MJ Thomas Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello Ronald,
>
> You write, 'Well, the advantage of a mummified
> body is that it can be stored for a long time,
> till an appropriate burial chamber was available.
> What would have happened to the part-built pyramid
> ? I wouldn't be surprised that it would have been
> finished by the deceased king's successor.
> Furthermore, I am convinced that the worship of a
> deceased king was maintained for years by the
> priests of his successor(s).'
>
> If, as you suggest, a mummified body could be
> stored for a long time, then the need for
> 'contingency' burial chambers is presumably
> negated.
> All that had to be done was for the king's mummy
> to be stored somewhere safe and out of the way
> until his burial chamber was ready, and then
> transferred into it.




> Here's a thought; this could explain the absence
> of mummys in pyramids.



MJ,


Grave-robbing during the millenia is the most logical reason I can contemplate for the absence of mummies in pyramids.


> The priests kept forgetting where they had stored
> the mummy whilst the burial chamber was being
> prepared


I don't think so , too important.



> Seriously, my understanding is that there was a
> short (?) time-table of events from the death of
> the king to the placement of his mummified remains
> in his tomb, so I think its doubtful that any
> mummified king would have been "put in storage".
> But, having said that, this does pose the
> question: then what happened if the king died
> before any work on his tomb had started...
> A tomb fit for a king is not exactly something you
> knock together in a couple of weeks.
> What doesn't help, either, is the fact (?) that a
> king rarely finished the building of his
> predecessor's pyramid, and when they did it was
> done in a rather perfunctory manner.
> Some say this is what happened to Menkare's
> pyramid.
>
> I'm not at all sure what the situation was with
> worshipping a king's immediate predecessor.
> But I do recall reading that there was a cult of
> Khufu running a couple of thousand (er, might have
> been hundred) years after his death.
>




> It's all horribly complicated, isn't it


Yes, apparantly !


Ronald.