The Egyptian Book of the dead
them as the old “ergastules,” a kind of vaulted hall. Jéquier speaks of
them as “magazines,” but generally translates the word by “pylons.”
Renouf, in his introduction to the Papyrus of Ani, calls the
⁂⁂⁂ “gates,” and the ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “pylons.” In
another place he says the ⁂⁂⁂⁂ is not a mere gate, but a
_hold_ or _keep_.
If we refer to the old texts where this chapter is mixed together with
chapter 146, we see that the ⁂⁂⁂ is a door, a gate, which has
to be passed in order to reach the ⁂⁂⁂⁂. Behind each
⁂⁂⁂ a ⁂⁂⁂⁂ is represented as a shrine close to
which is its god. And also in the book called ⁂⁂⁂, _the book
of what is in the Tuat_, we see that Rā has to go through the
⁂⁂⁂ and make a long navigation before he reaches the gods of
the Tuat.
144 and 147 are two different versions of the same chapter, and no old
papyrus has them both. It is the same with chapters 145 and 146.
Evidently before the Saitic period, for these chapters, as for the 15th,
there was no received text, and the writers had the choice between
various versions which the compilers of the Turin text collected
together. There are seven ⁂⁂⁂, and the deceased who
approaches them has to know three names; first, the ⁂⁂⁂⁂
⁂⁂⁂ whom Renouf calls _the porter_, evidently from his being
styled in chapter 147 ⁂⁂⁂⁂. But if we consider that in
some of the old papyri the name of the man is that of the gate itself,
⁂⁂⁂⁂ has to be translated _he who belongs to_, the
occupant, the inhabitant, a sense which does not disagree with the word
⁂⁂⁂⁂ since, according to Oriental customs, the master of
a house is generally met with at the door, at the entrance.
The _doorkeeper_, the _watcher_ (Budge), or the _warder_ (Renouf), is
the second person, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _he who guards the
gate_. The third person ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, as the text says
reports to Osiris every day the things of the world, and I suppose also,
who is coming towards the gate. Renouf calls this person _the teller_. I
shall use the word _herald_, which I adopted previously.
In the six old texts which I collated, we find only the reciting of the
three names. The Papyrus of Nu in the British Museum alone contains the
allocution to the gates of the Turin text. It is therefore from the
Papyrus of Nu that this chapter has been translated. (Budge, _The Book
of the Dead_.)
1. The title is taken from Papyrus _Ax_. The Turin text calls this
chapter “_the chapter of knowing the occupants of the seven gates_.”
2. A flame, judging from the determinative ⁂.
3. ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ as we read in chapter 147.
4. ⁂⁂⁂ _N._ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ lit. “receives the
saying.” I suppose it means receives the right or the privilege to say
the words which follow: “I am one of them.”
5. ⁂⁂⁂⁂ a word which has various meanings. Renouf
translates: “protection, safeguard, powers, attributes.” I believe in
many cases it corresponds to what we call “the nature,” and that it is
used as a periphrase instead of an abstract adjective, which does not
exist in Egyptian. The real sense of such an expression
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂
seems to be ‘such as he is, such am I, and such is Rā.’
6. I read with the Turin text ⁂⁂⁂⁂. The papyrus _Pb_,
which reproduces this sentence in an addition to 136A writes
⁂⁂⁂.
7. ⁂⁂⁂. ‘The god of the lock, or the curling god,’ another
name for ⁂⁂⁂ Apepi, an evil power which must be driven away.
Chapter 130, line 39, I should translate: ‘Osiris follows the path of Rā
in the morning, and drives away the curling god.’
8. ‘The steel firmament,’ ⁂⁂⁂⁂, generally mentioned in
connection with storms and bad weather, so that possibly we have to
consider here the colour of the metal, and translate ‘the dark sky, the
black sky.’
9. The books of Thoth, the divine writer.
10. Probably the name of the book or of the page which contains also the
catalogue of the offerings.
The vignettes of chapter 144 represent the gates, the warder, and the
herald; the occupant is not seen, as he is in the vignettes of chapter
147. There seems to be no definite order or rule in these figures, just
as in the names, which are not always attributed to the same member
(_cf._ Introd. to the _Todtenbuch_, p. 172).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLATE XLVIII.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLATE XLIX.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTERS CXLV AND CXLVI.
_The knowing of the pylons of the house of Osiris, in the Garden of
Aarru._
The first pylon(1.) (is named): the lady of trembling whose walls are
high, the lady of destruction, who directs the words which drive away
the storm, she who forces back the violent(2.) coming towards her. The
name of the doorkeeper is: the brave.
The second pylon (is named): the lady of heaven, mistress of the world,
the consuming one, the lady of mankind, who counts the human beings. The
name of the doorkeeper is: Meshept.
The third pylon: the lady of altars, rich in offerings, with whom all
the gods are gathered, on the day when they sail to Abydos. The name of
the doorkeeper is: the anointer.
The fourth pylon: she who holds the knives, the mistress of the world,
who destroys the enemies of the god whose heart is motionless, who gives
advice, who is free from impurity. The name of the doorkeeper is: the
bull.
