several other parts or joints. Also ducks and geese of five different species. The remainder of the column seems to be filled with the names of sauces and condiments, to be eaten with these luxuries. In the fourth and last column, five different kinds of wines are mentioned among the offerings which were brought to the deceased. The white wine and the wine of the Mareotis are already known; the names of the others are yet undetermined. There is also mention of seeds of various kinds; probably pungent or aromatic seeds, which were then used in cookery. It may be observed, that the numbers of each of these articles are brought down in a line by themselves at the foot of each column, for the purpose of ready reference. These offerings were to be repeated at given periods, and remained ever afterwards a permanent charge upon the estate and family of the deceased. One of the Greek papyri translated by Dr. Young, is a deed for the conveyance of a portion of the offerings to certain mummies in the burial place at Thebes, to other parties, who had purchased them. As the portion sold was only one sixth of the whole, and as the testimony of sixteen witnesses was thought necessary on the occasion, Dr. Young very justly infers, that the revenue obtained from this source by the priests was by no means inconsiderable. This transaction took place in the reign of Ptolemy Physcon, about 106 B. c. The custom on which it was founded satisfactorily accounts for the exact registry of the offering on the monument before us, and for the compact and business-like form in which it is recorded, of which a correct idea may be formed from the

*

* See his account of some Recent Discoveries, Chapter v.

foregoing cut, though it was not practicable to render the characters legible in so minute a copy.

The twelve columns of hieroglyphics which follow explain the picture at the bottom of the tablet. They contain two inscriptions, both commencing in the middle and reading from left to right, and from right to left. We begin with that which reads from left to right:-" Act of adoration to Osiris: may he give a house of blessing, wine, milk, abundance of oxen, geese, and clothes in offering to the devoted to Osiris, (in Abydos?) the constable of the palace, Sevek Re, the son of ......,* and to his wife, who loves him, Tesenofre." Both these personages are represented immediately below, seated before an altar piled with offerings.

The other inscription is an act of adoration to Sev or Saturn, the father of Osiris, accompanied with the same prayers, that in acceptance of the offerings of the deceased, he would give a mansion of bliss, with abundance of wine, milk, meat, bread, clothes, etc., to the devoted to Osiris, the constable of the palace, Saotph, the son of Tesenofre, and therefore also the son of Sevek Re, and, according to the never-varying custom of Egypt, the successor to his dignity. The wife of Saotph who loves him is Es-onk, the daughter of Erpet. This last name Erpet is also that of some unknown quadruped.

In the middle, between the two couples whose bodies were deposited in the tomb, is a representation of the rich offering, the particulars of which, on the preceding tablet, have been already considered. Two tables, each piled with ten loaves of sacred (shew) bread, form the two ex

*The name of the father is uncertain.

tremities of the group. In front is a frame, on which the vessels containing the wine, milk, and other liquid offerings, are symmetrically arranged. Beneath this is a large ear of Egyptian corn. The heads of two oxen dressed are piled upon a mat, with the livers of the same animals. This mat is really on the same plane with the bottle frame and the feet of the altars. That it is not placed upon the vases (see engraving) is sufficiently indicated by the space between them, which was the conventional mode with the Egyptians of distinguishing between objects on the same plane, and objects piled upon one another. By this we also understand that the branches of lotus flowers, and the thighs of the ox, which appear above the shew-bread, are really on the floor. This is also the case with the two kidneys and some others of the viscera, which appear in the centre, between the two altars, and are surmounted by a goose. All these are intended to be arranged round the altars. They are placed in their present position for the sake of a certain compactness of the whole effect, which the Egyptians evidently greatly admired.

This tablet was the stone which closed the aperture of the tomb in which were deposited the mummies of Sevek Re and Saotph his son, who successively held the office of constable of the palace at Abydos. Saotph died in the eighteenth year of Amenumis 1.

The tablet on the next page is of the same period as the former one, and does not yield to it either in perfectness of preservation, or elaborate beauty of execution. It is, like the former, a tomb-stone, and commences with the usual formula: -"An act of adoration to Osiris, the lord of Tatou,* he who

*That is, of the region of stability.

is in the Amenti, ruling in the upper region, great god, lord of Abydos.* May he give a house of blessing, wine, milk, abundance of oxen, geese, clothes, and all other good and pure blessings, with the life divine, to him who is over the south, loving his master (the king) attached to the charge of him; the constable of the palace, Si-Hathor." This is the personage who is seated on the double throne or sofa. The female who is seated at his side, with one arm upon his shoulder, is "his wife who loves him, Shoi-on," which is a name of Cephrenes. Probably she was descended from the Pharaoh of that name, by whom the second pyramid was built, and therefore had taken his name. The aversion to change as to all things in Egypt extended even to names, which seldom varied in the same family. Underneath the throne is a mirror, in its case, the constant companion of ladies of high rank.

Before this pair stands an altar, with the offerings named in the inscription, which are presented to their deceased parents by three of their sons. The name of the eldest, who was full grown at the death of his father, and inherited his title of constable of the palace, is not very intelligible. That of his second brother, apparently a boy of fourteen, was Simonthou. He is represented with a flower and an ear of corn in one hand, in the other he holds a live duck by the neck. The youngest brother's name, an infant, who is offering two vases, and apparently stands under the altar, was Egorem..f. This group represents the dedica

Osiris was especially worshipped at Abydos. fable preserved by Plutarch, his body was buried.

It was there that according to the

The remains of the temples show

that the Triad worshipped at Abydos was Osiris, Isis, and Horus.