The Story of Mankind [11]
the members of his tribe, the Egyptian peasant or the
inhabitant of the Egyptian city found himself possessed of a
certain leisure. He used this spare time to make himself many
things that were merely ornamental and not in the least bit
useful.
More than that. One day he discovered that his brain was
capable of thinking all kinds of thoughts which had nothing
to do with the problems of eating and sleeping and finding a
home for the children. The Egyptian began to speculate upon
many strange problems that confronted him. Where did the
stars come from? Who made the noise of the thunder which
frightened him so terribly? Who made the River Nile rise
with such regularity that it was possible to base the calendar
upon the appearance and the disappearance of the annual
floods? Who was he, himself, a strange little creature surrounded
on all sides by death and sickness and yet happy and
full of laughter?
He asked these many questions and certain people obligingly
stepped forward to answer these inquiries to the best of
their ability. The Egyptians called them ``priests'' and they
became the guardians of his thoughts and gained great respect
in the community. They were highly learned men who were
entrusted with the sacred task of keeping the written records.
They understood that it is not good for man to think only of
his immediate advantage in this world and they drew his attention
to the days of the future when his soul would dwell
beyond the mountains of the west and must give an account
of his deeds to Osiris, the mighty God who was the Ruler of
the Living and the Dead and who judged the acts of men
according to their merits. Indeed, the priests made so much
of that future day in the realm of Isis and Osiris that the
Egyptians began to regard life merely as a short preparation
for the Hereafter and turned the teeming valley of the Nile
into a land devoted to the Dead.
In a strange way, the Egyptians had come to believe that
no soul could enter the realm of Osiris without the possession
of the body which had been its place of residence in this world.
Therefore as soon as a man was dead his relatives took his
corpse and had it embalmed. For weeks it was soaked in a
solution of natron and then it was filled with pitch. The
Persian word for pitch was ``Mumiai'' and the embalmed body
was called a ``Mummy.'' It was wrapped in yards and yards
of specially prepared linen and it was placed in a specially
prepared coffin ready to be removed to its final home. But
an Egyptian grave was a real home where the body was surrounded
by pieces of furniture and musical instruments (to
while away the dreary hours of waiting) and by little statues
of cooks and bakers and barbers (that the occupant of this
dark home might be decently provided with food and need not
go about unshaven).
Originally these graves had been dug into the rocks of the
western mountains but as the Egyptians moved northward
they were obliged to build their cemeteries in the desert. The
desert however is full of wild animals and equally wild robbers
and they broke into the graves and disturbed the mummy or
stole the jewelry that had been buried with the body. To prevent
such unholy desecration the Egyptians used to build small
mounds of stones on top of the graves. These little mounds
gradually grew in size, because the rich people built higher
mounds than the poor and there was a good deal of competition
to see who could make the highest hill of stones. The
record was made by King Khufu, whom the Greeks called
Cheops and who lived thirty centuries before our era. His
mound, which the Greeks called a pyramid (because the
Egyptian word for high was pir-em-us) was over five hundred
feet high.
It covered more than thirteen acres of desert which is three
times as much space as that occupied by the church of St.
Peter, the largest edifice of the Christian world.
inhabitant of the Egyptian city found himself possessed of a
certain leisure. He used this spare time to make himself many
things that were merely ornamental and not in the least bit
useful.
More than that. One day he discovered that his brain was
capable of thinking all kinds of thoughts which had nothing
to do with the problems of eating and sleeping and finding a
home for the children. The Egyptian began to speculate upon
many strange problems that confronted him. Where did the
stars come from? Who made the noise of the thunder which
frightened him so terribly? Who made the River Nile rise
with such regularity that it was possible to base the calendar
upon the appearance and the disappearance of the annual
floods? Who was he, himself, a strange little creature surrounded
on all sides by death and sickness and yet happy and
full of laughter?
He asked these many questions and certain people obligingly
stepped forward to answer these inquiries to the best of
their ability. The Egyptians called them ``priests'' and they
became the guardians of his thoughts and gained great respect
in the community. They were highly learned men who were
entrusted with the sacred task of keeping the written records.
They understood that it is not good for man to think only of
his immediate advantage in this world and they drew his attention
to the days of the future when his soul would dwell
beyond the mountains of the west and must give an account
of his deeds to Osiris, the mighty God who was the Ruler of
the Living and the Dead and who judged the acts of men
according to their merits. Indeed, the priests made so much
of that future day in the realm of Isis and Osiris that the
Egyptians began to regard life merely as a short preparation
for the Hereafter and turned the teeming valley of the Nile
into a land devoted to the Dead.
In a strange way, the Egyptians had come to believe that
no soul could enter the realm of Osiris without the possession
of the body which had been its place of residence in this world.
Therefore as soon as a man was dead his relatives took his
corpse and had it embalmed. For weeks it was soaked in a
solution of natron and then it was filled with pitch. The
Persian word for pitch was ``Mumiai'' and the embalmed body
was called a ``Mummy.'' It was wrapped in yards and yards
of specially prepared linen and it was placed in a specially
prepared coffin ready to be removed to its final home. But
an Egyptian grave was a real home where the body was surrounded
by pieces of furniture and musical instruments (to
while away the dreary hours of waiting) and by little statues
of cooks and bakers and barbers (that the occupant of this
dark home might be decently provided with food and need not
go about unshaven).
Originally these graves had been dug into the rocks of the
western mountains but as the Egyptians moved northward
they were obliged to build their cemeteries in the desert. The
desert however is full of wild animals and equally wild robbers
and they broke into the graves and disturbed the mummy or
stole the jewelry that had been buried with the body. To prevent
such unholy desecration the Egyptians used to build small
mounds of stones on top of the graves. These little mounds
gradually grew in size, because the rich people built higher
mounds than the poor and there was a good deal of competition
to see who could make the highest hill of stones. The
record was made by King Khufu, whom the Greeks called
Cheops and who lived thirty centuries before our era. His
mound, which the Greeks called a pyramid (because the
Egyptian word for high was pir-em-us) was over five hundred
feet high.
It covered more than thirteen acres of desert which is three
times as much space as that occupied by the church of St.
Peter, the largest edifice of the Christian world.