The Egyptian Book of the dead
legs], at thine own hour, owner of the Two Twin Souls, and who livest in
Two Twin Souls.
Make thou me sound, even as thou hast made thyself sound, who revealest
thyself, who disrobest thyself, and presentest thyself to the Earth.
May his will towards me be done by the Lord of the One Face.
O thou who circlest round, within thine Egg, Lord of Mehurit.
Make thou me sound, even as thou hast made thyself sound, who revealest
thyself, who disrobest thyself, and presentest thyself to the Earth.
May his will towards me be done by the Lord of the One Face.
Sebak standeth erect, surrounded by his high places, and Neith standeth
erect in the midst of her alluvial grounds, in order to reveal
themselves, to disrobe themselves and to present themselves to the
Earth.
May his will towards me be done by the Lord of the One Face.
Oh ye Seven Divine Masters,(7.) who are the arms of the Balance on the
Night wherein the Eye is fixed; ye who strike off the heads and cleave
the necks, who seize the hearts and drag forth the whole hearts, and
accomplish the slaughter in the Tank of Flame: ye whom I know and whose
names I know, know you me as I know your names.
I advance to you, advance ye to me: live in me and let me live in you.
Convey to me the Symbol of Life which is in your hands, and the Sceptre
which ye grasp.(8.)
Award to me the life of yearly speech through countless years of life in
addition to my years of life; countless months in addition to the months
of my life; countless days in addition to the days of my life; and
countless nights in addition to the nights of my life, that I may come
forth and beam upon my own images, with breath for my nostrils, and eyes
which see, amid those who are at the Horizon, on that day when brute
Force(9.) is brought to a reckoning.
_If this Chapter is known there is well-being on earth with Rā and a
fair abode with Osiris, and the person is glorified in the Netherworld.
There are granted to him the sacred cakes and the coming forth into the
presence,[83] in the course of each day, undeviatingly, for times
infinite._
NOTES.
1. The title as here translated is taken from the oldest known MS., that
of Nebseni. But the Papyrus _Pc_, which is of the same period, has
“_Chapter for entering after going forth by day, and for making
transformations in all forms_,” and this title or a very similar one is
found on other papyri. The most recent form is that in the Turin
copy—_Chapter for coming forth by day and repelling brute Force, so that
the person may not be seized in the Netherworld, but that his soul may
be made sound in the Ta-t’ eserit._
2. _Lord of Mehurit_ = Lord of Heaven, that is the Sun-god. The
invocation is repeated a little farther on, “O thou who circlest within
thine Egg, Lord of Mehurit.” The god is also said to be the owner of
“the Two Twin Souls,” namely Rā and Osiris.
3. The verb is here in the second person, not in the first. This is
shown by those texts which give the name of the person, instead of the
pronominal suffix, as the object of the verb.
4. _Thyself_ = Here, in all but the later copies, the pronoun of the
third person is used, in accordance with a well known Egyptian idiom.
5. _Lord of the One Face_ = μονοπρόσωπος in opposition to πολυπρόσωπος
which is an epithet of the Sky, on account of its many changes of
aspect. The Moon too has a variety of phases, whereas the Sun is
eminently the “Lord of One Face.” From another point of view the god, at
the beginning of chapter 64, is called the “Lord of Two Faces,” the
bright and the dark. The Pyramid Texts have the parallel conception of
the Two Eyes of Horus, one white and one black, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂
(Unas 37).
6. This passage receives illustration from the great inscription of
Piānchi, who at Heliopolis paid a visit to the great Tabernacle
(⁂⁂⁂) of the Sun-god, the doors of which he opened and
afterwards sealed up with the royal seal. Before going up the steps to
it he had to lift the _Vail_ (⁂⁂⁂⁂) or Curtains which
concealed it, and perform sprinklings and offer incense and flowers. Two
important words (of which the first has the interesting variant ⁂ and
the second is written ⁂⁂⁂ in the oldest texts) are thus made
clear.
The god is said, according to the different readings, to pierce
“through, the Vail” or “through _what is upon_ the Vail.”
It will be remembered that the Hebrew Holy of Holies was separated from
the Sanctuary by a curtain upon which the figures of Cherubim were
woven, that before the curtain of the Holy of Holies stood the altar
upon which incense was offered each morn and evening, and that in
sin-offerings the priest sprinkled blood seven times before the Vail of
the Sanctuary.
7. _The Seven Divine Masters_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂ or
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂,[84] were the offspring of Mehurit, and
assumed the form of Hawks.[85] They were the inventors and patrons of
all the arts and sciences, and they assisted Thoth in composition and in
the measurement of the earth. See references in Brugsch’s article,
_Zeits._, 1872, p. 6.
They are, I believe, to be identified, like the Seven Rishis of the
later Sanskrit literature, with the seven stars of the Great Bear. In
this conception the Polar star is represented by Thoth.
