the temple, which is given up to profound solitude and silence, as if
it also mourned, in solemn desolation, the loss of its god. His
obsequies are celebrated on a scale of grandeur and expenditure hardly
conceivable. Sometimes the rich treasury of the temple, though filled
with the accumulated gold of a quarter of a century, is exhausted.
Upon the death of the last Apis, the priests expended one hundred
talents of gold in his obsequies, and Prince Mœris, who seeks every
opportunity to make a show of piety, and to please the Egyptians, gave
them fifty talents more, to enable them to defray the enormous costs
of the funeral of the god.
The burial-place of the Serapis, as the name is on the mausoleum
(formed by pronouncing together Osiris-Apis), is outside of the
western pylon of the city. We approached it through a paved avenue,
with lions ranged on each side of it. It consists of a vast gallery,
hewn in a rocky spur of the Libyan cliff, twenty feet in height, and
two thousand long. I visited this tomb yesterday, accompanied by the
high-priest. He showed me the series of chambers on the sides of this
sepulchral hall, where each embalmed Apis was deposited in a
sarcophagus of granite fifteen feet in length. There were sixty of
these sarcophagi, showing the permanency and age of this system of
worship. They were adorned with royal ovals, inscribed, or with
tablets containing dedications, to Apis. One of these bore the
inscription, "To the god Osiris-Apis, the Lord of the Soul of Osiris,
and emblem of the Sun, by Amense, Queen and upholder of the two
kingdoms."
In front of the sculptured entrance of this hall of the dead god is
the Sarapeum, a funeral temple for perpetual obsequies. It has a
vestibule of noble proportions, its columns being of the delicately
blue-veined alabaster from the quarries in the south. On each side of
the doorway is a crouching lion, with a tablet above one, upon which a
king is represented making an offering. Within the vestibule stand, in
half circle, twelve statues of ancient kings. In a circle above these
sit, with altars before each, as many gods. Upon a pedestal in the
centre stands the statue of the Pharaoh who erected this beautiful
edifice.
Thus, my dear mother, have I endeavored, as you requested, to present
before your mind a clear view of the system of theology, and the forms
of worship of the Egyptians. To evolve from the contradictory and
vague traditions a reasonable faith; to select from the countless
myths a dominating idea; to separate the true from the false, to bring
harmony out of what, regarded as a whole, is confusion; to know what
is local, what national in rites, and to reconcile all the theories of
Osiris with one another, is a task far from easy to perform. At first,
I believed I should never be able to arrive at any system in these
multifarious traditions and usages, but I think that my researches
have given me an insight into the difficulties of their religion, and
enabled me, in a great measure, to unravel the tangled thread of their
mythology.
I will now resume my pen, which, since writing the above, I laid down
to partake of a banquet with the priest, my princely host, at which I
met many of the great lords of Memphis, namely--the lord-keeper of the
royal signet, the lord of the wardrobe and rings of the queen's
palace, and the lord of the treasury. These men of rank I well knew,
having met them before at the table of the queen. There were also
strangers whom I had not met before--men of elegant address, and in
rich apparel, each with the signet of his office on his left hand;
among others, the lord of the nilometer, who reports the progress of
the elevation of the river in the annual overflows, and by which all
Lower Egypt is governed in its agricultural work; the president of the
engravers on hard stones, an officer of trust and high honor; the
governors of several nomes, in their gold collars and chains; the lord
of the house of silver; the president of architects; the lord of
sculptors; the president of the school of art and color; with other
men of dignity. There were also high-priests of several fanes, of
Athor, of Pthah, of Horus, of Maut, and of Amun. Besides these
gentlemen, there was a large company of noble ladies, their wives and
daughters, who came to the banquet by invitation of the Princess
Nelisa, the superb and dark-eyed wife of the Prince Hierarch, and one
of the most magnificent and queenly women (next to the queen herself)
I have seen in this land of beautiful women.
It was a splendid banquet. The Lady Nelisa presided with matchless
dignity and grace. But I have already described a banquet to you. This
was similar in display and the mode of entertaining the guests.
