The Egyptian Book of the dead
“robins, owls, and οἰωνοῖσι τε πᾶσι for dinner.” And Willughby, the
naturalist, found a large quantity of swallows being sold for food at
Valencia in Spain.
The flat head, the short legs, and the tail of the bird are
characteristic not of the pigeon but of the swallow, and on many
pictures (_e.g._, pl. xxi, vignette from Leyden papyrus) we are reminded
of the song—
Ἦλθ’ ἦλθε χελιδὼν ...
ἐπὶ γαστέρα λευκὰ
ἐπὶ νῶτα μέλαινα.
It is not quite plain why the name of Scorpion should be given to the
bird, but the name ⁂⁂⁂ of the insect in itself implies
nothing more than the characteristic _whiteness_ of colour.
2. _Touched with my two hands the Heart of Osiris._
⁂⁂⁂ is the origin of the Coptic ϭⲟϩ ‘touch.’ The word Heart
has dropped out of the later texts (_e.g._, the Turin copy), but in the
older papyri it is found in the form of ⁂⁂ or ⁂.
ADDITIONAL NOTE.
In Chapter 86 ⁂⁂⁂ has unquestionably the sense of
_ascertaining by inspection._ The Abbot Papyrus in its account of the
enquiry respecting the spoliation of the royal coffins gives ample
evidence of this meaning. And the word there used for _reporting_ the
result of the inspection is, as is Ch. 86, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _semȧu_,
in Coptic ⲧⲁⲙⲉ.
But it is well to remember that ⁂⁂⁂ has another use; which
perhaps implies the existence of two homonymous roots. In a passage
quoted in Note 21 to Ch. 64, it certainly signifies _restore_. And this
may possibly be its meaning in the rubric of Ch. 64. The journey of
Prince Hortâtâf may have had reference to the _restoration_, not simply
_inspection_, of the temples. In this sense it is often written
⁂⁂⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂⁂⁂ _sȧpu_. The Coptic word for
ἀποκαθιστάναι in Hosea xi, 11 and Acts i, 6 is ⲧⲫⲟ.
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CHAPTER LXXXVII.
_Chapter whereby one assumeth the form of Se-ta._
I am Seta—full of years.
I lay myself down [in death], and I am born daily.
I am Seta at the confines of the earth. I lay myself down [in death], I
restore myself and I renew myself daily.
NOTE.
_Se-ta_ ⁂⁂, literally _Filius terrae_, is a common noun
signifying an earth-worm. It is applied to the Sun as rising out of the
earth. There are several pictures at Denderah representing the Sun-god
Hor-sam-ta in the form of the worm rising out of the Lotus of Dawn.
_See_ pl. xxiii, from Mariette, _Dend_. I, 47 and 48.
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CHAPTER LXXXVIII.
_Chapter whereby one assumeth the form of the Crocodile god [Sebak(1.)._
For I am the Crocodile god in all his terrors.
I am the Crocodile god in the form of man.(2.) I am he who carrieth off
with violence. I am the almighty Fish in Kamurit.
I am the Lord to whom one bendeth down(3.) in Sechem.
NOTES.
1. Sebak is not always named in the papyri. The ideogram of the
crocodile was in some copies read _emsuḥ_ and in others _sebak_.
2. _In the form of man_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂. Of the very different
readings this is the most intelligible.
3. _To whom one bendeth down_, literally ‘master of bendings.’
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CHAPTER LXXXIX.
_Chapter whereby the Soul is united to the dead Body._
Oh thou who Bringest; Oh thou Runner, who dwellest in thy Keep,(1.) thou
great god; grant that my Soul may come to me from whatsoever place
wherein it abideth.
But if there be a delay in the bringing of my soul to me, thou shalt
find the Eye of Horus standing firm against thee, like those undrowsy
Watchers who lie in Annu, the land wherein are thousands of reunions.
Let my Soul be caught, and the Chu which is with it, wheresoever it
abideth.
Track out(2.) among the things in heaven and upon earth that soul of
mine, wherever it abideth.
But if there be a delay in thy causing me to see my Soul and my Shade,
thou shalt find the Eye of Horus standing firm against thee.
---------------------
Oh ye gods who draw along the Bark of the Eternal one: ye who lift up
above the Tuat, and who raise up the Sky: ye who enable the Souls to
enter into the mummied forms; ye whose hands grasp the cordage, hold
firm with your ropes and stop the adversaries that the Bark may rejoice
and the god proceed in peace.
And now grant that my Soul may come forth in your train from the Eastern
horizon of Heaven for ever and ever.
NOTES.
The oldest papyri present a much shorter form than the later ones. That
portion which is here separated by a line from what goes before it first
appears on the sarcophagus of Seti I and in the papyrus of Ani. The
vignette is a very favourite decoration of mummies.
