CHAPTER CXVII.

Notes.

The text of this chapter handed down by the Turin papyrus and those which agree with it contains nothing very difficult for a translator, but on being compared with the older copies it is found to consist of a collection of small fragments of the older text put together without any regard to their original order or context. And about three-quarters of the old chapter are suppressed in the new recension.

The editors of the fine papyrus of Sutimes in their notes upon this chapter remark, that in the Turin text the sentences are in quite a different order from that of their papyrus,“On peut y voir,”they say,“l’effet de lectures et de transcriptions en rebours du sens, par des scribes ayant mal compris les éditions en colonnes rétrogrades.”

This is, curiously enough, the very fault of the papyrus of Sutimes itself, which is here wrong from beginning to end,[98]though probably derived from an excellent original. It begins with the “Isle of Corn and Barley,” and jumbles together quite incoherent sentences.

The oldest copy of the chapter yet discovered is that of the Tomb of Chā-em-hait, at Thebes, and by a strange fatality it has been published in such a form that in order to read it correctly, we must begin with what is printed as line 11 and finish with line 1. We have it also in a very incomplete condition. We miss the first eighteen lines contained in the papyrus of Nebseni and the last words of every line.

The papyrus of Nebseni is the only complete text we have, and here as well as elsewhere it is extremely incorrect. Some parts are so corrupt that a translation must necessarily be dependent upon conjectural emendations which can have no genuine claim upon the reader’s confidence. We must be content with waiting till better authorities are discovered.

The Gardens of Hotepit and Aarru are the Paradise, Elysian Fields and Islands of the Blessed of the Egyptian imagination.[99]They were supposed to be situated in the neighbourhood of the rising Sun, but certain features were apparently suggested by the islets of the Delta.

The usual meaning of the wordḤotepit,⁂⁂,[100]when written according to the orthography of the Pyramid Texts, isoblations,offerings. This, however, is only a derived meaning. The word really only expresses apredicateof the things offered, asputting together,uniting,reconciling;⁂Ḥotepmight signifyRest, orPeace; very appropriate names for such a garden.⁂⁂is the name of a god who dwells here.[101]There is also a goddess here calledḤotepit⁂⁂⁂, mentioned in the Pyramid inscription of Pepi I (line 423), as mother of the great Scarab: and the same name is given to Hathor in the temple of Dendera. The name of Ḥotep (with different determinatives[102]) belongs to one of the islands of this blissful place.

The Pyramid Texts furnish some interesting information not contained in the Book of the Dead. We are told that the approach to the Garden is over the Lake of Putrata (see chapter 40,note 1), that there is a great lake (? that of Konsit) in the middle of the Garden of Ḥotepit, upon which the great gods alight, and that theAchmiu Sekiu, the starry deities who never set, there feed the departed from thewood of life(⁂⁂⁂⁂lignum vitæ)“upon which they themselves live, in order that he too may live.” Shu and Tefnut are mentioned as divinities of this place. But perhaps the most remarkable fact is that Horus had enemies even here, who, however, were annihilated by the divine weapons at the disposal of the departed worthy, who was led there in order that “he might sit among the stars in heaven.”

And here it was that the beatified personage sat upon his throne of steel, which was decorated in front with faces of the lion-god⁂⁂⁂⁂Maaḥes, the feet of it being the hoofs of the greatBullSma-urà, and extended his hand to the coming generation of men (the⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂), whilst the gods approached him in submissive attitude, and made offerings to him. It was, perhaps, from these offerings that the Garden derived its name.

The Garden of Aarru,⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂is often mentioned in connection with that of Ḥotepit, and may perhaps be considered as the most notable part of it. It is through its Gate that the Sun-god rises up into Heaven.

It takes its name from a plant⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ȧarru(later,⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, B.M. 551;⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂,Ag, Chapter 17;⁂⁂⁂⁂,[103]Ba, Chapter 110, by phonetic dissimilation ofrrintonr). The usual form in later times is⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, but we find even shorter forms in⁂⁂, B.M. 32, and⁂⁂⁂. The determinative⁂of a reptile, indicates acreeping,climbing,twiningplant, such as the convolvulus, hop, or vine.[104]

The term ‘Garden’ implies in this connection nothing more than a cultivated enclosure.

