CXVI. enabled him to know the “souls of the city

of Khemennu” (Hermopolis). In the underworld the deceased was threatened by the danger of the snarer or fowler and his net, and Chapters CLIIIA. and CLIIIs. were written to enable him to escape from them. Two Chapters, CLXIX. and CLXX., provided for the stablishing of the funeral bed of the deceased; two Chapters, CLXVIIIa. and CLXVIIIz., set out at length the libations which it was necessary for
XCiv INTRODUCTION
him to pour out; Chapter CXXIII. gave him power to enter the “Great House”; Chapters CXXVI., CXXVIIL, CXXVIII., CLXXXV., and CLXXXVI. supplied him with the prayers which had to be said to the holy apes, and to the gods who were the leaders and guides in the underworld, and to Osiris and Hathor; Chapter CXXXII. enabled him to go back to see his house ; Chapter CLII. gave him power to build a house upon earth; Chapter CLXXI. pro- vided him with a girdle of purity; Chapters CIIL., CXXIV., CXXXI., and CLXXXI. gave him power to go in before the divine sovereign chiefs of Osiris and to be nigh unto Ra; Chapter CIV. gave him a seat among the “great gods;” and Chapter CLXXXIV. brought him “nigh unto Osiris.” Chapter CXXX., which “made perfect the Khu,’ was ordered to be recited on the birthday of Osiris; Chapter CX XXIII. made the Khu perfect before the Great Company of the gods; Chapter CXXXYV., which was to be recited on the day of the new moon, gave the deceased power to become like unto Thoth; Chapter CXL., which was to be recited on the last day of the sixth month of the Egyptian year, enabled him to appear in glory before all the gods when the ufchat, or Eye of Ra, was full; and Chapter CLXVII. conferred upon him the power which the wtchat possessed and enabled him to identify himself with it. Chapters CXLI. and CXLII. pro- vided the texts which a man was directed to recite “for his father or for his son during the festival of
INTRODUCTION XCV
Amentet,” they made the deceased to be perfect with Ra and with the gods; and Chapter CLXXIII. con- tained the addresses which Horus made to his father Osiris, and which were also assumed to be made to the deceased by Horus. Chapter CLXXII. is a remark- able and beautiful composition in nine sections, the contents of which were first made known in detail by M. Naville; in it the limbs of the deceased are described in highly poetical language, and the com- parisons at times resemble the descriptions of the limbs of the beloved one in the Song of Solomon. Four Chapters, CLXII., CLXIII., CLXIV., and CLXY., have no equivalents in the Recensions of the Book of the Dead older than the XXVIth Dynasty, and as they contain foreign words and foreign ideas they are probably the work of non-Egyptian authors; each of them is followed by a long Rubric which orders certain curious amulets to be made and the performance of ceremonies. In Chapters CLXXIV., CLXXVIL., and CLXXVIII. we have extracts from the old Heliopolitan Recension of the Book of the Dead which was in use in the Vth and VIth Dynasties, and the comparison of the texts, which we are now able to make, is very instructive. We can see how misunder- standings of the meaning of certain passages arose through the want of adequate determinatives, and we can note how later copyists modified and adapted old texts to suit modern views. Thus in the passage from the text of Unas (1. 166 ff., see infra, p. 603) we have a
XCVi INTRODUCTION
reference to the love-making! of the deceased which is entirely omitted from the later copy of it given in the Papyrus of Nebseni; and it seems as if the ideas expressed in it found no favour with the cultured mind of Nebseni, the great designer, draughtsman, and artist, who was attached to the Temple of Ptah at Memphis. In a similar manner most of the coarse expressions and ideas which are found in the religious books of the old period have no counterparts in the Theban Recen- sion of the Book of the Dead.
1 M. Maspero’s rendering of the passage (see Les Inscriptions des Pyramides de Saqqarah, p. 21) runs :—‘‘O Ra, sois bon pour lui en ce jour dés hier; car Ounas a connu la déesse MAouit, Ounas a respiré la flamme d’Isi. Ounas s’est uni an lotus, Ounas aconnu une jeune femme, mais sa force manquait de grains et de liqueurs réconfortantes : lorsque la force d’Ounas a attaqué la jeune
femme, elle a donné du pain & Ounas, puis elle lui a servi de femme en ce jour.”