The fifth pylon: the flame, the lady of the words of power(3.), who
gives joy to him who addresses his supplications to her, to whom no one
who is on earth(4.) will come near. The name of the doorkeeper is: he
who coerces the rebels.
The sixth pylon: the lady of light, who roars loud; whose length and
breadth are not known, and the like of whom never was found from the
beginning. There are serpents on her, the number of which is not known;
they were born before the god whose heart is motionless. The name of the
doorkeeper is, the consort.
The seventh pylon: the shroud which enwrappeth the dead; the monster who
seeks to hide the body. The name of the doorkeeper is: _Akesti_.
The eighth pylon: the burning flame whose fire is never quenched; she
who is provided with burning heat, who sends forth her hand, and
slaughters without mercy. Nobody goes near her for fear of being hurt.
The name of the doorkeeper is: he who protects his body.
The ninth pylon: the foremost, the Mighty One, the joyous who gives
birth to her lord; whose circumference is 350 measures(5.); she who
shines like southern emerald, who raises Besu, and encourages the dead,
she who provides her lord with offerings every day.
The tenth pylon: she with a loud voice; who shouts curses to those who
make supplications to her; the very brave, the dreadful, who does not
destroy what is within her. The name of the doorkeeper is: he who
embraces the great god.
The eleventh pylon: she who renews her knives, who consumes her enemies,
the mistress of all pylons, to whom acclamations are given in the
daytime and in the twilight. She will prepare the enwrapping of the
dead.
The twelfth pylon: she who addresses her world and destroys those who
come through the morning heat, the lady of brightness, who listens to
the words of her lord every day. She will prepare the enwrapping of the
dead.
The thirteenth pylon: Isis extends her two hands upon her; she lightens
the Nile in its hidden abode. She will prepare the enwrapping of the
dead.
The fourteenth pylon: the lady of fear, who dances on the impure, to
whom the _Haker_ festival is celebrated on the day of the hearing of
yells. She will prepare the enwrapping of the dead.
The fifteenth pylon: the evil one, with red hair and eyes, who comes out
at night, who binds her enemy all round, who puts her hands over the god
whose heart is motionless, in his hour (of danger), who goes and comes.
She will prepare the enwrapping of the dead.
The sixteenth pylon: the terrible, the lady of the morning dew, who
throws out(6.) her burning heat, and sprinkles her sparks of fire over
her enemies when she appears. She who creates (reveals?) the mysteries
of the earth. She will prepare the enwrapping of the dead.
The seventeenth pylon: she who revels in blood; Aahit, the lady of the
_uauai_ plants. She will prepare the enwrapping of the dead.
The eighteenth pylon: she who likes fire, who washes her knives, who
loves cutting heads, the welcome one, the lady of the palace, who slays
her enemies in the evening. She will prepare the enwrapping of the dead.
The nineteenth pylon: she who directs the morning light in her time, and
observes the midday heat, the lady of the books written by Thoth
himself. She will prepare the enwrapping of the dead.
The twentieth pylon: she who is within the cavern of her lord, who
covers her name, and hides what she creates, who takes possession of
hearts, which she swallows. She will prepare the enwrapping of the dead.
The twenty-first pylon: she who cuts the stone by her word, and
sacrifices him on whom fall her flames. She follows the hidden counsels.
NOTES.
Chapters 145 and 146 are two versions of the same text. They are the
chapter of the arrival of the deceased to the ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ of
the house of Osiris. It is difficult to know what these
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ really are. Renouf translates the word by
_pylon_. At the same time he says they are not mere gates, but keeps
or holds. I shall use his word pylon; but the word which seems to me
to convey most exactly the meaning is a _cell_, since each of the
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ has an inhabitant. There are various versions of
these chapters. The oldest, No. 146, is found in several papyri, and
has been translated from _Lc._ (Leyden), the only one which has the
chapter complete. It consists of 21 paragraphs, each of which begins
with a sentence giving the names of the pylon. It is followed by that
of the ⁂⁂⁂⁂, which I translate, with Renouf, the
_porter_ or _doorkeeper_ though I should prefer, he who is within the
door, since the vignettes show that the so-called porter or doorkeeper
is the god who occupies the cell. There are 21 pylons, out of which
the papyri give us a certain number. Brugsch finds in their names
those of some of the hours of night or day; but the fact of their
being 21, absolutely precludes the idea of these pylons being the
hours.
The papyrus of _Nu_ in the British Museum gives a slightly different
version of this chapter 146. Each pylon is introduced by these words,
“said by Nu when he arrives at the first pylon: I have arrived, I know
thee, I know the name of the god who guardeth thee; the lady of
trembling, &c., is thy name, the name of the doorkeeper is the brave.”
The other version which constitutes chapter 145 shows that the god who
guardeth the pylon and the doorkeeper are the same person.
Chapter 145 is the same text which has been spun out a little more. We
have no older copy of it than the fragments in the tomb of Meneptah
Siphtah and queen Tauser, which give us only eleven pylons, with a very
incorrect text. As for the Turin text, it is so hopelessly corrupt,
especially in the most important part, the names, that I did not attempt
to translate it. Then chapter 145 is the text of Nu for 146 still more
developed. In the version of the royal tomb, each paragraph is called:
“The salutation of Osiris, the king, to the pylon: I know thee, I know