[Illustration: Fig. 123.--Plan of chapel in mastaba of Thenti II., Fourth
Dynasty, Sakkarah.]

[Illustration: Fig. 124.--Plan of chapel in mastaba of the _Red Scribe_,
Fourth Dynasty, Sakkarah.]

The chapel was the reception room of the Double. It was there that the
relations, friends, and priests celebrated the funerary sacrifices on the
days prescribed by law; that is to say, "at the feasts of the commencement
of the seasons; at the feast of Thoth on the first day of the year; at the
feast of Ûaga; at the great feast of Sothis; on the day of the procession
of the god Min; at the feast of shew-bread; at the feasts of the months and
the half months, and the days of the week." Offerings were placed in the
principal room, at the foot of the west wall, at the exact spot leading to
the entrance of the "eternal home" of the dead. Unlike the _Kiblah_ of the
mosques, or Mussulman oratories, this point is not always oriented towards
the same quarter of the compass, though often found to the west. In the
earliest times it was indicated by a real door, low and narrow, framed and
decorated like the door of an ordinary house, but not pierced through. An
inscription graven upon the lintel in large readable characters,
commemorated the name and rank of the owner. His portrait, either sitting
or standing, was carved upon the jambs; and a scene, sculptured or painted
on the space above the door, represented him seated before a small round
table, stretching out his hand towards the repast placed upon it. A flat
slab, or offering table, built into the floor between the two uprights of
the doorway, received the votive meats and drinks.

[Illustration: Fig. 125.--Plan of chapel in mastaba of Ptahhotep, Fifth
Dynasty, Sakkarah.]