THE BOOK OF THE DEAD
TRANSLATION
VOL, £, B
BYMINSs ENT RODUG TORY. mete BOOK Or HE SDA:
Hymn to Ra when he riseth.
_ [From the Papyrus of Ani (Brit. Mus. No. 10,470, sheet 1).]
adoration, before a table of offerings consisting of haunches of
beef, loaves of bread, and cakes, vases of wine and oil, fruits,
and flowers. He wears a fringed linen garment and has a wig,
necklace, bracelets, &c. Behind him stands his wife Thuthu,
a member of the College of Amen-Ra at Thebes; she is similarly
robed and holds a sistrum, a vine branch, and a mendt, or emblem of pleasure, in her hands.!
Text: (1) A Hymn or Praise To Ra WHEN HE RISETH IN THE HASTERN PART OF HEAVEN. Behold
1 The vignette which accompanies the hymn in the papyrus is broken in places; a more perfect one from another section of the papyrus is therefore substituted.
4 INTRODUCTORY HYMNS
Osiris,! Ani the scribe of the holy offerings of all the gods, (2) who saith :—
‘“ Homage to thee, O thou who hast come as Khepera, “ Khepera* the creator of the gods. ‘Thou risest, thou “shinest, (3) thou makest light [in] thy mother [the “ooddess Nut*]; thou art crowned king of the gods. “[Thy] mother Nut doeth an act of homage unto thee “with both her hands. (4) The land of Manu? re- “ceiveth thee with satisfaction, and the goddess Maat” ‘“embraceth thee both at morn and at eve. May he “ (i.e. Ra) give glory, and power, and triumph, (5) and “a coming forth as a living soul to see Heru-khuti® . “(i.e., Horus of the two horizons) to the double (ka) *
! The god who after death and mutilation upon earth rose again and became the king of the underworld and judge of the dead; he was the type of eternal existence, and the symbol of immortality. The deceased pleads the resurrection of this god as the reason for his own resurrection, and he always identifies himself with Osiris in funereal texts.
* He is a form of the rising sun, and his seat is in the boat of the Sun-god. He is the god of matter which is on the point of passing from inertness into life, and also of the dead body from which a spiritual and glorified body is about to burst forth. His emblem is a beetle.
%’ The feminine principle of Nu, 7.e., the watery mass out of which all the gods were evolved; she is the goddess of the sky, across which sailed the boat of the Sun-god.
1 Manu was the name of the mountain where the sun set in the west.
° The wife of Thoth, and daughter of Ra; she assisted at the work of creation. She is the goddess of absolute regularity and order, and of moral rectitude, and of right and truth. Her emblem
is the feather
5 He isaform of the Sun-god; the words ‘‘two horizons” refer to the mountains of Bakhatet and Manu, the most easterly and westerly points of the sun’s course, and the places where he rose and set.
7 The life of the ka LI was sustained by the funeral offerings ; its abiding place was the tomb.
HYMN TO RA 5
“of Osiris, the scribe Ani, victorious before Osiris, (6) “who saith :—Hail, all ye gods of the Temple of the “Soul,' who weigh heaven and earth in the balance, “and who provide sepulchral meals” in abundance. “Hail, Tatunen,* thou One, (7) thou Creator of man- “kind and Maker of the substance of the gods of the “south and of the north, of the west and of the east. “O come and acclaim ye Ra, the lord of heaven, “(8) the Prince (Life, Health, Strength!), the Creator “of the gods, and adore ye him in his beautiful form “at his rising in the Afet* boat. (9) They who dwell “in the heights and they who dwell in the depths® “worship thee. The god Thoth® and the goddess “Maat have written down [thy course] for thee daily “and every day. Thine enemy the serpent hath been ‘“‘oiven over to (10) the fire, the serpent-fiend Sebau “hath fallen down headlong; his arms have been “bound in chains, and his legs hath Ra hacked off “from him. The children of (11) impotent revolt shall “never more rise up. The Temple of the Aged One‘
1 The name of a part of the sky where the gods lived; a place which had a counterpart upon earth, probably at Annu (On, Ifeliopolis) and at Tattu (Mendes).
* T’chefawwas the name given to the food upon which the gods lived,
° The god of the earth, and one of the oldest gods of Egypt; he is sometimes identified with Seb.
+ A name for the boat of the morning sun.
