As it was put in hand last of all, it frequently happened that the sculptors had not time to finish it.

When finished, however, the scenes and texts with which it was covered contained an epitome of the whole catacomb.[34] Thus, lying in his sarcophagus, the dead man found his future destinies depicted thereon, and learned to understand the blessedness of the gods.

The tombs of private persons were not often so elaborately decorated.

Two tombs of the period of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty--that of Petamenoph at Thebes and that of Bakenrenf at Memphis--compete in this respect, however, with the royal catacombs.

Their walls are not only sculptured with the text (more or less complete) of _The Book of the Dead_, but also with long extracts from _The Book of the Opening of the Mouth_ and the religious formulae found in the pyramids.
As every part of the tomb had its special decoration, so also it had its special furniture.