Chapter 8

The innumerable little figures scattered throughout the first seven cases are all Egyptian deities with their appropriate symbols, including those in porcelain and stone with holes bored in them for the purpose of attaching them to mummy bandages; those in wood which were carved generally to decorate tombs, and those in bronze which were the household gods. It would be impossible for the general visitor to examine this collection in detail, but he may notice the chief deities with the extraordinary jumble of human and brute life which they present. First of all the visitor will remark, in the first division of the first case, a sandstone figure, seven inches high, seated upon a throne with lotus sceptres, and attendant deities; this is Amenra, the Jupiter of the Egyptians; and in the same case Phtah, the Vulcan of the Egyptians, with a gour, or animal-headed sceptre in both hands, and an oskh, or semi-circular collar, about his neck; the Egyptian Saturn, Sabak, with the head of a crocodile, with the shenti about his loins; and Thoth, the Egyptian Mercury, with an ibis head surmounted by a crescent moon. In the second division, or case, amid the strange figures, the visitor should remark the Egyptian Juno, Mout, or mother, represented in the act of suckling, and wearing the pschent, or cap, worn only by deities and Pharaohs; the Egyptian Minerva, Nepth, on a throne, with the teshr, or inferior cap on her head; a human form with a goat's head, wearing a conical cap ornamented with two ostrich feathers, and disk on goat's horns, representing Num, or water, called Jupiter Chnumis by the Greeks; Khem, the Egyptian Pan, standing on nine bows; a youthful figure with one lock of hair, and supporting the lunar disk, representing Chons, or the Egyptian Hercules; an Egyptian Venus, Athor, in gold, cow-headed; Ra, the sun, seated, and hawk-headed; Nefer Atum, with the lotus flower and plumes for head ornaments, from Memphis, and reverenced as the guardian of the sun's nostril; and the Egyptian Diana, Pasht, or Bubastis, a bronze female figure with the head of a cat. The third division includes a group, in vitrified earth, representing Amenra seated on a feathered throne; a triad, in blue porcelain, of Amoun Mout, the mother, and Chons, or Hercules; a figure in lapis-lazuli of the Egyptian Minerva, Nepth; Num, ram-headed, walking; Ptah-Socharis standing upon two crocodiles, and supporting two hawks on his shoulders; and Pasht, the Egyptian Diana, lion-headed. The third and fourth cases are filled with more specimens of ancient Egyptian deities. In the first division the visitor should remark a stone figure of the Egyptian Pluto, Osiris Pethempamentes, with the atf, or conical cap, on his head, and the curved sceptre, and three-thonged whip in his hand; a figure in stone, seated, wearing a conical cap, and holding the sceptre called a gom, which represents the Egyptian Bacchus, Osiris Ounophris; and a painted wooden figure, kneeling, and supporting a building and a basket, representing the Egyptian Proserpine, Nepththys, mistress of the palace. The second and third divisions contain some remarkable figures, including bronze groups of Osiris-ioh, or the moon, with the lunar disk; a walking figure of Anubis, with a jackal's head; the ibis-headed Thoth, and Har-si-esi with a hawk's head, each pouring a flood of water upon the earth; various hawk-headed and other deities, in the beautiful lapis lazuli, blue porcelain, and green felspar, including Isis suckling her son Horus, and walking with a throne on her head; Nephthys walking; a porcelain Horus with the mystic lock; a blue porcelain plate, representing a procession of female deities; a snake-headed deity, also in blue porcelain; and a porcelain Thoth carrying a scarabaeus. In the fourth division the visitor will at once notice a small monument in calcareous stone, about one foot two inches in height, with various deities represented upon it; also other monuments, one decorated with a flying scarabaeus; Horus seated upon a throne flanked with lions; and Pasht upon a throne supported by two negroes and two Asiatics. The fifth case is devoted also to deities, which the visitor will recognise, and here he should notice the terra-cotta figure, with a buckler and sword, which represents the Mars of the Egyptians, known as Onouris. The principal object in the sixth case is the mummy-shaped coffin of a Theban priest, called Penamen, and grouped near it are offering stands and fragments. The seventh case contains one or two remarkable groups, including some sacred animals; statues of Horns and the son of Horus supporting three vases upon goat's horns; various figures of Khons, one standing on a lotus flower; an extraordinary figure of Phtah-Socharis upon two crocodiles; Ta-ur, an erect hippopotamus, with human breasts, and the back covered by a crocodile's tail; Typhon, ass-headed; and the tortoise-headed guardian of the third hall of the Amenti, recovered from the tombs of the kings at Thebes. Having noticed these remarkable combinations and symbols of the religious idea of ancient Egypt, the visitor should rapidly examine the extraordinary collection of

