[1] The whole process of embalmment is briefly described in the _Rhind
Papyrus_, edited by Birch, London, 1863, and by BRUGSCH, Leipzig,
1865. The procedure of the _taricheuts_ is described in a Vienna
papyrus, edited by BERGMANN, Vienna, 1887, and the conclusion of their
operations in a Paris papyrus and a Bûlaq papyrus, edited by MASPERO,
_Pap. du Louvre_, Paris, 1875. For the transport of the mummy, see
DÜMICHEN, _Kal. Insch._, pl. 35 _sqq_. The minutely ordered ritual for
the ceremonies at the door of the tomb was published and investigated
in SCHIAPARELLI’S admirable work, _Il Libro dei Funerali_, Turin,
1881—1890.
[2] On these component parts cf. WIEDEMANN in the _Proceedings of the
Orientalist Congress at St. Etienne_, II. (1878), p. 159 _et seq._
Many parallel texts to the additional chapter of _The Book of the
Dead_, there referred to, may be found in VON BERGMANN’S _Sarkophag des
Panehemisis_, I., p. 22; II., p. 74 _et seq._
[3] On this account KA was sometimes used as interchangeable with REN
[Illustration: {H}]—name.
[4] There is no modern word which exactly expresses the Egyptian idea
of the KA; Maspero’s translation of “DOUBLE, _Doppelgänger_” is the
best hitherto proposed; Meyer’s translation of “_Ghost_” (_Gesch. Æg._,
p. 83) is altogether misleading.
[5] The illustration is taken from LEPSIUS, _Denkmäler_, III. 21.
Here the solar cartouche, or throne-name, of Thothmes II., and his
Horus-: or Ka-name, are palimpsests effacing the names of Queen
Hatshepsû Rāmaka, the builder of the temple. The figures in this scene
originally represented the Queen and her KA; but as she is always
portrayed in male attire throughout the temple, it was only necessary
to change her names in order to appropriate her figure as that of a
king. The first satisfactory explanation of the Horus-or KA-name was
given by PETRIE in _A Season in Egypt_, pp. 21, 22; cf. MASPERO,
_Études Égyptologiques_ II., p. 273 _et seq._ He shows that the
rectangular parallelogram in which the Horus-name is written is the
exact equivalent of the square panel over the false door in the tomb,
by which the KA was supposed to pass from the sepulchral vault into the
upper chamber, or tomb-chapel, where offerings were provided for it.
A private person had but one name, which was also the name of his KA.
But, on ascending the throne, the king took four new names in addition
to the one which he had hitherto borne, and among them a name for his
KA.
[6] We have a crude representation of this KA sign, dating from the
reign of Amenemhat I., of the Twelfth Dynasty; see PETRIE, _Tanis I._
(Second Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund), pl. I., No. 3.
[7] LEPSIUS, _Denkmäler_, III. 186. The hands of the KA-staff have
doubtless a common origin with those of the KA-sign—[Illustration:
{H}].
[8] LEPSIUS, _Denkmäler_, III. 87.
[9] In the course of his excavations at Dêr el Bahri, for the Egypt
Exploration Fund, M. Naville discovered the originals of these scenes
in a series of bas-reliefs representing the birth of Queen Hatshepsû
which were plagiarised by Amenophis III.
[10] LEPSIUS, _Denkmäler_, III. 21, 129.
[11] LEPSIUS, _Denkmäler_, III., pl. 75.
