CLXXI. (infra, p. 580), his name is included among

theirs. Fine copies of papyri of the Theban Recension vary in length from 15 to 90 feet, and in width from 12 to 18 inches. In the early part of the XVIIIth Dynasty the text is always written in black ink in vertical columns of hieroglyphics, which are separated from each other by black lines; the titles and initial words of the Chapters, and the rubrics and catch-words are written in red ink. At this period the scribes began to ornament their papyri with designs traced in black outline, but such designs, or “ vignettes,” were not wholly invented by the priests of Amen, for on some of the finest coffins of the XIth Dynasty we find painted a number of vignettes which illustrate the texts, and in the case of such a vignette as that which represents the Elysian Fields we find that the scribe of the XVIIIth Dynasty copied the design of the scribe
xlii INTRODUCTION
of the XIth Dynasty in all essentials. It is possible that the scribe of the earlier period possessed an archetype which was their ultimate authority for their vignettes, but if they did, no remains of it have up to the present been found. In the XIXth Dynasty the vignettes were painted in very bright colours, and the texts were, little by little, driven into the subordinate position which the vignettes occupied at the beginning of the XVIIIth Dynasty, when they were traced in black outline. In the Papyrus of Hunefer (Brit. Mus. No. 9901) almost everything has been sacrificed to the beautifully coloured vignettes which it contains, and as aresult its text of the XVIIth Chapter is so full of mistakes that many parts of it have no meaning at all. At first the “setting out” of a papyrus was done by the scribe, and the artist, if one was em- ployed, filled in his vignettes in the spaces which had been left blank by the scribe; but subsequently the | artist seems to have painted his vignettes first and the scribe had to be content with the spaces which had been allotted to him by the artist. Long copies of the Theban Recension were made in sections, which were afterwards joined together, and sometimes several scribes and artists, who seem to have been ignorant or careless of what each other was doing, were em- ployed upon them. Thus fine papyri which have been made in sections contain duplicates, and even triplicates of some Chapters, and in some cases where duplicates occur the arrangement, both of texts and vignettes, is
INTRODUCTION xliti
quite different in each. One of the finest illustrated papyri in existence, the Papyrus of Ani, omits a large section of the text of the XVIIth Chapter, a result which is probably due to the scribe, who omitted to copy what seems to be the contents of a whole sheet of the text. Vignettes, however, have at times a peculiar value, for they often supply descriptions of mythological scenes, names of gods, ete., which oceur nowhere in the texts ; of special importance in this connexion are the Judgment Scenes and its accompanying texts, and the long vignette to the XVIIth Chapter. In the XXIst and XXIInd Dynasties we note a gradual falling off in the skill exhibited in the artistic work on the papyri of the Book of the Dead, and many changes take place in respect of the form as well as their contents. In the first place they are shorter and narrower, especially those which were made for the priests of Amen, and texts are inserted in them which belong to a great funeral composition entitled ‘“‘ The Book of that which is in the Underworld:”’ Some papyri, however, pre- serve many of the characteristics of those of the best period, but it almost seems as if the work of both scribes and artists had greatly deteriorated, and it 1s certain that the views of the priests of Amen with reference to the Book of the Dead had changed. Thus in the Papyrus of Anhai, of the XXIInd Dynasty (Brit. Mus. No. 10,472), we find a vignette represent- ing the Creation, and others which have no connexion with the Book of the Dead in the strict sense of the
xliv INTRODUCTION
term; the artist’s work is good of its kind, and the use of gold in it for purposes of illumination is instructive. The texts are fragmentary and incomplete, and often have no connexion whatsoever with the vignettes which accompany them. About this period texts are copied in which the scribe has read from the end of the composition instead of the beginning; omissions of whole sections of texts are frequent ; vignettes are frequently assigned to Chapters with which they have no connexion; and what appears at first sight to be a Chapter frequently consists of nothing but a series of fragments of sentences, copied without break merely to fill up the space which the artist had left blank for the text. In short, showy papyri with inaccurate texts are common at this period. It is interesting too to note how great had become the influence of the priests of Amen in the XXIInd © Dynasty, and how they gradually made their god to usurp the attributes of the older gods of Egypt. In the Papyrus of the Princess Nesi Khonsu which is pre- served in the Gizeh Museum, the hieratic text opens with a long detailed list of the titles of Amen-Ra, and instead of a selection of Chapters from the Theban Recension we find a series of statements, couched apparently in legal language, in which Amen-Ra swears that he will confer every possible favour upon the deceased lady. About the same period it became customary to write copies of the Book of the Dead in hieratic, and to illustrate them with vignettes traced in outline in black ink; some of these papyri measure
INTRODUCTION xlv
about 50ft. by 1ft. 6in., but in others the dimensions are considerably less. As in the old days, the scribes who wrote such papyri observed no rule in the order of the Chapters, to which, however, they gave special titles; these were, of course, like the texts which ‘ followed them, copied from the Theban Recension.
Of the history of the Book of the Dead in the period which lies between the end of the XXIInd and the beginning of the XXVIth Dynasty we know nothing, but this is not much to be wondered at when we consider that the period was one of trouble and tumult. The priests of Amen-Ra, having made their god to usurp the position of Ra and the other gods in the religious system of Kgypt, next usurped the kingdom on behalf of themselves; but they were unable to maintain the authority of Egypt in the countries which had been conquered by the great kings of the XVIIIth and XIXth Dynasties, and as an inevitable result the subject nations and tribes refused to pay the tribute which had been imposed upon them. The failure in tribute spelt failure in offerings to the temples, and consequently loss of temporal power by the priests, and when the people of Egypt realized that they were losing their position among the nations they brought the rule of the priests of Amen to an end. The loss of income of both priests and people resulted promptly in the curtailment of expense in connexion with funeral ceremonies, and thus it happens that the burials of the priests were attended with less pomp,
xlvi INTRODUCTION
and the custom of making copies of the Book of the Dead fell into abeyance; indeed, a time came, about B.c. 700, when no copies at all were made, and it seems as if this time corresponded with the period of the final failure of the priests of Amen to rule the country.
