The Egyptian Book of the dead
Lo! then, I come, and thy might is in my hand. It is I who carry away
thy might, that I may come and seize upon the Tunnels of Rā who is
united to me at sunset as he goeth round heaven.(8.)
But thou art pierced with hooks, as was decreed against thee of old.
I know the powers of the West, they are Tmu, Sebak the Lord of Bachau,
and Hathor, Mistress of Sunset.
NOTES.
The chapters 108, 109, 112, 113, and 114 being so analogous to each
other, in form, matter, style, and composition, and each being concerned
with the divine _Powers_ ⁂ of some locality, it is interesting to
know that one at least of these chapters is found on a monument of the
Middle Empire. The others are probably not less ancient, and the text
published by Dr. Golenischef (_Zeitschr. f. Aegypt. Spr._, 1874, p. 84)
from the Sarcophagus at St. Petersburg already bears manifest signs of
antiquity.
Another sign of antiquity as regards the present chapter may be seen in
the numerous forms in which it has come down to us. These are so
different, and sometimes so irreconcileable, that it seems evident that
tradition has handed down very corrupt texts, and that the original
meaning of this chapter had been entirely lost at a very early date and
cannot be discovered now. The oldest text is the shortest of all, but it
is both imperfect and incorrect. The earliest papyri differ greatly from
the later ones. But both the earlier and the later papyri have the 149th
chapter which contains another recension of the 108th, and chapter 111
in the Turin and later papyri is another form of it.
1. The Hill of _Bachau_. ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ has for
determinative the sign ⁂ which connects the word with the Coptic
ⲃⲟⲩϩⲓ ‘eyelids.’ In the later texts the word has for determinative
either a _woman_ or a _cow_ in the act of parturition, as if it were
connected with ⁂⁂⁂ and its variants, with which
⁂⁂⁂⁂ another name of the Dawn is identified.
2. _Presenteth itself_, ⁂⁂. This Egyptian verb is always
expressive of activity, and perhaps ought never to be translated
_being_. ⁂ are ‘things which are,’ but ⁂⁂ are ‘things which
spring forth’ ‘come to light.’
3. The oldest text (which is here the best authority) does not give the
dimensions of the hill, but only of the serpent. The earliest papyri
give the dimensions of both, but make the hill so absurdly small that
the serpent could not rest upon it. Later papyri beginning with _Pf_
have corrected the texts so as to give the hill a length of 300 cubits,
or ⁂ (each of which is 100 cubits long). They omit the statement
that the cubit in question is of 7½ palms (the Royal cubit being of 7
palms), and also the interesting mention of the ⁂⁂⁂ “balance
(or measurement) of the earth.” The relation of this ‘balance’ to the
rest of the sentence is not clear, because the MSS. differ as to the
preposition which precedes.
The Papyrus of Nebseni gives the hill 300 cubits in breadth. The
_Todtenbuch_ of Turin reads 370 ⁂ in length, and 140 cubits in
breadth.
4. The serpent’s name is not mentioned in chapter 111, nor is it in
the earliest text. But in chapter 149 the usual name is
⁂⁂⁂, more fully written ⁂⁂ in the Papyrus of
Nebseni. The determinative ⁂ commonly attached to the name of
Âpepi, expresses the meaning ‘sword smitten,’ ‘shot with swords,’
ξιφόκτονος. We might otherwise have understood the term in the sense
of ξιφοκτόνος, ‘slayer with swords.’ The Papyrus of Sutimes _Pd_ calls
the serpent ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ ‘knife-wounded.’
The proper name ⁂⁂⁂⁂, also written ⁂⁂⁂,
_Māṭes_, an epithet of Âpepi, or of Sutu, also means “pierced with
swords.” But the expression itself seems sometimes to be found in the
active sense, “piercing like a sword.”
5. _Close of Day_, when daylight has come to ‘a _stand_’ ⁂⁂⁂.
This is the reading of the papyri. The oldest reading is
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ ‘at the time of sunset.’
6. The earliest text says nothing of this, though it mentions the
“prison of Sutech,” in a passage corresponding to what the papyri
include in the ‘Words of Power’ which follow. The Turin _Todtenbuch_
says that, “Sutu is put into his prison, and that a chain of steel is
put upon his neck.” Pictures of the serpent with the chain upon him will
be found in Bonomi, _Sarcoph._, plates 10 and 11.[93] There is an
evident fusion in this chapter, in its later form at least, as in
chapter 39, of the personages of Sutu and Âpepi.
7. _Thy head is veiled._ The ‘veiling of the head,’ and ‘closing of the
eyes’ of the sun are of course mythological terms for night time. But
the mythological event was celebrated on the festival called
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.
8. Chapter 111 stops at the word “Sunset.” And after this, the text in
chapter 149 changes the third to the first person, and reads: “But I go
round the heaven whilst thou art pierced with hooks,” as if Rā were
replying to the words of Sutu. This, I confess, appears to me to offer a
better sense than that of chapter 108. And I should now alter the word
“stabber” in the first line of chapter 39 to “pierced with hooks.”
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Footnote 93:
On this picture (plate 11) may also be seen an interesting
illustration of chapter 39; the scorpion goddess putting the chain
upon Âpepi, in front of whom are the divinities to execute, with
swords and hooks, the decree passed against him. The children of Horus
are also seen occupied in the execution.
