{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_7145/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_7145","id":"gutenberg_7145","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7145","summary":null,"tags":["Book of the dead","Category: History - Ancient","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Death","Egypt -- Religion","Future life"],"text":"Produced by Jeroen Hellingman\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF THE DEAD.\n\nby E. A. Wallis Budge.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nThe Title.\n\n\"Book of the Dead\" is the title now commonly given to the great\ncollection of funerary texts which the ancient Egyptian scribes\ncomposed for the benefit of the dead. These consist of spells and\nincantations, hymns and litanies, magical formulae and names, words\nof power and prayers, and they are found cut or painted on walls of\npyramids and tombs, and painted on coffins and sarcophagi and rolls\nof papyri. The title \"Book of the Dead\" is somewhat unsatisfactory\nand misleading, for the texts neither form a connected work nor\nbelong to one period; they are miscellaneous in character, and tell\nus nothing about the lives and works of the dead with whom they were\nburied. Moreover, the Egyptians possessed many funerary works that\nmight rightly be called \"Books of the Dead,\" but none of them bore a\nname that could be translated by the title \"Book of the Dead.\" This\ntitle was given to the great collection of funerary texts in the first\nquarter of the nineteenth century by the pioneer Egyptologists, who\npossessed no exact knowledge of their contents. They were familiar\nwith the rolls of papyrus inscribed in the hieroglyphic and the\nhieratic character, for copies of several had been published, [1]\nbut the texts in them were short and fragmentary. The publication of\nthe Facsimile [2] of the Papyrus of Peta-Amen-neb-nest-taui [3] by\nM. Cadet in 1805 made a long hieroglyphic text and numerous coloured\nvignettes available for study, and the French Egyptologists described\nit as a copy of the \"Rituel Fun\u00e9raire\" of the ancient Egyptians. Among\nthese was Champollion le Jeune, but later, on his return from Egypt,\nhe and others called it \"Le Livre des Morts,\" \"The Book of the Dead,\"\n\"Das Todtenbuch,\" etc. These titles are merely translations of the\nname given by the Egyptian tomb-robbers to every roll of inscribed\npapyrus which they found with mummies, namely, \"Kit\u00e2b-al-Mayyit,\"\n\"Book of the dead man,\" or \"Kit\u00e2b al-Mayyitun,\" \"Book of the dead\"\n(plur.). These men knew nothing of the contents of such a roll, and\nall they meant to say was that it was \"a dead man's book,\" and that\nit was found in his coffin with him.\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nThe Preservation of the Mummified Body in the Tomb by Thoth.\n\nThe objects found in the graves of the predynastic Egyptians, i.e.,\nvessels of food, flint knives and other weapons, etc., prove that\nthese early dwellers in the Nile Valley believed in some kind of a\nfuture existence. But as the art of writing was, unknown to them their\ngraves contain no inscriptions, and we can only infer from texts of\nthe dynastic period what their ideas about the Other World were. It is\nclear that they did not consider it of great importance to preserve\nthe dead body in as complete and perfect state as possible, for in\nmany of their graves the heads, hands and feet have been found severed\nfrom the trunks and lying at some distance from them. On the other\nhand, the dynastic Egyptians, either as the result of a difference in\nreligious belief, or under the influence of invaders who had settled\nin their country, attached supreme importance to the preservation and\nintegrity of the dead body, and they adopted every means known to them\nto prevent its dismemberment and decay. They cleansed it and embalmed\nit with drugs, spices and balsams; they anointed it with aromatic\noils and preservative fluids; they swathed it in hundreds of yards of\nlinen bandages; and then they sealed it up in a coffin or sarcophagus,\nwhich they laid in a chamber hewn in the bowels of the mountain. All\nthese things were done to protect the physical body against damp,\ndry rot and decay, and against the attacks of moth, beetles, worms\nand wild animals. But these were not the only enemies of the dead\nagainst which precautions had to be taken, for both the mummified\nbody and the spiritual elements which had inhabited it upon earth\nhad to be protected from a multitude of devils and fiends, and from\nthe powers of darkness generally. These powers of evil had hideous\nand terrifying shapes and forms, and their haunts were well known,\nfor they infested the region through which the road of the dead lay\nwhen passing from this world to the Kingdom of Osiris. The \"great\ngods\" were afraid of them, and were obliged to protect themselves\nby the use of spells and magical names, and words of power, which\nwere composed and written down by Thoth. In fact it was believed in\nvery early times in Egypt that Ra the Sun-god owed his continued\nexistence to the possession of a secret name with which Thoth had\nprovided him. And each morning the rising sun was menaced by a fearful\nmonster called Aapep, which lay hidden under the place of sunrise\nwaiting to swallow up the solar disk. It was impossible, even for the\nSun-god, to destroy this \"Great Devil,\" but by reciting each morning\nthe powerful spell with which Thoth had provided him he was able to\nparalyse all Aapep's limbs and to rise upon this world. Since then the\n\"great gods,\" even though benevolently disposed towards them, were not\nable to deliver the dead from the devils that lived upon the \"bodies,\nsouls, spirits, shadows and hearts of the dead,\" the Egyptians decided\nto invoke the aid of Thoth on behalf of their dead and to place them\nunder the protection of his almighty spells. Inspired by Thoth the\ntheologians of ancient Egypt composed a large number of funerary\ntexts which were certainly in general use under the IVth dynasty\n(about 3700 B.C.), and were probably well known under the Ist dynasty,\nand throughout the whole period of dynastic history Thoth was regarded\nas the author of the \"Book of the Dead.\"\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nThe Book Per-t em hru, or [The Chapters of] Coming forth by (or,\ninto) the Day, commonly called the \"Book of the Dead.\"\n\n\nThe spells and other texts which were written by Thoth for the\nbenefit of the dead, and are directly connected with him, were called,\naccording to documents written under the XIth and XVIIIth dynasties,\n\"Chapters of the Coming Forth by (or, into) the Day.\" One rubric in\nthe Papyrus of Nu (Brit. Mus. No. 10477) states that the text of the\nwork called \"PER-T EM HRU,\" i.e., \"Coming Forth (or, into) the Day,\"\nwas discovered by a high official in the foundations of a shrine of\nthe god Hennu during the reign of Semti, or Hesepti, a king of the Ist\ndynasty. Another rubric in the same papyrus says that the text was\ncut upon the alabaster plinth of a statue of Menkaura (Mycerinus),\na king of the IVth dynasty, and that the letters were inlaid with\nlapis lazuli. The plinth was found by Prince Herutataf, a son of\nKing Khufu (Cheops), who carried it off to his king and exhibited it\nas a \"most wonderful\" thing. This composition was greatly reverenced,\nfor it \"would make a man victorious upon earth and in the Other World;\nit would ensure him a safe and free passage through the Tuat (Under\nWorld); it would allow him to go in and to go out, and to take at\nany time any form he pleased; it would make his soul to flourish, and\nwould prevent him from dying the [second] death.\" For the deceased to\nreceive the full benefit of this text it had to be recited by a man\n\"who was ceremonially pure, and who had not eaten fish or meat, and\nhad not consorted with women.\" On coffins of the XIth dynasty and on\npapyri of the XVIIIth dynasty we find two versions of the PER-T EM HRU,\none long and one short. As the title of the shorter version states\nthat it is the \"Chapters of the PER-T EM HRU in a single chapter,\"\nit is clear that this work, even under the IVth dynasty, contained\nmany \"Chapters,\" and that a much abbreviated form of the work was also\ncurrent at the same period. The rubric that attributes the \"finding\" of\nthe Chapter to Herutataf associates it with Khemenu, i.e., Hermopolis,\nand indicates that Thoth, the god of this city, was its author.\n\nThe work PER-T EM HRU received many additions in the course of\ncenturies, and at length, under the XVIIIth dynasty, it contained about\n190 distinct compositions, or \"Chapters.