6i Rev. Edward Hincks on the Egyptian Stele, or Tablet. 



these characters are wanting after the names of many persons commemorated 

 on tablets, a question arises, whether these tablets were always funereal ; 

 whether they may not, in many instances, have been erected by individuals out 

 of gratitude to the gods, for gifts conferred on them during their lives. That 

 this was the case, in some instances, is highly probable ; but I would by no means 

 affirm that it was the case whenever the characters expressing death were wanting. 

 It is, however, a question, which I do not feel myself called on to decide. One 

 thing appears to me clear ; namely, that the presence or absence of this addition 

 is no criterion of the antiquity of the tablet. 



10. It is otherwise with certain prefixes, which are found on very early and 

 on very recent tablets, immediately after the preposition en, or enkien. Tablets 

 of the Ptolemaic and Roman ages, and, perhaps I should add, tablets sculptured 

 under the latest dynasties, have after this preposition the title " Osiris," which 

 is never found on the more ancient tablets. I do not, by any means, intend to 

 deny that it was customary, in ancient as well as in modern times, for the Egyp- 

 tians to identify deceased persons with Osiris. I am aware that on that most 

 ancient record, the coffin found in the third pyramid, this identification is 

 distinctly made. What I mean to assert is simply this — that the title is not 

 given to deceased persons on ancient tablets. 



11. On the other hand, a title, which I interpret "the blessed," or "favoured," 

 sometimes followed by a preposition, and the name of a deity, is almost pecu- 

 liar to very ancient tablets. Instances, may, perhaps, occur, in which this title 

 may be found on recent ones, or in which it may be wanting on ancient ones ; 

 but we may infer with tolerable certainty, that if this title be found on the stone, 

 it is more ancient than the reign of Amenemhe III., and if it be not found on it, 

 it is of that or some subsequent reign. I would be understood as speaking with 

 the same qualification as I did with respect to the title Osiris. Deceased persons 

 of all ages are spoken of as "blessed," or "possessed of blessing;" but it is only 

 on ancient tablets that gifts are said to be given "to the blessed superintendent," 

 &c., or the like. 



The essential part of the title, to which I allude, is the character. 



representing an object unknown to me. How this character came to signify 



