Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF PLATES
- INTRODUCTION. REMARKS UPON EGYPTIAN ART
- CHAPTER 1 TUT-ANKH-AMEN
- CHAPTER 2 THE TOMB AND BURIAL CHAMBER
- CHAPTER 3 CLEARING THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND OPENING THE SARCOPHAGUS
- CHAPTER 4 THE STATE CHARIOTS
- CHAPTER 5 THE OPENING OF THE THREE COFFINS (SEASON 1925–26)
- CHAPTER 6 POINTS OF INTEREST IN EGYPTIAN BURIAL CUSTOMS
- CHAPTER 7 THE EXAMINATION OF THE ROYAL MUMMY
- APPENDICES
- INDEX
- Plate section
- Plate section
CHAPTER 2 - THE TOMB AND BURIAL CHAMBER
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF PLATES
- INTRODUCTION. REMARKS UPON EGYPTIAN ART
- CHAPTER 1 TUT-ANKH-AMEN
- CHAPTER 2 THE TOMB AND BURIAL CHAMBER
- CHAPTER 3 CLEARING THE BURIAL CHAMBER AND OPENING THE SARCOPHAGUS
- CHAPTER 4 THE STATE CHARIOTS
- CHAPTER 5 THE OPENING OF THE THREE COFFINS (SEASON 1925–26)
- CHAPTER 6 POINTS OF INTEREST IN EGYPTIAN BURIAL CUSTOMS
- CHAPTER 7 THE EXAMINATION OF THE ROYAL MUMMY
- APPENDICES
- INDEX
- Plate section
- Plate section
Summary
The fear and awe associated with death were at least as deeply implanted in the minds of the ancient as in those of the modern world. These emotions have reached us through dim ancestral channels, colouring successive mythologies, moulding human conduct, nor have they left Christian theology untouched. At all times and on all races, death has loomed as the most tremendous mystery and the last inevitable necessity that man's obscure destiny must face—and pathetic have been his efforts to throw light on the darkness shrouding his future. His life and art were once mainly concerned with this insoluble problem. Human reason has always attempted to calm human fears; man's mind, yearning and active, has instinctively endeavoured to find in his beliefs solace for them—to call up some protection against the dangers that fill the dark gulf of the Unknown. But one touching glimmer of hope has always shone through the gloom. On the threshold of death he has sought comfort in the love and affection which he hoped would knit him to the living—a natural yearning revealed in ancient burial rituals. It is apparent in the expressed desire—as in Jacob's request to his son—that his bones should be laid amid his kin, and the beloved surroundings of his native land, and the evidence of scientific investigation suggests that the instinct was atavistic in its origin. But from the very earliest times the means of obtaining comfort in this great problem have been modified, whilst fundamental tradition has remained.
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- The Tomb of Tut-Ankh-AmenDiscovered by the Late Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter, pp. 21 - 38Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010