Litany
"1. Homage to thee, O [Lord of] the Dekans[1] in Heliopolis and of the heavenly beings in Kherāha,[2] thou god Unti, who art the most glorious of the gods hidden in Heliopolis.
"Grant thou unto me a path whereon I may pass in peace, for I am just and true; I have not spoken lies wittingly, nor have I done aught with deceit.[3]
"2. Homage to thee, O An[4] in Antes, Heru-Khuti,[5] with long strides dost thou stride over heaven, O Heru-Khuti.
"3. Homage to thee, O Everlasting Soul, who dwellest in Tatu (Busiris), Un-Nefer,[6] son of Nut, who art the Lord of Akert.
"4. Homage to thee in thy rule over Tatu. The Urrt Crown is fixed upon thy head. Thou art One, thou createst thy protection, thou dwellest in peace in Tatu.
"5. Homage to thee, O Lord of the Acacia. The Seker Boat[7] is on its sledge; thou turnest back the Fiend, the worker of evil; thou makest the Eye of the Sun-god to rest upon its throne.
"6. Homage to thee, mighty one in thine hour, Prince great and mighty, dweller in Anrutef,[8] lord of eternity, creator of everlastingness. Thou art the lord of Hensu.[9]
"7. Homage to thee, O thou who restest upon Truth. Thou art the Lord of Abydos; thy body is joined to Ta-Tchesert. Thou art he to whom fraud and deceit are abominable.
"8. Homage to thee, O dweller in thy boat. Thou leadest the Nile from his source, the light shineth upon thy body; thou art the dweller in Nekhen.[10]
"9. Homage to thee, O Creator of the gods, King of the South, King of the North, Osiris, Conqueror, Governor of the world in thy gracious seasons! Thou art the Lord of the heaven of Egypt (Atebui)."
[1] A group of thirty-six Star-gods.
[2] A town that stood on the site of Old Cairo.
[3] This response was to be repeated after each petition.
[4] A Light-god.
[5] Harmakhis of the Greeks.
[6] A form of Osiris.
[7] The Henu Boat of Seker was drawn round the sanctuary of Seker each morning.
[8] A district of Hensu.
[9] Herakleopolis in Upper Egypt.
[10] Eileithyiaspolis in Upper Egypt.
The following passage illustrates the general character of a funerary hymn to Rā: "Homage to thee, O thou who art in the form of Khepera, Khepera the creator of the gods. Thou risest, thou shinest, thou illuminest thy mother [the sky]. Thou art crowned King of the Gods. Mother Nut[1] welcometh thee with bowings. The Land of Sunset (Manu) receiveth thee with satisfaction, and the goddess Maāt[2] embraceth thee at morn and at eve. Hail, ye gods of the Temple of the Soul (i.e. heaven), who weigh heaven and earth in a balance, who provide celestial food! And hail, Tatunen,[3] One, Creator of man, Maker of the gods of the south and of the north, of the west and of the east! Come ye and acclaim Rā, the Lord of heaven, the Prince—life, health, strength be to him!—the Creator of the gods, and adore ye him in his beautiful form as he riseth in his Morning Boat (Āntchet).
"Those who dwell in the heights and those who dwell in the depths worship thee. Thoth and the goddess Maāt have laid down thy course for thee daily for ever. Thine Enemy the Serpent hath been cast into the fire, the fiend hath fallen down into it headlong. His arms have been bound in chains, and Rā hath hacked off his legs; the Mesu Betshet[4] shall never more rise up. The Temple of the Aged God [in Anu] keepeth festival, and the sound of those who rejoice is in the Great House. The gods shout for joy when they see Rā rising, and when his beams are filling the world with light. The Majesty of the Holy God goeth forth and advanceth even unto the Land of Sunset (Manu). He maketh bright the earth at his birth daily, he journeyeth to the place where he was yesterday. O be thou at peace with me, and let me behold thy beauties! Let me appear on the earth. Let me smite [the Eater of] the Ass.[5] Let me crush the Serpent Seba.[6] Let me destroy Āapep[7] when he is most strong. Let me see the Abtu Fish in its season and the Ant Fish[8] in its lake. Let me see Horus steering thy boat, with Thoth and Maāt standing one on each side of him. Let me have hold of the bows of [thy] Evening Boat and the stern of thy Morning Boat.[9] Grant thou unto the Ka of me, the Osiris the scribe Ani, to behold the disk of the Sun, and to see the Moon-god regularly and daily. Let my soul come forth and walk hither and thither and whithersoever it pleaseth. Let my name be read from the list of those who are to receive offerings, and may offerings be set before me, even as they are set before the Followers of Horus. Let there be prepared for me a seat in the Boat of Rā on the day when the god goeth forth. Let me be received into the presence of Osiris, in the Land where Truth is spoken."
