Predecessors of Cleopatra

by Leigh North

The “Book of the Dead,” so often spoken of, and whose reputed author was the god Thoth, was a sort of Bible to the Egyptians, and contained minute directions in regard to burial rites. It was written in chapters, and was an accretion, taking shape gradually, some parts being much older than others. It was seldom or never collected in one roll. It is said that a fairly complete copy was ninety feet long and about fifteen inches wide. It was written on papyrus; chapters of it were buried with the dead, and extracts were inscribed on scarabs and other objects and used in the same way. The book is a storehouse of information as regards Egyptian theology and practice, and translations of it exist in several languages besides English. Figures like small mummies and called Ushabti, or Ushebti, “little servants,” to accompany and attend upon the departed, were buried with them. This was probably a survival of the original custom of killing some of his slaves at the tomb of the master. In the Thirteenth Dynasty these images were made of granite or wood; in the Eighteenth of faience, or made in moulds, and from the Twenty-fourth to the Twenty-sixth Dynasty they were not much used, and later were carelessly made. They were often inscribed with the Sixth chapter from the Book of the Dead.

The coffins of the Eighteenth Dynasty were larger than the previous ones, and were shaped in the form of a mummy, with inscriptions running from the breast to the feet. Of such colossal size was that of Queen Nefertari-Aahmes that it took sixteen men to move it, and it was over seven metres in height. After the Eighteenth Dynasty the cases were again smaller. The queen’s was made of innumerable layers of linen, saturated and hardened together by some kind of glue, was painted blue and yellow with a mesh-like effect, and the features, necklace, bracelets, etc., picked out in blue. The face, evidently a portrait, was large and round, with a sweet expression, and she wore an extensive wig, with the plumes of Amen and Maut. In each hand she held the royal “ankh,” or life sign, and the helmet and plumes, also the investiture of Osiris, were befitting the wife of a warrior and one who was regarded as a goddess.

There was also the coffin of the Lady Rai, nurse of Queen Nefertari, in green garnished with bands of yellow. Within were inscriptions to the goddess Maut, in honor of Ra, and other inscriptions with the name of Ra, but the body had disappeared. There has been found also the little blue coffin of the Princess Sitamon, daughter of Aahmes and Nefertari.

The theories and ideas of the Egyptians seem utterly strange to us. So strong was their belief in a future existence that their whole life in this world was a preparation for it, and the greatest care was taken that every portion of the body should be preserved—that no limb or member should be lacking in another world.

The Egyptian was, according to his own idea, archeological authorities tell us, a composite being, composed of several different entities, of which each had its functions and its own life. There was, first, the body, then the double, or “Ka,” images of which are found so constantly in the tombs and reproduced in paintings and statues, as we remember that of Queen Mertytefs and her Ka, before described. This double bore, in miniature, the form and lineaments of the departed, and was a sort of second example of the body in a less dense material than the corporal body. A colored projection but an aerial one of the individual. It represented the departed, feature for feature, male or female, adult or child.

After the double came the soul, “Ba” or “Bai,” which the popular imagination represented under the figure of a bird; and after the soul the luminous particle of light, “Khau,” detached from the divine fire. None of these were imperishable, and the man left to himself would die a second time and fall into nothing. By embalmment the body was preserved from destruction, and by prayers and offerings the other portions of this strange and composite whole. The double remained always with the mummy, the others went and came. The places of sepulchre for the sovereigns were the numerous pyramids, usually having sides to the points of the compass and a door to the north; these were frequently enlarged and altered by succeeding monarchs, as that of Mycerenas was so extended and beautified by Queen Nitocris that it often bore her name, instead of its first builder.

The stele were originally false doors by which the living world was supposed to communicate with the dead. Food for the departed was often placed before the door, and later represented upon it, which by incantations became real. At last the stele were used only as a place for inscriptions. This applies merely to funerary stele. Sometimes there was a statue or bas-relief in the stele.

To the pyramids were added grottoes, rock, tombs and caves, not alone for royalty, and the mastabas built of brick, like a truncated pyramid, and so named by the Arabs because they resembled the long, low seat used in Oriental houses. Naturally, the more important the person buried was deemed the more indestructible were the materials of his tomb, and the more care was taken to preserve them. Not many tombs were found before the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties until the later discovery of the burial places of the kings of the First Dynasty. It is the mastabas and smaller tombs at Gizeh and elsewhere that teach us about the earliest period in Egyptian history, those at Thebes later, and Beni-Hasen the Middle Empire. The monuments and temples were the canvas upon which the self-glorifying kings painted their own history, and it is the absence of these, as has been before shown, which leaves the period in comparative darkness. It is the tomb of Ty in the Fourth Dynasty and those of Beni-Hassen in the Twelfth which are so invaluable in giving the pictures of the daily life during their respective eras.

We read of a stele or tablet (which in the Eighteenth Dynasty were usually rounded at the top) on which at the left is seated the figure of King Amosis or Aahmes and “the divine spouse of Amen, the royal spouse, Aahmes-Nefertari,” also at the left are seated King Amenophis I and his spouse, Aahmes-Nefertari. “Is it the same queen?” questioned Mariette, yet the spelling and the faces are different. There is also a stele bearing the name of King Aahmes and his mother, Queen Aah-hotep. Another statue is spoken of, whose pure profile recalls the handsome portraits of Seti I. It represents the god Amen standing. On the base we read in red ink, with the legend of Amenophis I, “the royal spouse whom he loves, Aahmes-Nefertari.”

The mourning color of the Egyptians, as now of the Burmese, was yellow, and it is curious to observe how varied in this respect are the customs of different lands. With us, and all over Europe, since the days of Rome black is the usual, as it seems the most natural, trapping of woe; but it is stated that until 1498 white was worn in Spain for the members of the family, as it or yellow now is in China. In Turkey the mourning color is a bright violet, while formerly purple and violet were assumed for the kings and cardinals of France. In Bokara and other parts of Asia deep blue is used, and in Syria and Armenia, sky blue. In Persia it is pale brown, the color of winter leaves; in the Soudan, grayish brown, the color of the earth; and among the South Sea Islanders a black and white striped goods serves for this purpose.