[12] Such prayers were also inscribed on funerary stelæ in order
that passers-by might repeat them for the benefit of the dead. These
inscriptions vary but little. The prayer on the funerary tablet of
Khemnekht (now in the Agram Museum) dates from the Thirteenth Dynasty,
and runs as follows: “O every scribe, every Kherheb (lector, priestly
reciter), all ye who pass by this stele, who love and honour your gods,
and would have your offices to flourish (shine) for your children,
say ye: ‘Let royal offerings be brought unto Osiris for the Ka of the
priest Khemnekht’”: For an account of the development of the formulæ
on funerary stelæ, see WIEDEMANN, _Observations sur quelques stèles
funéraires égyptiennes, Le Muséon X._, 42, 199 _et seq._
[13] The particulars above summarised may be verified from contracts
which a prince (_erpā-hā_) of Siût concluded with the priests of
Anubis under the Tenth or Eleventh Dynasty (discussed by MASPERO,
_Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology_ VII., p. 6
_et seq._, _Études de Mythologie_, I., p. 62 _et seq._, and ERMAN,
_Æg. Zeitschr._, 1882, p. 159 ff., the best publication of these
inscriptions being that by GRIFFITH, _Inscriptions of Siût and Dêr
Rîfeh_, London, 1889. Similar contracts were made even in the times
of the pyramid-building kings: cf. _e.g._ LEPSIUS, _Denkmäler_, II.
3-7; DE ROUGÉ, _Inscriptions hiéroglyphiques_, pl. I.; MARIETTE, _Les
Mastabahs_, p. 316 _et seq._)
[14] As in the case of statues found in the temple of Ptah at Memphis
(MARIETTE, _Mon. div._, pl. 27 b), and in that of Amon at Karnak
(MARIETTE, _Karnak_, pl. 8 f; cf. LEPSIUS, _Auswahl_, pl. 11).
[15] This striking theory was first broached by MASPERO, _Rec. de
Trav._, I., p. 154; _Études de Mythologie_, I., p. 80.
[16] We find occasional mention of the Ka of the East and the Ka of the
West (Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, 2nd ed., III., pp. 200, 201),
which are to be considered as being the Kas of the deities of the East
and of the West, and not as Kas of the abstract conceptions of East and
West.
[17] LEPSIUS, _Denkmäler_, III. 194, l. 13; DÜMICHEN,
_Tempelinschriften_, I., pl. 29; VON BERGMANN, _Hierogl. Insch._, pl.
33 pl. 61, col. 2; RENOUF, _Transactions of the Society of Biblical_
_Archæology_, VI., pp. 504 _et seq._; BRUGSCH, _Dictionary, Supplt._,
pp. 997 _et seq._, 1230.
[18] Cf. 1 Chron. XXIX. 11, 12; Isa. XI. 2.
[19] This prayer is contained in that part of _The Book of the Dead_,
chap, CV., entitled _Chapter whereby the KA of a person is satisfied
in the Nether world_: “Hail to thee who wast my KA during life! Lo! I
come unto thee, I arise resplendent, I labour, I am strong, I am hale
(_var._, I pass on), I bring grains of incense, I am purified thereby,
I purify thereby that which goeth forth from thee. This conjuration
of evil which I say; this warding off of evil which I perform; (this
conjuration) is not made against me (?)” The conjuration runs as
follows: “I am that amulet of green felspar, the necklace of the god
Rā, which is given (_var._, which I gave) unto them who are upon the
horizon. They flourish, I flourish, my KA flourishes even as they,
my duration of life flourishes even as they, my KA has abundance of
food even as they. The scale of the balance rises, Truth rises high to
the nose of the god Rā in that day on which my KA is where I am (?)
My head and my arm are made (?) to where I am (?) I am he whose eye
seeth, whose ears hear; I am not a beast of sacrifice. The sacrificial
formulæ proceed where I am, for the upper ones”—otherwise said, “for
the upper ones of heaven.” The funerary papyrus of Sûtimes (NAVILLE,
_Todtenbuch_, I., pl. 117) contains the following addition at the end
of this chapter: “I enter (?) unto thee (to the _Ka_?). I am pure, the
Osiris is justified against his enemies.” The accompanying vignette for
this chapter shows the deceased as worshipping or sacrificing before
the KA-sign on a standard. Occasionally we find the KA sign represented
as enclosing pictures of offerings, a form explained by the common
double meaning of the word KA, which signifies both “_Double_” and
_food_.
