CHAPTER CXI.

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 beUteborUt’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 twicecalled⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂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 TurinTodtenbuchis 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.

CHAPTER CXI.

is only a repetition of Chapter CVIII.

PLATE XXIX.PLATE XXX.

PLATE XXIX.

PLATE XXX.

CHAPTER CXII.

Chapter whereby one knoweth the Powers of Pu.[(1)]

Oh thou of corpselike form who art in Chait and Ânpit;(2) thou goddess of the Net,(3) who art in Pu; ye who preside over the untilled lands, ye stars and constellations(4).... Know ye wherefore Pu hath been given to Horus?

I know it if ye know it not.

It was Râ who gave it to him in amends of the blindness in his eye, in consequence of what Râ said to Horus: “Let me look at what is happening in thine eye to-day,” and he looked at it.

Râ said to Horus, “Look, pray, at that black swine.”

He looked, and a grievous mishap afflicted his eye.

Horus said to Râ, “Lo, my eye is as though the eye of Sutu had made a wound in my own eye.” And wrath devoured his heart.

And Râ said to the gods, “Let him be laid upon his bed, that he may recover.”

It was Sutu who had taken the form of a black swine, and he wrought the wound which was in the eye of Horus.

And Râ said to the gods, “The swine is an abomination to Horus; may he get well.” And the swine became an abomination to Horus.(5)

And the circle of gods said, who were with him when Horus came to light in his own children:(6) “Let the sacrificial victims(7) for him be of his oxen, of his goats, and of his swine.”

As for Emsta, Hapi, Tuamautef, Kebhsenuf, Horus is their father and Isis their mother.

And Horus said to Râ, “Give me then two(8) brothers in Pu and two brothers in Nechen, of this my own body; and that they may be with me as an everlasting renewal, through which the earth flourisheth and storms are quenched.”

And his name became that of Horus upon his Column.

I know the Powers of Pu: they are Horus, Emsta and Hapi.

Notes.

1.On the situation ofPu, see chapter 18,note 6. The Pyramid Texts (Pepi I, 684) speak of the⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂“those of the Red Crown who are in Pu.”

2.Thou of corpselike form in Chait and Ânpit.The sign of the plural, here as elsewhere, is quite consistent with its application to a single person.⁂⁂Chaitis the name[95]of the 16th, or Mendesian, Nome of Northern Egypt, and Ânpit was its metropolis. The nome is mentioned in the inscription of Amten in the third dynasty. The god is Osiris. He is invoked in the “Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys,” and asked to come to Tattu, Ânpit and Chait, which are but different names of one Sanctuary,Cf.Brugsch,Zeitschr., 1871, p. 81, and his translation of the Mendesian Tablet,Zeitschr., 1875.

3.Thou goddess of the Net⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. This name corresponds to the Greek Diktynna. The reason why a goddess representing Heaven should be so called may be understood by the Homeric epithet πολυωπόν applied to a net.

If, however, the deity wasmale, according to the other reading, the reference is τὸν τῆς Ἴσιδος τρόφιμον Δίκτυν, who was drowned in the river. Plut.,de Iside and Os., 8.

4.Ye who preside, etc. Brugsch (Zeitschr., 1876, p. 3) identifies the Egyptian⁂⁂,⁂⁂⁂⁂with the ψιλοτόπος of the Demoticand Greek contracts. The remainder of this invocation is so corrupt that the sense cannot be safely guessed at.

5.See Herodotus, II, 47, without attaching too much importance to details. The pig was certainly not considered impure (μιαρός) in the days of the third or fourth dynasty, when Amten, who had risen to the highest dignities, enumerates swine among the domestic animals it is natural to possess. And impure animals were not offered in sacrifice. But long before the days of Herodotus a change had taken place in the Egyptian religion as to the nature of Sutu.

Plutarch and Aelian are to be read with the like caution. Some of their information is correct, but it is mixed up with much error.

6.The variants⁂⁂⁂⁂and⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂are noteworthy.

7.Sacrificial victims⁂⁂⁂⁂. The substitution in Egypt of animal for human sacrifice is (I believe)entirelywithout foundation. And the supposed evidence of human sacrifices drawn from certain pictures has (I believe) been misinterpreted..

