Dead Men Tell Tales

by Harry Rimmer

It will be noted that the customary period of embalming was seventy days. A discrepancy has been fancied here between this ordinary custom and the embalming of Israel, as it is recorded in the fiftieth chapter of Genesis. The third verse of that chapter states, “And forty days were fulfilled for him, for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him three score and ten days.” The discrepancy, however, has been cleared up by the discovery of the fact that under the Hyksos Dynasties the period of the embalming was forty days instead of seventy, and the mourning of the dead was more important than the time used in preserving the body.

In the Egyptian Museum at Cairo, exhibit No. 1270, is a magnificent anthropoid sarcophagus from the time of Psammetichus the Second. The inscription on this sarcophagus confirms the statement that the embalming process lasted seventy days and is a testimony of the honesty of the undertaker in that he did not shorten the time for the extra profit involved.

It is to the reverence for their dead that was manifested by all in Egypt that we owe our present wealth of archeological material. The most voluminous evidences for the accuracy of the Bible come to us from burial sources. Very often the coverings of the corpse were inscribed with verbose descriptions of the life, morals, and piety of the dead individual.

A further source of material is found on the cartonnage. When the body had been encased in bandages a type of coffin was made that is called mummiform or, more commonly, anthropoid. (See [Frontispiece].) This first covering was made of some plastic material, which was moulded to the form of the individual to be buried. In the earlier days this cartonnage was made of strips of linen cloth pasted together and covered with a type of shellac. While still plastic, this material was moulded to the contour of the head and shoulders of the occupant until it took on a rough resemblance to the individual. This may have been the origin of the death-mask custom which continues in some regions even to the present time. In later times this first covering was gilded, and, in the case of the very rich, might be decorated also with eyes of obsidian or lapis lazuli.

In later periods, the cartonnage was made of outmoded papyri. These were dampened and moulded into a mulch like the method of using papier-mache in our generation. In so doing, however, the writing was not demolished. Some of the greatest discoveries of antiquity have come to us when a cartonnage made of papyrus has been carefully separated into its original sheets and the writing thereof recovered.

When the mummy was enclosed in its cartonnage, a wooden coffin was then prepared, which quite frequently was also anthropoid in shape. (See [Plate 11].) Not only did it maintain the form of the human body, but very often it had also a painted portrait of the dead person to identify the deceased. This wooden coffin was painted and inscribed on the inside and the outside with a record and history of the individual, to which were added scenes and texts from the Book of the Dead. (See [Plate 12].) This second coffin was not always made of wood, however. In the case of Tut-ankh-amen, the coffin was of solid gold, and constituted a tremendous treasure in itself. This was possible only to a monarch or a noble of enormous wealth.

The final covering was the sarcophagus, a great rectangular box sometimes made of wood, but often formed of stone. In this box the anthropoid coffin was carefully placed and the lid was tightly sealed. In preparing the sarcophagus, every inch of the inside would be engraved with a record of the history of the individual as well as of the times in which he lived. On the inside of this box, the bottom, both ends, and the two sides would be covered with writing as closely as the characters could be engraved. Not content with this, the industrious scribe of antiquity also covered the outside of the sarcophagus, both ends, both sides, and the top with further writings. We have illustrated this custom clearly in [Plate 13].

To make the case complete, the noble, the wealthy, and the great of antiquity were buried in tombs, the walls of which were illuminated with frescoes, murals, and texts in written script that covered every square inch of space on the ceiling, as well as on the four walls. All of the visitors to the Valley of the Kings in Upper Egypt have wondered over these remarkable and complete records. They are, however, more than just a curious sight to satisfy the interest of the tourists. They are one of the priceless sources of valuable information concerning the coincidence of ancient history with the text of the Scripture! (See [Plate 14].)

Still another source of material and information is found in the innumerable stelae which covered the ancient world. The word “stele” is a Greek word meaning “an upright stone.”

Archeologically it applies to slabs of stone which were erected over a burial site in the fashion of a headstone in our modern custom. Some were square, some rectangular, and some were artistically rounded at the top. In the case of a burial stele, the name of the man so honored, together with a record of his life and conduct, was carved in high relief upon the stone. Thereon were named the king and the dynasty under which the dead man had lived, and sometimes the important historical events of that reign. Always such a stele contained the episodes of history to which the given individual had personally contributed. They are a large source of historical information. These stelae were sometimes erected in public places as memorials of great events. (See [Plate 15].)