any unburied body which any one might chance to
meet. This was considered sufficient to appease the infernal gods. The
earliest tomb was the tumulus or mound of earth, heaped over the dead.
It is a form naturally suggested to man in the early stages of his
development. There are two classes of primitive tombs, which are
evidently of the highest antiquity. The _hypergaean_, or raised mounds,
or tumuli, and _hypogaean_, which are subterranean or excavated. The
tumulus may be considered as the most simple and the most ancient form
of sepulture. Its adoption was universal among all primitive nations.
Such was the memorial raised by the Greeks over the bodies of their
heroes. These raised mounds are to be met with in all countries. The
Etruscans improved upon this form by surrounding the base with a
podium, or supporting wall of masonry, as at the Cocumella at Vulci,
and in the Regulini-Galassi tomb. The Lydians adopted a similar
improvement in the tomb of Alyattes, near Sardis. The pyramid, which
is but a further development in stone of this form of sepulture, is
not peculiar to Egypt alone, it has been adopted in several other
countries. Examples of subterranean tombs are to be found in Egypt,
Etruria, Greece. Those of Egypt and Etruria afford instances of
extraordinary labor bestowed in excavating and constructing these
subterranean abodes of the dead. The great reverence paid by the
Egyptians to the bodies of their ancestors, and their careful
preservation of them by embalmment, necessitated a great number and
vast extent of tombs. The Egyptians called their earthly dwellings
inns, because men stay there but a brief while; the tombs of the
departed they called everlasting mansions, because the dead dwelt in
them forever.

The pyramids were tombs. These monuments were the last abode of the
Kings of the early dynasties. They are to be met with in Lower Egypt
alone. The Theban Kings and their subjects erected no pyramids, and
none of their tombs are structural. In Upper Egypt numerous
excavations from the living rock in the mountains of the Thebaid
received their mortal remains. Nothing can exceed the magnificence and
care with which these tombs of the Kings were excavated and decorated.
It appears to have been the custom with their Kings, so soon as they
ascended the throne, to begin preparing their final resting place. The
excavation seems to have gone on uninterruptedly, year by year, the
painting and adornment being f