The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-01-17

BY JOE COLLIER

bI JUE NOLLlEh
CTANDING bolt upright
in the Egyptian room at
the Heron Art Institute is
a mummy, and it's no won
der! When they buried him
lots of years ago they
buried also, in the same
tomb, a cat, a falcon, some
jewelry, a statue of Osiris
and a crocodile named
Sebek. He's never learned
to relax since then!
Moreover, they put in the tomb
a book of the dead, containing so
many instructions as to what the
deceased should do to come out
all right, that it was considered
highly improbable that he could
IeIilcIHDeT tIleW all.
Apparently they did not real
ize that it would be awkward for
the mummy to read the instruc-
tions and stuffy for him to eat
the wheat and drink the wines
they also included in the tomb.
They wanted him to be amply
provided for, and in order that he
might have counsel in that, his
hour Of greatest need, they some
times included statue of a court
Official Court officials themselves
generally were too busy to go in
person.
60 there is the mummy, stand
~ ing at attention, and around
him in the display cases are the
hawk and crocodile mummies, the
statue of the court official, the
costume jewelry, and the statue
of Osiris.
The court official is taken from
a tomb near the great pyramids
and we might as well imagine the
other items are too. If they
weren't in his tomb, they were in
some other Egyptians, and one
of them would feel about the
same way about the matter as
another.
What probably happened, as
you can find out in the reference
books in the museums library,
was that an important Egyptian
died, and his family got busy.
They called the family cat, with
their tongue III their cheek, and
killed it. The cats spirit was
supposed to be very important
factor in the well-being of the
mans spirit.
Then the family called the
hawk and killed it. Most hawks
were named Horus. The hawk,
and if there was a crocodile
named Sebek around, were mumi-
fed. Generally the cat was not.
THESE and the wheat and the
l. wine and the statue of the
court official and the statue of
Osiris were put in the tomb, to-
gether with papa Egyptian, and the
tomb was closed and every one
hoped for the best
There's no way of knowing for
sure, but it is the belief of the ex-
plorers who dug up the things the
Heron Museum now exhibits that
the mummies and the statues
were in approximately the same
places wnen they found them as
when they were put there.
Some of them are missing, to be
sure. The most important kings
built pyramids for themselves. Or
rather they had their subjects
toll all their lives to put the huge
things together.
The great pyramid, for instance
is named Cheops and is 750 feet
long to the side, $50 feet high,
covers 10 acres and weighs about
100000 tons.
u
THIS was supposed to seal the
i body of a great king from his
enemies who had seemed to have
an uncomfortable desire to throw
it into the Nile. They did, any
way.
Be that as it may, the story OF
Osiris has it an entirely different
way, and it's we'll to have two
sides to the thing. In fact, this
is why Osiris was put there in the
first place.
1t seems that Osiris was the
son Of the god Geb, who was the
earth, and the goddess Nouit, who
was the Heaven. He succeeded his
father on the throne of the Two
Egypts because Geb and his two
antecedents, Ra, creator of the
world, and Shou, were tired of the
ways of man and retired to
Heaven.
Ra and Shou and Geb couldn't
get over the wickedness of men
who, knowing nothing of vegeta-
bles, cereals or wines, ate each