Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 13

Literature -- Collections

"It was not uncommon to keep the mummies in the house, ... and
    Damascenius relates that they sometimes introduced them at the
    table, as though they could enjoy their society.... Many months
    often elapsed between the ceremony of embalming and the actual
    burial.... It was during this interval that feasts were held in
    honor of the dead, to which the friends and relations were
    invited. On these occasions they dined together and enjoyed the
    same festivities as when invited to a repast, the guests being
    in like manner anointed and bedecked with flowers and presented
    with other tokens of welcome usual at an Egyptian party, and it
    was principally at this [Greek: nekrodeipnon] that I suppose the
    introduction of the mummy to have taken place."

    "Manners and Customs of Ancient Egyptians."--_Wilkinson._]



INSCRIPTION OF UNA

     [It is interesting to compare the inscription of Piankhy with
     an example of the historical texts of the Old Kingdom. Only two
     are known of any considerable length, and the following is one
     of them. The biographical inscription of Una, administrator of
     Upper Egypt, takes one back to 3000 B.C., when almost the only
     great monuments in Egypt were the pyramids, to the number of
     which each successive king added.

     The inscription was found on a slab in the great cemetery of
     Abydos, and is now in the Gizeh Museum. The style is somewhat
     arid, but attracts by its primitive and simple character.]

     [Una's youth under King Teta, founder of the VIth Dynasty.]

[Una saith] I was tying the girdle,[185] under the majesty of Teta. My
grade was that of superintendent of stores, and I acted as overseer of
the garden of Pharaoh.

     [Una appointed pyramid priest and then judge by Pepy I. He
     assists at trials in the royal harim.]

[I was] chief of the _debat_ [?] city . . . under the majesty of Pepy:
his Majesty put me into the position of royal friend and superintendent
of the priests of his pyramid city.[186]

Behold I was ... and his Majesty appointed me judge, and his heart was
satisfied with me more than with any of his servants: I heard cases
alone with the chief justice and vizier in every secret proceeding [of
the palace?] ... in the name of the King, of the royal _harim_ and of
the six great houses,[187] because the King's heart was satisfied with
me more than with any of his officers, of his nobles, or of his
servants.

     [Royal present of a sarcophagus, etc., from the limestone
     quarries of Turra.]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

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Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 13

Literature -- Collections

"It was not uncommon to keep the mummies in the house, ... and
    Damascenius relates that they sometimes introduced them at the
    table, as though they could enjoy their society.... Many months
    often elapsed between the ceremony of embalming and the actual
    burial.... It was during this interval that feasts were held in
    honor of the dead, to which the friends and relations were
    invited. On these occasions they dined together and enjoyed the
    same festivities as when invited to a repast, the guests being
    in like manner anointed and bedecked with flowers and presented
    with other tokens of welcome usual at an Egyptian party, and it
    was principally at this [Greek: nekrodeipnon] that I suppose the
    introduction of the mummy to have taken place."

    "Manners and Customs of Ancient Egyptians."--_Wilkinson._]



INSCRIPTION OF UNA

     [It is interesting to compare the inscription of Piankhy with
     an example of the historical texts of the Old Kingdom. Only two
     are known of any considerable length, and the following is one
     of them. The biographical inscription of Una, administrator of
     Upper Egypt, takes one back to 3000 B.C., when almost the only
     great monuments in Egypt were the pyramids, to the number of
     which each successive king added.

     The inscription was found on a slab in the great cemetery of
     Abydos, and is now in the Gizeh Museum. The style is somewhat
     arid, but attracts by its primitive and simple character.]

     [Una's youth under King Teta, founder of the VIth Dynasty.]

[Una saith] I was tying the girdle,[185] under the majesty of Teta. My
grade was that of superintendent of stores, and I acted as overseer of
the garden of Pharaoh.

     [Una appointed pyramid priest and then judge by Pepy I. He
     assists at trials in the royal harim.]

[I was] chief of the _debat_ [?] city . . . under the majesty of Pepy:
his Majesty put me into the position of royal friend and superintendent
of the priests of his pyramid city.[186]

Behold I was ... and his Majesty appointed me judge, and his heart was
satisfied with me more than with any of his servants: I heard cases
alone with the chief justice and vizier in every secret proceeding [of
the palace?] ... in the name of the King, of the royal _harim_ and of
the six great houses,[187] because the King's heart was satisfied with
me more than with any of his officers, of his nobles, or of his
servants.

     [Royal present of a sarcophagus, etc., from the limestone
     quarries of Turra.]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 13

Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 13

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