Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1882-01-26

A''N ANA'N"Ah Va iAh'
after death, which influenced the an
cient Egyptians in the construction o.
their tOmbs, is taken from an illustrat
ed paper on "0ripntal and Early Greel
Sculpture" by Mrs. Lucy NJ. Mitchell
i'll the January Century:
"ln Egypt, from the very earliest
time, the tomb was of the greatest sig
niicance. for sculpture. OF temple ruin
on the Nile, from that hoaries' past
between the First and Eleventh Dynas
ties, there is scarcely a trace. How
vivid the witness borne to the sepul
chral art on the plains of Memphis, the
capital of ancient Egypt. Along the
margin of the desert stretches the vast
Metropolis, with hidden population
of statues, sentineled by those stupen.
dous royal tombs, the Pyramids. Where
else have such preparations been made
for the final rest of the dead as in the
great campo santo of the ancient EN-.
pire?
Though mingled with much that
was naive and material, how vivid
were the conceptions of the ancient
people concerning the future world !
They believed this life but an episode
in an eternal existence. Death to them
was the real life, only evil spirits being
spoken of as dead. The coffin was
called the chest of the living. But to
the ancient Egyptian the immortal
part, even after death, was in some
mysterious way dependent for its con-
tented existence upon the preservation
of the body; hence the Importance of
the care taken to keep the
body as life.like as possible and secure
from harm during the long period of
the souls probation. The eternal
dwellings, hewn in the solid rock, high
above the floods, were in strong con.
trast to the abOdes of the living, built |
within reach of the swelling Nile, and |
Of which scarcely vestige remains.
"The massive chamber of this tomb
where lies the mummy is pictureless,
and its entrance is closed with solid
masonry. From it shaft leads up,
which was at many places thirty meters
ieep, and was filled with a dense mass
'f earth and stone, making more in
'iolate the mummy's rest. Over the
entrance of this shaft there
ises that other essential part of the
omb the sacred chapel (mastaba) of
qually solid construction.
"In dark recess (sordab) aside from
his chapel are found many statues
vailed up These are usually twelve
n number, and represent the deceased
With great diversity, To what pur-
ose are they here? Singular beliefs,
revalent among the Egyptians, and
cad from the hleroglyphics by Maspero,
nrnish us the key to this problem.
"An immortal secohd self, 'ka,'
nm what resembling the 'cidolon' of
he Greeks and he shade of the Rom.
MS, was bel eyed to spring into being
18th every mortal, grow with his Z
rowth,and accompany him after death. l
0 close was the relationsh p of this c
range double, 'ka,' to mans proper I
nng, that it was of the greatest i'm l
Drtance to provide it with a material q
nd imperishable body which it should c
'cupg after death, sharing with the !
ummy the security of the eternal
yelling 1t was believed that the d
Iade, 'ka,' come out of this statue and b
among men in true ghostly $
shion, returning to it at will. This Il
ony body for the dead mans 'ka' was o
Ituraly made in his exact likeness, d
ID also bore an inscription stating his "
me and qualities. But a single stat VI
might perish, and future happiness
thus forfeited. Hence that most o
iiQue feature of Egyptian statuary, yt
e multiplication of the portraits of h,
e deceased in his tomb" ht