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THE BOOK OF THE DEAD

IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

THE EGYPTIAN TEXT WITH INTERLINEAR

TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION,

A RUNNING TRANSLATION, INTRODUCTION, ETC.

by

E. A. WALLIS BUDGE

Late keeper of Assyrian and Egyptian Antiquities

in the British Museum

[1895]

scanned at www.sacred-texts.com, Oct-Dec 2000.

PREFACE.

The Papyrus of Ani, which was acquired by the Trustees of the British Museum in the year 1888, is the largest, the most perfect, the best preserved, and the best illuminated of all the papyri which date from the second half of the XVIIIth dynasty (about B.C. 1500 to 1400). Its rare vignettes, and hymns, and chapters, and its descriptive and introductory rubrics render it of unique importance for the study of the Book of the Dead, and it takes a high place among the authoritative texts of the Theban version of that remarkable work. Although it contains less than one-half of the chapters which are commonly assigned to that version, we may conclude that Ani's exalted official position as Chancellor of the ecclesiastical revenues and endowments of Abydos and Thebes would have ensured a selection of such chapters as would suffice for his spiritual welfare in the future life. We may therefore regard the Papyrus of Ani as typical of the funeral book in vogue among the Theban nobles of his time.

The first edition of the Facsimile of the Papyrus was issued in 1890, and was accompanied by a valuable Introduction by Mr. Le Page Renouf, then Keeper of the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities. But, in order to satisfy a widely expressed demand for a translation of the text, the present volume has been prepared to be issued with the second edition of the Facsimile. It contains the hieroglyphic text of the Papyrus with interlinear transliteration and word for word translation, a full description of the vignettes, and a running translation; and in the Introduction an attempt has been made to illustrate from native

{p. vi}

Egyptian sources the religious views of the wonderful people who more than five thousand years ago proclaimed the resurrection of a spiritual body and the immortality of the soul.

The passages which supply omissions, and vignettes which contain important variations either in subject matter or arrangement, as well as supplementary texts which appear in the appendixes, have been, as far as possible, drawn from other contemporary papyri in the British Museum.

The second edition of the Facsimile has been executed by Mr. F. C. Price.

E. A. WALLIS BUDGE.

BRITISH MUSEUM.

January 25, 1895.

CONTENTS.

PREFACE v.

INTRODUCTION:--

THE VERSIONS OF THE BOOK OF THE DEAD ix

THE LEGEND OF OSIRIS xlviii

THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL LIFE lv

EGYPTIAN IDEAS OF GOD lxxxii

THE ABODE OF THE BLESSED ci

THE GODS OF THE BOOK OF THE DEAD cvii

GEOGRAPHICAL AND MYTHOLOGICAL PLACES cxxxiii

FUNERAL CEREMONIES cxxxviii

THE PAPYRUS OF ANI cxlii

TABLE OF CHAPTERS cliii

THE HIEROGLYPHIC TEXT OF THE PAPYRUS OF ANI, WITH INTERLINEAR TRANSLITERATION AND WORD FOR WORD TRANSLATION 1-242

TRANSLATION 245-369

BIBLIOGRAPHY 371-377

INTRODUCTION.

THE VERSIONS OF THE BOOK OF THE DEAD.

THE history of the great body of religious compositions which form the Book of Dead of the ancient Egyptians may conveniently be divided into four[1] of the periods, which are represented by four versions:--

1. The version which was edited by the priests of the college of Annu (the On of the Bible, and the Heliopolis of the Greeks), and which was based upon a series of texts now lost, but which there is evidence to prove had passed through a series of revisions or editions as early as the period of the Vth dynasty. This version was, so far as we know, always written in hieroglyphics, and may be called the Heliopolitan version. It is known from five copies which are inscribed upon the walls of the chambers and passages in the pyramids[2] of kings of the Vth and VIth dynasties at Sakkâra;[3] and sections of it are found inscribed upon tombs, sarcophagi, coffins, stelæ and papyri from the XIth dynasty to about A.D. 200.[4]

{p. x}

II. The Theban version, which was commonly written on papyri in hieroglyphics and was divided into sections or chapters, each of which had its distinct title but no definite place in the series. The version was much used from the XVIIIth to the XXth dynasty.

III. A version closely allied to the preceding version, which is found written on papyri in the hieratic character and also in hieroglyphics. In this version, which came into use about the XXth dynasty, the chapters have no fixed order.

IV. The so-called Saïte version, in which, at some period anterior probably to the XXVIth dynasty, the chapters were arranged in a definite order. It is commonly written in hieroglyphics and in hieratic, and it was much used from the XXVIth dynasty to the end of the Ptolemaic period.

The earliest inscribed monuments and human remains found in Egypt prove that the ancient Egyptians took the utmost care to preserve the bodies of their

{p. xi}

dead by various processes of embalming. The deposit of the body in the tomb was accompanied by ceremonies of a symbolic nature, in the course of which certain compositions comprising prayers, short litanies, etc., having reference to the future life, were recited or chanted by priests and relatives on behalf of the dead. The greatest importance was attached to such compositions, in the belief that their recital would secure for the dead an unhindered passage to God in the next world, would enable him to overcome the opposition of all ghostly foes, would endow his body in the tomb with power to resist corruption, and would ensure him a new life in a glorified body in heaven. At a very remote period certain groups of sections or chapters had already become associated with some of the ceremonies which preceded actual burial, and these eventually became a distinct ritual with clearly defined limits. Side by side, however, with this ritual there seems to have existed another and larger work, which was divided into an indefinite number of sections or chapters comprising chiefly prayers, and which dealt on a larger scale with the welfare of the departed in the next world, and described the state of existence therein and the dangers which must be passed successfully before it could be reached, and was founded generally on the religious dogmas and mythology of the Egyptians. The title of "Book of the Dead" is usually given by Egyptologists to the editions of the larger work which were made in the XVIIIth and following dynasties, but in this Introduction the term is intended to include the general body of texts which have reference to the burial of the dead and to the new life in the world beyond the grave, and which are known to have existed in revised editions and to have been in use among the Egyptians from about B.C. 4500, to the early centuries of the Christian era.

The home, origin, and early history of the collection of ancient religious texts which have descended to us are, at present, unknown, and all working theories regarding them, however strongly supported by apparently well-ascertained facts, must be carefully distinguished as theories only, so long as a single ancient necropolis in Egypt remains unexplored and its inscriptions are untranslated. Whether they were composed by the inhabitants of Egypt, who recorded them in hieroglyphic characters, and who have left the monuments which are the only trustworthy sources of information on the subject, or whether they were brought into Egypt by the early immigrants from the Asiatic continent whence they came, or whether they represent the religious books of the Egyptians incorporated with the funeral texts of some prehistoric dwellers on the banks of the Nile, are all questions which the possible discovery of inscriptions belonging to the first dynasties of the Early Empire can alone decide. The evidence derived from the

{p. xii}

enormous mass of new material which we owe to the all-important discoveries of mastaba tombs and pyramids by M. Maspero, and to his publication of the early religious texts, proves beyond all doubt that the greater part of the texts comprised in the Book of the Dead are far older than the period of Mena (Menes), the first historical king of Egypt.[1] Certain sections indeed appear to belong to an indefinitely remote and primeval time.

The earliest texts bear within themselves proofs, not only of having been composed, but also of having been revised, or edited, long before the days of king Meni, and judging from many passages in the copies inscribed in hieroglyphics upon the pyramids of Unas (the last king of the Vth dynasty, about B.C. 3333), and Teta, Pepi I., Mer-en-Ra, and Pepi II. (kings of the VIth dynasty, about B.C. 3300-3166), it would seem that, even at that remote date, the scribes were perplexed and hardly understood the texts which they had before them.[2] The most moderate estimate makes certain sections of the Book of the Dead as known from these tombs older than three thousand years before Christ. We are in any case justified in estimating the earliest form of the work to be contemporaneous with the foundation of the civilization[3] which we call Egyptian in the valley of

{p. xiii}

the Nile.[1] To fix a chronological limit for the arts and civilization of Egypt is absolutely impossible.[2]

The oldest form or edition of the Book of the Dead as we have received it supplies no information whatever as to the period when it was compiled; but a copy of the hieratic text inscribed upon a coffin of Menthu-hetep, a queen of the XIth dynasty,[3] about B.C. 2500, made by the late Sir J. G. Wilkinson,[4] informs us that the chapter which, according to the arrangement of Lepsius, bears the number LXIV.,[5] was discovered in the reign of Hesep-ti,[6] the fifth king of the Ist dynasty, about B.C. 4266. On this coffin are two copies of the chapter, the one immediately following the other. In the rubric to the first the name of the king during whose reign the chapter is said to have been "found" is given as Menthu-hetep, which, as Goodwin first pointed out,[7] is a mistake for Men-kau-Ra,[8] the fourth king of the IVth dynasty, about B.C. 3633;[9] but in the rubric to the second the king's name is given as Hesep-ti. Thus it appears that in the period of the XIth dynasty it was believed that the chapter might alternatively be as old as the time of the Ist dynasty. Further, it is given to Hesep-ti in papyri of the XXIst dynasty,[10] a period when particular attention was paid to the history of the Book of the Dead; and it thus appears that the Egyptians of the Middle Empire believed the chapter to date from the more

{p. xiv}

remote period. To quote the words of Chabas, the chapter was regarded as being "very ancient, very mysterious, and very difficult to understand" already fourteen centuries before our era.[1]

The rubric on the coffin of Queen Menthu-hetep, which ascribes the chapter to Hesep-ti, states that "this chapter was found in the foundations beneath the hennu boat by the foreman of the builders in the time of the king of the North and South, Hesep-ti, triumphant";[2] the Nebseni papyrus says that this chapter was found in the city of Khemennu (Hermopolis) on a block of ironstone (?) written in letters of lapis-lazuli, under the feet of the god";[3] and the Turin papyrus (XXVIth dynasty or later) adds that the name of the finder was Heru-ta-ta-f, the son of Khufu or Cheops,[4] the second king of the IVth dynasty, about B.C. 3733, who was at the time making a tour of inspection of the temples. Birch[5] and Naville[6] consider the chapter one of

{p. xv}

the oldest in the Book of the Dead; the former basing his opinion on the rubric' and the latter upon the evidence derived from the contents and character of the text; but Maspero, while admitting the great age of the chapter, does not attach any very great importance to the rubric as fixing any exact date for its composition.[1] Of Herutataf the finder of the block of stone, we know from later texts that he was considered to be a learned man, and that his speech was only with difficulty to be understood,[2] and we also know the prominent part which he took as a recognized man of letters in bringing to the court of his father Khufu the sage Tetteta.[3] It is then not improbable that Herutataf's character for learning may have suggested the connection of his name with the chapter, and possibly as its literary reviser; at all events as early as the period of the Middle Empire tradition associated him with it.

{p. xvi}

Passing from the region of native Egyptian tradition, we touch firm ground with the evidence derived from the monuments of the IInd dynasty. A bas-relief preserved at Aix in Provence mentions Âasen and Ankef,[1] two of the priests of Sent or Senta, the fifth king of the IInd dynasty, about B.C. 4000; and a stele at Oxford[2] and another in the Egyptian Museum at Gizeh[3] record the name of a third priest, Shera or Sheri, a "royal relative" On the stele at Oxford we have represented the deceased and his wife seated, one on each side of an altar,[4] which is covered with funeral offerings of pious relatives; above, in perpendicular lines of hieroglyphics in relief, are the names of the objects offered,[5] and below is an inscription which reads,[6] "thousands of loaves of bread, thousands of vases of ale, thousands of linen garments, thousands of changes of wearing apparel, and thousands of oxen." Now from this monument it is evident that already in the IInd dynasty a priesthood existed in Egypt which numbered among its members relatives of the royal family, and that a religious system which prescribed as a duty the providing of meat and drink offerings for the dead was also in active operation. The offering of specific objects goes far to prove the existence of a ritual or service wherein their signification would be indicated; the coincidence of these words and the prayer for "thousands of loaves of bread, thousands of vases of ale," etc., with the promise, "Anpu-khent-Amenta shall give thee thy thousands of loaves of bread, thy thousands of vases of ale, thy thousands of vessels

{p. xvii}

of unguents, thy thousands of changes of apparel, thy thousands of oxen, and thy thousands of bullocks," enables us to recognise that ritual in the text inscribed upon the pyramid of Teta in the Vth dynasty, from which the above promise is taken.[1] Thus the traditional evidence of the text on the coffin of Menthu-hetep and the scene on the monument of Shera support one another, and together they prove beyond a doubt that a form of the Book of the Dead was in use at least in the period of the earliest dynasties, and that sepulchral ceremonies connected therewith were duly performed.[2]

With the IVth dynasty we have an increased number of monuments, chiefly sepulchral, which give details as to the Egyptian sacerdotal system and the funeral ceremonies which the priests performed.[3] The inscriptions upon the earlier

{p. xviii}

monuments prove that many of the priestly officials were still relatives of the royal family, and the tombs of feudal lords, scribes, and others, record a number of their official titles, together with the names of several of their religious festivals. The subsequent increase in the number of the monuments during this period may be due to the natural development of the religion of the time, but it is very probable that the greater security of life and property which had been assured by the vigorous wars of Seneferu,[1] the first king of this dynasty, about B.C. 3766, encouraged men to incur greater expense, and to build larger and better abodes for the dead, and to celebrate the full ritual at the prescribed festivals. In this dynasty the royal dead were honoured with sepulchral monuments of a greater size and magnificence than had ever before been contemplated, and the chapels attached to the pyramids were served by courses of priests whose sole duties consisted in celebrating the services. The fashion of building a pyramid instead of the rectangular flat-roofed mastaba for a royal tomb was revived by Seneferu,[2] who called his pyramid Kha; and his example was followed by his immediate successors, Khufu (Cheops), Khaf-Ra (Chephren), Men-kau-Ra (Mycerinus), and others.

In the reign of Mycerinus some important work seems to have been under taken in connection with certain sections of the text of the Book of the Dead, for the rubrics of Chapters XXXB. and CXLVIII.[3] state that these compositions were found inscribed upon "a block of iron(?) of the south in letters of real lapis-lazuli under the feet of the majesty of the god in the time of the King it of the North and South Men-kau-Ra, by the royal son Herutataf, triumphant." That a new impulse should be given to religious observances, and that the revision of existing religious texts should take place in the reign of Mycerinus, was only to be expected if Greek tradition may be believed, for both Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus represent him as a just king, and one who was anxious to efface from the minds of the people the memory of the alleged cruelty of his

predecessor by re-opening the temples and by letting every man celebrate his own sacrifices and discharge his own religious duties.[1] His pyramid is the one now known as the "third pyramid of Gizeh," under which he was buried in a chamber vertically below the apex and 60 feet below the level of the ground. Whether the pyramid was finished or not[2] when the king died, his body was certainly laid in it, and notwithstanding all the attempts made by the Muhammadan rulers of Egypt[3] to destroy it at the end of the 12th century of our era, it has survived to yield up important facts for the history of the Book of the Dead.

In 1837 Colonel Howard Vyse succeeded in forcing the entrance. On the 29th of July he commenced operations, and on the 1st of August he made his way into the sepulchral chamber, where, however, nothing was found but a rectangular stone sarcophagous[4] without the lid. The large stone slabs of the floor and the linings of the wall had been in many instances removed by thieves in search of treasure. In a lower chamber, connected by a passage with the sepulchral chamber, was found the greater part of the lid of the sarcophagus,[5] together with portions of a wooden coffin, and part of the body of a man, consisting of ribs and vertebrae and the bones of the legs and feet, enveloped

{p. xx}

in a coarse woollen cloth of a yellow colour, to which a small quantity of resinous substance and gum adhered.[1] It would therefore seem that, as the sarcophagus could not be removed, the wooden case alone containing the body had been brought into the large apartment for examination. Now, whether the human remains' there found are those of Mycerinus or of some one else, as some have suggested, in no way affects the question of the ownership of the coffin, for we know by the hieroglyphic inscription upon it that it was made to hold the mummified body of the king. This inscription, which is arranged in two perpendicular lines down the front of the coffin reads:--[3]

King of the North and South Men-kau-Ra, living for ever, born of heaven, conceived of

Nut, heir of Seb, his beloved. Spreadeth she thy mother Nut over thee

{p. xxi}

in her name of "mystery of heaven," she granteth that thou mayest exist as a god

without thy foes, O King of the North and South, Men-kau-Ra, living for ever!

Now it is to be noted that the passage, "Thy mother Nut spreadeth herself over thee in her name of 'Mystery of Heaven,' she granteth that thou mayest be without enemies," occurs in the texts which are inscribed upon the pyramids built by the kings of the VIth dynasty,[1] and thus we have evidence of the use of the same version of one religious text both in the IVth and in the VIth dynasties.[2]

Even if we were to admit that the coffin is a forgery of the XXVIth dynasty, and that the inscription upon it was taken from an edition of the text of the Book of the Dead, still the value of the monument as an evidence of the antiquity of the Book of the Dead is scarcely impaired, for those who added the inscription would certainly have chosen it from a text of the time of Mycerinus.

In the Vth dynasty we have--in an increased number of mastabas and other monuments--evidence of the extension of religious ceremonials, including the

{p. xxii}

celebration of funeral rites; but a text forming the Book of the Dead as a whole does not occur until the reign of Unas (B.C. 3333), the last king of the dynasty, who according to the Turin papyrus reigned thirty years. This monarch built on the plain of Sakkâra a stone pyramid about sixty-two feet high, each side measuring about two hundred feet at the base. In the time of Perring and Vyse it was surrounded by heaps of broken stone and rubbish, the result of repeated attempts to open it, and with the casing stones, which consisted of compact limestone from the quarries of Tura.[1] In February, 1881, M. Maspero began to clear the pyramid, and soon after he succeeded in making an entrance into the innermost chambers, the walls of which were covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions, arranged in perpendicular lines and painted in green.[2] The condition of the interior showed that at some time or other thieves had already succeeded in making an entrance, for the cover of the black basalt sarcophagus of Unas had been wrenched off and moved near the door of the sarcophagus chamber; the paving stones had been pulled up in the vain attempt to find buried treasure; the mummy had been broken to pieces, and nothing remained of it except the right arm, a tibia, and some fragments of the skull and body. The inscriptions which covered certain walls and corridors in the tomb were afterwards published by M. Maspero.[3] The appearance of the text of Unas[4] marks an era in the history of the Book of the Dead, and its translation must be regarded as one of the greatest triumphs of Egyptological decipherment, for the want of determinatives in many places in the text, and the archaic spelling of many of the words and passages presented difficulties which were not easily overcome.[6] Here, for the first time, it was shown that the Book of the Dead was no compilation of a comparatively late period in the history of Egyptian civilization, but a work belonging to a very remote antiquity; and it followed naturally that texts which were then known, and which were thought to be themselves original ancient texts, proved to be only versions which had passed through two or more successive revisions.

{p. xxiii}

Continuing his excavations at Sakkâra, M. Maspero opened the pyramid Of Teta,[1] king of Egypt about B.C. 3300, which Vyse thought[2] had never been entered, and of which, in his day, the masonry on one side only could be seen. Here again it was found that thieves had already been at work, and that they had smashed in pieces walls, floors, and many other parts of the chambers in their frantic search for treasure. As in the case of the pyramid of Unas, certain chambers, etc., of this tomb were found covered with inscriptions in hieroglyphics, but of a smaller size.[3] A brief examination of the text showed it to be formed of a series of extracts from the Book of the Dead, some of which were identical with those in the pyramid of Unas. Thus was brought to light a Book of the Dead of the time of the first king 4 of the VIth dynasty.

The pyramid of Pepi I., king of Egypt about B.C. 3233, was next opened.[5] It is situated in the central group at Sakkâra, and is commonly known as the pyramid of Shêkh Abu-Mansûr.[6] Certain chambers and other parts of the tomb were found to be covered with hieroglyphic texts, which not only repeated in part those which had been found in the pyramids of Unas and Teta, but also contained a considerable number of additional sections of the Book of the Dead.[7] In the same neighbourhood M. Maspero, cleared out the pyramid of Mer-en-Ra, the fourth king of the VIth dynasty, about B.C. 3200;[8] and the pyramid of Pepi II., the fifth king of the VIth dynasty, about B.C. 3166.[9]

{p. xxiv}

Thus we have before the close of the VIth dynasty five copies of a series of texts which formed the Book of the Dead of that period, and an extract from a well-known passage of that work on the wooden coffin of Mycerinus; we have also seen from a number of mastabas and stelæ that the funeral ceremonies connected with the Book of the Dead were performed certainly in the IInd, and with almost equal certainty in the Ist dynasty. It is easy to show that certain sections of the Book of the Dead of this period were copied and used in the following dynasties down to a period about A.D. 200.

The fact that not only in the pyramids of Unas and Teta, but also in those of Pepi I. and his immediate successors, we find selected passages, suggests that the Book of the Dead was, even in those early times, so extensive that even a king was fain to make from it a selection only of the passages which suited his individual taste or were considered sufficient to secure his welfare in the next world. In the pyramids of Teta, Pepi I., Mer-en-Ra and Pepi II. are found many texts which are identical with those employed by their predecessors, and an examination of the inscription of Pepi II. will show that about three-fourths of the whole may be found in the monuments of his ancestors. What principle guided each king in the selection of his texts, or whether the additions in each represent religious developments, it is impossible to say; but, as the Egyptian religion cannot have remained stationary in every particular, it is probable that some texts reflect the changes in the opinions of the priests upon matters of doctrine.[1] The "Pyramid Texts" prove that each section of the religious books of the Egyptians was originally a separate and independent composition, that it was written with a definite object, and that it might be arranged in any order in a series of similar texts. What preceded or what followed it was never taken into

{p. xxv}

consideration by the scribe, although it seems, at times, as if traditions had assigned a sequence to certain texts.

That events of contemporary history were sometimes reflected in the Book of the Dead of the early dynasties is proved by the following. We learn from the inscription upon the tomb of Heru-khuf at Aswân,[l] that this governor of Elephantine was ordered to bring for king Pepi II.[2] a pigmy,[3] from the interior of Africa, to dance before the king and amuse him; and he was promised that, if he succeeded in bringing the pigmy alive and in good health, his majesty would confer upon him a higher rank and dignity than that which king Assa conferred upon his minister Ba-ur-Tettet, who performed this much appreciated service for his master.[4] Now Assa was the eighth king of the Vth dynasty, and Pepi II. was the fifth king of the VIth dynasty, and between the reigns of these kings there was, according to M. Maspero, an interval of at least sixty-four, but more probably eighty, years. But in the text in the pyramid of Pepi I., which must have been drafted at some period between the reigns of these kings, we have the passage, "Hail thou who [at thy will] makest to pass over to the Field of Aaru the soul that is right and true, or dost make shipwreck of it. Ra-meri (i.e., Pepi I.) is right and true in respect of heaven and in respect of earth, Pepi is right and true in respect of the island of the earth whither he swimmeth and where he arriveth. He who is between the thighs of Nut (i.e., Pepi) is the pigmy who danceth [like] the god, and who pleaseth the heart

{p. xxvi}

of the god [Osiris] before his great throne. . . . The two beings who are over the throne of the great god proclaim Pepi to be sound and healthy, [therefore] Pepi shall sail in the boat to the beautiful field of the great god, and he shall do therein that which is done by those to whom veneration is due."[1] Here clearly we have a reference to the historical fact of the importation of a pigmy from the regions south of Nubia; and the idea which seems to have been uppermost in the mind of him that drafted the text was that as the pigmy pleased the king for whom he was brought in this world, even so might the dead Pepi please the god Osiris[2] in the next world. As the pigmy was brought by boat to the king, so might Pepi be brought by boat to the island wherein the god dwelt; as the conditions made by the king were fulfilled by him that brought the pigmy, even so might the conditions made by Osiris concerning the dead be fulfilled by him that transported Pepi to his presence. The wording of the passage amply justifies the assumption that this addition was made to the text after the mission of Assa, and during the VIth dynasty.[3]

Like other works of a similar nature, however, the pyramid texts afford us no information as to their authorship. In the later versions of the Book of the Dead certain chapters[4] are stated to be the work of the god Thoth. They certainly belong to that class of literature which the Greeks called "Hermetic,"[5] and it is pretty certain that under some group they were included in the list of the forty-two works which, according to Clement of Alexandria,[6] constituted the sacred books of the Egyptians.[7] As Thoth, whom the Greeks called Hermes, is in Egyptian texts styled "lord of divine books,"[8] "scribe of the company of the gods,"[9] and "lord of divine speech,"[10] this ascription is well founded. The

{p. xxvii}

pyramid texts are versions of ancient religious compositions which the priests of the college or school of Annu[1] succeeded in establishing as the authorized version of the Book of the Dead in the first six dynasties. Ra, the local form of the Sun-god, usurps the place occupied by the more ancient form Tmu; and it would seem that when a dogma had been promulgated by the college of Annu, it was accepted by the priesthood of all the great cities throughout Egypt. The great influence of the Annu school of priests even in the time of Unas is proved by the following passage from the text in his pyramid: "O God, thy Annu is Unas; O God, thy Annu is Unas. O Ra, Annu is Unas, thy Annu is Unas, O Ra. The mother of Unas is Annu, the father of Unas is Annu; Unas himself is Annu, and was born in Annu."[2] Elsewhere we are told that Unas "cometh to the great bull which cometh forth from Annu,[3] and that he uttereth words of magical import in Annu."[4] In Annu the god Tmu produced the gods Shu and Tefnut,[5] and in Annu dwelt the great and oldest company of the gods, Tmu, Shu, Tefnut, Seb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys.[6] The abode of the blessed in heaven was called[7] Annu, and it was asserted that the souls of

{p. xxviii}

the just were there united to their spiritual or glorified bodies, and that they lived there face to face with the deity for all eternity.[1] judging from the fact that the texts in the tombs of Heru-hetep and Neferu, and those inscribed upon the sarcophagus of Taka, all of the XIth and XIIth dynasties, differ in extent only and not in character or contents from those of the royal pyramids of Sakkâra of the Vth and VIth dynasties, it has been declared that the religion as well as the art of the first Theban empire are nothing but a slavish copy of those of northern Egypt.[2]

The Theban version, which was much used in Upper Egypt from the XVIIIth to the XXth dynasty, was commonly written on papyri in the hieroglyphic character. The text is written in black ink in perpendicular rows of hieroglyphics, which are separated from each other by black lines; the titles of the chapters or sections, and certain parts of the chapters and the rubrics belonging thereto, are written in red ink. A steady development in the illumination of the vignettes is observable in the papyri of this period. At the beginning of the XVIIIth dynasty the vignettes are in black outline, but we see from the papyrus of Hunefer (Brit. Mus. No. 9901), who was an overseer of cattle of Seti I., king of Egypt about B.C. 1370, that the vignettes are painted in reds, greens, yellows, white, and other colours, and that the whole of the text and

{p. xxix}

vignettes are enclosed in a red and yellow border. Originally the text was the most important part of the work, and both it and its vignettes were the work of the scribe; gradually, however, the brilliantly illuminated vignettes were more and more cared for, and when the skill of the scribe failed, the artist was called in. In many fine papyri of the Theban period it is altar that the whole plan of the vignettes of a papyrus was set out by artists, who often failed to leave sufficient space for the texts to which they belonged; in consequence many lines of chapters are often omitted, and the last few lines of some texts are so much crowded as to be almost illegible. The frequent clerical errors also show that while an artist of the greatest skill might be employed on the vignettes, the execution of the text was left to an ignorant or careless scribe. Again, the artist at times arranged his vignettes in wrong order, and it is occasionally evident that neither artist nor scribe understood the matter upon which he was engaged. According to M. Maspero[1] the scribes of the VIth dynasty did not understand the texts which they were drafting, and in the XIXth dynasty the scribe of a papyrus now preserved at Berlin knew or cared so little about the text which he was copying that he transcribed the LXXVIIth Chapter from the wrong end, and apparently never discovered his error although he concluded the chapter with its title.[2] Originally each copy of the Book of the Dead was written to order, but soon the custom obtained of preparing copies with blank spaces in which the name of the purchaser might be inserted; and many of the errors in spelling and most of the omissions of words are no doubt due to the haste with which such "stock" copies were written by the members of the priestly caste, whose profession it was to copy them.