® T.e., the gods who live in the heights and depths of heaven, or celestial and terrestrial beings.
6 The divine intelligence which at the creation uttered the words which resulted in the formation of the world. He was self-produced, and was lord of earth, air, sea, and sky; he was the scribe of the gods, and the inventor of all arts and sciences.
7 T.e., the Temple of Ra at Annu (i.e., On or Heliopolis).
6 INTRODUCTORY HYMNS
“keepeth festival, and the voice of those who rejoice is “in the mighty dwelling. (12) The gods exult when “they see Ra as he riseth, and when his beams flood “the world with light. The Majesty (13) of the holy “ood goeth forth and advanceth even unto the land of “Manu; he maketh brilliant the earth at his birth “each day: he journeyeth on to the place where he “was yesterday. (14) O be thou at peace with me, “and let me behold thy beauties; may I journey forth “upon earth, may I smite the Ass;* may I crush (15) the serpent-fiend Sebau;* may I destroy Apep * “in his hour; may I see the Abfu? fish at his season, “and the Ant? fish [piloting] (16) the Ané boat in its . “lake. May I see Horus acting as steersman, with “the god Thoth and the goddess Maat, one on each “side of him; may I grasp the bows of the (17) Sektet “boat, and the stern of the Afet boat. May he (ie., Ra) grant unto the double (ka) of Osiris Ani to behold “the disk of the Sun and to see the Moon-god without “ceasing, each and every day; and (18) may my soul
Or, “thy beautiful form.”
° We should probably read, ‘‘ May I smite the eater of the Ass,” and consider the word ‘‘ eater” to refer to the serpent who is seen attacking the Ass in the vignette of Chapter XL. Otherwise ‘““Ass” must be the name of a fiend of darkness; but then again, it must be remembered that ‘‘ Ass” is one of the names of the Sun-god.
3 Sebiau is, in reality, the name of a legion of devils.
4 The great antagonist of the Sun-god, of which many types are known.
® The name of a mythological fish which, on coffins, &c., is seen swimming at the bows of the boat of the Sun-god.
5 A name for the boat of the setting sun.
HYMN TO RA 7
“come forth and walk hither and thither (19) and “whithersoever it pleaseth. (20) May my name be ‘proclaimed (21), and may it be found upon the board (22) of the table of offerings ; may offerings (23) be ‘made unto me in my presence, even as [they are made unto] the followers (24) of Horus; may there be made “veady for me (25) a seat in the boat of the Sun on the “day when (26) the god goeth forth; and may I be “yeceived (27) into the presence of Osiris in the land of “victory.”
Hymn to Ra when he riseth.
[From the Papyrus of Qenna (see Leemans, Papyrus Eyyptiens, T. 2, Plate 2).]
Vignette: Qenna and his wife standing with hands raised in adoration. Text: (1) A Hymn or Pratsr To RA WHEN HE RISETH IN THE EASTERN PART OF HEAVEN. Behold Osiris, Qenna the merchant, (2) who saith :—
“Homage to thee, O Ra, when thou risest [and to “thee|,O Temu,' in thy risings of beauty. Thou risest, “thou risest, thou shinest, (3) thou shinest, at dawn of “day. Thou art crowned king of the gods, and the “ooddesses Maati? perform an act of homage unto “thee. The company (4) of the gods praise thee from
1 A form of Ra, and the type of the night sun; he was self-
’ ereated, and was declared to be the creator of gods and men. 2 The goddesses Isis and Nephthys are probably referred to bere.
8 INTRODUCTORY HYMNS
“the places of sunrise and sunset. Thou passest over “the height of heaven and thy heart is filled with “gladness. The Sektet boat draweth on, and [Ra] “advanceth (5) in the Atet boat with fair winds. Ra “rejoiceth, Ra rejoiceth. Thy father is Nu, thy “mother is Nut, O (6) thou who art crowned as “ Ra-Heru-khuti! (Ra-Harmachis), thy divine boat ‘“advanceth in peace. [Thine enemy] hath been given “over [to the flame, and he] hath fallen ; his head hath “been cut off. (7) The heart: of the Lady of Life “(i.e., Isis) is glad [because] the foe* of her lord hath “fallen headlong. ‘The mariners of Ra have content of “heart and Annu (Heliopolis) exulteth.” (8)
The merchant Qenna, victorious, saith :—
“T have come to thee, O Lord of the gods, Temu- “ Heru-khuti* (Temu-Harmachis) whom Maat directeth OD) oan I know that whereby thou dost live.* “Grant thou that I may be like unto one of those who ‘are thy favoured ones (10) [among] the followers of “the Great God; may my name be proclaimed, may it “be found, may it be set (11) with their [names ?]. “The oar[s| have been taken into the Sektet boat, and “the boat of the Sun advanceth in peace. (12) May I “see Ra when he appeareth in the sky at dawn and ‘when his Enemy hath fallen at the block. (13) May