[20] In the religious texts the heart is called both {H} _áb_ and {H}
_hāti_. Sometimes, as in _The Book of the Dead_, chap. XXVI. _et seq._,
the two were differentiated; but, generally speaking, the two terms
appear to have been synonymous.
[22] PLUTARCH, _Septem sap. conviv._, p. 159 B: “We then, said I”
(Diales), “render these tributes to the belly (τῇ γαστρί). But if Solon
or any one else has any allegation to make we will listen.” “By all
means,” said Solon, “lest we should appear more senseless than the
Egyptians, who cutting up the dead body showed [the entrails] to the
sun, then cast them into the river, but of the rest of the body, as
now become pure, they took care. For in reality this [the belly] is
the pollution of our flesh, and the Hell, as in Hades,—full of dire
streams, and of wind and fire confused together, and of dead things.”
PLUTARCH, _De esu carnium orat._, ii., p. 996, 38: “As the Egyptians,
taking out from the dead the belly (τὴν κοιλίαν) and cutting it up
before the sun, cast it away, as the cause of all the sins which the
man has committed; in like manner that we ourselves, cutting out
gluttony and bloodthirstiness, should purify the rest of our life.”
PORPHYRY, _De abst._, iv., 10: “When they embalm those of the noble
that have died, together with their other treatment of the dead body,
they take out the belly (τὴν κοιλίαν), and put it into a coffer, and
holding the coffer to the sun they protest, one of the embalmers making
a speech on behalf of the dead. This speech, which Euphantus translated
from his native language, is as follows: “O Lord, the Sun, and all ye
gods who give life to men, receive me and make me a companion to the
eternal gods. For the gods, whom my parents made known to me, as long
time as I have had my life in this world I have continued to reverence,
and those who gave birth to my body I have ever honoured. And for the
rest of men, I have neither slain any, nor defrauded any of anything
entrusted to me, nor committed any other wicked act, but if I haply
in my life have sinned at all,: by either eating or drinking what was
unlawful, not on my own account did I sin, but on account of these
(showing the coffer in which the belly [ἡ γαστήρ] lay).” And having
said these things he throws it into the river; but the rest of the
body, as pure, he embalms. Thus they thought that they needed to excuse
themselves to the Deity on account of what they had eaten and drunk,
and therefore to reproach the belly.”
[23] It was in this sense that the Egyptians regarded the heart as the
seat of the feelings, and spoke of the heart as rejoicing, as mourning,
as weeping.
[24] The illustration is taken from photographs of a scarab in the
Edwards collection at University College, London.
[25] For the translation of chap, xxx b. of The Book of the Dead, which
formed the usual inscriptions on heart scarabs, see p. 53.
[26] The possession of the formula in chap, cxlviii. of _The Book of
the Dead_, from line 8, ensured abundance (of food) to the BA of the
dead.
[27] Illustrations 7 and 8 are taken from photographs of objects in the
Edwards Museum at University College.
[28] _See The Book of the Dead_, NAVILLE’S edition, pls. 4, 97, 101,
104; LEPSIUS’ edition, pls. 33, etc., etc.
[29] See, _e.g._, illustration and Orcagna’s fresco of the Triumph of
Death, in the Campo Santo of Pisa.
[30] See p. 10.
[31] VON BERGMANN, _Sarkophag des Panehemisis_, I., pp. 11, 15, 24;
PIERRET, _Insc. du Louvre_, II., p. 23; MARIETTE, _Dendérah_, iv., 62a.
[32] _The Book of the Dead_, lxxxix. 6.
[33] VON BERGMANN, _Sarkophag des Panehemisis_, I., p. 37, where the
translation is not quite accurately given.
[34] In _Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology_, VIII., p.
386 _et seq._, Birch has collected passages bearing on this point.
[35] On primitive beliefs as to a man’s shadow being a vital part of
himself, see FRAZER, _The Golden Bough_, Vol. I., pp. 141-44.