The papyri upon which copies of the Theban version were written vary in length from about 20 to go feet, and in width from 14 to 18 inches; in the XVIIIth dynasty the layers of the papyrus are of a thicker texture and of a darker colour than in the succeeding dynasties. The art of making great lengths of papyrus of light colour and fine texture attained its highest perfection in the XIXth dynasty. An examination of Theban papyri shows that the work of writing and illuminating a fine copy of the Book of the Dead was frequently distributed between two or more groups of artists and scribes, and that the sections were afterwards joined up into a whole. Occasionally by error two groups of men would transcribe the same chapter; hence in the papyrus of Ani, Chapter XVIII. occurs twice (see within, p. cxlviii.).

{p. xxx}

The sections or chapters of the Theban version are a series of separate and distinct compositions, which, like the sections of the pyramid texts, had no fixed order either on coffins or in papyri. Unlike these texts, however, with very few exceptions each composition had a special title and vignette which indicate its purpose. The general selection of the chapters for a papyrus seems to have been left to the individual fancy of the purchaser or scribe, but certain of them were no doubt absolutely necessary for the preservation of the body of the deceased in the tomb, and for the welfare of his soul in its new state of existence. Traditional selections would probably be respected, and recent selections approved by any dominant school of religious thought in Egypt were without doubt accepted.

While in the period of the pyramid texts the various sections were said or sung by priests, probably assisted by some members of the family of the deceased, the welfare of his soul and body being proclaimed for him as an established fact in the Theban version the hymns and prayers to the gods were put into the mouth of the deceased. As none but the great and wealthy could afford the ceremonies which were performed in the early dynasties, economy was probably the chief cause of this change, which had come about at Thebes as early as the XIIth dynasty. Little by little the ritual portions of the Book of the Dead disappeared, until finally, in the Theban version, the only chapters of this class which remain are the XXIInd, XXIIIrd, CVth, and CLIst.[1] Every chapter and prayer of this version was to be said in the next world, where the words, properly uttered, enabled the deceased to overcome every foe and to attain to the life of the perfected soul which dwelt in a spiritual body in the abode of the blessed.

The common name for the Book of the Dead in the Theban period, and probably also before this date, is per em hru, which words have been variously translated manifested in the light," "coming forth from the day," coming forth by day," "la manifestation au jour," "la manifestation à la lumière," [Kapitel von] der Erscheinung im Lichte," "Erscheinen am Tage," "[Caput] egrediendi in lucem," etc. This name, however, had probably a meaning for the Egyptians which has not yet been rendered in a modern language, and one important idea in connection with the whole work is expressed by another title[2] which calls it "the chapter of making strong (or perfect) the Khu."

{p. xxxi}

In the Theban version the main principles of the Egyptian religion which were held in the times when the pyramid texts were written are maintained, and the views concerning the eternal existence of the soul remain unaltered. Many passages in the work, however, show that modifications and developments in details have taken place, and much that is not met with in the early dynasties appears, so far as we know, for the first time. The vignettes too are additions to the work; but, although they depict scenes in the life beyond the grave, they do not seem to form a connected series, and it is doubtful if they are arranged on any definite plan. A general idea of the contents of this version may be gathered from the following list of chapters[1]:--

Chapter I. Here begin the Chapters of "Coming forth by day," and of the songs of praise and glorifying,[2] and of coming forth from, and going into, the underworld.[3]

Vignette: The funeral procession from the house of the dead to the tomb.

Chapter IB. The Chapter of making the mummy to go into the tuat[4] on the day of the burial.[5]

Vignette: Anubis standing by the bier upon which the mummy of the deceased is laid.

Chapter II. [The Chapter of] coming forth by day and of living after death.

Vignette: A man standing, holding a staff.

Chapter III.* Another Chapter like unto it (i.e., like Chapter II).[6]

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter IV.* Another Chapter of passing along the way over the earth.

This Chapter has no vignette.

{p. xxxii}

Chapter V. The Chapter of not allowing the deceased to do work in the underworld.

Vignette: The deceased kneeling on one knee.

Chapter VI. The Chapter of making ushabtiu figures do work for a man in the underworld.

Vignette: An ushabti figure

Chapter VII. The Chapter of passing over the back of Apep, the evil one.

Vignette: The deceased spearing a serpent.

Chapter VIII. Another Chapter of the tuat, and of coming forth by day.

Vignette: The deceased kneeling before a ram.

Chapter IX. The Chapter of passing through the tuat.

Vignette: The deceased kneeling before a ram.

Chapter X. (This Chapter is now known as Chapter XLVIII.)

Chapter XI.* The Chapter of coming forth against his enemies in the underworld.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter XII. Another Chapter of going into, and coming forth from, the underworld.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter XIII. The Chapter of going into, and of coming forth, from Amentet. This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter XIV. The Chapter of driving away shame from the heart of the deceased.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter XV. A Hymn of praise to Ra when he riseth in the eastern horizon of heaven.

Vignette: The deceased adoring Ra.

Chapter XVB. 1. A Hymn of praise to Ra when he setteth in the land of life. Vignette: The deceased adoring Ra.

Chapter XVB. 2. A Hymn of praise to Ra-Harmachis when he setteth in the western horizon of heaven.

Vignette: The deceased adoring Ra.

Chapter XVB. 3. Another hidden Chapter of the tuat, and of passing through the secret places of the underworld, and of seeing the Disk when he setteth in Amentet.

Vignette: The god or the deceased spearing a serpent.

Chapter XVIA. [No text: being only a vignette.]

{p. xxxiii}

Scene of the worship of the rising sun by mythological beings.

Chapter XVIB. Without title or text.

Vignette: Scene of the worship of the setting sun by mythological beings.

Chapter XVII. Here begin the praises and glorifyings of coming out from, and going into, the underworld in the beautiful Amenta; of coming out by day, and of making transformations and of changing into any form which he pleaseth; of playing at draughts in the seh chamber; and of coming forth in the form of a living soul: to be said by the deceased after his death.

Vignette: The deceased playing at draughts; the deceased adoring the lion-gods of yesterday and to-day; the bier of Osiris with Isis and Nephthys at the foot and head respectively; and a number of mythological beings referred to in the text.

Chapter XVIII. Without title.

Vignette: The deceased adoring the groups of gods belonging to various cities.

Chapter XIX.* The Chapter of the crown(?) of victory.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter XX. Without title.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter XXI.* The Chapter of giving a mouth to a man in the underworld.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter XXII. The Chapter of giving a mouth to the deceased in the underworld.

Vignette: The guardian of the scales touching the mouth of the deceased.

Chapter XXIII. The Chapter of opening the mouth of the deceased in the underworld.

Vignette: The sem priest touching the mouth of the deceased with the instrument ###.

Chapter XXIV. The Chapter of bringing words of magical power to the deceased in the underworld.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter XXV. The Chapter of causing a man to remember his name in the underworld.

Vignette: A priest holding up ### before the deceased.

Chapter XXVI. The Chapter of giving a heart to the deceased in the underworld.

Vignette: Anubis holding out a heart to the deceased in the underworld.

Chapter XXVII. The Chapter of not allowing the heart of a man to be taken from him in the underworld.

{p. xxxiv}

Vignette: A man tying a heart to the statue of the deceased.[1]

Chapter XXVIII. [The Chapter of] not allowing the heart of a man to be taken from him in the underworld.

Vignette: The deceased with his left hand touching the heart upon his breast, kneeling before a demon holding a knife.

Chapter XXIXA. The Chapter of not carrying away the heart of a man in the underworld.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter XXIXB. Another Chapter of a heart of carnelian.

Vignette: The deceased sitting on a chair before his heart, which rests on a stand.

Chapter XXXA. The Chapter of not allowing the heart of a man to be driven away from him in the underworld.

Vignette: A heart.[2]

Chapter XXXB. The Chapter of not allowing the heart of a man to be driven away from him in the underworld.

Vignette: The deceased being weighed against his heart in the balance in the presence of Osiris, "the great god, the prince of eternity."

Chapter XXXI. The Chapter of repulsing the crocodile which cometh to carry the magical words ### from a man in the underworld.

Vignette: The deceased spearing a crocodile.

Chapter XXXII. [The Chapter of] coming to carry the magical words from a man in the underworld.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter XXXIII. The Chapter of repulsing reptiles of all kinds.

Vignette: The deceased attacking four snakes with a knife in each hand.

Chapter XXXIV. The Chapter of a man not being bitten by a serpent in the hall of the tomb.[3]

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter XXXV. The Chapter of not being eaten by worms in the underworld.

{p. xxxv}

Vignette: Three serpents.

Chapter XXXVI. The Chapter of repulsing the tortoise. (apsai).

Vignette: The deceased spearing a beetle.[1]

Chapter XXXVII. The Chapter of repulsing the two merti.

Vignette: Two uræi, which represent the two eyes of Ra.

Chapter XXXVIIIA. The Chapter of living upon the air which is in the underworld.

Vignette: The deceased holding a sail, emblematic of air.

Chapter XXXVIIIB. The Chapter of living upon air and of repulsing the two merti.

Vignette: The deceased attacking three serpents, a knife in his right hand and a sail in his left.

Chapter XXXIX. The Chapter of repulsing the serpent in the underworld.

Vignette: The deceased spearing a serpent.

Chapter XL. The Chapter of repulsing the eater of the ass.

Vignette: The deceased spearing a serpent which is biting the neck of all ass.

Chapter XLI. The Chapter of doing away with the wounding of the eyes in the underworld.

Vignette: The deceased holding a knife in the right hand and a roll in the left.

Chapter XLII. [The Chapter] of doing away with slaughter in Suten-henen. Vignette: A man holding a serpent.[2]

Chapter XLIII. The Chapter of not allowing the head of a man to be cut off from him in the underworld.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter XLIV. The Chapter of not dying a second time.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter XLV. The Chapter of not seeing corruption.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter XLVI. The Chapter of not decaying, and of living in the underworld.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter XLVII. The Chapter of not carrying off the place (or seat) of the throne from a man in the underworld.

{p. xxxvi}

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter XLVIII. [The Chapter of a man coming against] his enemies.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter XLIX.* The Chapter of a man coming forth against his enemies in the underworld.

Vignette: A man standing with a staff in his hand.

Chapter L. The Chapter of not going in to the divine block a second time.

Vignette: A man standing with his back to the block.[1]

Chapter LI. The Chapter of not walking upside down in the underworld.

Vignette: A man standing.

Chapter LII.* The Chapter of not eating filth in the underworld.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter LIII. The Chapter of not allowing a man to eat filth and to drink polluted water in the underworld.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter LIV. The Chapter of giving air in the underworld.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter LV. Another Chapter of giving air.

Vignette: The deceased holding a sail in each hand.[2]

Chapter LVI. The Chapter of snuffing the air in the earth.

Vignette: The deceased kneeling, and holding a sail to his nose.

Chapter LVII. The Chapter of snuffing the air and of gaining the mastery over the waters in the underworld.

Vignette: A man holding a sail, and standing in a running stream.

Chapter LVIII.* The Chapter of snuffing the air and of gaining power over

the water which is in the underworld.

Vignette: The deceased holding a sail.

Chapter LIX. The Chapter of snuffing the air and of gaining power over

the water which is in the underworld.

Vignette: The deceased standing with his hands extended.

Chapters LX., LXI., LXII. The Chapters of drinking water in the under

world.

{p. xxxvii}

Vignettes: The deceased holding a lotus; the deceased holding his soul in his arms; and the deceased scooping water into his mouth from a pool.

Chapter LXIIIA. The Chapter of drinking water, and of not being burnt with fire.

Vignette: The deceased drinking water from a stream.

Chapter LXIIIB. The Chapter of not being boiled (or scalded) in the water.

Vignette: The deceased standing by the side of two flames.

Chapter LXIV. The Chapter of coming forth by day in the underworld.

Vignette: The deceased adoring the disk, which stands on the top of a tree.

Chapter LXV. [The Chapter of] coming forth by day, and of gaining the mastery over foes.

Vignette: The deceased adoring Ra.

Chapter LXVI. [The Chapter of] coming forth by day.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter LXVII. The Chapter of opening the doors of the tuat and of coming forth by day.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter LXVIII. The Chapter of coming forth by day.

Vignette: The deceased kneeling by the side of a tree before a goddess.[1]

Chapter LXIX. Another Chapter.

Chapter LXX. Another Chapter.

Chapter LXXI. The Chapter of coming forth by day.

Vignette: The deceased with both hands raised in adoration kneeling before the goddess Meh-urt.[2]

Chapter LXXII. The Chapter of coming forth by day and of passing through the hall of the tomb.

Vignette: The deceased adoring three gods.

Chapter LXXIII. (This Chapter is now known as Chapter IX.)

Chapter LXXIV. The Chapter of lifting up the legs and coming forth upon earth.

Vignette: The deceased standing upright.

Chapter LXXV. The Chapter of travelling to Annu (On), and of receiving an abode there.

{p. xxxviii}

Vignette: The deceased standing before the door of a tomb.

Chapter LXXVI. The Chapter of [a man] changing into whatsoever form he pleaseth.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter LXXVII. The Chapter of changing into a golden hawk.

Vignette: A golden hawk

Chapter LXXVIII. The Chapter of changing into a divine hawk.

Vignette: A hawk.

Chapter LXXIX. The Chapter of being among the company of the gods, and of becoming a prince among the divine powers.

Vignette: The deceased adoring three gods.

Chapter LXXX. The Chapter of changing into a god, and of sending forth light into darkness.

Vignette: A god.

Chapter LXXXIA. The Chapter of changing into a lily.

Vignette: A lily.

Chapter LXXXIB. The Chapter of changing into a lily.

Vignette: The head of the deceased rising out of a lily.

Chapter LXXXII. The Chapter of changing into Ptah, of eating cakes, of drinking ale, of unloosing the body, and of living in Annu (On).

Vignette: The God Ptah in a shrine.

Chapter LXXXIII. The Chapter of changing into a phœnix.

Vignette: A phoenix.

Chapter LXXXIV. The Chapter of changing into a heron.

Vignette: A heron.

Chapter LXXXV. The Chapter of changing into a soul, of not going into

the place of punishment: whosoever knoweth it will never perish.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter LXXXVI. The Chapter of changing into a swallow.

Vignette: A swallow.

Chapter LXXXVII. The Chapter of changing into the serpent Sa-ta.

Vignette: A serpent.

Chapter LXXXVIII. The Chapter of changing into a crocodile.

Vignette: A crocodile.

Chapter LXXXIX. The Chapter of making the soul to be united to its body.

Vignette: The soul visiting the body, which lies on a bier.

{p. xxxix}

Chapter XC. The Chapter of giving memory to a man.

Vignette: A jackal.

Chapter XCI. 'The Chapter of not allowing the soul of a man to be shut in.

Vignette: A soul standing on a pedestal.

Chapter XCII. The Chapter of opening the tomb to the soul and shadow of a man, so that he may come forth and may gain power over his legs.

Vignette: The soul of the deceased flying through the door of the tomb.

Chapter XCIII. The Chapter of not sailing to the east in the underworld.

Vignette: The hands of a buckle grasping the deceased by his left arm.

Chapter XCIV. The Chapter of praying for an ink jar and palette.

Vignette: The deceased sitting before a stand, upon which are an ink jar and palette.

Chapter XCV. The Chapter of being near Thoth.

Vignette: The deceased standing before Thoth.

Chapters XCVI., XCVII. The Chapter of being near Thoth, and of giving . . . . . . .

Vignette: The deceased standing near Thoth.

Chapter XCVIII. [The title of this chapter is incomplete.]

Chapter XCIX. The Chapter of bringing a boat in the underworld.

Vignette: A boat.

Chapter C. The Chapter of making perfect the khu, and of making it to enter into the boat of Ra, together with his divine followers.

Vignette: A boat containing a company of gods.

Chapter CL.* The Chapter of protecting the boat of Ra.

Vignette: The deceased in the boat with Ra.

Chapter CII. The Chapter of going into the boat of Ra.

Vignette: The deceased in the boat with Ra.

Chapter CIII. The Chapter of being in the following of Hathor.

Vignette: The deceased standing behind Hathor.

Chapter CIV. The Chapter of sitting among the great gods.

Vignette: The deceased seated between two gods.

Chapter CV. The Chapter of satisfying the ka.

Vignette: The deceased burning incense before his ka.

Chapter CVI. The Chapter of causing joy each day to a man in Het-ka-Ptah (Memphis).

Vignette: An altar with meat and drink offerings.

Chapter CVII.* The Chapter of going into, and of coming forth from, the

{p. xl}

gate of the gods of the west among the followers of the god, and of knowing the souls of Amentet.

Vignette: Three deities: Ra, Sebek, and Hathor.

Chapter CVIII. The Chapter of knowing the souls of the West.

Vignette: Three deities: Tmu, Sebek, and Hathor.

Chapter CIX. The Chapter of knowing the souls of the East.

Vignette: The deceased making adoration before Ra-Heru-khuti.

Chapter CX. The beginning of the Chapters of the Fields of Peace, and of the Chapters of coming forth by day, and of going into, and of coming forth from, the underworld, and of attaining unto the Fields of Reeds, and of being in the Fields of Peace.

Vignette: The Fields of Peace.

Chapter CXI. (This Chapter is now known as Chapter CVIII.)

Chapter CXII. The Chapter of knowing the souls of Pe.

Vignette: Horus, Mesthi, and Ha-pi.

Chapter CXIII. The Chapter of knowing the souls of Nekhen.

Vignette: Horus, Tuamautef, and Qebhsennuf.

Chapter CXIV. The Chapter of knowing the souls of Khemennu (Hermopolis).

Vignette: Three ibis-headed gods.

Chapter CXV.* The Chapter of coming forth to heaven, of passing through the hall of the tomb, and of knowing the souls of Annu.

Vignette: The deceased adoring Thoth, Sau and Tmu.

Chapter CXVI. [The Chapter of] knowing the souls of Annu.

Vignette: The deceased adoring three ibis-headed gods.

Chapter CXVII. The Chapter of taking a way in Re-stau.

Vignette: The deceased, holding a staff in his hand, ascending the western hills.

Chapter CXVIII. The Chapter of coming forth from Re-stau.

Vignette: The deceased holding a staff in his left hand.

Chapter CXIX. The Chapter of knowing the name of Osiris, and of going into, and of coming forth from, Re-stau.

Vignette: The deceased adoring Osiris.

Chapter CXX. (This Chapter is now known as Chapter XII.)

Chapter CXXI. (This Chapter is now known as Chapter XIII.)

Chapter CXXII.* The Chapter of the deceased going in after coming forth from the underworld.

{p. xli}

Vignette: The deceased bowing before his tomb, which is on a hill.

Chapter CXXIII. The Chapter of going into the great house (i.e., tomb).

Vignette: The soul of the deceased standing before a tomb.

Chapter CXXIV. The Chapter of going in to the princes of Osiris.

Vignette: The deceased adoring Mestha, Hapi, Tuamautef and Qebbsennuf.

Chapter CXXV. The words which are to be uttered by the deceased when he cometh to the hall of Maati, which separateth him from his sins, and which maketh him to see God, the Lord of mankind.

Vignette: The hall of Maati, in which the heart of the deceased is being weighed in a balance in the presence of the great gods.

Chapter CXXVI. [Without title.]

Vignette: A lake of fire, at each corner of which sits an ape.

Chapter CXXVIIA. The book of the praise of the gods of the qerti.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CXXVIIB. The Chapter of the words to be spoken on going to the chiefs of Osiris, and of the praise of the gods who are leaders in the tuat.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CXXVIII.* The Chapter of praising Osiris.

Vignette: The deceased adoring three deities.

Chapter CXXIX. (This Chapter in now known as Chapter C.)

Chapter CXXX. The Chapter of making perfect the khu.

Vignette: The deceased standing between two boats.

Chapter CXXXI.* The Chapter of making a man go into heaven to the side of Ra.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CXXXII. The Chapter of making a man to go round about to see his house.

Vignette: A man standing before a house or tomb.

Chapter CXXXIII. The Chapter of making perfect the khu in the under world in the presence of the great company of the gods.

Vignette: The deceased adoring Ra, seated in a boat.

Chapter CXXXIV. The Chapter of entering into the boat of Ra, and of being among those who are in his train.

Vignette: The deceased adoring Shu, Tefnut, Seb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Horus, Hathor.

{p. xlii}

Theban version: list of chapters.

Chapter CXXXV.* Another Chapter, which is to be recited at the waxing of the moon [each] month.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CXXXVIA. The Chapter of sailing in the boat of Ra.

Vignette: The deceased standing with hands raised in adoration.

Chapter CXXXVIB. The Chapter of sailing in the great boat of Ra, to pass round the fiery orbit of the sun.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CXXXVIIA. The Chapter of kindling the fire which is to be made in the underworld.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CXXXVIIB. The Chapter of the deceased kindling the fire.

Vignette: The deceased seated, kindling a flame.

Chapter CXXXVIII. The Chapter of making the deceased to enter into Abydos.

Vignette: The deceased adoring the standard ###.

Chapter CXXXIX. (This Chapter is now known as Chapter CXXIII.)

Chapter CXL.* The Book which is to be recited in the second month of pert, when the utchat is full in the second month of pert.

Vignette: The deceased adoring Anpu, the utchat, and Ra.

Chapters CXLI-CXLIII. The Book which is to be recited by a man for his father and for his son at the festivals of Amentet. It will make him perfect before Ra and before the gods, and he shall dwell with them. It shall be recited on the ninth day of the festival.

Vignette: The deceased making offerings before a god.

Chapter CXLIV. The Chapter of going in.

Vignette: Seven pylons.

Chapter CXLVA. [Without title.]

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CXLVB. [The Chapter] of coming forth to the hidden pylons.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CXLVI. [The Chapter of] knowing the pylons in the house of Osiris in the Field of Aaru.

Vignette: A series of pylons guarded each by a god.

Chapter CXLVII. [A Chapter] to be recited by the deceased when he cometh to the first hall of Amentet.

{p. xliii}

Theban version: list of chapters.

Vignette: A series of doors, each guarded by a god.

Chapter CXLVIII. [The Chapter] of nourishing the khu in the underworld, and of removing him from every evil thing.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CXLIX. [Without title.]

Vignette: The divisions of the other world.

Chapter CL. [Without title.]

Vignette: Certain divisions of the other world.

Chapter CLI. [Without title.]

Vignette: Scene of the mummy chamber.

Chapter CLIA. [Chapter] of the hands of Anpu, the dweller in the sepulchral chamber, being upon the lord of life (i.e., the mummy).

Vignette: Anubis standing by the bier of the deceased.

Chapter CLIB. The Chapter of the chief of hidden things.

Vignette: A human head.

Chapter CLII. The Chapter of building a house in the earth.

Vignette: The deceased standing by the foundations of his house.

Chapter CLIIIA. The Chapter of coming forth from the net.

Vignette: A net being drawn by a number of men.

CLIIIB. The Chapter of coming forth from the fishing net.

Vignette: Three apes drawing a fishing net.

Chapter CLIV. The Chapter of not allowing the body of a man to decay in the tomb.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CLV. The Chapter of a Tet of gold to be placed on the neck of the khu.

Vignette: A Tet.

Chapter CLVI. The Chapter of a buckle of amethyst to be placed on the neck of the khu.

Vignette: A Buckle.

Chapter CLVII*. The Chapter of a vulture of gold to be placed on the neck of the khu.

Vignette: A vulture.

Chapter CLVIII.* The Chapter of a collar of gold to be placed on the neck of the khu.

Vignette: A collar.

{p. xliv}

Theban version: list of chapters.

Chapter CLIX.* The Chapter of a sceptre of mother-of-emerald to be placed on the neck of the khu.

Vignette: A sceptre.

Chapter CLX. [The Chapter] of placing a plaque of mother-of-emerald.

Vignette: A plaque.

Chapter CLXI. The Chapter of the opening of the doors of heaven by Thoth, etc.

Vignette: Thoth opening four doors.

Chapter CLXII.* The Chapter of causing heat to exist under the head of the khu.

Vignette: A cow.

Chapter CLXIII.* The Chapter of not allowing the body of a man to decay in the underworld.

Vignette: Two utchats, and a serpent on legs.

Chapter CLXIV.* Another Chapter.

Vignette: A three-headed goddess, winged, standing between two pigmies.

Chapter CLXV.* The Chapter of arriving in port, of not becoming unseen, and of making the body to germinate, and of satisfying it with the water of heaven.

Vignette: The god Min or Amsu with beetle's body, etc.

Chapter CLXVI. The Chapter of the pillow.

Vignette: A pillow.

Chapter CLXVII. The Chapter of bringing the utchat.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CLXVIIIA. [Without title.]

Vignette: The boats of the sun, etc.

Chapter CLXVIIIB. [Without title.]

Vignette: Men pouring libations, gods, etc.

Chapter CLXIX. The Chapter of setting up the offering chamber.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CLXX. The Chapter of the roof of the offering chamber.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CLXXI. The Chapter of tying the abu.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CLXXII. Here begin the praises which are to be recited in the underworld.

{p. xlv}

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CLXXIII. Addresses by Horus to his father.

Vignette: The deceased adoring Osiris.

Chapter CLXXIV. The Chapter of causing the khu to come forth from the great gate of heaven.

Vignette: The deceased coming forth from a door.

Chapter CLXXV. The Chapter of not dying a second time in the underworld.

Vignette: The deceased adoring an ibis-headed god.

Chapter CLXXVI. The Chapter of not dying a second time in the underworld.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CLXXVII. The Chapter of raising up the khu, and of making the soul to live in the underworld.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CLXXVIII. The Chapter of raising up the body, of making the eyes to see, of making the ears to hear, of setting firm the head and of giving it its powers.

This Chapter has no Vignette.

Chapter CLXXIX. The Chapter of coming forth from yesterday, of coming forth by day, and of praying with the hands.

This Chapter has no vignette.

