The Egyptian Book of the dead
deceased), effecting his triumph over all his adversaries, whether Dead
or Living, that he may become one of the followers of Osiris. And there
shall be given to him drink and food in presence of this god. Thou shall
say it at dawn twice; A great protection is it: with undeviating
regularity for times infinite._
NOTES.
The nineteenth chapter is a very recent recension of the eighteenth. The
MSS. containing it, as far as we know, are not older than the Greek
period. It derives its origin from the practice of placing garlands or
floral crowns upon the mummies. The mummy of Aahmes I, the first king of
the eighteenth dynasty, when found “portait au cou,” M. Maspero writes,
“une guirlande de jolies fleurs roses de _Delphinium orientale_.”
Remains of such crowns are to be found in our Museums. For farther
details I must refer to an excellent paper entitled _La Couronne de la
Justification_, by Dr. Pleyte of Leyden, in the second volume of the
Transactions of the Oriental Congress held at Leyden in 1884; and see
Plate VIII.
1. ⁂⁂⁂. This adverbial expression is apparently connected with
⁂⁂, and I therefore understand it in the sense of ἀποτόμως,
_praecisè_, _absolutely_, _without condition_.
2. ⁂⁂⁂ the Valley of Darkness (_Todt._, 130, 6) and Death,
“whose secrets are absolutely unknown” ⁂⁂⁂⁂ (148, 2).
3. That is they shall remain interred for ever.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER XX.
The twentieth chapter is entitled _Another Chapter of Crown of Triumph_,
but it is simply a tabulated form of chapter 18, with the Rubric. _Let
the person say this Chapter, and purify himself with water of natron, he
will come forth by day after death, and take all forms according to his
wish, and escape from the fire. With undeviating regularity for times
infinite._ The earliest example of this tabulated form of the chapter is
found on the Berlin Sarcophagus of Mentuhotep.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXI.
_Chapter whereby the mouth of a person is given to him in the
Netherworld._
Hail to thee, Lord of Light, who art Prince of the House which is
encircled by Darkness and Obscurity. I am come to thee glorified and
purified.
My hands are behind thee; thy portion is that of those who have gone
before thee.(1.)
Give me my mouth that I may speak with it; and guide(2.) my heart at its
hour of Darkness and Night.
NOTES.
The oldest papyrus containing this chapter is that of Ani, and the
translation is based upon it. But the text differs both from those
written on the very ancient coffins of Heru and Set-Bastit, copied by M.
Maspero,[34] and from the later texts.
The second paragraph seems to be spoken by the god, the first and third
being from the deceased.
“My hands are behind thee” is a formula implying protection.
On the coffins the invocation is addressed not to “Osiris, Lord of
Light” or “Radiant One” ⁂⁂, but to the ⁂⁂⁂, “one whose
head is clothed with radiant white, of the House of Darkness and
Obscurity.”
Instead of ⁂⁂⁂⁂ “obscurity” the coffin has ⁂⁂ without
a determinative, but ⁂⁂⁂⁂ shows what the word means.
This ancient text continues—“Come thou to me, glorified and purified;
let thy hands [_here the text is obliterated_], shine thou with thine
head (⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂). Give me my mouth that I may speak with it,
and guide me on the glorious roads which are in heaven.”
The Turin text is very corrupt, and parts of it are incapable of
translation.
1. ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.
2. “Let me guide,” according to the Ani Papyrus. But the later
(hieratic) texts have the second person ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, which is
more correct.
-----
Footnote 34:
_Mission Archéologique Française_, II, p. 216 and 223. The text is
unfortunately incomplete on both coffins.
PLATE X.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIV.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLATE XI.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVII.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXII.
_Another Chapter whereby the Mouth of a person is given to him in the
Netherworld._
I shine forth out of the Egg which is in the unseen world.(1.) Let there
be given my mouth that I may speak with it in presence of the great god,
Lord of the Tuat. Let not my hand be repulsed by the Divine Circle of
the great god.
I am Osiris, the Lord of Restau, the same who is at the head of the
Staircase.(2.)
I am come to do the will of my heart, out of the Tank of Flame, which I
extinguish when I come forth.(3.)
NOTES.
This is one of the chapters of which the text certainly belongs to the
earliest epoch. It is one of those copied by Wilkinson from the
coffin(2) of Queen Mentuhotep. In the Papyrus of Ani it is followed by
chapter 21 as its conclusion, and both chapters are appended to chapter
1, before the rubric belonging to that chapter.
1. The Egg in the unseen world is the globe of the Sun while yet below
the horizon. It is only through a mistranslation of chapter 54, 2 that
the Indian notion of a ‘Mundane Egg’ has been ascribed to the Egyptians.
The 17th chapter addresses “Rā in thine Egg, who risest up in thine orb,
and shinest from thine Horizon.”