I was seated opposite the daughter of the Priest of Mars, of whose
beauty I have before spoken. She asked many questions, in the most
captivating way, about Tyre, and yourself, and the Phœnician ladies
generally. She smiled, and looked surprised, when I informed her that
I was betrothed to the fair Princess Thamonda, and asked me if she
were as fair as the women of Egypt. She inquired if Damascus had
always been a part of Phœnicia, and how large your kingdom was.
When I told her that your kingdom was composed of several lesser
kingdoms, once independent, but now united far east of Libanus, under
your crown, she inquired if you were a warlike queen to make such
conquests. I replied that this union of the free cities of
Phœnicia, and of the cities of Cœle-Syria under your sceptre,
was a voluntary one, partly for union against the kings of Philistia,
partly from a desire to be under so powerful and wise a queen. She
said that if the danger were passed, or you were no more, the kings of
these independent cities might dissolve the bonds, and so diminish the
splendor of the crown which I was to wear. To this I replied, that to
be king of Tyre and its peninsula was a glory that would meet my
ambition. "Yes," said she, "for Tyre is the key of the riches of the
earth!"
I repeat this conversation, dear mother, in order to show you that the
high-born daughters of Egypt are not only affable and sensible, but
that they possess no little knowledge of other lands, and take an
interest in countries friendly to their own. The grace and beauty of
this maiden, as well as her modesty, rendered her conversation
attractive and pleasing. She is to become the wife of a brave young
captain of the chariot battalion, when he returns from the Ethiopian
war.
My visit to the pyramids I will now describe, dear mother, although in
a letter to the Princess Thamonda I have given a very full account of
it. Accompanied by the hierarch and a few young lords--his friends and
mine--we rode in chariots out of the gate of the city, passed the
guards, who made obeisance to the high-priest, and entered upon an
avenue (what noble avenues are everywhere!) of trees growing upon a
raised and terraced mound which bounded each side of it. The mound was
emerald-green with verdancy, and the color of the foliage of the
palms, acacias, and tamarisk trees was enriched by the bright sunshine
as seen through the pure atmosphere. At intervals we passed a pair of
obelisks, or through a grand pylon of granite. Then we came to a
beautiful lake--the Lake of the Dead--where we passed a procession of
shrines. Every nome and all large cities have such a lake. I will here
state its use, which, like every thing in Egypt, is a religious one.
It is connected with the passage of the dead from this world to the
next; for the Egyptians not only believe in a future state, but that
rewards or punishments await the soul. When a person of distinction
dies, after the second or third day his body is taken charge of by
embalmers, a class of persons whose occupation it is to embalm the
dead. They have houses in a quarter of the city set apart for this
purpose. Here the friends of the dead are shown three models of as
many different modes of embalmment, of which they choose one,
according to the expense they are willing to incur. "The most
honorable and most costly," said the high-priest to me, as we were
surveying the Lake of the Dead, towards which a procession was moving
from the city, when we came before it, "is that in which the body is
made to resemble Osiris. And a custom prevails among us, that the
operator who first wounds the body with the sharp embalming flint,
preparatory to embalming, is odious by the act, and is compelled to
take to flight, pursued with execrations and pelted with stones. No
doubt the man we saw flying out of a house this morning, as we passed,
was one of these incisors."
The body remains seventy days, if that of a person of rank, at the
embalmers. It is then either taken to the house, to be detained a
longer or shorter time--according to the attachment of relatives, and
their reluctance to part with it--or is prepared for entombment.
During the interval of seventy days, the mourners continue their signs
of lamentation, which often are excessive in degree, such as tearing
off raiment, beating the breast, and pouring dust upon the head. The
pomp of the burial of the Pharaohs, I am informed, is inconceivably
grand and imposing. The whole realm joins in the rites and
processions, and every temple is crowded with sacrificers and
incense-burners.
We stopped our chariots to witness the funeral procession advance to
the shore of the lake, from the wide street leading from Memphis.
First came seven musicians, playing a solemn dirge upon lyres, flutes,
and harps with four chords. Then servants carrying vases of flowers;
and others followed, bearing baskets containing gilded cakes, fruit,
and crystal goblets of wine. Two boys led a red calf for sacrifice in
behalf of the dead, and two others carried in a basket three
snow-white geese, also for sacrifice. Others bore beautiful chairs,
tablets, napkins, and numerous articles of a household description;
while others still, held little shrines, containing the household gods
or effigies of their ancestors. Seven men carrying daggers, fans,
sandals, and bows, each having a napkin on his shoulder, followed.
