The Egyptian Book of the dead
deictic, it is susceptible of very many shades of meaning, and it would
be impossible in this place to do justice to a word so frequently
occurring, especially in the hieratic papyri of a secular character. The
following examples are only intended to illustrate its _grammatical_ use
in our text.
The particle occurs three times before as many propositions at the
beginning of Chapter 123; ‘I have balanced the divine Pair,’ ‘I have put
a stop, _etc._,’ ‘I have ended their complaints;’ ⁂⁂ connects each
of these statements with the preceding one, ‘I am Thoth.’ It is as if
the speaker said, ‘_It is in consequence of_ my being Thoth, that I have
balanced,’ _etc._
In Chapter 36, ‘I am the bearer of the divine words’ is followed by
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ‘and _so it comes that_ I make the
report.’
In Chapter 15, line 7, ‘I am one of those who honoured thee upon earth’
is followed by ⁂⁂⁂⁂ ... “let me _therefore_ attain to the
Land of eternity.”
Aahmes, the son of Abana, says in his inscription (line 5) that he was
young and unwedded, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “_and so_ I continued to
wear” a certain dress.
Amenemheb was, he tells us (_Zeitschr._, 1873, p. 3), high in the favour
of the King, “_and so it comes that_ I followed my Lord
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.”
Una was sent by his sovereign on a certain mission, and the negro
chieftains of certain districts furnished the wood for his purpose,
“_and so it came to pass that_ he spent ⁂⁂⁂ a year in this
wise.“
After _verba dicendi_ ⁂⁂ corresponds to our as _how_, _comme
quoi_, or the _quod_ or _quia_ of late Latinity. It often needs no more
translation than the Greek ὅτι in such a relation.
In the inscription of Pianchi (line 2) one came to tell his Majesty
“_that_ (_comme quoi_) a prince [or magnate] had started up
⁂⁂⁂⁂” and seized upon a part of the kingdom.
⁂⁂⁂ most certainly does not mean ‘est, est,’ any more than it
means ‘Dominus meus mortuus est.’
Nebuaiu (_Zeitschr._, 1876, p. 5) in the time of Thothmes III
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “says, _as how_ ‘I have presided over
many constructions.’”
The Naophoros of the Vatican in like manner ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “says
_that_ ‘I made a petition’” to Cambyses.
Long before this Chnumhotep of Benihassan begins his biography (line 14)
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “his mouth, it says _as how_ ‘his Majesty
appointed me’ to the dignity of _Erpā ḥā_.”
The absence of Verbal character becomes especially apparent in such
combinations ⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂.
6. The older texts finish here. What follows in the translation is taken
from the later recensions. It is the reply made by the four Harbingers
to the prayer addressed to them.
7. _Mount of Glory_ ⁂. This is the real meaning of the word, and
there is no reason why we should continue to use the misleading term
_horizon_.
-----
Footnote 135:
The Gothic _Hana_ (the Cock), German _Hahn_ and our _Hen_ signify the
_Singer_, and are words cognate to the Latin _can-ere_. The Latin
_Gallus_ is probably related to our _call_.
Footnote 136:
The Greek language would furnish an interesting parallel to the
Egyptian if it could be shown that δέω, _bind_, and δέω, _want_,
_need_, had the same root. But the latter was originally δέϝω.
Footnote 137:
Such is the real meaning of ⁂⁂⁂⁂, not only in
this place, but in the extremely ancient text found on many
sarcophagi and already in the Pyramid Texts (see Pepi I, 33),
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂,
“Thy mother Nut bringeth it to pass that thou risest into full
strength, without an adversary, in thy name of _the Strong one_.”
In this translation it is assumed that the second ⁂ is the
negative ⁂, as it was always understood in later times (see for
an instance _Zeitschr._, 1869, p. 51, and the beautiful text of
Bakenrenf, _Denkm._, III, 263).