8.The fourchildrenof Horus were also hisbrothers. He asks fortwoof them to be with him in each of his two cities, Pu and Nechen. The true sense of the passage is entirely lost in the later recensions and in translations made from them.

95. NotḤāmeḥit, which is the name both of theUuof the nome and of the goddess worshipped in it, whose emblem is the fish⁂.

CHAPTER CXIII.

Chapter whereby one knoweth the Powers of Nechen.(1)

I know the Mystery of Nechen: Horus, and that which his mother did(2) for him, when she herself uttered the cry: “Let Sebak, the Lord of the Marshes, be brought to us.”

He cast the net for them and he found them, and his mother made them fast in their places.

Sebak, the Lord of the Marshes, said: “I sought and I found the traces of them under my fingers on the strand. I netted them in a powerful net, as the net proved to be.”

And Râ said: “Verily, those are fishes in the hands of Sebak. and he hath found the two arms of Horus for him, which had become fishes.”(3)

And Râ said: “A mystery, a mystery, in the Net.”

And the hands of Horus were brought to him, and displayed before his face, on the feast of the fifteenth day of the month; when the fishes were produced.

Then Râ said: “I grant Nechen to Horus, in the place of his two arms; that his two hands be displayed before his face in Nechen; and I grant to him whatsoever is therein comprised on the feast of the fifteenth day of the month.”

And Horus said: “Be it granted to me that Tuamāutef and Kebhsenuf be taken with me, and that they be guards of my body in dutiful service.(4) Let them be this under the god of Nechen.”

And Râ said: Be that granted to thee, there and in Sati, and let that be done for them which is done for those who are in Nechen; yea, they are asking to be with thee.

And Horus said: Be they with thee, so that they be with me to listen to Sutu invoking the Powers of Nechen: “Be it granted to me that I may make my entry among the Powers of Nechen.”

I know the Powers of Nechen: they are Horus, Tuamāutef, and Kebhsenuf.

Notes.

1.Nechen, the chief hieroglyphic variants of which are⁂,⁂,⁂and⁂⁂, was situated in the third nome (⁂Ten) of Upper Egypt, and was called by the Greeks Hieracōnpolis, ‘city of the Hawks,’ from the hawk-headed divinities mentioned in this chapter as Powers of Nechen, and of which numberless pictures are found on the monuments.

2.Between these words and those which the three old papyri[96]Aa,Ae, andIb, which unfortunately do not agree together on all points, have a few passages here which do not appear in the later papyri. They read, “Horus and what his mother did, tossing in distressful agitation(⁂⁂⁂⁂,ⲕⲓⲙ, σαλεύεσθαι) over the water.” The mother then addresses persons who are not named, in words of which the sense is not clear; and Rā speaks words of which the only certain ones are “the son of Isis.” Then follows the usual text.

3.This legend of Nechen is connected with that of the dismemberment of Horus (τὸ περὶ τὸν Ὥρου διαμελισμὸν), of which we have but very scanty information.[97]It must have been like a repetition of what had happened to his father Osiris. The limbs of Horus had been thrown into the water, and when Sebak threw his net, at the prayer of Isis, he brought up two fishes, into which the arms of Horus had been turned.

Reminiscences of this story are preserved in the names of several localities.⁂, “Two Fish,” is the name of theMerof the second Northern Nome, and of thepehuof the seventeenth Southern Nome; just as⁂, “Two Eyes,” is the name of thepehuof the eleventh Northern Nome. The latter name may perhaps have reference to Osiris, but the same stories were probably told of both divinities.

4.On dutiful service⁂⁂⁂, a word omitted in the Turin and other texts. Brugsch (Rev. Egypt, I, 22) has discussed the sense of this word, and quoted numerous passages in illustration of it.

It is of course ridiculous to identify the word with the Hebrewאדןthe meaning of which is radically different.

PLATE 31.

CHAPTER CXIV.

Chapter whereby one knoweth the Powers of Hermopolis.

Maāt is borne(1) over the Arm,(2) and Neith dawneth at Ment’ait,(3) and the Eye is illumined(4) by the one who adjusteth its level.

I am led in by her, and I know what she bringeth from Kasu.(5) I tell it not to men; I repeat it not to gods.

