and historical,
archives, containing records of important public events. The-
tombs of the dead are also elaborately painted or sculptured
throughout with hieroglyphs, containing, at the earliest period
of the fourth dynasty, the names and titles of the dead, and
certain religious formulae, which all who beheld were expected
to repeat, being thanks to the gods because they had given
the blessing of life or a due funeral to the deceased, long lists-
of offerings and of festivals, in very elliptical style, which con-
tinued till the time of the eleventh dynasty, when certain
extracts of formulas begin to appear.1
In the paintings, too, of the sculptures, single words and
short sentences are dispersed over the figures and in the area;
as us-t, "the sawing,"■ over men sawing; slien, "chiselling,"3
over men using the chisel; seh an ben, "scraper on the harp," 4
over a harper. Those commencing at the fifth are continued
during the subsequent dynasties; and the same principle of
naming the various objects occurs on the temples and other
public monuments. A few tombs have long inscriptions,
recording the appointments and exploits of functionaries,
military and civil. Such are, however, rare; and the greater
part of the sepulchral formulae are religious extracts from the
liturgies recited in honour of the dead, which at a later period
had become incorporated with one of the Hermetic books, now
generally known as the Book of the Dead, or Ritual, which
will be subsequently described. There is one of these
1 Lepsius, Denkiniiler, AMh. ii. 115. • Ibid., Abth. ii. Bl. 9.
3 Ibid. 49. * Ibid., Abth. 53.
so profusely employed; for whole temples are literally books,..
the walls of which are the leaves covered with hieroglyphs,,
to which the sculptures served only as vignettes, or illu-
minations. These consist of dedications, colloquies of gods-
and tings, prayers, calendars, lists of oiferings, and historical,
archives, containing records of important public events. The-
tombs of the dead are also elaborately painted or sculptured
throughout with hieroglyphs, containing, at the earliest period
of the fourth dynasty, the names and titles of the dead, and
certain religious formulae, which all who beheld were expected
to repeat, being thanks to the gods because they had given
the blessing of life or a due funeral to the deceased, long lists-
of offerings and of festivals, in very elliptical style, which con-
tinued till the time of the eleventh dynasty, when certain
extracts of formulas begin to appear.1
In the paintings, too, of the sculptures, single words and
short sentences are dispersed over the figures and in the area;
as us-t, "the sawing,"■ over men sawing; slien, "chiselling,"3
over men using the chisel; seh an ben, "scraper on the harp," 4
over a harper. Those commencing at the fifth are continued
during the subsequent dynasties; and the same principle of
naming the various objects occurs on the temples and other
public monuments. A few tombs have long inscriptions,
recording the appointments and exploits of functionaries,
military and civil. Such are, however, rare; and the greater
part of the sepulchral formulae are religious extracts from the
liturgies recited in honour of the dead, which at a later period
had become incorporated with one of the Hermetic books, now
generally known as the Book of the Dead, or Ritual, which
will be subsequently described. There is one of these
1 Lepsius, Denkiniiler, AMh. ii. 115. • Ibid., Abth. ii. Bl. 9.
3 Ibid. 49. * Ibid., Abth. 53.