Fig. 20.—-The Blessed Dead making offerings to the celestial Nile-god.
(From “The Book of the Dead.”)
But this belief in the life of the next world as the exact counterpart of this implied a danger which involved the Egyptian in heavy cares. The dead lived, therefore they must of necessity eat and drink, for without these processes the continuation of life was inconceivable; if the dead were without food they would be starved. The inscription of the sepulchral pyramid of Ûnas, an Egyptian king of the Fifth Dynasty, gives expression to this fear. “Evil is it for Ûnas,” says that text, “to be hungry and have nothing to eat; evil is it for Ûnas to be thirsty and have nothing to drink.” The necessities of life were, indeed, partly ensured to the dead by means of the offerings made to them by their sur-vivors on recurrent feast-days, and partly mysteriously created for their use in the next world by the repetition of magic formulæ in this.[46] But if the offerings ceased, or if no one took the trouble to repeat the formulæ, the dead were left to their own resources, and must work, and till the land, and earn their own living.
Fig. 21.—Ancient kingdom Ka-statues of servants−potters and bread-makers. (Originals in the Ghizeh Museum.)
Such enforced labour could hardly have appeared very attractive to Egyptians of the upper classes, and so an expedient suggested by the conditions of their earthly life was devised for evading it on their behalf. The rich man who had servants to work for him in this world was desirous of securing like service for himself in the world to come. In the time of the Ancient Empire it seems to have been taken for granted that those who were servants in this life would be servants also in the life beyond. With this selfish end in view the rich of those times had placed within their own sepulchral chambers Ka-statues of their servants in order to ensure immortal life to them also ([fig. 21]). As the old Germans were followed into the next world by their slaves and horses; as other uncivilised nations sent the servants of the dead to the realm of death after their masters,[47] so in Ancient Egypt a certain portion of mankind was set apart to serve the rest through all eternity. But as Egyptian civilisation advanced and a more humane state of feeling dawned, these views were modified, and the thought gained ground that all Egyptians were equal in the presence of death and of the gods. So the rich man was obliged to renounce his hope of finding his servants again at his service beyond the tomb, and was face to face with the old fear of being reduced to heavy toil through the possible negligence of his successors.
A most singular expedient was adopted to avert this danger: little images of clay, or wood, or stone, or even of bronze, were made in human likeness, inscribed with a certain formula,[48] and placed within the tomb, in the hope that they would there attain to life and become the useful servants of the blessed dead; they are the so-called Ûshabtiû (or Respondents), of which hundreds and thousands of specimens may be found in collections of Egyptian antiquities (see Frontispiece[49]). These “servants for the underworld,” or “servants to the Osiris,” as the texts call them, owed their very being and life to the dead, and stood to him in the same relation as man to God. And as men seek to testify their gratitude to the Creator by doing Him service, so it was hoped that these little figures would show their thankfulness by their diligence, and spare their master and maker all toil.
Many other customs arose out of similar ideas to those which gave rise to the institution of Ûshabtiû. Articles of personal adornment and for toilet use, wreaths, weapons, carriages, playthings, and tools were given to the dead, and a whole set of household furniture was often laid away in the grave in order that the Osiris should not be obliged to set to work at once to make or collect these things for himself on his entrance into the next world; for this purpose choice was often made of such objects as the man had used and valued in his lifetime. All this care, however, was bestowed not simply in the interest of those who had entered upon the life everlasting but also in that of those who were left behind. Among other powers possessed by the dead was that of going to and fro upon earth; and, to prevent their exercise of it, all things whose lack might impel them to revisit the scenes of their earthly lives were placed within the tombs, for their visits might not be altogether pleasant for survivors withholding any part of the goods which belonged to the dead. But these facts must not lead us to conclude that the tomb was the permanent dwelling of the dead, and that the objects placed within it were really intended for his use there, and for all time.
As the amulets laid in and about the mummy were for the use of the Osiris, so the furniture and implements placed near the coffin were intended not so much for the mummy lying in its tomb as for the Osiris dwelling with the gods. Each of these objects had its heavenly counterpart, even as the mummy was represented by the Osiris.[50]