History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent Discovery by H.R. Hall;L. W. (Leonard William) King
page 59 of 357 (16%)
page 59 of 357 (16%)
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all killed and buried round the king, in order to be with him in the
next world. Now with each of these ladies, who had been turned into ghosts, was buried a little waxen human figure placed in a little model coffin. This was to replace her own slave. She who went to accompany the king in the next world had to have her own attendant also. But, not being royal, a real slave was not killed for her; she only took with her a waxen figure, which by means of charms and incantations would, when she called upon it, turn into a real slave, and say, "Here am I," and do whatever work might be required of her. The actual killing and burial of the slaves had in all cases except that of the king been long "commuted," so to speak, into a burial with the dead person of _ushabtis_, or "Answerers," little figures like those described above, made more usually of stone, and inscribed with the name of the deceased. They were called "Answerers" because they answered the call of their dead master or mistress, and by magic power became ghostly servants. Later on they were made of wood and glazed _faïence_, as well as stone. By this means the greater humanity of a later age sought a relief from the primitive disregard of the death of others. Anthropologically interesting as are the results of the excavations at Umm el-Gra'ab, they are no less historically important. There is no need here to weary the reader with the details of scientific controversy; it will suffice to set before him as succinctly and clearly as possible the net results of the work which has been done. Messrs. Amélineau and Petrie have found the secondary tombs and have identified the names of the following primeval kings of Egypt. We arrange them in their apparent historical order. 1. Aha Men (?). |
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