Chapter CLXXX. The Chapter of coming forth by day, of praising Ra in Amentet, and of ascribing praise unto those who are in the tuat.

Vignette: The deceased adoring Ra.

Chapter CLXXXI. The Chapter of going in to the divine chiefs of Osiris who are the leaders in the tuat.

Vignette: The deceased adoring Osiris, etc.

Chapter CLXXXII. The Book of stablishing the backbone of Osiris, of giving breath to him whose heart is still, and of the repulse of the enemies of Osiris by Thoth.

Vignette: The deceased lying on a bier in a funeral chest, surrounded by various gods.

Chapter CLXXXIII. A hymn of praise to Osiris; ascribing to him glory, and to Un-nefer adoration.

Vignettes: The deceased, with hands raised in adoration, and the god Thoth.

Chapter CLXXXIV. The Chapter of being with Osiris.

Vignette: The deceased standing by the side of Osiris.

{p. xlvi}

Chapter CLXXXV. The ascription of praise to Osiris, and of adoration to the everlasting lord.

Vignette: The deceased making adoration to Osiris.

Chapter CLXXXVI. A hymn of praise to Hathor, mistress of Amentet, and to Meh-urt.

Vignette: The deceased approaching the mountain of the dead, from which appears the goddess Hathor.

The version akin to was in vogue from the XXth to the XXVIth dynasty, i.e., about B.C. 1200-550, and was, like the Theban, usually written upon papyrus. The chapters have no fixed order, and are written in lines in the hieratic character; the rubrics, catchwords, and certain names, like that of Apep, are in red. The vignettes are roughly traced in black outline, and are without ornament; but at the ends of the best papyri well-painted scenes, in which the deceased is depicted making adoration to Ra or Horus, are frequently found. The names and titles of the deceased are written in perpendicular rows of hieroglyphics. The character of the handwriting changes in different periods: in the papyrus of the Princess Nesi-Khonsu (about B.C. 1000) it is bold and clear, and much resembles the handsome style of that found in the great Harris papyrus;[1] but within a hundred years, apparently, the fine flowing style disappears, and the writing becomes much smaller and is somewhat cramped; the process of reduction in size continues until the XXVIth dynasty, about B.C. 550, when the small and coarsely written characters are frequently difficult to decipher. The papyri upon which such texts are written vary in length from three to about thirty feet, and in width from nine to eighteen inches; as we approach the period of the XXVIth dynasty the texture becomes coarser and the material is darker in colour. The Theban papyri of this period are lighter in colour than those found in the north of Egypt and are less brittle; they certainly suffer less in unrolling.

{p. xlvii}

The Saïte and Ptolemaic version was in vogue from the period of the XXVIth dynasty, about B.C. 550, to probably the end of the rule of the Ptolemies over Egypt. The chapters have a fixed and definite order, and it seems that a careful revision of the whole work was carried out, and that several alterations of an important nature were made in it. A number of chapters which are not found in older papyri appear during this period; but these are not necessarily new inventions, for, as the kings of the XXVIth dynasty are renowned for having revived the arts and sciences and literature of the earliest dynasties, it is quite possible that many or most of the additional chapters are nothing more than new editions of extracts from older works. Many copies of this version were written by scribes who did not understand what they were copying, and omissions of signs, words, and even whole passages are very common; in papyri of the Ptolemaic period it is impossible to read many passages without the help of texts of earlier periods. The papyri of this period vary in colour from a light to a dark brown, and consist usually of layers composed of strips of the plant measuring about 2 inches in width and 14½ to 16 inches in length. Fine examples of Books of the Dead of this version vary in length from about 24½ feet (B.M. No. 10,479, written for the utcheb Heru, the son of the utcheb Tchehra) to 60 feet. Hieroglyphic texts are written in black, in perpendicular rows between rules, and hieratic texts in horizontal lines; both the hieroglyphics and the hieratic characters lack the boldness of the writing of the Theban period, and exhibit the characteristics of a conventional hand. The titles of the chapters, catchwords, the words ### which introduce a variant reading, etc., are sometimes written in red. The vignettes are usually traced in black outline, and form a kind of continuous border above the text. In good papyri, however, the scene forming the XVIth Chapter, the scene of the Fields of Peace (Chapter CX.), the judgment scene (Chapter CXXV.), the vignette of Chapter CXLVIII., the scene forming Chapter CLI. (the sepulchral chamber), and the vignette of Chapter CLXI., fill the whole width of the inscribed portion of the papyrus, and are painted in somewhat crude colours. In some papyri the disk on the head of the hawk of Horus is covered with gold leaf, instead of being painted red as is usual in older papyri. In the Græco-Roman period both texts and vignettes are very carelessly executed, and it is evident that they were written and drawn by ignorant workmen in the quickest and most careless way possible. In this period also certain passages of the text were copied in hieratic and Demotic upon small pieces of papyri which were buried with portions of the bodies of the dead, and upon narrow bandages of coarse linen in which they were swathed.

{p. xlviii}

THE LEGEND OF OSIRIS.

The chief features of the Egyptian religion remained unchanged from the Vth and VIth dynasties down to the period when the Egyptians embraced Christianity, after the preaching of St. Mark the Apostle in Alexandria, A.D. 69, so firmly had the early beliefs taken possession of the Egyptian mind; and the Christians in Egypt, or Copts as they are commonly called, the racial descendants of the ancient Egyptians, seem never to have succeeded in divesting themselves of the superstitious and weird mythological conceptions which they inherited from their heathen ancestors. It is not necessary here to repeat the proofs, of this fact which M. Amélineau has brought together,[1] or to adduce evidence from the lives of the saints, martyrs and ascetics; but it is of interest to note in passing that the translators of the New Testament into Coptic rendered the Greek {Greek a!'dhs} by ###, amenti, the name which the ancient Egyptians gave to the abode of man after death,[3] and that the Copts peopled it with beings whose prototypes are found on the ancient monuments.

The chief gods mentioned in the pyramid texts are identical with those whose names are given on tomb, coffin and papyrus in the latest dynasties; and if the names of the great cosmic gods, such as Ptah and Khnemu, are of rare occurrence, it should be remembered that the gods of the dead must naturally occupy the chief place in this literature which concerns the dead. Furthermore, we find that the doctrine of eternal life and of the resurrection of a glorified or transformed body, based upon the ancient story of the resurrection of Osiris after a cruel death and horrible mutilation, inflicted by the powers of evil, was the same in all periods, and that the legends of the most ancient times were accepted without material alteration or addition in the texts of the later dynasties.

{p. xlix}

The story of Osiris is nowhere found in a connected form in Egyptian literature, but everywhere, and in texts of all periods, the life, sufferings, death and resurrection of Osiris are accepted as facts universally admitted. Greek writers have preserved in their works traditions concerning this god, and to Plutarch in particular we owe an important version of the legend as current in his day. It is clear that in some points he errs, but this was excusable in dealing with a series of traditions already some four thousand years old.[1] According to this writer the goddess Rhea [Nut], the wife of Helios [Ra], was beloved by Kronos [Seb]. When Helios discovered the intrigue, he cursed his wife and declared that she should not be delivered of her child in any month or in any year. Then the god Hermes, who also loved Rhea, played at tables with Selene and won from her the seventieth part of each day of the year, which, added together, made five whole days. These he joined to the three hundred and sixty days of which the year then consisted.[2] Upon the first of these five days was Osiris brought forth;[3] and at the moment of his birth a voice was heard to proclaim that the lord of creation was born. In course of time he became king of Egypt, and devoted himself to civilizing his subjects and to teaching them the craft of the husbandman; he established a code of laws and bade men worship the gods. Having made Egypt peaceful and flourishing, he set out to instruct the other nations of the world. During his absence his wife Isis so well ruled the state that Typhon [Set], the evil one, could do no harm to the realm of Osiris. When Osiris came again, Typhon plotted with seventy-two comrades, and with Aso, the queen of Ethiopia, to slay him; and secretly got the measure of the body of Osiris, and made ready a fair chest, which was brought into his banqueting hall when Osiris was present together with other guests. By a ruse Osiris was induced to lie down in the chest, which was immediately closed by Typhon and his fellow conspirators, who conveyed it to the Tanaitic mouth of the Nile.[4] These things happened on the seventeenth day of

{p. l}

the month Hathor,[1] when Osiris was in the twenty-eighth year either of his reign or of his age. The first to know of what had happened were the Pans and Satyrs, who dwelt hard by Panopolis; and finally the news was brought to Isis at Coptos, whereupon she cut off a lock of hair[2] and put on mourning apparel. She then set out in deep grief to find her husband's body, and in the course of her wanderings she discovered that Osiris had been united with her sister Nephthys, and that Anubis, the offspring of the union, had been exposed by his mother as soon as born. Isis tracked him by the help of dogs, and bred him up to be her guard and attendant. Soon after she learned that the chest had been carried by the sea to Byblos, where it had been gently laid by the waves among the branches of a tamarisk tree ({Greek e?pei'khj tini`}), which in a very short time had grown to a magnificent size and had enclosed the chest within its trunk. The king of the country, admiring the tree, cut it down and made a pillar for the roof of his house of that part which contained the body of Osiris. When Isis heard of this she went to Byblos, and, gaining admittance to the palace through the report of the royal maidens, she was made nurse to one of the king's sons, Instead of nursing the child in the ordinary way, Isis gave him her finger to suck, and each night she put him into the fire to consume his mortal parts, changing herself the while into a swallow and bemoaning her fate. But the queen once happened to see her son in flames, and cried out, and thus deprived him of immortality. Then Isis told the queen her story and begged for the pillar which supported the roof. This she cut open, and took out the chest and her husband's body,[3] and her lamentations were so terrible that one of the royal children died of fright. She then brought the

{p. li}

chest by ship to Egypt, where she opened it and embraced the body of her husband, weeping bitterly. Then she sought her son Horus in Buto, in Lower Egypt, first having hidden the chest in a secret place. But Typhon, one night hunting by the light of the moon, found the chest, and, recognizing the body, tore it into fourteen pieces, which he scattered up and down throughout the land. When Isis heard of this she took a boat made of papyrus[1]--a plant abhorred by crocodiles--and sailing about she gathered the fragments of Osiris's body.[2] Wherever she found one, there she built a tomb. But now Horus had grown up, and being encouraged to the use of arms by Osiris, who returned from the other world, he went out to do battle with Typhon, the murderer of his father. The fight lasted many days, and Typhon was made captive. But Isis, to whom the care of the prisoner was given, so far from aiding her son Horus, set Typhon at liberty. Horus in his rage tore from her head the royal diadem; but Thoth gave her a helmet in the shape of a cow's head. In two other battles fought between Horus and Typhon, Horus was the victor.[3]

This is the story of the sufferings and death of Osiris as told by Plutarch. Osiris was the god through whose sufferings and death the Egyptian hoped that his body might rise again in some transformed or glorified shape, and to him who had conquered death and had become the king of the other world the Egyptian appealed in prayer for eternal life through his victory and power. In every funeral inscription known to us, from the pyramid texts down to the roughly written prayers upon coffins of the Roman period, what is done for Osiris is done also for the deceased, the state and condition of Osiris are the state and condition of

{p. lii}

the deceased; in a word, the deceased is identified with Osiris. If Osiris liveth for ever, the deceased will live for ever; if Osiris dieth, then will the deceased perish.[1]

{p. liii}

Later in the XVIIIth, or early in the XIXth dynasty, we find Osiris called "the king of eternity, the lord of everlastingness, who traverseth millions of years in the duration of his life, the firstborn son of the womb of Nut, begotten of Seb, the prince of gods and men, the god of gods, the king of kings, the lord of lords, the prince of princes, the governor of the world, from the womb of Nut, whose existence is for everlasting,[1] Unnefer of many forms and of many attributes, Tmu in Annu, the lord of Akert,[2] the only one, the lord of the land on each side of the celestial Nile."[3]

In the XXVIth dynasty and later there grew up a class of literature

{p. liv}

represented by such works as "The Book of Respirations,"[1] "The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys,"[2] "The Festival Songs of Isis and Nephthys,"[3] "The Litanies of Seker,"[4] and the like, the hymns and prayers of which are addressed to Osiris rather as the god of the dead and type of the resurrection[5] than as the successor of the great cosmic god Tmu-Ra. He is called "the soul that liveth again,"[6] "the being who becometh a child again," "the firstborn son of unformed matter, the lord of multitudes of aspects and forms, the lord of time and bestower of years, the lord of life for all eternity."[7] He is the "giver of life from the beginning;"[8] "life springs up to us from his destruction,"[9] and the germ which proceeds from him engenders life in both the dead and the living.[10]

{p. lv}

THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL LIFE.

The ideas and beliefs which the Egyptians held in reference to a future existence are not readily to be defined, owing to the many difficulties in translating religious texts and in harmonizing the statements made in different works of different periods. Some confusion of details also seems to have existed in the minds of the Egyptians themselves, which cannot be cleared up until the literature of the subject has been further studied and until more texts have been published. That the Egyptians believed in a future life of some kind is certain; and the doctrine of eternal existence is the leading feature of their religion, and is enunciated with the utmost clearness in all periods. Whether this belief had its origin at Annu, the chief city of the worship of the sun-god, is not certain, but is very probable; for already in the pyramid texts we find the idea of everlasting life associated with the sun's existence, and Pepi I. is said to be "the Giver of life, stability, power, health, and all joy of heart, like the Sun, living for ever."[1] The sun rose each day in renewed strength and vigour, and the renewal of youth in a future life was the aim and object of every Egyptian believer. To this end all the religious literature of Egypt was composed. Let us take the following extracts from texts of the VIth dynasty as illustrations:--

Hail Unas, not hast thou gone, behold, [as] one dead, thou hast gone [as] one living

to sit upon the throne of Osiris.[2]

{p. lvi}

O Ra-Turn, cometh to thee thy son, cometh to thee Unas . . . . . thy son is this of

thy body for ever.[1]

O Turn, thy son is this Osiris; thou hast given his sustenance and he liveth; he liveth,

and liveth Unas this; not dieth he, not dieth Unas this.[2]

Setteth Unas in life in Amenta.[3]

He[4] hath eaten the knowledge of god every, [his] existence is for all eternity

and to everlasting in his sah[5] this; what he willeth he doeth, [what] he hateth

not doth he do.[6]

{p. lvii}

Live life, not shalt thou die.[1]

In the papyrus of Ani the deceased is represented as having come to a place remote and far away, where there is neither air to breathe nor water to drink, but where he holds converse with Tmu. In answer to his question, "How long have I to live?"[2], the great god of Annu answers:--

Thou shalt exist for millions of millions of years, a period of millions of years.

In the LXXXIVth Chapter, as given in the same papyrus, the infinite duration of the past and future existence of the soul, as well as its divine nature, is proclaimed by Ani in the words:--

I am Shu [the god] of unformed matter. My soul is God, my soul is eternity.[3]

When the deceased identifies himself with Shu, he makes the period of his existence coeval with that of Tmu-Ra, i.e., he existed before Osiris and the other gods of his company. These two passages prove the identity of the belief in eternal life in the XVIIIth dynasty with that in the Vth and VIth dynasties.

But while we have this evidence of the Egyptian belief in eternal life, we are nowhere told that man's corruptible body will rise again; indeed, the following extracts show that the idea prevailed that the body lay in the earth while the soul or spirit lived in heaven.

Soul to heaven, body to earth.[4] (Vth dynasty.)

{p. lvii}

Thy essence is in heaven, thy body to earth.[1] (VIth dynasty.)

Heaven hath thy soul, earth hath thy body.[2] (Ptolemaic period.)

There is, however, no doubt that from first to last the Egyptians firmly believed that besides the soul there was some other element of the man that would rise again. The preservation of the corruptible body too was in some way connected with the life in the world to come, and its preservation was necessary to ensure eternal life; otherwise the prayers recited to this end would have been futile, and the time honoured custom of mummifying the dead would have had no meaning. The never ending existence of the soul is asserted in a passage quoted above without reference to Osiris; but the frequent mention of the uniting of his bones, and of the gathering together of his members,[3] and the doing away with all corruption from his body, seems to show that the pious Egyptian connected these things with the resurrection of his own body in some form, and he argued that what had been done for him who was proclaimed to be giver and source of life must be necessary for mortal man.

The physical body of man considered as a whole was called khat, a word which seems to be connected with the idea of something which is liable to decay. The word is also applied to the mummified body in the tomb, as we know from the words "My body (khat) is buried."[4] Such a body was attributed to the god Osiris;" in the CLXIInd Chapter of the Book of the Dead "his great

{p. lix}

divine body rested in Annu."[1] In this respect the god and the deceased were on an equality. As we have seen above, the body neither leaves the tomb nor reappears on earth; yet its preservation was necessary. Thus the deceased addresses Tmu[2]: "Hail to thee, O my father Osiris, I have come and I have embalmed this my flesh so that my body may not decay. I am whole, even as my father Khepera was whole, who is to me the type of that which passeth not away. Come then, O Form, and give breath unto me, O lord of breath, O thou who art greater than thy compeers. Stablish thou me, and form thou me, O thou who art lord of the grave. Grant thou to me to endure for ever, even as thou didst grant unto thy father Tmu to endure; and his body neither passed away nor decayed. I have not done that which is hateful unto thee, nay, I have spoken that which thy ka loveth: repulse thou me not, and cast thou me not behind thee, O Tmu, to decay, even as thou doest unto every god and unto every goddess and unto every beast and creeping thing which perisheth when his soul hath gone forth from him after his death, and which falleth in pieces after his decay . . . . . Homage to thee, O my father Osiris, thy flesh suffered no decay, there were no worms in thee, thou didst not crumble away, thou didst not wither away, thou didst not become corruption and worms; and I myself am Khepera, I shall possess my flesh for ever and ever, I shall not decay, I shall not crumble away, I shall not wither away, I shall not become corruption."

But the body does not lie in the tomb inoperative, for by the prayers and ceremonies on the day of burial it is endowed with the power of changing into a sahu, or spiritual body. Thus we have such phrases as, "I germinate like the plants,"[3] "My flesh germinateth,"[4] "I exist, I exist, I live, I live, I germinate, I germinate,"[5] "thy soul liveth, thy body germinateth by the command of Ra

{p. lx}

himself without diminution, and without defect, like unto Ra for ever and ever."[1] The word sahu though at times written with the determinative of a mummy lying on a bier like khat, "body," indicates a body which has obtained a degree of knowledge[2] and power and glory whereby it becomes henceforth lasting and incorruptible. The body which has become a sahu has the power of associating with the soul and of holding converse with it. In this form it can ascend into heaven and dwell with the gods, and with the sahu of the gods, and with the souls of the righteous. In the pyramid texts we have these passages:--

Rise up thou Teti, this. Stand up thou mighty one being strong. Sit thou

with the gods, do thou that which did Osiris in the great house in Annu.

Thou hast received thy sah, not shall be fettered thy foot in heaven, not

shalt thou be turned back upon earth.[3]

Hail to thee, Teta, on this thy day [when] thou art standing before Ra [as]

{p. lxi}

he cometh from the cast, [when] thou art endued with this thy sah among the souls.[1]

[His] duration of life is eternity, his limit of life is everlastingness in his sah.[2]

I am a sah with his soul.[3]

In the late edition of the Book of the Dead published by Lepsius the deceased is said to " look upon his body and to rest upon his sahu,"[4] and souls are said "to enter into their sahu";[5] and a passage extant both in this and the older Theban edition makes the deceased to receive the sahu of the god Osiris.[6] But that Egyptian writers at times confused the khat with the sahu is clear from a passage in the Book of Respirations, where it is said, "Hail Osiris, thy name endureth, thy body is stablished, thy sahu germinateth";[7] in other texts the word "germinate" is applied only to the natural body.

In close connection with the natural and spiritual bodies stood the heart, or rather that part of it which was the seat of the power of life and the fountain of good and evil thoughts. And in addition to the natural and spiritual bodies, man also bad an abstract individuality or personality endowed with all his characteristic attributes. This abstract personality had an absolutely independent existence. It could move freely from place to place, separating itself from, or uniting itself to,

{p. lxii}

the body at will, and also enjoying life with the gods in heaven.This was the ka,[1] a word which at times conveys the meanings of its Coptic equivalent {Coptic kw}, and of {Greek ei?'dwlon}, image, genius, double, character, disposition, and mental attributes. The funeral offerings of meat, cakes, ale, wine, unguents, etc., were intended for the ka; the scent of the burnt incense was grateful to it. The ka dwelt in the man's statue just as the ka of a god inhabited the statue of the god. In this respect the ka seems to be identical with the sekhem or image. In the remotest times the tombs had special chambers wherein the ka was worshipped and received offerings. The priesthood numbered among its body an order of men who bore the name of "priests of the ka and who performed services in honour of the ka in the "ka chapel".

In the text of Unas the deceased is said to be "happy with his ka"[2] in the next world, and his ka is joined unto his body in "the great dwelling"; [3] his body

{p. lxiii}

having been buried in the lowest chamber, "his ka cometh forth to him."[1] Of Pepi I. it is said:--

Washed is thy ka, sitteth thy ka [and] it eateth bread with thee unceasingly

forever.'[2]

Thou art pure, thy ka is pure, thy soul is pure, thy form is pure.[3]

The ka, as we have seen, could eat food, and it was necessary to provide food for it. In the XIIth dynasty and in later periods the gods are entreated to grant meat and drink to the ka of the deceased; and it seems as if the Egyptians thought that the future welfare of the spiritual body depended upon the maintenance of a constant supply of sepulchral offerings. When circumstances rendered it impossible to continue the material supply of food, the ka fed upon the offerings painted on the walls of the tomb, which were transformed into suitable nourishment by means of the prayers of the living. When there were neither material offerings nor painted similitudes to feed upon, it seems as if the ka must have perished; but the texts are not definite on this point.

The following is a specimen of the ka's petition for food written in the XVIIIth dynasty:--

"May the gods grant that I go into and come forth from my tomb, may the Majesty refresh its shade, may I drink water from my cistern every day, may all my limbs grow, may Hapi give unto me bread and flowers of all kinds in their season, may I pass over my estate every day without, ceasing, may my soul

{p. lxiv}

alight upon the branches of the groves which I have planted, may I make myself cool beneath my sycamores, may I eat the bread which they provide. May I have my mouth that I may speak therewith like the followers of Horus, may I come forth to heaven, may I descend to earth, may I never be shut out upon the road, may there never be done unto me that which my soul abhorreth, let not my soul be imprisoned, but may I be among the venerable and favoured ones, may I plough my lands in the Field of Aaru, may I arrive at the Field of Peace, may one come out to me with vessels of ale and cakes and bread of the lords of eternity, may I receive meat from the altars of the great, I the ka of the prophet Amsu."[1]

To that part of man which beyond all doubt was believed to enjoy an eternal existence in heaven in a state of glory, the Egyptians gave the name ba, a word which means something like "sublime," "noble," and which has always hitherto been translated by "soul." The ba is not incorporeal, for although it dwells in the ka, and is in some respects, like the heart, the principle of life in man, still it possesses both substance and form: in form it is depicted as a human-headed hawk, and in nature and substance it is stated to be exceedingly refined or ethereal. It revisited the body in the tomb and re-animated it, and conversed with it; it could take upon itself any shape that it pleased; and it had the power of passing into heaven and of dwelling with the perfected souls there. It was eternal. As the ba was closely associated with the ka, it partook of the funeral offerings, and in one aspect of its existence at least it was liable to decay if not properly and sufficiently nourished. In the pyramid texts the permanent dwelling place of the ba or soul is heaven with the gods, whose life it shares

Behold Unas cometh forth on day this in the form exact of

a soul living.[2]

{p. lxv}

Their soul[1] is in Unas.[2]

Standeth thy soul among the gods.[3]

Hail, Pepi this! cometh to thee the eye of Horus, it speaketh with thee.

Cometh to thee thy soul which is among the gods.[4]

Pure is thy soul among the gods.[5]

As liveth Osiris, and as liveth the soul in Netat, so liveth Pepi this.[6]

It[7] placeth thy soul Pepi this among the greater and lesser cycles of the gods in

the form of the uræi [which] are on thy brow.[8]

{p. lxvi}

Behold Pepi this, thy soul is the soul of Annu; behold thy soul is the soul

of Nekhen; behold thy soul is the soul of Pe; behold thy soul is a star living, behold,

among its brethren.[1]

In connection with the ka and ba must be mentioned the khaibit or shadow of the man, which the Egyptians regarded as a part of the human economy. It may be compared with the {Greek skia'} and umbra of the Greeks and Romans. It was supposed to have an entirely independent existence and to be able to separate itself from the body; it was free to move wherever it pleased, and, like the ka and ba, it partook of the funeral offerings in the tomb, which it visited at will. The mention of the shade, whether of a god or man, in the pyramid texts is unfrequent, and it is not easy to ascertain what views were held concerning it; but from the passage in the text of Unas,[2] where it is mentioned together with the souls and spirits and bones of the gods, it is evident that already at that early date its position in relation to man was well defined. From the collection of illustrations which Dr. Birch appended to his paper On the Shade or Shadow of the Dead,[3] it is quite clear that in later times at least the shadow was always associated with the soul and was believed to be always near it; and this view is

{p. lxvii}

supported by a passage in the XCIInd Chapter of the Book of the Dead,[1] where it is said:--

Let not be shut in my soul, let not be fettered my shadow, let be opened the way

for my soul and for my shadow, may it see the great god.

And again, in the LXXXIXth Chapter the deceased says:--

Another important and apparently eternal part of man was the khu, which, judging from the meaning of the word, may be defined as a "shining" or translucent, intangible casing or covering of the body, which is frequently depicted in the form of a mummy. For want of a better word khu has often been translated "shining one," "glorious," "intelligence," and the like, but in certain cases it may be tolerably well rendered by "spirit." The pyramid texts show us that the khu's of the gods lived in heaven, and thither wended the khu of a man as soon as ever the prayers said over the dead body enabled it to do so. Thus it is said, "Unas standeth with the khu's,"[3] and one of the gods is asked to "give him his sceptre among the khu's; "[4] when the souls of the gods enter into Unas, their khu's are with and round about him.[6] To king Teta it is said:--

{p. lxviii}

He[1] hath plucked his eye from himself, he hath given it unto thee to strengthen thee

therewith, that thou mayest prevail with it among the khu's.[2]

And again, when the god Khent-mennut-f has transported the king to heaven, the god Seb, who rejoices to meet him, is said to give him both hands and welcome him as a brother and to nurse him and to place him among the imperishable khu's.[1] In the XCIInd Chapter the deceased is made to pray for the liberation of his soul, shadow, and khu from the bondage of the tomb, and for deliverance from those "whose dwellings are hidden, who fetter the souls, who fetter souls and khu's cc and who shut in the shadows of the dead";[4] and in the XC Ist Chapter[5] is a formula specially prepared to enable the khu to pass from the tomb to the domains where Ra and Hathor dwell.

