The Egyptian Book of the dead
Osiris, in causing the light to rise out of his dead body; undeviatingly
and for times infinite._
NOTES.
This chapter does not occur in the earlier collections known to us.
1. _Horus who resideth in Sothis_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂; _cf._
Teta, 277.
2. _Menkit_ is one of the names of Hathor, but the place is corrupt and
the true reading uncertain.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER CII.
_Chapter whereby one entereth into the Bark of Rā._
O Great One in thy Bark, let me be lifted into thy Bark. Let me make
head for thy staircase. Let me have charge of those who convey thee, who
are attached to thee, who are of the Stars which never set.
That which I abominate, I eat not: and that which I abominate is Dirt,
let me not eat of it, but of peace offerings and of _Ka_-offerings, by
which I shall not be upset.
Let me not approach it with my hands, let me not tread upon it with my
sandals, because my bread is of the white corn and my beer of the red
corn of the Nile.
It is the Sektit boat and the Āātit which have brought me to the food
and raiment which are upon the altar of the Spirits of Annu.
Salutation to thee, Ur-ar-set, in that voyage of heaven and the disaster
in Tennu, when those dogs were gathered together, not without giving
voice.
I have come myself and delivered the god from that pain and suffering,
that was in trunk, in shoulder and in leg.
I have come and healed(1.) the trunk, and fastened the shoulder and made
firm the leg.
And I embark for the voyage of Rā.
NOTE.
1. _Healed._ Such is the meaning of ⁂⁂⁂, as in chapter 147,
17, and Unas 214, no less than in a passage which does not occur in the
most ancient texts of chapter 17, but which is found in the papyri and
is derived from the early traditions. Thoth healed the face of Horus.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER CIII.
_Chapter whereby one openeth the place where Hathor abideth._
I am a pure follower. O Ahi; O Ahi;(1.) let me become one of the
followers of Hathor.
NOTE.
1. _Ahi_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, the _Striker_ is one of the names
of Horus, who in the inscriptions of Benihassan is called
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, “Horus who striketh down men.” The
notion of striking was in later days confined to the beating of
the sistrum. Priestly persons bore the title of _Ahi_ as
representatives of the youthful Horus, son of Hathor. See _Proc.
Soc. Bibl. Arch._, XII, p. 460, on “The Sun-stroke in Egyptian.”
------------------------------------
CHAPTER CIV.
_Chapter whereby one sitteth in the midst of the great gods._
Let me sit in the midst of the great gods. Let me pass through the place
of the Sektit boat. It is the Bird-fly deity(1.) that shall convey me to
see the great gods who are in the Netherworld, and I shall be triumphant
in their presence.
NOTE.
1. _The Bird-fly deity_, Abait; _see_ chapter 76, note.
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CHAPTER CV.
_Chapter whereby one propitiateth_(1.) _the Ka._
Hail to thee, my Ka, my coeval.(2.)
May I come to thee and be glorified and made manifest and ensouled, let
me have strength and soundness.
Let me bring to thee grains of incense wherewith I may purify myself and
may also purify thine own overflow.
The wrong assertions that I have uttered, and the wrong resistance which
I have offered: let them not be imputed to me.
For I am the green gem, fresh at the throat of Rā, given by those who
are at the Horizon: their freshness is my freshness [_said twice_], the
freshness of my Ka is like theirs, and the dainties of my Ka are like
theirs.
Thou who liftest the hand at the Balance, and raisest Law to the nose of
Rā in this day [of my Ka]: do not thou put my head away from me. For I
am the Eye which seeth and the Ear which heareth; and am I not the Bull
of the sacrificial herd, are not the mortuary gifts(3.) upon me and the
supernal powers [_otherwise said_: the powers above Nut].
Grant that I may pass by thee, and may purify myself and cause the
triumph of Osiris over his adversaries.(4.)
NOTES.
1. _Propitiate_, ⁂. The simple root ⁂ _ḥetep_ signifies, what is
implied by the ideographic sign ⁂, the _taking hold_, _embracing_,
and kindred notions (_Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch._, Vol. X, p. 578). The
notion of appeasing an angry personage is no more necessarily involved
in the Egyptian word than in the Latin _propitiare_. M. Léfebure’s
translation, _réunir_, in the title of this chapter is perfectly correct
as far as it goes.
See in _Denkm._, III, pl. 34, b, the picture of Thothmes III being
greeted by his _ka_. Rameses II and other kings are often represented in
the act of supplicating their own _ka_.
2. _My coeval_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂ or, as some might prefer, my _duration
of life_.
The pictures in the temple of Luxor (_Denkm._, III, 74 and 75) are well
known which represent the birth of Amenophis III. The infant prince in
each of these pictures is accompanied by his _ka_, his exact image. The
_ka_ is nursed and suckled by the same goddesses.
But perhaps the best commentary on our text is to be found in the
picture recently published by the French Mission Archéologique (_Temple
de Luxor_, fig. 203), in which both the royal infant and his _ka_ are
being fashioned by the hand of Chnum, upon his potter’s wheel.
