Lacunæ

Lettre au Président de la Société d’ Archéologie biblique, communiquée à la Séance du 4 mars 1884'

Dear Sir,

Having noticed in the last number of tbe Proceedings, that you hâve copied, for publication, the whole of the hypocephali in the British Muséum, and that you would like to receive copies of specimens which members might possess, I beg to enclose an exact tracing of a fine hypocephalus made of linen and plaster, presented to the Muséum of the Louvre, and of which I gave an account in the Revue archéologique, 1862, VI, p. 129. I add an extract of this article, as it may perhaps interest the readers of the Proceedings, although the subject bas been ably treated by the eminent Egyptian scholar, Dr. Samuel Birch, President of the Society.

It is generally known, that one of the great dogmas of the religion of the ancient Egyptians was the belief in the continuation of life afterdeath, and that the new existence was to begin in the old body, which the soûl was to rejoin. This belief caused them to embalm the body, in order to

1. Publié dans les Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archœology, vol. VI, p. 126-129, avec une planche. C’est la planche qui accompagne le mémoire Note sur un hypocèpliale , p. 1-12 du présent

volume.

preserve it intact until the day of résurrection, and to protect it by virtue of talismans. Amongst these amulets was the dish called hypocephalus, which was placed under the head of the mummy, to maintain the vital warmth of the body. The scenes portrayed on these disks relate, in ail their details, to the resur rrection and the renewed birth after death, and this idea is more particularly symbolized by the course of the sun, the living image of divine génération.

The hypocephalus in question is divided into four compartments, two of which are opposed to the two others, as if to indicate the two celestial hemispheres ; the upper one above the terrestrial world, and the lower one below it. A little inscription seems to dénoté the name of the amulet ; it heads the part which represents the lower or dark hemisphere, frotn whence the sun was supposed to hâve corne forth to mark the beginning of time, and reads as follows : “[Disk to be plnced] beneath the head of the Osirian Tatu, the justified." Other specimens give the variation : “ Producer of heat beneath the head of the Osirian.”

The first compartment shows the soûl of the deceased, in the form of a hawk with a human head, adoring a cow which wears a disk and two feathers. Behind the soûl is the hieroglyphical sign for shadovo. The cow represents the goddess Hathor, who fui fils the important rôle of the Celestial Mother, and personifies the lower hemisphere of heaven in which the sun sets in the evening to issue from it the next morning, as after a new birth. She was supposed, in that character, to receive the deceased on his arrivai at the gates of the Occident. Here, itis the soûl of the deceased who asks to be boni again in the bosom of the Celestial Mother. The 162nd chapter of the Book of the Dead shows the figure of this cow, and the text relating to it (which wi 11 be given further down) recommends, amongst other things, that

lier image should be on the hypocephalus. Behind the cow stands a goddess, having for liead a disk with the mystical eye in it, and holding a lotus flower, another symbol of renewed birth. According to the late M. de Rougé, the mystical eye, called Uza, conveys the idea of the renewal of a period, like the full-moon, the solstice, the equinoxes, etc., and it désignâtes here the accomplishment of the period of résurrection, always assimilated with the daily and annual revival of the sun. The seated deity, half man and half hawk, is a type of Amon, the generating principle ; lie holds the wliip in his hand, and an ithy phallic serpent with a hawk’s liead and human legs offers him the mystical eye. Ail these different symbols represent on one side the female, and on the other the male element, to express the idea of the eternal generative power.

The second compartment shows the Sun in his boat, in the form of Num-Ra, ram-headed, a type the Sun general ly takes when lie traverses the lower hemisphere of lieaven. The god is accompanied by six divine personages called Ketiu, who conduct and protect him in his course. At their head is Horus, with a hawk’s liead and the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, piercing with his spear the serpent Apophis, who tries to stop the mardi of the solar planet. Tliis scene represents, allegorically, the power of the rising Sun dispersing the shadows by the brilliancy of his rays. A child, carrying his hand to his mouth, is seated on a pedestal placed at the prow of the boat ; it is Horus the younger, symbol of infancy, and here also of the newborn of the rising Sun. The prow is ornamented by a large lotus blossom to enforce the same idea. A second boat carries a cynocephalus seated in a shrine ; he is another symbol of the Uza , or perfect equilibrium, but also an emblem of Thoth, wliom he replaces very often, when this god is identified with the moon. Before the cynocephalus is a kind of altar, with a libation vase and a lotus

flower, the syrabolism of which lias already been explained. Other specimens represent the celestial and eternal génération of the Sun, by the goddess Nu-t, or heaven, leaning, with outstretched arms, over a scarabæus, the masculine principle of génération. Tliis emblem refers, more particularly, to the material reconstruction of the being.

In the upper compartment of the reversed hemisphere is a double-faced deity, with two feathers on his head, and holding in his left liand a standard surmounted by a jackal. It isAmon, the suprême god of Thebes, identified with Ra, the Sun, under the name of Amon-Ra. As such, he receives ail the qualifications attributed to the two deities, and represents (according to the late M. Devéria) the unseen and mysterious principle of Amon and the visible and brilliant power of Ra combined. The boat on the right contains the ark of Osiris defunct. A horizontal scarabæus is above it, having on one side the name of Isis, and on the other that of Nephthys, the two sisters of Osiris who by their prayers efîected the résurrection of their brother. They are supposed also to accomplish that of the deceased, as shown by sorae specimens on which the two goddesses are represented addressing prayers to his soûl. On the left, a mummified hawk expanding his wings over a boat symbolizes, more especially, the résurrection of the soûl. Above the hawk is the hieroglyphical sign for BA, the soûl, and the forepart' of a ram, both followed by plural terminations, and often used to express the same idea.

The centre of the second compartment is occupied by a quadruple ram-headed deity, Num-Ra, representing (according to Champollion) the Spirit of the four Eléments, the Soûl of the material world, and (according to Devéria) the Spirit of the four Winds or four cardinal points. Eight cynocephali, four on each side of the god, raise their hands

in prayer. Two cartouches inscribed with serpents, and two cerastes, complété the scene. The circular inscription informs us, that the hypocephalus belonged to a lady named Tatu ; it reads as follows : “Oh Amon of the Amons, who art in heaven above, direct thy face towards the body of thy son Ra ; maintain it in good condition ; preserve it in the funeral région ; turn thy face towards the body of thy daughter, the august Osirian, who is in the funeral région, Tatu, the justified, daughter of the lady of the house, Nes-Tafnut, the justified. Let warmth be beneath her head in the funeral région.”

This formula is found on several specimens ; it is taken from the 162nd chapter of the Book of the Dead, whicli relates to the hypocephalus, and bears the title : “To produce warmth under the head of the image of a cow, made of good gold, put on the neck of the deceased, and which is also to be drawn on a new charta placed under bis head. Abundant warmth will then exist troughout his body, as if lie were on earth. Such is the very great care the cow takes of her son Ra wlien lie sets.” The text continues in the llth line : “ Words to pronounce when you put this goddess on the neck of the deceased : Oh Amon of the Amons, who art in heaven above, direct thy face towards the body of thy son ! maintain it in good condition in the funeral région.”

The above extracts from the Book of the Dead show that the undertaker of the funeral of the deceased Tatu conformed entirely to the rules given for the préparation of her hypocephalus.

Very truly yours,

P. -J. DE HûRRACK.

Paris, 12tb February, 1884.