The Egyptian Book of the dead

No copy of the chapter is known of more ancient date than the eighteenth dynasty, but the oldest papyri contain the three parts of which the chapter consists. That the chapter is of much earlier date than the eighteenth dynasty is quite certain from the nature of the corruptions which had already made their appearance in the earliest copies which have come down to us. But the three parts are not necessarily of the same antiquity. The second part seems to have grown out of the first and to have been suggested by the mention of the “Forty-two” gods and the “negative confession,” as it is called, of certain sins. It is a tabulated form in which the gods are named and a sin is mentioned in connection with each god. The number of sins in this form is therefore forty-two; a higher number than in Part I.

The two catalogues agree to a certain extent, but they also disagree, and the second is evidently the result of a different process of thought than that which gave birth to the first. The author of Part I is not the author of Part II, unless perhaps at a different and later period. Nor is there any indication in Part I of the extraordinary examination to which the deceased person is subjected in Part III. This in itself would not be a serious objection, but the matter becomes more complicated if we remember that the picture of the Psychostasia has the right to be considered as a part of the chapter. The texts which are written upon it differ, indeed, according to the taste of the artist, and can therefore claim no canonical authority. But the question as to the order of succession in the trials, or the precise moment at which the deceased person is finally freed from all anxiety as to his fate, cannot be satisfactorily solved on the supposition that all these documents form parts of a consistent whole. It seems much more natural to consider them as really independent compositions brought together in consequence of their subject matter. The artists of the Ramseside period (in the papyri of Hunefer and Ani) add another scene[111] in which the deceased is judged not by the forty-two assessors of Osiris but by a smaller company of gods (twelve or fourteen), sitting on thrones and bearing the names of well known divinities.

The essential notion was that of a trial before Osiris, in which the man’s conduct or conscience was weighed in the Balance. This trial is referred to in various chapters of the Book of the Dead and in other texts which prove that, with reference to the details, free scope was allowed to the imagination of the scribes or artists.

The number of the Forty-two assessors might be thought connected with that of the Nomes of Egypt. But this number is only certain for the later periods of Egyptian history, and is not true for earlier times. Moreover the localities in which the gods are said to make their appearances do not correspond to the nomes, or places within them. Some of the localities occur more than once, and some of them, if not all, are localities not upon earth. Heaven occurs twice, the eleventh god makes his appearance at Amenta and the forty-second in the Netherworld. But the names which have a more earthly sound may have a mystical meaning. The first god makes his appearance in Annu, so does the seventeenth and so does the twenty-fourth. But does this mean Heliopolis of Egypt? On referring to an important text in Mariette’s Monuments Divers, pl. 46, it will be seen that Annu is the Eastern Solar Mountain , where the sun rises, and where he is saluted by the Powers of the East. There cannot be a more striking illustration of “the Divine Babe who maketh his appearance in Annu” (the twenty-fourth Assessor), than the picture I refer to.[112]

And Chemunnu, , is surely not the Hermopolis of Egypt, but the place of the Eight gods , four to the Left and four to the Right of the rising sun, who hail his coming and help him to rise; where Shu, according to the MSS. of the 17th Chapter, raises up the Sky, and where “the children of Failure,” (that is, shades of darkness) are exterminated. It is not simply of Hermopolis nor yet of Lake Moeris that one may say ‘it is the place of the Eight deities where Rā riseth’riseth’ (Zeitschr., 1872, p. 8).

The presence of the divine “Babe,” of the god “of long strides” (Rā), of the god “of Lion form,” of the goddess Bast, of Nefer-tmu, of the “Striker” (Ahi, a name of Horus), and of Nehebkau, not to mention others, among the Assessors, would of itself be sufficient to convince us that, in spite of the strange and terrific names of some of these personages, they are not to be looked upon as fiends, like Malacoda, Scarmiglione, and the rest of the demon crew in the Inferno of Dante. They are not evil spirits, but gods, all of them, “subsisting on righteousness;” there is “nothing wrong about them.”[113] They are the gods who accompany Osiris, and, according to Egyptian theology, are his Names, his Limbs, his Body. If the names of some of them appear harsh or cruel, it is because strict Justice is inexorable, and Mercy is a quality never thought of in Egyptian theology.

The exact notion of Maāt in Egyptian texts is discussed in another part of the present work. In this chapter I have translated it Righteousness, because the question here is about moral conduct: and conformity to the strict Rule of Right towards one’s fellow men, one’s own self and the heavenly powers is what is meant by Righteousness. And here it is opposed to moral transgression or sin, not to physical evil, which itself is a very frequent result from the operation of the inexorable Maāt.

