positively; "that when the body decays, the soul enters into and is
born in the form of a lower animal; and when it has gone the round of
the bodies of all terrestrial and marine animals, and of all flying
creatures, it enters again into the body of an infant at its birth."
"Possibly in this belief," I remarked, "is found the reason for
preserving the human body as long as possible by embalming it, thus
keeping off the transmigration of its soul into a brute as long as
possible."
"Without doubt," he replied, "embalming the dead grew out of the
doctrine of transmigration of souls. The circuit performed by a soul
in this series of inhabitations of the forms of animals, is three
thousand years in duration. Such is the belief of the priests of the
Sun. This transmigration is not connected either with reward or
punishment, but it is a necessity of its creation that the soul should
accomplish the whole circuit of the kingdom of animated nature ere it
again enters a human body. _Our_ doctrine of metempsychosis only so
far embodies this, as to make Osiris send back the transgressing soul
from Amenthe to earth, to dwell in the body of swine as a punishment;
and when its probation is passed, we allow an ultimate return to the
Divine Essence."
"What is this tribunal of Osiris?" I asked.
"The dead carry with them to the tomb a papyrus, on which is written
their address to the gods, and the deeds which entitle them to
admission into Heaven. When the soul leaves the grave, it is received
by Horus son of Osiris, and conducted to the gates of Amenthe, or the
regions of the gods. At the entrance, a dog with four heads--of the
wolf, lion, serpent, and bear--keeps guard. Near the gate, which is
called the Gate of Truth, sits the goddess of Justice, with her
gigantic scales of gold between her and the Gate of Truth. Hard by
sits the god Thoth, with a tablet and stylus. The scales are
superintended by the deity Anubis Through the open gate the throne of
Osiris is visible with the deity upon it.
"As Horus advances with the soul to the Gate of Truth, as if to enter,
the goddess of Justice commands him to stop, that the sum of its
deeds, both good and evil, may be weighed and recorded.
"Anubis then places a vase containing all the human virtues in one
scale, and the heart of the deceased, or sometimes the soul itself, in
the other. Horus repeats the result, which the god Thoth inscribes
upon his iron tablet. The dog watches the issue of the weighing with
eyes red with furious longing to devour the soul. If the sum of its
good deeds predominates, Horus, taking it by one hand, and the tablet
of Thoth in the other, advances into the hall, where his father,
Osiris, is seated upon the throne, holding his crook and flagellum,
and awaiting the report from the hand of his son. They approach the
throne between four genii of Amenthe, and come before three deities
who sit in front of the throne. These ask if he has been weighed, and
Horus exhibits to each the tablet of Thoth. They then permit him to
pass. Horus now stands before Osiris, with the soul by his side, and
presents the tablet, which the deity takes from his son's hand. If
satisfied by an inspection of the tablet, which records not only the
virtues but every error of the soul's life on earth, Osiris presents
him with an ostrich feather, the emblem of truth. One of the three
deities then gives him a vase containing all the virtues, his few sins
being pardoned; a second offers him a jewelled band for the forehead,
on which is inscribed in diamonds the word 'justified;' and the third
presents him with the emblem of life. He is now received by Isis, and
conducted through gates of gold that open with divine music, and
enters into scenes of celestial beauty and splendor; palaces of the
gods become his abode, he reposes by heavenly rivers of crystal
beauty, wanders through fields of delight, and dwells with the Lord of
the Sun, and all the immortal gods, in glory ineffable and endless."
The hierarch said all this with great animation, and like a man who
believes what he utters. I was deeply interested.
"And what, my lord priest, becomes of the soul which cannot meet the
scales of justice with confidence, whose evil deeds outweigh his good
ones?"
"Such a soul does not see Osiris, nor the farther heavens where he
dwells illumined by the glory of the divine disk of the Lord of the
Sun. The reprobate spirit does not behold the Eye of Osiris, nor
repose in its pure light. It is not manifested to the sacred deities
of the inner heavens, nor does he hear the voice of the great god,
saying, 'Thou art justified, O soul! Enter thou the Gate of Truth.'
"If the soul is all wicked, with no virtues, then Horus releases its
hand with horror, and the dog devours the wretched being in a moment.
