EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY. 47 
soul had to undergo before it could enter the place of eternal rest; others 
say it was done in consequence of a belief that the soul could preserve its 
individuality only as long as the body preserved its own, and that as soon 
as the latter had returned to its native dust, the former was compelled to 
commence its transmigration through the bodies of the inferior animals, 
and continue it for three thousand years, at the end of which period it was 
permitted to enter again a human body. 
They believed firmly in a rigid judgment beyond the tomb, for they 
thought that shortly after the separation of the soul from the body, the 
former, before it could enter into the peaceful realm of the departed, had to 
appear before Osiris, the stern judge of the lower world. Here its life 
upon earth underwent a close scrutiny, and according to the degree of its 
past piety or wickedness was the amount of reward or punishment awarded 
to if. | 
PI. 9, fig. 10, is a picture of this tribunal of the dead, as described by 
the ancient Egyptians. To the left, which appears to be the entrance to 
the judgment-hall, is a group of three persons; the one nearest to the 
entrance appears to be a priestess, who prays jointly with the figure before 
her, that of a departed soul, that the latter might be permitted to present 
itself before the god who is seated in the back-ground upon the judge’s 
throne. These prayers are evidently addressed to the female who confronts 
them, and whose attributes indicate that it is Isis. Behind this goddess 
are the immense scales in which the deeds of man are weighed. They are 
attended by two persons, one with a hawk’s head, and the other with that 
of a jackal, who seeks to steady them. These attendants are probably only 
representations of the same divinity in different capacities. Above the 
centre of the beam is a figure with a dog’s head, probably intended for 
Anubis, accompanied on each side by aminiature sphinx. <A weight similar 
to the one in the scale hangs down from the beam; and in the scale to the 
right is a substance somewhat resembling a plant. Immediately behind 
the scales stand the divine scribe Thot or Hermes, with the head of the 
Ibis, engaged in noting down the result of the inquiry as ascertained by 
the scales. In front of the scribe we see Harpocrates seated on a crook, in 
one hand a flail, and in the other a small crook; and upon the altar sits a 
monster with the body of a lion and the head of a boar, almost in contact 
with the lotus, upon whose leaves four mummy-like figures are seen, one 
with the head of a man, another with that of a dog, the third with a 
jackal’s, and the fourth with a hawk’s head. The last figure in the picture 
is Osiris upon his throne, the crook in his right and the flail in his left 
hand; and before him, hovering in the air, a little animal like a horse, with 
the head severed from the trunk, and the latter transfixed by a spear. 
Though it cannot be denied that every explanation given of this symbolic 
picture must be the result of mere conjecture, yet it is certain that it was 
intended to convey the idea that there is another life beyond the grave, 
where every one will meet with a just reward for the deeds done in the 
body. 
6. Taz Apraxas. Before we conclude the Mythology of the Egyptians, 
267 