I am come as a messenger of Rā, to make fast Maāt upon the Arm, for the dawning of Neith at Ment’ait, and for restoring the Eye to him who taketh the reckoning thereof.

I am come as omnipotent through the knowledge of the Powers of Hermopolis, who love the Powers which you love.

I am one acquainted with Maāt made firm and permanent and reckoned out, and I take delight in reckoning out that which is reckoned.

Hail ye Powers of Hermopolis, small at the beginning of the month and great upon the Fifteenth Day; Rā teacheth the mysteries of Night, and be it known to you that he who teacheth me is Thoth.

Hail ye Powers of Hermopolis as I know you.

Notes.

There are two chapters (114 and 116) of “the Powers of Hermopolis,” and they have been preserved separately both in the older and in the more recent papyri. They are very similar in thought but differently worded, and each throws a certain light upon the other, without however dispelling the obscurity of this very ancient religious composition. Some farther help, however insufficient, is afforded by the pictures of the Book which records the passage of the Sun-god through the twelve hours of the night.

1.Maāt is borne.⁂⁂is the same word as⁂⁂⁂, the reduplicated form of⁂⁂to gush,spring forth. But in certain cases it acquires the sense ofbeing borne, orconveyed, and is written⁂⁂⁂in Ptolemaic inscriptions. The corresponding word in chapter 116 is⁂⁂⁂⁂, which has the same meanings. One of the pictures above alluded to (Lefébure,Hypogées, Tombeau de Seti, part IV, pl. 31) represents a boat carrying the Moon-disk, raised upon a stand.

A personage kneeling behind is supporting the feather of Maāt. The words⁂⁂⁂, which are written by way of explanation, might give rise to some misunderstanding were it not for considerations mentioned in the following note.

2.The Arm⁂in chapter 114 has for corresponding word⁂⁂⁂⁂in chapter 116 implying thatArmis to be taken in a geographical sense, as when we speak of an ‘arm of the sea’. Now the pictures which have been spoken of have the words⁂⁂⁂, ‘arm of the Urnes,’ inscribed ever the stream down which the Sun-god takes his nightly journey.

These pictures have only the value of a commentary on a very ancient text, but they are at least as old as the earliest papyrus which contains the text.

3.Ment’ait⁂⁂⁂, is the ancient reading in chapter 114, but the later texts have⁂⁂,T’ar. Chapter 116 has⁂⁂⁂⁂,Mat’ait.

4.Illumined.The texts are discordant as to the reading. I follow that of the two old papyri which have⁂; though this orthography, however defensible, is somewhat suspicious.

5.Kasu.⁂⁂⁂, the ‘Burial Place,’ was the metropolis of the 14th Nome of Southern Egypt. Dendera is called⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂and in more ordinary characters⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. Like very many other geographical names, it has the feminine form in⁂, as well as the masculine in⁂.

96. There is a copy of the chapter in the tomb of Chā-em-hait, which is our oldest authority. But it is unfortunately mutilated, and all that can be said is, that if the additional words were once there, they have been destroyed.

97. The Apis tablets (Zeitschr., 1882, p. 22) give the name of a placePa-ḳerḳ-en Ḥor, which seems to refer to this catastrophe; the Copticⲕⲟⲣϫ,ⲕⲱⲣϫcorresponding to the Greek ἐκκόπτειν, ἐκκλὰν, κατασπᾶσθαι.

CHAPTER CXV.

Chapter whereby one cometh forth into Heaven, and openeth the Ammehit: and whereby the Powers of Heliopolis are known.

I have grown from yesterday, a Great one among the Great. I have raised myself above all things that come into being.

The Face is revealed to the Eye of the Only One, and the round of darkness is broken through. I am one of you.

I know the Powers of Heliopolis. Doth not the All-powerful One(1) issue from it like one who extendeth a hand to us?

It is with reference to me that the gods say: Lo, the afflicted one is heir of Heliopolis!

I know on what occasion the Lock of the Male child(2) was made.

Rā was speaking with Amhauf,(3) and a blindness came upon him.

Rā said to Amhauf: Take the spear, oh offspring of Men.(4) And Amhauf said: The spear is taken.

Two brethren came into being: they were Heb-rā and Sotemanes, whose arm resteth not; and he assumed the form of a female with a lock, which became the Lock in Heliopolis.

