The sides bore the four sons of Horus and other deities. The inside floor of the coffin was painted with Nut, Isis, Osiris, or the Djed pillar (Osiris's backbone). The goddesses Isis and Nephthys were painted as guards at the head and foot of the coffin.
The person was placed in the coffin on their left side, so their face would be directly lined up with the painted eyes on the coffin's side.īy the Middle Kingdom the coffin was considered a miniature tomb, and it was decorated with many of the items that had formerly adorned the walls of the tomb. They were painted and inscribed in hieroglyphs with four important features: the deceased's name and titles a list of food offerings a false door through which the ka could pass and eyes through which the deceased could see outside the coffin. They were made of small pieces of local wood doweled together.īy the Old Kingdom, coffins were rectangular boxes with flat lids. We are avoiding the use of the word “mummy” to emphasize the humanity of the deceased, but no term has yet come to replace “mummy case.' Coffins/Sarcophagi:Įarly tombs were considered the eternal dwelling places of the deceased, and the earliest coffins resembled miniature homes in appearance.
