The Egyptian Book of the dead
and Pehsukher, _Miss. Arch. Française_, V, pp. 229 and 289).
And ⁂⁂ _string_, _rope_ is connected with the notion of
‘throwing’ like our own _warp_ with _werfen_ (Goth. _vairp-an_) and
ῥίπ-τω.
-----
Footnote 108:
The ⁂⁂⁂⁂, _Rechit_, mankind actually, living, as
distinguished from the dead or yet unborn.
Chapter CXX is a repetition of Chapter XII.
Chapter CXXI is a repetition of Chapter XIII.
Chapter CXXII is a repetition of Chapter LVIII.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER CXXIII.
_Chapter_(1.) _whereby one entereth into the Great House._
Hail to thee, O Tmu, I am Thoth.
I have equally balanced the Divine Pair, I have put a stop to their
strife, I have ended their complaints.
I have rescued the Âtu from his backward course.
I have done what thou hast prescribed for him.
And I rest since then within my own Eye.
I am free from obstruction; and I come that thou mayest see me in the
house where I repeat the ancient ordinances and words, as a guidance
wherewith thou shalt guide posterity.(2.)
NOTES.
1. This chapter (which is repeated in Chapter 139) is like the
repetition of an important passage in Chapter 110. But the differences
are very considerable, and it is for criticism to decide the question of
priority between the two recensions.
Whichever be the earlier recension, the present one is of very great
interest and importance. It is found on two of the most carefully
written papyri of the eighteenth dynasty. But the most interesting
feature is the mythological allusion at this date (_at latest_) to an
astronomical phenomenon, with reference to which later researches may
furnish fresh evidence.
The speaker in this chapter is said (not merely implied, as in Chapter
110, _see_ note 5) to be Thoth, who is the measurer of all things in
heaven and earth, and the author and regulator of all science. He is
here said to have established the _equilibrium_ ⁂⁂⁂ between
the Divine Pair, Horus and Sutu; that is Day and Night. Such an
equilibrium, strictly speaking, never exists except at the _Equinoxes_.
But the most important passage is, “I have rescued the _Âtu_ from his
backward course.” The ⁂⁂⁂ _Âtu_ is a mythological _fish_, who
is represented as following the course of the Bark of Rā. The meaning of
the name is, _the Cleaver_, _Divider_, _Cutter in two_ ⁂⁂. It is
one of the appellatives of the Sun-god, with reference to his path
through the sky. But what is that solar phenomenon specially deserving
to be characterised by its _motion backwards_ ⁂⁂⁂?
I do not think any astronomer would hesitate to answer, that
_Precession_ is meant. The cause of Precession could only be known to
really scientific philosophers (which is out of question in this case),
but the _phenomena_ would necessarily be noted by those who had
important interests in keeping their calendar correct.[109] Even the
Chinese, by dint of records and without any mathematics, came to infer
the precession of the equinoxes; so did the Egyptians apparently at a
very much earlier period; and Hipparchus, who has the credit of the
discovery, may have learnt it from them.
Although ⁂⁂ is commonly represented as a _fish_, the same name
is given to a _Crustacean_ ⁂, ⁂ whose organs of locomotion are
specially adapted for backward motion.
“_Rescuing_ the Âtu from its backward course” can mean nothing less than
being able to _correct_ or (in technical language) to _equate_ the
phenomena.
It might perhaps be suggested that the backward course here spoken of
has reference to the year of 360 days, corrected at an early period by
the addition of the five supplementary days. This would certainly have
been a very probable explanation of the clause, but for the direct
connection which this has with what precedes, concerning the equilibrium
between Day and Night; that is, the Equinox.
2. _Posterity_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ literally, _minores_. The
word in the present context seems to have a different meaning from what
it has in Chapter 110, where it is put in contrast with
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ violent ones, against whom Thoth interposes his
protection.
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PLATE XXXII.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
[Illustration:
CHAPTER CXXV.
=Papyrus, Musée?] du Louvre, III, 89.=
]
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PLATE XXXIII.
BOOK OF THE DEAD
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CHAPTER CXXIV.
_Chapter whereby one cometh to the Divine Circle of Osiris._
My soul buildeth for me a Hall(1.) in Tattu and I flourish in Pu.
My fields are ploughed by those who belong to me: therefore is my palm
tree like Amsu.
Abominations, abominations, I eat them not. I abominate filth, I eat it
not.
[Peace offerings are my food, by which I am not upset.]
I approach it not with my hands; I tread not upon it with my sandals;
for my bread is of the white corn and my beer of the red corn of the
Nile.