With the rise to power of the kings of the XXVIth Dynasty, a general revival of ancient religious and funeral customs took place, and the temples were cleansed and repaired, and ancient and long-forgotten texts were unearthed and copies of them taken, and artists and sculptors took the models for their: work from the best productions of the masters of the Karly Empire. In such a revival the Book of the Dead was not forgotten, and there is no doubt that those who were the principal authors of the movement became fully aware of the fact that the texts which formed their old national and religious work sorely needed re-editing and re-arranging, and measures were accordingly taken to put some system into them. How and when exactly this was done cannot be said, but it is probable that it was carried out by an assembly or college of priests, and the result of their labours was the Saite Recension of the Book of the Dead. The papyri extant which may be rightly assigned to this period show that in this Recension the Chapters have a fixed order, and that although some selections of texts may be smaller than others, the Chapters common to all papyri have always the
INTRODUCTION xlvil
same relative order. Hach of the early Recensions of the Book of the Dead exhibits peculiarities which reflect the religious views of the time when it was written, and the Saite Recension is no exception to the rule, for included in it are four Chapters (CLXIT.-CLXV.) which have no counterparts in the papyri of the older period. These Chapters contain many foreign words and unusual ideas, and it is much to be wished that the circumstances under which they were introduced into the Book of the Dead were known. ‘The characteristics of the papyri containing the Saite Recension are:—I. The text is written in long, vertical columns of hieroglyphics of purely con- ventional form, separated by black lines; 2. The vignettes are traced in outline in black, and generally occupy small spaces at the top of the text to which they refer, the usual exceptions being those which represent the Sunrise or Sunset, the Judgment Scene, the Elysian Fields, and the Seven Cows and their Bull which illustrates the text of Chapter CXLVIII. The Recension of the Book of the Dead in use in Ptolemaic times was the Saite, but before the rule of the Ptolemies had come to an end a number of short religious works intended to be written upon funeral papyri had been composed, and it became customary to make copies of these for the benefit of the dead, and to lay them in the coffin or tomb, rather than selections from the older work. It appears as if an attempt was made by the scribes to extract from the texts of a
xlvili INTRODUCTION
bygone time only such parts as were believed to be absolutely necessary for the salvation of the deceased, and they omitted the hymns of praise and the addresses to the gods, and the compositions which were the outcome of beliefs and of a mythology which had long been forgotten. Many things in papyri of the period show that the scribes were quite ignorant of the mean- ing of the texts which they were copying, and also of the correct arrangement of the vignettes which they added. Of special interest among the works which were popular in the Ptolemaic and Graeco-Roman periods, and probably later, is the ‘‘ Shai en Sensen,” or “ Book of Breathings.” In this composition we find ideas and beliefs which were derived from the Book of the Dead, and which show that the fundamental con- ceptions of the future life were the same as ever in the minds of the people; as a summary of all the ideas and beliefs that appertain to the immortality and happiness of the soul of the deceased and of his dead body it is remarkable, and considered from this point of view contains scarcely an unnecessary word.’ In the Roman period small rolls of papyrus were inseribed with series of asseverations concerning the piety of life of deceased persons and their happiness in the world beyond the grave, and were buried with them, the writers’ aim being not so much to glorify the gods of Egypt as to secure for the dead the happiness and
1 A rendering of it will be found in the Appendix (Vol, III., p. 657).
INTRODUCTION xlix
blessings of immortality in the next world at the least possible expense in this. But the knowledge of the old Recensions of the Book of the Dead was not quite dead in the early centuries of the Christian era, for on a coffin in Paris, which probably dates from the second century after Christ, are written a number of texts which are certainly as old as the Pyramids at Sakkara, a fact which proves that, when such were needed, originals from which to copy them could be found, even at that late period. The various Recensions of the Book of the Dead may be thus summarized :—
1. THe HeEwropotiraAN Recension: (a2) That which was used in the Vth and VIth Dynasties, and is found inscribed in hieroglyphics upon the walls and chambers of the Pyramids at Sakkara; (1) That which was written in cursive hieroglyphics upon coffins in the XIth and XIIth Dynasties.
2. THe THEBAN Recension: (a) That which was written upon papyri and painted upon coffins in hieroglyphics from the XVII[th to the XXIInd Dynasties ; (b) That which was written in the hieratic character upon papyri in the XXIst and XXIInd Dynasties.
3. Tue Saire Recension, which was written upon papyri, coffins, etc., in the hieroglyphic, hieratic, and demotic characters during the XX VIth and following Dynasties; this was the Recension
VOL. I. d
] INTRODUCTION
which was much used in the Ptolemaic period, and which may be regarded as the last form of the Book of the Dead.
In the Graeco-Roman and Roman periods extracts from the last Recension were written upon papyri a few inches square and buried with the dead, and we see that the great religious work of the ancient Egyptians, which had been in existence for at least 5000 years, and mere selections from which would fill the walls of the chambers and passages of a pyramid, or which would fill several scores of feet of papyrus, or would cover a whole coffin, ended its existence in almost illegible scrawls hastily traced upon scraps of papyrus only a few inches square.
From first to last throughout the Book of the Dead, with the exceptions of Kings Semti and Men-kau-Ra, and Heru-ta-ta-f, the son of Khufu, the name of no man is mentioned as the author or reviser of any part of it. Certain Chapters may show the influence of the cult of a certain city or cities, but the Book of the Dead cannot be regarded as the work of any one man or body of men, and it does not represent the religious views and beliefs of any one part only of Egypt; on the contrary, the beliefs of many peoples and periods are gathered together in it. As a whole, the Book of the Dead was regarded as the work of the god Thoth, the scribe of the gods, and thus was believed to be of divine origin; it was Thoth who spoke the words at the Creation which were carried into effect by Ptah
INTRODUCTION hi
and Khnemu, and as advocate and helper of the god Osiris, and therefore of every believer in Osiris, the ascription of the authorship to him is most fitting. This view was held down to a late period, for in the Book of Breathings,! in an address to the deceased it is said, “Thoth, the most mighty god, the lord of “Khemennu (Hermopolis), cometh to thee, and he “writeth for thee the Book of Breathings with his own “fingers.” Copies of the Book of the Dead, and works of a similar nature, were placed either in the coffin with the deceased, or in some part of the hall of the tomb, or of the mummy chamber, generally in a niche which was cut for the purpose. Sometimes the papyrus was laid loosely in the coffin, but more frequently it was placed between the legs of the deceased, either just above the ankles or near the upper part of the thighs, before the swathing of the mummy took place. In the XXIst Dynasty the custom grew up of placing funeral papyri in hollow wooden figures of the god Osiris, which were placed in the tombs, but in later times, when funeral papyri were much smaller, they were laid in rectangular cavities sunk either in the tops or sides of the pedestals to which such figures were attached. At first the figure was that of the god Osiris, in his character of god of the dead and judge of the under- world, but the attributes of the triune god Ptah-
1 See page 657 ff.
hi INTRODUCTION
ry. 1 er
‘Seker-Ausar, the god of the resurrection, were subsequently added to it, and suitable variations in the texts written on the papyri which were placed in or beneath them were made accordingly. .
INTRODUCTION hi
OSIRIS, THE GOD OF JUDGMENT, THE RESURRECTION, IMMORTALITY, THE ELYSIAN FIELDS, ETC.