Yet another part of a man was supposed to exist in heaven, to which the Egyptians gave the name sekhem. The word has been rendered by "power," "form," and the like, but it is very difficult to find any expression which will represent the Egyptian conception of the sekhem. It is mentioned in connection with the soul and khu, as will be seen from the following passages from the pyramid texts

Cometh to thee thy sekhem among the khu's.[6]

{p. lxix}

Pure is thy sekhem among the khu's.[1]

Thou art pure, pure is thy ka, pure is thy soul, pure is

thy sekhem.[1]

A name of Ra was[3] sekhem ur, the "Great Sekhem," and Unas is identified with him and called:--

Great sekhem, sekhem among the sekhemu.[4]

Finally, the name, ren, of a man was believed to exist in heaven, and. in the pyramid texts we are told that

Happy is Pepi this with his name, liveth Pepi this with his ka.[5]

Thus, as we have seen, the whole man consisted of a natural body, a spiritual body, a heart, a double, a soul, a shadow, an intangible ethereal casing or spirit, a form, and a name. All these were, however, bound together inseparably, and the welfare of any single one of them concerned the welfare of all. For the well-being of the spiritual parts it was necessary to preserve from decay the natural body; and

{p. lxx}

certain passages in the pyramid texts seem to show that a belief in the resurrection of the natural body existed in the earliest dynasties.[1]

The texts are silent as to the time when the immortal part began its beatified existence; but it is probable that the Osiris[2] of a man only attained to the full enjoyment of spiritual happiness after the funeral ceremonies had been duly per formed and the ritual recited. Comparatively few particulars are known of the manner of life of the soul in heaven, and though a number of interesting facts may be gleaned from the texts of all periods, it is very difficult to harmonize them. This result is due partly to the different views held by different schools of thought in ancient Egypt, and partly to the fact that on some points the Egyptians them selves seem to have had no decided opinions. We depend upon the pyramid texts for our knowledge of their earliest conceptions of a future life.

The life of the Osiris of a man in heaven is at once material and spiritual and it seems as if the Egyptians never succeeded in breaking away from their very ancient habit of confusing the things of the body with the things of the soul. They believed in an incorporeal and immortal part of man, the constituent elements of which flew to heaven after death and embalmment; yet the theologians of the VIth dynasty had decided that there was some part of the deceased which could only mount to heaven by means of a ladder. In the pyramid of Teta it is said, "When Teta hath purified himself on the borders of this earth where Ra hath purified himself, he prayeth and setteth up the ladder, and those who dwell in the great place press Teta forward with their hands."[3] In the pyramid of Pepi I.

{p. lxxi}

the king is identified with this ladder: "Isis saith, 'Happy are they who see the 'father,' and Nephthys saith, 'They who see the father have rest,' speaking unto the father of this Osiris Pepi when he cometh forth unto heaven among the stars and among the luminaries which never set. With the uræus on his brow, and his book upon both his sides, and magic words at his feet, Pepi goeth forward unto his mother Nut, and he entereth therein in his name Ladder."[1] The gods who preside over this ladder are at one time Ra and Horus, and at another Horus and Set. In the pyramid of Unas it is said, "Ra setteth upright the ladder for Osiris, and Horus raiseth up the ladder for his father Osiris, when Osiris goeth to [find] his soul; one standeth on the one side, and the other standeth on the other, and Unas is betwixt them. Unas standeth up and is Horus, he sitteth down and is Set."[2] And in the pyramid of Pepi I. we read, "Hail to thee, O Ladder of God, hail to thee, O Ladder of Set. Stand up, O Ladder of God, stand up, O Ladder of Set, stand up, O Ladder of Horus, whereon Osiris went forth into heaven . . . . . . This Pepi is thy son, this Pepi is Horus, thou hast given birth unto this Pepi even as thou hast given birth unto the god who is the lord of the Ladder. Thou hast given him the Ladder of God, and thou hast given him the Ladder of Set, whereon this Pepi hath gone forth into heaven . . . . . . Every khu and every god stretcheth out his hand unto this Pepi when he cometh forth into heaven by the Ladder of God . . . . that which he seeth and that which he heareth make him wise, and serve as food for him when he cometh forth into heaven by the Ladder of God. Pepi riseth up like the uræus which is on the brow of Set, and every khu and every god stretcheth out his hand unto Pepi on the Ladder. Pepi hath gathered together his bones, he hath collected his flesh, and Pepi hath gone straightway into heaven by means of the two fingers of the god who is the Lord of the Ladder."[3] Elsewhere we are told that Khonsu and Set "carry the Ladder of Pepi, and they set it up."

When the Osiris of a man has entered into heaven as a living soul,[4] he is regarded as one of those who "have eaten the eye of Horus he walks among

{p. lxxii}

living ones,[1] he becomes "God, the son of God,"[2] and all the gods of heaven become his brethren.[3] His bones are the gods and goddesses of heaven;[4] his right side belongs to Horns, and his left side to Set;[5] the goddess Nut makes him to rise up as a god without an enemy in his name "God";[6] and God calls him by his name.[7] His face is the face of Ap-uat, his eyes are the great ones among the souls of Annu, his nose is Thoth, his mouth is the great lake, his tongue belongs to the boat of right and truth, his teeth are the spirits of Annu, his chin is Khert-khent-Sekhem, his backbone is Sema, his shoulders are Set, his breast is Beba.[8] etc.; every one of his members is identified with a god. Moreover, his body as a whole is identified with the God of Heaven. For example it is said concerning Unas:--

Thy body is the body of Unas this. Thy flesh is the flesh of Unas this.

Thy bones are the bones of Unas this. Thy passage is the passage of Unas this.

The passage of Unas this is thy passage.[9]

{p. lxxiii}

Further, this identification of the deceased with the God of Heaven places him in the position of supreme ruler. For example, we have the prayer that Unas "may rule the nine gods and complete the company of the nine gods,"[1] and Pepi I., in his progress through heaven, comes upon the double company of the gods, who stretch out their hands, entreating him to come and sit down among them.[2]

Again, the deceased is changed into Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis. It is said of Pepi I., "Behold it is not Pepi who entreateth to see thee in the form in which thou art ###, O Osiris, who entreateth to see thee in the form in which thou art, O Osiris; but it is thy son who entreateth to see thee in the form in which thou art, O Osiris, it is Horus who entreateth to see thee in the form in which thou art";[3] and Horus does not place Pepi at the head of the dead, but among the divine gods.[4] Elsewhere we are told that Horus has taken his Eye and given it to Pepi, and that the odour of Pepi's body is the odour of the Eye of Horus.[5] Throughout the pyramid texts the Osiris of the deceased is the son of Tmu, or Tmu-Ra, Shu, Tefnut, Seb, and Nut, the brother of Isis, Nephthys, Set, and Thoth, and the father of Horus;[6] his hands, arms, belly, back, hips and thighs, and legs are the god Tmu, and his face is Anubis.[7] He is the brother of the moon,[8] he is the child of the star Sothis,[9] he revolves in heaven like Orion and Sothis,[10] and he rises in his place like a star.[11] The gods, male and

{p. lxxiv}

female, pay homage to him,[1] every being in heaven adores him; and in one interesting passage it is said of Pepi I. that "when he hath come forth into heaven he will find Ra standing face to face before him, and, having seated himself upon the shoulders of Ra, Ra will not let him put himself down again upon the ground; for he knoweth that Pepi is more shining than the shining ones, more perfect than the perfect, and more stable than the stable ones . . . . . When Pepi standeth upon the north of heaven with Ra, he becometh lord of the universe like unto the king of the gods."[2] To the deceased Horus gives his own ka,[3] and also drives away the ka's of the enemies of the deceased from him, and hamstrings his foes.[4] By the divine power thus given to the deceased he brings into subjection the ka's of the gods[5] and other ka's,[6] and he lays his yoke upon the ka's of the triple company of the gods.[7] He also becomes Thoth,[8] the intelligence of the gods, and he judges hearts;[9] and the hearts of those who would take away his food and the breath from his nostrils become the prey of his hands.[10]

The place of the deceased in heaven is by the side of God[11] in the most holy place,[12] and he becomes God and an angel of God;[13] he himself is triumphant,[14]

{p. 1xxv}

and his ka is triumphant.[1] He sits on a great throne by the side of God.[2] The throne is of iron ornamented with lions' faces and having the hoofs of bulls.[3] He is clothed in the finest raiment, like unto the raiment of those who sit on the throne of living right and truth.[4] He receives the urerit crown from the gods,[5] and from the great company of the gods of Annu.[6] He thirsts not, nor hungers, nor is sad;[7] he eats the bread of Ra and drinks what he drinks daily,[8] and his bread also is that which is spoken by Seb, and that which comes forth from the mouth of the gods.[9] He eats what the gods eat, he drinks what they drink, he lives as they live, and he dwells where they dwell;[10] all the gods give him their food that he may not die.[11] Not only does he eat and drink of their food, but he wears the

{p. lxxvi}

apparel which they wear,[1] the white linen and sandals;[2] he is clothed in white,[3] and "he goeth to the great lake in the midst of the Field of Peace whereon the great gods sit; and these great and never failing gods give unto him [to eat] of the tree of life of which they themselves do eat that he likewise may live."[4] The bread which he eats never decays and his beer never grows stale.[5] He eats of the "bread of eternity" and drinks of the "beer of everlastingness" which the gods eat and drink;[6] and he nourishes himself upon that bread which the Eye of Horus has shed upon the branches of the olive tree.[7] He suffers neither hunger nor thirst like the gods Shu and Tefnut, for he is filled with the bread of wheat of which Horus himself has eaten; and the four children of Horus, Hapi, Tuamautef, Qebhsennuf and Amset, have appeased the hunger of his belly and the thirst of his lips.[8] He abhors the hunger which he cannot satisfy, and he loathes the thirst which he cannot slake;[9] but he is delivered from the power of those who would steal away his food.[10] He is washed clean, and his ka is washed clean, and they eat bread together for ever.[11] He is one of the four children of Horus who live on right and truth,[12] and they give him his portion of the food with which they have been so abundantly supplied by the god Seb that they have never yet known what it is to hunger. He goes round about heaven even as they do, and he partakes of their food of figs and wine.[13]

{p. lxxvii}

Those who would be hostile to the deceased become thereby foes of the god Tmu, and all injuries inflicted on him are inflicted on that god;[1] he dwells without fear under the protection of the gods,[2] from whose loins he has come forth.[3] To him "the earth is an abomination, and he will not enter into Seb; for his soul hath burst for ever the bonds of his sleep in his house which is upon earth. His calamities are brought to an end, for Unas hath been purified with the Eye of Horus; the calamities of Unas have been done away by Isis and Nephthys. Unas is in heaven, Unas is in heaven, in the form of air, in the form of air; he perisheth not, neither doth anything which is in him perish.[4] He is firmly stablished in heaven, and he taketh his pure seat in the bows of the bark of Ra. Those who row Ra up into the heavens row him also, and those who row Ra beneath the horizon row him also."[5] The life which the deceased leads is said to be generally that of him "who entereth into the west of the sky, and who cometh forth from the east thereof."[6] In brief, the condition of the blessed is summed up in the following extract from the pyramid of Pepi I.:--

"Hail, Pepi, thou hast come, thou art glorious, and thou hast gotten might like the god who is seated upon his throne, that is Osiris. Thy soul is with thee in thy body, thy form of strength is behind thee, thy crown is upon thy head, thy head-dress is upon thy shoulders, thy face is before thee, and those who sing songs of joy are upon both sides of thee; those who follow in the train of God are behind thee, and the divine forms who make God to come are upon each side of thee. God cometh, and Pepi hath come upon the throne of Osiris. The shining one who dwelleth in Netat, the divine form that dwelleth in Teni, hath come. Isis speaketh unto thee, Nephthys holdeth converse with thee, and the shining ones come unto thee bowing down even to the ground in adoration at thy feet, by reason of the writing which thou hast, O Pepi, in the region of Saa. Thou comest forth to thy mother Nut, and she strengtheneth thy arm, and she maketh a way for thee through the sky to the place where Ra abideth. Thou hast opened the gates of the sky, thou hast opened the doors of the celestial deep; thou hast found Ra and he watcheth over thee, he hath taken thee by thy hand, he hath led thee into the two regions of heaven, and he hath placed thee on the throne of Osiris. Then hail, O Pepi, for the Eye of Horus came to hold converse with thee; thy soul which was among the gods came unto thee; thy form of power which was dwelling among the shining ones came unto thee. As a son fighteth for his father, and as Horus avenged Osiris, even so doth Horus defend Pepi against his enemies. And thou

{p. lxxviii}

"standest avenged, endowed with all things like unto a god, and equipped with all the forms of Osiris upon the throne of Khent-Amenta. Thou doest that which he doeth among the immortal shining ones; thy soul sitteth upon its throne being provided with thy form, and it doeth that which thou doest in the presence of Him that liveth among the living, by the command of Ra, the great god. It reapeth the wheat, it cutteth the barley, and it giveth it unto thee. Now, therefore, O Pepi, he that hath given unto thee life and all power and eternity and the power of speech and thy body is Ra. Thou hast endued thyself with the forms of God, and thou hast become magnified thereby before the gods who dwell in the Lake. Hail, Pepi, thy soul standeth among the gods and among the shining ones, and the fear of thee striketh into their hearts. Hail, Pepi, thou placest thyself upon the throne of Him that dwelleth among the living, and it is the writing which thou hast [that striketh terror] into their hearts. Thy name shall live upon earth, thy name shall flourish upon earth, thou shalt neither perish nor be destroyed for ever and for ever."

Side by side, however, with the passages which speak of the material and spiritual enjoyments of the deceased, we have others which seem to imply that the Egyptians believed in a corporeal existence,[1] or at least in the capacity for corporeal enjoyment, in the future state. This belief may have rested upon the view that the life in the next world was but a continuation of the life upon earth, which it resembled closely, or it may have been due to the survival of semi-savage gross ideas incorporated into the religious texts of the Egyptians. However this may be, it is quite certain that in the Vth dynasty the deceased king Unas eats with his mouth, and exercises other natural functions of the body, and gratifies his passions.[2] But the most remarkable passage in this connection is one in the

{p. lxxix}

pyramid of Unas. Here all creation is represented as being in terror when they see the deceased king rise up as a soul in the form of a god who devours "his fathers and mothers"; he feeds upon men and also upon gods. He hunts the gods in the fields and snares them; and when they are tied up for slaughter he cuts their throats and disembowels them. He roasts and eats the best of them, but the old gods and goddesses are used for fuel. By eating them he imbibes both their magical powers, and their khu's. He becomes the "great Form, the form among forms, and the god of all the great gods who "exist in visible forms,"[1] and he is at the head of all the sahu, or spiritual bodies in heaven. He carries off the hearts of the gods, and devours the wisdom of every god; therefore the duration of his life is everlasting and he lives to all eternity, for the souls of the gods and their khu's are in him. The whole passage reads:--[2]

"(496) The heavens drop water, the stars throb, (497) the archers go round about, the (498) bones of Akeru tremble, and those who are in bondage to them take to flight when they see (499) Unas rise up as a soul, in the form of the god who liveth upon his fathers and who maketh food of his (500) mothers. Unas is the lord of wisdom, and (501) his mother knoweth not his name. The gifts of Unas are in heaven, and he hath become mighty in the horizon (502) like unto Tmu, the father that gave him birth, and after Tmu gave him birth (503) Unas became stronger than his father. The ka's of Unas are behind him, the sole of his foot is beneath his feet, his gods are over him, his uræi are [seated] (504) upon his brow, the serpent guides of Unas are in front of him, and the spirit of the flame looketh upon [his]

{p. lxxx}

soul. The (505) powers of Unas protect him; Unas is a bull in heaven, he directeth his steps where he will, he liveth upon the form which (506) each god taketh upon himself, and be eateth the flesh of those who come to fill their bellies with the magical charms ill the Lake of Fire. Unas is (507) equipped with power against the shining spirits thereof, and he riseth up in the form of the mighty one, the lord of those who dwell in power (?). Unas hath taken his seat with his side turned towards Seb. (508) Unas hath weighed his words with the hidden god (?) who hath no name, on the day of hacking in pieces the firstborn. Unas is the lord of offerings, the untier of the knot, and he himself maketh abundant the offerings of meat and drink. (509) Unas devoureth men and liveth upon the gods, he is the lord to whom offerings are brought, and he counteth the lists thereof. He that cutteth off hairy scalps and dwelleth in the fields hath netted the gods in a snare; (510) he that arrangeth his head hath considered them [good] for Unas and hath driven them unto him; and the cord-master hath bound them for slaughter. Khonsu the slayer of [his] lords hath cut their throats (511) and drawn out their inward parts, for it was he whom Unas sent to drive them in; and Shesem hath cut them in pieces and boiled their members in his blazing caldrons. (512) Unas hath eaten their magical powers, and he hath swallowed their spirits; the great ones among them serve for his meal at daybreak, the lesser serve for his meal at eventide, and the least among them serve for his meal in the night. (513) The old gods and the old goddesses become fuel for his furnace. The mighty ones in heaven shoot out fire under the caldrons which are heaped up with the haunches of the firstborn; and he that maketh those who live (514) in heaven to revolve round Unas hath shot into the caldrons the haunches of their women; he hath gone round about the two heavens in their entirety, and he hath gone round about the two banks of the celestial Nile. Unas is the great Form, the Form (515) of forms, and Unas is the chief of the gods in visible forms. Whatever he hath found upon his path he hath eaten forthwith, and the magical might of Unas is before that of all the (516) sahu who dwell in the horizon. Unas is the firstborn of the first born. Unas hath gone round thousands and he hath offered oblations unto hundreds; he hath manifested his might as the Great Form through Sah (Orion) [who is greater] than (517) the gods. Unas repeateth his rising in heaven and he is the crown of the lord of the horizon. He hath reckoned up the bandlets and the arm-rings, he hath taken possession of the hearts of the gods (518). Unas hath eaten the red crown, and he hath swallowed the white crown; the food of Unas is the inward parts, and his meat is those who live upon (519) magical charms in their hearts. Behold, Unas eateth of that which the red crown sendeth forth, he increaseth, and the magical charms of the gods are in his belly; (520) that which belongeth to him is not turned back from him. Unas hath eaten the whole of the knowledge of every god, and the period of his life is eternity, and the duration of his existence is (521) everlastingness, in whatsoever he wisheth to take; whatsoever form he hateth he shall not labour in in the horizon for ever and ever and ever. The soul of the gods is in Unas, their spirits are with (522) Unas, and the offerings made unto him are more than those made unto the gods. The fire of Unas (523) is in their bones, for their soul is with Unas, and their shades are with those who belong unto them. (524) Unas hath been with the two hidden (?) Kha (?) gods who are without power (?) . . . . . . . . (525); the seat of the heart of Unas is among those who live upon this earth for ever and ever and ever."

{p. lxxxi}

The notion that, by eating the flesh, or particularly by drinking the blood, of another living being, a man absorbs his nature or life into his own, is one which appears among primitive peoples in many forms. It lies at the root of the widespread practice of drinking the fresh blood of enemies--a practice which was familiar to certain tribes of the Arabs before Muhammad, and which tradition still ascribes to the wild race of Cahtâm-and also of the habit practised by many savage huntsmen of eating some part (e.g., the liver) of dangerous carnivora, in order that the courage of the animal may pass into them.[1] The flesh and blood of brave men also are, among semi-savage or savage tribes, eaten and drunk to inspire courage.[2] But the idea of hunting, killing, roasting and eating the gods as described above is not apparently common among ancient nations; the main object of the dead king in doing this was to secure the eternal life which was the peculiar attribute of the gods.

THE EGYPTIANS' IDEAS OF GOD.

To the great and supreme power which made the earth, the heavens, the sea, the sky, men and women, animals, birds, and creeping things, all that is and all that shall be, the Egyptians gave the name neter. This word survives in the Coptic ###, but both in the ancient language and in its younger relative the exact meaning of the word is lost. M. Pierret,[2] following de Rougé, connects it with the word ### and says that it means "renovation" (renouvellement), but Brugsch[3] renders it by "göttlich," "heilig," "divin," "sacré," and by three Arabic words which mean "divine," "sacred or set apart," and "holy" respectively. By a quotation from the stele of Canopus he shows that in Ptolemaic times it meant "holy" or "sacred" when applied to the animals of the gods. Mr. Renouf[4] says that "the notion expressed by nutar as a noun, and nutra as an adjective or verb, must be sought in the Coptic ###, which in the translation of the Bible corresponds to the Greek words {Greek du'namis, i?sxu's, i?sxuro's, i?sxupo'w} 'power,' 'force,' 'strong,' 'fortify,' 'protect,'"[5] and he goes on to show that the word neter means "strong" or "mighty." M. Maspero, however, thinks that the Coptic nomti has nothing in common with meter, the Egyptian word for God, and that the passages quoted by Mr. Renouf in support of his theory can be otherwise explained.[6] His own opinion is that the signification "strong," if it ever existed, is a derived and not an original meaning, and he believes that the word is

{p. lxxxiii}

so old that its first sense is unknown to us. The fact that the Coptic translators of the Bible used the word nouti to express the name of the Supreme Being shows that no other word conveyed to their minds their conception of Him, and supports M. Maspero's views on this point. Another definition of the word given by Brugsch makes it to mean "the active power which produces and creates things in regular recurrence; which bestows new life upon them, and gives back to them their youthful vigour,"[1] and he adds that the innate conception of the word completely covers the original meaning of the Greek {Greek fu'sis} and the Latin natura.

But side by side with neter, whatever it may mean, we have mentioned in texts of all ages a number of beings called neteru which Egyptologists universally translate by the word "gods." Among these must be included the great cosmic powers and the beings who, although held to be supernatural, were yet finite and mortal, and were endowed by the Egyptians with love, hatred, and passions of every sort and kind. The difference between the conceptions of neter the one supreme God and the neteru is best shown by an appeal to Egyptian texts.

In the pyramid of Unas it is said to the deceased,

Thou existest at the side of God.[3]

In the pyramid of Teta it is said of the deceased,

He weigheth words, and, behold, God hearkeneth unto the words.[3]

God hath called Teta[4] (in his name, etc.).

{p. lxxxiv}

In the pyramid of Pepi I. an address to the deceased king says,

Thou hast received the form of God, thou hast become great therewith before the gods.[1]

Hath placed thy mother Nut thee to be as God to thine enemy in thy name of God.[2]

Adoreth this Pepi God.[3]

Pepi this is then God, the son of God.[4]

All these extracts are from texts of the Vth and VIth dynasties. It may be urged that we might as well translate neter by "a god" or "the god," but other evidence of the conception of neter at that early date is afforded by the following passages from the Prisse papyrus,[5] which, although belonging at the earliest to he XIth dynasty, contains copies of the Precepts of Kaqemna, written in the reign of Seneferu, a king of the IVth dynasty, and the Precepts of Ptah-hetep, written during the reign of Assa, a king of the Vth dynasty.[6]

{p. lxxxv}

1. an rex-entu xepert arit neter

Not known are the things which will do God.[1]

2. am-k ari her em reth xesef neter

Thou shalt not cause terror in men and women, [for] is opposed God [thereto].[2]

3. au am ta xer sexer neter

The eating of bread is according to the plan of God.[3]

4. ar seka-nek ter em sexet ta set neter

If thou art a farmer, labour (?) in the field which hath given God [to thee].[4]

5. ar un-nek em sa aqer ari-k sa en smam neter

If thou wouldst be like a wise man, make thou [thy] son to be pleasing unto God.[5]

6. sehetep aqu-k em xepert nek xepert en

Satisfy those who depend on thee, so far as it may be done by thee; it should be done by

those favoured of God.[6]

{p. lxxxvi}

7. If, having been of no account, thou hast become great, and if, having been poor, thou hast become rich, when thou art governor of the city be not hard-hearted on account of thy advancement, because

thou hast become the guardian of the provisions of God.[1]

8. mertu neter pu setem an setem en mesetu neter

What is loved of God is obedience; disobedience hateth God.[2]

9. mak sa nefer en tata neter

Verily a good son is of the gifts of God.[3]

Passing from the Prisse papyrus, our next source of information is the famous papyrus[4] containing the "Maxims of Ani," which are well known through the labours of de Rougé,[5] Maspero,[6] Chabas[7] and Amélineau.[8] We should speak of them, however, more correctly as the Maxims of Khonsu-hetep.[9] The papyrus

{p. lxxxvii}

was probably copied about the XXIInd dynasty; but the work itself may date from the XVIIIth. The following are examples of the use of neter:--

1. Pa neter er seaaaua ren-f

The God is for magnifying his name.[1]

2. xennu en neter betu-tuf pu sehebu senemehu-nek

The house of God what it hates is much speaking. Pray thou

with a loving heart the petitions of which all are in secret. He will do

thy business, he will hear that which thou sayest and will accept thine offerings.[2]

3. au tau neter-kua unnu

Giveth thy God existence.[3]

4. Pa neter aput pa maa

The God will judge the right.[4]

5. utennu neter-ku sau-tu er na betau-tuf

In offering to thy God guard thou against the things which He abominateth.

{p. lxxxviii}

O behold with thine eye His plans. Devote thyself

to adore His name. It is He who giveth souls to millions of forms,

and He magnifieth whosoever magnifieth him. Now the God of this earth

is the sun who is the ruler of the horizon, [and] his similitudes are

upon earth is given incense with their food offerings to these daily.[1]

6. faau-s aaui-set en pa neter emtuf setemu

If she (i.e., thy mother) raiseth her hands to God, he will hear

her prayers[2] [and rebuke thee].

7. amma su en pa neter sauu-k su emment en

Give thyself to God, keep thou thyself daily for

God; and let to-morrow be as to-day.[3]

{p. lxxxix}

The passages from the pyramid of Pepi show at once the difference between neter as God, and the "gods" neteru; the other passages, which might be multiplied almost indefinitely, prove that the Being spoken of is God. The neteru or "gods" whom Unas hunted, and snared, and killed, and roasted, and ate, are beings who could die; to them were attributed bodies, souls, ka's, spiritual bodies, etc. In a remarkable passage from the CLIVth Chapter of the Book of the Dead (Naville, Todtenbuch, Bd. I., Bl. 179, l. 3) the deceased king Thothmes III. prays:--

Preserve me behind thee, O Tmu, from decay such as that which thou workest

for god every, and goddess every, for animals all, for reptiles all

for each passeth away when hath gone forth his soul after his death, he perisheth

after he hath passed away.

Of these mortal gods some curious legends have come down to us; from which the following may be selected as illustrating their inferior position.

THE LEGEND OF RA AND ISIS.