The true meaning of ⁂⁂ is not simply ‘this god’ but ‘the
Strong one,’ ὁ Ισχύων. ⁂⁂ is the ‘Strong and Beautiful;’
⁂⁂ is אל שׁדי, ὁ Παντοκράτωρ.
Footnote 138:
That is, ‘succeedeth.’
------------------------------------
CHAPTER CXXVII.
_The Book_(1.) _for invoking the gods of the Bounds,_(2.) _which the
person reciteth when he approacheth them, that he may enter and see
the Strong one_(3.) _in the Great Abode of the Tuat._
Hail, ye gods of the Bounds, who are in Amenta.
Hail, ye Doorkeepers of the Tuat, who guard this Strong one, and who
bring the reports before Osiris; ye who protect them who worship you,
and who annihilate the adversaries of Rā: who give light and put away
your darkness: ye who see and extol your Great one, who live even as he
liveth, and invoke him who is in his Solar disk.
Guide me, and let the gates of Heaven, Earth, and the Tuat be opened to
me.
I am the Soul of Osiris and rest in him.
Let me pass through the Gateways, and let them raise acclamation when
they see me.
Let me enter as I will, and come forth at my pleasure, and make my way
without there being found any defect or any evil attaching to me.
NOTES.
The text which has been followed in the translation of this chapter is
that of the Royal Tombs of Rameses IV and Rameses VI, called by M.
Naville Chapter 127 A. The lost Busca papyrus, of which Lepsius had a
tracing, furnishes a different text, (127 B), and the text of the Turin
_Todtenbuch_ has been enlarged by means of numerous interpolations. M.
Naville has called attention to the close relationship between this
chapter and the second part of the “Solar Litany.”
1. _Book_ ⁂⁂, properly a _Roll_; a title given to several of the
chapters (125, 127, 129, 130, 140, 141, 142 and 148 in the Turin
_Todtenbuch_), instead of the usual ⁂. Too much importance should
not be attached to the difference of terms. This chapter is called
⁂ by the Busca papyrus; and Chapter 125, which is called ⁂
in the earliest texts containing it whenever a title is given, is called
⁂⁂ ever since the time of Rameses IV.
2. _Bounds_, ⁂⁂⁂, in the dual form, though ⁂⁂⁂
is not unfrequent, here and in other places. The English word is not a
translation of the Egyptian one, which has to be explained before any
equivalent for it can be proposed. And the explanation of it has to be
sought in the ‘Solar Litany,’ first completely published by M. Naville.
There we find the Sun-god Rā invoked as a Power _pouring itself forth_
or _overflowing_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂[139] in 75 _forms_ and the
_forms_ in 75 ⁂⁂⁂. Each of these divine _forms_ (⁂⁂⁂)
has its own ⁂⁂⁂ as a dwelling-place, to which however it is
not confined.
The seventy-five Forms in question (each of which is a god) are, as the
text itself shows, simply so many names of the Solar god or solar
phenomena. Each of them is addressed as ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ‘Rā,
supreme of power,’ after which some attribute of the deity is mentioned,
and the name of the deity is connected with this attribute.
In Greece, Apollo was called ἑκηβόλος, καταιβάσιος, ἀποτροπαῖος,
νεομήνιος, and by ever so many other names expressive of the attributes
with which he was credited. These names correspond to what Egyptian
mythology called the ⁂⁂⁂ of a god, and each of the names has
but a limited application. The god is not always thought of as
‘Far-darting’; under the conception of ‘Neomenios,’ he _dwells_ in what
Egyptian mythology called another ⁂⁂, which is the local
habitation, or, as mathematicians would say, the _locus_ of the concept.
M. de Rougé, without giving any reason, but probably guided by what
Champollion had written, translates the word _zone_. M. Naville, who has
carefully studied the word, prefers _sphere_. And no better word could
be thought of, if we used it as we do in speaking of ‘moving in a
certain sphere,’ ‘each in his own sphere,’ or, ‘the sphere of action;’
without applying a strict geometrical sense to the word. For the
Egyptian ⁂⁂ was a hollow cylinder like a round tower, a chimney,
or a deep well rather than a sphere.
