The Egyptian Book of the dead
The Hour(1.) discloseth what the head of Thoth keepeth close, who giveth
might to the Eye of Horus.(2.)
And I call upon the Eye of Horus which gleams as an ornament upon the
brow of Râ, the father of the gods.
I am that Osiris, the Lord of Amenta, and Osiris knoweth his day, and
that it is in his lot that he should end his being, and be no more.(3.)
I am Sutu, the father of the gods, the imperishable one.
Stay, Horus, for he is counted among the gods.
NOTES.
1. Time.
2. See note on Chapter 17, 27. It must be sufficient here to say that
Thoth is a personification of the moon, and that the relations of solar
and lunar phenomena are the sources of a great deal of Egyptian
mythology.
3. This is one of the most difficult passages in the Book of the Dead,
but I do not see how it can be grammatically understood otherwise. It is
understood from the passage from Light to Darkness and the converse.
‘In his lot,’ literally ‘in him.’
‘End his being’: more strictly, ‘bring to an end his activity’;
⁂⁂⁂. ‘_Being_’ (though inevitable in a modern language) is much
too abstract a word for these ancient texts. ⁂ implies ‘motion,
activity,’ and ⁂ is not a simple negation, but implies ‘completion,
end’ (τελέω, τέλος), though not ‘cessation.’
Our _modern_ acceptation of the word ‘perfect’ is often wrongly applied
to ⁂. We should think rather of such phrases as ‘annum perficere,’
‘sole perfecto.’
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CHAPTER IX.
_Chapter for opening the Tuat._
O Soul most mighty,(1.) here am I: I am come to thee that I may see
thee.
I open the Tuat that I may see my father Osiris and may drive away the
darkness.
I am he whom he loveth. I have come to see my father Osiris, to pierce
the heart of Sutu, and to perform all duties to my father Osiris.
I open all the paths in heaven and upon earth.
I am the son who loveth his father, and I am come as a mummied one,
glorious and well equipt.
Oh, all ye gods and goddesses, the path is made for me.
NOTE.
1. ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ ‘Soul most mighty,’ is one of the principal
names of Osiris. The whole chapter is spoken in the person of Horus, the
son of Osiris.
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CHAPTER X.
_Chapter for coming forth victoriously._
I come forth victoriously against the adversaries.
I cleave the heaven, I open the horizon and I travel over the earth on
foot. There come forward to me the Glorious and the Great ones, for I am
furnished with numberless Words of Might.
I eat with my mouth, and I chew with my jaw; for, lo, I worship the god
who is Lord of the Tuat, and that is given to me which endureth amid
overthrow.
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CHAPTER XI.
_Chapter for coming out against the adversary in the Netherworld._
Here is the Osiris _N_.
O Eater of his arm: away from his path!
I am Râ coming forth from the horizon against his adversary, who shall
not be delivered from me.
I have stretched out my hand, as the Lord of the Crown, and lifted my
feet.
I shall not be given up; my adversary shall fall before me; he hath been
given up to me and shall not be delivered from me.
I rise up like Horus, I sit down as Ptah, I am victorious as Thoth, and
powerful as Tmu: I walk upon my feet, I speak with my mouth, searching
for him who hath been given up to me; he shall not be delivered from me.
NOTE.
There is unfortunately no early text of this chapter, which we have in a
very corrupt form, and can only restore conjecturally. The Eater of his
arm is evidently Darkness, which is destroyed by the Sun.
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CHAPTER XII.
_Chapter for entering and for coming forth out of the Netherworld._
Salutation to thee, O Râ, who guardest the secrets of the gates(1.) over
this domain of Seb, and this Balance with which Râ raiseth up Maât (2.)
daily:
Here am I, who cleave open(3.) the earth, grant that I may come and
acquire advance in age.(4.)
NOTES.
This chapter, like the next, occurs only in _Pa_ among the older MSS. It
comes twice in the Turin copy, being repeated as Chapter 120.
1. So _Pa_; the Turin copy has ‘the Tuat.’
2. In many places it is important to treat _Maât_ as a proper name.
3. ⁂⁂⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂⁂ , a word not confined to
agricultural operations. See note 20, p. 8.
4. As the sun, who is represented as an infant at dawn and as an aged
man at sunset.
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CHAPTER XIII.
_Chapter for entering after coming out from Amenta._
I enter as a Hawk and come forth as a Bennu(1.) at Dawn.
Let the way be made for me that I may adore Râ at the fair Amenta, and
the locks(2.) of Osiris. I urge on the hounds of Horus.
Let the way be made for me that I may adore Osiris, the Lord of Life.
NOTES.
This chapter, in the MSS. of which the Turin copy is the type, is
repeated as Chapter 121, with the following rubric:—
“Said over an ear-ring of the flower Ânch-amu, put upon the right ear of
the deceased person, with another ear-ring, put in fine linen, upon
which is written the name of _N_, on the day of burial.”
1. The Bennu is a bird of the Heron kind. He is very commonly but, I
think, erroneously identified with the Phoenix. The bird described by
Herodotus, II, 73, was in outline and size “very like an eagle,” which
no one could say of the Bennu. He appeared only once in five hundred
years, whereas the Bennu appeared every day. The fable as told by the
Greeks is utterly unsupported by any Egyptian authority known to us.