Now Isis was a woman who possessed words of power; her heart was wearied with the millions of men, and she chose the millions of the gods, but she esteemed more highly the millions of the khu's. And she meditated in her heart, saying, "Cannot I by means of the sacred name of God make myself mistress of the earth and become a goddess like unto

{p. xc}

"Ra in heaven and upon earth?" Now, behold, each day Ra entered at the head of his holy mariners and established himself upon the throne of the two horizons. The holy one had grown old, he dribbled at the mouth, his spittle fell upon the earth, and his slobbering dropped upon the ground. And Isis kneaded it with earth in her hand, and formed thereof a sacred serpent in the form of a spear; she set it not upright before her face, but let it lie upon the ground in the path whereby the great god went forth, according to his heart's desire, into his double kingdom. Now the holy god arose, and the gods who followed him as though he were Pharaoh went with him; and he came forth according to his daily wont; and the sacred serpent bit him. The flame of life departed from him, and he who dwelt among the cedars (?) was overcome. The holy god opened his mouth, and the cry of his majesty reached unto heaven. His company of gods said, "What hath happened?" and his gods exclaimed, "What is it?" But Ra could not answer, for his jaws trembled and all his members quaked; the poison spread swiftly through his flesh just as the Nile invadeth all his land. When the great god had stablished his heart, he cried unto those who were in his train, saying, "Come unto me, O ye who have come into being from my body, ye gods who have come forth from me, make ye known unto Khepera that a dire calamity hath fallen upon me. My heart perceiveth it, but my eyes see it not; my hand hath not caused it, nor do I know who hath done this unto me. Never have I felt such pain, neither can sickness cause more woe than this. I am a prince, the son of a prince, a sacred essence which hath preceded from God. I am a great one, the son of a great one, and my father planned my name; I have multitudes of names and multitudes of forms, and my existence is in every god. I have been proclaimed by the heralds Tmu and Horus, and my father and my mother uttered my name; but it hath been hidden within me by him that begat me, who would not that the words of power of any seer should have dominion over me. I came forth to look upon that which I had made, I was passing through the world which I had created, when lo! something stung me, but what I know not. Is it fire? Is it water? My heart is on fire, my flesh quaketh, and trembling hath seized all my limbs. Let there be brought unto me the children of the gods with healing words and with lips that know, and with power which reacheth unto heaven." The children of every god came unto him in tears, Isis came with her healing words and with her mouth full of the breath of life, with her enchantments which destroy sickness, and with her words of power which make the dead to live. And she spake, saying, "What hath come to pass, O holy father? What hath happened? A serpent hath bitten thee, and a thing which thou hast created hath lifted up his head against thee. Verily it shall be cast forth by my healing words of power, and I will drive it away from before the sight of thy sunbeams."

The holy god opened his mouth and said, "I was passing along my path, and I was going through the two regions of my lands according to my heart's desire, to see that which I had created, when lo! I was bitten by a serpent which I saw not. Is it fire? Is it water? I am colder than water, I am hotter than fire. All my flesh sweateth, I quake, my eye hath no strength, I cannot see the sky, and the sweat rusheth to my face even as in the time of summer." Then said Isis unto Ra, "O tell me thy name, holy father, for whosoever shall be delivered by thy name shall live." [And Ra said], "I have made the heavens and the earth, I have ordered the mountains, I have created all that is above them, I have made the water, I have made to come into being the great and wide sea, I have made the 'Bull of

{p. xci}

his mother,' from whom spring the delights of love. I have made the heavens, I have stretched out the two horizons like a curtain, and I have placed the soul of the gods within them. I am he who, if he openeth his eyes, doth make the light, and, if he closeth them, darkness cometh into being. At his command the Nile riseth, and the gods know not his name. I have made the hours, I have created the days, I bring forward the festivals of the year, I create the Nile-flood. I make the fire of life, and I provide food in the houses. I am Khepera in the morning, I am Ra at noon, and I am Tmu at even." Meanwhile the poison was not taken away from his body, but it pierced deeper, and the great god could no longer walk.

Then said Isis unto Ra, "What thou hast said is not thy name. O tell it unto me, and the poison shall depart; for he shall live whose name shall be revealed." Now the poison burned like fire, and it was fiercer than the flame and the furnace, and the majesty of the god said, "I consent that Isis shall search into me, and that my name shall pass from me into her." Then the god hid himself from the gods, and his place in the boat of millions of years was empty. And when the time arrived for the heart of Ra to come forth, Isis spake unto her son Horus, saying, "The god hath bound himself by an oath to deliver up his two eyes" (i.e., the sun and moon). Thus was the name of the great god taken from him, and Isis, the lady of enchantments, said, "Depart, poison, go forth from Ra. O eye of Horus, go forth from the god, and shine outside his mouth. It is I who work, it is I who make to fall down upon the earth the vanquished poison; for the name of the great god hath been taken away from him. May Ra live! and may the poison die, may the poison die, and may Ra live!" These are the words of Isis, the great goddess, the queen of the gods, who knew Ra by his own name.[1]

Thus we see that even to the great god Ra were attributed all the weakness and frailty of mortal man; and that "gods" and "goddesses" were classed with beasts and reptiles, which could die and perish. As a result, it seems that the word "God" should be reserved to express the name of the Creator of the Universe, and that neteru, usually rendered "gods," should be translated by some other word, but what that word should be it is almost impossible to say.[2]

From the attributes of God set forth in Egyptian texts of all periods, Dr. Brugsch, de Rougé, and other eminent Egyptologists have come to the opinion that the dwellers in the Nile valley, from the earliest times, knew and worshipped one God, nameless, incomprehensible, and eternal. In 1860 de Rougé wrote:--"The

{p. xcii}

unity of a supreme and self-existent being, his eternity, his almightiness, and external reproduction thereby as God; the attributing of the creation of the world and of all living beings to this supreme God; the immortality of the soul, completed by the dogma of punishments and rewards: such is the sublime and persistent base which, notwithstanding all deviations and all mythological embellishments, must secure for the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians a most honourable place among the religions of antiquity."[1] Nine years later he developed this view, and discussed the difficulty of reconciling the belief in the unity of God with the polytheism which existed in Egypt from the earliest times, and he repeated his conviction that the Egyptians believed in a self-existent God who was One Being, who had created man, and who had endowed him with an immortal soul.[2] In fact, de Rougé amplifies what Champollion-Figeac (relying upon his brother's information) wrote in 1839: "The Egyptian religion is a pure monotheism, which manifested itself externally by a symbolic polytheism."[3] M. Pierret adopts the view that the texts show us that the Egyptians believed in One infinite and eternal God who was without a second, and he repeats Champollion's dictum.[4] But the most recent supporter of the monotheistic theory is Dr. Brugsch, who has collected a number of striking passages from the texts. From these passages we may select the following:--

God is one and alone, and none other existeth with Him--God is the One, the One who hath made all things--God is a spirit, a hidden spirit, the spirit of spirits, the great spirit of the Egyptians, the divine spirit--God is from the beginning, and He hath been from the beginning, He hath existed from old and was when nothing else had being. He existed when nothing else existed, and what existeth He created after He had come into being, He is the Father of beginnings--God is the eternal One, He is eternal and infinite and endureth for ever and aye--God is hidden and no man knoweth His form. No man hath been able to seek out His likeness; He is hidden to gods and men, and He is a mystery unto His creatures. No man knoweth how to know Him--His name remaineth hidden; His name is a mystery unto His children. His names are innumerable, they are manifold and none knoweth their number--God is truth and He liveth by truth and He feedeth thereon. He is the king of truth, and He hath stablished the earth thereupon--God is life and through Him

{p. xciii}

only man liveth. He giveth life to man, He breatheth the breath of life into his nostrils--God is father and mother, the father of fathers, and the mother of mothers. He begetteth, but was never begotten; He produceth, but was never produced; He begat himself and produced himself. He createth, but was never created; He is the maker of his own form, and the fashioner of His own body--God Himself is existence, He endureth without increase or diminution, He multiplieth Himself millions of times, and He is manifold in forms and in members--God hath made the universe, and He hath created all that therein is; He is the Creator of what is in this world, and of what was, of what is, and of what shall be. He is the Creator of the heavens, and of the earth, and of the deep, and of the water, and of the mountains. God hath stretched out the heavens and founded the earth-What His heart conceived straightway came to pass, and when He hath spoken, it cometh to pass and endureth for ever--God is the father of the gods; He fashioned men and formed the gods--God is merciful unto those who reverence Him, and He heareth him that calleth upon Him. God knoweth him that acknowledgeth Him, He rewardeth him that serveth Him, and He protecteth him that followeth Him.[1]

Because, however, polytheism existed side by side with monotheism in Egypt, M. Maspero believes that the words "God One" do not mean "One God" in our sense of the words; and Mr. Renouf thinks that the "Egyptian nutar never became a proper name."[2] Whether polytheism grew from monotheism in Egypt, or monotheism from polytheism we will not venture to say, for the evidence of the pyramid texts shows that already in the Vth dynasty monotheism and polytheism were flourishing side by side. The opinion of Tiele is that the religion of Egypt was from the beginning polytheistic, but that it developed in two opposite directions: in the one direction gods were multiplied by the addition of local gods, and in the other the Egyptians drew nearer and nearer to monotheism.[3]

From a number of passages drawn from texts of all periods it is clear that the form in which God made himself manifest to man upon earth was the sun, which the Egyptians called Ra and that all other gods and goddesses were forms of him. The principal authorities for epithets applied to God and to His visible emblem the sun are the hymns and litanies which are found inscribed upon

{p. xciv}

the walls of tombs,[1] stelæ, and papyri[2] of the XVIIIth dynasty; and these prove that the Egyptians ascribed the attributes of the Creator to the creature. The religious ideas which we find in these writings in the XVIIIth dynasty are, no doubt, the outcome of the religion of earlier times, for all the evidence now available shows that the Egyptians of the later periods invented comparatively little in the way of religious literature. Where, how, and in what way they succeeded in preserving their most ancient texts, are matters about which little, unfortunately, is known. In course of time we find that the attributes of a certain god in one period are applied to other gods in another; a new god is formed by the fusion of two or more gods; local gods, through the favourable help of political circumstances, or the fortune of war, become almost national gods; and the gods who are the companions of Osiris are endowed by the pious with all the attributes of the great cosmic gods--Ra, Ptah, Khnemu, Khepera, and the like. Thus the attributes of Ra are bestowed upon Khnemu and Khepera; the god Horus exists in the aspects of Heru-maati, Heru-khent-an-maa, Heru-Khuti, Heru-nub, Heru-behutet, etc., and the attributes of each are confounded either in periods or localities: Tmu-Ra, and Menthu-Ra, and Amen-Ra are composed of Tmu and Ra, and Menthu and Ra, and Amen and Ra respectively, and we have seen from the hymn quoted above (p. lii.) that already in the XVIIIth dynasty the god Osiris had absorbed the attributes which belonged in the earlier dynasties to Ra alone.

Still more remarkable, however, is the progress of the god Amen in Egyptian theology. In the early empire, i.e., during the first eleven dynasties, this god ranked only as a local god, although his name is as old as the time of Unas;[3] and

{p. xcv}

it is not until the so-called Hyksos have been expelled from Egypt by the Theban kings of the XVIIth dynasty that Amen, whom the latter had chosen as their great god, and whose worship they had declined to renounce at the bidding of the Hyksos king Apepi,[l] was acknowledged as the national god of southern Egypt at least. Having by virtue of being the god of the conquerors obtained the position of head of the company of Egyptian gods, he received the attributes of the most ancient gods, and little by little he absorbed the epithets of them all. Thus Amen became Amen-Ra, and the glory of the old gods of Annu, or Heliopolis, was centred in him who was originally an obscure local god. The worship of Amen in Egypt was furthered by the priests of the great college of Amen, which seems to have been established early in the XVIIIth dynasty by the kings who were his devout worshippers. The extract from a papyrus written for the princess Nesi-Khonsu,[2] a member of the priesthood of Amen, is an example of the exalted language in which his votaries addressed him.

"This is the sacred god, the lord of all the gods, Amen-Ra, the lord of the throne of the world, the prince of Apt,[3] the sacred soul who came into being in the beginning, the great god who liveth by right and truth, the first ennead which gave birth unto the other two enneads,[4] the being in whom every god existeth, the One of One,[5] the creator of the things which came into being when the earth took form in the beginning, whose births are hidden, whose forms are manifold, and whose growth cannot be known. The sacred Form, beloved, terrible and mighty in his two risings (?), the lord of space, the mighty one of the form of Khepera, who came into existence through Khepera, the lord of the form of Khepera; when he came into being nothing existed except himself. He shone upon the earth from primeval time [in the form of] the Disk, the prince of light and radiance. He giveth light and radiance. He giveth light unto all peoples. He saileth over heaven and never resteth, and on the morrow his vigour is stablished as before; having become old [to-day], he becometh young again to-morrow. He mastereth the bounds of eternity, he goeth roundabout heaven, and entereth into the Tuat to illumine the two lands which he hath created. When the divine (or mighty) God,[6] moulded himself, the heavens and the earth were made by his

{p. cvi}

conception.[1] He is the prince of princes, the mightiest of the mighty, he is greater than the gods, he is the young bull with sharp pointed horns, and he protecteth the world in his great name 'Eternity cometh with its power and bringing therewith the bounds (?) of everlastingness.' He is the firstborn god, the god who existed from the beginning, the governor of the world by reason of his strength, the terrible one of the two lion-gods,[2] the aged one, the form of Khepera which existeth in all the gods, the lion of fearsome glance, the governor terrible by reason of his two eyes,[3] the lord who shooteth forth flame [therefrom] against his enemies. He is the primeval water which floweth forth in its season to make to live all that cometh forth upon his potter's wheel.[4] He is the disk of the Moon, the beauties whereof pervade heaven and earth, the untiring and beneficent king, whose will germinateth from rising to setting, from whose divine eyes men and women come forth, and from whose mouth the gods do come, and [by whom] food and meat and drink are made and provided, and [by whom] the things which exist are created. He is the lord of time and he traverseth eternity; he is the aged one who reneweth his youth he hath multitudes of eyes and myriads of ears; his rays are the guides of millions of men he is the lord of life and giveth unto those who love him the whole earth, and they are under the protection of his face. When he goeth forth he worketh unopposed, and no man can make of none effect that which he hath done. His name is gracious, and the love of him is sweet; and at the dawn all people make supplication unto him through his mighty power and terrible strength, and every god lieth in fear of him. He is the young bull that destroyeth the wicked, and his strong arm fighteth against his foes. Through him did the earth come into being in the beginning. He is the Soul which shineth through his divine eyes,[3] he is the Being endowed with power and the maker of all that hath come into being, and he ordered the world, and he cannot be known. He is the King who maketh kings to reign, and he directeth the world in his course; gods and goddesses bow down in adoration before his Soul by reason of the awful terror which belongeth unto him. He hath gone before and hath stablished all that cometh after him, and he made the universe in the beginning by his secret counsels. He is the Being who cannot be known, and he is more hidden than all the gods. He maketh the Disk to be his vicar, and he himself cannot be known, and he hideth himself from that which cometh forth from him. He is a bright flame of fire, mighty in splendours, he can be seen only in the form in which he showeth himself, and he can be gazed upon only when he manifesteth himself, and that which is in him cannot be understood. At break of day all peoples make supplication unto him, and when he riseth with hues of orange and saffron among the company of the gods he becometh the greatly desired one of every god. The god Nu appeareth with the breath of the north wind in this hidden god who maketh for untold millions of men the decrees which abide for ever; his decrees

{p. xcvii}

"are gracious and well doing, and they fall not to the ground until they have fulfilled their purpose. He giveth long life and multiplieth the years of those who are favoured by him, he is the gracious protector of him whom he setteth in his heart, and he is the fashioner of eternity and everlastingness. He is the king of the North and of the South, Amen-Ra, king of the gods, the lord of heaven, and of earth and of the waters and of the mountains, with whose coming into being the earth began its existence, the mighty one, more princely than all the gods of the first company thereof."

With reference to the origin of the gods of the Egyptians much useful information may be derived from the pyramid texts. From them it would seem that, in the earliest times, the Egyptians had tried to think out and explain to themselves the origin of their gods and of their groupings. According to M. Maspero[1] they reduced everything to one kind of primeval matter which they believed contained everything in embryo; this matter was water, Nu, which they deified, and everything which arose therefrom was a god. The priests of Annu at a very early period grouped together the nine greatest gods of Egypt, forming what is called the paut neteru or "company of the gods," or as it is written in the pyramid texts, paut aat, "the great company of gods"; the texts also show that there was a second group of nine gods called paut net'eset or "lesser company of the gods"; and a third group of nine gods is also known. When all three pauts of gods are addressed they appear as ###.[2] The great cycle of the gods in Annu was composed of the gods Tmu, Shu, Tefnut, Seb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys; but, though paut means " nine," the texts do not always limit a paut of the gods to that number, for sometimes the gods amount to twelve, and sometimes, even though the number be nine, other gods are substituted for the original gods of the paut. We should naturally expect Ra to stand at the head of the great paut of the gods; but it must be remembered that the chief local god of Annu was Tmu, and, as the priests of that city revised and edited the pyramid texts known to us, they naturally substituted their own form of the god Ra, or at best united him with Ra, and called him Tmu-Ra. In the primeval matter, or water, lived the god Tmu, and when he rose for the first time, in the form of the sun, he created the world. Here at once we have Tmu assimilated with Nu. A curious passage in the pyramid of Pepi I. shows that while as yet there was neither

{p. xcviii}

heaven nor earth, and when neither gods had been born, nor men created, the god Tmu was the father of human beings,[1] even before death came into the world. The first act of Tmu was to create from his own body the god Shu and the goddess Tefnut;[2] and afterwards Seb the earth and Nut the sky came into being. These were followed by Osiris and Isis, Set and Nephthys.

Dr. Brugsch's version of the origin of the gods as put forth in his last work on the subject[3] is somewhat different. According to him there was in the beginning neither heaven nor earth, and nothing existed except a boundless primeval mass of water which was shrouded in darkness and which contained within itself the germs or beginnings, male and female, of everything which was to be in the future world. The divine primeval spirit which formed an essential part of the primeval matter felt within itself the desire to begin the work of creation, and its word woke to life the world, the form and shape of which it had already depicted to itself. The first act of creation began with the formation of an egg[4] out of the primeval water, from which broke forth Ra, the immediate cause of all life upon earth. The almighty power of the divine spirit embodied itself in its most brilliant form in the rising sun. When the inert mass of primeval matter felt the desire of the primeval spirit to begin the work of creation, it began to move, and the creatures which were to constitute the future world were formed

{p. xcix}

according to the divine intelligence Maa. Under the influence of Thoth, or that form of the divine intelligence which created the world by a word, eight elements, four male and four female, arose out of the primeval Nu, which possessed the properties of the male and female. These eight elements were called Nu and Nut,[1] Heh and Hehet,[2] Kek and Keket,[3] and Enen and Enenet,[4] or Khemennu, the "Eight," and they were considered as primeval fathers and mothers.[5] They are often represented in the forms of four male and four female apes who stand in adoration and greet the rising sun with songs and hymns of praise,[6] but they also appear as male and female human forms with the heads of frogs or serpents.[7] The birth of light from the waters, and of fire from the moist mass of primeval matter, and of Ra from Nu, formed the starting point of all mythological speculations, conjectures, and theories of the Egyptian priests.[8] The light of the sun gave birth to itself out of chaos, and the conception of the future world was depicted in Thoth the divine intelligence; when Thoth gave the word, what he commanded at once took place by means of Ptah and Khnemu, the visible representatives of the power which turned Thoth's command into deed. Khnemu made the egg of the sun,[9] and Ptah gave to the god of light a finished body.[10] The first paut of the gods consisted of Shu, Tefnut, Seb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys and Horus, and their governor Tmu or Atmu.[11]

In a late copy of a work entitled the "Book of knowing the evolutions of Ra, the god Neb-er-tcher, the "lord of the company of the gods," records the story of the creation and of the birth of the gods:--"I am he who evolved himself under the form of the god Khepera, I, the evolver of the evolutions evolved myself, the evolver of all evolutions, after many evolutions and developments which came forth from my mouth.[12] No heaven existed, and no earth, and no terrestrial animals or reptiles had come into being. I formed them out of the inert mass of watery matter, I found no place whereon to stand . . . . . I was alone, and the gods Shu and Tefnut had not gone forth from me; there existed

{p. c}

"none other who worked with me. I laid the foundations of all things by my will, and all things evolved themselves therefrom.[1] I united myself to my shadow, and I sent forth Shu and Tefnut out from myself; thus from being one god I became three, and Shu and Tefnut gave birth to Nut and Seb, and Nut gave birth to Osiris, Horus-Khent-an-maa, Sut, Isis, and Nephthys, at one birth, one after the other, and their children multiply upon this earth."[2]

The reader has now before him the main points of the evidence concerning the Egyptians' notions about God, and the cosmic powers and their phases, and the anthropomorphic creations with which they peopled the other world, all of which have been derived from the native literature of ancient Egypt. The different interpretations which different Egyptologists have placed upon the facts demonstrate the difficulty of the subject. Speaking generally, the interpreters may be divided into two classes: those who credit the Egyptians with a number of abstract ideas about God and the creation of the world and the future life, which are held to be essentially the product of modern Christian nations; and those who consider the mind of the Egyptian as that of a half-savage being to whom occasional glimmerings of spiritual light were vouchsafed from time to time. All eastern nations have experienced difficulty in separating spiritual from corporeal conceptions, and the Egyptian is no exception to the rule; but if he preserved the gross idea of a primeval existence with the sublime idea of God which he manifests in writings of a later date, it seems that this is due more to his reverence for hereditary tradition than to ignorance. Without attempting to decide questions which have presented difficulties to the greatest thinkers among Egyptologists, it may safely be said that the Egyptian whose mind conceived the existence of an unknown, inscrutable, eternal and infinite God, who was One-whatever the word One may mean here and who himself believed in a future life to be spent in a glorified body in heaven, was not a being whose spiritual needs would be satisfied by a belief in gods who could eat, and drink, love and hate, and fight and grow old and die. He was unable to describe the infinite God, himself being finite, and it is not surprising that he should, in some respects, have made Him in his own image.

{p. ci}

THE ABODE OF THE BLESSED.

The gods of the Egyptians dwelt in a heaven with their ka's, and khu's, and shadows, and there they received the blessed dead to dwell with them. This heaven was situated in the sky, which the Egyptians believed to be like an iron ceiling, either flat or vaulted, and to correspond in extent and shape with the earth beneath it. This ceiling was rectangular, and was supported at each corner by a pillar; in this idea, we have, as M. Maspero has observed, a survival of the roof-tree of very primitive nations. At a very early date the four pillars were identified with "the four ancient khu's who dwell in the hair of Horus,"[1] who are also said to be "the four gods who stand by the pillar-sceptres of heaven."[2] These four gods are "children of Horus,"[3] and their names are Amset, Hapi, Tuamautef, and Qebhsennuf.[4] They were supposed to preside over the four quarters of the world, and subsequently were acknowledged to be the gods of the cardinal points. The Egyptians named the sky or heaven pet. A less primitive view made the heavens in the form of the goddess Nut who was represented as a woman with bowed body whose hands and feet rest on the earth. In this case the two arms and the two

{p. cii}

legs form the four pillars upon which the heavens are supported. Nut, the sky goddess, was the wife of Seb, the earth god, from whose embrace she was separated by Shu, the god of the air; when this separation was effected, earth, air, and sky came into being. Signor Lanzone has collected a number of illustrations of this event from papyri and other documents,[1] wherein we have Seb lying on the ground, and Shu uplifting Nut with his outstretched hands. The feet of the goddess rested on the east, and her hands on the west this is shown by the scene wherein Shu is accompanied by two females who have on their heads "east" and, "west" respectively.[2] The child of the union of Seb and Nut was the Sun, who was born in the east in the morning, and who made

{p. ciii}

his course along his mother's body, until he set in the west in the evening. The moon followed the sun's course along his mother's body, but sometimes a second female is represented bowed beneath Nut [1] (Fig. 2), and this is believed to signify the night sky across which the moon travels. In an interesting picture which M. Jéquier has published[2] the goddess is depicted lying flat with her arms stretched out at full length above her head; on her breast is the disk of the sun, and on her stomach the moon. Those who believed that the sky was an iron plane imagined that the stars were a numbers of lamps which were hung out therefrom, and those who pictured the sky as a goddess studded her body with stars. One scene makes the morning and evening boats of Ra to sail along the back of Nut;[3] another depicts Shu holding up the boat of the sun wherein is the disk on the horizon.[4] A third from the sarcophagus of Seti I. represents Nu the god of the primeval water holding up the boat of the sun, wherein we see the beetle with the solar disk facing it accompanied by Isis and Nephthys, who stand one on each side; behind Isis stand the gods Seb, Shu, Hek, Hu, and Sa, and behind Nephthys are three deities who represent the doors through which the god Tmu has made his way to the world.[5]

Within the two bowed female figures which represent the day and the night sky, and which have been referred to above (Fig. 2), is a third figure which is bent

{p. civ}

round in a circle; the space enclosed by it represents according to Dr. Brugsch the Tuat[1]or Egyptian underworld, wherein dwelt the gods of the dead and the departed souls. This view is supported by the scene from the sarcophagus of Seti I. (Fig. 1). In the watery space above the bark is the figure of the god bent round in a circle with his toes touching his head, and upon his head stands the goddess Nut with outstretched hands receiving the disk of the sun.[2] In the space enclosed by the body of the god is the legend, "This is Osiris; his circuit is the Tuat."[3] Though nearly all Egyptologists agree about the meaning of the word being "the place of departed souls," yet it has been translated in various ways, different scholars locating the Tuat in different parts of creation. Dr. Brugsch and others place it under the earth,[4] others have supposed it to be the space which exists between the arms of Shu and the body of Nut,[5] but the most recent theory put forth is that it was situated neither above nor below the earth, but beyond Egypt to the north, from which it was separated by the mountain range which, as the Egyptians thought, supported the sky.[6] The region of the Tuat was a long, mountainous, narrow valley with a river running along it; starting from the east it made its way to the north, and then taking a circular direction it came back to the east. In the Tuat lived all manner of fearful monsters and beasts, and here was the country through which the sun passed during the twelve hours of the night; according to one view he traversed this region in splendour, and according to another he died and became subject to Osiris the king, god and judge of the kingdom of the departed.

The souls of the dead made their way to their abode in the "other world" by a ladder, according to a very ancient view, or through a gap in the mountains of Abydos called Peka according to another; but, by whichever way they passed from earth, their destination was a region in the Tuat which is called in the pyramid and later texts Sekhet-Aaru,[7] which was situated in the

{p. cv}

Sekhet-Hetep,[l] and was supposed to lie to the north of Egypt. Here dwell Horus and Set, for the fields of Aaru and Hetep are their domains,[2] and here enters the deceased with two of the children of Horus on one side of him, and two on the other,[3] and the "two great chiefs who preside over the throne of the great god proclaim eternal life and power for him."[4] Here like the supreme God he is declared to be "one," and the four children of Horus proclaim his name to Ra. Having gone to the north of the Aaru Field he makes his way to the eastern portion of the tuat, where according to one legend he becomes like the morning star, near[6] his sister Sothis.[7] Here he lived in the form of the star Sothis, and "the great and little companies of the gods purify him in the Great Bear." The Egyptian theologians, who conceived that a ladder was necessary to enable the soul to ascend to the next world, provided it also with an address which it was to utter when it reached the top. As given in the pyramid of Unas it reads as follows':--"Hail to thee, O daughter of Amenta, mistress of Peteru(?) of heaven, thou gift of Thoth, thou mistress of the two sides of the ladder, open a way to Unas, let Unas pass. Hail to thee, O Nau, who art [seated] upon the brink of the Lake of Kha, open thou a way to Unas, let Unas pass. Hail to thee, O thou bull of four horns, thou who hast one horn to the west, and one to the east, and one to the north, and one to the south, . . . . . . let Unas pass, for he is a being from the purified Amenta, who goeth forth from the country of Baqta. Hail to thee, O Sekhet-Hetep, hail to thee, and to the fields which are in thee, the fields of Unas are in thee, for pure offerings are in thee."