3. _Mortuary gifts_ ⁂⁂⁂, meals offered to the
departed. The meaning of the compound group is plain enough
from the determinatives, and such frequent forms as
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “consisting of bread and
beer,” but the origin of it is not so clear. The usual meaning of
⁂⁂ like that of the Coptic ϧⲣⲱⲟⲩ is _voice_, but in the present
group it stands for ⁂⁂⁂ corresponding to ϧⲣⲉ, plur. ϧⲣⲏⲟⲩⲓ,
τροφὴ, βρώματα, ἐδέσματα,, and ⁂ is to be understood as in the very
common formula ⁂⁂⁂⁂.
The reading ⁂⁂⁂⁂ which is sometimes found in late texts
is faulty and leads to an erroneous interpretation. ⁂ is a mistake
either for ⁂ or for ⁂, the phonetic of ⁂.
In such passages of the Pyramid texts as
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ (Unas 36)
⁂ is a demonstrative not a negative particle, “Here is the mortuary
meal presented for thee, and _here_ are the two Eyes, the White and the
Black, of Horus.”
4. All the early MSS. except _Pd_ omit this last passage.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER CVI.
_Chapter whereby a largess is presented at Hat-ka-Ptah._(1.)
Oh thou god of nutriment, oh great one who presidest over the mansions
on high; [to whom bread cometh from Annu] ye who give bread to Ptah
[from Annu], give me bread and beer: let me be made pure by the
sacrificial joint, together with the white bread.(2.)
Oh thou ship of the Garden of Aarru, let me be conveyed to that bread of
thy canal; as my father, the Great one, who advanceth in the Divine ship
[because I know thee].
NOTES.
This is one of the chapters found on the sarcophagus of Horhotep. It is
also inscribed on a statue, now in the Berlin Museum, belonging to the
early part of the XVIIIth dynasty (_Denkm._, III, 25 h and k). These
authorities do not give the title found in the papyri. The allusions to
Annu are confined to the earliest text, which somewhat differs from the
later authorities, and finishes sooner than they do. _Cf._ also _Teta_,
l. 331.
1. _Hat-ka-Ptah_ is the name of Memphis, but as in so many other places
it is not the earthly city which is meant. M. Naville has pointed out
that the words “in the Netherworld” are added in the papyrus of Nebseni.
2. Bread and beer are not mentioned in the earliest text, which has
other important variants. The latest texts have the verb ⁂⁂,
_wash_, _make clean_, _purify_, of which ⁂⁂⁂ on the Berlin
statue and the Theban papyri may fairly be considered an older form. But
Horhotep has ⁂⁂⁂, a different word and occurring in a
grammatical construction differing from that of the other texts.
The words ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ occur as a familiar formula in
the Pyramid texts (Unas, 185, 205; Teta, 91); but Horhotep interpolates
⁂⁂ after ⁂⁂⁂. The determinatives of the group
⁂⁂⁂ (sometimes ⁂ or ⁂), show that the copyist
understood the word as meant for the sacrificial joint.
It is not uninteresting to note, with reference to the correctness of
the title of this chapter, that the Pyramid ritual (Unas, 205) expressly
says of the deceased that “the sacrificial joint with the white bread”
are the “largess” (⁂⁂) which he receives.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLATE XXVII.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLATE XXVIII.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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CHAPTER CVII.
[The chapter so called consists, in fact, of the first two lines of
chapter 109. The vignette over it really belongs to chapter 108. It has
no separate existence in any of the papyri of the best periods.]
------------------------------------
CHAPTER CVIII.
_Chapter whereby one knoweth the Powers of the West._
In respect of the Hill of Bachau(1.) upon which heaven resteth, it
presenteth itself(2.) three hundred cubits in length(3.) and two hundred
cubits in breadth.
Sebak, the Lord of Bachau, is at the east of the Hill, and his temple is
upon it.
There is a serpent on the brow of that hill, five hundred cubits in
length, three cubits of his forepart are pierced with swords.
I know the name of this serpent on his hill: “He who dwelleth in his own
flame” is his name.(4.)
Now, at the close of day(5.) he turneth down his eyes to Rā; for there
cometh a standing still in the Bark and a deep slumber within the ship.
And now he swalloweth three cubits of the Great Water.
Then Sutu is made to flee with a chain upon him of steel(6.) and he is
forced to vomit all that he hath swallowed. Then Sutu is put into his
prison.
_And then he saith with Words of Power_:—
Away with thee! Steel, which art made fast upon my hand. I remain in thy
prison, the Bark sails on and thou seest the path; but thine eyes close,
[thine eye is delivered to me], thy head is veiled,(7.) and I go on and
stay thy steps.
I am the Manful one, who veileth thy head and who cooleth the hollow of
thy hand: thy strength is my strength.
I am the Master of the Words of Power.
Who is this who hath been delivered to me?
This Bright One, who cometh on his belly, on his hind parts and on the
joints of his back.