Active and powerful is the heir of the temple; the Active one of Heliopolis. The flesh of his flesh(5) is the All-seer, for he hath the might divine as the Son whom the Father hath begotten. And his will is that of the Mighty one of Heliopolis.

I know the Powers of Heliopolis; they are Rā, Shu and Tefnut.

Notes.

The ancient text of this chapter has most unfortunately been lost. A few words only remain in the fragments of PapyrusPm. M. Naville has also published what is found on an ostracon of the time of the XVIIIth dynasty. There is no doubt that the form of the text which has been handed down in the later papyri has suffered great alterations. And a comparison between the Turin and Cadet papyri shows in how untrustworthy a way this later form of the text has been transmitted.

Special attention has been given to this chapter by Mr. Goodwin (Zeitschr., 1873, p. 104), and by M. Lefébure (Mélanges D’Arch., 1874, p. 155), whose work is very much more valuable than that of his English colleague. But the most important study bearing on the relations between the older and the more recent recension is that of M. Naville,‘Un ostrakon égyptien,’in the first volume of theAnnales du Musée Guimet.

1.All powerful One,⁂⁂. M. Naville observes that this is substituted for⁂⁂, which is found on the ostrakon. Both terms are divine names; the latter corresponding to the Greek πολυδερκής or πανδερκής, was the title of the high priest of Heliopolis, who, like his priestly colleagues all over Egypt, bore the titles of the god whom they represented.

2.The Lock of the Male child,⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, is not a ‘curly wigged woman,’ as generally interpreted, but the side lockborne by Horus, and princes and princesses, as well as by other priests and priestesses, in honour of Horus.

3.Amhauf.See emendation proposedinfraat chapter 125,note 33.

4.O offspring.I follow the Papyrus Luyne in omitting the preposition⁂.

5.The flesh of his flesh, or theheir of his heir. This may perhaps be an assertion as to the hereditary succession of the high priest of Heliopolis.

CHAPTER CXVI.

Chapter whereby one knoweth the Power of Hermopolis.

Neith dawneth forth in Mat’at, and Maāt is conveyed upon the Arm of the Eater of the Eye by him who reckoneth it out.

I know it, and I am therefore led in through the Sem priest.

I tell it not to men, I repeat it not to the gods (and conversely).

I enter as one who knoweth not, and seeth not.

Hail, ye gods who are in Hermopolis. Know ye me as I know Neith, that the Eye may be made firm and permanent. I take delight in reckoning out that which is reckoned.

I know the Powers of Hermopolis who are great at the beginning of the month, and diminished at the fifteenth day.

They are Thoth the Unseen, Sau and Tmu.

If this chapter be known, filth is avoided, and lye is not drunken.

Note.

This is the last of the chapters concerning the Powers of certain places. Of their positive antiquity there can be no doubt, whatever alterations they may have undergone. But they are relatively modern with respect to other chapters,e.g, the 17th. Mr. Goodwin used to compare them with Christian legends of the mediæval period. These are ancient enough as far as we ourselves are concerned, but no one would think of judging by them of primitive Christianity.

CHAPTER CX.

The Beginning of the Chapters of the Garden of Hotepit, and of the Chapters of coming forth by day; and of entering and coming forth in the Netherworld, and of arriving at the Garden of Aarru, at the Rise(1) in Hotepit and at the Grand Domain, blest with the breezes: that I may take possession there and be in Glory there: that there I may plough and mow: that there I may eat and drink and love: doing whatsoever things are done upon earth.

Horus is seized by Sutu: who looketh as one turning(2) towards the Garden of Hotepit.

But for me Sutu releaseth Horus: and the double path which is nigh to Heaven is thrown open by Sutu. And Sutu taketh his portion of the breeze through the Power of his own day,(3) and he delivereth the bowels of Horus from the gods below.

Lo, I sail the great Bark on the Stream of the god Hotep. I took it at the mansion of Shu.

The mansion of his stars is again and again renewed.(4) I sail upon its streams that I may come to the domains thereof.