In the oldest religious texts known the absolute identity of the deceased with Osiris is always assumed by the writer, and in later times the deceased is actually called by the name of the god; moreover, in every detail of the funeral ceremonies the friends and relatives of the dead sought to imitate the ceremonies which were declared by tradition to have been per- formed for the god, believing that thereby only could everlasting life and happiness be assured to the de- parted. The history of Osiris is shrouded in the mists of remote antiquity, and as the ancient Keyptian writers supply us with no information concerning their theories about the god there are small grounds for hoping that we shall ever possess any authentic history of him. It is, however, quite certain that even in the earliest dynastic times in Egypt the history of Osiris was legendary, and that all the main features of the story which Plutarch gave in De Iside et Osiride were then current; the scene on the plaque of Semti
liv INTRODUCTION
‘(see British Museum, No, 32,650), a king of the Ist Dynasty, proves that the “god on the top of the stair- case” occupied a most prominent position in the religion of the country. The texts of the Heliopolitan Recension of the Book of Dead assume throughout that Osiris occupied the position of chief of the cycle of the gods of the dead, and down to the earliest centuries of the Christian era the fundamental ideas expressed in every text which was written for the benefit of the dead rest on this assumption. It was universally believed that Osiris was of divine origin, that he lived upon earth in a material body, that he was treacherously murdered and cut in pieces, that his sister Isis collected the limbs of his body, and, by means of magical words which had been specially provided by the god Thoth, reconstituted it, that the god came to life again by these means, that he became immortal, and entered into the underworld, where he became both the judge and king of the dead. The dismembering of the body of Osiris rather calls to mind the practice of the pre- dynastic Egyptians who, at one period, cut the bodies of their dead into pieces before burial, and removed the head from the body, to which, however, they showed special honour by placing it in a raised position in the grave. Thus one portion of the legend of Osiris may be of indigenous or North African origin; at all events the ceremonies connected with the raising up of the Tet which were performed in early dynastic times at Abydos, where the head of the god was believed to be
INTRODUCTION lv
buried, suggest the commemoration of funeral rites which can hardly have been introduced by the con- querors from the Kast. In the XVIIIth Dynasty it is expressly stated in Chapter CLIY. of the Book of the Dead (infra, p. 517) that Osiris neither decayed, nor putrefied, nor rotted away, nor became worms, nor perished, and that he enjoyed existence, being in the full possession of all the members of his body. Thus the deceased King Thothmes III. is made to say, “I “shall live, I shall live. I shall grow, I shall grow, I “shall grow. I shall wake up in peace; I shall not “putrefy ; my intestines shall not perish ; I shall not “suffer from any defect; mine eye shall not decay, “the form of my visage shall not disappear; mine “ear shall not become deaf; my head shall not be “separated from my neck; my tongue shall not be “carried away; my hair shall not be cut off; mine “eyebrows shall not be shaved off; and no baleful “injury shall come upon’ me. My body shall be “stablished (i.e., constituted), and it shall neither “fall into decay nor be destroyed upon this earth.” And the king, and every other follower of Osiris, believed that he would enjoy everlasting life and happiness in a_ perfectly constituted body because Osiris had conquered death, and had risen from the dead, and was living in a body which was perfect in all its members ; moreover, for countless generations Osiris was the type and emblem of the resurrection, and rely- ing upon his power to give immortality to man untold
lvi INTRODUCTION
. generations lived and died. In the hymns which are addressed to him he is called the “king of eternity, the “lord of the everlasting, who passeth through millions “of years in his existence ” (see p. 18); and again it is said (see p. 67), “The dead rise up to see thee, they “breathe the air and they look upon thy face when the “Disk riseth on its horizon ; their hearts are at peace “inasmuch as they behold thee, O thou who art “ Kternity and Kverlastingness.” Still more remarkable are the words which were addressed to him by the god Thoth and which are found in the Papyrus of Hu-nefer (see p. 623) ; the scribe of the gods having enumerated all the titles of Osiris in a series of paragraphs, and shown how love for him permeates every god, says, “Homage to thee, O Governor of those who are “in Amentet, who dost make men and women to
ae beeen fh the Ms INC ‘SS Ay dh SJ XS
mes tememu uhem
the new birth being the birth into Hee new life of the world which is beyond the grave, and is everlasting.
All the pictures of the god Osiris known to us in funeral texts represent him as a being swathed in mummied form, and wearing on his head the white crown, and holding in his hands the emblems of sovereignty and dominion ; but those which represent the deceased make him to appear in the ordinary garb of a man who is dressed in ceremonial attire, and he is seen in the Judgment Hall and other places in heaven in the form
INTRODUCTION lvii
wherein he went about upon earth. There is reason for thinking that pre-dynastic man believed that his dead would live again in the identical bodies which they had upon earth, i.e., in a material resurrection, and there is no doubt that the funeral offerings which ‘they placed in their graves and tombs were intended to be their food in the next world whilst they were accom- modating themselves to their new circumstances. In later times, although the funeral offerings were made as before, the belief in a material resurrection was given up by educated Egyptians, and in texts, both of the earliest and latest periods of Egyptian history, it is distinctly stated that the material part of man rests in the earth whilst the immaterial part has its abode in heaven. Thus in a text of the Vth Dynasty ' we read, “Ra receiveth thee, soul in heaven, body in earth ;” and in one of the VIth Dynasty” it is said to the deceased, “Thine essence is in heaven, thy body is in the “earth”; and in a text of the Ptolemaic period® it is declared to the deceased, “ Heaven hath thy soul, “earth hath thy body.” In another text, also of a late date, the deceased is addressed in these words, ‘“‘ Thy “soul is in heaven before Ra, thy double hath that “which should be given unto it with the gods, thy “spiritual body is glorious among the spirits of fire,
1 Pyramid of Unas, line 582.
2 Pyramid of Teta, line 304.
3 See J. de Horrack, Lamentations @Isis et de Nephthys, Paris, 1866, p. 6.
4 See Lieblein, Que mon nom flewrisse, p. 2, 1. 2ff., and p. 17, 1, 2 ff.
Iviii INTRODUCTION
“and thy material body is stablished in the under- “world (i.e., grave).” All the available evidence shows that the Egyptians of dynastic times mummified the dead body because they believed that a spiritual body would “ germinate” or develop itself init. We know that an ancient belief held that the head of Osiris was buried at Abydos, and many cities of Egypt claimed that limbs of Osiris were buried in them, and one tradition affirmed that the whole body of the god rested in Annu or Heliopolis. The texts show that the Egyptians believed that, if the prescribed prayers were said and the appropriate ceremonies were properly per- formed over the dead body by duly appointed priests, it acquired the power of developing from out of itself an immaterial body called sdhu, which was able to ascend to heaven and to dwell with the gods there. The sdhu took the form of the body from which it sprang and was immortal, and in it lived the soul. The god Osiris possessed a sdhu in the Egyptian heaven, and in Chapter CXXX. of the Book of the the Dead (line 36) the deceased Nu is declared to have received this sdiu from the god; in other words, Osiris rewarded the beatified dead by bestowing upon them his own spiritual form ; and elsewhere (see p. 349) the deceased says, ‘‘ Behold, verily I have said unto “thee, O Osiris, ‘I am a sdhu of the god,’” ie., of Osiris. The proof that the soul dwelt in the sdhw is furnished by a passage in the LXXXIXth Chapter, wherein the deceased addresses the “gods who make
INTRODUCTION lix
“souls to enter into their sau” (see p. 280), and the distinct difference between the material and spiritual body is well illustrated by the following petition, which comes at the end of the same Chapter :—“ And behold, “orant ye that the soul of Osiris Ani, triumphant, may “come forth before the gods and that it may be trium- “phant along with you in the eastern part of the sky “to follow unto the place where it (e., the ‘boat of “millions of years’) was yesterday [and that my soul “may have] peace, peace in Amentet. May it look “upon its material body, may it rest upon its spiritual “body; and may its body neither perish nor suffer “corruption for ever.” It now remains to enumerate briefly the constituent parts of man physically, men- tally, and spiritually.
