The Treasury of Ancient Egypt: Miscellaneous Chapters on Ancient Egyptian History and ArchaeologyWeigall, Arthur E. P. Brome (Arthur Edward Pearse Brome)
History
The Treasury of Ancient Egypt: Miscellaneous Chapters on Ancient Egyptian History and Archaeology
Weigall, Arthur E. P. Brome (Arthur Edward Pearse Brome)
Archaeology; Egypt -- Antiquities
Imagine entering a town house which had been closed for the summer:
imagine the stuffy room, the stiff, silent appearance of the furniture,
the feeling that some ghostly occupants of the vacant chairs have just
been disturbed, the desire to throw open the windows to let life into
room once more. That was perhaps the first sensation as we stood, really
dumfounded, and stared around at the relics of the life of over three
thousand years ago, all of which were as new almost as when they graced
the palace of Prince Yuaa. Three arm-chairs were perhaps the first
objects to attract the attention: beautiful carved wooden chairs,
decorated with gold. Belonging to one of these was a pillow made of down
and covered with linen. It was so perfectly preserved that one might
have sat upon it or tossed it from this chair to that without doing it
injury. Here were fine alabaster vases, and in one of these we were
startled to find a liquid, like honey or syrup, still unsolidified by
time. Boxes of exquisite workmanship stood in various parts of the room,
some resting on delicately wrought legs. Now the eye was directed to a
wicker trunk fitted with trays and partitions, and ventilated with
little apertures, since the scents were doubtless strong. Two most
comfortable beds were to be observed, fitted with springy string
mattresses and decorated with charming designs in gold. There in the far
corner, placed upon the top of a number of large white jars, stood the
light chariot which Yuaa had owned in his lifetime. In all directions
stood objects gleaming with gold undulled by a speck of dust, and one
looked from one article to another with the feeling that the entire
human conception of Time was wrong. These were the things of yesterday,
of a year or so ago. Why, here were meats prepared for the feasts in the
Underworld; here were Yuaa's favourite joints, each neatly placed in a
wooden box as though for a journey. Here was his staff, and here were
his sandals,--a new pair and an old. In another corner there stood the
magical figures by the power of which the prince was to make his way
through Hades. The words of the mystical "Chapter of the Flame" and of
the "Chapter of the Magical Figure of the North Wall" were inscribed
upon them; and upon a great roll of papyrus twenty-two yards in length
other efficacious prayers were written.
But though the eyes passed from object to object, they ever returned to
the two lidless gilded coffins in which the owners of this room of the
dead lay as though peacefully sleeping. First above Yuaa and then above
his wife the electric lamps were held, and as one looked down into their
quiet faces there was almost the feeling that they would presently open
their eyes and blink at the light. The stern features of the old man
commanded one's attention, again and again our gaze was turned from this
mass of wealth to this sleeping figure in whose honour it had been
placed here.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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