But if he has one or two virtues--such as honoring his parents, having
saved a human life, or fed the hungry--then he is not given over to
the monster; but Horus, with a sad aspect, leads him to the throne of
Osiris, who, reading the dark tablet of Thoth, sternly inclines his
sceptre in token of condemnation, and pronounces judgment upon him
according to his sin, when, Horus leaving him, two evil gods from the
realms of Typhon appear and lead him forth."
"What is the punishment ordained?"
"To be led back to the gate of Truth and delivered to Justice, who,
without a head, sits thereat. The goddess seals the sentence of Osiris
upon the forehead of the unclean soul, and instantly it assumes the
form of a pig, or some other base animal. The god Thoth then calls up
two monkeys, who take the condemned soul to a boat and ferry it back
to the world, while the bridge by which it came from the earth is cut
down by Anubis, in the form of a man with an axe."
"As every thing in Egyptian mythology is symbolical, what is the
signification of these monkeys?"
"Monkeys are emblems of Thoth, the god of time," he answered. "The
books of our mysteries teach that the human race began with the
monkey, and progressively advanced to man. Osiris, by his judgment,
condemns the unclean soul to the level of the monkey again, but first
commands it to enter a swine's body, the uncleanest of all beasts, and
make its way through the whole circle of animal creation, back to the
monkey, and up through the black, barbaric races of men, who have arms
like apes, to true man himself. Then, practising virtue and rejecting
his former vices, he may after death finally attain to the mansions of
the blessed, in the presence of Osiris. But I should add, the souls of
bodies unburied can never enter the Gate of Truth."
Here we came in sight of the gigantic pylon that opens to the Temple
of the Pyramid of Cheops, and the hierarch ceased speaking. He had,
however, but little to add, for his explanations covered all the
ground of my inquiries.
Thus, dear mother, have I presented to you the system of worship in
this wonderful land. I will now proceed to a description of my visit
to the pyramids, which, in sublime majesty, occupied the whole horizon
as we advanced beyond the plain of the tombs. At the extremity of the
paved causeway of this stately "Avenue of the Dead," leading from the
Nile to the pyramids, we beheld the three great triangular mountains
of gigantic art obliquely, so that they were grasped by the eye in one
grand view. But the lofty mass of Cheops immediately before us, at the
end of the avenue, challenged the eye and whole attention of the
observer. For a moment, as we dashed onward in our brilliantly painted
chariot, our steeds tossing their plumed heads as if proud of their
housings of gold and needle-work, we lost sight of the pyramid by the
interposition of the gigantic wings of the Gate of the Pyramids. These
wings were towers of Syenite rock, one hundred and twenty feet in
height, looking down from their twelfth painted and sculptured story
upon the tops of the loftiest palms that grew on each side of the
entrance. The gate was guarded by priests, who wore a close silver
helmet, and held in their hands a short sword, the sheath of which
hung to a belt of leopard's skin. They were young men, numbering in
all three hundred and sixty, corresponding to the days of the former
Egyptian year; while their five captains typify five days added by the
gods.
"These young men," said the high-priest, "are all sons of warlike
fathers. They desire to become priests, and are now in their
novitiate; but after a year's service as guards to the greatest of
temples, they will be advanced to a higher degree, and exchange the
sword for the shepherd's crook; and thence they rise to be bearers of
libation vases, and assistants in sacrifices."
We passed under the lofty pylon, which was spanned by a bronze winged
sun, saluted by sixty of the guard on duty; this being the number of
each of the six bodies into which they are divided. As soon as we
entered the court of the gate, a sight of inconceivable grandeur burst
upon me. Imagine a double colonnade of the most magnificent pillars
which art could create, extending on each side of an open way a
thousand cubits in length. At the end of the grand vista, behold
crouched at full length, on the eastern edge of the elevated table on
which the pyramids stand, and in an attitude of eternal repose, with
an aspect of majesty and benignity inconceivable in the human
lineaments, an andro-sphinx of colossal size, having the face of a
warrior. Although stretched on the earth, with its fore-paws extended,
the summit of the brow is seventy feet above the earth. This sublime
image is emblematical, like all Egyptian sphinxes, and represents
strength or power combined with intellect. The face I at once
recognized to be that of Chephres, as seen upon his obelisk at Rhoda,
aggrandized by the vastness of its proportions to the aspect of a god.
