The Egyptian Book of the dead
The vignettes represent the figures described in the rubric for which
the chapter was written.
Dr. Pleyte first discovered that this Chapter is a kind of dialogue,
consisting of words spoken by the god, and a prayer addressed to him in
favour of the deceased. The strange names which occur in the text lead
us here also to Africa, since it is said of the deceased that he resides
in Apt of Nubia, Napata.
1. A papyrus, in Turin of a woman, reads here
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂
etc., “thy duration is the duration of the ultimate circles.”
2. ⁂⁂⁂⁂ _Chuu_. Renouf either keeps the Egyptian word, or
translates: “the Glorious ones, the Glorified.” See note 1, ch. 1, ch.
15, etc.
3. The amulet has also an influence on earth, it protects a man against
hidden dangers, which arise not from men but from some invisible causes,
and agents like those evil messengers, probably spirits, who might be
called “angels.” I believe that ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, “the blow
of the king,” must mean some sudden illness like ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.
Dr. Pleyte also considers this part of the rubric as applying to a man’s
life on earth; there is only this expression ⁂⁂⁂⁂ which
does not agree with this explanation, and would rather lead us to think
that what is described in this part of the rubric takes place in the
other world.
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CHAPTER CLXIV.
_Another Chapter._
Hail, Sekhet, Bast, daughter of Rā, lady of the gods, who holdeth her
fan of plumes, the lady of the scarlet garment, the mistress of the
white and red crown, the only one who stands above her father, when
there are no gods to stand above her; the great magician in the boat of
millions of years, lofty when she rises in the abode of silence, the
mother of the Shakas, the royal wife of the lion Haka.
These are the forms of the princess, the mistress of the funereal
chamber, the mother on the horizon of the sky, the joyful, the beloved,
who destroyeth the rebels collected in her fist.
She stands at the prow of the boat of her father, in order to strike
down the evildoer, in order to place Maāt at the prow of the boat of Rā.
Neith, the burning one, after whom nothing remains; she who follows
Kaharo, who follows Saromkaharomat is thy name, thou art the mighty
burning wind behind Kanas,(1.) at the prow of the boat of her father
Haropukaka Scharoshaba, in the language of the negroes and of the Anti
of the land of Nubia(2.).
Acclamations to thee, mightier than the gods; thou art praised by the
gods of Hermopolis, the living spirits who are in their tabernacles.
They give praise to the valour of Mut (?),(3.) and they begin to bring
offerings to the mysterious gates. Their bones are sound, they are
delivered from dangers; they become powerful in the eternal abode; they
are delivered from the society of the wicked one, the spirit with a
terrible face, which is among the assembly of the gods.
The child(4.) who is born of him with the terrible face, will hide his
body to the cursed serpent whose breath is burning; because he has found
the names; the mysterious lion is one, the soul of the dwarf (is the
other). As for the eye of the great one, the princess of the gods, her
name is she who partakes of the name of Mut.
His soul is powerful, his body is sound; they are safe from the abode of
the enemies who are in the society of the wicked one. They will not be
imprisoned.
These words which were spoken by the mouth of the goddess herself have
become the words of the goddesses, and the male gods, and of every soul
to whom a burial is given.
_Said on a Mut having three faces: one is the face of the Pekha-vulture
having two plumes; the other is the face of a man, wearing the red and
the white crown. The other is a face of a Ner-vulture, having two
plumes, with a phallus and wings and the claws of a lion._
_It is painted with anti with resin (?) mixed with green colour, on a
scarlet bandage. There is a dwarf in front and behind her; he looks at
her and wears two plumes. He has one arm raised, and he has two faces,
one of a hawk and the other of a man._
_He whose body is wrapped up in these bandages, he is mighty among the
gods in the Netherworld. He is never repulsed; his flesh and his bones
are like one who never died; he drinks at the source of the river, he
receives fields in the garden of Aarru; a star in the sky is given to
him._
_He is delivered from the fiend-serpent with a burning mouth. His soul
will not be imprisoned like a bird; he will be lord of those around him,
and he will not be eaten by worms._
NOTES.
The translation of these magical Chapters is still more uncertain than
that of the rest of the book, and the text is often very corrupt.
The vignette consists of the three figures described in the rubric. That
which is given here is taken from the Turin papyrus. It differs slightly
from the description and from the vignettes of the other texts. The
middle figure should have a man’s body with a lion’s claws.
1. A papyrus at Leyden reads here ⁂⁂⁂⁂ the enemies.
2. There it is said distinctly that these barbarous words belong to
African languages. They are probably not all proper names; some of them
seem to have a sense which we have not yet discovered, for instance, the
word _Shakas_ in this expression: the mother of the Shakas.
3. Very uncertain text.
4. These words seem to apply to the deceased.
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CHAPTER CLXV.
_Chapter of landing and not being obscured, so that the body may prosper
in drinking water._(1.)
O the very high one, the great one,
Amen, Amen, the lion Kasapa,
The first-born of the gods on the East of the sky.
Amon of the Takruti,
Amon who hides his colours, whose forms are mysterious, and who is
master of the horns of Horus,
The great one of Nut.