\" The original forms of many\nof these are to be found in the \"Pyramid Texts\" (i.e., the funerary\ncompositions cut on the walls of the chambers and corridors of the\npyramids of Kings Unas, Teta, Pepi I Meri-Ra, Merenra and Pepi II at\nSakk\u00e2rah), which were written under the Vth and VIth dynasties. The\nforms which many other chapters had under the XIth and XIIth dynasties\nare well represented by the texts painted on the coffins of Amamu,\nSen, and Guatep in the British Museum (Nos. 6654, 30839, 30841),\nbut it is possible that both these and the so-called \"Pyramid Texts\"\nall belonged to the work PER-T EM HRU, and are extracts from it. The\n\"Pyramid Texts\" have no illustrations, but a few of the texts on the\ncoffins of the XIth and XIIth dynasties have coloured vignettes, e.g.,\nthose which refer to the region to be traversed by the deceased on his\nway to the Other World, and the Islands of the Blessed or the Elysian\nFields. On the upper margins of the insides of such coffins there\nare frequently given two or more rows of coloured drawings of the\nofferings which under the Vth dynasty were presented to the deceased\nor his statue during the celebration of the service of \"Opening\nthe Mouth\" and the performance of the ceremonies of \"The Liturgy\nof Funerary Offerings.\" Under the XVIIIth dynasty, when the use of\nlarge rectangular coffins and sarcophagi fell somewhat into disuse,\nthe scribes began to write collections of Chapters from the PER-T EM\nHRU on rolls of papyri instead of on coffins. At first the texts were\nwritten in hieroglyphs, the greater number of them being in black ink,\nand an attempt was made to illustrate each text by a vignette drawn\nin black outline. The finest known example of such a codex is the\nPapyrus of Nebseni (Brit. Mus. No. 9900), which is 77 feet 7 1/2\ninches in length and I foot I1/2 inches in breadth. Early in the\nXVIIIth dynasty scribes began to write the titles of the Chapters,\nthe rubrics, and the catchwords in red ink and the text in black,\nand it became customary to decorate the vignettes with colours, and to\nincrease their size and number. The oldest codex of this class is the\nPapyrus of Nu (Brit. Mus. No. 10477) which is 65 feet 3 1/2 inches in\nlength, and 1 foot 1 1/2 inches in breadth. This and many other rolls\nwere written by their owners for their own tombs, and in each roll both\ntext and vignettes were usually, the work of the same hand. Later,\nhowever, the scribe wrote the text only, and a skilled artist was\nemployed to add the coloured vignettes, for which spaces were marked\nout and left blank by the scribe. The finest example of this class of\nroll is the Papyrus of Ani (Brit. Mus., No. 10470). which is 78 feet\nin length and 1 foot 3 inches in breadth. In all papyri of this class\nthe text is written in hieroglyphs, but under the XIXth and following\ndynasties many papyri are written throughout in the hieratic character;\nthese usually lack vignettes, but have coloured frontispieces.\n\nUnder the rule of the High Priests of Amen many changes were introduced\ninto the contents of the papyri, and the arrangement cf the texts and\nvignettes of the PER-T EM HRU was altered. The great confraternity\nof Amen-Ra, the \"King of the Gods,\" felt it to be necessary to\nemphasize the supremacy of their god, even in the Kingdom of Osiris,\nand they added many prayers, litanies and hymns to the Sun-god to\nevery selection of the texts from the PER-T EM HRU that was copied\non a roll of papyrus for funerary purposes. The greater number of the\nrolls of this period are short and contain only a few Chapters, e.g.,\nthe Papyrus of the Royal Mother Netchemet (Brit. Mus. No. 10541) and\nthe Papyrus of Queen Netchemet (Brit. Mus. No. 10478). In some the text\nis very defective and carelessly written, but the coloured vignettes\nare remarkable for their size and beauty; of this class of roll the\nfinest example is the Papyrus of Anhai (Brit. Mus. No. 10472). The\nmost interesting of all the rolls that were written during the rule\nof the Priest-Kings over Upper Egypt is the Papyrus of Princess\nNesitanebtashru (Brit. Mus. No. 10554), now commonly known as the\n\"Greenfield Papyrus.\" It is the longest and widest funerary papyrus\n[4] known, for it measures 123 feet by 1 foot 6 1/2 inches, and it\ncontains more Chapters, Hymns, Litanies, Adorations and Homages to\nthe gods than any other roll. The 87 Chapters from the PER-T EM HRU\nwhich it contains prove the princess's devotion to the cult of Osiris,\nand the Hymns to Amen-Ra show that she was able to regard this god\nand Osiris not as rivals but as two aspects of the same god. She\nbelieved that the \"hidden\" creative power which was materialized in\nAmen was only another form of the power of procreation, renewed birth\nand resurrection which was typified by Osiris. The oldest copies of the\nPER-T EM HRU which we have on papyrus contain a few extracts from other\nancient funerary works, such as the \"Book of Opening the Mouth,\" the\n\"Liturgy of Funerary Offerings,\" and the \"Book of the Two Ways.\" But\nunder the rule of the Priest-Kings the scribes incorporated with the\nChapters of the PER-T EM HRU extracts from the \"Book of Ami-Tuat\"\nand the \"Book of Gates,\" and several of the vignettes and texts that\nare found on the walls of the royal tombs of Thebes.\n\nOne of the most remarkable texts written at this period is found in\nthe Papyrus of Nesi-Khensu, which is now in the Egyptian Museum in\nCairo. This is really the copy of a contract which is declared to have\nbeen made between Nesi-Khensu and Amen-Ra, \"the holy god, the lord of\nall the gods.\" As a reward for the great piety of the queen, and her\ndevotion to the interests of Amen-Ra upon earth, the god undertakes to\nmake her a goddess in his kingdom, to provide her with an estate there\nin perpetuity and a never-failing supply of offerings, and happiness\nof heart, soul and body, and the [daily] recital upon earth of the\n\"Seventy Songs of Ra\" for the benefit of her soul in the Khert-Neter,\nor Under World. The contract was drawn up in a series of paragraphs\nin legal phraseology by the priests of Amen, who believed they had\nthe power of making their god do as they pleased when they pleased.\n\nLittle is known of the history of the PER-T EM HRU after the downfall\nof the priests of Amen, and during the period of the rule of the\nNubians, but under the kings of the XXVIth dynasty the Book enjoyed a\ngreat vogue. Many funerary rolls were written both in hieroglyphs and\nhieratic, and were decorated with vignettes drawn in black outline;\nand about this time the scribes began to write funerary texts in\nthe demotic character. But men no longer copied long selections\nfrom the PER-T EM HRU as they had done under the XVIIIth, XIXth and\nXXth dynasties, partly because the religious views of the Egyptians\nhad undergone a great change, and partly because a number of Books\nof the Dead of a more popular character had appeared. The cult of\nOsiris was triumphant everywhere, and men preferred the hymns and\nlitanies which dealt with his sufferings, death and resurrection to\nthe compositions in which the absolute supremacy of Ra and his solar\ncycle of gods and goddesses was assumed or proclaimed. Thus, in the\n\"Lamentations of Isis\" and the \"Festival Songs of Isis and Nephthys,\"\nand the \"Litanies of Seker,\" and the \"Book of Honouring Osiris,\" etc.,\nthe central figure is Osiris, and he alone is regarded as the giver\nof everlasting life. The dead were no longer buried with large rolls\nof papyrus filled with Chapters of the PER-T EM HRU laid in their\ncoffins, but with small sheets or strips of papyrus, on which were\ninscribed the above compositions, or the shorter texts of the \"Book\nof Breathings,\" or the \"Book of Traversing Eternity,\" or the \"Book of\nMay my name flourish,\" or a part of the \"Chapter of the Last Judgment.\"\n\nAncient Egyptian tradition asserts that the Book PER-T EM HRU was\nused early in the Ist dynasty, and the papyri and coffins of the\nRoman Period afford evidence that the native Egyptians still accepted\nall the essential beliefs and doctrines contained in it. During the\nfour thousand years of its existence many additions were made to it,\nbut nothing of importance seems to have been taken away from it. In\nthe space here available it is impossible to describe in detail the\nvarious Recensions of this work, viz., (1) the Heliopolitan, (2) the\nTheban and its various forms, and (3) the Sa\u00efte; but it is proposed\nto sketch briefly the main facts of the Egyptian Religion which\nmay be deduced from them generally, and especially from the Theban\nRecension, and to indicate the contents of the principal Chapters. No\none papyrus can be cited as a final authority, for no payprus contains\nall the Chapters, 190 in number, of the Theban Recension, and in no\ntwo papyri are the selection and sequence of the Chapters identical,\nor is the treatment of the vignettes the same.\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nThoth, the Author of the Book of the Dead.