DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.30604#0151
THE PAPYRUS OF ANI.
cxliii
scribe has been obliged to crowd the text (e.g., in plate 11) and at times he has Generai description.
written it on the border (see plates 14, 17). This proves that the vignettes were
drawn before the text was written.
All the different sections of the papyrus were not originally written for Ani,
for his name has been added in several piaces1 by a later hand. As however such
additions do not occur in the first section, which measures 16 feet 4 inches in
length, it must be concluded that that section was written expressly for him, and
that the others were some of those ready-written copies in which blank spaces
were left for the insertion of the names of the deceased persons for whom they
were purchased. The scribe who filled in Ani’s name in these spaces wrote
hurriedly, for in Chapter XXXb., line 2 (pl. 15), he left himself no space to write
the word “Osiris” in the phrase, “ Ani victorious before Osiris ” (compare
® ph 1, line 5); in Chapter XLIII., lines 1, 2 (pl. 17), he has
written it twice ; in Chapter IX., 1. 1 (pl. 18), he has omitted the determinative
Lfi ; in Chapter XV., line 2 (pl. 20) he meant to write “ Ani, victorious in peace ”
I l I
o □
(pl. 19), but wrote “ Ani in triumph’
1
m
Chapter CXXV., line 18 (pl. 30), the word is written twice, probably,
however, with the view of filling up the line ; in Chapter CLI. (pl. 34) the name
is written crookedly, and the determinative is omitted; and in Chapters XVIII.
(Introduction, pl. 12) and CXXXIV. (pl. 22). the scribe has, in two spaces,
omitted to write the name. It seems tolerably certain that all the sections of the
papyrus were written about the same time, and that they are the work of scribes
of the same school ; the variations in the depth of the space occupied by the text
and the difference in the colours of the border only show that even the best scribes
did not tie themselves to any one plan or method in preparing a copy of the Book
of the Dead. The text has many serious errors : by some extraordinary oversight
it includes two copies of the XVIIIth Chapter, one with an unusual introduction
and the other without introduction ; and a large section of the XVIIth Chapter,
one of the most important in the whole work, has been entirely omitted. Such
mistakes and omissions, however, occur in papyri older than that of Ani, for in the
papyrus of Nebseni (B.M., No. 9900), which was written at Memphis early in the
XVlIlth dynasty, of Chapters L., LVI., LXIV., CLXXX., two copies each, of
1 See Chapter XXVI, 1. 1 (pl. 15)- Chapter XLV., 1. 1 (pl. 16); Chapter IX., 1. 6 (pl. 18);
Chapter CXXXIV., 1. 15 (pl. 22); Chapter LXXVIII., 1. 1 (pl. 25); Chap. LXXX., 1. 1 (pl. 28):’
Chapter CLXXXV., 1. 15 (pl. 36).
cxliii
scribe has been obliged to crowd the text (e.g., in plate 11) and at times he has Generai description.
written it on the border (see plates 14, 17). This proves that the vignettes were
drawn before the text was written.
All the different sections of the papyrus were not originally written for Ani,
for his name has been added in several piaces1 by a later hand. As however such
additions do not occur in the first section, which measures 16 feet 4 inches in
length, it must be concluded that that section was written expressly for him, and
that the others were some of those ready-written copies in which blank spaces
were left for the insertion of the names of the deceased persons for whom they
were purchased. The scribe who filled in Ani’s name in these spaces wrote
hurriedly, for in Chapter XXXb., line 2 (pl. 15), he left himself no space to write
the word “Osiris” in the phrase, “ Ani victorious before Osiris ” (compare
® ph 1, line 5); in Chapter XLIII., lines 1, 2 (pl. 17), he has
written it twice ; in Chapter IX., 1. 1 (pl. 18), he has omitted the determinative
Lfi ; in Chapter XV., line 2 (pl. 20) he meant to write “ Ani, victorious in peace ”
I l I
o □
(pl. 19), but wrote “ Ani in triumph’
1
m
Chapter CXXV., line 18 (pl. 30), the word is written twice, probably,
however, with the view of filling up the line ; in Chapter CLI. (pl. 34) the name
is written crookedly, and the determinative is omitted; and in Chapters XVIII.
(Introduction, pl. 12) and CXXXIV. (pl. 22). the scribe has, in two spaces,
omitted to write the name. It seems tolerably certain that all the sections of the
papyrus were written about the same time, and that they are the work of scribes
of the same school ; the variations in the depth of the space occupied by the text
and the difference in the colours of the border only show that even the best scribes
did not tie themselves to any one plan or method in preparing a copy of the Book
of the Dead. The text has many serious errors : by some extraordinary oversight
it includes two copies of the XVIIIth Chapter, one with an unusual introduction
and the other without introduction ; and a large section of the XVIIth Chapter,
one of the most important in the whole work, has been entirely omitted. Such
mistakes and omissions, however, occur in papyri older than that of Ani, for in the
papyrus of Nebseni (B.M., No. 9900), which was written at Memphis early in the
XVlIlth dynasty, of Chapters L., LVI., LXIV., CLXXX., two copies each, of
1 See Chapter XXVI, 1. 1 (pl. 15)- Chapter XLV., 1. 1 (pl. 16); Chapter IX., 1. 6 (pl. 18);
Chapter CXXXIV., 1. 15 (pl. 22); Chapter LXXVIII., 1. 1 (pl. 25); Chap. LXXX., 1. 1 (pl. 28):’
Chapter CLXXXV., 1. 15 (pl. 36).