[1] The Sky-goddess.
[2] Goddess of Law.
[3] An ancient Earth-god.
[4] The associates of Set, the god of Evil.
[5] The Ass was a form of the Sun-god, and its eater was a mythological monster-serpent.
[6] Another mythological serpent.
[7] The serpent that tried to swallow the sun each morning, but the Sun-god cast a spell on it and rendered it powerless.
[8] The Abtu and the Ant were two fishes that swam before the boat of the sun to warn the god of danger.
[9] i.e., Ani wishes to be sure of a seat in both boats.
The prayers of the Book of the Dead consist usually of a string of petitions for sepulchral offerings to be offered in the tombs of the petitioners, and the fundamental idea underlying them is that by their transmutation, which was effected by the words of the priests, the spirits of the offerings became available as the food of the dead. Many prayers contain requests for the things that tend to the comfort and general well-being of the dead, but here and there we find a prayer for forgiveness of sins committed in the body. The best example of such is the prayer that forms Chapter CXXVI. It reads: "Hail, ye four Ape-gods who sit in the bows of the Boat of Rā, who convey truth to Nebertchet, who sit in judgment on my weakness and on my strength, who make the gods to rest contented by means of the flame of your mouths, who offer holy offerings to the gods, and sepulchral meals to the spirit-souls, who live upon truth, who feed upon truth of heart, who are without deceit and fraud, and to whom wickedness is an abomination, do ye away with my evil deeds, and put ye away my sin, which deserved stripes upon earth, and destroy ye every evil thing whatsoever that clingeth to me, and let there be no bar whatsoever on my part towards you. Grant ye that I may make my way through the Amhet[1] chamber, let me enter into Rastau,[2] and let me pass through the secret places of Amentet. Grant that cakes, and ale, and sweetmeats may be given to me as they are given to the spirit-souls, and grant that I may enter in and come forth from Rastau." The four Ape-gods reply: "Come, for we have done away with thy wickedness, and we have put away thy sin, which deserved stripes, which thou didst commit upon earth, and we have destroyed all the evil that clung to thee. Enter, therefore, into Rastau, and pass in through the secret gates of Amentet, and cakes, and ale, and sweetmeats shall be given unto thee, and thou shalt go in and come out at thy desire, even as do those whose spirit-souls are praised [by the god], and [thy name] shall be proclaimed each day in the horizon."
[1] A chamber in the kingdom of Seker in which the dead were examined.
[2] The corridors in the kingdom of Seker.
Another prayer of special interest is that which forms Chapter XXXB. This is put into the mouth of the deceased when he is standing in the Hall of Judgment watching the weighing of his heart in the Great Scales by Anubis and Thoth, in the presence of the Great Company of the gods and Osiris. He says: "My heart, my mother. My heart, my mother. My heart whereby I came into being. Let none stand up to oppose me at my judgment. May there be no opposition to me in the presence of the Tchatchau.[1] Mayest thou not be separated from me in the presence of the Keeper of the Balance. Thou art my Ka (i.e. Double, or vital power), that dwelleth in my body; the god Khnemu who knitteth together and strengthened my limbs. Mayest thou come forth into the place of happiness whither we go. May the Shenit officers who decide the destinies of the lives of men not cause my name to stink [before Osiris]. Let it (i.e. the weighing) be satisfactory unto us, and let there be joy of heart to us at the weighing of words (i.e. the Great Judgment). Let not that which is false be uttered against me before the Great God, the Lord of Amentet (i.e. Osiris). Verily thou shalt be great when thou risest up [having been declared] a speaker of the truth."
[1] The chief officers of Osiris, the divine Taskmasters.