SACRED ANIMALS,

which exhibit, in their infinite variety, a confusion of species so ingenious and astonishing, that the spectator who has the least zoological enthusiasm is utterly confounded by the strange sights that are here. These animals are collected into four cases (8-11), the two first of which are chiefly devoted to the quadrupeds; and the two last to the birds. Among the former, or quadrupeds, the visitor will particularly remark the cynocephali, or dog-headed baboons, in bronze and stone; various lions; cats, with bored ears; jackals; shrew mice bearing the winged world; bulls; gazelles; a kneeling ibex; a ram walking with the conical cap on its head; a sow with pigs, in bronze; a quadruped with a viper's head; sphinxes, one covered with a lotus; and various models of hares, ram's heads, &c. These animals, that is to say the sacred animals that actually had life, were waited upon by the priests, and the pain of death was inflicted upon any person who killed them. Among the birds are many figures of hawks, some with human faces, others with the solar disk on the head, or the conical cap; the ibis, variously decorated; snakes and fishes; uraei; wooden fragments of vipers; frogs; scorpions; a bronze crocodile; scarabaei, in lapis-lazuli and other substances; emblems of stability; a wooden head of the hippopotamus from the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes; vultures; and snakes.

Next to the cases of sacred animals are two (12, 13) devoted to small statues of various kinds, in various substances. In the first division of these cases are stone heads of priests, and officers of state with long hair; and in the second, many curious objects are arranged, including figures of men seated on thrones; a standing figure of a Pharaoh; a long haired officer of state carved in ebony; rowers, with moveable arms, taken from the models of boats. The third division includes a dark green figure of a royal scribe, kneeling and holding a tablet on which the prenomen of Rameses is visible; kings in various attitudes; the bronze figure of a kneeling priest supporting a bowl containing loaves; an altar of libation, with sacred animals, and vases, cakes, &c.; various figures of scribes and others; a female figure with a calf suspended about the neck by its legs, and the hand resting upon the horns of a gazelle; reclining female figures; parts of two females supporting monkeys; a seated female with blue hair; and fragments of figures. The fourth division contains other Egyptian figures. Having examined these two cases the visitor should approach those in which the larger

EGYPTIAN HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS

and other curiosities are deposited. These cases are six in number (14-19). From these cases the visitor will have an opportunity of gathering a general idea of the domestic comforts of the ancient Egyptians. Here are arranged their chairs, stools, and head-rests, as they were used three thousand years ago. In the first division are, an inlaid stool from Thebes, with a maroon-coloured seat; and a high-backed chair, inlaid with ivory and dark woods, and a seat of cordage, also from Thebes; but the most curious objects in this division are the Egyptian pillows or head-rests, called uls. These are hollowed clumps of wood or metallic substance, supported upon a column, and used by the hardy ancients as rests for the head. In the present day the poorest beggar would think one of these uls a sorry rest for his weary head: yet some of the specimens have the titles of men of distinction engraved upon them. Pillows, however, were not unknown luxuries to the Egyptians, as a pillow of linen, stuffed with water-fowl feathers, and deposited in the second division of the cases under notice, testifies. In this second division are fragments of couches, the decorations chiefly representing animals; fragments, in calcareous stone, from the propylon of the brick pyramid of Dashour; cramps, from Thebes and the temple of Berenice; iron keys from Thebes; bronze hinges; porcelain tiles from the door of a pyramid; an interesting stone model of a house; a model from Upper Egypt of a granary, with a covered shed at one corner from which a man apparently surveyed the operations of the workmen below. A Leghorn mouse, setting aside the feelings of enthusiastic antiquaries

