Sarcophagus Lid

Sarcophagus lid (A) and box (B). Cherty Limestone. Inscription on front and back; of Pedubastet [catalogue card, 1936]

The owner of this mummiform sarcophagus was a man named Pedibast. On either side of his wig lappets are figures of the cobra goddesses, Nekhbet and Wadjet. The upper part of the coffin is decorated with scenes of various gods and goddesses including Re, Isis, Nephthys and Osiris. In the upper register the god Re appears in the center as a sun disk. The lower register shows the god Osiris in the center depicted as a djed pillar symbolizing stability. Mummiform deities flank him on either side. Seven vertical columns of hieroglyphic spells from The Book of the Dead appear on the lower part of the body, to ensure the deceased’s safe passage into the afterlife. On the inside of the coffin lid is the image of a woman. This figure is the goddess Nut, who represented the ancient Egyptian sky. She was thought to swallow the sun at night and give birth to it daily in the morning. Because of her association with the cyclical rebirth of the sun, she is also connected to the rebirth of the deceased in the afterlife.