1 A form of the rising sun.
2 T.e., Apep (see p. 6, note 4).
3 T.e., the forms of the Sun-god in the evening and morning.
4 The gods live by madt, i.e., never-failing and unalterable regularity and order.
HYMN TO RA 9
“T see Horus working the rudder on each side and “bringing along the boat. May I see the Absu fish at “Tits] time of (14) coming into being (?); may I see “the Ant fish as it becometh the pilot of the Ant boat “in its waters. O thou only One, O thou Perfect One, “OQ thou (15) who dost endure, who sufferest never an “evil moment, who canst not be smitten down by him “that doeth deeds of might, none other shall have “power and might over the things which belong to “thee. (16) None shall obtain by fraud possession of “the things which belong to the divine Father, who “hath need of abundance, the tongue (?) of veneration, (17) the lord of Abtu (Abydos).”
The merchant Qenna, victorious, saith: ‘“ Homage “to thee, O Heru-khuti-Temu Heru (18) Khepera,! “thou mighty hawk, who makest glad the body |of “man], thou beautiful of face by reason of thy two “oreat plumes! Awake, (19) O lord of beauty, at “dawn when the company of the gods and mortals say “unto thee, ‘Hail!’ They (20) sing hymns of praise “unto thee at eventide, and the starry deities also “adore thee. O thou firstborn, who dost lie motionless “(21), thy mother sheweth loving-kindness unto thee “daily. Ra liveth, and the serpent-fiend Nak? is dead ; “thou art in good case, for thine enemy (22) hath fallen “headlong. Thou sailest over heaven with life and
! T.e., Harmachis-Tem-Horus-Khepera, or four forms of the Sun-god. 2 An active opponent of the Sunagod.
10 INTRODUCTORY HYMNS
“streneth. ‘The goddess Nehebka! is in the A fet boat, “and thy boat rejoiceth ; (23) thy heart is glad, and “the two uraei goddesses rise upon thy brow.”
Hymn to Ra when he riseth.
[From the Papyrus of Qenna (see Leemans, Papyrus Egyptiens, T. 2, Plate 4). |
Vignette : Qenna and his wife standing with hands raised in adoration.
Text: (1) A Hymn or Prais—E TO RA WHEN HE RISETH IN THE HASTERN PART OF HEAVEN. Behold Osiris, Qenna the merchant, victorious? (2) who saith :—
“Homage to thee, O thou who risest in Nu, and “who at thy manifestation dost make the world bright “with light; the whole company of gods sing hymns ‘of praise unto thee after thou hast come forth. (3) The divine Merti* who minister unto thee
' lhe goddess of matter revivified.
2 The words rendered ‘‘ victorious” are iad kheru, and mean, literally, “right” (mad) and “‘ word,” or, ‘‘ voice” (kherw). They indicate a belief on the part of the writer that the deceased by means of the ceremonies which have been performed, and the words which have been said, on his behalf, has satisfactorily passed the ordeal of judgment, and has attained to a state of knowledge which will enable him to utter commands, whatever they may be, in such a manner as will cause them to be carried out by those to whom they are addressed, whether gods or devils.
* T.e., the ‘* Two Eyes,” a name given to the goddesses Isis and Nephthys who, in the form of two serpents, have their places on the head of the Sun-god. .
