The Egyptian Book of the dead
my skin (?) will not disappear. My ear will not be deaf, my head will
not be taken away from my neck, my tongue will not be torn away, my hair
will not be cut off, my eyebrows shall not be shaven off. No grievous
harm shall come upon me, my body is firm, it shall not be destroyed. It
shall not perish in this earth for ever.
NOTES.
This Chapter is not frequently met with in the papyri; it was written on
the wrappings and the bandages of the dead; for instance, on the funeral
cloth of King Thothmes III, where it is not complete. This Chapter is
interesting, as it shows how repulsive to the Egyptians was the idea of
corruption, of the decay of the body, which is described here in most
realistic terms. This is one of the reasons why they gave such
importance to mummification.
Parts of this Chapter are very obscure. The translation has been made
from the text on the mummy cloth of Thothmes III, supplemented by the
Papyrus of _Nu_.
The only vignette we have is that of the Turin Papyrus, showing a mummy
lying on the bed, and illumined by the rays of the sun.
1. ⁂⁂⁂, “to pass away, to disappear through corruption or
decay.” Sometimes it seems to have an active sense: to let something
pass away, to lose it.
2. ⁂⁂⁂, ⁂ is generally translated “firm, stable, abiding”
(Chapter 1, note 9), but I believe in most cases it has another
sense: “to vivify, to impart the breath of life,” as one may
judge from the title of Chapter 182, which mentions two
acts, one of which is the consequence of the other,
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂:
“the book of vivifying Osiris, giving breath to him whose heart is
motionless.”
In the mythological or celestial geography ⁂⁂⁂ is the East (Pl.
IV). There life originates; there also the deceased inhales the breath
of life (Chapter 57, p. 110; Naville, _Todt._, Einl., p. 28).
3. See _Sphinx_, V, p. 199.
4. ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. I consider ⁂⁂ as being here
the adverb _afterwards_. His soul goes out, and _afterwards_ he dies, it
goes down and _afterwards_ he decays.
5. ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, litt. the destroyers; the word occurs
again further on: the destroyer who is in his bush(?) or cover, the
hidden one. It is evidently a metaphor, for the sense is obvious; it is
putrefaction. The word in the Turin papyrus ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, litt.
locks, might apply to the vegetation or the excrescences which are often
the sign of putrefaction.
6. ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. The passage is very obscure. I
believe the drift of the idea is this: after having described very
thoroughly what corruption is, the deceased says: as for me I am
protected against those evils. Even should every being fall into
corruption, having lost the eye of Shu, it is nothing to me, because I
am feared by all.
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “worms do not exist.” ⁂⁂ is explained by
two passages. At Abydos the priest says to the god (Mar., _Abydos_, I,
p. 34) ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. “I have
come to perform the ceremonies, for I have not come to do nothing, I
have not come in vain.” In the poem of Pentaur, when Rameses II,
addressing Amen, recalls all he has done to honour the god, he says:
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂:
“is it nothing, this thy terrace which I built for thee?”
7. The eye of Shu is either an amulet or a magic power residing in some
part of the body, which prevents it from becoming worms. It is the
defence against corruption. Further the deceased says: “I do not become
worms; I do not lose the eye of Shu.”
8. Litt. ploughs into dead bodies.
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CHAPTER CLV.
_Chapter of the Tat of gold._(1.)
Here is thy backbone,(2.) thou still-heart! here is thy spine, thou
still-heart! Put it close to thee. I have given thee the water thou
wantest.(3.) Here it is. I have brought to thee the Tat, in which thy
heart rejoiceth.
_Said on a Tat of gold inlaid into the substance of sycamore-wood, and
dipped into juice of ankhamu. If it is put on the neck of this Chu, he
arrives at the doors of the Tuat, and he comes forth by day, even though
he be silent. The Tat is put in its place on the first day of the year,
as is done to the followers of Osiris._
NOTES.
After the interruption due to Chapters 153 and 154, we revert to the
series inaugurated by 151, the description of the chamber in which the
mummy is deposited, and of the funeral equipment of the deceased, his
amulets and ornaments. The papyrus III, 93 (Pb), of the Louvre, throws
several of these Chapters into one, with the title: _the description of
the hidden things of the Tuat_, and the vignette (Pl. LV) represents
three figures of Chapter 151: the statuette, the torch or flame, and the
Anubis; besides two _Tat_ of different substances, one of them for the
wall, and one to be put on the neck of the deceased, and a buckle.
The vignette of Chapter 155 represents a Tat of gold. The various
versions of the Chapter differ mostly in the rubric. I followed the
papyrus of Nebseni (Aa), filling up the gaps from other texts.
1. The rubric seems to explain that the text refers to a Tat of gold,
which is inlaid into the wood of a mummy-shaped coffin, on the neck, and
which holds fast by means of the sap or gum of a tree or fruit called
_ankhamu_.
2. This shows that the Tat is originally a conventional representation
of a backbone.
3. The juice or gum just mentioned, in which the Tat is dipped.
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CHAPTER CLVI.
_Chapter of the buckle of carnelian, which is put on the neck of the
deceased._
The blood of Isis, the virtue of Isis; the magic power of Isis, the
magic power of the Eye are protecting this the Great one; they prevent
any wrong being done to him.