\n\nThoth, in Egyptian Tchehuti or Tehuti, who has already been\nmentioned as the author of the texts that form the PER-T EM HRU, or\nBook of the Dead, was believed by the Egyptians to have been the heart\nand mind of the Creator, who was in very early times in Egypt called\nby the natives \"Pautti,\" and by foreigners \"Ra.\" Thoth was also the\n\"tongue\" of the Creator, and he at all times voiced the will of the\ngreat god, and spoke the words which commanded every being and thing\nin heaven and in earth to come into existence. His words were almighty\nand once uttered never remained without effect. He framed the laws\nby which heaven, earth and all the heavenly bodies are maintained; he\nordered the courses of the sun, moon, and stars; he invented drawing\nand design and the arts, the letters of the alphabet and the art of\nwriting, and the science of mathematics. At a very early period he was\ncalled the \"scribe (or secretary) of the Great Company of the Gods,\"\nand as he kept the celestial register of the words and deeds of men,\nhe was regarded by many generations of Egyptians as the \"Recording\nAngel.\" He was the inventor of physical and moral Law and became\nthe personification of JUSTICE; and as the Companies of the Gods of\nHeaven, and Earth, and the Other World appointed him to \"weigh the\nwords and deeds\" of men, and his verdicts were unalterable, he became\nmore powerful in the Other World than Osiris himself. Osiris owed his\ntriumph over Set in the Great Judgment Hall of the Gods entirely to the\nskill of Thoth of the \"wise mouth\" as an Advocate, and to his influence\nwith the gods in heaven. And every follower of Osiris relied upon the\nadvocacy of Thoth to secure his acquittal on the Day of Judgment, and\nto procure for him an everlasting habitation in the Kingdom of Osiris.\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nThoth and Osiris.\n\nThe Egyptians were not satisfied with the mere possession of the\ntexts of Thoth, when their souls were being weighed in the Great\nScales in the Judgment Hall of Osiris, but they also wished Thoth\nto act as their Advocate on this dread occasion and to prove their\ninnocence as he had proved that of Osiris before the great gods in\nprehistoric times. According to a very ancient Egyptian tradition,\nthe god Osiris, who was originally the god of the principle of the\nfertility of the Nile, became incarnate on earth as the son of Geb,\nthe Earth-god, and Nut, the Sky-goddess. He had two sisters, Isis\nand Nephthys, and one brother, Set; he married Isis and Set married\nNephthys. Geb set Osiris on the throne of Egypt, and his rule was\nbeneficent and the nation was happy and prosperous. Set marked this\nand became very jealous of his brother, and wished to slay him so\nthat he might seize his throne and take possession of Isis, whose\nreputation as a devoted and loving wife and able manager filled the\ncountry. By some means or other Set did contrive to kill Osiris:\naccording to one story he killed him by the side of a canal at\nNetat, near Abydos, and according to another he caused him to be\ndrowned. Isis, accompanied by her sister Nephthys, went to Netat and\nrescued the body of her lord, and the two sisters, with the help of\nAnpu, a son of Ra the Sun-god, embalmed it. They then laid the body\nin a tomb, and a sycamore tree grew round it and flourished over the\ngrave. A tradition which is found in the Pyramid Texts states that\nbefore Osiris was laid in his tomb, his wife Isis, by means of her\nmagical powers, succeeded in restoring him to life temporarily, and\nmade him beget of her an heir, who was called Horus. After the burial\nof Osiris, Isis retreated to the marshes in the Delta, and there she\nbrought forth Horus. In order to avoid the persecution of Set, who on\none occasion succeeded in killing Horus by the sting of a scorpion,\nshe fled from place to place in the Delta, and lived a very unhappy\nlife for some years. But Thoth helped her in all her difficulties and\nprovided her with the words of power which restored Horus to life,\nand enabled her to pass unharmed among the crocodiles and other evil\nbeasts that infested the waters of the Delta at that time.\n\nWhen Horus arrived at years of maturity, he set out to find Set\nand to wage war against his father's murderer. At length they met\nand a fierce fight ensued, and though Set was defeated before he\nwas finally hurled to the ground, he succeeded in tearing out the\nright eye of Horus and keeping it. Even after this fight Set was\nable to persecute Isis, and Horus was powerless to prevent it until\nThoth made Set give him the right eye of Horus which he had carried\noff. Thoth then brought the eye to Horus, and replaced it in his face,\nand restored sight to it by spitting upon it. Horus then sought out the\nbody of Osiris in order to raise it up to life, and when he found it\nhe untied the bandages so that Osiris might move his limbs, and rise\nup. Under the direction of Thoth Horus recited a series of formulas\nas he presented offerings to Osiris, and he and his sons and Anubis\nperformed the ceremonies which opened the mouth, and nostrils, and the\neyes and the ears of Osiris. He embraced Osiris and so transferred to\nhim his ka, i.e., his own living personality and virility, and gave\nhim his eye which Thoth had rescued from Set and had replaced in his\nface. As soon as Osiris had eaten the eye of Horus he became endowed\nwith a soul and vital power, and recovered thereby the complete use\nof all his mental faculties, which death had suspended. Straightway\nhe rose up from his bier and became the Lord of the Dead and King of\nthe Under World. Osiris became the type and symbol of resurrection\namong the Egyptians of all periods, because he was a god who had been\noriginally a mortal and had risen from the dead.\n\nBut before Osiris became King of the Under World he suffered further\npersecution from Set. Piecing together a number of disconnected hints\nand brief statements in the texts, it seems pretty clear either\nthat Osiris appealed to the \"Great Gods\" to take notice that Set\nhad murdered him, or that Set brought a series of charges against\nOsiris. At all events the \"Great Gods\" determined to investigate the\nmatter. The Greater and the Lesser Companies of the Gods assembled in\nthe celestial Anu, or Heliopolis, and ordered Osiris to stand up and\ndefend himself against the charges brought against him by Set. Isis and\nNephthys brought him before the gods, and Horus, \"the avenger of his\nfather,\" came to watch the case on behalf of his father, Osiris. Thoth\nappeared in the Hall of Judgment in his official capacity as \"scribe,\"\ni.e., secretary to the gods, and the hearing of the evidence began. Set\nseems to have pleaded his own cause, and to have repeated the charges\nwhich he had made against Osiris. The defence of Osiris was undertaken\nby Thoth, who proved to the gods that the charges brought against\nOsiris by Set were unfounded, that the statements of Set were lies,\nand that therefore Set was a liar. The gods accepted Thoth's proof\nof the innocence of Osiris and the guilt of Set, and ordered that\nOsiris was to be considered a Great God and to have rule over the\nKingdom of the Under World, and that Set was to be punished. Thoth\nconvinced them that Osiris was \"MAA KHERU,\" \"true of word,\" i.e.,\nthat he had spoken the truth when he gave his evidence, and in texts\nof all periods Thoth is frequently described as S-MAA KHERU ASAR,\ni.e., he who proved Osiris to be \"true of word.\" As for Set the Liar,\nhe was seized by the ministers of the Great Gods, who threw him down\non his hands and face and made Osiris mount upon his back as a mark of\nhis victory and superiority. After this Set was bound with cords like a\nbeast for sacrifice, and in the presence of Thoth was hacked in pieces.\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nOsiris as Judge of the Dead and King of the Under World.