{p. cvi}

The souls of the dead could also be commended to the care of the gods above by the gods of Annu, and thus we find it said in the pyramid of Unas: "O gods of the west, O gods of the east, O gods of the south, O gods of the north, ye four [orders of gods] who embrace the four holy ends of the universe, and who granted to Osiris to come forth to heaven, and to sail over the celestial waters thereof with his son Horus by his side to protect him and to make him to rise like a great god from the celestial deep, say ye to Unas, 'Behold Horus, the son of Osiris, behold Unas, the god of the aged gods, the son of Hathor, behold the seed of Seb, for Osiris hath commanded that Unas shall rise like the second of Horus, and the four khu's who are in Annu have written this command to the great gods who are in the celestial waters.'"[1] And again, "When men are buried and receive their thousands of cakes and thousands of vases of ale upon the table of him that ruleth in Amenta, that being is in sore straits who hath not a written decree: now the decree of Unas is under the greatest, and not under the little seal."[2]

The plan of the Sekhet-Hetep which we find in the Book of the Dead during the Theban period will be described below, and it is therefore sufficient to say here that the ideas of the happy life which the deceased led had their origin in the pyramid texts, as may be seen from the following passage:--"Unas hath offered incense unto the great and little companies of the gods, and his mouth is pure, and the tongue which is therein is pure. O ye judges, ye have taken Unas unto yourselves, let him eat that which ye eat, let him drink that which ye drink, let him live upon that which ye live upon, let your seat be his seat, let his power be your power, let the boat wherein he shall sail be your boat, let him net birds in Aaru, let him possess running streams in Sekhet-Hetep, and may he obtain his meat and his drink from you, O ye gods. May the water of Unas be of the wine which is of Ra, may he revolve in the sky like Ra, and may he pass over the sky like Thoth."[3]

Of the condition of those who failed to secure a life of beatitude with the gods in the Sekhet-Aaru of the Tuat, the pyramid texts say nothing, and it seems as if the doctrine of punishment of the wicked and of the judgment which took place after death is a development characteristic of a later period.

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THE GODS OF THE BOOK OF THE DEAD.

The following are the principal gods and goddesses mentioned in the pyramid texts and in the later versions of the Book of the Dead:--

Nu represents the primeval watery mass from which all the gods were evolved, and upon which floats the bark of "millions of years" containing the sun. This god's chief titles are " Father of the gods," and begetter of the great company of the gods,". He is depicted in the form of a seated deity having upon his head disk and plumes.[1]

Nut the female principle of Nu; she is depicted with the head of a snake surmounted by a disk, or with the head of a cat.[2]

Ptah was associated with the god Khnemu in carrying out at the Creation the mandates of Thoth the divine intelligence; his name means the "opener," and he was identified by the Greeks with {Greek H!'faistos}, and by the Latins with Vulcan.

He was worshipped at a very early date in Memphis, which is called in Egyptian texts "The House of the Ka of Ptah,", and according to Herodotus his temple there was founded by Mena or Menes.[3] He is called the "exceedingly great god, the beginning of being," "the father of fathers and power of powers," and "he created his form,

{p. cviii}

and gave birth to his body, and established unending and unvarying right and truth upon the earth." As a solar god he is called "Ptah, the Disk of heaven, who illumineth the world by the fire of his eyes,"; and in the Book of the Dead he is said to have "opened" the mouth of the deceased with the tool with which he opened the mouths of the gods.[1] He is depicted in the form of a mummy standing upon maat and in his hands he holds a sceptre on the top of which are the emblems of power, life, and stability; from the back of his neck hangs the menat (see p. 1, note 2).[2] Ptah formed at Memphis the chief member of the triad Ptah-Sekhet and Nefer-Tmu.

In many texts the god Ptah is often joined to the god Seker whose individual attributes it is not easy to describe; Seker is the Egyptian name of the incarnation of the Apis bull at Memphis. That Seker was a solar god is quite clear, but whether he "closed" the day or the night is not certain. Originally his festival was celebrated in the evening, wherefrom it appears that he represented some form of the night sun; but in later times the ceremony of drawing the image of the god Seker in the hennu boat round the sanctuary was performed in the morning at dawn, and thus, united with Ptah, he became the closer of the night and the opener of the day. He is depicted as a mummied body with the head of a hawk, and he sometimes holds in his hands emblems of power, sovereignty, and rule.[3]

Another form of Ptah was Ptah-Seker-Ausar wherein the creator of the world, the sun, and Osiris as the god of the dead, were represented. A large number of faïence figures of this triune god are found in graves, and specimens exist in all museums. He is represented as a dwarf standing upon a crocodile, and having a scarabæus upon his head; the scarab is the emblem of the new life into which the deceased is about to break, the crocodile is the emblem of the darkness of death which has been overcome. According to some the element of Ptah in the triad is the personification of the period of incubation which follows

{p. cix}

death and precedes the entry into eternal life, and the symbols with which he is accompanied explain the character attributed to this god.[1]

The god Ptah is also united with the gods Hapi, Nu and Tanen when he represents various phases of primeval matter.

Khnemu worked with Ptah in carrying out the work of creation ordered by Thoth, and is therefore one of the oldest divinities of Egypt; his name means, "to mould," "to model." His connexion with the primeval water caused him to be regarded as the chief god of the inundation and lord of the cataract at Elephantine. He dwelt in Annu, but he was lord of Elephantine, and "the builder of men, the maker of the gods, and the father from the beginning."

Elsewhere he is said to be

Maker of things which are, creator of what shall be, the beginning of beings, father

of fathers, and mother of mothers.

He supported the heaven upon its four pillars in the beginning, and earth, air, sea, and sky are his handiwork. He is depicted in the form of a man having a ram's head and horns surmounted by plumes, uræi with disks, etc.; in one hand be holds the sceptre and in the other the emblem of life. Occasionally he is hawk-headed, and in one representation he holds the emblem of water, in each hand. On a late bas-relief at Philæ we find him seated at a potter's table upon which stands a human being whom he has just fashioned.[2]

Khepera was a form of the rising sun, and was both a type of matter which is on the point of passing from inertness into life, and also of the dead body which is about to burst forth into a new life in a glorified form. He is depicted in the form of a man having a beetle for a head, and this insect was his type and emblem among ancient nations, because it was believed to be self-begotten and self-produced; to this notion we owe the myriads of beetles or

{p. cx}

scarabs which are found in tombs of all ages in Egypt, and also in the Greek islands and settlements in the Mediterranean, and in Phœnicia, Syria, and elsewhere. The seat of the god Khepera was in the boat of the sun, and the pictures which present us with this fact[1] only illustrate an idea which is as old, at least, as the pyramid of Unas, for in this monument it is said of the king:-

He flieth like a bird, he alighteth like a beetle upon the empty throne

in thy boat, O Ra.

In the XVIIIth dynasty Queen Hatshepset declared herself to be "the creator of things which came into being like Khepera",[3] and in later times the scribes were exceedingly fond of playing upon the word used as a noun, adjective, verb and proper name.[4]

Tum or Atemu i.e., "the closer," was the great god of Annu, and the head of the great company of the gods of that place. It would seem that he usurped the position of Ra in Egyptian mythology, or at any rate that the priests of Annu succeeded in causing their local god, either separately or joined with Ra, to be accepted as the leader of the divine group. He represented the evening or night sun, and as such he is called in the XVth chapter of the Book of the Dead "divine god," "self-created," "maker of the gods," "creator of men," who stretched out the heavens," "the lightener of the tuat with his two eyes," etc.'

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The "cool breezes of the north wind," for which every dead man prayed, were supposed to proceed from him. He is, as M. Lefébure has pointed out, always depicted in the form of a man; he wears the crowns and holds both the sceptre and emblem of life On a mummy case at Turin he is depicted in the boat of the Sun, in company with the god Khepera; between them are the beetle and sun's disk In later times the Egyptians called the feminine form of Tmu Temt.[2]

Ra was the name given to the sun by the Egyptians in a remote antiquity, but the meaning of the word, or the attribute which they ascribed to the sun by it, is unknown. Ra was the invisible emblem of God, and was regarded as the god of this earth, to whom offerings and sacrifices were made daily; and when he appeared above the horizon at the creation, time began. In the pyramid texts the soul of the deceased makes its way to where Ra is in heaven, and Ra is entreated to give it a place in the "bark of millions of years" wherein he sails over the sky. The Egyptians attributed to the sun a morning and an evening boat, and in these the god sat accompanied by Khepera and Tmu, his own forms in the morning and evening respectively. In his daily course he vanquished night and darkness, and mist and cloud disappeared from before his rays; subsequently the Egyptians invented the moral conception of the sun, representing the victory of right over wrong and of truth over falsehood. From a natural point of view the sun was synonymous with movement, and hence typified the life of man; and the setting of the one typified the death of the other. Usually Ra is depicted in human form, sometimes with the head of a hawk, and sometimes without[3], As early as the time of the pyramid texts we find Ra united with Tmu to form the chief god of Annu, and at the same period a female counterpart Rat was assigned to him.[4]

Shu, the second member of the company of the gods of Annu, was the firstborn son of Ra, Ra-Tmu, or Tum, by the goddess Hathor, the sky, and was the twin brother of Tefnut. He typified the light, he lifted up the sky, Nut, from the earth, Seb, and placed it upon the steps which were in Khemennu.

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He is usually depicted in the form of a man, who wears upon his head a feather or feathers and holds in his hand the sceptre. At other times he appears in the form of a man with upraised arms; on his head he has the emblem ###, and he is often accompanied by the four pillars of heaven, i.e., the cardinal points.[1] Among the many faïence amulets which are found in tombs are two which have reference to Shu: the little models of steps typify the steps upon which Shu rested the sky in Khemennu; and the crouching figure of a god supporting the sun's disk symbolizes his act of raising the sun's disk into the space between sky and earth at the time when he separated Nut from Seb.

Tefnut, the third member of the company of the gods of Annu, was the daughter of Ra, Ra-Tmu, or Tmu, and twin-sister of Shu; she represented in one form moisture, and in another aspect she seems to personify the power of sunlight. She is depicted in the form of a woman, usually with the head of a lioness surmounted by a disk or uræus, or both;[2] in faïence, however, the twin brother and sister have each a lion's head. In the pyramid texts they play a curious part, Shu being supposed to carry away hunger from the deceased, and Tefnut his thirst.[3]

Seb or Qeb, the fourth member of the company of the gods of Annu, was the son of Shu, husband of Nut, and by her father of Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. Originally he was the god of the earth, and is called both the father of the gods, and the "erpa (i.e., the tribal, hereditary head) of the gods." He is depicted in human form, sometimes with a crown upon his head and sceptre I in his right hand; and sometimes he has upon his head a goose,[4] which bird was sacred to him. In many places he is called the "great cackler" and he was supposed to have laid the egg from which the world sprang. Already in the pyramid texts he has become a god of the dead by virtue of representing the earth wherein the deceased was laid.

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Ausar or Osiris, the sixth member of the company of the gods of Annu, was the son of Seb and Nut, and the husband of his sister Isis, the father of "Horus, the son of Isis," and the brother of Set and Nephthys. The version of his sufferings and death by Plutarch has been already described (see p. xlviii.). Whatever may have been the foundation of the legend, it is pretty certain that his character as a god of the dead was well defined long before the versions of the pyramid texts known to us were written, and the only important change which took place in the views of the Egyptians concerning him in later days was the ascription to him of the attributes which in the early dynasties were regarded as belonging only to Ra or to Ra-Tmu. Originally Osiris was a form of the sun-god, and, speaking generally, he may be said to have represented the sun after he had set, and as such was the emblem of the motionless dead; later texts identify him with the moon. The Egyptians asserted that he was the father of the gods who had given him birth, and, as he was the god both of yesterday and of to-day, he became the type of eternal existence and the symbol of immortality; as such he usurped not only the attributes of Ra, but those of every other god, and at length he was both the god of the dead and the god of the living. As judge of the dead he was believed to exercise functions similar to those attributed to God. Alone among all the many gods of Egypt, Osiris was chosen as the type of what the deceased hoped to become when, his body having been mummified in the prescribed way, and ceremonies proper to the occasion having been performed and the prayers said, his glorified body should enter into his presence in heaven; to him as "lord of eternity," by which title as judge of the dead he was commonly addressed, the deceased appealed to make his flesh to germinate and to save his body from decay.[1] The various forms in which Osiris is depicted are too numerous to be described here, but generally speaking he is represented in the form of a mummy wearing a crown and holding in his hands the emblems of sovereignty and power. A very complete series of illustrations of the forms of Osiris is given by Lanzone in his Dizionario, tavv. 258-299. The ceremonies connected with the celebration of the events of the sufferings, the death and the resurrection of Osiris occupied a very prominent part in the religious observances of the Egyptians, and it seems as if in the month of Choiak a representation of

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them took place in various temples in Egypt; the text of a minute description of them has been published by M. Loret in Recueil de Travaux, tom. iii., p. 43 ff, and succeeding volumes. A perusal of this work explains the signification of many of the ceremonies connected with the burial of the dead, the use of amulets, and certain parts of the funeral ritual; and the work in this form being of a late date proves that the doctrine of immortality, gained through the god who was "lord of the heavens and of the earth, of the underworld and of the waters, of the mountains, and of all which the sun goeth round in his course,"[1] had remained unchanged for at least four thousand years of its existence.

Auset or Isis, the seventh member of the company of the gods of Annu, was the wife of Osiris and the mother of Horus; her woes have been described both by Egyptian and Greek writers.[2] Her commonest names are "the great goddess, the divine mother, the mistress of charms or enchantments"; in later times she is called the "mother of the gods," and the "living one." She is usually depicted in the form of a woman, with a head-dress in the shape of a seat, the hieroglyphic for which forms her name. The animal sacred to her was the cow, hence she sometimes wears upon her head the horns of that animal accompanied by plumes and feathers. In one aspect she is identified with the goddess Selk or Serq, and she then has upon her head a scorpion, the emblem of that goddess;[3] in another aspect she is united to the star Sothis, and then a star is added to her crown. She is, however, most commonly represented as the mother suckling her child Horus, and figures of her in this aspect, in bronze and faïence, exist in thousands. As a nature goddess she is seen standing in the boat of the sun, and she was probably the deity of the dawn.

Heru or Horus, the sun-god, was originally a totally distinct god from Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis, but from the earliest times it seems that the two gods were confounded, and that the attributes of the one were ascribed to the other; the fight which Horus the sun-god waged against night and darkness was also at a very early period identified with the combat between Horus, the son of

{p. cxv}

Isis, and his brother Set. The visible emblem of the sun-god was at a very early date the hawk is, which was probably the first living thing worshipped by the early Egyptians; already in the pyramid texts the hawk on a standard is used indiscriminately with ### to represent the word "god." The principal forms of Horus the sun-god, which probably represent the sun at various periods of the day and night, are:--Heru-ur ({Greek A?rwh`rei), "Horus the Great"; Heru-merti, "Horus of the two eyes," i.e., of the sun and moon;[1] Heru-nub, "the golden Horus"; Heru-khent-khat; Heru-khent-an-maa, "Horus dwelling in blindness"; Heru-khuti, "Horus of the two horizons,"[2] the type of which on earth was the Sphinx; Heru-sam-taui, "Horus the uniter of the north and south"; Heru-hekenu, " Horus of Heken"; and Heru-behutet, "Horus of Behutet."[3] The cippi of Horus, which became so common at a late period in Egypt, seem to unite the idea of the physical and moral conceptions of Horus the sun-god and of Horus the son of Osiris and Isis.

Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis, appears in Egyptian texts usually as Heru-p-khart, " Horus the child," who afterwards became the "avenger of his father Osiris," and occupied his throne, as we are told in many places in the Book of the Dead. In the pyramid texts the deceased is identified with Heru-p-khart, and a reference is made to the fact that the god is always represented with a finger in his mouth.[4] The curious legend which Plutarch relates concerning Harpocrates and the cause of his lameness' is probably

{p. cxvi}

based upon the passage in the history of Osiris and Isis given in a hymn to Osiris of the XVIIIth dynasty.[1]

Set or Sutekh the eighth member of the company of the gods of Annu, was the son of Seb and Nut, and the husband of his sister Nephthys. The worship of this god is exceedingly old, and in the pyramid texts we find that be is often mentioned with Horus and the other gods of the Heliopolitan company in terms of reverence. He was also believed to perform friendly offices for the deceased, and to be a god of the Sekhet-Aaru, or abode of the blessed dead. He is usually depicted in human form with the head of an animal which has not yet been identified; in later times the head of the ass was confounded with it, but the figures of the god in bronze which are preserved in the British Museum and elsewhere prove beyond a doubt that the head of Set is that of an animal unknown to us. In the early dynasties he was a beneficent god, and one whose favour was sought after by the living and by the dead, and so late as the XIXth dynasty kings delighted to call themselves "beloved of Set." About the XXIInd dynasty, however, it became the fashion to regard the god as the origin of all evil, and his statues and images were so effectually destroyed that only a few which escaped by accident have come down to us. Originally Set, or Sut, represented the natural night and was the opposite of Horus;[2] that Horus and Set were opposite aspects or forms of the same god is proved by the figure given by Lanzone (Dizionario, tav. 37, No. 2), where we see the head of Set and the head of Horus upon one body. The natural opposition of the day and night was at an early period confounded with the battle which took place between Horus, the son of Isis, and Set, wherein Isis intervened, and it seems that the moral idea of the battle of right against wrong[3] became attached to the latter combat, which was undertaken by Horus to avenge his father's murder by Set.

Nebt-het or Nephthys the last member of the company of the gods of Annu, was the daughter of Seb and Nut, the sister of Osiris and Isis, and the

{p. cxvii}

sister and wife of Set. When the sun rose at the creation out of the primeval waters, Nephthys occupied a place in his boat with Isis and other deities; as a nature goddess she either represents the day before sunrise or after sunset, but no portion of the night. She is depicted in the form of a woman, having upon her head the hieroglyphics which form her name, "lady of the house". A legend preserved by Plutarch[1] makes her the mother of Anpu or Anubis by Osiris. In Egyptian texts Anpu is called the son of Ra.[2] In religious texts Nephthys is made to be the companion of Isis in all her troubles, and her grief for her brother's death is as great as that of his wife.

Anpu, or Anubis, the son of Osiris or Ra, sometimes by Isis and sometimes by Nephthys, seems to represent as a nature god either the darkest part of the twilight or the earliest dawn. He is depicted either in human form with a jackal's head, or as a jackal. In the legend of Osiris and Isis, Anubis played a prominent part in connexion with the dead body of Osiris, and in papyri we see him standing as a guard and protector of the deceased lying upon the bier; in the judgment scene he is found as the guard of the balance, the pointer of which he watches with great diligence. He became the recognized god of the sepulchral chamber, and eventually presided over the whole of the "funeral Mountain." He is always regarded as the messenger of Osiris.

Another form of Anubis was the god Ap-uat, the ### of the pyramid texts,[3] or "Opener of the ways," who also was depicted in the form of a jackal; and the two gods are often confounded. On sepulchral stelæ and other monuments two jackals are frequently depicted; one of these represents Anubis, and the other Ap-uat, and they probably have some connexion with the northern and southern parts of the funereal world. According to M. Maspero, the god Anubis led the souls of the dead to the Elysian Fields in the Great Oasis.[4]

Among the primeval gods are two, Hu and Saa who are seen in the boat of the sun at the creation. They are the children of Tmu or Tmu-Ra, but the exact part which they play as nature gods has not yet, it seems, been satisfactorily made out. The first mention of them in the pyramid texts records their subjugation by the deceased,[5] but in the Theban Book of the Dead

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they appear among the company of the gods who are present when the soul of the deceased is being weighed in the balance.

Tehuti or Thoth represented the divine intelligence which at creation uttered the words that were carried into effect by Ptah and Khnemu. He was self produced, and was the great god of the earth, air, sea and sky; and he united in himself the attributes of many gods. He was the scribe of the gods, and, as such, he was regarded as the inventor of all the arts and sciences known to the Egyptians; some of his titles are "lord of writing," "master of papyrus," "maker of the palette and the ink-jar," "the mighty speaker," "the sweet tongued"; and the words and compositions which he recited on behalf of the deceased preserved the latter from the influence of hostile powers and made him invincible in the "other world." He was the god of right and truth, wherein he lived, and whereby he established the world and all that is in it. As the chronologer of heaven and earth, he became the god of the moon; and as the reckoner of time, he obtained his name Tehuti, i.e., "the measurer"; in these capacities he had the power to grant life for millions of years to the deceased. When the great combat took place between Horus, the son of Isis, and Set, Thoth was present as judge, and he gave to Isis the cow's head in the place of her own which was cut off by Horus in his rage at her interference; having reference to this fact he is called Ap-rehui, "The judge of the two combatants." One of the Egyptian names for the ibis was Tekh, and the similarity of the sound of this word to that of Tehu, the name of the moon as a measurer of time, probably led the Egyptians to depict the god in the form of an ibis, notwithstanding the fact that the dog-headed ape was generally considered to be the animal sacred to him. It has been thought that there were two gods called Thoth, one being a form of Shu; but the attributes belonging to each have not yet been satisfactorily defined. In the monuments and papyri Thoth appears in the form of a man with the head of an ibis, which is sometimes surmounted by the crown ###, or ###, or ###, or by disk and horns ###, or ###, and he holds in his left hand the sceptre ### and in the right {the ankh} ###; sometimes he is depicted holding his ink-jar and the crescent moon, and sometimes he appears in the form of an ape holding a palette full of writing-reeds.' Thoth is mentioned in the pyramid texts[2] as the brother of Osiris, but whether he is the

{p. cxix}

same Thoth who is called the "Lord of Khemennu" and the "Scribe of the gods" is doubtful.

Maat, the wife of Thoth, was the daughter of Ra, and a very ancient goddess; she seems to have assisted Ptah and Khnemu in carrying out rightly the work of creation ordered by Thoth. There is no one word which will exactly describe the Egyptian conception of Maat both from a physical and from a moral point of view; but the fundamental idea of the word is " straight," and from the Egyptian texts it is clear that maat meant right, true, truth, real, genuine, upright, righteous, just, steadfast, unalterable, etc. Thus already in the Prisse papyrus it is said, "Great is maat, the mighty and unalterable, and it hath never been broken since the time of Osiris,"[1] and Ptah-hetep counsels his listener to "make maat, or right and truth, to germinate."[2] The just, upright, and straight man is maat and in a book of moral precepts it is said, "God will judge the right (maa)[3] ###[4]. Maat, the goddess of the unalterable laws of heaven, and the daughter of Ra, is depicted in female form, with the feather emblematic of maat, on her head, or with the feather alone for a head, and the sceptre in one hand, and {an ankh} in the other.[5] In the judgment scene two Maat goddesses appear; one probably is the personification of physical law, and the other of moral rectitude.

Het-heru, or Hathor the "house of Horus," was the goddess of the sky wherein Horus the sun-god rose and set. Subsequently a great number of goddesses of the same name were developed from her, and these were identified with Isis, Neith, Iusaset, and many other goddesses whose attributes they absorbed. A group of seven Hathors is also mentioned, and these appear to have partaken of the nature of good fairies. In one form Hathor was the goddess of love, beauty,

happiness; and the Greeks identified her with their own Aphrodite. She is often depicted in the form of a woman having disk and horns upon her head, and at times she has the head of a lion surmounted by a uræus. Often she has the form of a cow--the animal sacred to her--and in this form she appears as the goddess of the tomb or Ta-sertet, and she provides meat and drink for the deceased.[1]

Meht-urt is the personification of that part of the sky wherein the sun rises, and also of that part of it in which he takes his daily course; she is depicted in the form of a cow, along the body of which the two barks of the sun are seen sailing. Already in the pyramid texts we find the attribute of judge ascribed to Meh-urt,[2] and down to a very late date the judgment of the deceased in the hall of double Maat in the presence of Thoth and the other gods was believed to take place in the abode of Meh-urt.[3]

Net or Neith, "the divine mother, the lady of heaven, the mistress of the gods," was one of the most ancient deities of Egypt, and in the pyramid texts she appears as the mother of Sebek.[4] Like Meh-urt she personifies the place in the sky where the sun rises. In one form she was the goddess of the loom and shuttle, and also of the chase; in this aspect she was identified by the Greeks with Athene. She is depicted in the form of a woman, having upon her head the shuttle or arrows, or she wears the crown and holds arrows, a bow, and a sceptre in her left hand; she also appears in the form of a cow.[5]

Sekhet was in Memphis the wife of Ptah, and the mother of Nefer-Tmu and of I-em-hetep. She was the personification of the burning heat of the sun, and as such was the destroyer of the enemies of Ra and Osiris. When Ra determined to punish mankind with death, because they scoffed at him, he sent Sekhet, his "eye," to perform the work of vengeance; illustrative of this aspect of her is a figure wherein she is depicted with the sun's eye for a head.[5] Usually

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she has the head of a lion surmounted by the sun's disk, round which is a uræus; and she generally holds a sceptre, but sometimes a knife.

Bast, according to one legend, was the mother of Nefer-Tmu. She was the personification of the gentle and fructifying heat of the sun, as opposed to that personified by Sekhet. The cat was sacred to Bast, and the goddess is usually depicted cat-headed. The most famous seat of her worship was the city of Bubastis, the modern Tell Basta, in the Delta.

Nefer-Tmu was the son either of Sekhet or Bast, and he personified some form of the sun's heat. He is usually depicted in the form of a man, with a cluster of lotus flowers upon his head, but sometimes he has the head of a lion; in the little faïence figures of him which are so common, he stands upon the back of a lion.[1] He no doubt represents the sun-god in the legend which made him to burst forth from a lotus, for in the pyramid of Unas the king is said to

Rise like Nefer-Tmu from the lotus (lily) to the nostrils of Ra,"

and to "come forth on the horizon every day."[2]

Neheb-ka is the name of a goddess who is usually represented with the head of a serpent, and with whom the deceased identifies himself.

Sebak a form of Horus the sun-god, must be distinguished from Sebak the companion of Set, the opponent of Osiris; of each of these gods the crocodile was the sacred animal, and for this reason probably the gods themselves were confounded. Sebak-Ra, the lord of Ombos, is usually depicted in human form with the head of a crocodile, surmounted by ###, ###, or ###, or ###.[3]

Amsu or Amsi is one of the most ancient gods of Egypt. He personified the power of generation, or the reproductive force of nature; he was the "father of his own mother," and was identified with "Horus the mighty," or with Horus the avenger of his father Un-nefer or Osiris. The Greeks identified

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him with the god Pan, and called the chief city where his worship was celebrated Khenimis,[l] after one of his names. He is depicted usually in the form of a man standing upon; and he has upon his head the plumes and holds the flail in his right hand, which is raised above his shoulder.[2]

Neb-er-tcher, a name which originally implied the "god of the universe," but which was subsequently given to Osiris, and indicated the god after the completed reconstruction of his body, which had been hacked to pieces by Set.