For I am in unison with his successive changes and his rules, and his papyrus,(5) and his attendant gods, and his chieftains. He reconcileth the two Warrior gods with those who have the charge of food and the beautiful creation which he raiseth up; and he reconcileth the two Warrior gods with each other.(6)

He severeth the mourners from those who quarrel with them: he putteth a stop to them whose hand is violent against those weaker than themselves: he keepeth within bounds the contentions of the Powers.

May I have possession there.

I know it, and I sail upon its streams that I may come to the domains thereof.

My mouth is potent and secured against the Glorified that they may not have the mastery of me.

May I have the investiture of thy Garden, O Hotep. What thou willest, do thou it.

Let me be glorified there, and eat and drink there, and plough there, and reap there, and grind(7) there, and have my fill of love there.

May my mouth be potent there, let me there utter my Words of Power and not be slighted.

* * * * * * *

I am in possession of that Word of Power of mine which is the most potent one within this body of mine here: and by means of it I make myself either known or unknown.

I make my progress and I plough.

I take my rest in the divine Domain.

I know the names of the domains, the districts and the streams within the Garden of Hotep.

I am there, I am master there, I am in glory there, I eat there; I plant and I reap there; I plough there, and I take my fill of love. I am united there with the god Hotep.

I cast my seed there, and I sail upon its stream that I may come to the domains thereof, O Hotep.

Lo, my mouth is armed with sharp points. There is given to me the abundance which belongeth to the Ka and to the Glorified.

I give the reckoning of Shu to him who understandeth it.

I sail upon its stream, and I range within the Garden of Hotep, for Rā is in the sky, and Hotep is putting together the oblations.

I hasten to the land, and I fasten my stole upon me, that I may come forth, and that that may be given to me which hath to be given; that I may have joy and take possession of the wealth which Hotep assigneth to me.

Rise in Hotep, I arrive in thee, my soul is with me, and my provision is before the Mistress of the Two Earths, who maketh fast my Words of Power, which recall to mind that which I have forgotten. Let me live free from strife; and be there granted to me enlargement of heart.

Let my arteries be made fast, and let me have the enjoyment of the Breeze.(8)

Rise in Hotep, blest with the Breeze, I arrive in thee, my head is uncovered: Rā sleepeth, but there waketh for me, and there shineth upon me Hesit [the Cow-goddess](9) who lieth at the confines of Heaven by night.

He standeth in my way who heapeth against me his own dross.

But I am in my own domain.

Great Domain, I arrive in thee and I reckon up the abundance as I pass on to Uach.(10)

I am the Bull, raised on high in the Blue; the lord of the Bull’s field; which Sothis describeth to me at her successive hours.

Uach, I arrive in thee, and I eat my cakes, and take possession of my joints of flesh and meat and fowl.

The winged things of Shu are given to me, and my Kau follow me.(11)

T’efait,(12) I arrive in thee, I put on the stole and fasten upon me the girdle of Rā, whilst he is in heaven,(13) and the gods who are in heaven are following Rā.

Rise in Hotep, Lord of the Two Earths, I arrive in thee: I salute the stream ofT’eserit.(14) Lo, here am I, and all impurity is far from me. The great one flourisheth ... I net the ducks, and I eat dainties.

Kankanit,(15) I arrive in thee; that I may see my father and attentively view my mother.

I take care to net the reptiles; and that which protecteth me is that I know the name of that god who is next to T’eserit (goddess with flowing locks and armed with horns), and who reapeth.

I myself plough and reap.

Hesit, I arrive in thee, and I encounter the Blue.

I follow the Breezes, and the company of the gods.

It is the Great goddess who hath given me my head, and he who fasteneth my head upon me is the Great god, the Blue-eyed, who doeth according to his own will.

Userit,(16) I arrive in thee, in face of the mansion where food is produced for me.

Smait,(17) I arrive in thee. My heart is awake: my head is provided with the White crown and I am conveyed over the heavens: and I make those things to prosper which are below me: a joy to the Bull of the gods above, the divine company.

I am the Bull, the Lord of the gods; and I make my way through the midst of the Emerald ones.(18)

Isle of Corn and Barley, divine district, I arrive in thee. I encounter and I bear off that which proceedeth from the head of Rā: the pair of horns which have the force of purification.(19)

I make myself fast to the Block of Moorage on the heavenly stream, and I utter my praise to the gods who are in the Garden of Hotepit.

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