Offerings of food were basic to the continued existence of the gods and the dead alike. They were often presented to them on special tables. In the homes these might stand in niches in a room used as a domestic shrine,[32] in temples in rooms dedicated to offerings and in tombs below ground if there was an accessible chapel,[33] otherwise it was placed on the ground on top of the grave.
During the Old Kingdom food offerings were presented to the deceased lucky enough to have a substantial tomb on stone platters or offering tables in front of their funerary stela, but for most the offerings probably looked more like the hieroglyph for "food offering", a loaf of bread placed on top of a mat. The Middle Kingdom fashion was for clay Soul Houses, little models of houses with courtyards, which had been developed from simple pottery offering platters [66] and in which the offerings were placed.[34] The offering tables were decorated with food stuffs and inscribed with the offering prayers,[35] which would nourish the deceased through their magic, if real foodstuffs were not provided.[36]
In depictions the offering tables are laden with a great variety of exquisite foodstuffs, and quite possibly that was the quality and quantity of offerings customary among the rich. Poorer folk restricted their food offerings and libations to what they could afford, sometimes to the basic bread and water.
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During the Old Kingdom food offerings were presented to the deceased lucky enough to have a substantial tomb on stone platters or offering tables in front of their funerary stela, but for most the offerings probably looked more like the hieroglyph for "food offering", a loaf of bread placed on top of a mat. The Middle Kingdom fashion was for clay Soul Houses, little models of houses with courtyards, which had been developed from simple pottery offering platters [66] and in which the offerings were placed.[34] The offering tables were decorated with food stuffs and inscribed with the offering prayers,[35] which would nourish the deceased through their magic, if real foodstuffs were not provided.[36]In depictions the offering tables are laden with a great variety of exquisite foodstuffs, and quite possibly that was the quality and quantity of offerings customary among the rich. Poorer folk restricted their food offerings and libations to what they could afford, sometimes to the basic bread and water.
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