The following is a remarkable threshing song. Tread ye out w for yourselves (The Coptic word which signifies to tread out is el, probably the sound uttered by the drover; it is here denoted by the letter and a man in the act of driving cattle. twice (that is, this sentence to be sung twice.) the grain (the character is a bushel pouring out grain.) This most ancient labour song is inscribed over a man driving two yoke of oxen, treading out a floor of corn, in a tomb at Elethya. It is evidently the strain or measure usually sung by those engaged in this occupation. The first word, which signifies the act of treading out, is the Coptic word & which has the same meaning, and was probably the sound uttered by the drovers to stimulate these animals. This accounts for the repetition. Like all similar songs in all countries, it is rude and simple; but nevertheless the construction is rhythmical, Tread out for yourselves, O Oxen. Tread out for yourselves, Tread out for yourselves, The Straw; For man, who is your master, The Grain. It might be thus paraphrased in English: Heigh, heigh, Oxen, tread the corn faster; The straw for yourselves, the grain for your master. This simple strain furnishes a pleasing comment upon the Scripture precept regarding this operation of agriculture, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn," Deut. xxv. 4, which is quoted by the apostle Paul, in his first epistle to Timothy, with the addition, “And, the labourer is worthy of his reward." The song before us, as well as the picture that it accompanies, would seem to imply that this merciful injunction was contrary to the custom in Egypt. Col. 1. The Osirian (that is, the deceased) Queen, (Onk-nas, sun with the good-heart,) the truth-teller. The royal daughter of (Psamfetik) the truth-teller. Col. 2. The Osirian (deceased) queen (Onknas, sun with the good heart,) the truth-teller: her mother was the divine queen (Nitocris,) the truth-teller. From the sarcophagus of queen Onk-nas, the sister of the Pharaoh Hophra mentioned in the Scriptures, and the wife of Amasis, by whom that Pharaoh was deposed and ultimately strangled. This sarcophagus was found at Thebes, behind the palace of Luxor, in a pit-vault which had been hewn in the rock to the depth of 125 feet. It had been broken open, and the body taken out and set fire to at a very early period; the half-burnt remains were found close to the sarcophagus. Herodotus mentions that Cambyses, the Persian, violated the tombs both of Amasis and his queen when he conquered Egypt. This interesting monument was found by the officers of the vessel sent from France to convey the obelisk of Luxor to Paris; it is now in the British Museum. Chnumis, or Chubis with the ram's head, is the creative form of Amoun. He is represented in the act of making the mortal part of Osiris out of a lump of clay, in the mystic chamber at Philoe.* * Rosellini M. d. C. pl. 22. លា The following is another specimen : May thy soul attain (come) to Chumis, (one of the forms of Amoun, the [creator.) the creator, (the idea is denoted by a [man building the walls of a city.) of all mankind, (literally men and women.) The clay is placed upon a potter's wheel, which he turns with his foot while he moulds it with his hands. The inscription which accompanies it reads, " Chnum, the creator, on his wheel creates the divine members of Osiris, in the shining house of life," that is, in the disc of the sun. The chamber in which this sculpture occurs represents the embalming and creating anew of the mummy of Osiris, according to a mythological fable, which has been preserved by Plutarch. Osiris was slain by Typhon, the evil principle; cut to pieces, and his members scattered over all Egypt. Isis his wife, and Horus his son, collected them together, embalmed him at Philoe, and buried him at Abydos. |