\n\nWhen Set was destroyed Osiris departed from this world to the kingdom\nwhich the gods had given him and began to reign over the dead. He was\nabsolute king of this realm, just as Ra the Sun-god was absolute king\nof the sky. This region of the dead, or Dead-land, is called \"Tat,\"\nor \"Tuat,\" but where the Egyptians thought it was situated is not\nquite clear. The original home of the cult of Osiris was in the Delta,\nin a city which in historic times was called Tetu by the Egyptians and\nBusiris by the Greeks, and it is reasonable to assume that the Tuat,\nover which Osiris ruled, was situated near this place. Wherever it\nwas it was not underground, and it was not originally in the sky\nor even on its confines; but it was located on the borders of the\nvisible world, in the Outer Darkness. The Tuat was not a place of\nhappiness, judging from the description of it in the PER-T EM HRU,\nor Book of the Dead. When Ani the scribe arrived there he said,\n\"What is this to which I have come? There is neither water nor air\nhere, its depth is unfathomable, it is as dark as the darkest night,\nand men wander about here helplessly. A man cannot live here and be\nsatisfied, and he cannot gratify the cravings of affection\" (Chapter\nCLXXV). In the Tuat there was neither tree nor plant, for it was the\n\"land where nothing grew\"; and in primitive times it was a region\nof destruction and death, a place where the dead rotted and decayed,\na place of abomination, and horror and terror, and annihilation. But\nin very early times, certainly in the Neolithic Period, the Egyptians\nbelieved in some kind of a future life, and they dimly conceived that\nthe attainment of that life might possibly depend upon the manner of\nlife which those who hoped to enjoy it led here. The Egyptians \"hated\ndeath and loved life,\" and when the belief gained ground among them\nthat Osiris, the God of the Dead, had himself risen from the dead,\nand had been acquitted by the gods of heaven after a searching trial,\nand had the power to \"make men and women to be born again,\" and\n\"to renew life\" because of his truth and righteousness, they came\nto regard him as the Judge as well as the God of the Dead. As time\nwent on, and moral and religious ideas developed among the Egyptians,\nit became certain to them that only those who had satisfied Osiris\nas to their truth-speaking and honest dealing upon earth could hope\nfor admission into his kingdom.\n\nWhen the power of Osiris became predominant in the Under World, and\nhis fame as a just and righteous judge became well established among\nthe natives of Lower and Upper Egypt, it was universally believed\nthat after death all men would appear before him in his dread Hall of\nJudgment to receive their reward or their sentence of doom. The writers\nof the Pyramid Texts, more than fifty-five centuries ago, dreamed of\na time when heaven and earth and men did not exist, when the gods had\nnot yet been born, when death had not been created, and when anger,\nspeech (?), cursing and rebellion were unknown. [5] But that time was\nvery remote, and long before the great fight took place between Horus\nand Set, when the former lost his eye and the latter was wounded in\na vital part of his body. Meanwhile death had come into the world,\nand since the religion of Osiris gave man a hope of escape from death,\nand the promise of everlasting life of the peculiar kind that appealed\nto the great mass of the Egyptian people, the spread of the cult of\nOsiris and its ultimate triumph over all forms of religion in Egypt\nwere assured. Under the early dynasties the priesthood of Anu (the On\nof the Bible) strove to make their Sun-god Ra pre-eminent in Egypt,\nbut the cult of this god never appealed to the people as a whole. It\nwas embraced by the Pharaohs, and their high officials, and some of\nthe nobles, and the official priesthood, but the reward which its\ndoctrine offered was not popular with the materialistic Egyptians. A\nlife passed in the Boat of Ra with the gods, being arrayed in light\nand fed upon light, made no appeal to the ordinary folk since Osiris\noffered them as a reward a life in the Field of Reeds, and the Field of\nOfferings of Food, and the Field of the Grasshoppers, and everlasting\nexistence in a transmuted and beautified body among the resurrected\nbodies of father and mother, wife and children, kinsfolk and friends.\n\nBut, as according to the cult of Ra, the wicked, the rebels, and the\nblasphemers of the Sun-god suffered swift and final punishment, so\nalso all those who had sinned against the stern moral Law of Osiris,\nand who had failed to satisfy its demands, paid the penalty without\ndelay. The Judgment of Ra was held at sunrise, and the wicked were\nthrown into deep pits filled with fire, and their bodies, souls,\nshadows and hearts were consumed forthwith. The Judgment of Osiris\ntook place near Abydos, probably at midnight, and a decree of swift\nannihilation was passed by him on the damned. Their heads were cut\noff by the headsman of Osiris, who was called Shesmu, and their\nbodies dismembered and destroyed in pits of fire. There was no\neternal punishment for men, for the wicked were annihilated quickly\nand completely; but inasmuch as Osiris sat in judgment and doomed the\nwicked to destruction daily, the infliction of punishment never ceased.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nThe Judgment of Osiris.\n\nThe oldest religious texts suggest that the Egyptians always associated\nthe Last Judgment with the weighing of the heart in a pair of scales,\nand in the illustrated papyri of the Book of the Dead great prominence\nis always given to the vignettes in which this weighing is being\ncarried out. The heart, ab, was taken as the symbol of all the\nemotions, desires, and passions, both good and evil, and out of it\nproceeded the issues of life. It was intimately connected with the ka,\ni.e., the double or personality of a man, and several short spells\nin the Book PER-T EM HRU were composed to ensure its preservation\n(Chapters XXVI-XXXB*). The great Chapter of the Judgment of Osiris,\nthe CXXVth, is divided into three parts, which are sometimes (as\nin the Papyrus of Ani) prefaced by a Hymn to Osiris. The first part\ncontains the following, which was said by the deceased when he entered\nthe Hall of Maati, in which Osiris sat in judgment:\n\n\"Homage to thee, O Great God, Lord of Maati, [6] I have come to thee,\nO my Lord, that I may behold thy beneficence. I know thee, and I know\nthy name, and the names of the Forty-Two who live with thee in the\nHall of Maati, who keep ward over sinners, and feed upon their blood\non the day of estimating characters before Un-Nefer [7] ... Behold,\nI have come to thee, and I have brought maat (i.e., truth, integrity)\nto thee. I have destroyed sin for thee. I have not sinned against\nmen. I have not oppressed [my] kinsfolk. I have done no wrong in the\nplace of truth. I have not known worthless folk. I have not wrought\nevil. I have not defrauded the oppressed one of his goods. I have\nnot done the things that the gods abominate. I have not vilified a\nservant to his master. I have not caused pain. I have not let any man\nhunger. I have made no one to weep. I have not committed murder. I have\nnot commanded any to commit murder for me. I have inflicted pain on\nno man. I have not defrauded the temples of their oblations. I have\nnot purloined the cakes of the gods. I have not stolen the offerings\nto the spirits (i.e., the dead). I have not committed fornication. I\nhave not polluted myself in the holy places of the god of my city. I\nhave not diminished from the bushel. I did not take from or add to the\nacre-measure. I did not encroach on the fields [of others]. I have not\nadded to the weights of the scales. I have not misread the pointer of\nthe scales. I have not taken milk from the mouths of children. I have\nnot driven cattle from their pastures. I have not snared the birds\nof the gods. I have not caught fish with fish of their kind. I have\nnot stopped water [when it should flow]. I have not cut the dam of\na canal. I have not extinguished a fire when it should burn. I have\nnot altered the times of the chosen meat offerings. I have not turned\naway the cattle [intended for] offerings. I have not repulsed the\ngod at his appearances. I am pure. I am pure. I am pure. I am pure....\"\n\nIn the second part of Chapter CXXV Osiris is seen seated at one\nend of the Hall of Maati accompanied by the two goddesses of Law\nand Truth, and the Forty-Two gods who are there to assist him. Each\nof the Forty-Two gods represents one of the nomes of Egypt and has a\nsymbolic name. When the deceased had repeated the magical names of the\ndoors of the Hall, he entered it and saw these gods arranged in two\nrows, twenty-one on each side of the Hall. At the end, near Osiris,\nwere the Great Scales, under the charge of Anpu (Anubis), and the\nmonster Amemit, the Eater of the Dead, i.e., of the hearts of the\nwicked who were condemned in the Judgment of Osiris. The deceased\nadvanced along the Hall and, addressing each of the Forty-Two gods\nby his name, declared that he had not committed a certain sin, thus:\n\n\"O Usekh-nemmit, comer forth from Anu, I have not committed sin.\n\n\"O Fenti, comer forth from Khemenu, I have not robbed.\n\n\"O Neha-hau, comer forth from Re-stau, I have not killed men.\n\n\"O Neba, comer forth in retreating, I have not plundered the property\nof God.\n\n\"O Set-qesu, comer forth from Hensu, I have not lied.\n\n\"O Uammti, comer forth from Khebt, I have not defiled any man's wife.\n\n\"O Maa-anuf, comer forth from Per-Menu, I have not defiled myself.\n\n\"O Tem-Sep, comer forth from Tetu, I have not cursed the king.\n\n\"O Nefer-Tem, comer forth from Het-ka-Ptah, I have not acted\ndeceitfully; I have not committed wickedness.\n\n\"O Nekhen, comer forth from Heqat, I have not turned a deaf ear to\nthe words of the Law (or Truth).