MUMMIES. The bodies of the Egyptian dead which were preserved in a mixture of salt, bitumen, cedar oil, &c. The bodies were prepared for embalming by the _parakhistæ_ or _tarakheutæ_, who disemboweled them, wound linen bandages around them, placed with them chapters from the Book of the Dead (which see), and then deposited them in a sarcophagus of stone or wood, according to the means of the deceased. The purpose of this embalming was that the soul, on its return to the earth, would again find its body and reanimate it. Everything was, therefore, done by the ancient {135}Egyptians to protect their mummies against decomposition and robbers, some of the Pharaohs even building the monster-pyramids for their reception. ^{8 33 34} MYCERINUS. The Greek form of the Egyptian MEN-KAU-RÂ, a king of the fourth dynasty and the builder of the third Great Pyramid. His sarcophagus and a part of his mummy are in the British Museum. His name is written [glyphs] SUTEN-KAUT? MEN-KAU-RÂ, "_The king of Upper and Lower Egypt, The Sun, mighty in his works_". ^{91} NAHASB OBELISK. A small and prostrate obelisk about 70 miles south-east of Suez, in the Sinaitic Peninsula. It was discovered by a German traveler in 1817, but nothing further is known of it. The place where it is standing is also called Wâdi Nasb. ^{11} NAPLES OBELISK. It is also called the Borgian Obelisk, having been for a time in the Borgian Museum at Velletri, and was discovered at Prænesté, Italy, in 1791, broken in four pieces. The inscription on it coincides with that of the Albani Obelisk (which see). It is now in the Museo Nazionale at Naples. ^{10} NECROPOLIS. A Greek word meaning "_the city of the dead_", our "cemetery". In Egypt the necropolis was generally a collection of rock-hewn tombs, but always situated to the west of a city toward the setting sun, this being the first station on the road to the Lower World. It is expressed in Egyptian by the sign [glyphs] AA. ^{2 4 5} NECTANEBO I. The Greek name of a king of the XXXth dynasty, who forced the Persian king Artaxerxes II. to relinquish his hold on Egypt and reigned for eighteen years. His Egyptian name is ^{9} suten-kaut? Senezem-ab-sotep-en-Amen-Râ sa Râ {136} The king of Upper "Benevolent, chosen the Sun's and Lower Egypt, of Amen-Râ", offspring, Amen-mer-nekht-Her-heb·t "Beloved of Amen, Nekht-Her-Heb." NEGATIVE CONFESSION. A passage in the 125th chapter of the Book of the Dead, where the deceased gives an account of his life and begs to be admitted into paradise. To that end he states that he has not committed the forty-two great sins. (^{98}) NEITH. The Egyptian goddess of the lower heavens, the sister of Isis and Nephthys. She is generally represented holding a bow and arrows in her hand. The Greeks identified her with their Athêné (Minerva). In Egyptian her name is [glyphs] NET. ^{92}