THE EGYPTIAN ROOM

consumed the grain that lay in the model granaries. From this curious relic the visitor will turn with some astonishment to an ancient Egyptian wig: it is curled on the top and plaited at the sides, and is in all respects a well manufactured article. It is a state wig, worn only on great occasions--the Egyptians going habitually closely shaven. In the third division of the cases are assembled various bulky figures, which the visitor will recognise as various Egyptian deities: there is Pasht with his lion's head; Num, ram-headed; Thoth, ibis-headed, and others; also the figure of a Pharaoh, or Egyptian king, with the teshr, a royal cap, all taken from the tombs of the kings at Thebes.

In the two next cases (20, 21) the visitor will find various specimens of the dresses and personal ornaments of the ancient Egyptians. In the first division are a leather cap, cut into net-work from a single piece, the ordinary male head-dress; a leather workman's apron: a palm-leaf basket, and a linen cloth tunic that was found in it at Thebes. The toilet vessels of various substances and shapes, used to contain the metallic dye for the eye-lids, called sthem, worn by the ancient Egyptians, including the cylindrical case, bearing the royal names, are arranged in the second division, together with ivory, porcelain, and other hair studs, and a pair of cord sandals from Memphis. The third division is filled with varieties of Egyptian mirrors, pins, combs, and sandals. The mirrors of the Egyptians consisted of circular metallic plates, with variously ornamented handles. The specimens in this case, which have lost their lustre under centuries of rust, include one with a lotus handle, ornamented with the Egyptian goddess of beauty, Athor; one with a tress of hair as a design for the handle: and others ornamented with the head of the much reverenced hawk. The pins are in bronze and wood, and were used by the Egyptian ladies either to bind the hair or to apply the sthem to the eyelids. The combs show a double row of teeth, and are of wood. The shoes and sandals are of various kinds, but the greatest variety of these articles is deposited in the fourth division of the cases. These are made of palm leaves, wood, and papyrus: those with high-peaked toes are the most ancient, having been worn in the eighteenth dynasty, about fourteen centuries before our era.

The nine following cases (22-32) are devoted to the vases and other domestic vessels of the Egyptians; an intervening case (27) being filled with the cedar coffin of a prophet priest of Amoun in Thebes, elaborately ornamented with various religious symbols. Some of the vases are inscribed with royal names of early dynasties, proving their great antiquity: some of the most elegant dating so far back as fourteen centuries before our era. These specimens of ancient Egyptian workmanship suggest a state of high artistic refinement of a remoter antiquity than the Grecian, wrecks of which lie in the Elgin and other saloons on the basement of the museum. Of the large collection here arranged the visitor will only care to notice the more remarkable specimens. The uses to which these cups and bowls and vases were put, may be inferred partly from their shapes, and partly from the material of which they were made; those of a costly kind being probably the receptacles of the unguents with which the ancient Egyptians of both sexes anointed their persons after the bath; and the larger and less costly varieties being the wine vases, &c, in common use. Two ancient vases are in the first division of the case (22, 23) one with the name of a king before the twelfth dynasty, and the more modern one of the twenty-fifth dynasty. In the second division the visitor should notice the small aragonite vases, resembling wine-glasses; in the third case a slab, upon which are six vases of various shapes in calcareous stone; in the fourth a vase from Lower Egypt, with the quantity it holds inscribed upon it. In the next five cases, 24-27 are filled with cups, and bowls, small vases, and lamps, including pottery vases shaped like the pine cone; blue porcelain vase with a pattern; a highly ornamented porcelain jug; vases in the shape of the hedgehog and the ibis; glass, long-necked vases; a large blue bowl, ornamented with leaves; a porcelain vase of the time of Sesostris, ornamented with petals of the lotus flower; polished terra-cotta vases; double vases; a lamp shaped like a bottle: a vase for libations in terra-cotta, with a spout shaped like a bird's beak; bottle-shaped vase in painted pottery, with three handles, and symbolic decorations; and curious perforated cups on feet. The three cases marked 30-32 contain also some curious vases and lamps, including a vase shaped like a woman playing a guitar, from Thebes; a vase issuing from a flower, in red pottery; a, lamb reclining as a vase; gourd-shaped vases; earthenware bowls covered with various deities; and lamps ornamented with toads, boars' heads, children, and leaves, in relief. Other vases are arranged here and there about the five next cases (33-37) together with agricultural implements; and, strange to say, viands prepared perhaps for some of the mummies that lie in the immediate neighbourhood, together with odd bits and fragments, all illustrative of times before Alexander had bequeathed the Ptolemies to Egypt. In the first two divisions, the remarkable objects are various, bronze buckets with ornamental outlines of various deities and sacred animals; a rectangular bronze table, perforated to receive vessels; bronze lamps, &c.; and in the third division the visitor should certainly notice the two-staged stand of papyrus and cane from a private tomb at Thebes, with trussed ducks and cakes of bread upon it; baskets containing fruits, as figs, pomegranates, dates, cakes of barley, &e. The fourth division contains some old agricultural implements, including the fragments of a sickle found by Belzoni under a statue at Karnak; a wooden pick-axe; an Egyptian hoe; a yoke of acacia wood; eight steps of wood from a rope-ladder, and specimens of palm-fibre rope.