Next I saw eight men appear, supporting a table; and lying upon it, as
offerings, were embroidered couches and lounges, richly inlaid boxes,
and an ivory chariot with silver panels, which, with the foregoing
articles, the high priest informed me had belonged to the deceased,
who, from the cartouch on the chariot, was Rathmes, "lord of the royal
gardens."
Behind this chariot came the charioteer, with a pair of horses
caparisoned with harness for driving, but which he led on foot out of
respect to his late master.
Then came a venerable man, with the features and beard of the Hebrew
race. Surprised to see one of these people anywhere, save with an
implement of toil in his hand, or bowed down to the earth under a
burden, I looked more closely, and recognized the face of the head
gardener, Amrami, or Amram, whom I had often seen in the queen's
garden, and whom Remeses had taken, as it were, into his service, as
he was his foster-father: for it is no uncommon thing with the nobles
to have Hebrew nurses for their infants; on the contrary, they are
preferred. When Remeses was an infant, it seems, therefore, that the
wife of this fine-looking old Hebrew was his foster-mother, or nurse.
I have before spoken of the striking resemblance he bears to Remeses.
Were he his father (if I may so speak of a prince in connection with a
slave), there could not be a much greater likeness.
This venerable man, who must be full seventy years of age, bore in his
hand a bunch of flowers, inverted and trailing, in token that his lord
was no more. He was followed by not less than fifty under-gardeners,
four or five of whom had Hebrew lineaments, but the rest were
Egyptians and Persians,--the latter celebrated for the culture of
flowers, which are so lavishly used here in all the ceremonies of
society and rites of religion.
After them followed four men, each bearing aloft a vase of gold, upon
a sort of canopy, with other offerings; then came a large bronze
chest, borne by priests, containing the money left to their temple by
the deceased. Then, in succession, one who bore his arms; another, a
pruning-hook of silver; another, his fans; a fourth, his signets,
jewelled collars, and necklaces, displayed upon a cushion of blue
silk, adorned with needle-work; and a fifth, the other insignia
peculiar to a noble who had been intrusted with the supervision of all
the royal gardens in the Memphite kingdom.
Now came four trumpeters and a cymbal-player, performing a martial
air, in which voices of men mingled, called "The Hymn of Heroes."
Next appeared a decorated barge or _baris_,--a small, sacred boat,
carried by six men, whom I saw elevate to view the mysterious "Eye of
Osiris;" while others carried a tray of blue images, representing the
deceased under the form of that god, also of the sacred bird
emblematic of the soul. Following these were twelve men, bearing, upon
yokes balanced across the shoulders, baskets and cases filled with
flowers and crystal bottles for libation. Next were a large company of
hired females, with fillets upon their brows, beating their bared
breasts, and throwing dust upon their heads,--now lamenting the dead,
now praising his virtues.
Then came the officiating priest, his sacred leopard-skin cast over
his shoulders, bearing in his hand the censer and vase of libation,
and accompanied by his attendants holding the various implements
required for the occasion. Behind this priest came a car, without
wheels, drawn by four white oxen and seven men, yoked to it, while
beside them walked a chief officer, who regulated the movements of the
procession. Upon this car was the consecrated boat, containing the ark
or hearse. The pontiff of the Temple of Horus walked by the
sarcophagus, which was decked with flowers, and richly painted with
various emblems. A panel, left open on one side, exposed to view the
head of the mummy.
Finally came the male relatives of the dead, and his friends. In his
honor the queen's grand-chamberlain and the master of horse marched
together in silence, and with solemn steps, leaning on their long
sticks. Other men followed, whose rich dresses, and long
walking-canes, which are the peculiar mark of an Egyptian gentleman,
showed them to be persons of distinction. A little in the rear of
these walked a young man, who dropped a lotus-flower from a basket at
every few steps, and closed the long procession.
In no country but this, where rain seldom falls, and it is always
pleasant in the open air, could such a procession safely appear
bearing wares so delicate and frail. The only danger to be apprehended
is from storms of sand from the desert beyond the pyramids, of the
approach of which, however, the atmosphere gives a sufficient warning.
