The Egyptian Book of the dead
PLATE XXI.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
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PLATE XXII.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
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CHAPTER LXXIII.
is identical with Chapter IX.
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CHAPTER LXXIV.
_Chapter whereby the legs are set in motion upon earth._
Do what thou hast to do, O Sekaru (_twice_); as The god who is in his
own house, and as The god who standeth on his legs in the Netherworld.
I shine above the Leg(1.) as I come forth in Heaven, but I lie helpless
with corpselike face.
Oh I faint, I faint, as I advance; I faint, I faint before the teeth of
those whose mouth raveneth in the Netherworld.
NOTE.
1. _The Leg._ In this place, as in chapter 98 and other texts, a
constellation in the northern sky is meant, which many years ago I
identified with Cassiopeia.
This constellation, according to chapter 98, is in the Northern sky and
in the _Great Stream_ ⁂⁂⁂, by which I understand the “Milky
Way.” This position is also in accordance with the ancient text on the
Coffin of Amamu, pl. XXVI, line 22. The _Leg_ is as close to the Pole as
the Great Bear (called the _Thigh_ in Egyptian Astronomy) but in the
opposite direction, and in consequence of this position it never sets
below the horizon. Hence in the Pyramid Texts (Pepi I, 411 and Merenrā
589) it is called ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. And here,
according to these texts, as in the Book of the Dead (see chapter 86),
purification was obtained.
The god ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ (also named among the 42 judges) whose face
looks backwards, and who is said to be gate keeper of Osiris, must be a
star (_e.g._ γ Cepheus) in the immediate neighbourhood of the Polar Star
which represented Osiris. On the ancient coffins of Amamu and Sit-Bastit
there is a chapter[87] for assuming the form of a Vulture ⁂⁂⁂,
in which the speaker says “I am the Vulture god who is on the
⁂⁂⁂⁂.”
I suspect that in the formula
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ said of Osiris on the
stelæ of the twelfth dynasty, the constellation in heaven and not a
place at Abydos was meant.
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Footnote 86:
Brugsch, _Rec._, II, pl. 63. The whole tomb has now been published by
M. Bénédite in the _Mémoires de la Mission Archéologique au Caire_,
tome 5.
Footnote 87:
It was afterwards incorporated with chapter 149.
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CHAPTER LXXV.
_Chapter whereby one cometh to Heliopolis and receiveth a seat there._
I have come out of the Tuat: I am come from the ends of the Earth,
lighting up the Tank, whither the desires of them who bring salutation
guide me. I pass through the noble dwellings of those who are coffined.
I open the dwelling of Remrem, I reach the house of Achsesef.(1.) I am
led on to the noble mysteries, and I enter into the house of Kemkem.
[The Tet amulet(2.) layeth its two hands upon me and assigneth me to its
sister, and the custody of its mother, Kehkehit, who setteth me upon the
Eastern path of Heaven upon which Rā ariseth and mounteth on high each
day.
May I too arise, and be led on, and assume the mummied form as a god,
and let them set me upon that noble path] whereon Thoth travelleth when
he appeaseth the two Combatants(3.) as he goeth to Pu and advanceth to
Tepu.
NOTES.
1. These gods are not often mentioned. But we are told in the
inscriptions of Rech-ma-rā (_Mission Arch. du Caire_, V, 127) that
Achsesef is master of the (⁂⁂) great hall of the Prince of those
in Amenta. _Cf._ _Todt._, 142, 13 and 21.
2. _The Tet amulet_, ⁂, has a chapter of its own, chapter 156.
Divinity was supposed to reside in this and the other religious symbols,
which are often represented in pictures with hands and feet. The annexed
Vignette is from the Louvre papyrus III, 93, at ch. 93.
The part of this chapter which is within brackets is ancient, but is
omitted in late copies.
3. _The two Combatants._ Sut and Horus.
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CHAPTER LXXVI.
_Chapter whereby all forms are assumed which one pleaseth._
I have made my way into the Royal Palace, and it was the Bird-Fly(1.)
who brought me hither.
Hail to thee, who fliest up to Heaven, to give light to the stars and
protect the White Crown which falleth to me.
Stable art thou, O mighty god, for ever. Make thou for me a path upon
which I may pursue my course.
NOTE.,
1. _The Bird-Fly_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. On this god, see _Proc.
Soc. Bibl. Arch._, 1892, p. 396 and following, and also 1893, p. 135 and
following. In the papyrus of Nebseni the name has for determinative an
insect, which M. Lefébure has identified with the _mantis_. This deity,
according to ancient texts, was the _Tiller of the Rudder_ of the
Neshemit ship of Osiris.
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CHAPTER LXXVII.
_Chapter whereby one assumeth the form of the Golden Hawk._(1.)
