the most important was the extraordinary growth of the influence of the
religion of Osiris, which had before the close of the period of the
sixth dynasty spread all over Egypt. This religion promised to all who
followed it, high or low, rich or poor, a life in the world beyond the
grave, after a resurrection that was made certain to them through the
sufferings, death, and resurrection of Osiris, who was the incarnation
of the great primeval god who created the heavens and the earth. A few
extracts illustrating the general contents of the Pyramid Texts may now
be given.

I. Mention has already been made of the "opening of the mouth" of the
dead king: under the earliest dynasties this ceremony was performed on a
statue of the king. Water was sprinkled before it, and incense was
burnt, and the statue was anointed with seven kinds of unguents, and its
eyes smeared with eye paint. After the statue had been washed and
dressed a meal of sepulchral offerings was set before it. The essential
ceremony consisted in applying to the lips of the statue a curiously
shaped instrument called the PESH KEF, with which the bandages that
covered the mouth of the dead king in his tomb were supposed to be cut
and the mouth set free to open. In later times the Liturgy of Opening
the Mouth was greatly enlarged and was called the Book of Opening the
Mouth. The ceremonies were performed by the Kher-heb priest, the son of
the deceased, and the priests and ministrants called Sameref, Sem, Smer,
Am-as, Am-khent, and the assistants called Mesentiu. First of all
incense was burnt, and the priest said, "Thou art pure," four times.
Water was then sprinkled over the statue and the priest said, "Thou art
pure. Thou art pure. Thy purifications are the purifications of
Horus,[1] and the purifications of Horus are thy purifications." This
formula was repeated three times, once with the name of Set,[2] once
with the name of Thoth,[3] and once with the name of Sep. The priest