1. The physical body, which was called khat
a) a IY, i.e., that which was liable to decay,
and could only be preserved by mummification. 2. The ka El a word which by general consent is
translated “double”; the Coptic equivalent is Kco, and it can in most cases be accurately rendered by one of the meanings of e/dwAov. The ka was an abstract individuality or personality which possessed the form and attributes of the man to whom it belonged, and, though its normal dwelling place was in the tomb with the body, it could wander about at will; it was in- dependent of the man and could go and dwell in any statue of him. It was supposed to eat and drink, and
lx INTRODUCTION
the greatest care was usually taken to lay abundant supplies of offerings in the tombs lest the kas of those who were buried in them should be reduced to the necessity of leaving their tombs and of wandering about and eating offal and drinking filthy water.
3. The ba ~~ or soul, was in some inexplicable
way connected with the ka, in whom or with whom it was supposed to dwell in the tomb, and to partake of the funeral offerings, although in many texts it is made to live with Ra or Osiris in heaven. It seems to have been able to assume a material or immaterial form at will, and in the former character it is depicted as a human-headed hawk; in the Papyrus of Nebget at Paris (ed. Devéria and Pierret, pl. 3) it is seen in this form flying down the funeral pit, bearmg air and food to the mummified body to which it belongs. The soul could visit the body whensoever it pleased.
4. The ab Ms or heart, was closely associated with
the soul, and it was held to be the source both of the animal life and of good and evil in man, The preserva- tion of the heart of a man was held to be of the greatest importance, and in the Judgment it is the one member of the body which is singled out for special examina- tion ; here, however, the heart is regarded as having been the centre of the spiritual and thinking life, and as the organ through which the manifestations of virtue and vice revealed themselves, and it typifies
INTRODUCTION lxi
everything which the word “conscience” signifies to us. The necessity of preserving the material heart was very great, and four Chapters of the Book of the Dead (XX VIIL—XXXB.) were composed to prevent the heart of a man from being carried off or driven away from him in the underworld by the “ stealers of hearts.” The most favourite of these Chapters was XXXB., which is found inscribed on large numbers of green basalt amulets, which date from the period of the XIIth Dynasty to that of the Romans. The heart amulet is made in the form of a scarab or beetle, and both it and the Chapter which is associated with it are connected, in the Papyrus of Nu (see p. 221), with that version of the LXIVth Chapter which is there declared to be as old as the time of Men-kau-Ra, a king of the [Vth Dynasty.
5. The khaibit Te or shadow, was closely associated with the ba or soul, and was certainly regarded as an integral portion of the human economy ; it, like the
ka, seems to have been nourished by the offerings which were made in the tomb of the person to whom it
a
belonged. Like the ka also it had an existence apart from the body, and it had the power of going whereso- ever it pleased. As far back as the time of King Unas ! we find that souls and spirits and shadows are men- tioned together, and in the XCIInd Chapter of the Book of the Dead (see p. 286) the deceased is made to
1 La Pyramide du roi Ounas, line 523.
Ixai INTRODUCTION
say, ““O keep not captive my soul, O keep not ward “over my shadow, but let a way be opened for my soul “and for my shadow, and let them see the Great God “in the shrine on the day of the judgment of souls, “and let them recite the utterances of Osiris, whose “habitations are hidden, to those who guard the ‘members of Osiris, and who keep ward over the “spirits, and who hold captive the shadows of the dead “who would work evil against me.”
6. The khu & or spirit, is usually mentioned in
connexion with the ba or soul, and it seems to have been regarded as a shining or translucent part of the spiritual economy of a man which dwelt with his soul in the sdhwu or spiritual body.
7. The sekhem ; or power, which we may look upon
as the incorporeal personification of the vital force of a man; the sekhem dwelt in heaven among the khus or spirits, and in the texts it is usually mentioned in connexion with the soul and the spirit.
——— : 8. The ren Bh. or name, to preserve which NIM
the Egyptians took the most extraordinary precautions, for the belief was widespread that unless the name of a man was preserved he ceased to exist. Already in the time of King Pepi the name was regarded as a most important portion of a man’s economy, and in the following passage’ it ranks equally with the sa ;—
1 La Pyramide dw Roi Pept Le, line 169.
INTRODUCTION Ixtil
“The iron which is the ceiling of heaven openeth “itself before Pepi, and he passeth through it with his “panther skin upon him, and his staff and whip in his “hand; Pepi passeth with his flesh, and he is happy “with his name, and he liveth with his double.” Already in the Pyramid Texts' we find the deceased making supplication that his name may “ grow” or
' La Pyramide dw Roi Pepi 11., line 669 ff. The extract reads :—
‘* Hail, Great Company of the gods who are in Annu, grant that **Pepi Nefer-ka-Ra may flourish, and grant that his pyramid, his ‘feverlasting building, may flourish, even as the name of T’emnu, “‘the Governor of the Great Company of the gods, flourisheth. If **the name of Shu, the lord of the upper shrine in Annu, flourisheth, ‘“*Pepi Nefer-ka-Ra shall flourish, and this his pyramid, his ever- ‘‘Jasting building, shall flourish. If the name of Tefnut, the lady ‘* of the lower shrine in Annu, is stablished, the name of this Pepi ‘*Nefer-ka-Ra shall be stablished, and this pyramid shall be ‘** stablished for ever. If the name of Seb, the soul of the earth (?), ** flourisheth, the name of Pepi Nefer-ka-Ra shall flourish, and this ‘his pyramid shall flourish, and his everlasting building shall “flourish. If the name of Nut flourisheth in Het-Shenth in Annu, ‘the name of this Pepi Nefer-ka-Ra shall flourish, and this his “‘pyramid shall flourish, and this his building shall flourish for ‘‘ever. If the name of Osiris flourisheth in the nome Teni, the ““name of this Pepi Nefer-ka-Ra shall flourish, and this his pyramid «shall flourish, and this his building shall flourish forever. If the “name of Osiris, Governor of Amenti, flourisheth, the name of ‘*this Pepi Nefer-ka-Ra shall flourish, and this his pyramid shall ‘flourish, and this his building shall flourish for ever. If the ‘name of Set in Nubt (Ombos) flourisheth, the name of Pepi ‘*Nefer-ka-Ra shall flourish, and this his pyramid shall flourish, ‘and this his building shall flourish for ever. If the name of ** Horus of Behutet flourisheth, the name of this Pepi Nefer-ka-Ra **shall flourish, and this his pyramid shall flourish, and this his “building shall flourish for ever. If the name of Ra flourisheth in *‘the horizon, the name of this Pepi Nefer-ka-Ra shall flourish, “and this his building shall flourish for ever. If the name of ‘‘Khent-Merti in Sekhem is stablished, the name of this Pepi ‘* Nefer-ka-Ra shall flourish, and this his Pyramid shall flourish, and this his building shall flourish for ever. If the name of **Uatchit who dwelleth in Tep flourisheth, the name of this Pepi ‘*Nefer-ka-Ra shall flourish, and this his pyramid shall flourish, ‘‘and this his building shall flourish for ever.”
lxiv INTRODUCTION
“shoot forth” and endure as long as the names of Tem, Shu, Seb, and other gods, and, with modifications, the prayer written for Pepi IL. in the VIth Dynasty was in common use at the Graeco-Roman period in Egypt. To preserve the name of his parents was the bounden duty of every pious son, and every offering which was made in a man’s tomb, however small, provided it was coupled with the mention of the deceased’s name, helped to keep in existence the person whose name was mentioned.!
