The Egyptian Book of the dead

The explanation which M. Maspero has recently given (P.S.B.A. XIV, 314) of the word , as connected with ‘health,’ receives confirmation from the scholia in the papyri, according to which Thoth not only delivered the Eye from the veil of darkness which oppressed it, but carried it off ‘in life, health and strength, without any damage.’

14. Mehurit is explained in the ancient scholion as ‘the Eye,’ but it is really the Sky, from which the Sun is born daily. The sign of plurality after Mehurit (if it means anything) only indicates the daily succession of the skies whence Râ is born.

15. The ‘coffined One’ is of course Osiris, as it is plainly stated in the later scholia, which further add that the ‘Seven glorious ones’ who follow the coffin, or, as they read it, “their Lord,” are to be sought in the constellation of ‘the Thigh in the northern sky,’ that is in the seven stars of the Great Bear.

These stars never set, but are perpetually revolving round the Pole. It is therefore evidently with the Polar Star that we must identify the coffin of Osiris. The names of the Seven Glorious ones vary according to the different authoritiesauthorities. And these Stars themselves receive other mythical forms; that of the Seven Cows and their Bull is recorded in the 148th chapter. Names like ‘the Red-eyed’ or the ‘Red-haired’ cow seem to imply double stars. The ‘Red-eyed’ is said to abide in ‘house of gauze’ (perhaps a cobweb).

The papyri add the important note that the “day of Come thou hither”! represents the moment “when Osiris says to Râ, Come thou hither”! or, as some read, “Come thou to me.” The speaker adds that he sees the meeting of the two gods in Amenta.

16. possessor of completeness, integrity, hence ‘inviolate.’ This name is given to Osiris when restored to his first condition after having been dismembered and cut into pieces. The god is called Râ-Tmu-Nebert’er in the great Harris papyrus, 15, 3.

17. It is most probable that the Cat became the representative of the Sun because of the homonymy between the Egyptian name mȧȧu of the animal and the attributive mau, ‘shining’ said of the Sun. But the Egyptian scribe gives a different etymological explanation. Sau said of Râ “he is maȧu of what he hath made.” may, like the Latin exemplar, be either the type or the prototype, the copy or the original. The creatures of Râ were made after his likeness. Sanskrit literature, from the Çatapatha Brahmana down to the Vishnu Purâna, is full of similar etymologies. The Egyptians from the very first delighted in this play upon words.

18. Neḥebu-kau, or is the son of Seb and Renenut. The etymology of the name is indicated in the Pyramid texts. neḥbu is to ‘carry, sustain, support’ (whence neḥbet a neck, and neḥb a yoke), and the rest of the word is the plural of ka, which is susceptible of more than one meaning. It might signify the divine or human ka, but the word is sometimes (e.g., Todt., 125, 32) written ‘victuals.’ The god is one of the forty-two judges of the dead, and in some copies of the Book of the Dead he is described as coming forth from his , a word most frequently used for the source of the Nile. The serpent which is a most frequent determinative of the name, is an additional reason for identifying this god with the Nile: a conclusion which seems fully justified by the Pyramid texts, which speak of him as Water , and describe him as , “of many windings.” (See Pepi I, 341 and 487.)

19. This Devourer has the same functions as the strange animal called Âmemit in the pictures of the Psychostasia. The later scholia add that the Devourer comes from the ‘basin of Punit,’ the Red sea. They add other names, Mâtes ‘Flint,’ “stationed at the gate of Amenta,” and or Baba, who, in ch. 63, 2, is described as the first born of Osiris. He is a terrible god from whom the deceased prays in ch. 125, 36, to be delivered. His name implies ‘one who searches or probes thoroughly,’ as a digger or miner. And such are his functions at the judgment of the dead.

20. The Mesqȧt is a ‘a place of scourging.’ The word is known as signifying violent treatment by beating, and has been illustrated by Chabas and Goodwin. See Zeitschr., 1874, p. 62. In the 72nd chapter the deceased prays that he may not perish at the Mesqȧt. A kindred word Mesqa signifies ‘a hide.’ We can understand the connection between δέρω ‘flay, cudgel, thrash’ and δέρμα ‘a hide.’ And we ourselves have the familiar phrase of ‘giving a hiding.’ But purification as well as punishment was found at the heavenly mesqȧt. It is mentioned in the Harris Magical papyrus[6, 3] simply as a heavenly thing. In the more recent scholia the purifier is said to be Anubis, who is behind the chest containing the remains of Osiris.

For the rest of the chapter we are compelled to follow the texts of the papyri. The character of this portion differs considerably from the former part, and is clearly an addition. The speakers rapidly succeed each other. “I am Tmu,” “I am Isis,” “I was conceived by Isis,” “Isis destroyeth what in me is wrong,” and finally “I am Uat’it.”

24. The last line of the chapter has suffered in all the best papyri. See M. Naville’s collation. In the papyrus of Ani the chapter is unfinished. The later papyri end the chapter by saying that “it has been granted to the speaker by those who are in Tattu to destroy by fire the souls of his adversaries.” This consummation is already found in La.