Mortuary Offerings

The following inscriptions are "mortuary offerings", formulaic inscriptions associated with burials and meant to assure the deceased of sustenance for eternity in the afterlife. The practice of using these inscriptions developed out of the habit of placing offerings of food items and so forth at the tomb itself; providing an inscription would eliminate the need to offer actual loaves of bread and beer, the words being able to conjure into existence the symbolic sustenance needed by the spirits of the dead.

Look for:

what kinds of benefits are being conferred on the dead?

who is granting these benefits?

what does this suggest about power in Egyptian society? in other words, what does this tell us about how Egyptians perceived the role of the king: what kind of leadership does he provide for his people?

1: an Inscription in the Giza Mastaba (bench-shaped tomb) of Princess Ni-Sedjer-Kai, early 5th Dynasty:

"An offering which the king gives and Anubis, lord of the necropolis, first of the godÕs hall: May she be buried in the western necropolis at great old age. May she travel on the good ways on which a revered one travels well. May offerings be given to her on New YearÕs festival, the Thoth festival, the First of the Year festival, the wag-festival, the Sokar festival, the Great Flame festival, the Brazier festival, the Procession-of-Min festival, the monthly sadj-festival, the Beginning of the Month festival, the Beginning of the Half-Month festival, every festival, every day, to the royal daughter, the royal ornament, priestess of Hathor, priestess of Khufu, Ni-Sedjer-Kai".

2: sections of the Pyramid Texts (1)

"Utterance 172: A boon which the king and Geb (2) grant to this King; there is given to you every offering and every oblation which you can desire, whereby It will be well with you before the god for ever and ever.

Utterance 437: A boon which the King grants, a boon which Anubis grants, your thousand of bread, your thousand of beer, your thousand of t-wr-bread which came forth from the Broad Hall, your thousand of all sweet things, your thousand of oxen, your thousand of everything which you eat and on which you set your heart.

Utterance 599: A boon which the King grants and Geb grants of these choice joints, invocation offerings for all gods who shall bring into being all good things for the King and who shall cause to endure this construction and this pyramid of the King, in accordance with what the King wishes in the matter, for ever and ever. O all you gods who shall cause this pyramid and this construction of the King to be fair and endure: You shall be effective, you shall be strong, you shall have your souls, you shall have power, you shall have given to you a boon which the king grants of bread and beer, oxen and fowl, clothing and alabaster; you shall receive your godÕs-offerings, you shall choose for yourselves your choice joints, you shall have your oblations made to you, you shall take possession of the Wrrt-crown in the midst of the Two Enneads (3)."

3: Stela of Sahathor, a highly placed administrator in the 12th Dynasty (Middle Kingdom)

"An offering-which-the-king-gives to Osiris, lord of Busiris, the great god, lord of Abydos, an invocation offering of bread and beer, flesh and fowl, alabaster and linen, incense and unguent, at the Wag festival, at the festival of Thoth, at the procession of Min(?), at the Burnt Offerings. O you living who are upon earth, who shall pass by this chapel in the necropolis, going north, going south, may you say 'It is pure! A thousand of bread, a thousand of beer, a thousand of flesh and fowl, oryx and gazelle, and everything on which a god lives, for the spirit of the blessed one, the assistant treasurer Sahathor, true of voice.'"

4: Tomb of Paheri at el-Kab, New Kingdom period:

"An offering given by the King to Amun, Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands, King of eternity, lord of everlastingnessÉ.and Nekhbet, the White one of NekhenÉand Osiris Khentamentiu, Lord of Thinis, great in Abydos, and Hathor, mistress of the desertÉ.and Ptah-Sokar, lord of Shetyt, Anubis, lord of Rostau, and the Enneads great and small, May they give a thousand of bread, beer, beef and fowl, a thousand of food-offerings, a thousand of drink-offerings, all the plants that sprout from earth, a thousand of all things good and pure, that are offered to the eternal lord."