The names of different localities which are invoked by the deceased and appear on the vignette of the chapter, have here been made prominent by means of heavy type.

1.Rise in Hotepit, or (later on)Hotep,⁂⁂⁂⁂is the name of one of the localities. The word⁂as I have often said, has the sense ofrising up,coming to light,making an appearance, and like the Greek φαίνομαι is especially applicable to the appearance of daybreak, or the rise of the heavenly bodies.

2.Turning,⁂. The group has the apparent sense ofbuilding, but the primitive sense isturning, as in the making of pottery. The preposition⁂which follows it in this place seems to show that building is not meant.

3.This, of course, sounds like nonsense, but so does the original as it has come down to us. The papyrus of Ani, which reads⁂⁂⁂, forces the sense ofdayupon the sign⁂, which in the sense ofturnwould have been far more intelligible. There was the ‘Portion of Sutu,’ and the ‘Portion of Horus,’ each being half the world, topographically, or half the twenty-four hours as regards time.

I suspect that ‘day’ is a faulty interpretation of the ambiguous⁂, and that the true sense of the passage is that Sutu is satisfied with the share which comes to his turn, and thereupon delivers Horus from imprisonment in the lower world. The perplexity, or ignorance of the copyists is seen in the very next words. One has‘he who is in Merit,’ others ‘he who is in my mouth,’ and two ‘he who is in the egg,’ if this be the sense of the very questionable group⁂⁂⁂⁂, which looks like a mistake for⁂⁂⁂, a well known title of Anubis.

4.Again and again renewed⁂⁂⁂⁂.

5.His papyrus.So the word⁂meḥit, which occurs in the rubric of Chapter 134, has hitherto been translated. But the vases⁂or⁂, as determinatives, rather imply ‘inkstand’ or ‘palette for holding colour.’ In this place it is the writing itself and not the material, paper, ink or inkstand, which is meant. And from the entire context Thoth is the god who is spoken of.

6.He reconcileth the two Warrior gods with each other,⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. The final wordsen ȧru-senshow the origin of the Coptic formⲛ̀ ... ⲉⲣⲏⲟⲩinvicem.

7.Grind⁂⁂⁂, the Coptic from of which isⲥⲓⲕⲓ. From the notion of ‘reducing to powder,’ that of the frequent word⁂⁂⁂‘wearing away,’ ‘decay,’ is derived.

8.Let my arteries be made fast, and let me have the enjoyment of the Breeze, orthat I may have enjoyment. The oldest meaning of the wordartery, ἀρτηρία, in Hippocrates, Aristotle and the earlier Latin writers iswind-pipe, and, in the plural,air-ducts. But, even when the word was also applied to what we call arteries, these were supposed to conveyairwhilst the veins conveyedblood.“Sanguis per venas in omne corpus diffunditur et spiritus per arterias”is the classic doctrine in Cicero (de Natura Deorum, 2, 55). Pliny says (Nat. Hist., XI, 89),“arteriae carent sensu: nam et sanguine.”This error is corrected by Galen, who has a treatise on the question “Whether Blood isnaturally(κὰτα φύσιν) contained in the arteries?” The error of the ancients arose from the arteries always being found empty after death. The blood flowing from a wound inflicted upon them was inferred to have been intruded into them by the rupture of the veins. The Egyptian doctrine of the ‘arteries’⁂⁂⁂(Copticϩⲁⲛⲙⲟⲩⲧ) in the head, by means of which air is conveyed to all parts of the person, was first found byM. Chabas in theBerlin Medical papyrus. The passage of the Book of the Dead on which this note is written is no doubt the earliest allusion to the doctrine.

