Wereshnefer Sarcophagus

Wereshnefer was a priest of the goddesses Mut, Nephthys, Sekhmet, Neith, and Satis. Although his offices were in temples from Aswan to Koptos in Upper Egypt, his tomb, from which this unusually large sarcophagus comes, was in the northern Egyptian necropolis of Saqqara. The scenes and texts on the sarcophagus and its lid belong to funerary literature originally composed for royalty more than a thousand years earlier. The body of the sarcophagus is inscribed inside and out with descriptions of the sun's passage through the netherworld at night. Its lid is decorated with scenes and texts relating to the sun's rebirth and journey through the day sky. Together, the sarcophagus and its lid form a powerful metaphor of the journey from death to life that Wereshnefer hoped to achieve each day in company with the sun.

The body of this
It is framed by the body of Nut, goddess of the sky, who is supported by the outstretched arms of Shu, the atmosphere. At her feet lies the earth, represented by the uplifted arms on two legs, a rebus for the name of the earth god Geb. The world is shown in the center of this frame as three concentric circles. The outer-most circle is bordered on the left and right by goddesses representing the east (by Nut's leg) and west; before them stand the gods and peoples of the deserts that border Egypt on the east and west. At the top (south) is a symbolic depiction of the Nile and the caverns that were believed to be its source. The ovals at the bottom (north) represent the islands and shorelands of the Mediterranean Sea. The second ring represents Egypt itself. It contains the emblems of Egypt's forty-two nomes, or states, arranged from south (top) to north and east to west, reflecting the actual geographical divisions of the country. The innermost circle shows both the night and day skies (the former with stars) and is meant to be viewed at ninety degrees to the outer