I set myself to view: I set myself to view as the Golden Hawk, which
cometh out from its Egg; and I fly and I hover as a Hawk of four cubits
across the back. My two wings are of the green gem of the South.(2.)
I come forth from the cabin of the Sektit Bark and I raise myself up
from the Eastern Hill.
I stoop upon the Âtit Bark, that I may come and raise to me those who
are in their circles, and who bow down before me.
I display myself and gather myself together as the beautiful Golden Hawk
with the head of a Heron, to listen to whose utterances Râ cometh every
day, and I sit down in the midst of all the great gods of Heaven.
The fields lie before me; the produce is before me; I eat of it, I wax
radiant upon it, I am saturated with it to the satisfaction of my heart.
Nepra hath given to me my throat, and I am in possession of all that
pertaineth to my person.(3.)
NOTES.
1. This is the first of a series of chapters relative to the
“Transformations,” the subject of which is treated in the Introduction.
It is sufficient here to repeat that the Egyptian ‘Transformations’ have
nothing in common with Metempsychosis, as understood in the Greek or
Indian religions. The change of form in the Egyptian idea depended upon
the will of the person; it was not a penance for sin, but a means of
glorification. And all the forms assumed in the Book of the Dead by the
deceased are well known forms of the Sun-god.
2. _Green gem of the South_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂. This has generally been
understood as representing the green feldspar of which many objects in
our museums are made. But Dümichen (_Zeitschr._, 1872) has shown that
the ⁂⁂ ‘of the _East_’ is a synonym of _Māfkait_, emerald, and M.
Naville has referred to Pliny, who (_Hist. Nat._, XXXVII, 17) speaks of
the Egyptian emeralds ‘qui eruuntur circa Copton oppidum Thebaidis in
collibus, ex cautibus.’ The same author quotes Juba in reference to
Ethiopic gems as being ‘alacriter virides, sed non facile puri aut
concolores.’
3. Nepra is one of the names of Osiris, considered as giver of corn, ὀ
Πυροφόρος. By _Throat_ is here meant the organ or power of swallowing,
deglutition.
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CHAPTER LXXVIII.
_Chapter whereby one assumeth the form of the Sacred Hawk._(1.)
Oh Horus! come thou to Tattu, make clear to me the paths, and help me to
make the round of my dwelling places.
Look thou upon me and exalt me, impart to me Terror, and rouse in me
Might, so that the gods of the Tuat may fear me, that their battlements
war in my behalf there; and that _he_ may not assail and slay me in the
house of darkness, who enwrappeth the dead; the god who hideth his name;
or that the like be done by them.
Oh ye gods who give ear to the words; ye foremost ones, ye who are in
the train of Osiris; hush ye up, gods, that which a god speaketh with a
god who is giving ear to a case of Divine Law!
And that which I have said to him say thou, Osiris.
Grant to me that change of existence which hath issued from thy mouth on
my behalf, that I may see thine own attributes and survey thy
Powers.(2.)
Grant that I may come forth and have the mastery of my two feet, and
that I may be there like the Inviolate One on high; that the gods of the
Tuat may fear me and their battlements war on my behalf.
Grant that I may run together with thy Runners, but remain firm upon my
pedestal like the Lord of Life; let me be united with Isis the Mighty;
may they protect me against slaughter, from him who looked upon death.
Let me advance to the goal(3.) of Heaven. I claim words from Seb, and I
pray for sustenance from the Inviolate one on high, so that the gods of
the Tuat may fear me, and that their battlements may war on my behalf,
when they see thy supplies for me.
I am one of those Bright ones in Glory: may my attributes be fashioned
like the attributes of him who cometh forth to Tattu; may I be
invested(4.) with the Soul of him who telleth thee what concerneth me.
Oh impart to me Terror and rouse in me Might that the gods of the Tuat
may fear me and their battlements war on my behalf.
I am the Bright one in Glory, whom Tmu himself hath called into being,
and my origin is from the apple of his eye,(5.) who hath made and
glorified and honoured those who are to be with him. For he is the
Unique in Heaven, whom they extol as he cometh forth from the Horizon,
and the gods and glorified ones who are with him fear him.
I am one of the worms which the eye of the Lord of Oneness hath brought
into being.
Verily, before Isis was, who gave birth to Horus, I grew up and waxed
old, and was honoured beyond those in Glory, who were with me.
And I arose as the Sacred Hawk, whom Horus had invested with his own
Soul for the seisin of his inheritance from Osiris at the Tuat.
And the god in Lion form, who presideth over those who are at the House
of the Nemmes(6.) which is in its caverns, said to me:—
“Go back to the confines of Heaven, for thou art invested with the
attributes of Horus: for thee the Nemmes is not, but free utterance is