WONDERFUL RELIC OF EGYPT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3715, 28 December 1912, Page 10

WONDERFUL RELIC OF EGYPT.

3000- Y EAR-OLD THEOLOGICAL DISPUTE.

The already magnificent collection of Egyptian papyri in the British Museum has been still further enriched by the gift of Mrs. Mary Greenfield of a splendid Theban version of tlie Book of the Dead of the period of the New Empire, 10C0 B.C. The papyrs, Avhich measures 123 ft in length and about ISin. in width, Avas found betAveen IS7I and 1881 in the hiding-place of the royal mummies at Dier-el-Behari. The lady, for, or by, Avhom the papyrus Avas Avritten was named Nesi-ta-nebt Asheru,” “She who belongs to the Lady of Asher,” that is the goddess Mut of Thebes. She Avas a princess, being the daughter of the last of the priest kings of the 21st dynasty, Painetchem 11., by his niece, the grand priestess queen Nesi-Khensu, a lady avlio held the highest sacred and secular offices. Tlie mummified forms of Painetchem 11., Nesi-Khensu, and the lady of this papyrus can all be seen in the royal saloon of the Cairo Museum, a fact Avhich has a very personal interest to the document now described. The popyrus as beautifully Avritten, in a small but A-ery clear hieratic script, and some of’ the chapters are given both in hieratic and hieroglyphic. A PATHETIC PICTURE.

The vignettes Avhich accompany and illustrate the chapters and selections are so finely drawn and often so pa-ti.-etic in' incident —such, for example, as the anxiojs figure of the princess, with her hair loose, Avatehing the weighing of her- heart, or standing neiore the Hal. of Osiris —as to suggest comparison with, the work of the best artists of Japan. The way in Avhich the author has selected the chapters from the old Theban version of the ’Book of the Dead shows a thorough knOAvledge of the theology of the period, and the beauty of the neAV-ly-published hymns and litanies to Osiris, Atom, and Harmachis show the mind of a pious and highly-edu-cated person. , The whole of the huge papyrus is clearly in one handwriting, a rather small feminine hand, and avc learn ijoin the papyrus that the lady held t 'io title of “Worker or Maker of 1 e R-hs 10-. ks, of Amen-Ra, King of the G' ds ’ She Avas also a musician, being called “Singer of the Quarter of Mut Lady or Asher.” In addition, she Avas a priestess of Amen, and “Chief Lady of the Ladies of AmenRa” —that is head of the female section of the confraternity of the great Theban god.

What manner of woman Avas this Theban authoress? This question can fortunately he " answered, for her mummy at Cairo has been unrolled, and her face is Avell preseiwecl. The face is small, Avith AA-ell-sliaped forehead ; the hair is dark brown and Avavy, the eye-lashes abundant, and the false eyes of dim broAvn, which replace the real, are probably the same color as those, of her lifetime. From the condition of the teeth she Avas at death betAveen 35 and 40, and about oft bin in height. The documents belong to a period of great religious controversy in Egypt. The priests of Amen bad by every possible means sought to elevate their divinity about all the other gods, and to obliterate as much as, possible the creed of Osiris. In the papyrus of this lady’s mother, the Queen Nesi-Khenui, all the functions of Osiris are usurped by Amen. Here the authoress has been most diplomatic, and proA'ed herself a theologian of no mean order. She blends, as it Avere, Osiris and Amen. They become aspects ' or. phases of each other, and so, as DrAßudge-(Keeper of the Egyptian department of the British Museum) says, she is able to believe that the “hidden” creative power which Avas materialised in Amen avsis only another form of the new birth and resurrection Avhich Avas typified by. Osiris.