[36] See MASPERO, _Recueil de Travaux relatifs à Égypt_, III., p. 105
_et seq._; and _Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l’Orient_, Vol. I., p.
114. In _The Book of the Dead_, chap. lxxxix., 3, the KHÛ is mentioned
in connection with the BA; in chap. cxlix., 40, with the KHAÏB; and in
chap. xcii., 5, with both.
[37] See p. 30.
[38] A certain part in the religious life of our own time has been
played by a similar “Hypocephalus,” viz., the Mormon Scriptures (cf.:
Joseph Smith, _A Pearl of Great Price_, 1851, p. 7). For particulars of
the Hypocephalus of the illustration see _Proceedings of the Society of
Biblical Archæology_, Vol. VI., p. 52, and plate.
[39] See Ebers, _Æg. Zeitschr._, 1867, p. 108; 1871, p. 48; WIEDEMANN,
_Proceedings of the Orientalist Congress at St. Etienne_, II., p. 155.
[40] The “Negative Confession” forms chap. cxxv. of _The Book of the
Dead_, and varies slightly in different copies. The following is
Renouf’s translation of the chapter as it appears in a Nineteenth
Dynasty papyrus (see _The Papyrus of Ani_, London, 1890):—“I am not
a doer of what is wrong. I am not a plunderer. I am not a robber. I
am not a slayer of men. I do not stint the quantity of corn. I am not
a niggard. I do not seize the property of the gods. I am not a teller
of lies. I am not a monopoliser of food. I am no extortioner. I am not
unchaste. I am not the cause of others’ tears. I am not a dissembler.
I am not a doer of violence. I am not of domineering character. I do
not pillage cultivated land. I am not an eavesdropper. I am not a
chatterer. I do not dismiss a case through self-interest. I am not
unchaste with women or men. I am not obscene. I am not an exciter of
alarms. I am not hot in speech. I do not turn a deaf ear to the words
of righteousness. I am not foul-mouthed. I am not a striker. I am not
a quarreller. I do not revoke my purpose, I do not multiply clamour
in reply to words. I am not evil-minded or a doer of evil. I am not a
reviler of the king. I put no obstruction upon the water. I am not a
bawler. I am not a reviler of the God. I am not fraudulent. I am not
sparing in offerings to the gods. I do not deprive the dead of the
funeral cakes. I do not take away the cakes of the child, or profane
the god of my locality. I do not kill sacred animals.”
[41] On the Egyptian Goddess of Truth, see WIEDEMANN, La _Déesse Maā_,
in the _Annales du Musée Guimet_, x., pp. 561 _et seq._ With regard to
the meaning of the Egyptian name and word _Maāt_, which is generally
translated “truth, or justice,” Renouf has said: “The Egyptians
recognised a divinity in those cases only where they perceived the
presence of a fixed Law, either of permanence or change. The earth
abides for ever, and so do the heavens. Day and night, months,
seasons, and years succeed each other with unfailing regularity; the
stars are not less constant in their course, some of them rising and
setting at fixed intervals, and others eternally circling round the
pole in an order which never is disturbed. This _regularity_, which
is the constitutive character of the Egyptian divinity, was called
[Illustration: {H}] _Maāt_. The gods were said to be nebû maāt,
‘possessors of _maāt_.’ or _ānchiû em maāt_, ‘subsisting by or through
_maāt_.’ _Maāt_ is in fact the Law and Order by which the universe
exists. Truth and justice are but forms of _Maāt_ as applied to human
action.”—_Papyrus of Ani, Introduction_, p. 2.
[42] This prayer is contained in chap. xxx. of _The Book of the Dead_:—
“_Chapter whereby the heart of a person is not kept back from
him in the Netherworld_.
Heart mine which is that of my mother,
Whole heart mine which is that of my birth,
Let there be no estoppel against me through evidence, let no
hindrance be made to me by the divine Circle; fall thou
not against me in presence of him who is at the Balance.
Thou art my genius (KA), who art by me (in my KHA-T), the
Artist who givest soundness to my limbs.