HYMN TO RA Ey
“cherish thee as King of the North and South, thou “beautiful and beloved Man-child. When thou risest, “men and women live. (4) The nations rejoice in “thee, and the Souls of Annu (Heliopolis) sing unto “thee songs of joy. (5) The souls of the cities of “Pe! and Nekhen? exalt thee, the apes of dawn adore “thee, and (6) all beasts and cattle praise thee with “one accord. The goddess Seba overthroweth thine “enemies, therefore rejoice thou within (7) thy boat; “thy mariners are content thereat. Thou hast attained “unto the Atet boat, and thy heart swelleth with joy. “O lord of the gods, when thou didst create (8) them “they ascribed unto thee praises. The azure goddess “Nut doth compass thee on every side, and the god “Nu* (9) floodeth thee with his rays of light. O cast “thou thy light upon me and let me see thy beauties, “me the Osiris (10) Qenna the merchant, victorious, “and when thou goest forth over the earth I will sing “praises unto thy fair face. Thou risest in heaven’s “horizon, (11) and [thy] disk is adored [when] it “vesteth upon the mountain to give life unto the “ world.”
_ Saith Qenna the merchant, victorious: (12) “Thou “yisest, thou risest, and thou comest forth from the “god Nu. Thou dost renew thy youth and thou dost “set thyself in the place where thou wast yesterday.
1 T.e., Buto, a city in the Delta.
2 A very ancient city in Upper Egypt, supposed to be near Hileithyiapolis.
3 Nu is here regarded as the god of the sky.
I2 INTRODUCTORY HYMNS
“OQ divine youth who hast created thyself, (18) I am “not able [to describe] thee. Thou hast come with “thy diadems,' and thou hast made heaven and earth “bright with thy rays of pure emerald light. (14) The “land of Punt? is stablished [to give] the perfumes “which thou smellest with thy nostrils. Thou risest, “QO marvellous Being,* (15) in heaven, the two serpent- ‘“ooddesses Merti are stablished upon thy brow, and “thou art the giver of laws, O lord of the world and of “the inhabitants thereof; (16) all the gods and Qenna “the merchant, victorious, adore thee.”
Hymn to Ra when he riseth.
[From the Papyrus of Hu-nefer (Brit. Mus. No. 9901, sheet 1). ]
Text: (1) A Hymn or Pratse TO RA WHEN HE RISETH IN THE (2) EASTERN PART OF HEAVEN. Behold Osiris, Hu-nefer, (3) victorious, who saith :—
“Homage to thee, O thou who art Ra when thou “risest (4) and Temu when thou settest. Thou risest, “thou risest, thou shinest, thou shinest, (5) thou who
1 Or, ‘‘in thy rising.”
° A district situated near the most easterly part of Somali land, which was famous in antiquity as the home of the spice and incense trees.
3 Or, ‘* Being of iron.” According to one view, the floor of heaven consisted of an iron plate through holes in which the lamps of the stars were hung out.
HYMN TO RA 13
“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 (6) in the heights and of “those who dwell in the depths. [Thou art] the God “One who came into being (7) in the beginning of “time, Thou didst create the earth, thou didst fashion “man, (8) thou didst make the watery abyss of the “sky, thou didst form Hapi,? thou didst create the “watery abyss, (9) and thou dost give life unto all that “therein is. Thou hast knit together the mountains, “thou hast made (10) mankind and the beasts of the “field to come into being, thou hast made the heavens “and the earth. Worshipped be thou whom the “goddess Maat embraceth at morn and at eve.. Thou “dost travel across the sky with heart swelling with “joy; the Lake of Testes* (11) becometh contented “thereat. The serpent-fiend Nak hath fallen and his “two arms are cut off. The Sektet boat receiveth fair “winds, and the heart of him that is in the shrine “thereof rejoiceth. Thou art crowned (12) Prince of “heaven, thou art the One dowered [with all sove- “reionty| who comest forth from the sky. Ra is “victorious! O thou divine youth, thou heir ot “everlastingness, thou self-begotten one, O thou who
1 Or, ‘‘creator of the starry gods in heaven above and of the dwellers upon earth below.”
2 T.e., the god of the Nile, who was worshipped under two forms, Ilapi of the South, and Hapi of the North; he is represented as a man having the breasts of a woman, which indicate fertility, and crowned with lotus and papyrus flowers.
3 A name of heaven (?).
14 INTRODUCTORY HYMNS
“didst give thyself birth! O One (13), mighty [one], “of myriad forms and aspects, king of the world, “Prince of Annu (Heliopolis), lord of eternity and “ruler of everlastingness,'! the company of the gods “yejoice when thou risest and when thou sailest - “(14) across the sky, O thou who art exalted in the “ Sektet boat.”
