The Funeral Ceremonies

I have decided to consolidate all of these into a single thread

The First Ceremony

The first ceremony removed evil or sin from the body of the deceased, the second gave it warmth, and the third restored to it the humours which had been expressed from it. For the fourth ceremony the priest dissolved five grains of incense made from the salt deposits near the city of Nekheb, i.e., "Incense of the South," in a libation vase of water, and, having poured it into a vessel, walked with it four times round the mummy or statue, and sprinkled it each time. The name given to this libation water is "Semman," and of the five grains of salt, or alum, which it contained, one was for Horus, one for Set, one for Thoth, one for Sep, and one for Osiris, that is, for the deceased himself. Whilst the SEM priest walked round the statue the Kher heb said the following words four times:-

"Open thy mouth, O Unas, and taste thou the taste thereof in the halls of the god, for Semman is the emission of Horus, for Semman is the emission of Set, for Semman is the stablisher of the heart of the two Hawk-gods (i.e., Horus and Set). Thou art cleansed with hesmen (natron), and thou art like unto the followers of Horus."

The libation thus poured out either represented the essence of Horus and the essence of Set, which was the source of the strength of their hearts, and the substance which gave them life, or was believed to be transmuted into that essence through the words of power spoken by the Kher heb. The power of the Semman water was great, for as soon as it touched the face of the deceased his mouth was opened, and he was able to taste the emission, or life essence, of Horus and Set. Having tasted it, his whole being was changed, and he became a new creature, and henceforth he was a counterpart of the Shemsu Heru or "Followers of Horus." The Horus here referred to must not be confounded with the twin-brother of Set. The Horus who is always associated with Set is "Horus the Great," or "Horus the Elder," the Haroeris of the Greeks, but the Horus mentioned in the Liturgy in connection with "Followers" is "Horus, the son of Isis."


The "Followers of Horus" were a group of beings who were closely connected with Osiris, and having "followed" him in this world they passed after him into the Other World, where they became his ministrants and messengers, partaking of his immortal nature, and sharing his life. Horus the Elder was "followed" by a group of beings also, but these were of a totally different character, for they were called "Mesentiu," i.e., "workers in metal," or "blacksmiths." In some texts the followers of Horus, the son of Isis, are identified with the metal-workers of Horus the Elder, and it is possible that this is the case in the Liturgy. On the other hand, the deduction to be made from our text seems to be that the essence of Horus and Set introduced into the body of the deceased changed his nature into theirs, while the cleansing with natron made him a counterpart of the followers of Horus, the son of Isis. He thus possessed the nature of Horus, the oldest god of heaven, and the nature of a "follower" of the son of the man Osiris, who rose from the dead and became the ever-living god and judge of the dead.

The Second Ceremony

The ceremony of the sprinkling of water having been completed, the second ceremony begins. The SEM priest, or one of his assistants, took in his hand a censer in which incense has been placed, and having set fire in it, and made the incense to burn, he walked with it four times round the statue or mummy, and censed it, whilst the Kher heb recited the following four times:--

"Let him that advanceth advance with his KA.

"Horus advanceth with his KA.

"Set advanceth with his KA.

"Thoth advanceth with his KA.

"Sep advanceth with his KA.

"Osiris advanceth with his KA.

"Khenti-maati 1 advanceth with his KA.

"Thy Tet shall advance with thy KA.

"Hail, Unas! The arm of thy KA is before thee.

"Hail, Unas! The arm of thy KA is behind thee.

"Hail, Unas! The leg of thy KA is before thee.

"Hail, Unas! The leg of thy KA is behind thee.