9.Hesit[the Cow-goddess]⁂⁂⁂,⁂⁂⁂,⁂⁂⁂⁂,⁂⁂⁂is one of the many names of Isis or Hathor. She is represented as suckling her son Horus (see picture in Lanzone, p. 844), and it is this which characterizes her and from which she derives her name. She is asked on the Louvre tablet (c. 14) for “the white liquor which the glorified ones love.” This is distinctly called ‘milk’ on the Florentine tablet 2567, and vases of her milk are mentioned (Dümichen,Resultate, 27, 6) in the inscriptions of Dendera. A picture of her given in Dümichen’sHistorische Inschriften(II, 32) identifies her with Hathor, and calls her “divine mother, mistress of heaven and sovereign of the gods,” while others call her “the divine mother and fair nurse.”

There can be no doubt about the right reading of the name which isḤesit; the⁂is written in so many texts (seePepi, I, 306,Amamu, 21, 1, Lepsius,Auswahl, IX, and the form⁂⁂⁂at Philae), that there is no reason for confounding the name with that ofḥetemit. We must therefore attach no importance to this latter name when applied in the vignette of the TurinTodtenbuchto one of the divine abodes which bears the name of the goddess, and is written exactly like it.

10.Uach⁂⁂⁂⁂blooming,flowering.

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

⁂⁂⁂,⁂⁂⁂, is a word of very rare occurrence. Birch and Naville understood it of thenetting, and Brugsch, of theplumingof birds. Both meanings may be disputed, but whatever Shu did, was done to birds, and these are said to be given to the deceased.

The prayer that a person may travel over the blissful parts, followed by hiskau⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, is repeatedly found on the early monuments. Several papyri say that the deceased is followed by ‘the gods and thekau.’

12.T’efait⁂⁂, an abode abounding in⁂⁂⁂⁂delicacies.

13.He is in heaven⁂⁂⁂. The reading⁂to which Brugsch at one time attached much importance, has turned out to be one of the many blunders of the text of Sutimes. But the true reading is not without its difficulties. If⁂⁂is taken as equivalent to⁂⁂we have a strange anticipation of a change in language of which the “enigmatical” texts of the royal tombs[105]give the first intimation, but which first becomes conspicuous in the demotic period. In a previous passage we have⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, where Nebseni has⁂⁂⁂. But the important preposition⁂had already dropped out of the earlier text of Chāemhait. The demonstrative particle⁂⁂which occurs in both places may be rendered ‘there [he is],’‘le voilà.’

14.I salute the stream of T’eserit: a corrupt passage like so many others in this chapter. The first word⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂‘salute’ is rare but correct and well attested. The proper name is but one of the contradictory readings. It has, however, the advantage of being a real name and suitable to the passage, being that of a goddess mentioned in connection with the next abode.⁂⁂⁂T’eseritis a name corresponding to the classical Ἀγλαιαv or Clara.[106]In the texts of the Royal Tombs she is named as goddess in⁂⁂Cher-āba. And here[107]she is depicted as thegoddess with long or flowing locks (εὐπλόκαμος) and armed with horns. She is one of the forms of Isis or Hathor.

15.Kankanitis etymologically akin to the verb ofbeating(seeChapter 17,note 20), but there is no reason from the notice here to suppose that this was a place of punishment.

16.Userit⁂⁂⁂is one of the commonest appellatives of Isis, especially in the later texts. The names of all these abodes, situated in that region of the sky where the sun rises, are derived from the notion of daybreak.

17.Smait, another of these appellatives,seeChapter 62,note 1.

18.The Emerald ones⁂⁂⁂⁂, those who are in the emerald light of the dawn. The sun rises (Chapter 109) through two sycomores of emerald.

19.Which have the force of purification⁂⁂⁂⁂. The syllableābexpresses the word signifyinghornas well as that signifyingpurification.

The vignettes of the chapter which are here given from different authorities are explained in their proper place.

98. See M. Naville’s remarks,Einleitung, p. 156.

99.Mission Arch., I, p. 125.

100. Also written =⁂⁂(Unas, 422 and elsewhere).

101. The garden is also called⁂⁂⁂. Another form is⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂(PepiI, 309).

102.⁂⁂Nebseni,⁂⁂Sutimes,⁂⁂in all the later papyri.