This letter is quite long enough, dear mother, and I close it, with
wishes for your happiness, and assurances of the filial devotion of
Your son,
SESOSTRIS.
LETTER XV.
CITY OF MEMPHIS.
DEAREST MOTHER:
Your last letter, assuring me of your health, and that of the Princess
Thamonda, I received by the chief pilot, Onothis, who, in his new and
handsome galley, reached the head of the Delta two days ago. Thence he
came here in his boat, his ship being too large, in the present depth
of water, to come up to Memphis.
I will now continue the description of the funeral of "the lord of the
royal gardens." When the procession reached the steps leading down to
the sacred lake, the hearse was borne upon a gilded and carved baris,
the consecrated boat for the dead. This was secured to a decorated
galley with sails and oars and a spacious cabin, richly painted with
funeral emblems. The friends and relatives of the deceased embarked in
other barges in waiting, and to the strains of wailing music, the
procession, reverently joined by the boats of several gentlemen, in
gay apparel, who were fishing on the lake, crossed to the other side.
Reaching the opposite shore, it formed again, as before, and moved
down "the Street of the Tombs," crossed a narrow plain, and entered
the gate of the great burial-place of Memphis. We slowly followed the
procession; and, alighting from the chariot, I saw them take the mummy
from the sarcophagus on the car, and place it upright in a chamber of
the tomb. An assistant priest then sprinkled all who were present with
sacred water, and the chief-priest burnt incense before an altar of
the tomb, and poured libations upon it, with other ceremonies. To
close the scene, the mummy was embraced by weeping friends, and a
funeral dirge played by the musicians without, which was wildly
answered by the mourning wail of woe from within.
Driving around the Acherusis Lake, under the shade of its solemn
groves, the priest directed his charioteer to take me in again at the
gate of the tombs. Reseating myself by his side--for the chariots of
the priests, as well as those of ladies, are provided with a movable
curved chair which holds two persons--we proceeded in a direct line
towards the greatest of the three pyramids that stand near Memphis. We
were upon what is called "The Sacred Way." It commenced at the gate of
a temple to the god of the winds, beneath the pylon of which we
passed, and extended nearly a league in length over a vast plain
crowded with funeral temples, monuments, mausolean porticos, statues,
and fountains. All the architectural magnificence which is found in
other avenues, seemed to be combined here to form a royal road which
has no parallel on earth; not even the long column-lined approach to
the Temple of the Sun, at the end of the straight street in Damascus,
can be compared with it.
This noble thoroughfare, as we drove slowly along that I might admire
its grandeur and beauty, was thronged with people going to and coming
from the city. There were processions returning from having deposited
their dead in one of the many tombs which covered the vast plain;
processions of the humbler orders, with but few signs of display and
wealth, proceeding, with real mourners, to the tomb. There were groups
of children, their hands filled with garlands, going to place them
upon the sarcophagus of a departed parent; for the custom of
decorating the resting-places of the dead with wreaths often renewed,
belongs to Egypt as well as to Syria.
We overtook a rich lady in a gilded palanquin, borne on the shoulders
of four slaves. She was opulently and handsomely attired, and carried
a blue and green fan, while an attendant walked behind and held over
her head a large parasol.
Two chariots, containing young Egyptian lords, dashed by us at full
speed in the excitement of a race, each driving his own ornamented
car, the charioteers standing a little in the rear.
People selling little images of gods, or of eminent deceased persons,
or fruit, or flowers, or scarabæi, and amulets, were seated all along
the highway, upon pedestals, or in the shade of statues and tombs;
while along the road walked sellers of vegetables, and fowls, and
bread. Indeed, the way was crowded with life and activity. With no
other people would the avenue to its tombs be the most thronged of
any, and the favorite of all in the city; for Memphis, which extends
from and includes Jizeh, past the pyramids south for six miles, has
noble streets, but none like this leading to the pyramids. The
Egyptians say that the house is but the temporary abode of man, but in
the tombs his embalmed body dwells forever. "Let us, therefore,
decorate our tombs with paintings and art, and fill them with flowers,
and adorn the homes which are to be permanent."