From my companion, the prince-hierarch, I learned it was begun by an
ancient Pharaoh of the same name, one of the kings of the oldest
dynasty, who conceived the idea of chiselling into these grand
proportions a mass of rock, which, projecting from the Libyan hills,
nearly obstructed the view of the principal pyramid.
We were here forbidden to advance in our chariot, and the footmen, who
had never left the side of the horses, however swiftly our charioteer
might drive, caught them by the head, and we alighted.
I had leisure now to contemplate the scene before me. The personation
of majesty, the sphinx, fills the breadth of the approach between the
massive pillars of the colonnade. Between his fore-paws, which extend
fifty feet, while the body is nearly three times this measure, stands
a beautiful temple faced with oriental alabaster. His head is crowned
with a helmet slightly convex, upon which, like a crest, is affixed
the sacred uræus or serpent, shining with gold. The cape or neck-band
of the helmet is of scales, colored blue, red, green, and orange,
intermingled with gilding. A great and full beard descends over his
breast, immediately under which, and between his feet, is the summit
of the temple where sacrifices are daily offered to the god. Above his
towering brow soars the mighty pyramid before which this colossus
keeps guard.
"The majesty of this image, O prince," said the high-priest, as,
leaning at every step upon his slender acacia rod, he walked by my
side, "impresses you."
"It is the most majestic of all the gods of Egypt," I answered.
"Yes. Its age is nearly coeval with the pyramid."
"On the pyramidion base of the left obelisk in front of the temple of
Osiris, have I not seen reposing four small sphinxes copied from
this?"
"Thou hast seen them. That obelisk is many ages old; yet long before
it, was this sphinx-god, as silent, majestic, and immovable in eternal
repose as you behold him now."
At the termination of the avenue of direct approach, we descended an
inclined plane to a platform of marble, on which is an image of Osiris
in stone, and were brought nearly opposite the lower part of its face.
Then another flight of steps, cased with polished porphyry, brought us
on a level with the top of the temple. In the centre of this level
platform stands a statue of Horus, cast in bronze. Thence descending
another flight of thirty broad steps, we stood in the space between
the enormous feet of the sphinx, and directly before the beautiful
temple.
Our gradual approach in this descent, during which the sphinx was kept
constantly in view, rising above us as we descended, heightened the
impressions first made upon me by its colossal size; and I beheld,
with new emotions of sublimity, its posture of repose and calm majesty
of aspect.
A priest, in the full costume of his sacred office, stood at the door,
and preceded by him we entered. As it was the hour of oblation, he
held a censer in his hand, and approaching an altar before a granite
tablet at the end of the temple, he invoked the mysterious god. The
temple has no roof, but is exquisitely decorated and painted with
sacred symbols. On each side stands a tablet of limestone. The tablet
over the altar is inscribed with the name of the designer of the
sphinx, Menes, the first mortal king after the general overflow of the
mountains, and also with the destruction of the gigantic gods by the
uprising of unknown oceans upon the globe. The tablet holds his
shield, and on it is pictured the escape of the son of the ancient
gods, in a ship, which is resting upon a mountain peak. In this
tradition, mother, we find repeated our Phœnician history of the
flood, before the days of the first kings. Without doubt all nations
retain a similar tradition. Upon the same tablet is also a
representation of a later king offering incense and libations to the
god to whom the sphinx is consecrated. The tablets on the side also
represent kings offering prayer to the god. The floor is beautifully
tesselated with variegated stones; and on all sides are ivory or
silver tables, covered with beautifully shaped vases, containing
offerings of worshippers. There are, besides, ten shrines before the
altar, upon each of which rests a golden crown, gifts of kings of
other lands. Without question this temple of the sphinx is the richest
in Egypt in gifts, as well as most honored by its Pharaohs. Is it not
the vestibule to the grand pyramidal temple which is the tomb of the
first mortal king?
But, my dear mother, I must not linger at the feet of the sphinx.
