The Egyptian Book of the dead
hypothesis of their having obtained ‘glory.’ The word has nothing to
do with ‘intelligence.’ It is particularly applicable to the heavenly
bodies, the sun, moon and stars—‘the glittering ones,’ and the horizon
at sunrise ⁂ _ḫut_, and ⁂⁂⁂ ‘fire’ derive their names from
their _éclat_.
Footnote 6:
See _Denkm._ II, 71 _b_, 72 _a_, _b_, 101 _b_; _cf._ 98 _h_, 116 _c_,
and III, 260 _c_.
Footnote 7:
The evidence produced by W. Max Müller in behalf of this reading of
the priestly name is quite convincing.
Footnote 8:
The human head (with a beard) sometimes given to the bird, merely
indicates the _aivine_ nature of the soul.
Footnote 9:
This is one of the meanings of ⁂⁂⁂, but in this place it may
simply mean ‘going round in a ship.’
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CHAPTER II.
_Chapter for Coming forth by day and Living after death._
Oh thou Only One,(1.) who shinest from the Moon, let me come forth amid
that train(2.) of thine, at large,(3.) and let me be revealed(4.) as one
of those in glory.(5.)
And when the Tuat is opened to the gods, let _N_ come forth to do his
pleasure upon earth amid the Living.
NOTES.
This chapter occurs in only two of the ancient MSS. collated by Naville:
_Ae_ and _Pf_. It is also found in the papyrus of Ani.
1. ⁂ ‘unicus,’ the Sole and Only One, is one of the many appellatives
of the Sun. He is here represented as shining _in_ or _from_ the Moon.
_Cf._ note on Chapter 132.
2. ⁂⁂⁂⁂, ‘multitude, throng, train,’ here put for the
‘heavenly host,’ the ἄκριτος ἄστρων ὄχλος (Euripid., _Fr._ 596), or the
Hebrew עבא חשׁמים.
Osiris is ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ‘the leader of the host,’ Sharpe, I,
105.
3. ⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂⁂ אל־מהוץ, foras, ‘forth, out of
doors, at large,’ in opposition to enclosure in the tomb.
4. ⁂⁂, explicare, ‘disclose, unfold, reveal, make clear.’
5. Or ‘among the Glorious ones,’ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.
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CHAPTER III.
_Another chapter like it._
Oh Tmu, who proceedest from Ur-henhenu,(1.) who art resplendent as the
Lion-faced,(2.) and who strewest thy words to those who are before thee;
Here cometh the faithful _N_, from the band of those who do the bidding
of thy words.
O ye seamen of Râ at the gloaming of the day, let _N_ live after death,
like Râ daily.
_Here the helmsman_: As Râ is born from Yesterday, so he too is born
from Yesterday, and as every god exulteth in life, so shall _N_ exult
even as they exult in life.
I am Thoth as he goeth forth from the House of the Prince in
Heliopolis.(3.)
NOTES.
The only ancient copy of this chapter is in the papyrus of Amen-neb
(_Ae_), and here it is imperfect.
1. A personification of the Nile, ⁂⁂⁂. The later texts read
⁂⁂⁂ ‘the great goddess in the Water.’
2. The later texts have ⁂⁂⁂⁂, implying the two lions Shu and
Tefnut. But the older texts have ⁂⁂⁂⁂, a single god, with a
lion’s face or form. The two notions, however, are found in combination
in the Pyramid texts of Unas (l. 558) and Teta (l. 332).
3. See note 8 on Chapter 1.
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CHAPTER IV.
_Another Chapter, for travelling on the road which is above the earth._
It is I who travel on the Stream(1.) which divideth the divine Pair,(2.)
I am come, let there be given to me the lands of Osiris.
NOTES.
This fourth chapter has not as yet been found in any of the papyri of
the best period.
1. ⁂⁂⁂⁂, literally ‘weeping,’ ‘flood of tears,’ hence
‘overflow, inundation, stream or canal.’ It is one of the names of the
Nile on earth and in heaven and of his personification as a god. See
Chapter 61, and _P.S.B.A._, XIII, p. 8 and 9.]
2. ⁂⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ are two divinities in opposition
or contrast, like Set and Horus (Chapter 17, 25) or the sister goddesses
named ⁂⁂⁂⁂ _Mertȧ_ (37, 1). Thoth is the umpire between Set
and Horus (Darkness and Light) and mediates between them, but he and Râ
(the Moon and Sun) are (Teta, l. 69) spoken of as the two Rehu gods
travelling over the sky.]
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CHAPTER V.
_Chapter whereby work may not be imposed [upon a person(1.)] in the
Netherworld._
Here is _N_. He saith, I am he who raiseth the hand which is motionless,
and I come forth at the hour.(2.) I am the living Soul,(3.) and there go
before me the longings(4.) of those who bring salutation.(5.)
NOTES.
This chapter is found in several of the best MSS., but the text is
extremely corrupt, and must have become absolutely unintelligible. The
Turin text differs greatly from that of the older copies, and the
transposition of words clearly shows how little the transcribers
understood what they were writing. I follow chiefly the text of _Aa_,
the papyrus of Nebseni.
1. These words only occur in the later copies.
2. ⁂⁂⁂⁂ is the older reading, but ⁂⁂⁂ seems to be
the more correct.
3. The oldest text must have had simply the ideographic ⁂, _Ae_ gives
⁂⁂⁂ _Ba_, but _Pd_ has ⁂⁂⁂⁂ _Ḫnemu_. The ‘living
Soul’ is that of the Sun, whether he is called Râ or Osiris.
4. ‘Desires, wishes, loves,’ literally, ‘hearts.’