In many papyri this prayer is followed by a Rubric, which orders that it is to be said over a green stone scarab set in a band of tchamu metal (i.e. silver-gold), which is to be hung by a ring from the neck of the deceased. Some Rubrics order it to be placed in the breast of a mummy, where it is to take the place of the heart, and say that it will "open the mouth" of the deceased. A tradition which is as old as the twelfth dynasty says that the Chapter was discovered in the town of Khemenu (Hermopolis Magna) by Herutataf, the son of Khufu, in the reign of Menkaurā, a king of the fourth dynasty. It was cut in hieroglyphs, inlaid with lapis-lazuli on a block of alabaster, which was set under the feet of Thoth, and was therefore believed to be a most powerful prayer. We know that this prayer was recited by the Egyptians in the Ptolemaic Period, and thus it is clear that it was in common use for a period of nearly four thousand years. It may well be the oldest prayer in the world. Under the Middle and New Empires this prayer was cut upon hard green stone scarabs, but the versions of it found on scarabs are often incomplete and full of mistakes. It is quite clear that the prayer was turned into a spell, and that it was used merely as a "word of power," and that the hard stone scarabs were regarded merely as amulets. On many of them spaces are found that have been left blank to receive the names of those with whom they were to be buried; this proves that such scarabs once formed part of some undertaker's stock-in-trade, and that they were kept ready for those who were obliged to buy "heart scarabs" in a hurry.
Another remarkable composition in the Book of the Dead is the first part of Chapter CXXV, which well illustrates the lofty moral conceptions of the Egyptians of the eighteenth dynasty. The deceased is supposed to be standing in the "Usekht Maāti," or Hall of the Two Maāti goddesses, one for Upper Egypt and one for Lower Egypt, wherein Osiris and his Forty-two Judges judge the souls of the dead. Before judgment is given the deceased is allowed to make a declaration, which in form closely resembles that made in many parts of Africa at the present day by a man who is condemned to undergo the ordeal of drinking "red water," and in it he states that he has not committed offences against the moral and religious laws of his country. He says:
"Homage to thee, O Great God, thou Lord of Maāti. I have come to thee, O my Lord, and I have brought myself hither that I may behold thy beauties. I know thee. I know thy name. I know the names of the Forty-two[1] gods who live with thee in this Hall of Truth, who keep ward over sinners, and who feed upon their blood on the day when the lives of men are taken into account in the presence of Un-Nefer (i.e. the Good Being or Osiris).... Verily, I have come unto thee, I have brought truth unto thee. I have destroyed wickedness for thee. I have not done evil to men. I have not oppressed (or wronged) my family. I have not done wrong instead of right. I have not been a friend of worthless men. I have not wrought evil. I have not tried to make myself over-righteous. I have not put forward my name for exalted positions. I have not entreated servants evilly. I have not defrauded the man who was in trouble. I have not done what is hateful (or taboo) to the gods. I have not caused a servant to be ill-treated by his master. I have not caused pain [to any man]. I have not permitted any man to go hungry. I have made none to weep. I have not committed murder. I have not ordered any man to commit murder for me. I have inflicted pain on no man. I have not robbed the temples of their offerings. I have not stolen the cakes of the gods. I have not carried off the cakes offered to the spirits. I have not committed fornication. I have not committed acts of impurity in the holy places of the god of my town. I have not diminished the bushel. I have not added to or filched away land. I have not encroached upon the fields [of my neighbours]. I have not added to the weights of the scales. I have not falsified the pointer of the scales. I have not taken milk from the mouths of children. I have not driven away the cattle that were upon their pastures. I have not snared the feathered fowl in the preserves of the gods. I have not caught fish [with bait made of] fish of their kind. I have not stopped water at the time [when it should flow]. I have not breached a canal of running water. I have not extinguished a fire when it should burn. I have not violated the times [of offering] chosen meat-offerings. I have not driven off the cattle from the property of the gods. I have not repulsed the god in his manifestations. I am pure. I am pure. I am pure. I am pure."
[1] The Forty-two gods represent the forty-two nomes, or counties, into which Egypt was divided.
Her-Heru and Queen Netchemet standing in the Hall of Osiris and praying to the God,
whilst the Heart of the Queen is being weighed in the Balance.
From a papyrus (about 1050 B.C.) in the British Museum.
In the second part of the Chapter the deceased repeats many of the above declarations of his innocence, but with each declaration the name of one of the Forty-two Judges is coupled. Thus we have:
1. "Hail, thou of the long strides, who comest forth from Heliopolis, I have not committed sin.
2. "Hail, thou who art embraced by flame, who comest forth from Kherāha, I have not robbed with violence.
3. "Hail, Nose, who comest forth from Hermopolis, I have not done violence [to any man].
4. "Hail, Eater of shadows, who comest forth from the Qerti, I have not thieved.
