ingly, the mask is adorned with both the cobra and vulture because King Tutankhamun ruled over the upper and lower portions of Egypt. Furthermore, the false beard seen on the mask is a representation of the pharaoh having the status of being a living god. Undoubtably, gold was not just used to depict the wealth of the Pharaohs, it was also used to represent the sun god. Gold, like the sun god, was thought to have special powers, and it seemed to never tarnish and nev- er deteriorate nor go away. Additionally, gold was also likened to the flesh of the god who manifested gold-colored sun rays. Thus, gold was used for many artifacts in the pharaoh’s cache, not only the funerary mask, but to depict the individual as having “god-like, gold-colored skin,” for the people believed that their pharaohs were a living form of a god.
Equally important, inscribed on the back of the mask, by the use of chasing, are ten vertical and two horizontal pro- tective lines of Spell 151 from the ancient Egyp- tian Book of the Dead . This spell refers to the opening of the four doors (also referred to as “bricks”) before reaching Thoth. To note, Thoth was the Egyptian
A section of the Papyrus of Ani (book of the Dead)
God of the Underworld and said to be in charge of the scales in the Hall of Judgment in Heaven. Accordingly, he used the scales to weigh the deceased’s heart against the Feather of Truth to determine if the individual was worthy to pass into the afterlife. If the heart weighed as light as a feather, uncluttered and unburdened with evil, the person would pass to the afterlife of heaven. Thoth would then record the results of the judgment.
58
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator