Sacred Texts  Egypt  Index  Previous  Next 

THE NINTH CEREMONY.

The first object presented to the mummy after the opening of the mouth was sel, or ser, which has been translated both by "butter" and "cheese." The Vignette represents the SEM priest offering a vessel with four balls, or round cakes, of some substance in it,

 


The Sem priest presenting cheese.

 

and, when we remember that the Egyptians have never made butter in our sense of the word, we are justified in accepting Dümichen's rendering of "cheese." 1 Whilst the four cakes of cheese were being offered, the Kher heb said the following words:--

"O Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been presented

p. 68

unto thee, and with it the god passeth (or, cometh); I have brought it unto thee: place thou it in thy mouth."


Footnotes

67:1 The Egyptian is probably the original of the Coptic ; compare Genesis xviii. 8 (ed. Ciasca, p. 18).


Next: The Tenth Ceremony