5. "Hail, Stinking Face, who comest forth from Rastau, I have not slain man or woman.
9. "Hail, Crusher of bones, who comest forth from Hensu, I have not lied."
Nothing is known of the greater number of these Forty-two gods, but it is probable that they were local gods or spirits, each one representing a nome, whose names were added to the declarations with the view of making the Forty-two Judges represent all Egypt.
In the third part of the Chapter we find that the religious ideas expressed by the deceased have a far more personal character than those of the first and second parts. Thus, having declared his innocence of the forty-two sins or offences, "the heart which is righteous and sinless" says:
"Homage to you, O ye gods who dwell in your Hall of Maāti! I know you and I know your names. Let me not fall under your knives, and bring ye not before the god whom ye follow my wickedness, and let not evil come upon me through you. Declare ye me innocent in the presence of Nebertcher,[1] because I have done that which is right in Tamera (Egypt), neither blaspheming God, nor imputing evil (?) to the king in his day. Homage to you, O ye gods, who live in your Hall of Maāti, who have no taint of sin in you, who live upon truth, who feed upon truth before Horus, the dweller in his disk. Deliver me from Baba, who liveth upon the entrails of the mighty ones, on the day of the Great Judgment. Let me come to you, for I have not committed offences [against you]; I have not done evil, I have not borne false witness; therefore let nothing [evil] be done unto me. I live upon truth. I feed upon truth. I have performed the commandments of men, and the things which make the gods contented. I have made the god to be at peace [with me by doing] that which is his will. I have given bread to the hungry man, and water to the thirsty man, and apparel to the naked man, and a ferry boat to him that had none. I have made offerings to the gods, and given funerary meals to the spirits. Therefore be ye my deliverers, be ye my protectors; make ye no accusations against me in the presence [of the Great God]. I am clean of mouth and clean of hands; therefore let be said unto me by those who shall see me: 'Come in peace, come in peace' (i.e. Welcome! Welcome!).... I have testified before Herfhaf,[2] and he hath approved me. I have seen the things over which the Persea tree spreadeth [its branches] in Rastau. I offer up my prayers to the gods, and I know their persons. I have come and have advanced to declare the truth and to set up the Balance[3] on its stand in Aukert."[4]
[1] The Lord to the uttermost limit, i.e. Almighty God.
[2] The celestial ferryman who ferried the souls of the righteous to the Island of Osiris. None but the righteous could enter his boat, and none but the righteous was allowed to land on the Island of Osiris.
[3] The balance in which the heart was weighed.
[4] A name of a part of the Other World near Heliopolis.
Then addressing the god Osiris the deceased says: "Hail, thou who art exalted upon thy standard, thou lord of the Atef crown, whose name is 'Lord of the Winds,' deliver me from thine envoys who inflict evils, who do harm, whose faces are uncovered, for I have done the right for the Lord of Truth. I have purified myself and my fore parts with holy water, and my hinder parts with the things that make clean, and my inward parts have been [immersed] in the Lake of Truth. There is not one member of mine wherein truth is lacking. I purified myself in the Pool of the South. I rested in the northern town in the Field of the Grasshoppers, wherein the sailors of Rā bathe at the second hour of the night and at the third hour of the day." One would think that the moral worth of the deceased was such that he might then pass without delay into the most holy part of the Hall of Truth where Osiris was enthroned. But this is not the case, for before he went further he was obliged to repeat the magical names of various parts of the Hall of Truth; thus we find that the priest thrust his magic into the most sacred of texts. At length Thoth, the great Recorder of Egypt, being satisfied as to the good faith and veracity of the deceased, came to him and asked why he had come to the Hall of Truth, and the deceased replied that he had come in order to be "mentioned" to the god. Thoth then asked him, "Who is he whose heaven is fire, whose walls are serpents, and the floor of whose house is a stream of water?" The deceased replied, "Osiris"; and he was then bidden to advance so that he might be introduced to Osiris. As a reward for his righteous life sacred food, which proceeded from the Eye of Rā, was allotted to him, and, living on the food of the god, he became a counterpart of the god.