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CHAPTER CIX.
_Chapter whereby one knoweth the Powers of the East._
I know that Eastern Gate of Heaven (the South of it is by the lake of
Cha-ru, and the north of it by the stream of Reu), from whence Rā
saileth with favouring gales.(1.)
I am the Teller(2.) in the divine ship: I am the unresting navigator in
the Bark of Rā.
I know those two Sycomores of Emerald between which Rā cometh forth, as
he advanceth over what Shu hath lifted up,[94] to every gate(3.) through
which he proceedeth.
I know the Garden of Aarru: the wall of it is of steel. The wheat of it
is of 7 cubits, the ears of it of 2 cubits, the stalk of it of 4 cubits.
The barley of it is of 7 cubits, and the ears are of 4 cubits, and the
stalk of 3 cubits.
It is the glorified ones, each of whom is 9 cubits in height, who reap
them, in presence of the Powers of the East.
I know the Powers of the East: Horus of the Solar Mount, the Calf in
presence of the God,(4.) and the Star of Dawn.
A divine Domain(5.) hath been constructed for me; I know the name of it;
the name of it is the garden of Aarru.
NOTES.
Another recension of this chapter has been incorporated into chapter
149. The differences lie chiefly in the order assigned to each of the
component sentences.
1. _Favouring gales_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “_sailing breezes_,”
correspond to phrases like ἴκμενος οὖρος, venti secundi, trade winds,
tail wind, stern wind. There is not the faintest authority from the
older papyri (which are very numerous, and remarkably unanimous on this
point) in favour of the determinative ⁂, of the Turin _Todtenbuch_,
which gives the sense of violent or tempestuous winds.
2. _Teller_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.
3. _Every gate._ “Rā at his rising is adored by the Powers of the East.
They it is who effect the rising of Rā, by opening the door at each of
the four portals of the Eastern horizon of heaven.” (Inscr. in tomb of
Rameses VI, Champollion, _Notices_, Tom. II, p. 640.)
4. _The Calf in presence of the god._ The _Calf_ is seen in the
vignettes of this chapter and also of chapter 1. Brugsch (_Rev.
Egypt_, I, p. 38) quotes texts showing that the Milch-cow
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _Hor-sechauit_, is the mother of the
Sun-god, and that the infant god is the calf to whom she gives birth.
The words “in presence of the god” are probably corrupt, but the
variants are apparently worse. The Morning Star was equally identified
with Horus.
5. _The divine Domain._ See M. Maspero’s important article “Sur le sens
des mots Nouit et Hait,” in _P.S.B.A._, XII, p. 235-257. “⁂ NOUIT
sert à désigner un domaine rural d’étendue plus ou moins considérable,
portant ou ne portant pas de village ou de maison d’habitation.... Il
était une personne réelle, formant un corps complet en soi, et c’est
pour cela qu’on le représente sous la forme d’un homme ou d’une femme
apportant des produits agricoles et des offrandes.”
ADDITIONAL NOTE.
The later copies of the Book of the Dead add a few lines to the chapter,
of which they certainly formed no part when first written. The most
interesting portion of them is as follows:—
“There are writings in thy possession for the grant of fields of
corn-land in which there sprouteth corn from the effluxes of the god
Ut’eb. The height of the corn is seven cubits, the ears of two cubits;
and thou shall reap it with the Glorified ones, in presence of the
Powers of the East. Thou shalt enter boldly at the mysterious portals
and be purified by those who are there.”
The name of the god hieroglyphically written ⁂⁂ was shown by me
(_Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch._, Vol. VI, p. 187) to be _Uteb_ or _Ut’eb_.
Brugsch, apparently without having seen my note, came to the same
result, though he identified the god with Seb. The god is really Osiris,
and the text just quoted is illustrated by a picture of which various
copies are found. That here given is taken from the temple of Philae.
These pictures were known from the Ramesside period, but the
conception of Osiris which they convey ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂
(_Todt._, 142, 7) is of primitive antiquity. There is a chapter among
the texts preserved by the Coffin of Amamu (pl. xxvii, 6) about
“assuming the form of corn,” ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, and which
speaks of “the vegetation of life proceeding from Osiris, growing out
of the ribs of Osiris, and giving life to this generation of men,”
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.
The same idea gave rise to the name ⁂⁂⁂⁂ which is given to
Osiris in the Book of the Dead, in the sacred texts of the Royal Tombs,
and in the Hymn to the Nile. But the god is also twice called
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ in Amamu, pl. xxvii, 8. This latter form
proves that in ⁂⁂⁂⁂ we have a compound term.
The deity (in very late times) appears in the feminine gender
⁂⁂⁂ (_Denkm._, iv, 57).
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Footnote 94:
_I.e._, the Sky.
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CX. The Chapter which in the printed copy of the Turin _Todtenbuch_ is
numbered 110 interrupts the series of chapters on the Powers of certain
localities. The translation of it is reserved till that of these
chapters is completed. It will be found at page 193.
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CHAPTER CXI.
is only a repetition of Chapter CVIII.
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PLATE XXIX.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
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PLATE XXX.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.