103. Compared with⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂in the papyrus of Nesichonsu, published by M. Maspero,Miss. Arch., I, p. 612.

104. The Pyramid Texts have the invocations (Unas, 597), “Hail to thee, Horus, in the domains of Horus; Hail to thee, Sutu, in the domains of Sutu; Hail to thee, Lion(⁂⁂⁂Ȧar), in the Garden of Aarru.”Another derivation is suggested in the “Destruction of Mankind,” line 39,⁂⁂⁂(as I read it) an augmented form of⁂⁂,ar, which does not meanpluck, as in Brugsch’s translation, butbind,fasten,twine,nectere,constringere,convolvere. This sense would explain the ancient determinatives⁂,⁂, and lead to still more interesting results. For the ancient word⁂⁂⁂⁂,ȧarerit, ‘a vine,’ has thus clearly the same etymological sense as our European wordvine. “Vî-num... attaches itself tovî-tis,vî-men,vî-tex, and—exactly like the Greek ϝοῖ-νος—to the Indo-Greek rootvei, ‘to twine.’ So thatvî-nomeans first ‘creeper,’ then ‘fruit of the creeper,’ finally‘drink‘drinkmade from the fruit of the creeper’” (O. Schrader,Prehistoric Antiquities, 324).Philological speculation might make a further advance.As⁂⁂⁂ȧar, is to⁂⁂ār, so perhaps is⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ȧarruto⁂⁂āru. The first two groups are not phonetically identical, but they are certainly allied and have very much the same meaning; the last has, with some probability, been identified with theVine-branch, and that, in conjunction with the text⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂(seeZeitschr., 1878, p. 107, and the plate corresponding). “The Vine-plant is Osiris.” The Greeks, or some of them at least, identified Osiris with Dionysos (Plutarch,de Iside et Osiride, 34, 35). The god is sometimes (as in the papyrus of Nebseni) sitting in a naos under a vine, from which bunches of grapes are hanging.

Another derivation is suggested in the “Destruction of Mankind,” line 39,⁂⁂⁂(as I read it) an augmented form of⁂⁂,ar, which does not meanpluck, as in Brugsch’s translation, butbind,fasten,twine,nectere,constringere,convolvere. This sense would explain the ancient determinatives⁂,⁂, and lead to still more interesting results. For the ancient word⁂⁂⁂⁂,ȧarerit, ‘a vine,’ has thus clearly the same etymological sense as our European wordvine. “Vî-num... attaches itself tovî-tis,vî-men,vî-tex, and—exactly like the Greek ϝοῖ-νος—to the Indo-Greek rootvei, ‘to twine.’ So thatvî-nomeans first ‘creeper,’ then ‘fruit of the creeper,’ finally‘drink‘drinkmade from the fruit of the creeper’” (O. Schrader,Prehistoric Antiquities, 324).

Philological speculation might make a further advance.

As⁂⁂⁂ȧar, is to⁂⁂ār, so perhaps is⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ȧarruto⁂⁂āru. The first two groups are not phonetically identical, but they are certainly allied and have very much the same meaning; the last has, with some probability, been identified with theVine-branch, and that, in conjunction with the text⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂(seeZeitschr., 1878, p. 107, and the plate corresponding). “The Vine-plant is Osiris.” The Greeks, or some of them at least, identified Osiris with Dionysos (Plutarch,de Iside et Osiride, 34, 35). The god is sometimes (as in the papyrus of Nebseni) sitting in a naos under a vine, from which bunches of grapes are hanging.

105. Here we already have⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂,⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂and⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. See my article in theZeitschr., 1874, p. 102.

106. It is also the name of a liquid substance⁂⁂,⁂⁂, a produce of the cow, such as cream or clarified butter. It occurs in all the lists of offerings.

107. A reference to M. Naville’s collation of this chapter (line 40), will show the corruption and uncertainty of the text which precedes the name of the goddess. If we look beyond the authorities given by M. Naville, the difficulties are multiplied. The papyrus of Queen Net’emit in the Louvre, for instance, instead of⁂⁂⁂⁂etc., reads,⁂⁂⁂.