From first to last the Book of the Dead is filled with spells and prayers for the preservation of the mummy and for everlasting life. As instances of these the following passages are quoted from Chapters 154 and 175. "Homage to thee, O my divine father Osiris, thou livest with thy members. Thou didst not decay. Thou didst not turn into worms. Thou didst not waste away. Thou didst not suffer corruption. Thou didst not putrefy. I am the god Khepera, and my members shall have an everlasting existence. I shall not decay. I shall not rot. I shall not putrefy. I shall not turn into worms. I shall not see corruption before the eye of the god Shu. I shall have my being, I shall have my being. I shall live, I shall live. I shall flourish, I shall flourish. I shall wake up in peace. I shall not putrefy. My inward parts shall not perish. I shall not suffer injury. 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. No baleful injury shall come upon me. My body shall be established, and it shall neither crumble away nor be destroyed on this earth." The passage that refers to everlasting life occurs in Chapter 175, wherein the scribe Ani is made to converse with Thoth and Temu in the Tuat, or Other World. Ani, who is supposed to have recently arrived there, says: "What manner of country is this to which I have come? There is no water in it. There is no air. It is depth unfathomable, it is black as the blackest night, and men wander helplessly therein. In it a man may not live in quietness of heart; nor may the affections be gratified therein." After a short address to Osiris, the deceased asks the god, "How long shall I live?" And the god says, "It is decreed that thou shalt live for millions of millions of years, a life of millions of years."
As a specimen of a spell that was used in connection with an amulet may be quoted Chapter 156. The amulet was the tet, which represented a portion of the body of Isis. The spell reads: "The blood of Isis, the power of Isis, the words of power of Isis shall be strong to protect this mighty one (i.e. the mummy), and to guard him from him that would do unto him anything which he abominateth (or, is taboo to him)." The object of the spell is explained in the Rubric, which reads: "[This spell] shall be said over a tet made of carnelian, which hath been steeped in water of ankham flowers, and set in a frame of sycamore wood, and placed on the neck of the deceased on the day of the funeral. If these things be done for him the powers of Isis shall protect his body, and Horus, the son of Isis, shall rejoice in him when he seeth him. And there shall be no places hidden from him as he journeyeth. And one hand of his shall be towards heaven and the other towards earth, regularly and continually. Thou shalt not let any person who is with thee see it its seasons, and the spell hath power over what it mastereth, and my mouth ruleth the spell that is inside it. My teeth which bite are like flint knives, and my teeth which grind are like unto those of the Wolf-god. O thou who sittest spellbound with thine eyes fixed through my spell, thou shalt not carry off my spell, thou Crocodile that livest on spells" (Chap. XXXI).
"Get thee back, thou Crocodile of the West, that livest on the never-resting stars. That which is thy taboo is in me. I have eaten the brow (or, skull) of Osiris. I am set.
"Get thee back, thou Crocodile of the West. The serpent Nāu is inside me. I will set it on thee, thy flame shall not approach me.
"Get thee back, thou Crocodile of the East, that feedest upon the eaters of filth. That which is thy taboo is in me. I advance. I am Osiris.
"Get thee back, thou Crocodile of the East. The serpent Nāu is inside me. I will set it on thee; thy flame shall not approach me.
"Get thee back, thou Crocodile of the South, that feedest upon waste, garbage, and filth. That which is thy taboo is in me.... I am Sept.[1]
"Get thee back, thou Crocodile of the South. I will fetter thee. My charm is among the reeds (?). I will not yield unto thee.
"Get thee back, thou Crocodile of the North, that feedest upon what is left by the hours. That which is thy taboo is in me. The emissions shall [not] fall upon my head. I am Tem.[2]
"Get thee back, thou Crocodile of the North, for the Scorpion-goddess[3] is inside me, unborn (?). I am Uatch-Merti (?).[4]
"Created things are in the hollow of my hand, and the things that are not yet made are inside me. I am clothed in and supplied with thy spells, O Rā, which are above me and beneath me.... I am Rā, the self-protected, no evil thing whatsoever shall overthrow me" (Chap. XXXII).
[1] A god of the Eastern Delta and a local form of the Sun-god early in the day.
[2] The primeval god, a form of Pautti, the oldest Egyptian god.
[3] She was called "Serqet."
[4] A green-eyed serpent-god, or goddess, equipped with great power to destroy.