Un-nefer a name of Osiris in his capacity of god and judge of the dead in the underworld. Some make these words to mean the "good being," and others the "beautiful hare."

Astennu a name given to the god Thoth.

Mert or Mer-sekert the lover of silence," is a name of Isis or Hathor as goddess of the underworld. She is depicted in the form of a woman, having a disk and horns upon her head.[3]

Serq or Selk is a form of the goddess Isis. She is usually depicted in the form of a woman, with a scorpion upon her head; occasionally she appears as a scorpion with a woman's head surmounted by disk and horns.[4]

Ta-urt, the Thoueris of the Greeks, was identified as the wife of Set or Typhon; she is also known under the names Apt and Sheput. Her common titles are "mistress of the gods and "bearer of the gods". She is depicted in the form of a hippopotamus standing on her hind legs, with distended paunch and hanging breasts, and one of her forefeet rests upon ###; sometimes she has the head of a woman, but she always wears the disk, horns, and plumes[4].

Uatchit was a form of Hathor, and was identified with the appearance of the sky in the north when the sun rose. She is either depicted in the form of a woman, having upon her head the crown of the north and a sceptre, around which a serpent is twined, or as a winged uræus wearing the crown of the north.

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Beb, Bebti, Baba, or Babu, mentioned three times in the Book of the Dead, is the "firstborn son of Osiris," and seems to be one of the gods of generation.

Hapi is the name of the great god of the Nile who was worshipped in Egypt under two forms, i.e., "Hapi of the South," and "Hapi of the North,"; the papyrus was the emblem of the one, and the lotus of the other. From the earliest times the Nile was regarded by the Egyptians as the source of all the prosperity of Egypt, and it was honoured as being the type of the life-giving waters out of the midst of which sprang the gods and all created things. In turn it was identified with all the gods of Egypt, new or old, and its influence was so great upon the minds of the Egyptians that from the earliest days they depicted to themselves a material heaven wherein the Isles of the Blest were laved by the waters of the Nile, and the approach to which was by the way of its stream as it flowed to the north. Others again lived in imagination on the banks of the heavenly Nile, whereon they built cities; and it seems as if the Egyptians never succeeded in conceiving a heaven without a Nile and canals. The Nile is depicted in the form of a man, who wears upon his head a clump of papyrus or lotus flowers; his breasts are those of a woman, indicating fertility. Lanzone reproduces an interesting scene[1] in which the north and south Nile gods are tying a papyrus and a lotus stalk around the emblem of union to indicate the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt, and this emblem is found cut upon the thrones of the kings of Egypt to indicate their sovereignty over the regions traversed by the South and North Niles. It has already been said that Hapi was identified with all the gods in turn, and it follows as a matter of course that the attributes of each were ascribed to him; in one respect, however he is different from them all, for of him it is written

He cannot be sculptured in stone; in the images on which men place crowns and uræi

he is not made manifest; service cannot be rendered nor offerings made to him; not

[1. Dizionario, tav. 198.]

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can he be drawn from [his] mystery; not can be known the place where he is; not

is he found in the painted shrine.[1]

Here the scribe gave to the Nile the attributes of the great and unknown God its Maker.

In the pyramid texts we find a group of four gods with whom the deceased is closely connected in the "other world"; these are the four "children of Horus" whose names are given in the following order:--Hapi, Tua-mautef, Amset and Qebhsennuf.[2] The deceased is called their "father."[3] His two arms were identified with Hapi and Tuamautef, and his two legs with Amset and Qebhsennuf;[4] and when he entered into the Sekhet-Aaru they accompanied him as guides, and went in with him two on each side.[5] They took away all hunger and thirst from him,[6] they gave him life in heaven and protected it when given,[7] and they brought to him from the Lake of Khemta the boat of the Eye of Khnemu.[8] In one passage they are called the "four Khu's of Horus",[9] and originally they represented the four pillars which supported the sky or Horus. Each was supposed to be lord of one of the quarters of the world, and finally became the god of one of the cardinal points. Hapi represented the north, Tuamautef the east, Amset the south, and Qebhsennuf the west. In the XVIIIth dynasty the Egyptians originated the custom of embalming the intestines of the

{p. cxxv}

body separately, and they placed them in four jars, each of which was devoted to the protection of one of the children of Horus, i.e., to the care of one of the gods of the four cardinal points. The god of the north protected the small visceræ, the god of the east the heart and lungs, the god of the south the stomach and large intestines, and the god of the west the liver and gall-bladder. With these four gods four goddesses were associated, viz., Nephthys, Neith, Isis, and Selk or Serq.

Connected with the god Horus are a number of mythological beings called Heru shesu[1] (or shemsu, as some read it), who appear already in the pyramid of Unas in connection with Horus and Set in the ceremony of purifying and "opening the mouth"; and in the pyramid of Pepi I. it is they who wash the king and who recite for him the "Chapter of those who come forth," and the "[Chapter of] those who ascend."[2]

In the judgment scene in the Book of the Dead, grouped round the pan of the balance which contains the heart of the deceased (see Plate III.), are three beings in human form, who bear the names Shai, Renenet, and Meskhenet.

Shai is the personification of destiny, and Renenet fortune; these names are usually found coupled. Shai and Renenet are said to be in the hands of Thoth, the divine intelligence of the gods; and Rameses II. boasts that he himself is "lord of Shai and creator of Renenet."[3] Shai was originally the deity who "decreed" what should happen to a man, and Renenet, as may be seen from the pyramid texts,[4] was the goddess of plenty, good fortune, and the like; subsequently no distinction was made between these deities and the abstract ideas which they represented. In the papyrus of Ani, Shai stands by himself near the pillar of the Balance, and Renenet is accompanied by Meskhenet, who appears to be the personification of all the conceptions underlying Shai and Renenet and something else besides. In the story of the children of Ra, as related in the Westcar papyrus, we find the goddess Meskhenet mentioned with Isis, Nephthys, Heqet, and the god Khnemu as assisting at the birth of children.

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Disguised in female forms, the four goddesses go to the house of Ra-user, and, professing to have a knowledge of the art of midwifery, they are admitted to the chamber where the child is about to be born; Isis stands before the woman, Nephthys behind her, and Heqet accelerates the birth. When the child is born Meskhenet comes and looking upon him says, "A king; he shall rule throughout this land. May Khnemu give health and strength to his body."[1] The word meskhenet is as old as the pyramid times, and seems then to have had the meaning of luck, destiny, etc.[2]

The god Amen, his wife Mut and their associate Khonsu have nothing whatever to do with the Book of the Dead; but Amen, the first member of this great Theban triad, must be mentioned with the other gods, because he was usually identified with one or more of them. The name Amen means the "hidden one," and the founding of the first shrine of the god recorded in history took place at Thebes during the XIIth dynasty; from that time until the close of the XVIIth dynasty, Amen was the chief god of Thebes and nothing more. When, however, the last kings of the XVIIth dynasty had succeeded in expelling the so-called Hyksos and had delivered the country from the yoke of the foreigner, their god assumed an importance hitherto unknown, and his priests endeavoured to make his worship the first in the land. But Amen was never regarded throughout the entire country as its chief god, although his votaries called him the king of the gods. The conception which the Thebans had of their god as a god of the underworld was modified when they identified him with Ra and called him "Amen-Ra"; and, speaking generally, in the time of the XVIIIth dynasty and onwards the god became the personification of the mysterious creating and sustaining power of the universe, which in a material form was typified by the sun. By degrees all the attributes of the old gods of Egypt were ascribed to him, and the titles which among western nations are given to God were added to those pantheistic epithets which Amen had usurped. The following extracts from a fine hymn[3] will set forth the views of the priesthood of Amen-Ra concerning their god.

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"Adoration to thee, O Amen-Ra, the bull in Annu, the ruler of all the gods, the beautiful and beloved god who givest life by means of every kind of food and fine cattle.

"Hail to thee, O Amen-Ra, lord of the world's throne, thou dweller in Thebes, thou bull of thy mother that livest in thy field, that extendest thy journeys in the land of the south, thou lord of those who dwell in the west, thou governor of Punt, thou king of heaven and sovereign of the earth, thou lord of things that exist, thou stablisher of creation, thou supporter of the universe. Thou art one in thine attributes among the gods, thou beautiful bull of the company of the gods, thou chief of all the gods, lord of Maat, father of the gods, creator of men, maker of beasts and cattle, lord of all that existeth, maker of the staff of life, creator of the herbs which give life to beasts and cattle . . . . . . . . Thou art the creator of things celestial and terrestrial, thou illuminest the universe . . . . . . . The gods cast themselves at thy feet when they perceive thee . . . . . Hymns of praise to thee, O father of the gods, who hast spread out the heavens and laid down the earth . . . . . thou master of eternity and of everlastingness. . . . . . . . Hail to thee, O Ra, lord of Maat, thou who -art hidden in thy shrine, lord of the gods. Thou art Khepera in thy bark, and when thou sendest forth the word the gods come into being. Thou art Tmu, the maker of beings which have reason, and, however many be their forms, thou givest them life, and thou dost distinguish the shape and stature of each from his neighbour. Thou hearest the prayer of the afflicted, and thou art gracious unto him that crieth unto thee; thou deliverest the feeble one from the oppressor, and thou judgest between the strong and the weak . . . . . The Nile riseth at thy will. . . . Thou only form, the maker of all that is, One only, the creator of all that shall be. Mankind hath come forth from thine eyes, the gods have come into being at thy word, thou makest the herbs for the use of beasts and cattle, and the staff of life for the need of man. Thou givest life to the fish of the stream and to the fowl of the air, and breath unto the germ in the egg; thou givest life unto the grasshopper, and thou makest to live the wild fowl and things that creep and things that fly and everything that belongeth thereunto. Thou providest food for the rats in the holes and for the birds that sit among the branches . . . . . . thou One, thou only One whose arms are many. All men and all creatures adore thee, and praises come unto thee from the height of heaven, from earth's widest space, and from the deepest depths of the sea . . . . . . . . thou One, thou only One who hast no second . . . . . .whose names are manifold and innumerable."

We have seen above[1] that among other titles the god Amen was called the "only One", but the addition of the words "who hast no second" is remarkable as showing that the Egyptians had already conceived the existence of a god who had no like or equal, which they hesitated not to proclaim side by side with their descriptions of his manifestations. Looking at the Egyptian words in their simple meaning, it is pretty certain that when the Egyptians declared that

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their god was One and that he had no second, they had the same ideas as the Jews and Muhammadans when they proclaimed their God to be "One"[1] and alone. It has been urged that the Egyptians never advanced to pure monotheism because they never succeeded in freeing themselves from the belief in the existence of other gods, but when they say that a god has "no second," even though they mention other "gods," it is quite evident that like the Jews, they conceived him to be an entirely different being from the existences which, for the want of a better word, or because these possessed superhuman attributes, they named "gods."

The gods above enumerated represent the powers who were the guides and protectors and givers of life and happiness to the deceased in the new life, but from the earliest times it is clear that the Egyptians imagined the existence of other powers who offered opposition to the dead, and who are called in many places his "enemies." Like so many of the ancient gods, these powers were originally certain forces of nature, which were believed to be opposed to those which were regarded as beneficient to man, as for example darkness to light, and night to day; with darkness and night were also associated the powers which contributed in any way to obscure the light of the sun or to prevent his shining. But since the deceased was identified with Horus, or Ra, and his accompanying gods, the enemies of the one became the enemies of the other, and the welfare of the one was the welfare of the other. When the Egyptians personified the beneficent powers of nature, that is say, their gods, they usually gave to them human forms and conceived them in their own images; but when they personified the opposing powers they gave to them the shapes of noxious animals and reptiles, such as snakes and scorpions. As time went on, the moral ideas of good and right were attributed to the former, and evil and wickedness to the latter. The first personifications of light and darkness were Horus and Set, and in the combat--the prototype of the subsequent legends of Marduk and Tiamat, Bel and the Dragon, St. George and the Dragon, and many others--which took place between them, the former was always the victor. But, though the deceased was identified with Horus or Ra, the victory which the god gained over Set only benefited the spiritual body which dwelt in heaven, and did not preserve the natural body which lay in the tomb. The principal enemy of the natural body was the worm, and from the earliest times it seems that a huge worm or serpent was chosen by the Egyptians as the type of the powers which were hostile to the dead and also of

{p. cxxix}

the foe against whom the Sun-god fought. Already in the pyramid of Unas a long section of the text contains nothing but formulæ, the recital of which was intended to protect the deceased from various kinds of snakes and worms.[1] These are exceedingly ancient, indeed, they may safely be said to form one of the oldest parts of the funeral literature of the Egyptians, and we find from the later editions of the Book of the Dead and certain Coptic works that the dread of the serpent as the emblem of physical and moral evil existed among the Egyptians in all generations, and that, as will be seen later, the belief in a limbo filled with snakes swayed their minds long after they had been converted to Christianity.

The charms against serpents in the pyramid texts of the Vth and VIth dynasties have their equivalents in the XXXIst and XXXIIIrd Chapters of the Book of the Dead, which are found on coffins of the XIth and XIIth dynasties;[2] and in the XVIIIth dynasty we find vignettes in which the deceased is depicted in the act of spearing a crocodile[3] and of slaughtering serpents.[4] In the Theban and Saïte versions are several small chapters[5] the recital of which drove away reptiles; and of these the most important is the XXXIXth Chapter, which preserved the deceased from the attack of the great serpent Apef or Apep, who is depicted with knives stuck in his folds.[7] In the period of the later dynasties a service was performed daily in th temple of Amen-Ra at Thebes to deliver the Sun-god from the assault of this fiend and on each occasion it was accompanied by a ceremony in which a waxen figure of Apep was burnt in the fire; as the wax melted, so the power of Apep was destroyed. Another name of Apep was Nak, who was pierced by the lance of th eye of Horus and made to vomit what he had swallowed.[9]

The judgment scene in the Theban edition of the Book of the Dead reveal the belief in the existence of a tri-formed monster, part crocodile, part lion, and

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part hippopotamus, whom the Egyptians called Am-mit, i.e., "the eater of the Dead," and who lived in Amenta; her place is by the side of the scales wherein the heart is weighed, and it is clear that such hearts as failed to balance the feather of Maat were devoured by her. In one papyrus she is depicted crouching by the side of a lake.[1] Other types of evil were the insect Apshai, [2]confounded in later times with the tortoise[3], which dies as Ra lives;[4] the crocodile Sebak, who afterwards became identified with Ra; the hippopotamus, the ass, etc.

The pyramid texts afford scanty information about the fiends and devils with which the later Egyptians peopled certain parts of the Tuat, wherein the night sun pursued his course, and where the souls of the dead dwelt; for this we must turn to the composition entitled the " Book of what is in the Tuat," several copies of which have come down to us inscribed upon tombs, coffins, and papyri of the XVIIIth and following dynasties. The Tuat was divided into twelve parts, corresponding to the twelve hours of the night; and this Book professed to afford to the deceased the means whereby he might pass through them successfully. In one of these divisions, which was under the rule of the god Seker, the entrance was guarded by a serpent on four legs with a human head, and within were a serpent with three heads, scorpions,[5] vipers, and winged monsters of terrifying aspect; a vast desert place was their abode, and seemingly the darkness was so thick there that it might be felt. In other divisions we find serpents spitting fire, lions, crocodile-headed gods, a serpent that devours the dead, a huge crocodile, and many other reptiles of divers shapes and forms.

From the descriptions which accompany the scenes, it is evident that the Tuat was regarded by the Egyptians of the XVIIIth dynasty from a moral as well as from a physical point of view.[6] Apep, the emblem of evil, was here punished and overcome, and here dwelt the souls of the wicked and the righteous, who received their punishments or rewards, meted out to them by the decree of Ra and his company of gods. The chief instruments of punishment employed by the gods were fire and beasts which devoured the souls and bodies of the enemies

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of Ra; and we may see from the literature of the Copts, or Egyptians who had embraced Christianity, how long the belief in a hell of fire and torturing fiends survived. Thus in the Life of Abba Shenuti,[1] a man is told that the " executioners of Amenti will not show compassion upon thy wretched sol,"[2] and in the history of Pisentios, a Bishop of Coptos in the seventh century of our era, we have a series of details which reflect the Tuat of the ancient Egyptians in a remarkable manner. The bishop having taken up his abode in a tomb filled with mummies, causes one of them to tell his history.[3] After saying that his parents were Greeks who worshipped Poseidon, he states that when he was dying already the avenging angels came about him with iron knives and goads as sharp as spears, which they thrust into his sides, while they gnashed their teeth at him; when he opened his eyes, he saw death in all its manifold forms round about him; and at that moment angels without mercy came and dragged his wretched soul from his body, and tying it to the form of a black horse they bore it away to Amenta. Next, he was delivered over to merciless tormentors, who tortured him in a place where there were multitudes of savage beasts; and, when he had been cast into the place of outer darkness, he saw a ditch more than two hundred feet deep filled with reptiles, each of which had seven heads, and all their bodies were covered as it were with scorpions. Here also were serpents, the very sight of which terrified the beholder, and to one of them which had teeth like iron stakes was the wretched man given to be devoured; for five days in each week the serpent crushed him with his teeth, but on the Saturday and Sunday there was respite. Another picture of the torments of Hades is given in the Martyrdom of Macarius of Antioch, wherein the saint, having restored to life a man who had been dead six hours, learned that when he was about to die he was surrounded by fiends, some of whom had the faces of dragons, others of lions, others of crocodiles, and others of bears. They tore his soul from his body with great violence, and they fled with it over a mighty river of fire, in which they plunged it to a depth of four hundred cubits; then they took it out and set it before the judge of Truth. After hearing the sentence of the judge the fiends took it to a place of outer darkness where no

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light came, and they cast it into the cold where there was gnashing of teeth. There it beheld a snake which never slept, with a head like that of a crocodile, and which was surrounded by reptiles which cast souls before it to be devoured, when the snake's mouth was full it allowed the other reptiles to eat, and though they rent the soul in pieces it did not die. After this the soul was carried into Amenta for ever. The martyr Macarius suffered in the reign of Diocletian, and the MS. from which the above extract is taken was copied in the year of the Martyrs 634 = A.D. 918. Thus, the old heathen ideas of the Egyptian Tuat were applied to the construction of the Coptic Hell.

THE PRINCIPAL GEOGRAPHICAL AND MYTHOLOGICAL PLACES IN THE BOOK OF THE DEAD.

Abtu, the Abydos of the Greeks (Strabo, XVII., i., 42), the capital of the eighth nome of Upper Egypt. It was the seat of the worship of Osiris, and from this fact was called Per-Ausar or Busiris, "the house of Osiris "; the Copts gave it the name ###.[1] Egyptian tradition made the sun to end his daily course at Abydos, and to enter into the Tuat at this place through a "gap" in the mountains called in Egyptian peq.[2] These mountains lay near to the town; and in the XIIth dynasty it was believed that the souls of the dead made their way into the other world by the valley which led through them to the great Oasis, where some placed the Elysian Fields.[3]

Amenta or Amentet, or was originally the place where the sun set, but subsequently the name was applied to the cemeteries and tombs which were usually built or hewn in the stony plateaus and mountains on the western bank of the Nile. Some believe that Amenta was, at first, the name of a small district, without either funereal or mythological signification. The Christian Egyptians or Copts used the word Amend to translate the Greek word Hades, to which they attributed all the ideas which their heathen ancestors had associated with the Amenta of the Book of the Dead.

Annu, the Heliopolis of the Greeks (Herodotus, II., 3, 7, 8, 9, 59, 93; Strabo, XVII., I, 27 ff ), and the capital of the thirteenth nome of Lower Egypt.

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The Hebrews called it On (Genesis xli., 45, 50; xlvi., 20), Aven (Ezekiel xxx., 17), and Bêth-Shemesh (Jeremiah xliii., 13); this last name is an exact translation of the Egyptian per Ra, "house of the sun," which was also a designation of Annu. The Copts have preserved the oldest name of the city under the form ###.[1] A Coptic bishop of this place was present at the Council of Ephesus. The city of Annu seems to have become associated with the worship of the sun in prehistoric times. Already in the Vth dynasty its priesthood had succeeded in gaining supremacy for their religious views and beliefs throughout Egypt, and from first to last it maintained its position as the chief seat of theological learning in Egypt. The body of the Aged One, a name of Osiris, reposed in Annu, and there dwelt the Eye of Osiris. The deceased made his way to Annu, where souls were joined unto bodies in thousands, and where the blessed dead lived on celestial food for ever.

An-rutf or Naarutf, is a section or door of the Tuat which lies to the north of Re-stau; the meaning of the word is "it never sprouteth."

An-tes(?) (see within, p. 323), an unknown locality where a light tower (?), was adored.

Apu, the Panopolis of the Greeks ({Greek Panw^n po'lis}, Strabo, XVII., i., 41), the metropolis of the ninth nome of Upper Egypt, and the seat of the worship of the god ###, whose name is variously read Amsu, Khem, and Min. In ancient days it was famous as the centre for stone cutting and linen weaving, and the latter industry still survives among the modern Coptic population, who, following their ancestors, call their city ###, which the Arabs have rendered by Akhmîm.

Aqert, a common name for the abode of the dead.

Bast, more fully Pa-Bast or Per-Bast, the Bubastis of the Greek writers (Herodotus, II., 59, 137, 156, 166; Strabo, XVII., 1, 27), the metropolis of the eighteenth nome of Lower Egypt, and the seat of the worship of Bast, a goddess who was identified with the soul of Isis, ba en Auset. The city is mentioned in the Bible under the form ### (Ezekiel xxx., 17), Pi-beseth,

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which the Copts have preserved in their name for the city, ###; the Arabs call the place Tell Basta.

Het-benbent, the name given to many sun-shrines in Egypt, and also to one of the places in the other world where the deceased dwelt.

Het-Ptah-ka, the sacred name of the city of Memphis, the metropolis of the first nome of Lower Egypt; it means the "House of the ka of Ptah," and was probably in use in the period of the Ist dynasty. Other names for Memphis were Aneb-het'et, "the city of the white wall", Men-nefer and Kha-nefert.

Kem-ur a name given to the district of the fourth and fifth nomes of Upper Egypt.

Khemennu, i.e., the city of the eight great cosmic gods, the Hermopolis of the Greek writers ({Greek E?'rmopolitikh` fulakh`}, Strabo, XVII., I, 41), and the metropolis of the fifteenth nome of Upper Egypt. The old Egyptian name for the city is preserved in its Coptic and Arabic names, ### and Eshmûnên.

Kher-aba, a very ancient city which was situated on the right bank of the Nile, a little to the south of Annu, near the site of which the "Babylon of Egypt"[1] (the {Greek Babulw'n, frou'rion e?rumno'n} of Strabo, XVII., I, 30), was built.

Manu is the name given to the region where the sun sets, which was believed to be exactly opposite to the district of Bekha, where he rose in the east; Manu is a synonym of west, just as Bekha is a synonym of east.[2]

Nekhen, the name of the shrine of the goddess Nekhebet, which is supposed to have been near to Nekheb, the capital of the third nome of Upper Egypt and the Eileithyiapolis of the Greeks.

Neter-khertet, a common name for the abode of the dead; it means the "divine subterranean place."

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Pe, a district of the town of Per-Uatchet, the Buto of the Greeks ({Greek Bou^tos}, Strabo, XVII., i., 18), which was situated in the Delta.

Punt, the tropical district which lay to the south and east of Egypt, and which included probably a part of the Arabian peninsula and the eastern coast of Africa along and south of Somali land.

Re-stau, or a name given to the passages in the tomb which lead from this to the other world; originally it designated the cemetery of Abydos only, and its god was Osiris.

Sa, the Saïs of the Greeks ({Greek Sa'ïs}, Strabo, XVII. i., 23), the metropolis of the fifth nome of Lower Egypt, and the seat of the worship of the goddess Neith.

Sekhem, the Letopolis of the Greeks, and capital of the Letopolites nome (Strabo, XVII., i., 30); it was the seat of the worship of Heru-ur, "Horus the elder," and one of the most important religious centres in Egypt.

Sekhet-Aanru, the "Field of the Aanru plants," was a name originally given to the islands in the Delta where the souls of the dead were supposed to live. Here was the abode of the god Osiris, who bestowed estates in it upon those who had been his followers, and here the beatified dead led a new existence and regaled themselves upon food of every kind, which was given to them in abundance. According to the vignette of the CXth Chapter of the Book of the Dead, the Sekhet-Aanru is the third division of the Sekhet-hetepu, or "Fields of Peace," which have been compared with the Elysian Fields of the Greeks.

Set Amentet, i.e., "the mountain of the underworld," a common name of the cemetery, which was usually situated in the mountains or desert on the western bank of the Nile.

Suten-henen, more correctly Henen-su, the metropolis of the twentieth nome of Upper Egypt, called by the Greeks Heracleopolis Magna (Strabo, XVI I., i., 35). The Hebrews mention the city (###, Isaiah xxx., 4) Hanes as the representative of Upper Egypt, and in Coptic times it was still of considerable size and importance; the Copts and Arabs have preserved the ancient name of the city under the forms ### and ###. Ahnas.

Tanenet, a district sacred to the gods Osiris and Ptah; it was probably situated near Memphis.

Ta-sert, or Ta-tchesertet, a common name for the tomb.

Tep, a district of the town Per-Uatchet, the Buto of the Greeks (Strabo, XVII., i., 18), which was situated in the Delta.

Tettet, a name given both to the metropolis[1] of the ninth nome and to the chief city[2] of the sixteenth nome of Lower Egypt.

Tuat, a common name for the abode of the departed.

FUNERAL CEREMONIES.

In illustration of the ceremonies which accompanied the burial of the dead the reader will find extracts from different texts printed in the Appendix on p. 264 ff. To these may be added an extract from the curious ritual which was in vogue in the Vth and VIth dynasties, and which commemorated the ceremonies which were performed for the god Osiris. It is to be noticed how closely the deceased is identified with Osiris, the type of incorruptibility. Osiris takes upon himself "all that is hateful" in the dead : that is, he adopts the burden of his sins; and the dead is purified by the typical sprinkling of water. While the gods are only accompanied by their ka's, the deceased, in right of his identification with a higher power, is accompanied by his Tet[1] also, that is, by his Osiris.

Throughout the ceremony, the Eye of Horus,[2] which is represented by various substances, plays a prominent part, for it is that which gives vigour to the heart of the dead and leads him to the god. That portion of the ceremony which was believed to procure the unlocking of the jaws and the opening of the mouth of the deceased, or of the statue which sometimes represented him, was performed after the purification by water and incense had been effected; and hereby was he enabled to partake of the meat and drink offerings, wherein the friends and relatives also participated, in order that they might cement and seal their mystic unity with the dead and with the god with whom he was identified.[3]

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Certain formulae were directed to be repeated four times: a direction which takes us back to the time when the Egyptians first divided the world into four parts, each corresponding to one of the four pillars which held up the sky, that is to say, to one of the four cardinal points, East, South, West, and North, presided over by a special god. The deceased sought to obtain the assistance of each of the four gods of the cardinal points, and to have the right to roam about in his district; hence the formula was repeated four times. Originally four animals or four geese were sacrificed, one to each god, but subsequently East and North, and West and South were paired, and two bulls (or birds) only were sacrificed, one of which was called the Bull of the North,[*] and the other the Bull of the South. The custom of four-fold repetition continued to the Ptolemaïc times[+] and even later.