"O Osiris Unas! I have given unto thee the Eye

The Thrid Ceremony

The third ceremony of purification was performed by means of water, in which two different kinds of incense had been dissolved. The rubric in the text of Unas mentions "two balls" of incense, but that of the text of Peta-Amen-apt says that one ball shall be of incense of Shet pet, i.e., of the incense prepared from the salt found in the Natron Valley, and the other of the salt which is found near the city of Nekheb, or Eileithyiapolis. Shut pet was a portion of the Sekhet-Hemam, or "Field of Salt," known to-day as the "Wadi an-Natrun," which lies about forty-five miles to the northwest of Cairo, and the incense made from the salt deposits here was called "Incense of the North." The incense made from the salt deposits near Nekheb was called "Incense of the South." The KA whose statue had been purified by incense from each place was free to journey through the North and South of Egypt, and in a sense it made him "lord of the Two Lands," i.e., of all Egypt. The priest, having dissolved the balls of natron in the water in the vessel, poured it out into a bowl held by an assistant. He then took the bowl, and, going round the statue four times, sprinkled it with the water of the natrons of the South and North, whilst the Kher heb repeated the following words four times:--

"This libation is for thee, O Osiris, this libation is for thee, O Unas; it cometh forth from thy son, it cometh forth from Horus.

"I have come and I have brought unto thee the Eye of Horus, that thy heart may be refreshed therewith. I have brought it [and placed it] under thee, [under] thy sandals, and I have presented unto thee that which floweth forth from thee. Whilst it is with thee there shall be no stoppage of thy heart, and it shall be with thee with the things (or, persons) which came forth at the [sound of the] voice."

The libation now poured forth represents the moisture which Horus sends forth from himself and from his Eye, and is intended to take the place in the body of the deceased of that which flowed forth from him before death, or during the process of mummification. The deceased is identified with Osiris, and Horus therefore becomes his son. This fluid of Horus will make the heart of the deceased to live again, just as the water in which the heart of Bata was placed in the Tale of the Two Brothers, having been absorbed, made it to live. So long as a supply of it exists in the body of the deceased his heart shall not stop, and this supply was provided among the "things which come forth at the voice," i.e., the offerings. We have already seen that pert kheru is a name given to offerings, because they were believed to appear when the deceased, or the priest, ordered them to appear, and it is clear that the words pertha nek kheru in the text here refer to the offerings. The Egyptians attached great importance to spoken words, and they regarded the power of speech and the gift of the voice as mighty weapons, both for the living and the dead. The KAU, or Doubles, of the dead who had learned to utter words correctly, and who knew the proper tones to employ in uttering them, were in a position to go where they pleased and to do what they liked, for no god, spirit, fiend, or devil, and no inanimate object, could help obeying the commands which they uttered. The order for food or water having been given by them, food or water appeared forthwith.

The Fourth Ceremony

The first ceremony removed evil or sin from the body of the deceased, the second gave it warmth, and the third restored to it the humours which had been expressed from it. For the fourth ceremony the SEM priest dissolved five grains of incense made from the salt deposits near the city of Nekheb, i.e., "Incense of the South," in a libation vase of water, and, having poured it into a vessel, walked with it four times round the mummy or statue, and sprinkled it each time. The name given to this libation water is "Semman," and of the five grains of salt, or alum, which it contained, one was for Horus, one for Set, one for Thoth, one for Sep, and one for Osiris, that is, for the deceased himself. Whilst the SEM priest walked round the statue the Kher heb said the following words four times:-

"[Here is] Semman! [Here is] Semman!

"Open thy mouth, O Unas, and taste thou the taste thereof in the halls of the god, for Semman is the emission of Horus, for Semman is the emission of Set,for Semman is the stablisher of the heart of the two Hawk-gods (i.e., Horus and Set). Thou art cleansed with hesmen (natron), and thou art like unto the followers of Horus."

The libation thus poured out either represented the essence of Horus and the essence of Set, which was the source of the strength of their hearts, and the substance which gave them life, or was believed to be transmuted into that essence through the words of power spoken by the Kher heb. The power of the Semman water was great, for as soon as it touched the face of the deceased his mouth was opened, and he was able to taste the emission, or life essence, of Horus and Set. Having tasted it, his whole being was changed, and he became a new creature, and henceforth he was a counterpart of the Shemsu Heru or "Followers of Horus." The Horus here referred to must not be confounded with the twin-brother of Set. The Horus who is always associated with Set is "Horus the Great," or "Horus the Elder," the Haroeris of the Greeks, but the Horus mentioned in the Liturgy in connection with "Followers" is "Horus, the son of Isis."