\"\n\nThe names of most of the Forty-Two gods are not ancient, but\nwere invented by the priests probably about the same time as the\nnames in the Book of Him that is in the Tuat and the Book of Gates,\ni.e., between the XIIth and the XVIIIth dynasties. Their artificial\ncharacter is shown by their meanings. Thus Usekh-nemmit means \"He\nof the long strides\"; Fenti means \"He of the Nose\"; Neha-hau means\n\"Stinking-members\"; Set-qesu means \"Breaker of bones,\" etc. The\nearly Egyptologists called the second part of the CXXVth Chapter the\n\"Negative Confession,\" and it is generally known by this somewhat\ninexact title to this day.\n\nIn the third part of the CXXVth Chapter comes the address which the\ndeceased made to the gods after he had declared his innocence of the\nsins enumerated before the Forty-Two gods. He says: \"Homage to you,\nO ye gods who dwell in your Hall of Maati. I know you and I know your\nnames. Let me not fall under your slaughtering knives. Bring not my\nwickedness to the notice of the god whose followers ye are. Let not\nthe affair [of my judgment] come under your jurisdiction. Speak ye the\nLaw (or truth) concerning me before Neb-er-tcher, [8] for I performed\nthe Law (or, truth) in Ta-mera (i.e., Egypt). I have not blasphemed\nthe God. No affair of mine came under the notice of the king in his\nday. Homage to you, O ye who are in your Hall of Maati, who have no\nlies in your bodies, who live on truth, who eat truth before Horus,\nthe dweller in his disk, deliver ye me from Babai [9] who liveth upon\nthe entrails of the mighty ones on the day of the Great Reckoning (APT\nAAT). Behold me! I have come to you without sin, without deceit (?),\nwithout evil, without false testimony (?) I have not done an [evil]\nthing. I live upon truth and I feed upon truth. I have performed\nthe behests of men, and the things that satisfy the gods. [10] I\nhave propitiated the God [by doing] His will. I have given bread to\nthe hungry, water to the thirsty, raiment to the naked, and a boat\nto him that needed one. I have made holy offerings to the gods, and\nsepulchral offerings to the beautified dead. Be ye then my saviours,\nbe ye my protectors, and make no accusation against me before the\nGreat God. I am pure of mouth, and clean of hands; therefore it hath\nbeen said by those who saw me, 'Come in peace, come in peace.'\"\n\nThe deceased then addresses Osiris, and says, \"Hail, thou who art\nexalted upon thy standard, thou Lord of the Atefu Crown, whose name\nis 'Lord of Winds,' save me from thy Messengers (or Assessors) with\nuncovered faces, who bring charges of evil and make shortcomings plain,\nbecause I have performed the Law (or Truth) for the Lord of the Law\n(or Truth). I have purified myself with washings in water, my back\nhath been cleansed with salt, and my inner parts are in the Pool of\nTruth. There is not a member of mine that lacketh truth.\" From the\nlines that follow the above in the Papyrus of Nu it seems as though\nthe judgment of the deceased by the Forty-Two gods was preliminary\nto the final judgment of Osiris. At all events, after questioning\nhim about the performance of certain ceremonies, they invited him to\nenter the Hall of Maati, but when he was about to do so the porter,\nand the door-bolts, and the various parts of the door and its frame,\nand the floor, refused to permit him to enter until he had repeated\ntheir magical names. When he had pronounced these correctly the\nporter took him in and presented him to Maau (?)-Taui, who was Thoth\nhimself. When asked by him why he had come the deceased answered,\n\"I have come that report may be made of me.\" Then Thoth said, \"What\nis thy condition?\" And the deceased replied, \"I am purified from evil\nthings, I am free from the wickedness of those who lived in my days; I\nam not one of them.\" On this Thoth said, \"Thou shalt be reported. [Tell\nme:] Who is he whose roof is fire, whose walls are living serpents,\nand whose floor is a stream of water? Who is he?\" The deceased having\nreplied \"Osiris,\" Thoth then led him forward to the god Osiris, who\nreceived him, and promised that subsistence should be provided for\nhim from the Eye of Ra.\n\nIn great papyri of the Book of the Dead such as those of Nebseni,\nNu, Ani, Hunefer, etc., the Last Judgment, or the \"Great Reckoning,\"\nis made the most prominent scene in the whole work, and the vignette\nin which it is depicted is several feet long. The most complete form\nof it is given in the Papyrus of Ani, and may be thus described:\nAt one end of the Hall of Maati Osiris is seated on a throne within\na shrine made in the form of a funerary coffer; behind him stand\nIsis and Nephthys. Along one side of the Hall are seated the gods\nHarmachis, Tem, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Isis and Nephthys, Horus,\nHathor, Hu and Saa, who are to serve as the divine jury; these formed\nthe \"Great Company of the Gods\" of Anu (Heliopolis). By these stands\nthe Great Balance, and on its pillar sits the dog-headed ape Astes,\nor Astenu, the associate of Thoth. The pointer of the Balance is in\nthe charge of Anpu. Behind Anpu are Thoth the scribe of the gods,\nand the monster Amemit, with the head of a crocodile, the forepaws\nand shoulders of a lion, and the hindquarters of a hippopotamus; the\nduty of the last-named was to eat up the hearts that were light in\nthe balance. On the other side of the Balance Ani, accompanied by his\nwife, is seen standing with head bent low in adoration, and between him\nand the Balance stand the two goddesses who nurse and rear children,\nMeskhenet and Rennet, Ani's soul, in the form of a man-headed hawk, a\nportion of his body, and his luck Shai. Since the heart was considered\nto be the seat of all will, emotion, feeling, reason and intelligence,\nAni's heart, is seen in one pan of the Balance, and in the other is\nthe feather, symbolic of truth and righteousness. Whilst his heart\nwas in the Balance Ani, repeating the words of Chapter XXXB* of the\nBook of the Dead, addressed it, saying, \"My heart of my mother! My\nheart of my mother! My heart of my being! Make no stand against me\nwhen testifying, thrust me not back before the Tchatchaut (i.e., the\noverseers of Osiris), and make no failure in respect of me before\nthe Master of the Balance. Thou art my Ka, the dweller in my body,\nuniting (?) and strengthening my members. Thou shalt come forth to\nthe happiness to which we advance. Make not my name to stink with\nthe officers [of Osiris] who made men, utter no lie against me before\nthe Great God, the Lord of Amentt.\"\n\nThen Thoth, the Judge of Truth, of the Great Company of the Gods\nwho are in the presence of Osiris, saith to the gods, \"Hearken ye to\nthis word: In very truth the heart of Osiris hath been weighed, and\nhis soul hath borne testimony concerning him; according to the Great\nBalance his case is truth (i.e., just). No wickedness hath been found\nin him. He did not filch offerings from the temples. He did not act\ncrookedly, and he did not vilify folk when he was on earth.\"\n\nAnd the Great Company of the Gods say to Thoth, who dwelleth in\nKhemenu (Hermopolis): \"This that cometh forth from thy mouth of\ntruth is confirmed (?) The Osiris, the scribe Ani, true of voice,\nhath testified. He hath not sinned and [his name] doth not stink\nbefore us; Amemit (i.e., the Eater of the Dead) shall not have the\nmastery over him. Let there be given unto him offerings of food and\nan appearance before Osiris, and an abiding homestead in the Field\nof Offerings as unto the Followers of Horus.\"\n\nThus the gods have declared that Ani is \"true of voice,\" as was Osiris,\nand they have called Ani \"Osiris,\" because in his purity of word and\ndeed he resembled that god. In all the copies of the Book of the Dead\nthe deceased is always called \"Osiris,\" and as it was always assumed\nthat those for whom they were written would be found innocent when\nweighed in the Great Balance, the words \"true of voice,\" which were\nequivalent in meaning to \"innocent and acquitted,\" were always written\nafter their names. It may be noted in passing that when Ani's heart\nwas weighed against Truth, the beam of the Great Balance remained\nperfectly horizontal. This suggests that the gods did not expect the\nheart of the deceased to \"kick the beam,\" but were quite satisfied\nif it exactly counterbalanced Truth. They demanded the fulfilment of\nthe Law and nothing more, and were content to bestow immortality upon\nthe man on whom Thoth's verdict was \"he hath done no evil.\"\n\nIn accordance with the command of the gods Ani passes from the Great\nBalance to the end of the Hall of Maati where Osiris is seated, and as\nhe approaches the god Horus, the son of Isis, takes him by the hand and\nleads him forward, and standing before his father Osiris says, \"I have\ncome to thee, Un-Nefer, [11] I have brought to thee the Osiris Ani. His\nheart is righteous [and] hath come forth from the Balance. It hath no\nsin before any god or any goddess. Thoth hath set down his judgment in\nwriting, and the Company of the Gods have declared on his behalf that\n[his] evidence is very true. Let there be given unto him of the bread\nand beer which appear before Osiris. Let him be like the Followers of\nHorus for ever!