9. The sdhu ae g ‘SS Q ih or spiritual body,
which formed the habitation of the soul. It sprang from the material body, through the prayers which were said, and the ceremonies which were performed at the tomb or elsewhere by duly appointed and properly qualified priests, and was lasting and incorruptible. In it all the mental and spiritual attributes of the natural body were united to the new powers of its own nature.
There is little doubt that the beliefs in the existence of these various members of the spiritual and material bodies are not all of the same age, and they probably
1 The idea is pithily expressed in the text of Pepi I. (@ 20)
© ok ae ne Pie ie
x Py yl 84) me shall liv : Fee, A wn a\ =| y name s ive
upon earth ; thy name shall endure upon earth; thou shalt never perish, thou shalt never, never come to an end.”
INTRODUCTION Ixv
represent several stages of intellectual development on the part of the Egyptians; their origin and develop- ment it is now impossible to trace, and the contradic- tions in the texts prove that the Egyptians themselves had not always definite ideas about the functions of each,
The judgment of the dead took place in the Judgment Hall of Osiris, the exact position of which is unknown; the Judge was Osiris, who was supported
by the gods which formed his paut g or company.
The judgment of each individual seems to have taken place soon after death ; those who were condemned in the judgment were devoured straightway by the Kater of the Dead, and ceased to exist, and those who were not condemned entered into the domains of Osiris, where they found everlasting life and happiness. There are no grounds for thinking that the Egyptians believed either in a general resurrection or in pro- tracted punishment. The deceased whose heart or conscience had been weighed in the balance, and not found wanting, was declared to be “maa kheru”
-—
sesmpeal re, follow the names of the persons for whom they were written. They are commonly rendered “ triumphant,” or “victorious,” “disant la vérité,” ‘ véridique,” “juste,” ‘“justifid,” ‘ vainqueur,” “waltend des Wortes,” “michtig der Rede,” “ vrai de voix,” “juste de voix,” ete., but their true meaning seems to be “ he
| and in papyri these words always ?
OL. I: e
Ixvi INTRODUCTION
whose word is right and true,” i.e, he whose word is held to be right and true by those to whom it is addressed, and as a result, whatsoever is ordered or commanded by the person who is declared in the Judgment Hall to be mad Iheru is straightway per- formed by the beings or things who are commanded or ordered. ‘Thus before the person who possessed the “vieht word,” the doors of the halls of the underworld were opened, and the beings who had power therein became his servants; he had power to go wheresoever he pleased, and to do whatsoever he pleased, and he became the equal of the gods. The ideas which attached to the words mad kherw are well illustrated by the following passage from the text of Pepi I. (l. 171 ff.):—“O enter into the verdant stream of “the Lake of Kha, O fill with water the Fields of “Aaru, and let Pepi set sail for the eastern half ‘of heaven towards that place where the gods are “brought forth, wherein Pepi himself may be borne “along with them as Heru-khuti, for Pepi is maa ‘“kKheru, and Pepi acclaimeth, and the ka of Pepi “acclaimeth [the gods]. And they call Pepi, and “they bring to him these four [gods] who make their ‘“ way over the tresses of Horus, and who stand with “their sceptres in the eastern half of heaven; and “they declare to Ra the excellent name of Pepi, and “ they exalt the excellent name of Pepi before Neheb- “kau, for Pepi is mad kheru, and Pepi acclaimeth, and “his ‘a acclaimeth [the gods]. The sister of Pepi is
INTRODUCTION Ixvil
‘“ Sothis, and the birth of Pepi is the morning star, “and itis he who is under the body of heaven before “Ra. Pepi is mad kheru, and he acclaimeth and his “ka acclaimeth [the gods].”
The allusion to the “Fields of Aaru” in the above extract leads naturally to a brief mention of the “ Sekhet-hetepet,” or Elysian Fields, wherein the beatified were believed to lead a life of celestial happiness. At a very early period in their history the Egyptians believed in the existence of a place wherein the blessed dead led a life of happiness, the characteristics of which much resemble those of the life which he had led upon earth ; these characteristics are so similar that it is hard to believe that in the early times the one life was not held to be a mere continuation of the other. At all events, the delights and pleasures of this world were believed to be forth- coming in the next, and a life there in a state of happiness which depended absolutely upon material things was contemplated. Such ideas date from the time when the Egyptians were in a semi-savage state, and the preservation of them is probably due to their extreme conservatism in all matters connected with religion; the remarkable point about them is their persistence, for they occur in texts which belong to periods when it was impossible for the Egyptians to have attached any serious importance to them, and some of the coarsest ideas are in places mingled with the expression of lofty spiritual conceptions. In a
Ixviil INTRODUCTION
passage in the text of Unas it is said of this king (1. 623), ““Unas hath come to his pools which are on “both sides of the stream of the goddess Meht-urt, and “to the place of verdant offerings, and to the fields “ which are on the horizon; he hath made his fields “on both sides of the horizon to be verdant. He hath “ brought the crystal to the Great Hye which is in the “field, he hath taken his seat in the horizon, he ‘‘ riseth like Sebek the son of Neith, he eateth with his “ mouth, he voideth water, he enjoyeth the pleasures of “love, and he is the begetter who carrieth away women “from their husbands whenever it pleaseth him so to do.” And in the text of Teta (1. 286 f.) we read, “ Hail, Osiris Teta, Horus hath granted that Thoth ‘shall bring thine enemy unto thee. He hath placed “thee behind him that he may not harm thee and that “ thou mayest make thy seat upon him, and that when
cc
“coming forth thou mayest sit upon him so that he “may not be able to force intercourse upon thee.” Such passages give a very clear idea of the state of Egyptian morals when they were written, and they indicate the indignities to which those vanquished in war, both male and female, were exposed at the hands of the conquerors.
The texts of the early period supply much in- formation about the pleasures of the deceased in the world beyond the grave, but no attempt to illustrate the employments of the blessed dead is given until the XVIIIth Dynasty, when the vignette to the CXth
INTRODUCTION Ixix
Chapter of the Book of the Dead was inserted in papyri:' Here we have an idea given of the conception which the Egyptian formed of the place wherein he was to dwell after death. A large homestead or farm, intersected with canals, is at once his paradise and the home of the blessed dead, and the abode of the god of his city. This place is called Sekhet-Aaru or “ Field of Reeds,” and the name certainly indicates that at one time the Egyptian placed his paradise in the north of Egypt, probably in some part of the Delta, near Tattu, or Busiris, the capital of the Busirite or ninth nome of Lower Egypt. It was here that the reconstitution, of the dismembered body of Osiris took place, and it was
here that the solemn ceremony of setting up the i or
backbone of Osiris, was performed each year. The Field of Reeds, however, was but a portion of the district called “Sekhet-Hetep” or “Sekhet-Hetepet,” or “Fields of Peace,” over which there presided a number of gods, and here the deceased led a life which suggests that the idea of the whole place originated with a nation of agriculturists, In the vignettes we see the deceased sailing in a boat laden with offerings which he is bearing to the hawk-god. In another place he is reaping wheat and driving the oxen which tread out the corn, and beyond that he is kneeling before two heaps of grain, one red and one white, In the next
1 The earliest form of this vignette known to me occurs inside
one of the Al-Bersheh coffins, and is as old as the XIth or XIIth Dynasty.