The priest whose official title was kher heb, recited the prayers, and the sem or setem priest presented the prescribed offerings. The rubrical directions are given on the margin for the sake of clearness.

"O Osiris,[++] all that is hateful in Unas hath been brought unto thee,[1] and all the evil words which have been spoken in his name. Come, O Thoth, and take them unto Osiris, bring all the evil words which have been spoken and place them in the hollow of thy hand;[2] thou shalt not escape therefrom, thou shalt not escape therefrom. Whosoever marcheth, marcheth with his ka. Horus marcheth with his ka, Set marcheth with his ka, Thoth marcheth with[3] his ka, Sep marcheth with his ka, Osiris marcheth with his ka, Khent-maati marcheth with his ka; and thy tet shall march with thy ka. Hail, Unas, the hand of thy ka is before thee. Hail, Unas, the hand of thy ka is behind thee. Hail, Unas, the leg of thy ka is before thee. Hail, Unas, the leg of thy ka is behind thee. Osiris Unas, I have given unto thee the Eye of Horus, and thy face is filled therewith, and the perfume thereof spreadeth over thee. The libations which are poured[4] out by thy son, which are poured out by Horus, are for thee, O Osiris, and they are for thee O Unas. I have come, and I have brought unto thee the Eye of Horus that thou mayest refresh thy heart therewith, I have placed it beneath thy feet, and I give unto thee whatsoever hath come forth from thy body that thy heart may not cease to beat through [the want] thereof.[5] Thy voice shall never depart from thee, thy voice shall never depart from thee.

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"[Here is] unguent, [here is] unguent. Open thy mouth, O Unas,[1] and taste the taste of the scent which is in the holy habitations. This scent is that which distilleth from Horus, this scent is that which distilleth from Set, and it is that which stablisheth the hearts of the two Horus gods.[2] Thou purifiest thyself with the Heru-shesu;[*] thou art purified with natron, and Horus is purified with natron; thou art purified with natron, and Set is purified with natron;[3] thou art purified with natron, and Thoth is purified with natron; thou art purified with natron, and Sep is purified with natron; thou art purified with natron, and art established among them, and thy mouth is [as pure] as the mouth of a sucking calf on the day of its birth. Thou art purified with natron, and Horus is purified with natron; thou art purified with natron, and Set is purified with natron;[4] [thou art purified with natron] and Thoth is purified with natron; thou art purified with natron, and Sep is purified with natron; thy ka is purified with natron, and thou art pure, thou art pure, thou art pure, thou art pure. Thou art stablished among the gods thy brethren, thy head is purified for thee with natron, thy bones are washed clean with water, and thou thyself art made perfect with all that belongeth unto thee. O Osiris, I have given unto thee the Eye of Horus, thy face is filled therewith, and the perfume thereof spreadeth over thee.

"Hail, Unas, thy two jaws are unlocked.[5] Hail, Unas, the two gods have opened thy mouth.[6] O Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given unto thee, and Horus cometh thereunto; it is brought unto thee, and placed in thy mouth.[7] Hail, Unas, the nipples of the bosom of Horus have been given unto thee, and thou hast taken in thy mouth[8] the breast of thy sister Isis, and the milk which floweth from thy mother is poured into thy mouth.[9]

"Thou hast gotten possession of the two eyes of Horus, the white and the black, thou hast taken them unto thyself and they illumine thy face.[10] The day hath made an offering unto thee in heaven, and the East and the West are at peace with thee; the night hath made an offering[11] unto thee, and the North and the South are at peace with thee. These are the offerings which are brought unto thee, the offerings which thou seest, the offerings which thou hearest, the offerings which are before thee, the offerings which are behind thee, the offerings which are with thee. O Osiris Unas, the white teeth of Horus are given unto thee that thou mayest fill thy mouth therewith.[12] A royal offering to the ka of Unas.[13]. O Osiris Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given unto thee, and thou livest, and a thou art.[14] O Osiris Unas, the Eye of Horus which strove with Set hath been

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given unto thee, and thou hast lifted it[1] to thy lips, and thy mouth is opened thereby. O Osiris Unas, thy mouth is opened by that with which thou art filled.[2] O Osiris Unas, that which hath distilled from thee hath been given unto thee.[3] O Ra, may all the praise which thou receivest in heaven be in praise of Unas, and may all that belongeth unto thy body belong unto the ka of Unas, and may all that belongeth unto his body belong unto thee.[4] O Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given unto thee, that thou mayest be able to taste,[5] and that thou mayest illumine the night. O Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given to thee that it may embrace thee.[6] O Unas, the Eye of Horus which strove with Set hath been, given unto thee, in order that the opening of thy mouth may be caused thereby.[7] O Unas, that which flowed from Osiris hath been given unto thee.[8] O Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given unto thee, in order that without the help of iron thy mouth may be set free.[9] O Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given unto thee, in order that thy face may be adorned therewith.[10] O Osiris Unas, the Eye of Horus hath sprinkled oil upon thee.[11] O Osiris Unas, that which hath been pressed out of thy face hath been given unto thee.[12] O Osiris Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given unto thee, in order that it may shave (?) thee.[13] O Osiris Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given unto thee, in order that it may anoint thee.[14] O Osiris Unas, the Eye of Horus hath been given unto thee, in order that it may lead thee unto the gods.[15] O all ye unguents, be ye laid out before your Horus,[16] and make ye him strong. Cause him to gain the mastery over his body, and make his eyes to be opened. May all the shining beings see him, may they hear his name, for the Eye of Horus hath been brought, in order that it may be placed before Osiris Unas.[17] O Osiris Unas, the two Eyes of Horus have been laid like paint upon thy face.[18]

"O clothe thyself in peace! Put thou on thy apparel in peace! May Tatet put on[19] apparel in peace! Hail, Eye of Horus, in Tep, in peace! Hail, Eye of Horus, in the houses of Nit, in peace. Receive thou white apparel. O grant that the two lands which rejoiced to do homage unto Horus may do homage unto Set; and grant that the two lands which stood in awe of Set may stand in awe of Unas. Dwell thou with Unas as his god, open thou a path for him among the, shining ones, and stablish thou him among them."

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THE PAPYRUS OF ANI.

The papyrus of Ani, was found at Thebes, and was purchased by the Trustees of the British Museum in 1888. It measures 78 feet by 1 foot 3 inches, and is the longest known papyrus of the Theban period.[1] It is made up of six distinct lengths of papyrus, which vary in length from 26 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 7 inches. The material is composed of three layers of papyrus supplied by plants which measured in the stalks about 41 inches in diameter. The several lengths have been joined together with great neatness, and the repairs and insertion of new pieces (see plates 25, 26) have been dexterously made. When first found, the papyrus was of a light colour, similar to that of the papyrus of Hunefer (B. M. No. 9901), but it became darker after it had been unrolled, and certain sections of it have shrunk somewhat.

It contains a number of chapters of the Book of the Dead, nearly all of which are accompanied by vignettes; and at top and bottom is a border of two colours-red and yellow.[2] At the beginning and end of the papyrus spaces of six and eleven inches respectively have been left blank. The inscribed portion is complete, and the loss of the few characters which were damaged in unrolling[3] does not interrupt the text. It was written by three or more scribes; but the uniformity of the execution of the vignettes suggests that fewer artists were employed on the illustrations. The titles of the chapters, rubrics, catchwords, etc., are in red. In some instances the artist has occupied so much space that the

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scribe has been obliged to crowd the text (e.g., in plate 11) and at times he has written it on the border (see plates 14, 17). This proves that the vignettes were drawn before the text was written.

All the different sections of the papyrus were not originally written for Ani, for his name has been added in several places' by a later hand. As however such additions do not occur in the first section, which measures 16 feet 4 inches in length, it must be concluded that that section was written expressly for him, and that the others were some of those ready-written copies in which blank spaces were left for the insertion of the names of the deceased persons for whom they were purchased. The scribe who filled in Ani's name in these spaces wrote hurriedly, for in Chapter XXXB., line 2 (pl. 15), he left himself no space to write the word "Osiris" in the phrase, "Ani victorious before Osiris" (compare pl. 1, line 5); in Chapter XLIII., lines 1, 2 (pl. 17), he has written it twice; in Chapter IX., l. 1 (pl. 18), he has omitted the determinative in Chapter XV., line 2 (pl. 20) he meant to write "Ani, victorious in peace (pl. 19), but wrote "Ani in triumph" in Chapter CXXV., line 18 (pl. 30), the word ### is written twice, probably, however, with the view of filling up the line; in Chapter CLI. (Pl. 34) the name is written crookedly, and the determinative is omitted; and in Chapters XVIII. (Introduction, pl. 12) and CXXXIV. (pl. 22). the scribe has, in two spaces, omitted to write the name. It seems tolerably certain that all the sections of the papyrus were written about the same time, and that they are the work of scribes of the same school; the variations in the depth of the space occupied by the text and the difference in the colours of the border only show that even the best scribes did not tie themselves to any one plan or method in preparing a copy of the Book of the Dead. The text has many serious errors: by some extraordinary oversight it includes two copies of the XVIII th Chapter, one with an unusual introduction and the other without introduction; and a large section of the XVIIth Chapter, one of the most important in the whole work, has been entirely omitted. Such mistakes and omissions, however, occur in papyri older than that of Ani, for in the papyrus of Nebseni (B.M., No. 9900), which was written at Memphis early in the XVIIIth dynasty, of Chapters L., LVI., LXIV., CLXXX., two copies each, of

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Chapters C. and CVI., three copies, and of Chapter XVII. two extracts are given in different parts of the papyrus.[1]

The papyrus of Ani is undated, and no facts are given in it concerning the life of Ani, whereby it would be possible to fix its exact place in the series of the illustrated papyri of the Theban period to which it belongs. His full titles are:--

Royal scribe veritable, scribe and accountant of the divine offerings (i.e., revenues) of all the gods.

The governor of the granary of the lords of Abydos, scribe of the divine offerings (i.e., revenues) of

the lords of Thebes;

and he is said to be "beloved of the lord of the North and South" and to "love him". The name of the king thus referred to cannot be stated. That Ani's rank of "royal scribe" [2] was not titular only is shown by the addition of the word "veritable," and his office of scribe and accountant of all the gods was probably one of the highest which a scribe could hold.[3] His other offices of "governor of the granary of the lords of Abydos," and "scribe of the sacred property of the lords of Thebes," further prove his rank and importance, for Abydos and Thebes were the most ancient and sacred cities of Egypt.

Ani's wife Thuthu is described as "the lady of the house, the qematet of Amen".[4] What the title "lady of the house

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means has not yet been decided, but qemat is the title applied to the noble ladies who sang or played on an instrument in the temple of a god.[1] The lady Thuthu belonged to the number of the priestesses of the god Amen-Ra at Thebes, and she always carries in her hands the sistrum. and the instrument menat, the emblems of her office. Thus Ani and his wife were high ecclesiastical dignitaries connected with the famous confraternity of the priests of Amen.

An examination of the papyri of the Theban period preserved in the British Museum shows that two distinct classes of Book of the Dead papyri existed in the XVIIIth dynasty. In the first both text and vignettes are traced in black outline,[2] the rubrics, catchwords, etc., alone being in red colour; in the second the text only is black, the rubrics, etc., being red, and the vignettes beautifully painted in a number of bright colours. To the latter class the papyrus of Ani belongs, but, if the text and vignettes be compared with those found in any other early Theban papyri, it will be seen that it occupies an independent position in all respects. Though agreeing in the main with the papyri of the XVIIIth dynasty in respect of textual readings, the papyrus of Ani has peculiarities in spelling, etc., which are not found in any of them. The handwriting of the first section at least suggests the best period of the XVIIIth dynasty; but as the scribe forms some of the characters in a way peculiarly his own, the palæographic evidence on this point is not decisive. That the papyrus belongs to the period which produced such documents as the papyrus of Neb-qet,[3] and the papyrus of Qenna,[4] i.e., to some period of the XVIIIth dynasty, is tolerably certain; and we may assume that it is older than the papyrus of Hunefer, which was written during the reign of Seti I.; for, though belonging to the same class of highly decorated papyri, the execution of the vignettes is finer and more careful, and the free, bold forms of the hieroglyphics in the better written sections more closely resemble those of the texts inscribed in stone under the greatest kings of the XVIIIth dynasty. The "lord of the two lands," i.e., of Upper and Lower Egypt, or the North and South, mentioned in pl. 4, is probably one of the Thothmes or Amenhetep kings, and accordingly we may place the period of our papyrus between 1500 and 1400 years B.C.

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The text may be divided into two parts. The first part contains unusual versions of two hymns to Ra and Osiris, the vignette of the sunrise (Chapter XVIA.), and the judgment Scene accompanied by texts, some of which occur in no other papyrus. The second part comprises about sixty-two Chapters of the Theban edition of the Book, in the following order:--I., XXII. LXXII., rubric, XVII., CXLVII., CXLVI., XVIII., XXIII., XXIV., XXVI. XXXB., LXI., LIV., XXIX., XXVII., LVIII., LIX., XLIV., XLV., XLVI., L., XCIII., XLIII., LXXXIX., XCI., XCII., LXXIV., VIII., II., IX., CXXXII., X., [XLVIII.], XV., CXXXIII., CXXXIV., XVIII., CXXIV., LXXXVI., LXXVII., LXXVIII., LXXXVII., LXXXVIII., LXXXII., LXXXV., LXXXIII., LXXXIV., LXXXIA., LXXX., CLXXV., CXXV. Introduction and Negative Confession, XLII., CXXV., Rubric, CLV., CLVI., XXIXB., CLXVI., CLI., VI., CX., CXLVIII., CLXXXV., and CLXXXVI. The titles of these Chapters arranged according to the numeration introduced by Lepsius are as follows :--

Chapter I. "Here begin the chapters of 'coming forth by day,' and of the songs of praise and of glorifying, and of coming forth from and of going into the glorious Neter-khert in the beautiful Amenta; to be said on the day of the burial going in after coming forth." (See pp. 19, 270 and pll. 5, 6.)

The papyri belonging to the early part of the XVIIth dynasty call this Chapter the "Chapter of going in to the divine chiefs of Osiris," ###. The large numbers of the men attending the bier and of the weeping women are peculiar to the Ani papyrus.

Chapter II. "The Chapter of coming forth by day and of living after death." (See pp. 120, 321, and pl. 18.)

This Chapter is found only in one other papyrus of the Theban period (British Museum, No. 9964). Another copy of it is inscribed upon a mummy bandage preserved in the Louvre, No. 3097.'

Chapter VI.--[See Chapter CLI., of which it forms a part, pp. 233, 362, and pl. 32.] In the papyrus of Nebseni (British Museum, No. 9900) this Chapter stands by itself, and is entitled "Chapter of making the ushabti figures to perform work for a man in the Neter-khert,"

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Chapter VIII. "The Chapter of passing through Amenta, and of coming forth by day." (See pp. 119, 320, and pl. 18.)

As a separate composition, this Chapter is found in only two other papyri of the XVIIIth dynasty.[1]

Chapter IX. "The Chapter of coming forth by day, having passed through the tomb." (See pp. 120, 321, and pl. 18.)

The vignette in the papyrus of Ani is similar to that which stands at the head of Chapters VIII. and IX. in other papyri of this period.

Chapter X. [See Chapter XLVIII., pp. 123, 321, and pl. 18.]

Chapter XV. 1. "A hymn of praise to Ra when he riseth in the eastern sky." (See pp. 1, 236, and pl. I.)

This version is found in no other papyrus.

Chapter XV. 2. "A hymn of praise to Osiris Unnefer, the great god in Abydos,"[2] etc. (See pp. 8, 253, and pl. 2.)

Chapter XV. 3. "A hymn of praise to Ra when he riseth in the eastern sky, and when he setteth in the [land of] life." (See pp. 123, 322, and pl. 18-21.)

The Litany to Osiris (pl. 19) and the hymn to Ra (pll. 24, 25) which follow are variants of the XVth Chapter, similar to those published by M. Naville.[3]

Chapter XVIA. consists of a vignette only. (See p. 252, and pl. 2.) Strictly speaking, it should form the vignette of the XVth Chapter, or of that part of it which refers to the rising sun. Like many other ancient papyri, the papyrus of Ani has no vignette referring to the sunset.

Chapter XVII. "Here begin the praises and glorifyings of coming out from and of going into the glorious Neter-khert in the beautiful Amenta, of coming forth by day in all the transformations which please him, of playing at draughts, and of sitting in the Sekh hall, and of coming forth as a living soul." (See pp. 27, 280, and Pll. 7-10.)

This is one of the oldest and most important of all the Chapters in the Book of the Dead, and it contains the most complete statements concerning the Egyptian cosmogony as formulated by the college of priests of Heliopolis. The scribe seems to have accidentally omitted a large section.

Chapter XVIII. This Chapter has no title.

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The papyrus of Ani contains two copies of this Chapter. In the first the gods of the localities are grouped separately, and it is preceded by a very rare introduction, in which the An-mut-f and Sa-mer-f priests introduce Ani to the gods, whom he addresses in two speeches. (See p. 71, 301, and pll. 12-14.) In the second the text is not divided into distinct sections, and the gods are not grouped. (See p. 330, and pll. 23-24.)

Chapter XXII., "The Chapter of giving a mouth to Osiris Ani, the scribe It and teller of the holy offerings of all the gods." (See pp. 25, 274, and pl. 6.)

The ceremony of giving a mouth to the deceased was, according to the vignette in the papyrus of Nebseni, performed by the "Guardian of the Balance ". In the papyrus of Ani there is no vignette, and it is remarkable that this Chapter follows immediately after Chapter 1.

Chapter XXIII. "The Chapter of opening the mouth of Osiris, the scribe Ani." (See pp. 84, 306, and pl. 15.)

Chapter XXIV. "The Chapter of bringing charms unto Osiris Ani in Neter-khert." (See pp. 85, 306, and pl. 15.)

As with other ancient Theban papyri, the papyrus of Ani gives no Vignette.

Chapter XXVI. "The Chapter of giving a heart unto Osiris Ani in Neter-khert." (See pp. 88, 308, and pl. 15.)

The vignette is probably unique.

Chapter XXVII. "The Chapter of not letting the heart of a man be taken away from him in Neter-khert." (See pp. 100, 312, and pl. 15.)

The vignette is unusual.

Chapter XXIX. "The Chapter of not letting the heart of a man be taken away from him in Neter-khert." (See pp. 97, 311, and pl. 15.)

No other copy of this Chapter is at present known.

Chapter XXIXB. "The Chapter of a heart of carnelian." (See pp. 228, 359, and pl. 33.)

Chapter XXXB. "The Chapter of not letting the heart of Osiris Ani be driven away from him in Neter-khert." (See pp. I 1, 90, 258, 309, and pl. 15-)

Chapter XLII. This Chapter is without title (see pp. 213, 353, and pl. 32), but in other ancient papyri it is called "Repulsing of slaughter in Suten-henen."

Chapter XLIII. "The Chapter of not letting the head of a man be cut off from him in Neter-khert." (See pp. 111, 317, and pl. 17.)

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As in other ancient Theban papyri, this Chapter is without vignette.

Chapter XLIV. "The Chapter of not dying a second time in Neter-khert." (See pp. 105, 315, and pl. 16.)

The vignette is peculiar to the papyrus of Ani.

Chapter XLV. "The Chapter of not suffering corruption in Neter-khert." (See pp. 106, 315, and pl. 16.)

Only one other copy of the text of this Chapter is known.[1] Among Theban papyri the vignette is peculiar to the papyrus of Ani.

Chapter XLVI. "The Chapter of not perishing and of becoming alive in Neter-khert." (See pp. 107, 316, and pl. 16.)

Only one other copy of the text of this Chapter is known (B.M. No. 9900). Among Theban papyri the vignette is peculiar to the papyrus of Ani.

Chapter XLVIII. "Another Chapter of one who cometh forth by day against his foes in Neter-khert." (See pp. 123, 321, and pl. 18.)

Only one other copy of the text of this Chapter is known (B.M. No. 9900). Among Theban papyri the vignette is peculiar to the papyrus of Ani.

Chapter L. "The Chapter of not entering in unto the block." (See pp. 108, 315, and pl. 16.)

The text of this Chapter agrees rather with the second version in the papyrus of Nebseni than with that in B.M. papyrus No. 9964. As the Ani papyrus is of Theban origin this was to be expected.

Chapter LIV. "The Chapter of giving breath in Neter-khert." (See pp. 94, 310, and pl. 15.)

Only one other copy of this Chapter is known, and it is without vignette.[2]

Chapter LVIII. " The Chapter of breathing the air, and of having power over the water in Neter-khert." (See pp. 103, 314, and pl. 16.)

No other copy of this Chapter is known.

Chapter LIX. "The Chapter of breathing the air, and of having power over the water in Neter-khert." (See pp. 104, 315, and pl. 16.)

Only one other copy of this Chapter is known.[2]

Chapter LXI. "The Chapter of not letting the soul of a man be taken away from him in Neter-khert." (See pp. 91, 309, and pl. 15.)

The vignette is similar to that in the papyrus of Sutimes, which M. Naville believes to be no older than the XIXth dynasty.[3]

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Chapter LXXII.--Rubric. (See pp. 26, 275, and pl. 6.)

Chapter LXXIV. "The Chapter of walking with the legs and of coming forth upon earth." (See pp. 118, 320, and pl. 18.)

Chapter LXXVII. " The Chapter of changing into a golden hawk ." (See pp. 152, 332, and pl. 25.)

Chapter LXXVIII. "The Chapter of changing into a divine hawk." (See pp. 154, 333, and pl. 25, 26.)

Chapter LXXX. "The Chapter of changing into the god who giveth light in the darkness." (See pp. 182, 341, and pl. 28.)

Chapter LXXXIA. "The Chapter of changing into a lotus." (See pp. 181, 340, and pl. 28.)

The pool of water in the vignette is uncommon.

Chapter LXXXII. "The Chapter of changing into Ptah." (See pp. 170, 337, and pl. 27.)

As in other XVIIIth dynasty papyri, this Chapter has a vignette.

Chapter LXXXIII. "The Chapter of changing into a bennu bird" (phœnix?). (See pp. 176, 339, and pl. 27.)

Like other XVIIIth dynasty papyri, this Chapter lacks the addition which is found in the papyrus of Sutimes.

Chapter LXXXIV. "The Chapter of changing into a heron." (See pp. 178, 339, and pl. 28.)

Chapter LXXXV. " The Chapter of changing into the soul of Tmu." (See pp. 172, 338, and pl. 27.)

The vignette to this Chapter is similar to that of the papyrus of Tura, surnamed Nefer-uben-f, of the XVIIIth dynasty.'

Chapter LXXXVI. "The Chapter of changing into a swallow." (See pp. 250, 331, and pl. 25.)

Chapter LXXXVII. "The Chapter of changing into Seta." (See pp. 169, 337, and pl. 27.)

Chapter LXXXVIII. "The Chapter of changing into a crocodile." (See pp. 170, 337, and pl. 27.)

Chapter LXXXIX. "The Chapter of causing the soul to be united to its body in Neter-khert." (See pp. 112, 318, and pl. 17.)

The two incense burners which stand, one at the head and one at the foot of the bier, are peculiar to the papyrus of Ani.

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Chapter XCI. "The Chapter of not letting the soul of a man be captive in Neter-khert." (See pp. 114, 319, and pl. 17.)

Chapter XCII. "The Chapter of opening the tomb to the soul and the shadow, of coming forth by day, and of getting power over the legs." (See pp. 115, 319, and pl. 17.)

The vignette of this Chapter is unusual and of great interest, for in it Ani's soul accompanies his shadow.

Chapter XCIII. "The Chapter of not letting a man pass over to the east in Neter-khert." (See pp. 109, 317, and pl. 17-)

The vignette as here given is peculiar to the papyrus of Ani.

Chapter XCIIIA. "Another Chapter." (See pp. 110, 317, and pl. 17.)

Chapter CX. "Here begin the Chapters of the Sekhet-hetepu, and the Chapters of coming forth by day, and of going into and coming out from Neter-khert, and of arriving in the Sekhet-Aanru, and of being in peace in the great city wherein are fresh breezes." (See pp. 236, 362, and pl. 34.)

The text is here incomplete.

Chapter CXXIV. "The Chapter of going unto the divine chiefs of Osiris." (See pp. 146, 330, and pl. 24.)

In the vignette we should expect four, instead of three, gods.

Chapter CXXV. "The Chapter of entering into the Hall of double Right and Truth: a hymn of praise to Osiris." (See pp. 189, 344, and pl. 30.)

The Introduction to this Chapter as found in the papyrus of Ani is not met with elsewhere; the text which usually follows the "Negative Confession" is however omitted. The vignette as here given is peculiar to the papyrus of Ani.

Chapter CXXXII. "The Chapter of making a man to return to see again his home upon earth." (See pp. 121, 321, and pl. 18.)

Chapter CXXX III. "[A Chapter] to be said on the day of the month." (See pp. 138, 327, and pl. 21.)

Chapter CXXXIII.--Rubric. (See pp. 142, 328, and pl. 22.)

Chapter CXXXIV. "A hymn of praise to Ra on the day of the month wherein he saileth in the boat." (See pp. 142, 329, and pl. 22.)

Chapter CXLVI. "The Chapter of renewing the pylons in the House of Osiris which is in the Sekhet-Aanru." (See pp. 63, 295, and pll. 11, 12.)

Chapter CXLVII. "A Chapter to be said when Ani cometh to the first Aril." (See pp. 56, 291, and pll. 11, 12.)

Chapter CXLVIII. Without title. See pp. 239, 366, and pl. 35.)

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Chapter CLI. Scene in the mummy chamber. (See pp. 229, 360, and Pll. 33, 34.)

Chapter CLV. "The Chapter of a Tet of gold." (See pp. 225, 357, and pl. 33.)

Chapter CLVI. "The Chapter of a Buckle of carnelian." (See pp. 227, 359, and pl. 33.)

Chapter CLXVI. "The Chapter of the Pillow which is placed under the head." (See pp. 228, 359, and pl. 33.)

Chapter CLXXV. " The Chapter of not dying a second time." (See pp. 184, 341, and pl. 29.)

Only one other much mutilated copy of this most important Chapter is known. In it it is declared that neither men nor gods can conceive what great glory has been laid up for Ani in his existence in the next world, and that his life therein shall be for "millions of millions of years."

Chapter CLXXXV. "A Hymn of Praise to Osiris, the dweller in Amenta, Un-nefer within Abtu (Abydos)." (See pp. 241, 367, and pl. 36.)

Chapter CLXXXVI. "A Hymn of praise to Hathor." (See pp. 242, 368. and pl. 37.)