5. ⁂⁂⁂ signifies ‘salute,’ as in Chapter 12, 1, and 14, 1, and
⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂ (with various other forms) the ‘saluter,’ is the
name of the Ape who is seen in the vignettes of the papyri saluting the
rising of the sun. See M. Naville’s _Todtenbuch_, I, plates 21 and 22;
the Papyrus of Ani, plate 2; the _Todtenbuch_ of Lepsius, Chapters 16
and 126.
I do not know how far it is correct to illustrate this undoubted origin
of the Egyptian name for the Ape, as ‘the saluting one,’ by the
following extract of a letter to Cuvier from M. Duvaucelle, about the
Siamang apes in the neighbourhood of Bencoolen in Sumatra. “They
assemble in numerous troops ... and thus united, they salute the rising
and the setting sun with the most terrific cries, which may be heard at
the distance of many miles; and which, when near, stun, when they do not
frighten. This is the morning call of the mountain Malays, but to the
inhabitants of the town, who are unaccustomed to it, it is a most
insupportable annoyance.”
In this place of the Book of the Dead the sign ⁂ is a mere
determinative of the sound _aān_ with the notion of _salutation_, just
as the sign ⁂ is a determinative of the sound _ȧb_ with the notion of
_thirst_.
The ‘saluters’ of the rising sun are neither real apes nor men but the
“Spirits of the East” who, as we are told in an inscription of the tomb
of Rameses VI, “effect the rising of Râ by opening the door at each of
the four portals of the eastern horizon of heaven. They it is who light
him on both sides, and go forth in advance of him.... And when he arises
they turn into six cynocephali.”[10]
The Egyptian words in the later texts are ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ the alternative reading being
itself a proof that the difficulty of the text was already felt by some
Egyptian scribe.
But if the scribe had consulted the oldest texts accessible in his day,
he would probably have seen another way out. Our oldest MS., that of
Nebseni, reads, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂
_bes-kuȧ ȧbu ȧāā(n)u_, which signify literally, “antecedunt me corda
salutantium.” The word ⁂⁂⁂ _bes_ is a very common one in
pictures representing the introduction of a king or a god into a temple.
It is the technical term used in the Tablet of Canopus for the
inducting, by the king, of priests into their offices. The subject of
this verb is ⁂⁂⁂ _hearts_; an independent word, instead of
being the mere determinative of ⁂⁂⁂. The object of the verb is
the speaker—⁂⁂⁂—_kuȧ_, ‘me,’ as the papyrus _Pa_ reads, like
_Aa_. And it is easy to see how the later text, which is already found
in _Ax_, has been corrupted out of the older.
-----
Footnote 10:
Champollion, _Notices_, tom. II, p. 640.
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CHAPTER VI.
_Chapter whereby the funereal Statuettes may be made to do work for a
person in the Netherworld._
O Statuette(1.) there! Should I be called and appointed to do any of the
labours that are done in the Netherworld by a person according to his
abilities, lo! all obstacles have been beaten down for thee; be thou
counted for me at every moment, for planting the fields, for watering
the soil, for conveying the sands of east and west.
Here am I, whithersoever thou callest me.
NOTE.
1. This chapter is inscribed on the funereal statuettes, of which
enormous quantities are found; sometimes by hundreds in the
neighbourhood of a single mummy. Much information on the subject, both
archæological and philological, will be found in Mariette’s _Catalogue
Général des Monuments d’Abydos_, p. 25 and following, and in M. Loret’s
articles “Les Statuettes funéraires du Musée de Boulaq,” published in
the _Recueil de Travaux_, tomes IV and V.
In the earlier texts ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂,
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂; in the later
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. The latter word being read _ušebti_, has very
naturally been considered as derived from ⁂⁂⁂⁂, in Coptic
ⲟⲩⲱϣⲃ, ‘to answer.’ For the statuette is addressed at the beginning of
the chapter, and it replies at the end. But there is no reason for
supposing that the earlier form had the same meaning.
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CHAPTER VII.
_Chapter of passing through the chine of Apepi which is void._
Oh, One of Wax,(1.) who takest captive and seizest with violence, and
livest upon those who are motionless! Let me not become motionless
before thee, let me not be paralysed before thee, let not thy venoms
enter into my limbs, for my limbs are the limbs of Tmu.
And if thou wouldst not be paralysed, let me not be paralysed.
Let not thy languors enter these limbs of mine.
I am the One who presideth over the pole of Heaven, and the powers of
all the gods are my powers.
I am he, whose names are hidden, and whose abodes are mysterious for all
eternity.
It is I who proceed from Tmu, and I am safe and sound.(2.)
NOTES.
Apepi is the personification of the storm-cloud and, as such, is the
enemy of Râ, by whom he is vanquished. As representing a natural
phenomenon of irregular occurrence, he is not deified like Sutu, the
Darkness of Night.
On comparing this chapter with the 99th, it would appear that the
occasion for reciting it is on the journey of the heavenly boat through
ridges of cloud, which are pictured as the coils of a great serpent, and
described as ⁂⁂ inanes, empty, void. In the papyrus of Nebket
(_Pe_) the vignette shows the deceased person transfixing the dragon.
The chapter itself was said over a wax figure of the demon.
1. These wax figures of gods and other personages were used not
only for ritual but for unlawful magical purposes. The Rollin
papyrus reports about a criminal condemned to death for magical
arts. He was charged with making ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ ‘gods of
wax,’ and some men “for the purpose of paralysing the limbs of men
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.” See Chabas, _Papyrus
Magique_, p. 170, and Devéria, _Pap. judiciaire de Turin_, p. 131.
2. The more recent texts omit this ending and substitute, “I know, I
know.” Some MSS. have both readings.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER VIII.
_Chapter of opening the Tuat by day._