The "Followers of Horus" were a group of beings who were closely connected with Osiris, and having "followed" him in this world they passed after him into the Other World, where they became his ministrants and messengers, partaking of his immortal nature, and sharing his life. Horus the Elder was "followed" by a group of beings also, but these were of a totally different character, for they were called "Mesentiu," i.e., "workers in metal," or "blacksmiths." In some texts the followers of Horus, the son of Isis, are identified with the metal-workers of Horus the Elder, and it is possible that this is the case in the Liturgy. On the other hand, the deduction to be made from our text seems to be that the essence of Horus and Set introduced into the body of the deceased changed his nature into theirs, while the cleansing with natron made him a counterpart of the followers of Horus, the son of Isis. He thus possessed the nature of Horus, the oldest god of heaven, and the nature of a "follower" of the son of the man Osiris, who rose from the dead and became the ever-living god and judge of the dead.

The Fitth Ceremony

The next ceremony continued the process of assimilating the deceased with the gods. The priest, having dissolved five grains of incense made from the salt deposit in a place in the Natron Valley called Shet pet," "Lake of Heaven," in a libation vase of water, and poured it into a vessel, walked with it four times round the mummy and sprinkled it each time. As he did so the Kher heb said the following words four times:

"Thou art purified with natron, and Horus is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron, and Set is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron, and Thoth is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron, and Sep is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron, and thou art stablished among them.

"Thy mouth is the mouth of the sucking calf on the day of his birth."


It is possible to translate "Thou art purified with natron as Horus is purified with natron," &c., as did Dümichen, but it seems better to render the passage without the addition of "as" in each member, for it is clear that the salted water was offered as much to the deceased as to each god. The effect of this sprinkling was to give the deceased power to take his place with the gods of each of the four quarters of heaven, and to make him their equal. In the last line of the passage, "Thy mouth is the mouth of the sucking-calf on the day of his birth," we appear to have an allusion to the calf figured in the Vignettes to Chapter CIX. of the Book of the Dead, which is entitled "The Chapter of knowing the Souls of the East." In the Theban Recension we see the deceased standing in adoration before Ra-Harmachis, between whom and the deceased is a spotted calf. In the Saïte Recension the deceased stands in adoration before the Boat of Ra, which is about to pass between the two "Trees of Emerald" into the sky. In the Boat are: 1. Ra-Harmachis, with the sign for wind above his disk. 2. The deceased. 3. A calf with a star above his back. The text tells us that the Souls of the East are Ra-Harmachis, the Calf of the goddess Khera (?), and Neter-tuai, or the planet Venus. The "Sucking-calf" must therefore be the name of a morning star which was associated with the rising sun, and with Isis as a morning star. It seems clear, then, that the passage in the Liturgy signifies that the deceased is identified in it with the star which was born in the sky at sunrise; as its mother was Isis the star was a form of Horus, son of Osiris and Isis, and the deceased is therefore the son of Osiris, that is, Horus.

The Sixith Ceremony

In the next ceremony the priest continues the purification of the deceased, and on this occasion he takes in his hand a ball of incense and lifts it up before the face of the mummy, or statue. We may assume that he does this four, or even five, times, and offers four balls of incense, one for Horus, one for Set, one for Thoth, and one for Sep. Meanwhile the Kher heb says:--

"Thou art purified with natron, and Horus is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron, and Set is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron, and Thoth is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron, and Sep is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron, and thy KA is purified with natron.

"Thou art purified with natron,

"Thou art purified with natron,

"Thou art purified with natron,

"Thou art purified with natron,

"O thou who art stablished among thy brethren the gods.

"Thy head hath been censed for thee, thy bones have been cleansed thoroughly for thee, and thou art filled with that which belongeth unto thee. O Osiris, I have given unto thee the Eye of Horus, and thy face is filled therewith, and it spreadeth its odour about thee."

The Seventh Ceremony

THE ceremonies of purification are now ended. The new body in which the KA is to dwell has been made by means of them. Its bones, and head, and mouth have been brought into a state of ceremonial purity, it contains the fluid of life, and all its humours, and warmth, and its face is enveloped with an emanation from the Eye of Horus, and the odour of purity has been restored to it. It is not, however, prepared to enjoy the offerings which are about to be presented to it, because its jaw-bones, which have been pressed out of their places under the process of mummification, have no freedom of movement. To "establish" the jaw-bones was the next thing.