CHAPTER V
BOOKS OF THE DEAD OF THE GRÆCO-ROMAN PERIOD
From what has been said in the preceding chapter it will be clear that only wealthy people could afford to bury copies of the great Book of the Dead with their deceased relatives. Whether the chapters that formed it were written on coffins or on papyrus the cost of copying the work by a competent scribe must have been relatively very great. Towards the close of the twenty-sixth dynasty a feeling spread among the Egyptians that only certain parts of the Book of the Dead were essential for the resurrection of the body and for the salvation of the soul, and men began to bury with their dead copies of the most important chapters of it in a very much abridged form. A little later the scribes produced a number of works, in which they included only such portions of the most important chapters as were considered necessary to effect the resurrection of the body. In other words, they rejected all the old magical elements in the Book of the Dead, and preserved only the texts and formulæ that appertained to the cult of Osiris, the first man who had risen from the dead. One of the oldest of these later substitutes for the Book of the Dead is the Shai en Sensen, or "Book of Breathings." Several copies of this work are extant in the funerary papyri, and the following sections, translated from a papyrus in the British Museum, will give an idea of the character of the Book:
"Hail, Osiris[1] Kersher, son of Tashenatit! Thou art pure, thy heart is pure. Thy fore parts are pure, thy hind parts are cleansed; thy interior is cleansed with incense and natron, and no member of thine hath any defect in it whatsoever. Kersher is washed in the waters of the Field of Offerings, that lieth to the north of the Field of the Grasshoppers. The goddesses Uatchet and Nekhebet purify thee at the eighth hour of the night and at the eighth hour of the day. Come then, enter the Hall of Truth, for thou art free from all offence and from every defect, and 'Stone of Truth' is thy name. Thou enterest the Tuat (Other World) as one exceedingly pure. Thou art purified by the Goddesses of Truth in the Great Hall. Holy water hath been poured over thee in the Hall of Keb (i.e. the earth), and thy body hath been made pure in the Hall of Shu (heaven). Thou lookest upon Rā when he setteth in the form of Tem at eventide. Amen is nigh unto thee and giveth thee air, and Ptah likewise, who fashioned thy members for thee; thou enterest the horizon with Rā. Thy soul is received in the Neshem Boat of Osiris, thy soul is made divine in the House of Keb, and thou art made to be triumphant for ever and ever."
"Hail, Osiris Kersher! Thy name flourisheth, thy earthly body is stablished, thy spirit body germinateth, and thou art not repulsed either in heaven or on earth. Thy face shineth before Rā, thy soul liveth before Amen, and thy earthly body is renewed before Osiris. Thou breathest the breath of life for ever and ever. Thy soul maketh offerings unto thee in the course of each day.... Thy flesh is collected on thy bones, and thy form is even as it was upon earth. Thou takest drink into thy body, thou eatest with thy mouth, and thou receivest thy rations in company with the souls of the gods. Anubis protecteth thee; he is thy protector, and thou art not turned away from the Gates of the Tuat. Thoth, the most mighty god, the Lord of Khemenu (Hermopolis), cometh to thee, and he writeth the 'Book of Breathings' with his own fingers. Then doth thy soul breathe for ever and ever, and thy form is renewed with life upon earth; thou art made divine with the souls of the gods, thy heart is the heart of Rā, and thy limbs are the limbs of the great god. Amen is nigh unto thee to make thee to live again. Upuat openeth a prosperous road for thee. Thou seest with thine eyes, thou hearest with thine ears, thou speakest with thy mouth, thou walkest with thy legs. Thy soul hath been made divine in the Tuat, so that it may change itself into any form it pleaseth. Thou canst snuff at will the odours of the holy Acacia of Anu (An, or Heliopolis). Thou wakest each day and seest the light of Rā; thou appearest upon the earth each day, and the 'Book of Breathings' of Thoth is thy protection, for through it dost thou draw thy breath each day, and through it do thine eyes behold the beams of the Sun-god Aten. The Goddess of Truth vindicateth thee before Osiris, and her writings are upon thy tongue. Rā vivifieth thy soul, the Soul of Shu is in thy nostrils. Thou art even as Osiris, and 'Osiris Khenti Amenti' is thy name. Thy body liveth in Tatu (Busiris), and thy soul liveth in heaven.... Thy odour is that of the holy gods in Amentet, and thy name is magnified like the names of the Spirits of heaven. Thy soul liveth through the 'Book of Breathings,' and it is rejoined to thy body by the 'Book of Breathings.' These fine extracts are followed in the British Museum papyrus by the praises of Kersher by the gods, a prayer of Kersher himself for offerings, and an extract from the so-called Negative Confession, which has been already described. The work is closed by an address to the gods, in which it is said that Kersher is sinless, that he feeds and lives upon Truth, that his deeds have satisfied the hearts of the gods, and that he has fed the hungry and given water to the thirsty and clothes to the naked.[2]
[1] The deceased is always supposed to be identified with Osiris.