But in the expression, “Hall of Righteousness,” the word in Egyptian is used in the dual number: hence the erroneous or inadequate translations, “the Two Truths,” or “Double Justice,” and the guesses which have been made as to their meaning.

A very important determinative of the Egyptian word is found not only in the papyri but in the very earliest mention yet known of the Hall. The great inscription of the tomb of Peher at El Kab, calls it the . The repetition of the sign indicates a locality in which the Sun-god is present, as in the cases of , , and many others. Space is divided into two parts; one on the Southern and one on the Northern side of the god as he proceeds on his course. And when we have for determinatives two Uræi , or two ostrich Feathers , we have to understand two goddesses Maāt, one to the Left and one toto the Right side of Osiris.

It would be well if evidence could be brought with equal facility to bear upon all the difficulties with which the chapter abounds. But though a very lively interest was attracted to it ever since Champollion quoted extracts from it in his Grammar, the difficulties with which he did not attempt to cope have only increased with our knowledge of the language and its scientific treatment. The text is extremely doubtful in many important parts, the forty-two sins are not the same in all the manuscripts, and they are not assigned to the jurisdiction of the same gods. So important a papyrus as that of Sutimes omits some sins of which an Egyptian would certainly be expected to give an account. The same word is made to appear with different meanings in the same passage of the papyri when they are compared together. And there are not a few important words of which the meaning was first only guessed at by the first translators, but has been retained without sufficient warrant by their successors. The present translation is presented under the full consciousness of all its imperfections, and of the difficulties which have yet to be overcome before a version can be called satisfactory.

A very admirable contribution towards our acquaintance with the first part of the chapter was made as far back as 1866 by Dr. Pleyte in his Etudes Egyptologiques. Since then other versions have appeared by MM. Devéria, Lefébure and Pierret.

The Demotic text of the chapter, first published by Brugsch, and now more recently, with a complete translation, by M. Revillout, is in itself most interesting, but written, as it is, in the days of imperial Rome, cannot always be appealed to as to an authoritative exposition of the ancient text.

1.The Day of searching examination or reckoning. The word has to be compared with the Coptic ⲕⲱϯ in the sense of search, enquiry, ζητεῖν, ζήτησις. This sense is derived from a circle ( sail round) and the notion of going completely round a thing and approaching it from all sides.

2.Thou [literally he] of the Pair of Eyes .[114] This title of Osiris is made clear by the 37th chapter, which begins with an invocation to the Sister Pair of Goddesses, Merta , Merta signifying Two Eyes, and the divine Sister pair being Isis and Nephthys.

In vignettes of the chapter (see, e.g., Pl. XXXIII and XXXIV, figs. 14 and 16 for instances) the two goddesses appear in human form with their brother Osiris within the naos where the judgment is delivered. It is not so easy to recognise them under the form which they have in the vignette of Pb. (see Pl. XXXI), or in the picture which is found in many papyri (e.g., those of Nebseni, Hunefer, Ani and the Turin Todtenbuch), wherein the cornice or top row of the decoration surmounting the forty-two judges has for central figure a man (Osiris) either supporting the Two Eyes or extending his hands above them (see Pl. XXXIV, fig. 14).

The Two Eyes are a most frequent symbol on all funereal monuments; on the most ancient coffins, such as those of Apaānchu, Antuf, Taka (Denkm., II, 98, 146, 147), Mentuhotep (Aelteste Texte, pl. 9 and 25), Sebak-āa (Gio. d’Athanasi, pl. 3) and Amamu, as on mummy cases generally, and on funereal tablets. Between the Eyes on many tablets we frequently find the sign , and this is often followed by the sign of Water or the Vase , and very frequently by both. Very often we have two signs , one by each Eye, and not less frequently a pair of jackals, or facing each other. No two tablets are exactly alike, but the meaning is always the same.

“He of the Pair of Eyes” is always Osiris. But Osiris is a god “of many names,” as the Pyramid Texts show no less than the Book of the Dead, where in the seventeenth chapter he is identified with Tmu, Rā, the Bennu, Amsu and Horus, not to mention others, and where in the Scholia the Two Feathers, the Two Uræi, the Two Eyes and the Two Kites[115] are identified with the Sister pair Isis and Nephthys. And wherever these symbols occur in pairs Isis and Nephthys are meant, one for the right or northern side and the other for the left or southern. The same idea is conveyed under such forms as , , or , and many others. Dr. Birch long ago (Zeitschr., 1877, p. 33) mentioned as representing Osiris between his two sisters. Osiris is often represented as a living , with eyes.