“Homage to thee, 0 Amen-Ra, who dost rest upon “Maat,” and who passest over the heaven, every face “seeth thee. Thou dost wax great (15) as thy Majesty “doth advance, and thy rays are upon all faces. Thou “art unknown and no tongue is worthy (?) to declare “thy likeness; only thou thyself [canst do this]. Thou “art One, even as is he (16) that bringeth the fena “basket. Men praise thee in thy name [Ra], and they “swear by thee, for thou art lord over them. Thou “hearest with thine ears and thou seest with thine “eyes, (17) 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‘ Traveller.” Thou “dost pass over (18) and dost travel through untold ‘spaces [requiring] millions and hundreds 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
1 Or, ‘‘ who endurest through everlastingness.”
* I.e., “thou whose existence and whose risings and settings
are ordered and defined by fixed, unchanging, and unalterable laws.”
HYMN TO RA 15
“in one (19) little moment of time, and then thou dost “sink down and dost make an end of the hours.”
Behold Osiris, the governor of the palace of the lord of the two lands,' Hu-nefer, victorious, saith: (20) “Hail, my lord, thou who passest through eternity, “whose being is everlasting. Hail, thou Disk, lord of “beams of light, thou risest and thou makest all man- “kind to live. Grant thou that I may behold thee at “dawn each day.”
Hymn to Ra when he riseth. [From the Papyrus of Nekht (Brit. Mus. No. 10,471, sheet 21).]
Text: A Hymn or Praise To Ra by Nekht, the royal scribe, the captain of soldiers, who saith :—
“ Homage to thee, O thou glorious Being, thou who “art dowered [with all sovereignty]. O Tem Heru-khuti “ (‘Tem-Harmachis), when thou risest in the horizon of “heaven, a cry of joy cometh forth to thee from the “mouth of all peoples. O thou beautiful Being, thou “dost renew thyself in thy season in the form of the “Disk within thy mother Hathor;* therefore in every “place every heart swelleth with joy at thy rising, for
1 The king here referred to is Seti I., who began to reign about B.C. 1870,
2 The goddess of those portions of the sky in which the sun rose and set.
16 INTRODUCTORY HYMNS
“ever. The regions of the North and South come to “thee with homage, and send forth acclamations at thy “yising in the horizon of heaven; thou illuminest the “two lands with rays of turquoise light. O Ra, thou “who art Heru-khuti (Harmachis), the divine man- “child, the heir of eternity, self-begotten and self-born, “king of earth, prince of the Tuat,! governor of the “reoions of Aukert;? thou comest forth from the “water, thou hast sprung from the god Nu, who “cherisheth thee and ordereth thy members. O thou “ood of life, thou lord of love, all men live when thou “shinest; thou art crowned king of the gods, The “ooddess Nut doeth homage unto thee, and the goddess “Maat embraceth thee at all times. Those who are in “thy following sing unto thee with joy and bow down “their foreheads to the earth when they meet thee, “thou lord of heaven, thou lord of earth, thou king of “Right and Truth, thou lord of eternity, thou prince “of everlastingness, thou sovereign of all the gods, “thou god of life, thou creator of eternity, thou maker “of heaven wherein thou art firmly established! The “company of the gods rejoice at thy rising, the earth is “olad when it beholdeth thy rays; the peoples that “have been long dead come forth with cries of joy to “see thy beauties every day. Thou goest forth each ‘“‘day over heaven and earth and art made strong each
1 The name of a district or region, neither in heayen nor upon earth, where the dead dwelt, and through which the sun passed
during the night. 2 A name of the underworld.
HYMN TO RA 17
“day by thy mother Nut. Thou passest through the “heights of heaven, thy heart swelleth with joy; and “the Lake of Testes! is content thereat. The Serpent- “fiend hath fallen, his arms are hewn off, the knife “hath cut asunder his joints. Ra liveth by Madt®* the “beautiful. The Sektet boat draweth on and cometh “into port; the South and the North, the West and “the Hast turn to praise thee, O thou primeval “substance of the earth who didst come into being of “thine own accord. Isis* and Nephthys‘ salute thee, “they sing unto thee songs of joy at thy rising in the “boat, they protect thee with their hands. The souls “of the East follow thee, the souls of the West praise “thee. Thou art the ruler of all the gods and thou “hast joy of heart within thy shrine; for the serpent- “fiend Nak hath been condemned to the fire, and thy “heart shall be joyful for ever. Thy mother Nut is “adjudged to thy father Nu.”