[2] A papyrus at Florence contains a copy of Part II. of The Book of Breathings. The fundamental ideas are the same as those in Part I., but the forms in which they are expressed are different. The deceased is made to address several gods by name, and to declare that he himself is those gods. "I am Rā, I am Atem, I am Osiris, I am Horus, I am Thoth," &c.
Another late work of considerable interest is the "Book of Traversing Eternity," the fullest known form of which is found on a papyrus at Vienna. This work describes how the soul of the deceased, when armed with the power which the Book of Traversing Eternity will give it, shall be able to travel from one end of Egypt to the other, and to visit all the holy places, and to assist at the festivals, and to enjoy communion not only with the gods and spirits who assemble there, but also with its kinsfolk and acquaintances whom it left behind alive on the earth. The object of the book was to secure for the deceased the resurrection of his body; it opens with the following words: "Thy soul liveth in heaven in the presence of Rā. Thy Ka hath acquired the divine nature of the gods. Thy body remaineth in the deep house (i.e. tomb) in the presence of Osiris. Thy spirit-body becometh glorious among the living. Thy descendants flourish upon the earth, in the presence of Keb, upon thy seat among the living, and thy name is stablished by the utterance of those who have their being through the 'Book of Traversing Eternity.' Thou comest forth by day, thou art joined to the Sun-god Aten." The text goes on to state that the deceased breathes, speaks, eats, drinks, sees, hears, and walks, and that all the organs of his body are in their proper places, and that each is performing its proper functions. He floats in the air, hovers in the shadow, rises in the sky, follows the gods, travels with the stars, dekans, and planets, and moves about by night and by day on earth and in heaven at will.
Of the works that were originally composed for recitation on the days of the festivals of Osiris, and were specially connected with the cult of this god, three, which became very popular in the Graeco-Roman period, may be mentioned. These are: (1) The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys; (2) The Festival Songs of Isis and Nephthys; (3) The Book of making splendid the Spirit of Osiris. The first of these works was recited on the twenty-fifth day of the fourth month of the season Akhet (October-November) by two "fair women," who personified Isis and Nephthys. One of these had the name of Isis on her shoulder, and the other the name of Nephthys, and each held a vessel of water in her right hand, and a "Memphis cake of bread" in her left. The object of the recital was to commemorate the resurrection of Osiris, and if the book were recited on behalf of any deceased person it would make his spirit to be glorious, and stablish his body, and cause his Ka to rejoice, and give breath to his nostrils and air to his throat. The two "fair women" sang the sections alternately in the presence of the Kher-heb and Setem priests. The two first sections, as they are found on a papyrus in Berlin, read thus:—Isis saith: "Come to thy house, come to thy house, O An, come to thy house. Thine enemy [Set] hath perished. O beautiful youth, come to thy house. Look thou upon me. I am the sister who loveth thee, go not far from me. O Beautiful Boy, come to thy house, straightway, straightway. I cannot see thee, and my heart weepeth for thee; my eyes follow thee about. I am following thee about so that I may see thee. Lo, I wait to see thee, I wait to see thee; behold, Prince, I wait to see thee. It is good to see thee, it is good to see thee; O An, it is good to see thee. Come to thy beloved one, come to thy beloved one, O Un-Nefer, whose word is truth. Come to thy wife, O thou whose heart is still. Come to the lady of thy house; I am thy sister from thy mother's [womb]. Go not thou far from me. The faces of gods and men are turned towards thee, they all weep for thee together. As soon as I saw thee I cried out to thee, weeping with a loud voice which pierced the heavens, and thou didst not hear my voice. I am thy sister who loved thee upon earth; none other loved thee more than [thy] sister, thy sister."
Nephthys saith: "O Beautiful Prince, come to thy house. Let thy heart rejoice and be glad, for thine enemies have ceased to be. Thy two Sisters are nigh unto thee; they guard thy bier, they address thee with words [full of] tears as thou liest prone on thy bier. Look thou at the young women; speak to us, O our Sovereign Lord. Destroy thou all the misery that is in our hearts; the chiefs among gods and men look upon thee. Turn thou towards us thy face, O our Sovereign Lord. At the sight of thy face life cometh to our faces; turn not thou thy face from us. The joy of our heart is in the sight of thee. O Beautiful Sovereign, our hearts would see thee. I am thy sister Nephthys who loveth thee. The fiend Seba hath fallen, he hath not being. I am with thee, and I act as the protectress of thy members for ever and ever."