Leaving the temple, we ascended one of two broad stair-cases, and
mounting to a succession of terraces, adorned with statues of gods,
the vast bulk of the sphinx being on our right, we reached a noble
stone platform behind the image, upon which stands an ancient figure,
in coarse marble, worn by age, of Chephres the Great. He stamps a
sea-dragon under his feet, and upon his capped head is the beak of a
galley, with the head and wings of a dove. In this symbol, dear
mother, behold again the representation of the deluge, and the dove
that guided the ship which held Chephren, or Chephres, and his father,
the god Noachis, or Noah.
When we had gained this terrace, we beheld before us both pyramids,
and between them the pylon of a vast temple, which, extending its
great arms on each side, embraced the twin pyramids in one godlike
edifice, of grandeur and dimensions immeasurable to the eye, and
overpowering to the imagination. To explain more clearly what I
beheld: Between, but in advance of them, towered a colossal pylon, to
which each pyramid was a wing, united by a wall of brick, ninety feet
high, encased with marble. This central temple, or pylon, was as
massive and solemn in its aspect as the pyramids which formed its
propyla. For a few moments I stood and gazed with awe. Until the
spectator reaches the terrace, the whole effect is not perceived; for,
though the central temple is visible, even from the Lake of the Dead,
it appears as if merely intervening; it is only on the terrace before
which the sphinx, the gigantic watcher before the pyramids, reposes,
that the whole grand design is comprehended. Had I been all at once
brought in sight of the House of Osiris, in the realm of the gods, I
should not have been more overawed and impressed.
This temple, built of brick, with marble casing, has in its outline
the ruinous aspect of great age, and is not in as good preservation as
the pyramids, although subsequently erected, not as an after-thought,
but in keeping with the great design.
But a visitor is announced as in the hall of reception; therefore, at
present, dear mother, farewell,
SESOSTRIS.
LETTER XVI.
CITY OF ON.
MY HONORED AND DEAR MOTHER:
I have described my chariot ride through the plain of tombs, along the
magnificent causeway, which extends from the Lake of the Dead to the
feet of the sphinx. All that I beheld of the grandeur of the monuments
showed, that the Egyptians of past generations who built them, and lie
buried here, were a populous and powerful nation, in advance of all
others in the arts of life; since not only do the cities for the
living, but the "Homes of the Dead," attest their taste and love for
the beautiful and sublime in nature and art. The culmination of all
Egyptian marvels in architecture is the sphinx-guarded pyramidal
temple.
We approached the central pylon along a paved court, across which two
hundred chariots could have driven in a line. This court was entirely
surrounded by a double row of majestic columns, with the lotus-leaf
capitals I have before described. The vastness of their proportions
seemed to be increased by contrast with a group of priests, who looked
like pigmies in size as they stood by their bases. The gigantic
entablature, which united their summits, was covered with sacred
symbols, richly colored, and crowned with statues of kings, hewn out
of the dark-gray granite of Ethiopia. But some of these were mutilated
by Time, which, indeed, had thrown its mantle of decay over the
whole,--pillars, architecture, and sculpture; for this court is coeval
with the sphinx crouched at its entrance, and but a little later than
the two pyramids. In a few centuries, decay will have brought the
mighty fabric to the earth; for, massive as it looks, it is built of
brick, covered with pictured stucco; but the pyramids of stone, which
have withstood the lapse of ages beyond history, will last as long as
the everlasting hills of granite from which their enormous blocks were
hewn.
Passing beneath the great portal, we found ourselves in the sacred
square of the temple of the Pyramids, and I could now perceive the
mighty design. Connected by stupendous columnar wings, the pyramids
rose in sublime grandeur on either hand. Their summits shone with the
light of the setting sun, which, reflected from the polished casing of
the pictured tiles yet remaining near the top, and that once covered
the whole surface from base to apex, lent a splendor to them
indescribable. On the opposite side of the quadrangle, formed by the
temple in front and the bases of the pyramids on the two sides, is a
dark grove of palms, intermingled with statues and altars; and beyond
rise the dark hills of Libya--a fitting and solemn background to the
scene.
About the summits of the Queen's Pyramid, which is a little smaller
than the other, though it appears to be of equal height, from the
superior elevation of the platform of rock on which it stands, soared
flocks of the white ibis, their snow-white wings flashing like pinions
of silver as they wheeled in mid-air. At that immense height they
looked no larger than sparrows.