The priest took in his hands the instrument called "KEF PESESH," i.e., "the overcomer of the divisions," the shape of which was



and presented it before the face of the mummy, or touched it with it. Meanwhile the Kher heb said these words:--

"O Unas, thy two jawbones which were separated have been established."

As the result of these words the jawbones resumed their former positions, and power was given to them to masticate food. It is interesting to note that a specimen of this instrument is preserved in the British Museum (Third Egyptian Room, Table-case M, No. 888). It is made of flint, and was found near Abydos with large numbers of flint knives and tools of the Neolithic Period. If the object be a KEF PESESH, and there is no reason to doubt it, it forms an important proof which connects this ceremony with the Predynastic Period. Compare also another example of this amulet, which is surmounted by the head of a goddess, in the British Museum (Table-case F, Fourth Egyptian Room, No. 505).

The Eighth Ceremony

The SEM priest next presented before the face of the mummy two objects of the shape



or



made of iron of the South and iron of the North respectively, and the Kher heb said twice:--

"O Unas, the two gods have opened for thee thy mouth."

The "two gods" are, of course, Horus and Set. It will be noted that in the text of Unas the two iron objects which represent Horus and Set are in the form of axe-heads attached to handles, and that in the text of Peta-Amen-apt they are in the form

The Ninth Ceremony

The first object presented to the mummy after the opening of the mouth was sel, or ser, which has been translated both by "butter" and "cheese." The Vignette represents the priest offering a vessel with four balls, or round cakes, of some substance in it, and, when we remember that the Egyptians have never made butter in our sense of the word, we are justified in accepting Dümichen's rendering of "cheese." 1 Whilst the four cakes of cheese were being offered, the Kher heb said the following words:--


"O Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been presented
unto thee, and with it the god passeth (or, cometh); I have brought it unto thee: place thou it in thy mouth."

The Tenth Ceremony

The SEM priest next brought in a vessel four balls, or round cakes, called shaku, and whilst he presented these the Kher heb said:--

O Unas, the SHAKU Of Osiris have been presented unto thee, the SHAKU from the top of the breast of Horus, of his body hast thou taken to thy mouth."

The exact meaning of the word shaku is unknown, but it seems clear that the object symbolized the nipples on the breast of Horus, or the nipples on the breast of his mother Isis, which the god had taken into his mouth.

The Eleventh Ceremony

In the next ceremony the SEM priest offered a vessel of milk and a vessel of whey and whilst he did so the Kher heb said:--

"[That which is] from the breast of thy sister Isis, the emission of thy mother, thou hast taken possession of for thy mouth."

The text of Peta-Amen-apt is somewhat fuller, and reads:--

"[That which floweth] from the breast of Horus, and is of his body, hath been presented unto thee for thy mouth. That which cometh from the breast of thy sister Isis, the emission of thy mother, hath been seized by thee for thy mouth, and thou openest thy mouth by means of it."

The Twelfth Ceremony

The ceremonies symbolizing the nursing of Horus by Osiris having been performed, the SEM priest took libation vases of pure water of the north, i.e., from the Delta, not water with natron dissolved in it, and went round the mummy, sprinkling it on all sides as he went, whilst the Kher heb said four times:--


"This libation is for thee, O Osiris, this libation is for thee, O Unas; it cometh forth from thy son, it cometh forth from Horus.

"I have come and I have brought unto thee the Eye of Horus, that thy heart may be refreshed therewith.


I have brought it [and placed it] under thee, [under] thy sandals, and I have presented unto thee that which floweth forth from thee. Whilst it is with thee there shall be no stoppage of thy heart, and it shall be with thee, with the things (or, persons) which come forth at the [sound of] the voice."

The powers which the deceased enjoyed upon earth having now been bestowed upon him once more, or upon his KA, he is in the position of being able to partake of the symbolic offerings which are about to be made to him, and to assimilate them after they have been transformed into spiritual meat and drink by the words of the Kher heb.