1 A name of heaven (?).
2 T.e., ‘‘ Ra liveth by unchanging and eternal law and order.”
3-The daughter of Seb and Nut, the wife of Osiris, and the mother of Horus.
4 The daughter of Seb and Nut, the wife of Set, the sister of Isis and Osiris, and the mother of Anubis.
VOL. I. ae o
18 INTRODUCTORY HYMNS
Hymn to Osiris Un-nefer.
[From the Papyrus of Ani (Brit. Mus. No. 10,470, sheet 2).]
Vignette: The scribe Ani standing, with both hands raised in adoration, before a table of offerings consisting of haunches of beef, loaves of bread and cakes, vases of wine and oil, fruits and flowers, &c. He wears a double linen garment and a wig, bracelets, &c. Behind him stands his wife Thuthu, a member of the College of Amen-Ra at Thebes; she is similarly robed
and holds a sistrum, a vine branch, and a mendt in her hands.
Text: (1) “Glory be to Osiris Un-nefer, the great “god within Abtu (Abydos), king of eternity, lord of ‘“everlastingness, who passeth through millions of years
“in his existence. Eldest son of the (2) womb of Nut, “engendered by Seb! the Erpat,* lord of the crowns of
! He was the son of Shu and Tefnut, husband of Nut, and father by her of Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys, and Horus dwelling in darkness. 2 T.e., the great ancestor of the tribe of the gods.
HYMN TO OSIRIS UN-NEFER 19g
ed North and South, lord of the lofty white crown: ‘as prince of gods and of men (3) he hath received the “crook, and the whip, and the dignity of his divine “fathers. Let thy heart, which is in the Mountain of “ Ament,' be content, for thy son Horus is established “upon thy throne. (4) Thou art crowned lord of “Tattu® and ruler in Abtu (Abydos). Through thee “the world waxeth green in (5) triumph before the might “of Neb-er-tcher.? He leadeth in his train that which “jis, and that which is not yet, in his name of ‘ Ta-her- “(6) sta-nef’;* he toweth along the earth by Maat in “his name of ‘Seker’;° he is exceedingly mighty (7) “and most terrible in his name ‘ Osiris’; ° he endureth “for ever and for ever’ in his name of ‘ Unnatee: vs (8) “Homage to thee, King of kings, Lord of lords, “Prince of princes, who from the womb of Nut hast “ruled (9) the world and Akert.* Thy body is of “bright and shining metal, thy head is of azure blue, “and the brilliance of the turquoise encircleth thee. 1 The ‘‘hidden” place, or abode of the dead, which was usually situated on the left or western bank of the Nile.
2 Two cities in Egypt bore the name ‘‘ Tattu,” viz., Busiris and Mendes.
3 T.e., the “lord of all.” In the Book of the Dead Osiris is fre- quently called by this name, the allusion being to the complete reconstruction of his body after it had been hacked to pieces by Set.
4 A name meaning something like ‘‘ he leadeth the earth.”
5 A play on the sounds of the words sek, ‘‘to pull along,” and seker, ‘‘ he who is coffined,” is here intended.
SA play on the sounds of the words user, “strong,” and Ausar, ‘ Osiris,” is here intended.
7 A play on the words wn, ‘‘ to exist,” and wn in the proper name “Un-nefer” is here intended.
8 A name of the underworld.
20 INTRODUCTORY HYMNS
“© god An! of millions of years, (10) all-pervading with “thy body and beautiful in countenance in Ta-tchesert,” “orant thou to the Ka (i.e., double) of Osiris, the scribe ‘Ani, splendour in heaven, and might upon earth, and “triumph in the underworld; and grant that I may “sail down (11) to Tattu like a (12) living soul and up “to (13) Abtu (Abydos) like a Bennw* bird; and that “T may go in and come out (14) without repulse at the “pylons * (15) of the lords of the underworld. May “there be given unto me (16) loaves of bread in the “house of coolness, and (17) offerings of food in Annu (Heliopolis), and a homestead (18) for ever in “ Sekhet-Aru® with wheat and barley therefor.”
A form of the Sun-god; he is mentioned again in Chapter XV. A name of the underworld.
3 The Bennu is commonly identified with the phoenix.
4 For the twenty-one pylons of the House of Osiris see