2. This passage is, unfortunately, both in the ancient and the recent
forms, corrupt.
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CHAPTER XIV.
_Chapter for removing displeasure from the heart of the god against the
deceased person._
Hail to thee, oh god who sendest forth(1.) the Moment, who presidest
over all the Secret things(2.), and protectest the utterance of my
words.
Here(3.) is a god displeased against me; let wrong be overwhelmed and
let it fall upon the hands of the Lord of Law. Remove(4.) the
impediments which are in me and the evil and the darkness(5.), oh Lord
of Law, and let that god be reconciled to me, removing that which
detaineth me from thee.
Oh, lord of offerings in Kenu(6.), let me offer to thee the propitiary
offering by which thou livest, and let me live by it and be reconciled.
Let all the displeasure which is in thy heart against me be removed.
NOTES.
There is a very great difference between the earlier and the later texts
of this chapter. Former translators, having chiefly the Turin text
before them, have understood the title of the chapter as intended “to
remove the impurities from the heart of the deceased person.” The Turin
text of the chapter is really unintelligible, and even in the earlier
texts certain passages are so corrupt as to defy translation.
1. ⁂⁂⁂⁂ like the Latin ‘mittere’ has the sense of “let go,
give free course, set at liberty.”
2. ⁂⁂⁂, the _secrets_, here as elsewhere in the funereal texts,
are those of the tomb and of the world beyond the grave.
3. The older texts have ⁂⁂, the later, ⁂.
4. The Lord of Law is in the singular, but the imperative ‘remove’ is in
the plural.
5. The word ⁂⁂ was a puzzle to the oldest transcribers.
It is susceptible of different meanings. The Turin text
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ ‘the god is joined with Law,’ which is
supported by some of the older papyri, is intelligible in itself, but
not in this context. I have understood ⁂⁂⁂⁂, coming as it
does after ⁂⁂⁂, in the sense of ⁂⁂⁂⁂ ‘deep
darkness.’
6. The MSS. differ hopelessly on this proper name.
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CHAPTER XV.
HYMN I(1.).
_Adored be Râ, when he riseth up from the eastern horizon of
Heaven; they who accompany him extol him._
Here is the Osiris _N_, the Victorious, and he saith:—
O thou radiant Orb, who arisest each day from the Horizon, shine thou
upon the face of the Osiris _N_ who adoreth thee at dawn, and
propitiateth thee at the gloaming.
Let the soul of _N_ come forth with thee into heaven, let him journey in
the Mââtit boat and finish his course in the Sektit boat(2.) till he
reach in heaven unto the Stars which set(3.).
He saith, as he invoketh his Lord, the Eternal one:—
Hail to thee, Horus of the Two Horizons(4.), who art Chepera
Self-originating(5.); Beautiful is thy rising up from the horizon,
enlightening the two Earths with thy rays. All the gods are in
exultation when they see thee the King of Heaven, with the Nebt
Unnut[11] established upon thy head (and the diadem of the South and the
diadem of the North upon thy brow) which maketh her abode in front of
thee.
Thoth abideth at the prow of thy bark that he may destroy all thine
adversaries.
They who dwell in the Tuat are coming forth to meet thy Majesty, and to
gaze upon that beautiful semblance of thine.
And I too come to thee that I may be with thee to see thine Orb each
day; let me not be detained, let me not be repulsed.
Let my limbs be renewed by the contemplation of thy glories, like all
thy servants, for I am one of those who honoured thee upon earth.
Let me reach the Land of Ages, let me gain the Land of Eternity; for
thou, my Lord, hast destined them for me.
The Osiris _N_; he saith:—
Hail to thee who risest up from the Horizon as Râ in union with Maāt;
thou dost traverse heaven in peace and all men see thee as thou goest
forward. And after being concealed from them thou presentest thyself at
the dawn of each day.
Brisk is the bark under thy Majesty.
Thy rays are upon men’s faces; the golden glories they cannot be told:
not to be described are thy beams.
The Lands of the gods, the colours of Punit(6.) are seen in them; that
men may form an estimate of that which is hidden from their faces.
Alone art thou when thy form riseth up upon the Sky; let me advance as
thou advancest, like thy Majesty, without a pause, O Râ, whom none can
outstrip.
A mighty march is thine; Leagues by millions, and hundreds of thousands,
in a small moment thou hast travelled them, and thou goest to rest.
Thou completest the hours of the Night, according as thou hast measured
them out. And when thou hast completed them according to thy rule, day
dawneth.
Thou presentest thyself at thy place as Râ, as thou risest from the
Horizon.
The Osiris _N_, he saith, as he adoreth thee when thou shinest; He saith
to thee when thou risest up at dawn, as he exalteth thine appearance;
Thou comest forth, most glorious one, fashioning and forming thy limbs,
giving birth to them without any labour, as Râ rising in heaven.
Grant that I may attain to the Heaven of eternity and the abode of thy
servants; let me be united with the venerable and mighty Chu[12] of the
Netherworld; let me come forth with them to see thy glories, as thou
shinest at the gloaming, when thy mother Nut(7.) enfoldeth thee.
And when thou turnest thy face to the West, mine hands are in adoration
to thy setting as one who liveth;[13] for it is thou who hast created
Eternity.
I have set thee in my heart unceasingly, who art more mighty than all
the gods.