CHAP. XIII. THE WEST. THE ASSESSORS. 7-5 



appear at any time to have been points of religion, 

 at least as regards the position of their sacred 

 buildings, no two of which are made to face ex- 

 actly in the same direction. Nor does his assei'- 

 tion*, that temples were formerly styled tombs, 

 apply to those of the Egyptians. 



The Assessors. 



The number of the Assessors who attended at 

 the final judgment was forty-two. They frequently 

 occur in funereal rituals, on sarcophagi, tombs, 

 and papyri. I have also found them complete t in 

 the side adytum of a temple at Thebes, which, 

 from the subjects there represented, appears to 

 have been appropriated to funereal purposes. Dio- 

 dorus t speaks of ** Osiris and the Assessors seated 

 below him," whose approbation King Osymandyas 

 hoped to obtain after death by his piety, in pre- 

 senting to the Gods of Egypt such offerings as 

 were peculiarly acceptable to them ; and the forty- 

 two judges he mentions §, at the sacred lake of 

 the dead, were a type of those who, in the region 

 of Amenti, pronounced their acquittal or condem- 

 nation of the soul, when it sought admittance to 

 the Regions of the Blessed. 



These Assessors were similar to the bench of 

 judges who attended at the ordinary tribunals of 



* Clem. Orat. Adhort. p. 19. 



f Sometimes only a few are given, as 3, 9, and 12. 



% Diod. i. 49. 92. 



i One reading gives " cvai ttXeiw tojv TiffaapaKoira" i. 92. 



