So in the month Hator, after thirty-four years of rule, died the
Pharaoh Mer-Amen-Rameses XII., the ruler of two worlds, the lord of
eternity, the giver of life and every happiness.
He died because he felt that his body was growing weak and useless. He
died because he was yearning for his eternal home and he wished to
confide the cares of earthly rule to hands that were more youthful.
Finally he died because he wished to die, for such was his will. His
divine spirit flew away, like a falcon which, circling for a time
above the earth, vanishes at last in blue expanses.
As his life had been the sojourn of an immortal in the region of
evanescence, his death was merely one among moments in the existence
of the superhuman.
Rameses XII. woke about sunrise; leaning on two prophets, surrounded
by a chorus of priests, he went to the chapel of Osiris. There, as
usual, he resurrected the divinity, washed and dressed it, made
offerings, and raised his hands in prayer. Meanwhile the priests sang:
_Chorus I._ "Honor to thee who raisest thyself on the horizon and
coursest across the sky."
_Chorus II._ "The pathway of thy sacredness is the prosperity of those
on whose faces thy rays fall."
_Chorus I._ "Would that I might go as thou goest, O sun! without
halting."
_Chorus II._ "Mighty wanderer in space, thou who hast no lord, for
thee hundreds of millions of years are merely the twinkle of an eye."
_Chorus I._ "Thou goest down, but endurest. Thou multipliest hours,
days, and nights, and remainest in solitude according to thy own
laws."
_Chorus II._ "Thou dost illumine the earth, offering thy own self with
thy own hands, when under the form of Ra thou comest up on the
horizon."
_Chorus I._ "O star, emerging great, through thy light, thou thyself
formest thy own limbs."
_Chorus II._ "And, not begotten of any, thou givest birth to thyself
on the horizon."[26]
[26] Authentic hymn.
At this point the pharaoh spoke:
"O thou radiant in the heavens! Permit that I enter eternity. Let me
join the revered and perfect shadows of the upper land. Let me,
together with them, behold thy rays in the morning, and in the
evening, when thou joinest thy mother Nut. And when thou turnest thy
face to the West let my hands join while praying in honor of life,
which is going to sleep beyond the mountains."[27]
[27] Authentic.
Thus spoke the pharaoh with upraised hands, surrounded by a cloud of
incense. All at once he ceased, and dropped into the arms of the
priests behind him.
He was no longer living.
Intelligence of the pharaoh's death flew through the palace like
lightning. Servants left their occupations, overseers ceased to watch
over their slaves, the guard was roused; all entrances were occupied.
In the main court a throng began to gather; cooks, cellarers,
equerries, women of his holiness, and their children. Some inquired:
"Is this true?" Others wondered that the sun shone in heaven, but all
cried at once in heaven-piercing voices,--
"O our lord! O our father! O beloved! Can it be that thou hast gone
from us? Oh it is true, he is going to Abydos! To the West, to the
West, to the land of the just ones! The place which thou hast loved
groans and weeps for thee!"[28]
[28] Authentic.
Terrible uproar was heard throughout all the courts, throughout the
whole park. It was echoed from the eastern hills, on the wings of the
wind it flew across the Nile, and disturbed the city of Memphis.
Meanwhile, the priests, amid prayers, placed the body of the deceased
in a rich closed litter. Eight stood at the poles of the litter; four
took ostrich feather fans in their hands, others censers, and they
prepared to go forth.
At this moment Queen Nikotris ran in, and, seeing the remains in the
litter, threw herself at the feet of the dead pharaoh.
"O my husband! O my brother! O my beloved!" cried she, carried away
with weeping. "O beloved, remain with us, remain in thy house,
withdraw not from this place on earth in which thou art dwelling!"
"In peace, in peace, to the West," sang the priests. "O mighty
sovereign, go in peace to the West."
"Misfortune," said the queen, "thou art hastening to the ferry to pass
to the other shore! O priests, O prophets, hasten not, leave him; for
ye will return to your houses, but he will go to the land of
eternity."
"In peace, in peace to the West," sang the priestly chorus. "If it
please the god, when the day of eternity comes, we shall see thee, O
sovereign! For now thou art going to the land which brings all men
together."[29]
[29] Authentic.
At a sign given by the worthy Herhor, the attendants drew the queen
from the feet of the pharaoh, and led her by force to her chambers.
The litter, borne by priests, moved on, and in it the sovereign,
dressed and surrounded, as if living. On the right, and on the left,
before and behind him, went generals, treasurers, judges, chief
scribes, the bearers of the mace and the bow, and above all a throng
of priests of various dignities.