Kaarki is thy name,
Kasaka is thy name,
The Sphinx is thy name,
Kasabaka is thy name.
Amon of the Ankak Takashar, Amon the sphinx is thy name. O Amon! I
implore thee. Behold, I know thy name; thy forms are in my mouth,(2.)
and thy colours in my eyes.
Come towards thy offspring, thy form, Osiris _N._ Bring him towards the
gate of eternity, grant him to rest in the Tuat; that his flesh may be
entire in the Netherworld; that his soul may be powerful, that his body
may be complete,(3.) that he may be free from the society of the wicked
one, that he may never be fettered.
I implore thy name, and thou art a shield for me; for thou believest
that I know thee.
O great one, great one,
Amon (the hidden one) is thy name,
Rukashaka is thy name,
Thou art for me a shield.
Baarkai is thy name,
Markata is thy name,
The Sphinx is thy name,
Nasakabuba is thy name,
Tanasasa is thy name,
Sharshatakata is thy name.
Amon, Amon, O God, O God, Amon.
I implore thy name, and as I have given thee to understand (that I know
thee), grant me to rest in the Tuat, and that all my limbs be reunited.
Said by the Spirit which is in Nut: I am doing, I am doing all thou hast
said.
_Said on the figure with raised arm. There are plumes on its head; its
legs are apart; its torso is a scarab. It is painted in blue with liquid
gum._
_Said also on a figure the middle part of which is that of a man; his
arms are hanging down. The head of a ram is on his right shoulder, and
another on his left shoulder. Thou wilt paint on one bandage the two
figures of the god with raised arm, and put it across the chest of the
deceased, so that the two painted figures may be on his breast._
_He to whom this has been done, the impure ones in the Tuat can do
nothing to him. He drinks the running water of the stream, he shines
like a star in the sky._(4.)
NOTES.
The vignettes consist of the amulets described in the rubrics.
1. The explanation to this extraordinary title seems to be given in the
last sentence of the rubric, where it is said of the deceased: “he
drinks the running water of the stream, he shines like a star in the
sky.” The amulet for which this text was written will prevent the
deceased, who is to be as bright as a star, from having his light taken
from him, from being obscured. The other blessing conferred upon him is
that of drinking water of the stream. It is difficult to say why these
two blessings alone are mentioned.
2. I am ready to utter the names of thy different forms, and I see thy
various colours.
3. That his body may be reconstituted. It is curious to find in so late
texts a vague remembrance of what seems to have been the prevalent
custom in prehistoric times, and perhaps also during the Thinite period:
the dismemberment of the body of the deceased. This custom was so
entirely superseded by the opposite process, the mummification and the
careful preservation of the body, that the old tradition is always
mentioned with horror and disgust. The Book of the Dead is full of
objurgations against the dismemberment of the body.
4. The Turin _Todtenbuch_ ends here.
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CHAPTER CLXVI.
_Chapter of the Pillow._
Awake! thy sufferings are allayed, _N._ Thou art awaked when thy head is
above the horizon. Stand up, thou art triumphant by means of what has
been done to thee.
Ptah has struck down thine enemies. It has been ordered what should be
done to thee. Thou(1.) art Horus, the son of Hathor, the flame born of a
flame(2.), to whom his head has been restored after it had been cut off.
Thy head will never be taken from thee henceforth.
Thy head will never be carried away.
NOTES.
With Chapter 166 begins a series of chapters which are not in the
Todtenbuch, and which have been collected from various papyri. For most
of them there is only one text, therefore the translation is often very
uncertain.
This Chapter, which is taken from London 9900 (_Aa_), seems to be only a
variant, with a few additional sentences, of Chapter 43, “Chapter
whereby the head of a person is not severed from him in the
Netherworld.” It alludes to the reconstitution of the body of the
deceased, and to providing him with all his sepulchral equipment.
Head-rests like that which is represented in the vignette are often
found in the tombs with the coffins already at the time of the XIth
dynasty.
Chapter 166 was first discovered and translated by Dr. Birch
(_Zeitschr._, 1868, p. 82).
1. Here begin the words of Chapter 43.
2. ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. The second word should
be taken as a patronymic, “flame-born.” Chapter 43 has
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.
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CHAPTER CLXVII.
_Chapter of bringing an Eye._
When Thoth had brought the Eye, he appeased the Eye, After Rā had
wounded(1.) her, she was raging furiously and then Thoth calmed her
after she had gone away raging. As I am sound, she is sound and _N._ is
sound.
NOTES.
This Chapter taken also from London 9900, is a mere abridgment of lines
30-34 in Chapter 17. It refers probably to an eclipse. The Eye, the moon
is pierced or wounded by Rā, which causes the goddess to be furious.
Then, according to Chapter 17, “Thoth calms her troubled state
(Brugsch), and brings her whole and sound without any defect.” This is
called to appease the goddess.
1. The correct reading according to Chapter 17, is: ⁂⁂⁂⁂ or
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ Brugsch (_Dict. Suppl._, p. 751) translates the
word: to pierce.
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