It is the Sektit boat, or it is the Atit boat, which bringeth them to
me, and I feed upon them under the foliage of the Tamarisk.(2.)
I know how beautiful are the arms which announce Glory for me(3.) and
the white crown which is lifted up by the divine Uræi.
O thou Gate-keeper of him who pacifieth the world, let that be brought
to me of which oblations are made, and grant that the floors may be a
support for me, and that the glorious god may open to me his arms, and
that the company of gods be silent whilst the Hammemit(4.) converse with
me.
O thou who guidest the hearts of the gods, protect me and let me have
power in heaven among the starry ones.
And every divinity who presenteth himself to me, be he reckoned to the
forerunners of Rā: be he reckoned to the forerunners of Light and to the
Bright ones who deck the sky amid the Mighty ones.
Let me have my will there of the Bread and Beer with the gods; that I
enter through the Sun-disk and come forth through the Divine Pair, that
the gods who follow may speak to me, and that Darkness and Night may be
terrified before me in Mehit-urit, by the side of him “Who is in his
Sanctuary.”
And lo I am here with Osiris. My measure is his measure(5.) among the
mighty ones. I speak to him the words of men and I repeat to him the
words of gods.
There cometh a glorified one, equipped, who bringeth Maāt to those who
love her.
I am the Glorified one and the Equipped. And better equipped am I than
any of the Glorified.
NOTES.
1. _Hall_ ⁂,⁂[,⁂⁂⁂, or ⁂⁂ _ḫent_, the πρόναος,
πρόδομος, ‘Vorsaal,’ first room of a temple or palace. The sense of
_harîm_ which has been ascribed to it in certain texts is entirely
erroneous. The temple inscriptions (see Brugsch, _Zeitschr._, 1875, p.
118, and fol., and Mariette, _Denderah_, I, 6) leave no doubt on the
subject. If there were “ladies of the royal antechamber,” it by no means
follows that they were wives or concubines of the king, and hall or
antechamber convey a very different idea from that of the most reserved
portion of the house.[110]
Pictures and inscriptions on mummy cases identify the term
mythologically with that portion of the sky whence the first rays of the
rising sun are visible.
The mention of the word in the Pyramid Texts (_Pepi_, I, 672) is in
connection with the notion of food, ⁂⁂.
2. We have here a repetition of passages to the same effect as in
Chapters 53 (A and B) and others. The Pyramid Texts (_Teta_, 344) have a
section nearly identical.
3. _The arms which announce Glory for me._ The clue to the meaning of
this passage is to be found in ⁂, which is a _relative_ form
implying an antecedent, which can only be “the arms.”
The _arms which announce Glory for me_ are to be explained by the usages
of the ancient ritual, which prescribed certain postures or attitudes in
the ceremony of ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, as in other forms wherein the
arms played a great part. These religious ceremonies it must always be
remembered, were considered as dramatic representations of what was done
in the invisible world.
4. _The Hammemit_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, or
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, the
generations of human beings yet unborn.
5. _My measure is his measure_. The meaning of ⁂⁂⁂⁂ or
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ can only be inferred from the form
⁂⁂⁂⁂ which occurs repeatedly in the great Harris Papyrus
and some other documents.
The scribe of the Turin _Todtenbuch_ carelessly omitted the second part
of the phrase, and therefore altered the grammatical construction. This
is how M. Pierret came to conjecture the sense ‘proclaim,’ which is not
suggested by any of the ancient authorities, or even by the later ones.
The reading of the Leyden Papyrus T, 16 is identical with that of the
oldest papyrus.
-----
Footnote 109:
“The amount of this motion by which the equinox travels backward, or
retrogrades (as it is called), is _per annum_ an extremely minute
quantity, but which, by its continual accumulation from year to year,
at last makes itself very palpable, and that in a way highly
inconvenient to practical astronomers, by destroying, in the lapse of
a moderate number of years, the arrangement of their catalogues of
stars, and making it necessary to reconstruct them.” Herschel,
_Astronomy_, chapter 4.
Footnote 110:
The ⁂⁂⁂⁂ mentioned in the tablet of Pa-shere-en-Ptah
are not concubines, as Brugsch and others have thought, but female
children, as Birch rightly asserted. Cf. my _Hibbert Lectures_, p. 79,
note. It is the feminine form of ⁂⁂⁂⁂.
There is also another word, ⁂⁂, applied on the walls of tombs
to persons (_male_ as well as female) executing certain gymnastic
movements.
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PLATE XXXIV.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
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PLATE XXXV.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
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PLATE XXXVI.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
CHAPTER CXXV (Notes).
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