In the courtyard, the servants fell on their faces, groaning and
weeping, but the troops presented arms and the trumpets sounded, as if
to greet a living pharaoh.
Between Memphis and the "Tableland of Mummies," lay a peculiar
division of the city. All its buildings were devoted to the dead, and
it was inhabited only by dissectors and embalmers.
This division was the forecourt as it were, of the cemetery proper,
the bridge which joined living society with the city of endless rest.
To this place were brought corpses, and mummies were made of them;
here families stipulated with priests, touching the cost of funerals.
Here were prepared sacred books and bandages, coffins, implements,
vessels, and statues for the departed.
This district was a couple of thousand yards from Memphis. It was
surrounded by a long wall provided with gates here and there.
The retinue bearing the remains of the pharaoh halted before the
richest gate, and one of the priests knocked at it.
"Who is there?" inquired those within.
"Osiris-Mer-Amen-Rameses, the lord of two worlds, has come and desires
that ye prepare him for his eternal journey," replied the priests.
"Is it possible that he, the sun of Egypt, is quenched? That he is
dead who himself was breath and life?"
"Such was his will," answered a priest. "Receive, then, the lord with
due honor and render all service to him, as is befitting, lest
punishments meet you in this and the coming life."
"We will do as ye say," said a voice from within.
The priests left the litter, and went away hurriedly, so that the evil
odor of remains accumulated in that place should not fall on them.
Only civil officials under the lead of the supreme judge and treasurer
remained there.
After they had waited a considerable time, the gate opened, and from
ten to twenty persons showed themselves. They wore priestly garments
and their faces were covered.
"We give you," said the judges, on seeing them, "the body of our lord
and yours. Do with it what the rules of religion enjoin, and omit
nothing, so that the great deceased may not experience unquiet in that
world through your fault."
The treasurer added,--
"Use gold, silver, malachite, jasper, emerald, turquoise, and the most
rare kinds of incenses for this lord, so that nothing be lacking that
he may have whatever is best. I, the treasurer, say this to you. And
if the wretch should be found who, instead of noble metals, gives
counterfeit, and instead of genuine stones, gives Phoenician glass,
let him remember that his hands will be cut off and his eyes dug out."
"It will be as ye wish," replied one of the veiled priests.
Others raised the litter and bore it to the interior of the district
of the dead.
"Thou art going in peace to Abydos! Mayst thou go in peace to the
Theban West. To the West, to the West, to the land of the just ones!"
The gate closed, the supreme judge, the treasurer, and the officials
accompanying them returned to the palace.
The hooded priests bore the litter to an immense building where only
the remains of pharaohs were embalmed, or those of high dignitaries
who had gained the exceptional favor of a pharaoh.
The priests stopped in the antechamber, where stood the golden boat on
wheels, and took the corpse from the litter.
"Look ye!" cried one of the cowled priests, "are they not criminals?
The pharaoh died in the chapel of Osiris, so he must have been in
ceremonial costume, while here--oh!--instead of gold ornaments--bronze;
the chain is bronze, too, and on his breast false jewels!"
"True," said another. "I am curious to know who fitted him out thus:
priests, or scribes?"
"Surely priests. Oh, would that your hands withered, ye scoundrels!
And some wretch--they are all such--dared command us to give the
deceased what was best."
"It was not they, but the treasurer."
"They are all rogues."
Thus discoursing, the embalmers took from the deceased his garments of
a pharaoh, put on him a gown of cloth of gold and bore the remains to
the boat.
"Thanks to the gods," said one of the cowled men, "we have a new
pharaoh. He will bring the priests to order. What they have taken with
their hands they will bring back with their mouths."
"Uuu!--they say that he will be a shrewd ruler," put in another. "He
is friendly with the Phoenicians; he passes time willingly with
Pentuer, who is not of priestly family, but of such poor people as we.
But the army, they say the army would let itself be burnt and drowned
for the new pharaoh."
"Besides, he conquered the Libyans most gloriously a few days ago."
"Where is he now, that new pharaoh?" asked another. "In the desert? I
am afraid that misfortune may meet him before he comes back to us."
"What will any one do to him when he has an army behind him? May I
not live to an honest burial if the young lord will not treat the
priests as a buffalo treats growing wheat."
"O thou fool!" interrupted an embalmer who had been silent till that
moment. "The pharaoh conquer the priests!"
"Why not?"
"But hast thou ever seen that a lion tore down a pyramid?"
"Nonsense!"
"Or that a buffalo tossed it apart?"
"Of course he cannot toss it."