\" Next we see Ani kneeling in adoration before Osiris,\nand he says, \"Behold, I am in thy presence, O Lord of Amentt. There\nis no sin in my body. I have not uttered a lie knowingly. [I have] no\nduplicity (?) Grant that I may be like the favoured (or rewarded) ones\nwho are in thy train.\" Under favour of Osiris Ani then became a sahu,\nor \"spirit-body,\" and in this form passed into the Kingdom of Osiris.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nThe Kingdom of Osiris.\n\nAccording to the Book of Gates and the other \"Guides\" to the Egyptian\nUnder World, the Kingdom of Osiris formed the Sixth Division of the\nTuat; in very early times it was situated in the Western Delta,\nbut after the XIIth dynasty theologians placed it near Abydos in\nUpper Egypt, and before the close of the Dynastic Period the Tuat of\nOsiris had absorbed the Under World of every nome of Egypt. When the\nsoul in its beautified or spirit body arrived there, the ministers\nof Osiris took it to the homestead or place of abode which had been\nallotted to it by the command of Osiris, and there it began its new\nexistence. The large vignette to the CXth Chapter shows us exactly\nwhat manner of place the abode of the blessed was. The country was\nflat and the fields were intersected by canals of running water in\nwhich there were \"no fish and no worms\" (i.e., water snakes). In one\npart of it were several small islands, and on one of them Osiris was\nsupposed to dwell with his saints. It was called the \"Island of Truth,\"\nand the ferry-man of Osiris would not convey to it any soul that\nhad not been declared \"true of word\" by Thoth, Osiris and the Great\nGods at the \"Great Reckoning.\" The portion of the Kingdom of Osiris\ndepicted in the large Books of the Dead represents in many respects a\ntypical Egyptian farm, and we see the deceased engaged in ploughing\nand reaping and driving the oxen that are treading out the corn. He\nwas introduced into the Sekhet Heteput (a section of the Sekhet Aaru,\ni.e., \"Field of Reeds,\" or the \"Elysian Fields\") by Thoth, and there\nhe found the souls of his ancestors, who were joined to the Company\nof the Gods. One corner of this region was specially set apart for the\ndwelling place of the aakhu, i.e., beautified souls, or spirit-souls,\nwho were said to be seven cubits in height, and to reap wheat or\nbarley which grew to a height of three cubits. Near this spot were\nmoored two boats that were always ready for the use of the denizens\nof that region; they appear to have been \"spirit boats,\" i.e., boats\nwhich moved of themselves and carried the beautified wheresoever they\nwanted to go without any trouble or fatigue on their part.\n\nHow the beautified passed their time in the Kingdom of Osiris\nmay be seen from the pictures cut on the alabaster sarcophagus of\nSeti I, now preserved in Sir John Soane's Museum in Lincoln's Inn\nFields. Here we see them occupied in producing the celestial food on\nwhich they and the god lived. Some are tending the wheat plants as\nthey grow, and others are reaping the ripe grain. In the texts that\naccompany these scenes the ears of wheat are said to be the \"members\nof Osiris,\" and the wheat plant is called the maat plant. Osiris was\nthe Wheat-god and also the personification of Maat (i.e., Truth), and\nthe beautified lived upon the body of their god and ate him daily,\nand the substance of him was the \"Bread of Everlastingness,\" which\nis mentioned in the Pyramid Texts. The beautified are described as\n\"Those who have offered up incense to the gods, and whose kau (i.e.,\ndoubles, or persons) have been washed clean. They have been reckoned\nup and they are maat (i.e., Truth) in the presence of the Great God\nwho destroyeth sin.\" Osiris says to them, \"Ye are truth of truth;\nrest in peace.\" And of them he says, \"They were doers of truth whilst\nthey were upon earth, they did battle for their god, and they shall\nbe called to the enjoyment of the Land of the House of Life with\nTruth. Their truth shall be reckoned to them in the presence of the\nGreat God who destroyeth sin.\" Then addressing them again Osiris says,\n\"Ye are beings of Truth, O ye Truths. Take ye your rest because of\nwhat ye have done, becoming even as those who are in my following,\nand who direct the House of Him whose Soul is holy. Ye shall live\nthere even as they live, and ye shall have dominion over the cool\nwaters of your land. I command that ye have your being to the limit [of\nthat land] with Truth and without sin.\" In these passages we have the\ntwo conceptions of Osiris well illustrated. As the Wheat-god he would\nsatisfy those who wished for a purely material, agricultural heaven,\nwhere hunger would be unknown and where the blessed would be able to\nsatisfy every physical desire and want daily; and as the God of Truth,\nof whom the spiritually minded hoped to become the counterpart, he\nwould be their hope, and consolation, and the image of the Eternal God.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nA Short Description of the \"Doors\" or Chapters of the Book of the Dead.\n\nAll the great papyri of the Book of the Dead begin with a HYMN TO RA,\nwho from the period of the IVth dynasty was the \"King of the Gods\"\nof Egypt. His cult was finally \"established\" under the Vth dynasty\nwhen the king of Egypt began to call himself in official documents\nand monuments \"Son of the Sun,\" Sa Ra. This Hymn is supposed to be\nsung by the deceased, who says:--\n\n\"Homage to thee, O Ra, at thy beauteous rising. Thou risest, thou\nrisest; thou shinest, thou shinest at the dawn. Thou art King of\nthe Gods, and the Maati goddesses embrace thee. The Company of the\nGods praise thee at sunrise and at sunset. Thou sailest over the\nheights of heaven and thy heart is glad. Thy Morning Boat meeteth\nthy Evening Boat with fair winds. Thy father is the Sky-god and\nthy mother is the Sky-goddess, and thou art Horus of the Eastern\nand Western skies. ... O thou Only One, O thou Perfect One, O thou\nwho art eternal, who art never weak, whom no mighty one can abase;\nnone hath dominion over the things which appertain to thee. Homage to\nthee in thy characters of Horus, Tem, and Khepera, thou Great Hawk,\nwho makest man to rejoice by thy beautiful face. When thou risest men\nand women live. Thou renewest thy youth, and dost set thyself in the\nplace where thou wast yesterday. O Divine Youth, who art self-created,\nI cannot comprehend thee. Thou art the lord of heaven and earth,\nand didst create beings celestial and beings terrestrial. Thou art\nthe God One, who camest into being in the beginning of time. Thou\ndidst create the earth, and man, thou didst make the sky and the\ncelestial river Hep; thou didst make the waters and didst give life\nunto all that therein is. Thou hast knit together the mountains, thou\nhast made mankind and the beasts of the field to come into being, and\nhast made the heavens and the earth. The fiend Nak is overthrown, his\narms are cut off. O thou Divine Youth, thou heir of everlastingness,\nself-begotten and self-born, One, Might, of myriad forms and aspects,\nPrince of An (i.e., On), Lord of Eternity, Everlasting Ruler, the\nCompany of the Gods rejoice in thee. As thou risest thou growest\ngreater: thy rays are upon all faces. Thou art unknowable, and no\ntongue can describe thy similitude; thou existest alone. Millions\nof years have passed over the world, I cannot tell the number of\nthose through which thou hast passed. Thou journeyest through spaces\n[requiring] millions of years [to pass over] in one little moment of\ntime, and then thou settest and dost make an end of the hours.\"\n\nThe subject matter of the above extract is treated at greater length\nin Chapter XV, which contains a long Hymn to Ra at his rising, or\nAmen-Ra, or Ra united to other solar gods, e.g., Horus and Khepera,\nand a short Hymn to Ra at his setting. In the latter the welcome\nwhich Ra receives from the dwellers in Amentt (i.e., the Hidden Place,\nlike the Greek \"Hades\") is emphasized thus:--\n\n\"All the beautified dead (Aakhu) in the Tuat receive him in the horizon\nof Amentt. They shout praises of him in his form of Tem (i.e., the\nsetting sun). Thou didst rise and put on strength, and thou settest,\na living being, and thy glories are in Amentt. The gods of Amentt\nrejoice in thy beauties (or beneficence). The hidden ones worship\nthee, the aged ones bring thee offerings and protect thee. The Souls\nof Amentt cry out, and when they meet thy Majesty (Life, Strength,\nHealth be to thee!) they shout 'Hail! Hail!' The lords of the mansions\nof the Tuat stretch out their hands to thee from their abodes,\nand they cry to thee, and they follow in thy bright train, and the\nhearts of the lords of the Tuat rejoice when thou sendest thy light\ninto Amentt. Their eyes follow thee, they press forward to see thee,\nand their hearts rejoice at the sight of thy face. Thou hearkenest to\nthe petitions of those who are in their tombs, thou dispellest their\nhelplessness and drivest away evil from them. Thou givest breath to\ntheir nostrils. Thou art greatly feared, thy form is majestic, and\nvery greatly art thou beloved by those who dwell in the Other World.