O blessed Rā-Harmachis thou penetratest ... Bull at night, Chieftain by day, beauteous orb of mafek, King of heaven, Sovran of earth, great image in the horizon of heaven. Rā who hast made beings, Tatanen giving life to mankind, Pharaoh son of Rā has adored thee in thy glories, he has worshipped at thy gracious rising brightness on the Eastern horizon, he makes tranquil thy path, he beats down thy foes before thee in his turning back all thy adversaries, he assigned to thee the Uta on her seat, he makes them ... he assigned to thee honors ... he cleared the way for thee, he established thy rites in Abydos; he opens to thee roads in Rusta, he beats down evil.
The Lamentations Of Isis And Nephthys
Translated by P. J. De Horrack
This papyrus was found by the late Mr. Passalaqua, in the ruins of Thebes, in the interior of a statue representing Osiris. It is divided into two parts, very distinct. The first contains chapters of the funeral ritual in the hieroglyphic writing; the second, of which a translation here follows, consists of five pages of a fine hieratic writing of the lower epoch (probably about the time of the Ptolemies).
This manuscript now belongs to the Royal Museum of Berlin, where it is registered under the No. 1425.
A partial translation of it was published in 1852 by M. H. Brugsch (“Die Adonisklage und das Linoslied”). He translated the second page and the beginning of the third, but without giving the hieratic text. I have since published and completely translated this interesting document (“Les Lamentations d'Isis et de Nephthys,” Paris, 1866), and now give the English translation revised.
The composition has a great analogy with the “Book of Respirations,” a translation of which will be added here. Both refer to the resurrection and renewed birth of Osiris (the type of man after his death), who, in this quality, is identified with the sun, the diurnal renewal of which constantly recalled the idea of a birth eternally renewed. The object of the prayers recited by Isis and Nephthys is to effect the resurrection of their brother Osiris, and also that of the defunct to whom the papyrus is consecrated.
Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys
Recital of the beneficial formulæ