2. See the picture of Osiris at the head of the Staircase, which is here
given (see Plate XI) from the alabaster sarcophagus of Seti I in the
Soane Museum. Similar pictures are given on other sarcophagi. The gods
on the stairs are called ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ‘the Divine
Circle about Osiris.’
The ‘Staircase of the great god’ ⁂⁂⁂⁂ at Abydos, is
frequently mentioned on the funeral stelae.
3. The _Tank of Flame_. See chapter 1, note 15. The red glow of the Sky
disappears after the Sun has risen, he is therefore said to “extinguish
the Flame” after he has come forth. The same notion is expressed in the
myth according to which Horus strikes off the head of his mother.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXIII.
_Chapter whereby the Mouth of a person is opened for him in the
Netherworld._
_He saith_: Let my mouth be opened by Ptah, and let the muzzles which
are upon my mouth be loosed by the god of my domain.(1.)
Then let Thoth come, full and equipped with Words of Power,[35] and let
him loose the muzzles of Sutu which are upon my mouth, and let Tmu lend
a hand to fling them at the assailants.
Let my mouth be given to me. Let my mouth be opened by Ptah with that
instrument of steel(2.) wherewith he openeth the mouths of the gods.
I am Sechit(3.) Uat’it who sitteth on the right side of Heaven: I am
Sahit encircled by the Spirits of Heliopolis.[36]
And all the Words of Power, and all the accusations which are uttered
against me—the gods stand firm against them: the cycles of the gods
unitedly.
NOTES.
1. Osiris. On the sense of ⁂⁂⁂, literally ‘the god of the
domain,’ see the articles of M. Naville and Professor Piehl,
_Zeitschr._, 1880, 146; 1881, 24 and 64. I hold with Dr. Piehl that the
domain meant in this formula is Abydos, and that the god is Osiris.
2. The word here translated ‘steel’ is ⁂⁂⁂, upon which see M.
Devéria’s dissertation, “Le Fer et l’Aimant” in the _Mélanges
d’Archéologie Egyptienne et Assyrienne_, tome I, p. 2.
A description of the Ceremonies of the Opening of the Mouth as performed
at the tomb will be found in the Introduction to this translation.
3. The name of this goddess is phonetically written ⁂⁂ _Sḫt_ in
the Pyramid texts of Unas (l. 390), where the Murray Papyrus and other
texts have the ordinary ⁂⁂. The reading Sechemet is indefensible.
Cf. _Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch._, XII, p. 365.
-----
Footnote 35:
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.
Footnote 36:
Tmu, Shu and Tefnut.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXIV.
_Chapter whereby the Words of Power are brought to a Person in the
Netherworld._
I am Chepera, the self-produced, on his Mother’s thigh.(1.)
The speed of bloodhounds is given to those who are in Heaven,[37] and
the mettle of hyaenas(2.) to those who belong to the Divine Circle.
Lo, I bring this my Word of Power, and I collect this Word of Power from
every quarter in which it is, more persistently(3.) than hounds of chase
and more swiftly than the Light.
O thou who guidest the Bark of Rā, sound is thy rigging and free from
disaster as thou passest on to the Tank of Flame.
Lo, I collect[38] this my Word of Power from every quarter in which it
is, in behalf of every person whom it concerneth, more persistently than
hounds of chase and more swiftly than Light; the same(4.) who create the
gods out of Silence, or reduce them to inactivity; the same who impart
warmth to the gods.
Lo, I collect this my Word of Power from every quarter in which it is,
in behalf of every person whom it concerneth, more persistently than
hounds of chase and more swiftly than the Light.
NOTES.
This is another of those chapters of which the antiquity is proved by
the coffins of Horhotep and Queen Mentuhotep. And even in the early
times to which these coffins belong it must have been extremely
difficult to understand. In the translation here given I have adhered as
closely as possible to the oldest texts, but these, as the variants
show, are not entirely trustworthy.
1. _Thigh._ This is the usual translation, which accords with the
frequent pictures of the goddess Nut, as the Sky, with the divine Scarab
in the position described.[39] But ⁂⁂⁂ signifies that which
_runs_, from ⁂⁂⁂ _uār_, run, _fugere_; and the noun (_the
runner_) is often applied to _running water_. It is the geographical
name of a river or canal. M. Naville has already pointed out that in the
Book of the Dead it has for variants ⁂⁂⁂ and ⁂⁂⁂, of
which _bath_ is a fair translation.
2. The names of these two animals (especially of the second) vary
greatly in the texts. But if we wish rightly to understand the sense of
the chapter, we must bear in mind that it is not the animals themselves
that are meant, but the characteristics implied by the names of the
animals. And as the Sanskrit _vṛkas_, the Greek λύκος, the old Slavonic