With the explanation I have just given, I prefer _Bounds_ as a more
expressive translation. The word appears in the dual form on account of
the presence of the god.
The name ⁂⁂⁂ was given to the fabulous Source of the
Nile, supposed to be in the neighbourhood of Elephantine. The
inscription of Seti I at Redesieh (_Denkm._, III, 140B) compares the
abundance of water at the King’s cistern to that of the
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “the cavern of the
double Well of Elephantine.”
In the later orthography the word is written ⁂ or ⁂⁂. It has
been supposed that the Coptic ⲕⲟⲣⲓ _cataracts_ might be connected with
the old Egyptian name. But the history of the Coptic word is not
sufficiently known to justify any inferences.
3. _The Strong one_, ⁂⁂, the name of Osiris. See footnote to
Chapter 126, Note 4.
-----
Footnote 139:
M. Naville leaves this word untranslated, though he rightly
conjectures it to be the origin of ϫⲱϣ _effundere_, _effusio_,
_infundere_, _immergere_.
⁂⁂⁂ at chapter 64, 23, is undoubtedly the _overflowing_,
or _outpouring_. There are the reduplicated Coptic forms ϭⲉϣϭϣ and
ϭⲉϣϭⲱϣ; and ϭⲉϣⲉ, a name of the _goose_, has its origin in
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, and has the same sense etymologically
as the Latin _mergus_.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER CXXVIII.
_Invocation of Osiris._
Hail to thee, Osiris Unneferu, son of Nut and eldest son of Seb: the
Great One who proceedeth from Nut; the king in Taa-urit;(1.) the Prince
in Amenta; the Lord of Abydos; the Lord of Forces; the most Mighty; the
Lord of the Atef crown in Suten-hunen, the Lord of Power in
Taa-urit,(2.) the Lord of the Mansion: most Powerful in Tattu: Lord of
Administration,(3.) and of many festivals in Tattu.
Horus exalteth his father Osiris in every place; associating Isis the
Great with her sister Nephthys.
Thoth speaketh to [Horus] with the potent utterances(4.) which have in
himself their origin and proceed from his mouth, and which strengthen
the heart of Horus beyond all gods.
=Rise up Horus, son of Isis, and restore thy father Osiris!=
Ha, Osiris! I am come to thee; I am Horus and I restore thee unto life
upon this day, with the funereal offerings and all good things for
Osiris.
Rise up, then, Osiris: I have stricken down for thee thine enemies, I
have delivered thee from them.
I am Horus on this fair day, at the beautiful coming forth(5.) of thy
Powers: who lifteth thee up with himself on this fair day as thine
associate god.(6.)
Ha, Osiris! thou hast come and with thee thy _Ka_, which uniteth with
thee in thy name of Ka-hotep.(7.)
He glorifieth thee in thy name of the Glorified: he invoketh thee in thy
name of Hekau: he openeth for thee the paths in thy name of Ap-uat.(8.)
Ha, Osiris! I am come to thee that I may set thine adversaries beneath
thee in every place, and that thou mayest be triumphant in presence of
all the gods who are around thee.
Ha, Osiris! thou hast received thy sceptre, thy pedestal and the flight
of stairs beneath thee.(9.)
Regulate thou the festivals of the gods, and do thou regulate the
oblations to those who reside in their mansions.
Grant thou thy greatness to the gods whom thou hast made, great god, and
make thine appearance with them as their Ensign.(10.)
Take thou precedence(11.) over all the gods and listen to the Voice of
Maāt on this day.
_Said over the oblations made to the Strong One on the Festival of
Uaka._(12.)
NOTES.
The ancient papyri do not contain this chapter. The translation follows
the text of the Turin _Todtenbuch_, occasionally corrected by other
papyri of the later period. There is nothing specially interesting in
the chapter: the first portion of it is an invocation to Osiris under
certain names, as in many other hymns[140] to the god from the time of