AMBER HEART-SHAPED AMULET.
Italian, seventeenth century.
AN INSCRIBED SCARAB (GREEN STONE) OF THE TYPE KNOWN AS A HEART-SCARAB. DATE ABOUT 1300 B.C.
The Scribe Pa-bak: Let him say: “O Heart that I received from my mother (to be said twice), O Heart that belongs to my spirit, rise not against me as witness, oppose me not before the judges, contradict me not in the presence of the Guardian of the Scales. Thou art the spirit that is in my body, Khnum that makest sound my limbs. When thou comest to the place of judgment whither we go, cause not my name to be rejected by the assessors, but let the pronouncement of judgment be favorable, and such as causes joy to the heart.”
It appears to have been the rule to engrave certain special chapters of the Book of the Dead, among those referring to the heart, upon particular stones. Thus, for instance, the 26th chapter was engraved on lapis-lazuli, the 27th upon feldspar, the 30th upon serpentine, and the 29th upon carnelian.[345] This may perhaps have been originally due to some association of the god principally invoked in the text with the precious substance upon which the text was engraved.
The form of an eye, fashioned out of lapis-lazuli and ornamented with gold, constituted an amulet of great power; it was inscribed with the 140th chapter of the Book of the Dead. On the last day of the month Mechir, an offering “of all things good and holy” was to be made before this symbolic eye, for on that day the supreme god Ra was believed to place such an image upon his head. Sometimes these eyes were made of jasper, and could then be laid upon any of the limbs of a mummy.[346]
Of the image of Truth, made from a lapis-lazuli and worn by the Egyptian high-priest, Ælian aptly says that he would prefer the judge should not bear Truth about with him, fashioned and expressed in an image, but rather in his very soul.[347]
Among the Assyrian texts giving the formulæ for incantations and various magical operations, there is one which treats of an ornament composed of seven brilliant stones, to be worn on the breast of the king as an amulet; indeed, so great was the virtue of these stones that they were supposed to constitute an ornament for the gods also. The text, as rendered by Fossey, is as follows:[348]
Incantation. The splendid stones! The splendid stones! The stones of abundance and of joy.
Made resplendent for the flesh of the gods.
The ḥulalini stone, the sirgarru stone, the ḥulalu stone, the sându stone, the uknû stone.
The dushu stone, the precious stone elmêshu, perfect in celestial beauty.
The stone of which the pingu is set in gold.
Placed upon the shining breast of the king as an ornament.
Azagsud, high-priest of Bêl, make them shine, make them sparkle!
Let the evil one keep aloof from the dwelling!