1. _Keep_ ⁂⁂ of which the regular variant in this chapter is not
_saḥ_ but ⁂⁂ _seḫen_.
2. _Track out_, ⁂⁂⁂ is _investigare_, ἐξιχινεύειν, to follow
the traces like a dog. _See_ _ Denk._ II, 3, where the word occurs in
the title of “master of the trackers,” determined by a man holding a
hound in leash. It is from this notion that the sense of _sight_ or
_looking_ appears in ⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⲛⲁⲩ.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER XC.
_Chapter whereby Memory is restored(1.) to a person._
Oh thou who choppest off heads and cuttest throats, but restorest memory
in the mouth of the dead through the Words of Power which they possess:
thou seest me not with thine eyes, thou perceivest not with thy
feet;(2.) thou turnest back thy face, thou seest not the executioners of
Shu, who are coming behind thee to chop off thine own head and to cut
thy throat. Let not my mouth be closed, through the Words of Power which
I possess; even as thou hast done to the dead, through the Words of
Power which they possess.
Away with the two sentences uttered by Isis when thou camest to fling
remembrance at the mouth of Osiris(3.) and the heart of Sutu, his enemy,
saying:—
NOTES.
Of this chapter we have unfortunately but one copy in _Fa_, of the Musée
Borély. This is defective both at the beginning and at the end, and the
text is inaccurate. The later copies are so inaccurate that it is
impossible to reconstitute the text. It is precisely on those points
where grammatical accuracy is required for fixing a definite sense that
the manuscripts are hopelessly defective. The preceding translation is
_verbally_ correct, I trust, but I do not pretend that it is
intelligible. It stops where the papyrus _Fa_ stops.
1. _Restored._ The reduplication in ⁂ here gives the verb this
sense.
2. It is not only in Egyptian that verbs of sight are applied to other
perceptions. Aeschylus says κτύπον δέδορκα in _Sept. c. Th._ 104, and
the Hebrew writers furnish similar examples.
3. _At the mouth of Osiris and the heart of Sutu._ To justify this
translation the same preposition ought to govern _mouth_ and _heart_.
But I do not know any copy in which this occurs. The Turin reading is
simply absurd.
CHAPTER XCI.
_Chapter whereby the Soul is secured from imprisonment in the
Netherworld._
Oh thou who art exalted and worshipped, all powerful, almighty one, who
grantest thy terrors to the gods, who displayest thyself upon thy throne
of grandeur,(1.) let the way be made for my Soul, my Chu and my Shade.
Let me be thoroughly equipped.
I am a powerful Soul; let the way be made for me to the place where Rā
is and Hathor.
_If this Chapter is known, he taketh the form of a fully equipped Chu in
the Netherworld, and does not suffer imprisonment at any door in the
Amenta, either in coming in or going out._
NOTE.
1. There is no safe text here, ‘grandeur’ is only meant to indicate the
existence of ⁂ in the original. But there certainly ought to be
something different from what any of the MSS. supply.
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PLATE XXIII.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
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PLATE XXIV.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
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CHAPTER XCII.
_Chapter whereby the Tomb is opened to the Soul and to the Shade of the
person, that he may come forth by day and may have mastery of his
feet._
That standeth open which thou openest, and that is closed which thou
closest, oh thou who art at rest;(1.) thou openest and thou closest to
my Soul, at the bidding of the Eye of Horus: who delivereth me, who
establisheth the glory upon the brow of Rā: [the god] of stretched out
steps and rapid paces, who maketh for me a wide path and vigorous limbs.
I am Horus, the avenger of his father, who lifteth up his father and who
lifteth up his mother with his staff.
Let the path be opened to him who hath mastery of his feet, that he may
look upon the great god within the Bark of Rā on the day of the Soul’s
Reckoning; and my Soul is then at the front during the Reckoning of the
Years.
May the Eye of Horus deliver for me my Soul, and establish my splendour
upon the brow of Rā, and may my radiance be upon your faces who are
attached to the person of Osiris: imprison not my Soul, put not in
custody my Shade.
Let the path be open to my Soul and to my Shade that it may see the
great god within his sanctuary, on the day of the Soul’s Reckoning, and
may repeat the words of Osiris whose place is unseen, and of those who
are attached to the person of Osiris and have the custody of Souls and
Spirits, and who shut up the Shades of the Dead who would do an injury
to me.(2.)
Let the path be thrown open(3.) to thy Genius[91] and to thy Soul,
Glorified one, who art provided with those who conduct thee; sit thou at
the head of the Great ones in thy place; thou shalt not be imprisoned by
those who are attached to the person of Osiris and who have the custody
of Souls and Spirits and who shut up the Shades of the Dead. It is
Heaven that shall hold thee.
NOTES.
1. I cannot agree with those who have hitherto translated this chapter.
The only grammatical interpretation which seems possible for the first
sentence depends upon the sense given to the suffix ⁂⁂ _tȧ_. I