DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.30604#0029
THE VERSIONS OF THE BOOK OF THE IjFAD.
NXI
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em ren - s en
seta
pet
ertat - nes
un - k
em neter
in her name of “ mystery of heaven,” she granteth that thou mayest exist as a god
dn yeft - k suten net Men-kau-Rd an^ t''etta
without thy foes, {O Isang^of the^North Men-kau-Ra, living forever!
Now it is to be noted that the passage, “ Thy mother Nut spreadeth herself
“ over thee in her name of ‘ Mystery of Heaven,’ she granteth that thou mayest
“ be without enemies,” occurs in the texts which are inscribed upon the pyramids
built by the kings of the Vlth dynasty,1 and thus we have evidence of the
use of the same version of one religious text both in the IVth and in the
Vlth dynasties.2 3
Even if we were to admit that the coffin is a forgery of the XXVIth dynasty,
and that the inscription upon it was taken from an edition of the text of the Book
of the Dead, still the value of the monument as an evidence of the antiquity of
the Book of the Dead is scarcely impaired, for those who added the inscription
would certainly have chosen it from a text of the time of Mycerinus.
In the Vth dynasty we have—in an increased number of mastabas ancl other
monuments—evidence of the extension of religious ceremonials, including the
1 See the texts of Teta and Pepi I. in Maspero, Recueil de Travaux, t. v., pp. 20, 38 (11. 175, 279),
and pp. 165, 173 (11. 60, 103), etc.
3 So far back as 1883, M. Maspero, in lamenting (Guide da Visiteur de Boulaq, p. 310) the fact
that the Bhlaq Museum possessed only portions of wooden coffins of the Ancient Empire and no
complete example, noticed that the coffin of Mycerinus, preserved in the British Museum, had been
declared by certain Egyptologists to be a “ restoration” of the XXVIth dynasty, rather than the work of
the IVth dynasty, in accordance with the inscription upon it; but like Dr. Birch he was of opinion that
the coffin certainly belonged to the IVth dynasty, and adduced in support of his views the fact of the
existence of portions of a similar coffin of Seker-em-sa-f, a king of the Vlth dynasty. Recently,
however, an attempt has again been made (Aeg. Zeitschrift, Bd. XXX., p. 94 ff.) to prove by the
agreement of the variants in the text on the coffin of Mycerinus with those of texts of the XXVIth dynasty,
that the Mycerinus text is of this late period, or at all events not earlier than the time of Psammetichus.
But it is admitted on all hands that in the XXVIth dynasty the Egyptians resuscitated texts of the first
dynasties of the Early Empire, and that they copied the arts and literature of that period as far as
possible, and, this being so, the texts on the monuments which have been made the standard of
comparison for that on the coffin of Mycerinus may be themselves at fault in their variants. If the
text on the cover could be proved to differ as much from an undisputed IVth dynasty text as it does
from those even of the Vlth dynasty, the philological argument might have some weight; but even this
wculd not get rid of the fact that the cover itself is a genuine relic of the IVth dynasty.
The Book of the
Deacl in the Vth
dynaMy.
NXI
\\\ ^ ^ -H- /SAAAATs
- /MvX /WVW\
□ CS
AAAAAA
© CI
n
M
AAAAAA
1
em ren - s en
seta
pet
ertat - nes
un - k
em neter
in her name of “ mystery of heaven,” she granteth that thou mayest exist as a god
dn yeft - k suten net Men-kau-Rd an^ t''etta
without thy foes, {O Isang^of the^North Men-kau-Ra, living forever!
Now it is to be noted that the passage, “ Thy mother Nut spreadeth herself
“ over thee in her name of ‘ Mystery of Heaven,’ she granteth that thou mayest
“ be without enemies,” occurs in the texts which are inscribed upon the pyramids
built by the kings of the Vlth dynasty,1 and thus we have evidence of the
use of the same version of one religious text both in the IVth and in the
Vlth dynasties.2 3
Even if we were to admit that the coffin is a forgery of the XXVIth dynasty,
and that the inscription upon it was taken from an edition of the text of the Book
of the Dead, still the value of the monument as an evidence of the antiquity of
the Book of the Dead is scarcely impaired, for those who added the inscription
would certainly have chosen it from a text of the time of Mycerinus.
In the Vth dynasty we have—in an increased number of mastabas ancl other
monuments—evidence of the extension of religious ceremonials, including the
1 See the texts of Teta and Pepi I. in Maspero, Recueil de Travaux, t. v., pp. 20, 38 (11. 175, 279),
and pp. 165, 173 (11. 60, 103), etc.
3 So far back as 1883, M. Maspero, in lamenting (Guide da Visiteur de Boulaq, p. 310) the fact
that the Bhlaq Museum possessed only portions of wooden coffins of the Ancient Empire and no
complete example, noticed that the coffin of Mycerinus, preserved in the British Museum, had been
declared by certain Egyptologists to be a “ restoration” of the XXVIth dynasty, rather than the work of
the IVth dynasty, in accordance with the inscription upon it; but like Dr. Birch he was of opinion that
the coffin certainly belonged to the IVth dynasty, and adduced in support of his views the fact of the
existence of portions of a similar coffin of Seker-em-sa-f, a king of the Vlth dynasty. Recently,
however, an attempt has again been made (Aeg. Zeitschrift, Bd. XXX., p. 94 ff.) to prove by the
agreement of the variants in the text on the coffin of Mycerinus with those of texts of the XXVIth dynasty,
that the Mycerinus text is of this late period, or at all events not earlier than the time of Psammetichus.
But it is admitted on all hands that in the XXVIth dynasty the Egyptians resuscitated texts of the first
dynasties of the Early Empire, and that they copied the arts and literature of that period as far as
possible, and, this being so, the texts on the monuments which have been made the standard of
comparison for that on the coffin of Mycerinus may be themselves at fault in their variants. If the
text on the cover could be proved to differ as much from an undisputed IVth dynasty text as it does
from those even of the Vlth dynasty, the philological argument might have some weight; but even this
wculd not get rid of the fact that the cover itself is a genuine relic of the IVth dynasty.
The Book of the
Deacl in the Vth
dynaMy.