392 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XVI. 



torn that the Hebrew legislator had in view when 

 he introduced this wise prohibition. 



Though the privilege of keeping a mummy in 

 the house was sanctioned by law and custom, care 

 was always taken to assign some plausible reason 

 for it, since they deemed it a great privilege to be 

 admitted to the repositories of the dead, as their 

 final resting-place. To be debarred from the rites 

 of burial reflected a severe disgrace upon the whole 

 family ; and the most influential individual could 

 not be admitted to the very tomb he had built for 

 himself, until acquitted before that tribunal which 

 sat to judge his conduct during life. 



In cases of debt, a certain law, enacted, according 

 to Herodotus, by King Asychis, subjected the tomb 

 to a claim from the creditors of the deceased, who 

 had the right to prevent the body of a debtor from 

 being buried with his fathers ; and this law even put 

 the former in possession of the family sepulchre. * 



THE TOMBS. 



The tombs of the rich consisted of one or more 

 chambers, ornamented with paintings and sculp- 

 ture, the plans and size of which depended on the 

 expense incurred by the fomily of the deceased, or 

 on the wishes of the individuals who purchased 

 them during their lifetime. They were the pro- 

 perty of the priests t; and a sufficient number 



* This lias been already mentioned among the laws of the Egyp- 

 tians. Vol. TI. p. f)]. 



■f Vide supra, Vol. I. p. 93.; and inj'rn, p. .'J9(i. 