Hence the "dead-life" of the sepulchres is not less a reality to the
Egyptian than his life in the city. The poor, however, do not find
tombs. They are buried in graves or pits, like the Hebrew people. On
the other side of the river lies the most ancient burial-place of
Memphis; but since the construction of the Lake of the Dead, it is no
longer necessary to cross the Nile (for the dead _must_ be ferried
across water) for interment.
As we drove on, we came to a stately sepulchre, before which was
gathered a large multitude. The coffin had just been removed from a
gorgeous hearse and set down upon the step of the tomb. It was the
funeral of a lady. I never saw any painting so rich as that which
adorned the mummy-case. It was an Osirian coffin, and covered in every
part with columns of hieroglyphics or emblematical figures, among
which were represented the winged serpent, the ibis, the cynocephalus
or the genii of Amenthe, and the scarabæus.
"The hieroglyphics," said my companion, "contain the name and
qualities of the deceased."
At this moment an official, partly in a priestly dress, advanced in an
imposing manner, touched the coffin with a wand, and said aloud:
"Approved! Let the good be entombed, and may their souls dwell in
Amenthe with Osiris. Judgment is passed in her favor! Let her be
buried!"
Upon hearing this address, I asked the high-priest what it signified.
He replied, with that courtesy which has always distinguished his
replies to my numerous questions:
"This act has reference to the judgment of Osiris. We did not witness
a similar ceremony at the lake, because the deceased was brought from
On, and had already been judged at the crossing of the Nile. If we had
sooner seen this funeral procession, which came only from the city to
the lake, we should have beheld forty-two just persons, chosen as
judges, seated upon a semicircular stone bench along the shore."
"I noticed the stone seats," I answered, "and intended to have
inquired their use."
"Seated upon them, the forty-two judges await the procession. The
baris, or gilded galley, which is to receive the body, is then drawn
alongside of the steps. Before it the bearers stop, and turning to the
judges, rest their burden on the ground before them. Then, while all
the friends stand anxiously around, and hundreds of spectators line
the shores, one of the judges rises and asks if any one present can
lawfully accuse the deceased of having done wrong to any man. If the
dead has done injustice or evil, his enemy, or the one wronged, or
their relatives, advance and make the charge. The judges weigh the
accusation, and if it be sustained, the rites of sepulchre are
commanded not to proceed."
Such a judgment, dear mother, I afterwards witnessed on our return
from the pyramids. It was the funeral of a woman of respectability.
The accuser said, advancing into the space before the judges--
"I accuse the deceased of suffering her father to perish in want."
"This is a great crime by our laws," said the judge sternly; "for,
though sons are not bound to provide for poor parents, daughters are.
This she knew, and was able to do it. Where are the proofs?"
Three persons came forward and bore testimony to the fact.
"The deceased is not worthy to pass the Lake of the Dead. The burial
is prohibited."
Hereupon there was a great cry of woe on the part of the mortified
relations; and the mummy, without being permitted to enter the sacred
baris, was retaken to the city, where in a shrine in the house it will
remain above-ground for years; until finally, after certain
ceremonies, it is permitted to be ignominiously entombed in "the
sepulchre of the evil."
This accusation and judgment, dear mother, is a striking illustration
of the veneration and respect children are expected to pay to their
parents in Egypt.
If, on the other hand, the accusation is not sustained, the accusers
are stoned away by the friends, who then with great joy unite in a
eulogy of the dead, and joined by all the people present pray the gods
below to receive him to dwell among the pious dead. In the eulogy,
they speak only of virtues--praising his learning, his integrity, his
justice, his piety, his temperance, and truthfulness; but no mention
is made of rank, since all Egyptians are deemed equally noble. Such an
ordeal has no doubt a great influence upon the living Egyptian; for he
is certain that at his death every act of injustice he has committed
will be brought up before the forty-two judges, and if found guilty,
he will be denied sepulture, while infamy will be attached to his
memory.
"What," I asked of my companion, the high-priest, "is the state of the
deceased soul after death?"
"That, O prince," said he, "is one of the mysteries. But as you have
been initiated into the knowledge of the mystic books in your own
land, I will explain to you what our books of the dead teach. We
priests of Apis do not believe with those of Osiris at On."
"What is their faith?" I asked.