376 



THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 



CHAP. XV. 



the tail worn by the king taken off and held in 

 his hand, since he is represented wearing it during 

 the ceremony; and it differs* also in form from 

 that portion of the royal dress. 



Sometimes a number of persons are seen beating 

 themselves before the mummy of a dead person, 

 under the usual form of Osiris; and another retires 



holding one or even two 

 of these emblems in his 

 hand. But even this ap- 

 pears to be connected with 

 a libation, which is per- 

 formed in the compartment 



No. 485. Beating themselves. Thebes. ^cloW, aS part of thc SEmC 



solemnity in honour of the deceased. The custom 

 of beating themselves in token of grief is frequently 

 mentioned by Herodotus, who explains t that it 

 was upon the breast, as throughout the East from 

 the earUest times t to the present day ; and this is 

 fully confirmed by the monuments themselves. 

 Another remarkable offering, if indeed it be 

 distinct from the usual censer, is 

 apparently a lamp made of glass, 

 with a wick erect in the middle ; 

 which last is sometimes taken 

 No.48r,. A lamp? Tkcbes. out aud hcld Separately, as 

 though the bearer were about to place it in the 

 vase previous to its being lighted.§ The same 



* In Plate 76. a priest appears to hold a rojal tail in his hand, over 

 a table or stand, during the ceremony of the coronation, 

 f Ilerodot. ii. 85. % Conf. Luke, xxiii. 48. 



^ This wick may have stood iipright in the salt mentioned by Hero- 



