II. From the Papyrus of Hunefer.1

“ Homage to thee, 0 thou who art Pa when thou
visest and Ternu when thou settest. Thou risest, thou
risest, thou shinest, thou shinest, 0 thou who art
crowned king of the gods. Thou art the lord of
heaven, thou art the lord of earth; thou art the
creator of those who dwell in the heights, and of those
who dwell in the depths. Thou art the One God who
came into being in the beginning of time. Thou didst
create the earth, thou didst fashion man, thou didst
make the watery abyss of the sky, thou didst form
Hapi (i.e., the Nile), thou didst create the great deep,
and thou dost give life unto all that therein is. Thou
hast knit together the mountains, thou hast made
mankind and the beasts of the field to come into beino-

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thou hast made the heavens and the earth. Wor¬
shipped be thou whom the goddess Maat embraceth at
morn and at eve. Thou dost travel across the sky
with thy heart swelling with joy; the great deep of
heaven is content thereat. The serpp.nt-fiftnri NaV 2
hath fallen, and his arms are cut off. The Sektet3
boat receiveth fair winds, and the heart of him that
is in the shrine thereof rejoiceth.

“ ihou art crowned Prince of heaven, and thou art

1 From the Papyrus of Hunefer (Brit. Mus. No. 9901).

2 A name of the serpent of darkness which Ra slew daily.

3 The boat in which Ra sailed from noon to sunset.

Mw. v.-

32

IDENTIFICATION OF AMEN WITH RA.

tlie One [dowered with all sovereignty] who appearest
in the sky. Ra is he who is true of voice.1 Hail,
thou divine youth, thou heir of everlastingness, thou
self-begotten One ! Hail, thou who didst give thyself
birth! Hail, One, thou mighty being, of myriad
forms and aspects, thou king of the world, prince of
Annu (Heliopolis), lord of eternity, and ruler of ever¬
lastingness ! The company ol the gods rejoice when
thou risest and dost sail across the sky, 0 thou who
art exalted in the Sektet boat.”

“ Homage to thee, 0 Amen-Ra,2 who dost rest upon
Maat ; 3 thou passest over heaven and every face seeth
thee. Thou dost wax great as thy Majesty doth
advance, and thy rays are upon all faces. Thou art
unknown, and no tongue can declare thy likeness ;
thou thyself alone [canst do this]. Thou art One . . .
Men praise thee in thy name, and they swear by thee,
for thou art lord over them. Thou hearest with thine
ears, and thou seest with thine eyes. Millions of years
have gone over the world. I cannot tell the number
of those through which thou hast passed. Thy heart
hath decreed a day of happiness in thy name of
c Traveller/ Thou dost pass over and dost travel
through untold spaces [requiring] millions and hundreds

1 i.e., whatsoever Ra commandetli taketh place straightway ; see
the Chapter on the Judgment of the Dead, p. 110.

2 On the god Amen, see the chapter, “ The Gods of the Egyptians.”

3 J.e., “ thy existence, and thy risings and settings are ordered and
defined by fixed, unchanging, and unalterable law.”

HYMN AND PRAYER TO RA (ABOUT B.C. 1550J. 33

of thousands of years [to pass over] ; thou passest
through them in peace, and thou steerest thy way
across the watery abyss to the place which thou
lovest; this thou doest in one little moment of time,
and then thou dost sink down and dost make an end
of the hours.”