Passing from these interesting relics of ancient manufacturing skill, the visitor will next arrive before two cases (36, 37) of Egyptian fragments of tombs, and weapons of war, illustrating the means of killing and the fashion of burial. In the first division are various goms, or Egyptian sceptres and staffs, some of ebony and some of wood; and the blade of a war-axe, with the name of Thothmes III. inscribed upon it. A variety of offensive weapons are arranged in the second division, including bronze war-axes, one with a hollow silver handle; daggers; bows and arrows, the arrows pointed with triangular bronze heads, and fragments of flint-arrow-heads; fowling-sticks; handsome bronze bladed knives, with agate and other handles, some worked with gold, &c. The fragments in the third division include a knotted rope; a piked club; wooden fan handles; wooden paddles carved with heads of jackals; a mast for the model of a boat; and in the fourth division are a curious cuirass and helmet, from the tombs of Manfaloot, fashioned from a crocodile skin. At this point is another intermediate case containing a mummy, coffin, and boards. The coffin is shaped like a mummy, with a green face, and Netpe, between Isis and Nephthys on the breast, with the deceased being introduced to the deities, among whom he is to be divided by Thoth. This coffin was presented to the Museum by George III.

Having peered into the fragmentary establishments of ancient Egypt, followed the contemporaries of Sesostris into their dining-rooms, even noticed specimens of their dishes, and seen them in their waxen winding-sheets, the visitor may now pass to the next case (39) and notice some of the remains of the materials by the means of which they recorded their actions, and traced their lineaments. Here are displayed the ancient Egyptian pens and pencils, colours and ink, all shrivelled and discoloured with the mould of centuries, but remaining still to bear witness to the early love of knowledge and of art, that urged the Egyptian scribe and the Egyptian artist to fashion them. In the first division are the rectangular pallets, with grooves for the wooden pens or reeds, and hollows for the colour or ink; and here, too, are the kash, or pens used by the ancient scribes. The pallets have inscriptions upon them; on one there is an invocation to the goddess of writing. Fragments of one or two colours, with the palm-leaf baskets in which they were deposited are also in this case; together with stands with small colour vases; slabs with colour jars; mullets for grinding, a basket with paint-brushes made of palm-fibres; and upon a thin piece of cedar wood is a portrait of an Egyptian female of the Greek period. Amidst other minute objects lie Egyptian folding wax tablets for writing; a cylindrical ink-box, with a chain attached to hold the pen case; seals of various kinds with impressions of bulls, jackals, and hieroglyphics; portion of a calendar on stone; and fragments of Egyptian writing on stone, and chiefly from tombs. These fragments illustrative of the Egyptian character are continued in the first two divisions of the cases marked 40, 41, including a panel and stud from an ebony box inscribed with the titles of Amenophis III. and his daughter; and a fragment in ebony, with an inscribed dedication to Anubis. Among the miscellaneous objects also in these divisions are various boxes in wood, papyrus, one veneered with white and red ivory, some inscribed with names; and one with a pyramidal cover, veneered with ivory and ornamented with figures and birds. The next or third division is filled with varieties of Egyptian spoons. Some of these are curious. They are chiefly of wood; but some are of ivory. Among them are wooden spoons, shovel, egg and cartouche-shaped; one with the handle carved in the shape of lotus flowers; one with a moveable cover from Memphis; one with the handle representing a gazelle, and within fish demolishing a water plant, from Thebes; one in the shape of a fish; one circular, with a lotus handle and a hawk cynocephalus on its edge; one with the form of a fish for a bowl, and a fox seizing the fish for a handle; and others equally curious in point of design. The last, or fourth division of the case is full of ancient Egyptian building materials, including fragments of painted plaster; stamps for bricks; palm-fibre brushes for colouring walls, and smoothing tools.