The ancient coffin of Sebakāa at Berlin (Aelteste Texte, pl. 29), in the phrase , recognizes Isis as one of the Two Eyes. Down to the latest periods the Sisters were known as , Eye of the Southern or Left side (Isis), and , Eye of the Northern or Right side (Nephthys). On countless coffins and sarcophagi these goddesses are represented on opposite sides, in kneeling attitude, holding the in their hands, like the equivalent Vultures of the North and South, with their claws, and the Uræi on their bodies.

The meaning of the sign is well known. It is a ring, and is applied to the circuit of the heavens made by the sun and other heavenly bodies. It is also applied to the yearly recurring flow of the Nile. It has numerically the signification of 10,000,000 or an indefinitely large number. As attached, , to the sign of years , it means Eternity.

The sign of Water , and the Vase , are also emblems of Osiris, one of whose names is Water of Renewal. A chapter of the Pyramid Texts, Teta, 176, Pepi I, 518, which begins by saying that Seb has given to the departed (identified with Osiris) the Two Eyes of that Great One,[116] and has done that through Horus who recognizes his father, proceeds after this to say: “He renews thee in thy name of , Water of Renewal.”

I cannot say if the Vase is a mere appendage to the Water, but if it is not it most probably was meant to contain the , the divine and life-giving Sap flowing from Osiris, which is mentioned in another Pyramid Text (Pepi I, 33), also speaking of the Water of Renewal, as a name of Osiris.

The goddesses Isis and Nephthys as mythological figures represent not merely the Light at Dawn and Sunset, but the Light thrown out right and left by the Sun in his entire course, whether in the heavens or in the Netherworld. , “he lightens up the earth with his two eyes,” an expression most frequent in the texts, is not confined to special moments, though it is said of these emphatically.

The ancient scholion on the 17th Chapter speaks of the Right Eye of Rā, and the more recent scholion of the papyri speaks of the Eye as being in pain and weeping for its sister . The Egyptian name for the Eye is here ut’ait. The frequent expression means full moon, and is constantly identified with the fifteenth day of the month . The moon is in these texts called the Left Eye , and Osiris is said to unite with her (or with her sister) in order to renew her revolution . And of the Eye it is said that ‘she renews her revolution on the fifteenth day’ , and the god (Osiris) makes her full of her glory or splendour () or what she requires, = . This explains the symbol which is seen on certain tablets.

But what is the meaning of the passage at the end of Part I of this chapter—“when the Eye is full in Annu, on the last day of Mechir” , an expression which is repeated in the title of Chapter 140? The moon, which is always represented as full on the fifteenth of the month, cannot be full on the thirtieth. It must be the other Eye, the Sun. Now we know what is meant by the Full Moon, the Plenilunium, but what is the Full Sun?

M. de Rougé, in his commentary on the 17th Chapter, gave the key to this, by pointing out that the 30th Mechir was the last day of the sixth month of the year; that is the 180th day after the first of Thoth, which is supposed to coincide with the Summer Solstice. It is therefore at the time of the Winter Solstice that the Eye is said to be full. The inaccuracy, of course, arises from the length of the Egyptian year. But there can be no doubt that the time of the Winter Solstice is meant.

If the Eye (considered as the Sun) is said to be full at the Winter Solstice, it was most probably spoken of in the same way not only at the Summer Solstice, but also at the two Equinoxes. And this is the most probable reason why in the pictures representing the Four Rudders of Heaven (North, South, East and West) an Eye is attached to each rudder. (See Vignettes of Chapter 148.)

The Two Eyes, considered as Sun and Moon, are attributed not only to Rā and Osiris, but to gods identified with these. Of the two passages which have been most frequently quoted, “Thy Right Eye is the Sun and thy left is the Moon ,” “His Right Eye is the Sun and his left is the Moon,” the first is addressed to Ptah (in the Pap. Berlin, VII, l. 42), and the second, which occurs on the Neapolitan Stele, is really addressed to Osiris as god of Suten-hunen, under the form of the Ram-headed deity Her-śefit. Reference is made towards the end of the inscription to the “divine Eyes which are in Suten-hunen.”

Horus according to the Pyramid Texts has two eyes, a Light one and a Dark one. But the “Eye of Horus” is most frequently spoken of in the singular number. It is certainly meant for the Sun, and the name of it is given to cakes and ale, wine, corn, oil, honey, and all the good things which come to maturity through the beneficent god: who has in himself all the attributes of ‘Ceres and Bacchus.’