The Thirteenth Ceremony

The SEM priest took in his hands two vessels, one filled with white and the other with black wine, each holding one hathes measure, and as he presented them to the deceased, the Kher heb said:--


"Thou hast taken possession of that which hath flowed forth from the Eyes of Horus, and when they (i.e., the wines) are in front of thee they illumine thy face."

The white and the black wine were not intended to be drunk, but to be poured over the head and forehead of the deceased, so that the strength in them might be transmitted to his face. The wines, being regarded as emanations from the Eyes of Horus, the White and the Black, contained the divine power which existed in the Eyes of the god, and they transferred to the deceased the might of the Day and the Night.

The Fourteenth Ceremony

In the next ceremony the SEM priest offered a bread-cake, of the kind called Hem, which was presented for the "lifting up of the face" of the deceased. This name is followed by the word tchaut, the exact meaning of which is not easy to say. In the "Hem"-cake Dümichen 1 thought he saw the original of a cake in use among the Egyptians which was stamped with a figure of a vanquished hippopotamus; this beast was the symbol of Set, or Typhon, as we know from the texts, and from Plutarch, 2 who says that he was chained. In the pictures of the chained hippopotamus 3 the head of the monster is turned back," i.e., he is looking behind him, and it is possible that the name "Hem," which means "to turn back," was given to cakes because they were stamped with a figure of the animal in this attitude. The words pat tchaut Maspero renders by "Gâteau de passage," and Dümichen by "Hem-Brod wohlschmeckendes (?) the former rendering gives the better sense. The "Gâteau de passage" is the equivalent of the round bread-cake which is common all over Egypt and the Sudan at the present day, and it is the first thing with which the native provides himself when he is about to set out on a journey. Whilst the SEM offers the hem cake the Kher heb says:--


"Day hath made an offering unto thee in the sky.

"The South and the North have caused an offering to be made unto thee.

"Night hath made an offering unto thee.

The South and the North have made an offering unto thee.

"An offering is brought unto thee. An offering thou seest, of an offering thou hearest.

"There is an offering before thee, an offering behind thee, an offering with thee."

The Fifteenth Ceremony

The offering of "bread for the journey" is followed

by that of onions. The SEM priest presented five onions to the deceased whilst the Kher heb said:--

"Osiris Unas, the white teeth of Horus are presented unto thee that they may fill thy mouth."

The Sixteenth Ceremony

The Vignette which illustrates the next ceremony shows us the SEM priest kneeling before a small table on which rests a bread-cake, which is called "the Uten-cake, for the lifting up of the face." Whilst this bread-cake is being offered, the Kher heb said, according to the text of Unas, four times:--

"SUTEN HETEP TA to the KA of Unas."

These words were followed by:--

"Osiris Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been presented unto thee--the bread which thou eatest."



According to the text of Peta-Amen-apt the Uten-cake is to be divided into two equal parts, and the words "Suten hetep ta, to the KA of Peta-Amen-apt" are to be said four times in connection with each half. Whilst the SMEN priest offers these the Kher heb says four times:--

"Osiris, the Eye of Horus hath been presented unto thee--the bread which thou eatest, and thy mouth hath been opened thereby."

The Seventeeth and Eighteenth Ceremonies

In the next two ceremonies the SEM priest offers two vessels of wine to the deceased, each containing a Hathes measure; one vessel is made of some white material, and the other of black. Whilst the former is being offered the Kher heb says:--


Osiris Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been presented unto thee; it hath been snatched from the hand of Set, and thou hast taken possession of it for thy mouth, and thou hast opened thy mouth therewith."

And whilst the latter is being offered he says:--

"Osiris Unas, thy mouth is opened by that which floweth(?) from thee." The words "Eye of Horus which hath been snatched from the hand of Set" refer to the belief that it was Set, the god of darkness, who swallowed the sun and moon during eclipses, and devoured the moon piecemeal after it was fourteen days old. The Eye of Horus was restored to him sometimes by Shu, who snatched it out of the hand of Set, 1 but more frequently by Thoth, who is often represented in the form of an ibis-headed man carrying the Eye of Horus before him in his hands. As the Eye of Horus was the abode of disembodied souls and spirits, the presentation of this eye to the mummy, or statue, was equivalent to restoring to it the soul of the deceased. In this passage, and throughout the Liturgy generally, the fundamental idea of the presentation of objects which are symbolic of the Eye of Horus is to bring back to the deceased his KA and BA, i.e., soul and the various members of his spiritual and mental economy.