CHAPTER CXVII.

Chapter whereby one taketh the blissful path at Restau.(1)

O paths which are high above me at Restau: I am the Girdled(2) and the Mighty one, coming forth triumphantly.(3)

I am come: I am come that I may firmly secure my suit in Abydos,(4) and that the path may be open to me at Restau.

Let my suit be made pleasant for me by Osiris.

I am he who produceth the water which balanceth his throne, and who maketh his way from the Great Valley.(5)

Let the path be made for me; for behold I amNthe triumphant.(6)

[Osiris is made triumphant over his adversaries, and the OsirisNis made triumphant over his adversaries, and is as one of you, his patron(7) is the Lord of Eternity: he walketh even as ye walk, he standeth as ye stand, he speaketh as ye speak, before the great god, the Lord of Amenta.]

Notes.

1.This chapter and the following have reference to Restau, one of the Gates between the Netherworld and Heaven.

It is not mentioned in the most ancient recension of chapter 17 (from which my translation was taken), but in all the papyri of the eighteenth and later dynasties it is stated that Restau was a gate south of An-aaref and north of the “Domain (⁂⁂⁂) of Osiris.”

The papyrus of Ani has this picture of it,

but the most interesting representations of it are in the Dublin papyrus (D. a), where the Sun god is seen passing between the folding doors, and in the papyrus of Hunefer (A. g), where the doors are also open and the god is sitting between them. (SeePlates VI, 11 and VIIb.)

The nameRestau⁂⁂⁂(the feminine form⁂⁂⁂is more frequent in later texts) signifiesGate of the passages. These are the passages guarded by the faithful attendants of Osiris, but armed with “hurtful fingers” against the adversaries of Rā, against whose onslaught the deceased prays Rā for protection in chapter 17.

A mystical interpretation will be found in chapter 119 and note.

2.Girdled, orstoled,⁂⁂. On the importance attached to this ritual investiture, the following references may (among many others) be useful:Unas66,Teta149,PepiI, 395,Merenrā190,Todt.125 (rubric), 145, 25. The deceased prays (Chapter 82, 4) that he may be girt by the goddess Tait. A passage inTodt.78, 26 (Turin text) would be of greater interest were it not an emendation of those who no longer understood the ancient text.

3.Coming forth triumphantly.This is the reading of the oldest authority (Nebseni), but the reading which has prevailed, not only here, but in Chapter 147, is “coming forth from the Crown,”⁂⁂⁂.

4.That I may firmly secure my suit at Abydos.The scholion on Chapter 17, referred to in note 1, states that the “place of Maāt is at Abydos.” It is, of course, the mystical, not thegeographicalgeographical, Abydos which is meant, and thesuit⁂⁂(res) which has to be settled is the final judgment of the deceased.

5.The throne of Osiris in pictures of the Psychostasia (seeVignettes to Chapter 125) rests upon water, out of which there springs a lotus flower; and upon this flower stand the four children of Horus. In a passage of chapter 147, which is an adaptation of the present chapter, the deceased says⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂La, “I am he whose stream is secret.” And a Pyramid Text (Merenrā, 188, 193) after mention of the Great Valley⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂and of the investiture(⁂)proceeds,⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, “thy water, thy fresh current, is a great inundation proceeding from thee.” Here the deceased is identified with the Nile and its inundation, as in Chapter 64 of the Book of the Dead.

6.The chapter ends here. The passage which follows in the translation is taken from the Paris papyrusPe.

7.Patron,⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, a word supposed by some scholars to signify uncle. It occurs on funereal monuments among the designations of persons connected with the deceased, such as brother, sister, nurse. A man may have several bearing the designation, and they are not necessarily children of the same parents (see e.g., Mariette,Cat. d’Abydos, p. 110, where a man has fivechenemesu, who cannot all be brothers either of his father or his mother). The word occurs repeatedly in the Prisse papyrus. I am inclined to think it means the legal guardian of a minor.

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