"Or that a tempest overturned it."
"What has this man begun at to-day?"
"Well, I tell thee that sooner will a lion, a buffalo, or a tempest
overturn the great pyramid than the pharaoh put an end to the
priesthood. Even if that pharaoh were a lion, a buffalo, and a tempest
in one person."
"Hei ye, there!" cried men from above. "Is the corpse ready?"
"Yes, yes; but its jaw has fallen," answered they at the entrance.
"All one--give it up here, for Isis must go to the city an hour from
now."
After a while the golden boat with the dead pharaoh was raised by
means of ropes to an internal balcony.
From the entrance it went into a great hall, painted in the color of
the sky, and ornamented with golden stars. Through the whole length of
the hall, from one wall to the other, was fixed a balcony in the form
of an arch the ends of which were one story high and the centre a
story and a half.
The hall represented the dome of heaven, the balcony the road of the
sun in the sky. The late pharaoh was to represent Osiris, or the sun,
which passes from the east to the west.
On the pavement of the hall stood a throng of priests and priestesses
who, while waiting for the solemnity, conversed about indifferent
subjects.
"Ready!" cried they from the balcony.
Conversation ceased. Above was heard the sound of a metal plate beaten
thrice--and on the balcony appeared the golden boat of the sun in
which the late pharaoh was advancing.
Below sounded the hymn in honor of the sun:
"Behold he appears in a cloud to separate the sky from the earth, and
later to connect them.
"Hidden unceasingly in all things, he alone lives, in him all things
exist through eternity."
The boat moved gradually upward on the balcony; finally it halted at
the highest point.
Then at the lower end of the arch appeared a priestess, arrayed as the
goddess Isis, with her son Horus, and with equal slowness she began to
ascend. That was an image of the moon, which follows the sun.
Now the boat from the top of the arch began to go toward the west, and
the chorus below sang again:
"The god incarnate in all things, the spirit of Shu in all gods. He is
the body of a living person, the creator of the tree which bears
fruit, the causer of fertilizing overflows. Without him nothing lives
in the earthly circle."[30]
[30] Authentic hymn.
The boat vanished at the western termination of the balcony, Isis and
Horus stopped at the summit of the arch. A crowd of priests ran to the
boat, took out the corpse of the pharaoh and placed it on a marble
table, as Osiris to rest after his toils of the day.
Now to the dead man came the dissector, dressed as the god Typhon. On
his head were a horrid mask and a red tangled wig, on his shoulders
the skin of a wild boar, and in his hand an Ethiopian stone knife.
With this knife he began quickly to cut off the soles of the dead
pharaoh's sandals.
"What art thou doing, O Typhon, to thy sleeping brother?" asked Isis
from the balcony.
"I am scraping the feet of my brother Osiris, so that he may not
befoul heaven with earthly dust," replied the dissector dressed as
Typhon.
When he had cut off the soles, the dissector took a bent wire, thrust
it into the nostrils of the deceased and began to extract his brains.
Next he made an opening in his body, and through that opening drew out
quickly the heart, lungs, and viscera.
During this time the assistants of Typhon brought four great urns
adorned with the heads of the gods Hape, Emset, Duamut and Quebhsneuf,
and in each of those urns he placed some internal organ of the
deceased pharaoh.
"But what art thou doing, O brother Typhon?" inquired Isis a second
time.
"I am purifying my brother Osiris of earthly things, so that he may
become more beautiful," replied the dissector.
At the side of the marble table was a vat of water with soda in
solution. The dissectors, when they had cleaned the body, put it into
the vat where it was to soak seventy days.
Meanwhile Isis, when she had passed over the entire vault, approached
the chamber where the dissectors had cleaned the pharaoh's body. She
looked at the marble table, and, seeing that it was empty, inquired in
terror,--
"Where is my brother? Where is my divine consort?"
Thereupon thunder roared, trumpets and bronze plates sounded; the
dissector disguised as Typhon burst into laughter, and cried,--
"O beautiful Isis, who in company with the stars delightest the night,
thy consort exists not. Never again will the radiant Osiris sit in the
golden boat, never again will that sun appear on the firmament. I have
done this, I, Set, and I have hidden him so deeply that none of the
gods, nor all the gods together will find him."
At these words the goddess rent her garments, she groaned and tore her
hair. Again sounded trumpets, thunder, and plates; among the priests
and priestesses an uproar began, then shouting and curses. Suddenly
all rushed at Typhon crying,--
"Cursed spirit of darkness! Thou rousest the whirlwinds of the desert,
thou rousest the sea, darkenest the light of day! Mayst thou fall into
the pit from which the father of the gods himself could not free thee.