Ixx INTRODUCTION
division he is ploughing the land of Sekhet-Anru or Sekhet-Aaru, by the side of a stream of vast length and unknown breadth, which contains neither worm nor fish. In the fourth division is the abode of the god Osiris, and here are the places where dwell those who are nourished upon divine food, and the spiritual bodies of the dead. In one section of this division the deceased placed the god of his city, so that even in respect of his religious observances his life might be as perfect as it was upon earth. His wishes in the matter of the future life are represented by the following prayer :—“ Let me be rewarded with thy fields, O god “Hetep; that which is thy wish shalt thou do, O “lord of the winds. May I become a spirit therein, ‘may I eat therein, may I drink therein, may I plough “therein, may I reap therein, may I fight therein, may “T make love therein, may my words be mighty therein, “may I never be in a state of servitude therein, but “may I have authority therein.” Elsewhere in the same Chapter the deceased addresses the gods of the various lakes and sections of the Elysian Fields, and he states that he has bathed in the holy lake, that all uncleanness has departed from him, and that he has arrayed himself in the apparel of Ra; in his new life even amusements are provided (but they are the amusements of earth), for he snares feathered fowl] and sails about in his boat catching worms and serpents. In the texts of all periods we read often that the deceased lives with Ra, that he stands among the
INTRODUCTION Ixxi
company of the gods, and that he is one like unto the divine beings who dwell with them; -but little is told us concerning his intercourse with those whom he has known upon earth, and if it were not for some two or three passages in the Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead we should be obliged to assume that the power to recognize the friends of earth in the next world was not enjoyed by the deceased, But that he really possessed this power, at least so far as his parents were concerned, we Jearn from the CXth Chapter, where the deceased, addressing a pool or lake situated in the first section of the Elysian Fields, says, ‘“O “ Qengentet, I have entered into thee, and I have seen “the Osiris [my father], and I have recognized my “mother,” a delight, however, which he brackets with the pleasures of making love and of catching worms and serpents! In the papyrus of the priestess Anhai (see p. 325) we actually see the deceased lady in con- verse with two figures, one of whom is probably her father and the other certainly her mother, for above the head of the latter are written the words “her mother” (mut-s) followed by the name. A supple- mentary proof of this is afforded by a passage in the LIInd Chapter, where the deceased says :—“ The gods “shall say unto me: ‘What manner of food wouldst “*thou have given unto thee?’ [And I reply:] ‘Let me “*eat my food under the sycamore tree of my lady, the “goddess Hathor, and let my times be among the ““divine beings who have alighted thereon. Let me
Ixxii INTRODUCTION
“have the power to order my own fields in Tattu “and my own growing crops in Annu. Let me live “upon bread made of white barley, and let my ale be ““lmade] from red grain, and may the persons of my ‘‘* father and my mother be given unto me as guardians ““of my door and for the ordering of my territory.’” The same idea is also expressed in the CLXXXIXth Chapter (1. 7). Thus the deceased hoped to have in the next world an abundance of the material comforts which he enjoyed in this world, and to meet again his own god, and his father and mother; as we see him frequently accompanied by his wife in several vignettes to other Chapters we may assume that he would meet her again along with the children whom she bore him.
It will be noticed that little is said throughout the Book of the Dead about the spiritual occupations of the blessed dead, and we are told nothing of the choirs of angels who hymn the Deity everlastingly in the religious works of later Western nations. The dead who attained to everlasting life became in every respect like the divine inhabitants of heaven, and they ate the same meat, and drank the same drink, and wore the same apparel, and lived as they lived. No classifica- tion of angels is mentioned, and grades of them like Cherubim, and Seraphim, Thrones, Powers, Dominions, etc., such as are found in the celestial hierarchy of Semitic nations, are unknown; a celestial city con- structed on the model described in the Apocalypse is also unknown,
INTRODUCTION lxxiil
We have seen that the Elysian Fields much resembled the flat, fertile lands intersected by large canals and streams of running water, such as must always have existed and may still be seen in certain parts of the Delta; of the distance to be traversed by the dead be- fore they were reached nothing whatever is said. As the Egyptian made his future world a counterpart of the Egypt which he knew and loved, and gave to it heavenly counterparts of all the sacred cities thereof, he must have conceived the existence of a water way like the Nile, with tributaries and branches, whereon he might sail and perform his journeys. According to some texts the abode of the dead was away beyond Egypt to the north, but according to others it might be either above or below the earth. The oldest tradition of all placed it above the earth, and the sky was the large flat or vaulted iron surface which formed its floor; this iron surface was supported upon four pillars; one at each of the cardinal points, and its edges were some height above the earth. To reach this iron ceiling of the earth and floor of heaven a ladder was thought to be necessary, as we may see from the following passage, in which Pepi the king says, ‘‘Homage to thee, O “ladder! of the god, homage to thee, O ladder of Set. “ Set thyself up, O ladder of the god, set thyself up, “QO ladder of Set, set thyself up, O ladder of Horus, “whereby Osiris appeared in heaven when he wrought
l D ‘SN a i maget (Popi I., 1. 192). fam.
Ixxiv INTRODUCTION
“protection for Ra ..... For it is thy son Pepi, and “this Pepi is Horus, and thou hast given birth to this “ Pepi even as thou hast given birth to the god who is “the lord of the ladder. Thou hast given unto him “the ladder of the god, and thou hast given unto him “the ladder of Set, whereby this Pepi hath appeared in “heaven, when he wrought protection for Ra.”
A later belief placed the abode of the departed away to the west or north-west of Egypt, and the souls of the dead made their way thither through a gap in the mountains on the western bank of the Nile near Abydos. A still later belief made out that the abode of the de- parted was a long, mountainous, narrow valley with a river running along it; starting from the east, it made its way to the north, and then taking a circular direction it came back to the east. In this valley there lived all manner of fearful monsters and beasts, and here was the country through which the sun passed during the twelve hours of night.! It is impossible to reconcile all the conflicting statements concerning the abode of the dead, and the Egyptians themselves held different views about it at different periods.
The Egyptians, from the earliest to the latest period of their history, were addicted to the use of magical formulae which were thought to be able to effect results usually beyond the power of man, and they accom- panied the recital of such formulae by the performance of certain ceremonies. The formulae consisted of the
1 See my Papyrus of Ant, p. civ. y iL )
INTRODUCTION Ixxv
repetition of the names of gods and supernatural beings, benevolent or hostile to man as the case might be, and of entreaties or curses; the ceremonies were of various kinds.!