The wine in the black vessel is declared to be the fluids or humours which ran out of the deceased before death, or during the process of preparing him for the tomb. They are here restored to him in the form of wine, the nature of which is changed by the words of the Kher heb.

The Ninetheenth Ceremony

The process of restoring to the deceased the fluid of his body is continued in the next ceremony, wherein the SEM priest presents to him a black stone vase, containing hent beer. Whilst he is doing this the Kher heb says:--

"Osiris Unas, there hath been presented unto thee that which hath been pressed out of thee, which hath come forth from thee."

The Twentieth Ceremony

After the presentation of the wine and beer the SEM priest took in his hands a small table, or stand, on which were placed several bread-cakes of different shapes and kinds, called "Tchesert," i.e., "the holy table." With this he advanced to the deceased, and whilst he offered it to him the Kher heb said:--


"O Ra, may the worship which thou hast in heaven and all the worship which is offered to thee be to Unas, and may everything which is offered to thy body be offered to the KA of Unas; and may everything which is offered to his body be thine."




From this passage we learn that the deceased is identified with Ra, and that it was expected that he would share with Ra the praises, and worship, and offerings which were dedicated to him. The offerings made to the deceased were intended for Ra, upon whom devolved the duty of feeding him with a portion of them. The bread-cakes of earth were transmuted into the "bread of everlastingness," and the wine into the "wine of eternity," whereon Ra lived.

The Twenty-first Ceremony

In the next ceremonies the various kinds of bread and cakes on the "Tchesert" table were offered one by one. The first was the tept, and as the SEM priest presented it the Kher heb said:--

"Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been presented unto thee for thy tasting."

Here there is a play on the words tept, a "kind of bread," and tep, "to taste."

Twenty-Second Ceremony

The next offering was the ah which according to Dümichen was not a bread-cake, but a lump of cooked meal, like the Puls of the Romans and the Polenta of the modern Italians. According to Maspero, it was a flat cake mixed with fat, and perhaps sweetened, and folded like a pancake. Whilst the SEM priest presents this the Kher heb pronounces a formula, which in the Unas text seems to mean,

"The darkness (or, the night) becometh denser and denser," and in the text of Peta-Amen-apt,

"The ah food is spread out before thee like a field."

It is clear that in the one text there is a play of words in ahah and akka, and in the other in ahah and ah, but the exact meanings of the sentences are unknown because we do not understand the allusions.

Dümichen thought that the word akka, i.e., "darkness or night," referred to the colour of the ah-cake, and that it might have been baked to a brown colour which was so dark in comparison with the tept cake that it appeared to be black.

Twenty-Third Ceremony

In this ceremony the SEM priest offered the breast of some animal, and as he did so the Kher heb said:--

"Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been presented unto thee so that it may embrace thee (or, be united unto thee)."

The breast naturally symbolized the act of embracing, which was in itself an important ceremony. When Horus embraced the deceased, the act of embracing him "smote Set," and when he had snatched his Eye out of the hand of the god of evil, "he gave to the deceased his heart, and the power which was therein.

When, in the Tale of the Two Brothers, Anpu restored to Batau his heart, each embraced the other. Life was given to a statue by embracing it, and when a living person, priest, or relative embraced a mummy, his, or her, object was to reunite the bones, to knit together afresh the flesh, and to give order to the members of the body, which in primitive times had been dislocated, like the body of Osiris, and then put together, piece by piece, to form a complete whole. As to the breast itself, we may note in passing that in the Levitical law it was ordered that the breast of a ram should be waved for a wave offering before the Lord (Leviticus vii. 30).

The Twenty-Fourth Ceremony

The next four ceremonies deal with the offering of wine and three kinds of beer. The SEM priest presented a white vessel of wine to the deceased, and as he did so the Kher heb said:--

"Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been presented unto thee, which was snatched from the hand of Set, and was rescued for thee, and thou dost open thy mouth with it."