Come forth to the bliss towards which we are bound;
Let not those Ministrants who deal with a man according to
the course of his life give a bad odour to my name.
Pleasant for us, pleasant for the listener, is the joy of the
Weighing of the Words.
Let not lies be uttered in presence of the great god, Lord of
the Amenti.
Lo! how great art thou (as the triumphant one).”
—_Renouf’s translation_.
[43] As stated on the mummy case of Panehemisis, ed. VON BERGMANN, I.,
p. 29.
[44] The conception of a kind of hell is certainly found in the book
_Am Dûat_ (cf. JÉQUIER, _Le livre de ce qu’il y a dans l’Hadès_, Paris,
1894, p. 127); such allusions are, however, exceptional, and Egyptian
belief in a hell appears to have existed at times only, and to have
been confined to certain classes of society.
[45] The “fields of Aalû”; cf. the “Elysian fields” of the Greeks.
[46] See p. 19.
[47] From scenes in the tomb of Mentûherkhepeshf at Thebes, dating from
the beginning of the Nineteenth Dynasty, we have evidence that Egyptian
funeral ceremonies occasionally included human sacrifice at the gate of
the tomb, the object of such sacrifice being doubtless that of sending
servants to the dead. But the practice would seem to have been very
exceptional, at any rate after Egypt had entered upon her long period
of greatness. See MASPERO, _Mémoires de la Mission Archéologique du
Caire_, V., p. 452; cf. WIEDEMANN, in _Le Muséon_, XIII., p. 457 _et
seq._; see also GRIFFITH, _The Tomb of Paheri_, pp. 20, 21, in the
Eleventh Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund.
[48] Chapter vi. of _The Book of the Dead_ consists of this formula,
which there reads: “O Ûshabti there! Should I be called and appointed
to do any of the labours that are done in the Netherworld by a person
according to his abilities, lo! all obstacles have been beaten down for
thee; be thou counted for me at every moment, for planting the fields,
for watering the soil, for conveying the sands of East and West, Here
am I, whithersoever thou callest me!”—_Renouf’s Translation_.
[49] The frontispiece represents one of 399 ÛSHABTIÛ made for a
priest named Horût’a, who lived during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty.
These ÛSHABTIÛ were found at Hawara by Petrie: see _Kahun, Gurob, and
Hawara_, pp. 9, 19.
[50] Professor Petrie, speaking of his discovery that it was the
Egyptian custom to place masonic deposits of miniature model tools,
etc., underneath the foundations of temples, and giving an account of
the foundation deposits which he found beneath the pyramid temple of
Ûsertesen II., at Illahûn, says: “The reason for burying such objects
is yet unexplained; but it seems not unlikely that they were intended
for the use of the KAS of the builders, like the models placed in tombs
for the KAS of the deceased. Whether each building had a KA, which
needed ghostly repair by the builders’ KAS, is also to be considered”
(_Kahun, Gurob, and Hawara_, p. 22). We know that each building had its
guardian spirit in the form of a serpent (cf. the representation of one
dating from the time of Amenophis III, in Ghizeh, No. 217, published by
MARIETTE, _Mon. Div._, pl. 63 b).
[51] _The Book of the Dead_, chaps. lxxvi.-lxxxviii.
[52] “The Egyptians were also the first to broach the opinion that the
soul of man is immortal, and that when the body dies it enters into
an animal which is born at the same moment, thence passing on (from
one animal into another) until it has circled through all creatures of
the earth, the water, and the air, after which it enters again into
a new-born human frame. The whole period of the transmigration is
(they say) three thousand years. There are Greek writers, some of an
earlier, some of a later date, who have borrowed this doctrine from the
Egyptians, and put it forward as their own.”—HERODOTUS, II., 123. See
WIEDEMANN, _Herodots Zweites Buch_, p. 457 _et seq._
[53] For the “Story of Setna” see Vol. II. of Professor Petrie’s
_Egyptian Tales_.
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