The Egyptian believed that every word spoken under certain circumstances must be followed by some effect, good or bad; a prayer uttered by a properly qualified person, or by a man ceremonially pure, in the proper place, and in the proper manner, must necessarily be answered favourably; and _ similarly the curses which were pronounced upon a man, or beast, or thing, in the name of a hostile supernatural being were bound to result in harm to the object cursed. This idea had its origin in the belief that the world and all that therein is came into being imme- diately after Thoth had interpreted in words the will of the deity, in respect of the creation of the world, and that creation was the result of the god’s command. In very early times the Egyptian called in the pro- fessional religious man to utter words of good omen over the dead body of his relative or friend, and later the same words written upon some substance and buried with him were believed to be effectual in pro- curing for him the good things of the life beyond the grave. In the text on the pyramid of Unas (1. 583) is areference to something written which the deceased was supposed to possess, in the following words :— “The bone and flesh which have no writing’ are
ee See my Eyyptian Magic, London, 1899. a a sesh.
Ixxvi INTRODUCTION
“ wretched, but, behold, the writing of Unas is under “the great seal, and behold, it is not under the little “seal.” And in the text on the pyramid of Pepi I. we find the words, “The uraeus of this Pepi is upon his ‘head, there is a writing on each side of him, and he “hath words of magical power at his two feet”; thus equipped the king enters heaven.
A common way to effect certain results, good or evil, was to employ figures made of various sub- stances, chiefly wax, or amulets made of precious stones and metals in various forms; both figures and amulets were inscribed with words which gave them the power to carry out the work assigned to them by those who caused them to be made. It is well known that the Egyptians believed that the qualities and much else, including the ka, of a living original could be transferred to an image thereof by means of the repetition over it of certain formulae, and a good or evil act done to a statue or figure resulted in good or evil to the person whom it represented.
About the time of the XVIIIth Dynasty, we learn from a papyrus' that a man was prosecuted in Egypt for having made figures of men and women in wax, by which he caused sundry and divers pains and sicknesses to the living beings whom they represented. And, according to Pseudo-Callisthenes,? Nectanebus wrought magic by means of a bowl of water, some
1 Chabas, Le Papyrus Magique Harris, p. 170 ff. 2 Hd. Miiller, lib. 1, cap. 1 ff.
INTRODUCTION Ixxvii
waxen figures, and an ebony rod. ‘The waxen figures were made in the forms of the soldiers of the enemy who were coming against him by sea or by land, and were placed upon the water in the basin by him. Nectanebus then arrayed himself in suitable apparel, and, having taken the rod in his hand, began to recite certain formulae and. the names of divine powers known unto him, whereupon the waxen figures became animated, and straightway sank to the bottom of the bowl; at the same moment the hosts of the enemy were destroyed. If the foe was coming by sea he placed the waxen soldiers in waxen ships, and at the sound of the words of power both ships and men sank into the waves as the waxen models sank to the bottom of the bowl. The same informant tells us that when Nectanebus wished Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, to believe that the god Ammon had visited her during the night, he went forth from her presence into the plain and gathered a number of herbs which had the power of causing dreams, and pressed out the juice from them. He then fashioned a female figure in the form of Olympias, and inscribed the Queen's name upon it, and having made the model of a bed he laid the figure thereon. Nectanebus next lit a lamp, and reciting the words of power which would compel the demons to send Olympias a dream, he poured out the juice of the herbs over the waxen figure ; and at the moment of the performance of these acts Olympias dreamed that she was in the arms of the god Ammon.
Ixxvill INTRODUCTION
The most important mention of figures in the Book of the Dead occurs in the VIth Chapter. When the Egyptian, in very early days, conceived the existence of the Elysian Fields it occurred to him that the agri- cultural labours which would have to be carried out there might entail upon himself toil and fatigue. To avoid this a short Chapter (V.) was drawn up, the recital of which was believed to free the deceased from doing any work in the underworld. But it was felt that the work must be done by, some person or thing, and eventually it became the custom to bury a figure or figures of the deceased with him in his tomb so that it or they might perform whatever work fell to his share. ‘To these figures the Egyptian gave the name ushabtiw, a word which is commonly rendered by “ re- spondents ” or “ answerers,” and they are often described in modern times as the “ working figures of Hades.”
Several of the Chapters of the Book of the Dead are followed by Rubrics which give directions for the performance of certain magical ceremonies, and among them may be specially mentioned the following :—
Chap. XIII. This Chapter was to be recited over two rings made of dnkhdim flowers; one was to be laid on the right ear of the deceased, and the other was to be wrapped up in a piece of byssus whereon the name of the deceased was inscribed.
Chap. XIX. This Chapter was to be recited over the divine chaplet which was laid upon the face of the deceased while incense was burnt on his behalf.
INTRODUCTION ]xxix
Chap. C. This Chapter was to be recited over a picture of the boat of the Sun painted with a special ink upon a piece of new papyrus, which was to be laid on the breast of the deceased, who would then have power to embark in the boat of Ra and to journey with the god.
Chap. CXXV. The Judgment Scene was to be painted upon a tile made of earth upon which neither the pig nor any other animal had trodden; and if the text of the Chapter was also written upon it, the deceased and his children would flourish for ever, his name would never be forgotten, and his place would henceforth be with the followers of Osiris.
Chap. CXXX. This Chapter was to be recited over a picture of the god Ra wherein a figure of the deceased sitting in the bows was drawn; this done, the soul of the deceased would live for ever.
Chap. CXXXIII. This Chapter was to be recited over a faience model of the boat of Ra, four cubits in length, whereon the figures of the divine chiefs were painted ; painted figures of Ra and of the Khu of the deceased were to be placed in the boat. A model of the starry heavens was also to be made and upon it the model of the boat of Ra was to be moved about, in imitation of the motion of the boat of the god in heaven; this ceremony would cause the deceased to be received by the gods in heaven as one of themselves. _ Chap. CXXXIV. This Chapter was to be recited over figures of a hawk (Ra), Tem, Shu, Tefnut, Seb,
Ixxx INTRODUCTION
Nut, Osiris, Isis, Suti, and Nephthys painted on a plaque, which was to be placed in a model of the boat of Ra wherein the deceased was seated; this ceremony would cause the deceased to travel with Ra in the sky.
Chap. CXXXVIA. This Chapter was to be recited over a figure of the deceased seated in the boat of Ra.
Chap. CXXXVITIA. This Chapter was to be recited over four fires, fed by a special kind of cloth anointed with unguent, which were to be placed in the hands of four men who had the names of the pillars of Horus written upon their shoulders. Four clay troughs, whereon incense had been sprinkled, were to be filled with the milk of a white cow, and the milk was to be employed in extinguishing the four fires. If this Chapter were recited daily (?) for the deceased he would become like unto Osiris in every respect. The Rubric supplies a series of texts which were to be recited :—(1) over a Tet of crystal set in a plinth, which was to be placed in the west wall of the tomb ; (2) over a figure of Anubis set in a plinth, which was to be placed in the east wall; (3) over a brick smeared with pitch which was set on fire, and then placed in the south wall; and (4) over a brick inseribed with the figure of a palm tree, which was set in the north wall.
Chap. CXL. This Chapter was. to be recited over an utchat, or figure of the Kye of Horus, made either of lapis-lazuli or Mak stone, and over another made
INTRODUCTION Ixxxi
of jasper. During the recital of the Chapter four altars were to be lighted for Ra-Tem, and four for the Utchat, and four for the gods who were mentioned therein.