Cursed! Cursed Set! May thy name be a disgust and a terror!"
While cursing in this way they all attacked Typhon with fists and
clubs; the red-haired god fled, and rushed at last out of the
building.
Again the bronze plates sounded thrice, and the solemnity was ended.
"Well, that is enough!" cried the senior priest to the assembly which
had begun to fight in earnest. "Thou, Isis, mayest return to the city,
but the rest of us must go to other departed ones who are waiting for
our services. We must not neglect the ordinary dead, for it is unknown
how much they will pay us for this one."
"Not much indeed!" interrupted the embalmer. "People say that there is
nothing in the treasury, while the Phoenicians threaten to cease
lending unless new rights are given them."
"May death destroy all those Phoenicians! Soon a man will be forced to
beg a barley cake of them; even now they have snatched away
everything."
"But unless they lend the pharaoh money we shall get nothing for the
funeral."
Conversation ceased gradually, and those present left the heavenly
hall. Only at the vat where the body of the pharaoh lay steeping was a
guard left.
All this solemnity, representing the legend of the slaying of Osiris
(the sun) by Typhon (the god of night and crime), served to open and
clean the body of the pharaoh, and in this way prepare it for the
embalming proper.
During seventy days the departed must lie in a solution of soda, in
memory, it seems, of this, that the wicked Typhon had sunk the body of
his brother in the Soda Lakes. During all these days a priestess,
dressed as Isis, came to the heavenly hall, morning and evening.
There, groaning and tearing her hair, she inquired of all present
whether any one had seen her divine consort and brother.
At the expiration of that time of mourning, Horus, the son and heir of
Osiris, with his suite appeared in the hall, and they were the first
to see the vat with the solution.
"Might we look here for the remains of my father and brother?" asked
Horus.
So they searched and found; amid the immense delight of the priests,
with sounds of music, they removed the body of the pharaoh from the
strengthening bath.
The body was put into a stone cylinder through which passed a hot
breeze for a number of days, and, when the body was dried they gave it
to the embalmers.
Now began the most important ceremonies, which were performed by the
supreme priests of the court of the dead:
The body of the departed, turned head southward, they washed with
consecrated water and the interior with palm wine. On the pavement,
which was sprinkled with ashes, sat wailing women who tore their hair
and scratched their faces; they bewailed the late pharaoh. Around the
couch where the body lay were assembled priests dressed as gods. These
were Isis naked with a crown of the pharaohs, the youthful Horus,
Anubis with a jackal head, bird-headed Tot with tablets in his hands,
and many others.
Under the inspection of this worthy assembly, specialists began to
fill the body with strongly odorous plants and sawdust, they even
poured in odorous resin, all amid prayers. Then in his eye-sockets
they inserted glass eyes set in bronze. After that the whole body was
sprinkled with powdered soda.
Another priest appeared now who explained to those present that the
body of the departed was the body of Osiris, that his qualities were
the qualities of Osiris. "The magic qualities of his left temple are
the qualities of the god Tum and his right eye is the eye of the god
Tum, whose rays pierce through darkness. His left eye is the eye of
Horus, which dazzles every living creature; the upper lip that of
Isis, and the lower that of Nefthys. The neck of the departed is the
goddess, his hands are divine spirits, his fingers the heavenly
serpents, sons of the goddess Setkit. His sides are the two feathers
of Amon, his back the backbone of Sib, his belly is the good Nue."[31]
[31] Maspero.
Another priest spoke,--
"A mouth was given me for speaking, feet for walking, hands to
overturn my enemies. I rise from the dead, I exist, I open heaven; I
do what has been commanded me in Memphis."[32]
[32] Authentic.
Meanwhile on the neck of the departed they hung a scarab made of a
precious stone, on which was this inscription: "O my heart, heart
which I received from my mother, which I had when I was on earth, O
heart do not rise against me and do not give evil witness in the day
of judgment."[33]
[33] Authentic.
Next priests wound around each arm and foot, each finger and toe of
the dead, strips on which were written prayers and spells. Those
strips they fastened with gum and balsam. On the breast and on the
neck they placed complete manuscripts of the _Book of the Dead_ with
the following meditations which the priests read aloud over the
body,--
"I am he before whom no god puts an obstacle.
"Who is that?
"He is Tum on his shield, he is Ra on his shield, which rises in the
east of heaven.
"I am Yesterday and I know To-morrow.
"Who is he?
