370 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XV. 



It was placed before the Deity in vases of ala- 

 baster or other materials 

 as a gift, which he was 

 represented to receive 

 with the promise of a 

 suitable return to the 

 donor ; the name of the 

 God . to whom it was 

 vowed being engraved 



No. 480. Preparing to anoint. Thebes. Upon tllC VaSCS that COU- 



tained it. Sometimes the king or priest took out a 

 certain portion to anoint the statue of the Deity, 

 which was done with the little finger of the right 

 hand.* Macrobiust says, "Those Egyptian priests, 

 who were called prophets, when engaged in the 

 temple near the altars of the Gods, moistened the 

 ring-finger of the left hand (which was that next 

 to the smallest) with various sweet ointments, in 

 the belief that a certain nerve communicated with 

 it from the heart." But this probably refers to 

 some other religious custom, since it is not likely 

 that the left hand would be employed to anoint the 

 statues of the Gods ; and the sculptures abundantly 

 show that the ceremony was performed as here 

 represented. 



Ointment often formed part of a large donation, 

 and always entered into the list of those things 

 which constituted the complete set of offerings 



* The notion of superiority attached to the right hand was always re- 

 markable, and is now scnipidou.sly maintained in the East. It calls to 

 mind one of the precepts of Pythagoras, " Take off your right shoe 

 first, but put your left foot first into the bath." Vide Plate 77. part 2. 



-j- Macrob. Saturn, vii. p. 270. 