8. _The Symbol of Life and the Sceptre_, the ⁂ and ⁂.
9. _Brute Force_ ⁂⁂⁂, see chapter 57, note 5.
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Footnote 83:
Namely, “of the great god.” This ellipse is very frequent.
Footnote 84:
In the Prisse Papyrus this word is to be understood of a scholar or
sage, whose word is of authority.
Footnote 85:
They have human heads on the Louvre Sarcophagus D. 7.
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PLATE XIX.
BOOK OF THE DEAD
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PLATE XX.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
]
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CHAPTER LXXII.
_Chapter whereby one cometh forth by day and passeth through the
Ammchit._(1.)
Hail to you, ye Lords of Rule,(2.) devoid of Wrong, who are living for
ever, and whose secular period is Eternity.(3.) I make my way towards
you. Let me be glorified through my attributes; let me prevail through
my Words of Power, and let me be rated according to my merit.
Deliver me from the Crocodile(4.) of this Land of Rule.
Let me have a mouth wherewith I may speak, and let my oblations be
placed before you; because I know you, and I know your names: and I know
the name of that great god to whose nostrils ye present delicacies:
Tekmu is his name. And whether he maketh his way from the Eastern
Horizon of Heaven, or alighteth at the Western Horizon of Heaven, let
his departure be my departure, and his progress be my progress.
Let me not be stopped at the Meskat; let not the Sebau have mastery over
me; let me not be repulsed at your gates, let not your doors be closed
against me; for I have bread(5.) in Pu and beer in Tepu. And let me join
my two hands together(6) in the divine dwelling which my father Tmu hath
given me, who hath established for me an abode above the earth wherein
is wheat and barley of untold quantity, which the son of my own body
offereth to me there as oblations upon my festivals.
Grant me the funereal gifts, beef, fowl, bindings, incense, oil, and all
things good and pure upon which a deity subsists, regularly and
eternally, in all the forms I please.
Let me come down or go up to Sechit-aarru and arrive in Sechit-hotep.
I am the god in Lion form.
_If this book is learnt upon earth, or executed in writing upon the
coffin, he will come forth by day in all the forms he pleaseth, with
entrance into his house without repulse. And there shall be given to him
bread and beer and flesh-meat upon the table of Osiris. He will come
forth to Sechit-aarru, and there shall be given to him wheat and barley
there, for he will flourish as though he were upon earth, and he will do
all that pleaseth him, like those gods who are there: undeviatingly, for
times infinite._
NOTES.
This chapter is often found not only in papyri but upon coffins, in
accordance with the rubric at the end. The earliest copy is on the
coffin of Queen Mentuhotep. A very fine copy is on the alabaster
sarcophagus of Seti I, and our museums are rich in funereal monuments
inscribed with this ancient text. A very similar text is found at the
end of chapter 99.
1. _Ammehit_ is the name given in chapter 149 to the sixth abode in
Amenta, but here and in other places it is simply one of the names of
the Netherworld. In the inscriptions, for instance, of the tomb of Queen
Tita,[86] “passing through the two folding doors of the Ammehit” is in
parallelism with “going in and out of the divine Netherworld.”
2. _Lords of Rule._ This is the reading in most documents, but there are
others which have an equal claim to authority. The invocation is
sometimes made to the ⁂⁂ “those who are possessed of a _ka_,” that
is the “spirits made perfect,” those who have already passed through the
requisite trials, besides the gods who have never passed through the
stage of mortality, all of whom are possessed of a _ka_.
The invocation, according to another reading, which is that of chapter
99, is addressed to the ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “those who are beautiful or
perfect of _ka_.” Here the papyri add _lords of rule_, and the
invocation, whatever the reading may be, is always addressed to those
who have in their power the laws which regulate the universe.
3. _Whose secular period is Eternity._ ⁂⁂⁂ _ḥentȧ_ is the
period of 120 years (see _Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch._, XIV, 264) which was
their αἰών, _aevum_, corresponding in idea, not in actual time, to our
century. The secular period of the gods is eternity.
4. _The Crocodile._ Are we to understand this of the crocodile-headed
monster pictured in the representations of the Psychostasia? These
pictures are not known to us from as early a date as the chapter itself,
but they may have existed. Perhaps, however, this passage may have
suggested them.
5. _Bread._ The Egyptian word ⁂ _ta_, like its homonym ⁂, implies
something _pierced_ or _perforated_. The sacrificial cake חַלָּה in
Leviticus viii, 26 has the same meaning and, like חַלִיל _a pipe_, is
connected with חָלָל, _perforavit_, _confodit_, _aperuit_, _profanavit_.
See _Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch._, 1893, p. 386.
⁂ _ta_, a door or gate, and some other homonyms evidently come under
the same conception; cf. _porta_ and πείρω.
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