Chapter 43 (part 104)

Punt , the tropical district which lay to the south and east of Egypt, and which included probably a part of the Arabian peninsula and the eastern coast of Africa along and south of Somali land. Re-stau , or a name given to the passages in the tomb which lead from this to the other world; originally it designated the cemetery of Abydos only, and its god was Osiris. Sa , the Saïs of the Greeks ({Greek Sa'ïs }, Strabo, XVII. i., 23), the metropolis of the fifth nome of Lower Egypt, and the seat of the worship of the goddess Neith. Sekhem , the Letopolis of the Greeks, and capital of the Letopolites nome (Strabo, XVII., i., 30); it was the seat of the worship of Heru-ur, "Horus the elder," and one of the most important religious centres in Egypt. Sekhet-Aanru , the "Field of the Aanru plants," was a name originally given to the islands in the Delta where the souls of the dead were supposed to live. Here was the abode of the god Osiris, who bestowed estates in it upon those who had been his followers, and here the beatified dead led a new existence and regaled themselves upon food of every kind, which was given to them in abundance. According to the vignette of the CXth Chapter of the Book of the Dead, the Sekhet-Aanru is the third division of the Sekhet-hetepu, or "Fields of Peace," which have been compared with the Elysian Fields of the Greeks. Set Amentet , i.e. , "the mountain of the underworld," a common name of the cemetery, which was usually situated in the mountains or desert on the western bank of the Nile. Suten-henen , more correctly Henen-su, the metropolis of the twentieth nome of Upper Egypt, called by the Greeks Heracleopolis Magna (Strabo, XVI I., i., 35). The Hebrews mention the city (###, Isaiah xxx., 4) Hanes as the representative of Upper Egypt, and in Coptic times it was still of considerable size and importance; the Copts and Arabs have preserved the ancient name of the city under the forms ### and ###. Ahnas . Tanenet , a district sacred to the gods Osiris and Ptah; it was probably situated near Memphis. Ta-sert , or Ta-tchesertet, a common name for the tomb. Tep , a district of the town Per-Uatchet, the Buto of the Greeks (Strabo, XVII., i., 18), which was situated in the Delta. Tettet , a name given both to the metropolis[1] of the ninth nome and to the chief city[2] of the sixteenth nome of Lower Egypt. Tuat , a common name for the abode of the departed. [1. I.e. , Pa-Aushr, or Per-Aushr, the Busiris of the Greeks. 2. I.e. , Ba-neb-Tettet, the Mendes of the Greeks.] FUNERAL CEREMONIES. In illustration of the ceremonies which accompanied the burial of the dead the reader will find extracts from different texts printed in the Appendix on p. 264 ff. To these may be added an extract from the curious ritual which was in vogue in the Vth and VIth dynasties, and which commemorated the ceremonies which were performed for the god Osiris. It is to be noticed how closely the deceased is identified with Osiris, the type of incorruptibility. Osiris takes upon himself "all that is hateful" in the dead : that is, he adopts the burden of his sins; and the dead is purified by the typical sprinkling of water.