EGYPTIAN TOOLS

are disposed through the two cases (42, 43) which the visitor should now examine. In the first division are some palm-leaf baskets; wooden mallets, one found in the masonry of the great pyramid at Abooseir; and staves; in the second division a large variety of curious tools is exhibited, including Egyptian saws, bradawls, chisels, an adze, axe blades, knives of bronze, generally inscribed with hieroglyphics, hones, bronze nails; mysterious bronze tools, the use of which is unknown, all interesting to those who are in any way interested in the history of the wonderful people who inhabited the valley of the Nile, and wielded these tools there, when our island was an untilled desert. The third division of the case contains strange handles decorated with the popular lotus flower, fragments of an ivory gorget, with figures of various animals oddly grouped upon it; various fragments of carving, and pedestals bearing inscriptions; and in the fourth, or last, division of the case are various baskets, coloured and plain. The first division of the next case (44, 45) is also given up to palm-leaf baskets of various descriptions, which the visitor should examine as illustrating the perfection to which the workers of the palm-leaf brought their handicraft. Leaving the tools and baskets behind, the visitor will now approach the

EGYPTIAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS,

which occupy the second division of the case. It is well known that music was generally cultivated by the ancient Egyptians, even before Terpander had devised a system of musical notation: and that in their religious ceremonies music was much used. The sistrum, of which the visitor will notice one or two samples in the division, was the instrument most generally used. It consisted of wires suspended through the sides of an arch, to which a handle, generally highly ornamented with the head of Athor, as in the one in the case, is fixed:--the wires terminating with heads of sacred animals, upon which rings were suspended that produced sounds by being shaken backwards and forwards.

There are also some Egyptian harps; portions of flutes found in the northern brick pyramids at Dashour; a pipe with seven burnt holes in it; and a pair of bronze cymbals tied together by a band of linen. The division next to that in which the musical instruments are arranged, is filled with

EGYPTIAN TOYS.

Perhaps, no portion of this interesting Egyptian room so forcibly impresses the spectator with the truth and reality of its revelations, as these rude toys, that must have been handled by prattling Egyptian children, when all was dark throughout Europe, save on the shore of the southern sea, where glimmered fitful lights of awakening civilisation, and Homer was enshrining the poor knowledge of his period in the splendid fancies of his poet soul. Not vastly different from the rude dolls of the present century must these of Egypt have been when fresh from the workman's hand. They are in a very disabled state now, however; one being a rude representation of an Egyptian Miss Biffen, altogether guiltless of legs; and others, the flat variety, having hair made of clay beads. In the case with these relics are porcelain models of eggs, balls, fruit; wooden fish; leather and palm-leaf balls, stuffed; dice, and various draughtsmen, with the heads of cats; and one with the figure of a jackal. The last two divisions of the case under notice are entirely filled with a variety of specimens of

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN FABRICS.