A statue of Horus, whose name I had also seen inscribed on the tablet
of the temple of the Sphinx, rose a colossal monolith in the centre of
the quadrangle, with one of Thoth upon his right, and another of
Anubis on his left hand. These figures were symbolical of the funereal
use of the pyramids between which they stood.
After walking around the columned avenue of this great mausoleum, we
began the ascent of the larger pyramid, known as that of Cheops; the
other bearing the name of Chephres, as the high-priest informs me; and
the third, which towers in its own unaided grandeur farther to the
south, being that of Pharaoh-Men-Cherines. We found the ascent
extremely difficult--indeed, in ancient times it must have been
impossible, when its polished and beautiful casing remained entire;
but this having been removed by time and accident in many places, and
purposely in others, a path, if it may be so termed, is made to the
summit. We were aided by attendants of the temple, who from long
practice ascend with ease, assisting also those strangers who would
climb the perilous height.
As we reached half-way, a block, which had been removed from its place
either by the irresistible force of a sirocco from the desert, or by
lightning, gave the high-priest and myself a welcome resting-place.
As we stood here a few moments, I looked down upon the prospect below.
The sight at first made me dizzy, for we were elevated four hundred
feet above the base. I seemed to be suspended upon wings above an
abyss, and a dreadful desire to throw myself out into mid-air seized
me; so that to resist it I closed my eyes and clung firmly to the
attendant. It soon passed off, and I gazed down upon the vast
quadrangle, the persons in which looked no bigger than ants, while the
three colossi of the gods, in the centre, were reduced to the natural
size of men.
Opposite, not six hundred cubits distant, stood Chephres. From each
pyramid swept the avenues of columns and the great wall connecting
both with the central temple and its pylon. From the grove of palms,
curled up into the pure orange-colored atmosphere a blue cloud of
incense, where some priest offered at one of its shrines.
Again we mounted upwards, and, after incredible fatigue, gained the
summit--not without peril, for a slip of the foot or the hand, each
block being as high as a man's neck, would prove fatal. Indeed, more
than one life has been lost in falling down the side of the pyramid. A
prince of Midian, a country in Arabia, lost his life last century by
losing his hold and falling from Chephres, which is more difficult of
ascent than Cheops, (or Chuphu), as the priests there call its name.
How shall I describe to you, my dear mother, the scene which burst
upon my vision, as I gazed about me from this mountain-like elevation!
As I ascended, the prospect of the country enlarged at every step, but
now I seemed to behold the earth itself spread out beneath me. The
place where we stood, which looks from below like a sharp apex, is a
platform several cubits across, on which twenty men could stand or
move about with ease.
I can give you no adequate conception of the scene I beheld. First,
the valley of the Nile was visible, extending for many leagues to the
right and left, and resembling a green belt a few miles wide, through
which the river flowed like a silver band--while upon its borders
countless cities were set like precious stones. It was a gorgeous and
magnificent assemblage of cities, temples, palaces, obelisks, villas,
gardens, monuments, avenues of trees and sphinxes, sepulchres,
aqueducts, statue-lined causeways, galleys and pleasure barges,
chariots, horses, and multitudes of people. Nor should I omit what now
became visible in one field of view, to the north and south. I mean
not less than one hundred pyramids, all much smaller than the mighty
triad, but each, had not the others been up-builded, would have been a
marvel of grandeur.
"Those are all tombs of kings, but of a later age than this one," said
the hierarch, looking towards them. "Each monarch, at the commencement
of his reign, laid the foundation of a pyramid. He built first a small
one, containing his sarcophagus and sepulchral chamber. Then every
year he added to the outside a complete layer of stones, which, after
many years, extended its base, and increased its elevation in like
proportions. Therefore the size of the pyramids marks the age to which
the king lived."
"Then," said I, "the kings who built the multitude of lesser pyramids,
which we behold in the distance, must have had much shorter lives than
the builders of these vast piles."
"You are right, O prince," he said. "When the pyramid, on which we now
stand, and its companions were builded, men's lives were of the
duration of a thousand years."