Chap. CXLIV. The seven sections of this Chapter were to be recited over a drawing of the Seven Arits, at each of which three gods were seated; by these means the deceased was prevented from being turned back at the door of any one of the seven mansions of Osiris.
Chap. CLXII. This Chapter was to be recited over the figure of a cow made of fine gold which was to be placed at the neck of the deceased; during the performance of this ceremony the priest is ordered to say, “O Amen, O Amen, who art in heaven, turn “thy face upon the dead body of thy sou and make “ him sound and strong in the underworld.”
Chap. CLXIII. This Chapter was to be recited over a serpent having legs and wearing a disk and two horns, and over two wtchats having both eyes and wings.
Chap. CLXIV. This Chapter was to be recited over a three-headed, ithyphallic figure of Mut painted upon a piece of linen, and over the figures of two dwarfs painted one on each side of the goddess.
Chap. CLXV. This Chapter was to be recited over the figure of the “god of the lifted hand,” who had a body in the form of that of a beetle.
Besides these a number of Chapters have Rubrics,
VOL. I. “fi
Ixxxii INTRODUCTION
varying in length from two to twenty lines, which declare that if the deceased be acquainted with their contents or if they be inscribed upon his coffin, they will enable him to attain great happiness and free- dom in the world beyond the grave. Seven other Chapters consist of texts which were written upon the amulets that were usually laid upon the mummy, namely, Nos. XX Xs., LUX XXIX., CLY., CLVL., CLVIL., CLVIIL., and CLIX.
Finally, mention must be made here of the great importance attached by the Egyptians to the know- ledge of the names of gods, supernatural beings, etc., and it seems that the deceased who was ignorant of them must have fared badly in the underworld. Thus in Chapter Is. it is said that the deceased knoweth Osiris and his names; in Chapter XCIX. the deceased is obliged to tell the names of every portion of the boat wherein he wishes to cross the great river in the underworld; in Chapter CXXV. Anubis makes him declare the names of the two leaves of the door of the Hall of Osiris before he will let him in, and even the bolts, and bolt-sockets, and lintels, and planks will not alow him to enter until the deceased has satisfied them that he knows their names. Entrance into the seven Arits or mansions could not be obtained without a knowledge of the names of the doorkeeper, watcher, and herald who belonged to each; and similarly, the pylons of the domains of Osiris could not be passed through by the deceased without a declaration by him
INTRODUCTION Ixxxill
of the name of each. The idea underlying all such statements 1s that the man who knows the name of a god could invoke and obtain help from him by calling upon him, and that the hostility of a fiend could be successfully opposed by the repetition of his name. The knowledge of the names of fiends and demons con- stituted the chief power of the magicians of olden times, and the amulets of the Gnostics which were inscribed with numbers of names of supernatural powers are the practical expression of the belief in the efficacy of the knowledge of names which existed in Egypt from time immemorial.
Ixxxiv INTRODUCTION
THE OBJECT AND CONTENTS OF THE BOOK OF THE DEAD.
THoucH the Chapters of the Book of the Dead re- present beliefs belonging to various periods of the long life of the Egyptian nation, and opinions held by several schools of thought in Egypt, the object of them all was to benefit the deceased. They were intended to give him the power to have and to enjoy life everlasting, to give him everything which he required in the life beyond the grave, to ensure his victory over his foes, to procure for him the power of going whithersoever he pleased and when and how he pleased, to preserve the mummy intact, and finally to enable his soul to enter into the bark of Ra or into — whatever abode of the blessed had been conceived of by him.
A certain number of the Chapters of the Book of the Dead are hymns which are ‘addressed either to Ra or to Osiris. With these hymns should be mentioned the texts which accompany the Judgment Scene, which are described on p. 22 ff. The Judg- ment Scene also leads us to the consideration of the » CXXVth Chapter, which is certainly one of the most important and interesting in the whole book. It con- sists of three parts :—Introduction, Negative Confession,
INTRODUCTION Ixxxv
and Concluding Text. The Introduction was said by the deceased at the entrance to the Hall of Double Maati, the Negative Confession was recited by him before the Forty-Two gods who sat in judgment upon him in this Hall, and the Concluding Text was uttered by him when he had passed the ordeal of judgment and was beginning his new life. It is probable that these three texts were originally merely versions each of the other, but in the XVIIIth Dynasty they are all copied together into papyri. The deceased first asserted that he had not committed certain sins; he next addressed forty-two gods by their names and declared before each that he had not committed the special sin which it was the duty of the god to punish; and lastly he makes a third confession, the first part of which is practically in the same words as a portion of the Intro- duction. The Introduction provided the passwords which enabled him to enter the Hall, and the Conclud- ing Text provided those which enabled him to go forth from it. The HKgyptian code of morals, as may be seen from the CXXVth Chapter, was the grandest and most comprehensive of those now known to have existed among the nations of antiquity.
The reader will seek, and seek in vain, for many of the attributes of the prayers of Christian nations, and it is a noticeable fact that the Egyptian had no conception of repentance ; at the Judgment which took place in the Hall of Osiris he based his claim for ad- mission into the kingdom of that god upon the fact
Ixxxvi INTRODUCTION
that he had not committed certain sins, and that he had feared God and honoured the king, and had given bread to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, and a boat to him that had suffered ship- wreck on the Nile. His belief in the efficacy of works was great, and, when he had any doubt about their power to deliver him finally from the hosts of dark- ness, he protected himself by means of amulets, in- scribed or plain, and figures of gods painted upon his coffin and papyrus, or cut in wood or on stones, which possessed magical powers. The Chapters which refer to such amulets are Nos. XIII, XIX., XXXz., LXXXIX.,C., OXXV., OXXX., CXXXIDI eee CXXXVIs., CXXXVIIa., CXL, CXUTVS ae CLVIL., CLVIII., CLIX., CLXII., CLXIIL, CLXIV., CLXYV., and CLXVI.
The CXth Chapter, which describes the employments and enjoyments of the deceased in the Sekhet-hetep and Sekhet-Aaru, or Elysian Fields, contains ideas of the greatest antiquity, which date probably from the time when the system of village communities was in vogue in Keypt.
The XVIIth Chapter contains a series of state- ments concerning the origin of the gods and the things of the next world. To many of these statements more than one explanation of their meaning is appended, and as these occur in copies of the Chapter which are found inscribed upon coffins of the XIth Dynasty, it is clear that already at that early date several
INTRODUCTION Ixxxvii
opinions on these matters existed. The views ex- pressed in the Chapter appear to be those of the an- cient College of Priests at Heliopolis which became gradually adopted throughout Egypt.
The LXIVth Chapter was very highly esteemed, and it was believed to be one of the oldest parts of the Book of the Dead. Already in the XIth Dy- nasty it existed in two versions, one of which was thought to have been composed or edited in the Ist Dynasty, and the other in the [Vth Dynasty.’ It will be noticed that several Chapters are called “Chapters of Coming Forth by Day,” and among them may be specially noticed :—Chapters II. and III., which pro- vide that the deceased may come forth in the under- world and “live after he hath died, even as doth Ra day by day ;” Chapter LXV., which provides that the Khu of the deceased shall live and shall inflict blows upon his enemy; Chapter LXVI., which gives the deceased power to “alight upon the forehead of Ra” ;