89. We find similar wishes on the Egyptian monuments, frequently at least
since the Middle Empire. "Donnez-moi de l'eau courante à boire....
Mettez-moi la face au vent du nord sur le bord de l'eau et que sa fraîcheur
calme mon coeur" (Maspero, _Etudes égyptiennes_, I, 1881, p. 189). "Oh, si
j'avais de l'eau courante à boire et si mon visage était tourné vers le
vent du nord" (Naville,_op. cit._, p. 174). On a funerary stele in the
Brussels museum (Capart, _Guide_, 1905, p. 71) is inscribed, "Que les dieux
accordent de boire l'eau des sources, de respirer les doux vents du
nord."--The very material origin of this wish appears in the funeral texts,
where the soul is shown crossing the desert, threatened with hunger and
thirst, and obtaining refreshment by the aid of the gods (Maspero, _Etudes
de mythol. et d'archéol. égypt._, 1883, I, pp. {239} 366 ff.).--On a tablet
at Petilia (see _supra_, n. 22), the soul of the deceased is required to
drink the fresh water ([Greek: psuchron hudôr]) flowing from the lake of
Memory in order to reign with the heroes. There is nothing to prevent our
admitting with Foucart ("Myst. d'Eleusis," _Mém. Acad. des Inscr._, XXXV,
2, p. 67), that the Egyptian ideas may have permeated the Orphic worship of
southern Italy after the fourth or third century, since they are found
expressed a hundred years earlier at Carpentras (_infra_, n. 90).
90. [Greek: Doiê soi ho Osiris to psuchron hudôr], at Rome: Kaibel, _Inscr.
gr._ XIV. 1488, 1705, 1782, 1842; cf. 658 and _CIL_, VI, 3, 20616.--[Greek:
Soi de Oseiridos hagnon hudôr Eisis charisaito], _Rev. archéol._, 1887, p.
199, cf. 201.--[Greek: Psuchêi dipsôsêi psuchron hudôr metados], _CIG_,
6267 = Kaibel, 1890. It is particularly interesting to note that almost the
same wish appears on the Aramaic stele of Carpentras (_C. I. Sem._, II,
141), which dates back to the fourth or fifth century B. C.: "Blessed be
thou, take water from in front of Osiris."--A passage in the book of Enoch
manifestly inspired by Egyptian conceptions, mentions the "spring of
water," the "spring of life," in the realm of the dead (Enoch, xxii. 2, 9.
Cf. Martin, _Le livre d'Hénoch_, 1906, p. 58, n. 1, and Bousset, _Relig.
des Judentums_, 1903, p 271). From Judaism the expression has passed into
Christianity. Cf. Rev. vii. 17; xxi. 6.
91. The Egyptian origin of the Christian expression has frequently been
pointed out and cannot be doubted; see Lafaye, _op. cit._, p. 96, n. 1;
Rohde, _Psyche_, II, p. 391; Kraus, _Realencycl. der christl. Alt._, s. v.
"Refrigerium"; and especially Dieterich, _Nekyia_, pp. 95 ff. Cf.
Perdrizet, _Rev. des études anc._, 1905, p. 32; Audollent, _Mélanges Louis
Havet_, 1909, p. 575.--The _refrigerii sedes_, which the Catholic Church
petitions for the deceased in the anniversary masses, appears in the oldest
Latin liturgies, and the Greeks, who do not believe in purgatory, have
always expressed themselves along the same lines. For instance, Nubian
inscriptions which are in perfect agreement with the euchology of
Constantinople hope the soul will rest [Greek: en topôi chloerôi, en topôi
anapsuxeôs] (G. Lefebvre, _Inscr. gr. chrét. d'Eg._, No. 636, 664 ff., and
introd., p. xxx; cf. Dumont, _Mélanges_, Homolle ed., pp. 585 ff.). The
detail is not without significance because it furnishes a {240} valuable
indication as to the Egyptian origin of prayer for the dead; this is
unknown to Graeco-Roman paganism which prayed to the deified dead but never
_for_ the dead as such. The Church took this custom from the Synagogue, but
the Jews themselves seem to have taken it from the Egyptians during the
Hellenistic period, undoubtedly in the course of the second century (S.
Reinach, _Cultes, mythes_, I, p. 325), just as they were indebted to the
Egyptians for the idea of the "spring of life" (_supra_, n. 90). The
formula in the Christian inscriptions cited,
[Greek: anapauson tên psuchên en kolpois Abraam kai Isaak kai Iakôb],
appears to indicate a transposition of the doctrine of identification with
Osiris. In this way we can explain the persistence in the Christian
formulary of expressions, like _requies aeterna_, corresponding to the most
primitive pagan conceptions of the life of the dead, who were not to be
disturbed in their graves.--A name for the grave, which appears frequently
in Latin epitaphs, viz., _domus aeterna_ (or _aeternalis_) is undoubtedly
also of Egyptian importation. In Egypt, "la tombe est la maison du mort, sa
maison d'étérnite, comme disent les textes" (Capart, _Guide du musée de
Bruxelles_, 1905, p. 32). The Greeks were struck by this expression which
appears in innumerable instances. Diodorus of Sicily (I, 51, § 2) was aware
that the Egyptians
[Greek: tous tôn teteleutêkotôn taphous aidious oikous prosagoreuousin, hôs
en Haidou diatelountôn ton apeiron aiôna] (cf. I, 93, § 1, [Greek: eis tên
aiônion oikêsin]).--
It is probable that this appellation of the tomb passed from Egypt into
Palestine and Syria. It appears already in Ecclesiastes, xii. 7 (_beth
'olam_ = "house of eternity"), and it is found in Syrian epigraphy (for
instance in inscriptions of the third century (_Comptes Rendus Acad.
Inscr._, 1906, p. 123), also in the epigraphy of Palmyra. (Chabot, _Journal
asiatique_, 1900, p. 266, No. 47)).--Possibly the hope for consolation,
[Greek: Eupsuchei, oudeis athanatos], frequently found engraved upon tombs
even in Latin countries was also derived from the Egyptian religion, but
this is more doubtful. [Greek: Eupsuchei] is found in the epitaphs of
initiates in the Alexandrian mysteries. Kaibel, _Inscr. gr._, XIV, 1488,
1782 ([Greek: Eupsuchei kuria kai doiê soi ho Osiris to psuchron hudôr]),
2098 (cf. _supra_, n. 90). Possibly the twofold meaning of {241} [Greek:
eupsuchos] which stands both for _animosus_ and _frigidus_ (see Dieterich,
_Nekyia_, _loc. cit._) has been played upon. But on the other hand, the
idea contained in the formula "Be cheerful, nobody is immortal," also
inspired the "Song of the Harpist," a canonical hymn that was sung in Egypt
on the day of the funeral. It invited the listener to "make his heart glad"
before the sadness of inevitable death (Maspero, _Etudes égyptiennes_, I,
1881, pp. 171 ff.; cf. Naville, _op. cit._, p. 171).