\"\n\nThe Introductory HYMN TO RA is followed by a HYMN TO OSIRIS, in which\nthe deceased says:--\n\n\"Glory be to thee, O Osiris Un-Nefer, thou great god in Abtu\n(Abydos), King of Eternity, Lord of Everlastingness, God whose\nexistence is millions of years, eldest son of Nut, begotten by Geb,\nthe Ancestor-Chief, Lord of the Crowns of the South and the North,\nLord of the High White Crown. Thou art the Governor of gods and of\nmen and hast received the sceptre, the whip, and the rank of thy\nDivine Fathers. Let thy heart in Amentt be content, for thy son\nHorus is seated upon thy throne. Thou art Lord of Tetu (Busiris)\nand Governor of Abtu (Abydos). Thou makest fertile the Two Lands\n(i.e., all Egypt) by [thy] true word before the Lord to the Uttermost\nLimit.... Thy power is widespread, and great is the terror of thy name\n'Osiris.' Thou endurest for all eternity in thy name of 'Un-Nefer'\n(i.e., Beneficent Being). Homage to thee, King of kings, Lord of\nlords, Governor of governors, who from the womb of the Sky-goddess\nhast ruled the World and the Under World. Thy limbs are as silver-gold,\nthy hand is blue like lapis-lazuli, and the space on either side\nof thee is of the colour of turquoise (or emerald). Thou god An\nof millions of years, thy body is all-pervading, O dweller in the\nLand of Holiness, thy face is beautiful ... The gods come before\nthee bowing low. They hold thee in fear. They withdraw and retreat\nwhen they see the awfulness of Ra upon thee; the [thought] of the\nconquests of thy Majesty is in their hearts. Life is with thee.\n\n\"Let me follow thy Majesty as when I was on earth, let my soul be\nsummoned, and let it be found near the Lords of Truth. I have come\nto the City of God, the region that is eternally old, with my soul\n(ba), double (ka) and spirit-soul (aakhu), to be a dweller in this\nland. Its God is the Lord of Truth ... he giveth old age to him that\nworketh Truth, and honour to his followers, and at the last abundant\nequipment for the tomb, and burial in the Land of Holiness. I have\ncome unto thee, my hands hold Truth, and there is no falsehood in\nmy heart ... Thou hast set Truth before thee: I know on what thou\nlivest. I have committed no sin in this land, and I have defrauded\nno man of his possessions.\" (Chapter CLXXXIII.)\n\nChapter I was recited by the priest who accompanied the mummy to\nthe tomb and performed the burial ceremonies there. In it the priest\n(kher heb) assumed the character of Thoth and promised the deceased to\ndo for him all that he had done for Osiris in days of old. Chapter IB\ngave the sahu, or \"spirit-body,\" power to enter the Tuat immediately\nafter the burial of the material body, and delivered it from the\nNine Worms that lived on the dead. Chapters II-IV are short spells\nwritten to give the deceased power to revisit the earth, to join the\ngods, and to travel about the sky. Chapters V and VI provided for the\nperformance of agricultural labours in the Other World. The text of\nChapter VI was cut on figures made of stone, wood, etc. (ushabtiu),\nwhich were placed in the tomb, and when the deceased recited it these\nfigures became alive and did everything he wished. The shabti figure,\ntook the place of the human funerary sacrifice which was common all\nover Egypt before the general adoption of the cult of Osiris under\nthe XIIth dynasty. About 700 ushabtiu figures were found in the tomb\nof Seti I, and many of them are in the British Museum. Chapter VII\nis a spell to destroy the Great Serpent Aapep, the Arch-enemy of\nHorus the Elder, Ra, Osiris, Horus son of Isis, and of every follower\nof Osiris. Chapters VIII and IX secured a passage for the deceased\nthrough the Tuat, and Chapters X and XI gave him power over the\nenemies he met there. Chapters XII and XIII gave him great freedom of\nmovement in the Kingdom of Osiris. Chapter XIV is a prayer in which\nOsiris is entreated to put away any feeling of dissatisfaction that\nhe may have for the deceased, who says, \"Wash away my sins, Lord of\nTruth; destroy my transgressions, wickedness and iniquity, O God of\nTruth. May this god be at peace with me. Destroy the things that are\nobstacles between us. Give me peace, and remove all dissatisfaction\nfrom thy heart in respect of me.\"\n\nChapter XV has several forms, and each of them contains Hymns to Ra,\nwhich were sung daily in the morning and evening; specimen paragraphs\nare given above (pp. 33, 34). Chapter XVI is only a vignette that\nillustrates Chapter XV, Chapter XVII is a very important chapter,\nfor it contains statements of divine doctrine as understood by the\npriests of Heliopolis. The opening words are, \"I am Tem in rising. I\nam the Only One. I came into being in Nu (the Sky). I am Ra, who rose\nin primeval time, ruler of what he had made.\" Following this comes the\nquestion, \"Who is this?\" and the answer is, \"It is Ra who rose in the\ncity of Hensu, in primeval time, crowned as king. He existed on the\nheight of the Dweller in Khemenu (i.e., Thoth of Hermopolis) before\nthe pillars that support the sky were made.\" Chapter XVIII contains\nthe Addresses to Thoth, who is entreated to make the deceased to be\ndeclared innocent before the gods of Heliopolis, Busiris, Latopolis,\nMendes, Abydos, etc. These addresses formed a very powerful spell which\nwas used by Horus, and when he recited it four times all his enemies\nwere overthrown and cut to pieces. Chapters XIX and XX are variant\nforms of Chapter XVIII. Chapters XXI-XXIII secured the help of Thoth\nin \"opening the mouth\" of the deceased, whereby he obtained the power\nto breathe and think and drink and eat. Thoth recited spells over the\ngods whilst Ptah untied the bandages and Shu forced open their mouths\nwith an iron (?) knife. Chapter XXIV gave to the deceased a knowledge\nof the \"words of power\" (hekau) which were used by the great god\nTem-Khepera, and Chapter XXV restored to him his memory. Five chapters,\nXXVI-XXX, contain prayers and spells whereby the deceased obtained\npower over his heart and gained absolute possession of it. The most\npopular prayer is that of Chapter XXXB (see above, p. 4) which,\naccording to its rubric, was \"found,\" i.e., edited, by Herutataf,\nthe son of the great Cheops, about 3600 B.C. This prayer was still\nin use in the early years of the Christian Era. In the Papyrus of\nNu it is associated with Chapter LXIV, and the earliest form of it\nwas probably in existence under the Ist dynasty.\n\nChapters XXXI-XLII were written to deliver the deceased from the\nGreat Crocodile Sui, and the Serpents Rerek and Seksek, and the Lynx\nwith its deadly claws, and the Beetle Apshait, and the terrible Merti\nsnake-goddesses, and a group of three particularly venomous serpents,\nand Aapep a personification of Set the god of evil, and the Eater\nof the Ass, and a series of beings who lived by slaughtering the\nsouls of the dead. In Chapter XLII every member of the deceased is\nput under the protection of, or identified with, a god or goddess,\ne.g., the hair with Nu, the face with Aten (i.e., the solar disk),\nthe eyes with Hathor, and the deceased exclaims triumphantly, \"There\nis no member of my body which is not the member of a god.\" Chapter\nXLIII. A spell to prevent the decapitation of the deceased, who\nassumes in it the character of Osiris the Lord of Eternity. Chapter\nXLIV. An ancient and mighty spell, the recital of which prevented the\ndeceased from dying a second time. Chapters XLV and XLVI preserved\nthe mummy of the deceased from decay, and Chapter XLVII prevented\nthe removal of his seat or throne. Chapter L enabled the deceased\nto avoid the block of execution of the god Shesmu. Chapters LI-LIII\nprovided the deceased with pure food and clean water from the table\nof the gods; he lived upon what they lived upon, and so became one\nwith them. Chapters LIV-LXII gave the deceased power to obtain cool\nwater from the Celestial Nile and the springs of waters of heaven, and\nbeing identified with Shu, the god of light and air, he was enabled\nto pass over all the earth at will. His life was that of the Egg of\nthe \"Great Cackler,\" and the goddess Sesheta built a house for him\nin the Celestial Anu, or Heliopolis.