"Yesterday is Osiris, To-morrow is Ra on the day when he annihilates
the enemies of the Lord who is above all and when he consecrates his
son Horus. In other words, in the day when his father Ra meets the
coffin of Osiris. He conquers the gods at command of Osiris, the lord
of the mountain Amenti.
"What is that?
"Amenti is a creation of the soul of the gods, at command of Osiris,
the lord of the mountain.
"In other words, Amenti is that impulse roused by Ra. Every god who
arrives there carries on a battle. I know the great god who dwells
there.
"I am from my country, I come from my city, I destroy evil, I set
aside that which is not good, I remove uncleanness from myself, I
betake myself to the country of dwellers in heaven, I enter through
the mighty gate.
"O ye comrades, give me a hand, for I shall be one of you."[34]
[34] "Book of the Dead."
When every member of the departed was covered with prayer bandages,
and furnished with amulets, when he had a sufficient supply of
meditations to find the way in the region of the gods, it was proper
to think of a document which would open the gate of that region. For
between the tomb and heaven forty-two terrible judges were waiting for
the dead man; these, under presidency of Osiris, examined his earthly
life. Only when the heart of the departed, weighed in the scales of
justice, appeared equal to the goddess of truth, when the god Dutes,
who writes on his tablets the deeds of the dead, considered it just,
only then did Horus take the soul by the hand and lead it before the
throne of Osiris.
So that the dead might be able to justify himself before the court it
was necessary to wrap the mummy in a papyrus on which was written a
general confession. While they were winding him in this document the
priest spoke clearly and with emphasis, so that the dead might not
forget:
"Lords of truth, I bring thee truth itself. I have not done evil to
any man treacherously. I have not made any one near me unfortunate. I
have not permitted myself any lewdness or abusive word in the house of
veracity. I have had no intimacy with evil. I have committed nothing
bad. As a superior I have not commanded my subordinates to work beyond
their strength. No one through my fault has become afraid, poor,
suffering, or unhappy. I have done nothing of any kind which the gods
would despise. I have not tormented a slave. I have not killed him
with hunger. I have not forced tears from him. I have not slain. I
have not commanded to kill a slave treacherously. I have not lied, I
have not plundered the property of temples. I have not decreased
incomes devoted to the gods. I have not taken away the bread or the
bandages of mummies. I have not committed sin with the priest of my
district. I have not taken from him or decreased his property. I have
not used false weights. I have not snatched away an infant from the
breast of its nurse. I have never committed anything bestial. I have
not caught in nets birds devoted to the gods. I have not hindered the
inundation of water. I have not turned away the course of canals. I
have not quenched fire at a time that was improper, I have not stolen
from the gods offerings which they had chosen. I am pure--I am pure--I
am pure."[35]
[35] "Book of the Dead." This is one of the loftiest documents
left us by antiquity.
When the departed was able, thanks to the _Book of the Dead_ to help
himself in the region of eternity, and above all when he knew how to
justify himself before the court of the forty-two gods, the priests
furnished him still further with an introduction to this book, and
explained to him orally its immense importance. In view of this the
embalmers who surrounded the fresh mummy of the pharaoh withdrew and
a high priest of that quarter came and whispered into the ear of the
departed:
"Know that through the possession of this book thou shalt belong to
the living and attain to great significance among gods. Know that,
thanks to it, no one will dare to oppose thee. The gods themselves
will approach thee and embrace thee, for thou wilt belong to their
company.
"Know that this book informs thee of what was at the beginning. No man
has uttered it, no eye has seen it, no ear has heard it. This book is
truth itself, but no one has ever known it. Let it be seen only
through thee and through him who will behold thee in it. Add to it no
commentary which thy memory or imagination might suggest to thee. It
is written entirely in the hall where the departed are embalmed. It is
a great secret which no common man knows, not one in the world.
"This book will be thy nourishment in the lower region of spirits, it
will give thy soul means of sojourn on the earth, it will give it life
eternal, and effect this, that no one will have power over thee."[36]
[36] "Book of the Dead."
The remains of the pharaoh were arrayed in costly garments, with a
gold mask on the face, with bracelets on the wrists, and with rings on
the hands, which were crossed on the breast. Under the head was put a
support of ivory, such as Egyptians were accustomed to sleep on.
Finally the body was inclosed in three coffins: one of paper covered
with inscriptions, one of cedar which was gilt, and one of marble. The
form of the first two corresponded accurately to the form of the body;
even the sculptured face was like the original, though smiling.
After a stay of three months in the quarter of the dead the mummy of
the pharaoh was ready for a solemn funeral; therefore it was taken
back to the palace.