Mặt nạ tử thần từ Ai Cập cổ đại Tìm kiếm thế giới bên kia

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When it came to the dicey (nguy hiểm) journey to the afterlife (thế giới bên kia), the more affluent citizens (công dân giàu có) of ancient Egypt took no chances. In elaborate (phức tạp) funeral ceremonies, protective (bảo vệ) spells were invoked (thực hiện), sarcophaguses (quan tài) were larded (gắn) with amulets (bùa hộ mệnh) and the faces of the dead were covered with death masks designed to guide the spirits of mummified (ướp xác) remains into the next world — a placid (yên bình) field of reeds (lau sậy) — then back to their final resting place in the body.

Recently, an expedition of Japanese and Egyptian archaeologists (nhà khảo cổ học) unearthed (khai quật) three such masks in a series of cut-rock tombs in the cliffs of Saqqara, a primary burial site (nơi chôn cất chính) for the Pharaonic capital of Memphis. In texts (văn bản) of the New Kingdom, a period spanning (kéo dài) 1550 B.C. to 1070 B.C., a mask placed over the head of a mummy was called a sukhet, meaning “egg,” and sometimes tep en seshta, meaning “head of secrets” or “head of mysteries.”

Foy Scalf, an Egyptologist at the University of Chicago, said that the “secret” or “mystery” was a euphemism (uyển ngữ) for the mummy itself, which, after the embalming (ướp xác) and appropriate rites (nghi thức thích hợp), took on a special nature. In cases of physical damage, a face covering helped preserve the head and provided a permanent (vĩnh viễn) idealized (lý tưởng) likeness (hình dáng) of the deceased (người chết).

The masks, manufactured by artisans in workshops, would not have come cheap; the pigments (bột màu) and labor (nhân công) were costly. But Dr. Scalf said the sheer number of masks that have survived suggests that they were not restricted (hạn chế) to the elites (giới thượng lưu). “I don’t think it would be surprising if up to 35 percent of the population had the means to acquire them,” he said.

source: nytimes,