\n\nThe recital of Chapter LXIII enabled the deceased to avoid drinking\nboiling water in the Tuat. The water in some of its pools was cool\nand refreshing to those who were speakers of the truth, but it turned\ninto boiling water and scalded the wicked when they tried to drink\nof it. Chapter LXIV is an epitome of the whole Book of the Dead,\nand it formed a \"great and divine protection\" for the deceased. The\ntext is of a mystical character and suggests that the deceased could,\nthrough its recital, either absorb the gods into his being, or become\nhimself absorbed by them. Its rubric orders abstention from meats,\nfish and women on the part of those who were to recite it. Chapter LXV\ngave the deceased victory over all his enemies, and Chapters LXVI and\nLXVII gave him access to the Boat of Ra. Chapters LXVIII-LXX procured\nhim complete freedom of motion in heaven and on earth. Chapter LXXI\nis a series of addresses to the Seven Spirits who punished the wicked\nin the Kingdom of Osiris, and Chapter LXXII aided the deceased to\nbe reborn in the Mesqet Chamber. The Mesqet was originally a bull's\nskin in which the deceased was wrapped. Chapter LXXIII is the same as\nChapter IX. Chapters LXXIV and LXXV secured a passage for the deceased\nin the Henu Boat of Seker the Death-god, and Chapter LXXVI brought\nto his help the praying mantis which guided him through the \"bush\"\nto the House of Osiris. By the recital of Chapters LXXVII-LXXXVIII,\ni.e., the \"Chapters of Transformations,\" the deceased was enabled\nto assume at will the forms of (1) the Golden Hawk, (2) the Divine\nHawk, (3) the Great Self-created God, (4) the Light-god or the Robe\nof Nu, (5) the Pure Lily, (6) the Son of Ptah, (7) the Benu Bird,\n(8) the Heron, (9) the Soul of Ra, (10) the Swallow, (11) the Sata\nor Earth-serpent, (12) the Crocodile. Chapter LXXXIX brought the soul\n(ba) of the deceased to his body in the Tuat, and Chapter XC preserved\nhim from mutilation and attacks of the god who \"cut off heads and slit\nforeheads.\" Chapters XCI and XCII prevented the soul of the deceased\nfrom being shut in the tomb. Chapter XCIII is a spell very difficult\nto understand. Chapters XCIV and XCV provided the deceased with the\nbooks of Thoth and the power of this god, and enabled him to take his\nplace as the scribe of Osiris. Chapters XCVI and XCVII also placed him\nunder the protection of Thoth. The recital of Chapter XCVIII provided\nthe deceased with a boat in which to sail over the northern heavens,\nand a ladder by which to ascend to heaven. Chapters XCIX-CIII gave him\nthe use of the magical boat, the mystic name of each part of which\nhe was obliged to know, and helped him to enter the Boat of Ra and\nto be with Hathor. The Bebait, or mantis, led him to the great gods\n(Chapter CIV), and the Uatch amulet from the neck of Ra provided\nhis double (ka) and his heart-soul (ba) with offerings (Chapters CV,\nCVI). Chapters CVII-CIX made him favourably known to the spirits of\nthe East and West, and the gods of the Mountain of Sunrise. In this\nregion lived the terrible Serpent-god Ami-hem-f; he was 30 cubits\n(50 feet) long. In the East the deceased saw the Morning Star, and\nthe Two Sycamores, from between which the Sun-god appeared daily,\nand found the entrance to the Sekhet Aaru or Elysian Fields. Chapter\nCX and its vignette of the Elysian Fields have already been described\n(see p. 31). Chapters CXI and CXII describe how Horus lost the sight\nof his eye temporarily through looking at Set under the form of a\nblack pig, and Chapter CXIII refers to the legend of the drowning of\nHorus and the recovery of his body by Sebek the Crocodile-god. Chapter\nCXIV enabled the deceased to absorb the wisdom of Thoth and his Eight\ngods. Chapters CXV-CXXII made him lord of the Tuats of Memphis and\nHeliopolis, and supplied him with food, and Chapter CXXIII enabled\nhim to identify himself with Thoth. Chapters CXXIV and CXXV, which\ntreat of the Judgment, have already been described. Chapter CXXVI\ncontains a prayer to the Four Holy Apes, Chapter CXXVII a hymn to\nthe gods of the \"Circles\" in the Tuat, and Chapter CXXVIII a hymn to\nOsiris. Chapters CXXX and CXXXI secured for the deceased the use of\nthe Boats of Sunrise and Sunset, and Chapter CXXXII enabled him to\nreturn to earth and visit the house he had lived in. Chapters CXXXIII\n(or CXXXIX)-CXXXVI resemble in contents Chapter CXXXI. Chapter\nCXXXVII describes a series of magical ceremonies that were to be\nperformed for the deceased daily in order to make him to become a\n\"living soul for ever.\" The formulae are said to have been composed\nunder the IVth dynasty. Chapter CXXXVIII refers to the ceremony of\nreconstituting Osiris, and Chapters CXL-CXLII deal with the setting\nup of twelve altars, and the making of offerings to all the gods and\nto the various forms of Osiris. Chapter CXLIII consists of a series\nof vignettes, in three of which solar boats are represented.\n\nChapters CXLIV and CXLVII deal with the Seven Great Halls (Arit) of\nthe Kingdom of Osiris. The gate of each Hall was guarded by a porter,\na watchman, and a messenger; the first kept the door, the second looked\nout for the arrival of visitors, and the third took their names to\nOsiris. No one could enter a Hall without repeating the name of it,\nof the porter, of the watchman, and of the messenger. According to a\nlate tradition the Gates of the Kingdom of Osiris were twenty-one in\nnumber (Chapters CXLV and CXLVI), and each had a magical name, and\neach was guarded by one or two gods, whose names had to be repeated\nby the deceased before he could pass. Chapter CXLVIII supplied the\ndeceased with the names of the Seven Cows and their Bull on which the\n\"gods\" were supposed to feed. Chapters CXLIX and CL give the names\nof the Fourteen Aats, or districts, of the Kingdom of Osiris. Chapter\n*CLI-A and *CLI-B give a picture of the mummy chamber and the magical\ntexts that were necessary for the protection of both the chamber and\nthe mummy in it. Chapter CLII provided a house for the deceased in\nthe Celestial Anu, and Chapter *CLIII-A and *CLIII-B enabled his soul\nto avoid capture in the net of the snarer of souls. Chapter CLIV is\nan address to Osiris in which the deceased says, \"I shall not decay,\nnor rot, nor putrefy, nor become worms, nor see corruption. I shall\nhave my being, I shall live, I shall flourish, I shall rise up\nin peace.\" Chapters CLV-CLXVII are spells which were engraved on\nthe amulets, giving the deceased the protection of Ra, Osiris, Isis,\nHorus, and other gods. The remaining Chapters (CLXVIII-CXC) are of a\nmiscellaneous character, and few of them are found in more than one\nor two papyri of the Book of the Dead. A few contain hymns that are\nnot older than the XVIIIth dynasty, and one is an extract from the\ntext on the Pyramid of Unas (lines 379-399). The most interesting is,\nperhaps, Chapter CLXXV, which describes the Tuat as airless,\nwaterless, and lightless. In this chapter the deceased is assured\nof immortality in the words, \"Thou shalt live for millions of millions\nof years, a life of millions of years.\"\n\n\nE. A. Wallis Budge.\n\nDepartment of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, British Museum.\n\nApril 15, 1920.\n\n\n\n\n\nNote.\n\nThe Trustees of the British Museum have published:--\n\n1. Coloured facsimile of the Papyrus of Hunefer, XIXth dynasty,\nwith hieroglyphic transcript and translation. 11 plates, large folio.\n\n2. Coloured facsimile of the Papyrus of Anhai, XXIst dynasty, with\nhieroglyphic transcript and translation. 8 plates, large folio.\n\n3. Collotype reproduction of the Papyrus of Queen Netchemet, XXIst\ndynasty, with hieroglyphic transcript and translation. 12 plates,\nlarge folio.\n\n4. Coloured reproduction of the hieratic text of the Book of\nBreathings, with hieroglyphic transcript and translation. With 2\ncollotypes of the vignettes, large folio.\n\n5. Hieroglyphic transcript of the Papyrus of Nu, with one collotype\nplate.\n\nNos. 1-5 are bound in one volume, price \u00a32 10s.\n\n6. Collotype reproduction of the Papyrus of Queen Nesi-ta-nebt-ashru,\nwith full descriptions of the vignettes, translations, and\nintroduction, containing several illustrations, and 116 plates of\nhieratic text. Large 4to. Price \u00a32 10s.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n[1] See Journal de Tr\u00e9voux, June, 1704; Caylus, Antiq. Egypt., tom. I,\nplate 21; Denon, Travels, plates 136 and 137; and Description de\nl'\u00c9gypte, tom. II, plate 64 ff.\n\n[2] Copie Figur\u00e9e d'un Rouleau de Papyrus trouv\u00e9 \u00e0 Th\u00e8bes dans un\ntombeau des Rois. Paris, XIII-1805. This papyrus is nearly 30 feet\nin length and was brought to Strassburg by a paymaster in Napoleon's\nArmy in Egypt called Poussielgue, who sold it to M. Cadet.\n\n[3] [Hieroglyphs].\n\n[4] The longest papyrus in the world is Papyrus Harris No. 1\n(Brit. Mus. No. 9999); it measures 133 feet by 1 foot 4 1/2 inches.\n\n[5] Pyramid of Pepi I, ll. 664 and 662.\n\n[6] I.e., Truth, or Law, in a double aspect.\n\n[7] A name of Osiris.\n\n[8] I.e., the \"Lord to the uttermost limit of everything,\" or God.\n\n[9] He was according to one legend the firstborn son of Osiris.\n\n[10] I.e., I have kept the Moral and Divine Law.\n\n[11] I.e., the \"Beneficent Being,\" a title of Osiris.","title":"The Book of the Dead","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":12684}