same time the vizier of southern Egypt. In some places the highest
priests bore special names, such as the _Ouer maa_, "the Great Seer," of
Re in Heliopolis, or the _Khorp himet_, "chief artificer," of the
Memphite Ptah. Women could also hold priestly rank, though apparently in
early times only in the service of goddesses; "priestess of Hathor" is a
frequent title of well-born ladies in the Old Kingdom. At a later date
many wealthy dames held the office of "musicians" (_shemat_) in the
various temples. In the service of the Theban Ammon two priestesses
called "the Adorer of the God" and the "Wife of the God" occupied very
influential positions, and towards the Saite period it was by no means
unusual for the king to secure these offices for his daughters and so to
strengthen his own royal title.

5. _The Dead and their Cult._--While the worship of the gods tended
more and more to become a monopoly of the state and the priests, and
provided no adequate outlet for the religious cravings of the people
themselves, this deficiency was amply supplied by the care which they
bestowed upon their dead: the Egyptians stand alone among the nations of
the world in the elaborate precautions which they took to secure their
own welfare beyond the tomb. The belief in immortality, or perhaps
rather the incapacity to grasp the notion of complete annihilation, is
traceable from the very earliest times: the simplest graves of the
prehistoric period, when the corpses were committed to the earth in
sheepskins and reed mats, seldom lack at least a few poor vases or
articles of toilet for use in the hereafter. In proportion as the
prosperity of the land increased, and the advance of civilization
afforded the technical means, so did these primitive burials give place
to a more lavish funereal equipment. Tombs of brick with a single
chamber were succeeded by tombs of stone with several chambers, until
they really merited the name of "houses of eternity" that the Egyptians
gave to them. The conception of the tomb as the residence of the dead is
the fundamental notion that underlies all the ritual observances in
connexion with the dead, just as the idea of the temple as the
dwelling-place of the god is the basis of the divine cult. The
parallelism between the attitude of the Egyptians towards the dead and
their attitude towards the gods is so striking that it ought never to be
lost sight of: nothing can illustrate it better than the manner in which