CHAPTER CIX.
Chapter whereby one knoweth the Powers of the East.
I know that Eastern Gate of Heaven (the South of it is by the lake of Cha-ru, and the north of it by the stream of Reu), from whence Rā saileth with favouring gales.([1])
I am the Teller([2]) in the divine ship: I am the unresting navigator in the Bark of Rā.
I know those two Sycomores of Emerald between which Rā cometh forth, as he advanceth over what Shu hath lifted up,[[94]] to every gate([3]) through which he proceedeth.
I know the Garden of Aarru: the wall of it is of steel. The wheat of it is of 7 cubits, the ears of it of 2 cubits, the stalk of it of 4 cubits. The barley of it is of 7 cubits, and the ears are of 4 cubits, and the stalk of 3 cubits.
It is the glorified ones, each of whom is 9 cubits in height, who reap them, in presence of the Powers of the East.
I know the Powers of the East: Horus of the Solar Mount, the Calf in presence of the God,([4]) and the Star of Dawn.
A divine Domain([5]) hath been constructed for me; I know the name of it; the name of it is the garden of Aarru.
Notes.
Another recension of this chapter has been incorporated into chapter 149. The differences lie chiefly in the order assigned to each of the component sentences.
[1.] Favouring gales
“sailing breezes,” correspond to phrases like ἴκμενος οὖρος, venti secundi, trade winds, tail wind, stern wind. There is not the faintest authority from the older papyri (which are very numerous, and remarkably unanimous on this point) in favour of the determinative
, of the Turin Todtenbuch, which gives the sense of violent or tempestuous winds.
[2.] Teller,
.
[3.] Every gate. “Rā at his rising is adored by the Powers of the East. They it is who effect the rising of Rā, by opening the door at each of the four portals of the Eastern horizon of heaven.” (Inscr. in tomb of Rameses VI, Champollion, Notices, Tom. II, p. 640.)
[4.] The Calf in presence of the god. The Calf is seen in the vignettes of this chapter and also of chapter 1. Brugsch (Rev. Egypt, I, p. 38) quotes texts showing that the Milch-cow
Hor-sechauit, is the mother of the Sun-god, and that the infant god is the calf to whom she gives birth. The words “in presence of the god” are probably corrupt, but the variants are apparently worse. The Morning Star was equally identified with Horus.
[5.] The divine Domain. See M. Maspero’s important article “Sur le sens des mots Nouit et Hait,” in P.S.B.A., XII, p. 235-257. “
Nouit sert à désigner un domaine rural d’étendue plus ou moins considérable, portant ou ne portant pas de village ou de maison d’habitation.... Il était une personne réelle, formant un corps complet en soi, et c’est pour cela qu’on le représente sous la forme d’un homme ou d’une femme apportant des produits agricoles et des offrandes.”
Additional Note.
The later copies of the Book of the Dead add a few lines to the chapter, of which they certainly formed no part when first written. The most interesting portion of them is as follows:—
“There are writings in thy possession for the grant of fields of corn-land in which there sprouteth corn from the effluxes of the god Ut’eb. The height of the corn is seven cubits, the ears of two cubits; and thou shall reap it with the Glorified ones, in presence of the Powers of the East. Thou shalt enter boldly at the mysterious portals and be purified by those who are there.”
The name of the god hieroglyphically written
was shown by me (Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch., Vol. VI, p. 187) to be Uteb or Ut’eb. Brugsch, apparently without having seen my note, came to the same result, though he identified the god with Seb. The god is really Osiris, and the text just quoted is illustrated by a picture of which various copies are found. That here given is taken from the temple of Philae.
These pictures were known from the Ramesside period, but the conception of Osiris which they convey
(Todt., 142, 7) is of primitive antiquity. There is a chapter among the texts preserved by the Coffin of Amamu (pl. xxvii, 6) about “assuming the form of corn,”
, and which speaks of “the vegetation of life proceeding from Osiris, growing out of the ribs of Osiris, and giving life to this generation of men,”
.
The same idea gave rise to the name
which is given to Osiris in the Book of the Dead, in the sacred texts of the Royal Tombs, and in the Hymn to the Nile. But the god is also twice called
in Amamu, pl. xxvii, 8. This latter form proves that in
we have a compound term.
The deity (in very late times) appears in the feminine gender
(Denkm., iv, 57).
[94]. I.e., the Sky.
CX. The Chapter which in the printed copy of the Turin Todtenbuch is numbered 110 interrupts the series of chapters on the Powers of certain localities. The translation of it is reserved till that of these chapters is completed. It will be found at page 193.