The second work, the "Festival Songs of Isis and Nephthys," was sung during the great festival of Osiris, which took place in the fourth month of the Season of Akhet and lasted five days (from the twenty-second to the twenty-sixth day). It was sung by two virgins who wore fillets of sheep's wool on their heads, and held tambourines in their hands; one was called Isis and the other Nephthys. According to the rubrical directions given in the British Museum papyrus, the sections were sung by both women together. The following passage will illustrate the contents of the work:
"Come, come, run to me, O strong heart! Let me see thy divine face, for I do not see thee, and make thou clear the path that we may see thee as we see Rā in heaven, when the heavens unite with the earth, and cause darkness to fall upon the earth each day. My heart burneth as with fire at thy escape from the Fiend, even as my heart burneth with fire when thou turnest thy side to me; O that thou wouldst never remove it from me! O thou who unitest the Two Domains (i.e. Egypt, North and South), and who turnest back those who are on the roads, I seek to see thee because of my love for thee.... Thou fliest like a living being, O Everlasting King; thou hast destroyed the fiend Anrekh. Thou art the King of the South and of the North, and thou goest forth from Tatchesert. May there never be a moment in thy life when I do not fill thy heart, O my divine brother, my lord who goest forth from Aqert.... My arms are raised to protect thee, O thou whom I love. I love thee, O Husband, Brother, lord of love; come thou in peace into thy house.... Thy hair is like turquoise as thou comest forth from the Fields of Turquoise, thy hair is like unto the finest lapis-lazuli, and thou thyself art more blue than thy hair. Thy skin and body are like southern alabaster, and thy bones are of silver. The perfume of thy hair is like unto new myrrh, and thy skull is of lapis-lazuli."
The third work, "The Book of making splendid the Spirit of Osiris," was also sung at the great festival of Osiris that took place during the November-December at Abydos and other great towns in Egypt, and if it were sung on behalf of any man, the resurrection and life, constantly renewed, of that man were secured for his soul and spirit. This Book, written in hieratic, is found in a papyrus in Paris, and the following extract will illustrate its contents: "Come to thy house, come to thy house, O An. Come to thy house, O Beautiful Bull, lord of men and women, the beloved one, the lord of women. O Beautiful Face, Chief of Akert, Prince, Khenti Amentiu, are not all hearts drunk through the love of thee, O Un-Nefer, whose word is truth? The hands of men and gods are lifted up and seek thee, even as the hands of a babe are stretched out to his mother. Come thou to them, for their hearts are sad, and make them to rejoice. The lands of Horus exult, the domains of Set are overthrown because of their fear of thee. Hail, Osiris Khenti Amentiu! I am thy sister Isis. No god and no goddess have done for thee what I have done. I, a woman, made a man child for thee, because of my desire to make thy name to live upon the earth. Thy divine essence was in my body, I brought him forth on the ground. He pleaded thy case, he healed thy suffering, he decreed the destruction of him that caused it. Set fell under his knife, and the Smamiu fiends of Set followed him. The throne of the Earth-god is thine, O thou who art his beloved son.... There is health in thy members, thy wounds are healed, thy sufferings are relieved, thou shalt never groan again in pain. Come to us thy sisters, come to us; our hearts will live when thou comest. Men shall cry out to thee, and women shall weep glad tears, at thy coming to them.... The Nile appeareth at the command of thy mouth; thou makest men to live on the effluxes that proceed from thy members, and thou makest every field to flourish. When thou comest that which is dead springeth into life, and the plants in the marshes put forth blossoms. Thou art the Lord of millions of years, the sustainer of wild creatures, and the lord of cattle; every created thing hath its existence from thee. What is in the earth is thine. What is in the heavens is thine. What is in the waters is thine. Thou art the Lord of Truth, the hater of sinners, whom thou overthrowest in their sins. The Goddesses of Truth are with thee; they never leave thee. No sinful man can approach thee in the place where thou art. Whatsoever appertaineth to life and to death belongeth to thee, and to thee belongeth everything that concerneth man."
During the period of the occupation of Egypt by the Romans, the three last-named works were still further abridged, and eventually the texts that were considered essential for salvation were written upon small sheets of papyrus from 9 to 12 inches high, and from 5 to 10 inches wide.