Both in the temples and hypogeums, the statues of private persons
were intended to serve as a support to the soul. The consecration
they received animated them, so to speak, and made them substitutes
for the defunct: the offerings destined for the other world were
served to them. The tomb of a rich man possessed a veritable chapel
to which a special body of priests was attached, formed of _hon-ka_
or _priests of the double_. At the sacramental festivals the _priests
of the double_ performed the necessary rites, they looked after the
upkeep of the edifice and administered its revenues. The statues of the
towns themselves demanded particular care. Indeed, the clergy of the
temple in which they were placed claimed their part in the advantages
derived from ancestor worship: veritable acts of donation were drawn
up in their favour, in which were specified the part they were to
play in the ceremonies, the quantity of the offerings that fell to
their share for the service rendered, the number of days in the year
consecrated to each statue. “Agreement between Prince Hapi-T’aufi and
the _hour-priests_ of the temple of Anubis, master of Siout, in regard
to one white loaf that each must give to the statue of the prince,
under the hand of the _ka-priest_, the 18th Thot, the day of the
festival of _Ouaga_,[17] and also the gifts which every tomb owes to
its lord; afterwards in regard to the ceremony of kindling the flame,
and the procession that they ought to make with the _ka-priest_ while
he celebrates the service in honour of the defunct, and that they march
to the north corner of the temple on the day of kindling the flame. For
that Hapi-T’aufi gives the _hour-priests_ a bushel of corn from each of
the fields belonging to the tomb, the firstfruits of the harvest of
the prince’s domain, as each commoner in Siout is accustomed to do from
the firstfruits of his harvest, for every peasant always makes a gift
from the firstfruits of his harvest to the temple.”[18] The ceremonial
is set out in detail, and the monument tells us how, and under what
conditions, a dead person is fed in Egypt. The loaves, meat and corn
were placed in front of the statue by the priests: thence they reached
the gods, who, after taking their part, transmitted the rest to the
_double_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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