_This Chapter is said on a buckle of carnelian dipped into the juice of
ankhamu, inlaid into the substance of the sycamore-wood, and put on the
neck of the deceased._
_Whoever has this Chapter read to him, the virtue of Isis protects him;
Horus the son of Isis rejoices in seeing him, and no way is barred to
him, unfailingly._
NOTES.
M. Maspero, who made a special study of this Chapter (_Le chapitre de la
boucle, Comptes Rendus de l’Acad. des Inscr. et Bell. Lettres_, 1871),
has shown that there are several recensions. This, which is probably the
oldest, is taken from the papyrus of Nebseni, with a few additions from
texts of the same date.
The protective power of the buckle is shown in the vignette of Chapter
93, where a buckle with human hands grasps the deceased by the left arm,
and prevents him from going towards the East.
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CHAPTER CLVII.
_Chapter of the vulture of gold, put on the neck of the deceased._
Isis has arrived; she hovers over the dwellings, and she searches all
the hidden abodes of Horus when he comes out of the Northern marshes,
knocking down him whose face is evil.
She causes him to join the Bark, and grants him the sovereignty over the
worlds.
When he has fought a big fight, he decrees what must be done in his
honour; he causes fear of him to arise, and he creates terror.
His mother, the Great one, uses her protective power, which she has
handed over to Horus.
_Said on a vulture of gold. If this Chapter is written on it, it
protects the deceased, the powerful one, on the day of the funeral,
undeviatingly for times infinite._
NOTES.
This and the two following Chapters have not been found in the old
recension. They are taken from the Turin text.
The vignette represents a vulture with outspread wings, which is often
found made of cartonnage on the mummies. The same bird is often painted
on the ceilings of tombs or temples.
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CHAPTER CLVIII.
_The Chapter of the collar of gold, put on the neck of the deceased._
O my father! my brother! my mother Isis! I am unveiled and I am seen. I
am one of the unveiled ones, who see Seb.
_Said on a collar of gold, on which this Chapter has been written, and
which is put on the neck of the deceased, the day of his burial._
------------------------------------
CHAPTER CLIX.
_The Chapter of the column of green Felspar,_(1.) _put on the neck of
the deceased._
O thou who comest out every day, in the divine house, she who has a big
voice, who goeth round.... She takes hold of the potent formulæ of her
father, the mummy which is on the bull.(2.) She is Renent....
_Said on a column of green Felspar, on which this Chapter has been
written, and which is put on the neck of the deceased._
NOTES.
The vignette of this Chapter and the next, show distinctly that the
⁂ is a miniature column or tent-pole, with the papyrus capital, and
papyrus leaves at the base.
This Chapter is taken from the Turin text; parts of it are quite
unintelligible.
1. ⁂⁂⁂, a mineral which has not yet been determined. Brugsch
calls it “Opal.” Lepsius thought its colour was blue. Dr. Budge
translates “mother-of-emerald.” Renouf’s translation is “green Felspar”
(see Chapter 29B, note).
2. The mummy carried off by the Apis bull, a representation often seen
on the coffins after the XXIInd dynasty.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER CLX.
_Giving the column of green Felspar._
I am the column of green Felspar, which cannot be crushed,(1.) and which
is raised by the hand of Thoth.
Injury is an abomination for it. If it is safe, I am safe; if it is not
injured, I am not injured; if it receives no cut, I receive no cut.
Said by Thoth: arise, come in peace, lord of Heliopolis, lord who
resides at Pu.
When Shu has arrived, he found the stone at Shenemu, as its name is
_neshem_. He (the deceased) makes his abode in the enclosure of the
great god; whilst Tmu resides in his dwelling;(2.) his limbs will never
be crushed.
NOTES.
For Chapter 160, we have a text from London, 9900 (_Aa_); it is not
complete, but the gaps can very easily be filled up from the Papyrus
Busca.
The vignette of _Aa_ represents Thoth bringing the column, enclosed in a
box or a casket.
1. I suppose the symbolical expressions of this Chapter mean that the
_neshem_, of which the column is made, is a very hard stone, which is
proof against any injury.
⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂, which I translated “crush,” means probably “grind
to powder,” and ⁂⁂, “to receive a cut,” means to be scratched or
incised by a sculptor’s tool. The power of the amulet consists in making
the body of the deceased as hard as _neshem_.
2. ⁂, a variant of ⁂ when it refers to Tmu (Nav., _Todt._, ch.
XVII, l. 12).
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CHAPTER CLXI.
_The Chapter of unfastening the opening in the sky. Thoth does it so
that it may be finished when he opens (the sky) with Aten._(1.)
Rā(2.) is living, the tortoise(3.) is dead. The body has been offered in
the earth; the bones have been offered of _N._ [The West wind of
Isis].(4.)
Rā is living, the tortoise is dead. It is safe that is in the funeral
chest of _N._ [The East wind of Nephthys.]
Rā is living, the tortoise is dead, the limbs are well wrapped up.
Kebehsenef is to keep watch over them for _N._ [The North wind of
Osiris.]
Rā is living, the tortoise is dead. His wrappings have been opened; they
reveal his figure. [The South wind of Rā.]