DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.30604#0410
246
THE BOOK OF THE DEAD.
[Plate I.
Text: [Chapter XV.] (i)1 A Hymn of Praise to Ra when he riseth in the
Eastern part of Heaven. Behold Osiris Ani the scribe who recordeth the holy
offerings of all the gods, (2) who saith: “ Homage to thee, O thou who hast come as
“Khepera,2 Khepera, the creator of the gods. Thou risest, thou shinest, (3) making
“ bright thy mother [Nut], crowned king of the gods. [Thy] mother Nut3
“ doeth homage unto thee with both her hands. (4) The land of Manu4
“ receiveth thee with content, and the goddess Maat5 embraceth thee at the two
“ seasons. May he give splendour, and power, andtriumph, and (5) a coming-forth
“\i.e., resurrection] as a living soul to see Horus of the two horizons6 to the
1 The numbers in parentheses indicate the lines of the papyrus.
2 The god Khepera is usually represented with a beetle for a head; and the scarab, or beetle, was
sacred to him. The name means “ to become, to turn, to roll,” and the abstract noun kheperu
J ! may be rendered by “becomings,” or “evolutions.” The god was self-created, and was
the father of all the other gods; men and women sprang from the tears which fell from his eyes; and
the animal and vegetable worlds owed their existence to him. Khepera is a phase of Tmu, the night-
sun, at the twelfth hour of the night, when he “ becomes ” the rising sun or Harmachis (i.e., Horus in
the horizon). He is also described as “ Khepera in the morning, Ra at mid-day, and Tmu in the
evening.” See Lanzone, Dizionario, p. 927 ff.; Grebaut, Hymne a Ammon-Rd, p. 164, note 2;
Pierret, Panth'eon, pp. 74, 75 ; Lefdbure, Traduction Comparee des Hymnes au Soleil, p. 39; De Rougd,
Inscription d’A/imis, p. 110; Archaeologia, vol. 52, p. 541 £f.; Wiedemann, Die Religion der Alten
Aegypter, p. 17; Brugsch, Religion und Mythologie, p. 245, etc.
3 The goddess Nut represented the sky, and perhaps also the exact place where the sun rose. She
was the wife of Seb, the Earth-god, and gave birth to Isis, Osiris, and other gods. One of her commonest
titles is “ mother of the gods.” She is depicted as a woman bearing a vase Q upon her head, and some-
times wears the disk and horns usually characteristic of Isis and Hathor. She was the daughter and
mother of Ra. See Lanzone, Dizionario, p. 392 ; Pierret, Pantheon, pp. 34, 36; Brugsch, Religion und
Mythologie, pp. 603-610.
4 Manu is the name given to the mountains on the western bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes,
wherein was situated tu Manu, “the mountain of Manu,” the chief site of rock-hewn
I nnm —
tombs. See Brugsch, Did. Geog., p. 259.
B Maat, “ daughter of the Sun, and queen of the gods,” is the personification of righteousness and
truth and justice. In many papyri she is represented as leading the deceased into the Hall of Double
Maat, where his heart is to be weighed against her emblem. She usually wears the feather
emblematic of Truth, and is called the “ lady of heaven”: see Lanzone, Dizionario, p. 276 (and
tav. 109, where the twin-goddesses Maat are shown); Pierret, Pantheon, p. 201. She is sometimes
represented blind-fold : see Wiedemann, Religion der alten Aegypter, p. 78. For figures of the goddess
in bronze and stone, see Nos. 380, 383, 386, 11,109, and 11,114 in the British Museum.
6 Heru-khuti, i.e., “ Horus of the two horizons,” the Harmachis of the Greeks, is the day-sun
from his rising in the eastern horizon to his setting in the western horizon; for the various forms in
which he is represented, see Lanzone, Dizionario, tav. 129. Strictly speaking, he is the rising sun, and
is one of the most important forms of Horus. As god of mid-day and evening he is called Ra-
Harmachis and Tmu-Harmachis respectively. The sphinx at Gizeh was dedicated to hirri.
THE BOOK OF THE DEAD.
[Plate I.
Text: [Chapter XV.] (i)1 A Hymn of Praise to Ra when he riseth in the
Eastern part of Heaven. Behold Osiris Ani the scribe who recordeth the holy
offerings of all the gods, (2) who saith: “ Homage to thee, O thou who hast come as
“Khepera,2 Khepera, the creator of the gods. Thou risest, thou shinest, (3) making
“ bright thy mother [Nut], crowned king of the gods. [Thy] mother Nut3
“ doeth homage unto thee with both her hands. (4) The land of Manu4
“ receiveth thee with content, and the goddess Maat5 embraceth thee at the two
“ seasons. May he give splendour, and power, andtriumph, and (5) a coming-forth
“\i.e., resurrection] as a living soul to see Horus of the two horizons6 to the
1 The numbers in parentheses indicate the lines of the papyrus.
2 The god Khepera is usually represented with a beetle for a head; and the scarab, or beetle, was
sacred to him. The name means “ to become, to turn, to roll,” and the abstract noun kheperu
J ! may be rendered by “becomings,” or “evolutions.” The god was self-created, and was
the father of all the other gods; men and women sprang from the tears which fell from his eyes; and
the animal and vegetable worlds owed their existence to him. Khepera is a phase of Tmu, the night-
sun, at the twelfth hour of the night, when he “ becomes ” the rising sun or Harmachis (i.e., Horus in
the horizon). He is also described as “ Khepera in the morning, Ra at mid-day, and Tmu in the
evening.” See Lanzone, Dizionario, p. 927 ff.; Grebaut, Hymne a Ammon-Rd, p. 164, note 2;
Pierret, Panth'eon, pp. 74, 75 ; Lefdbure, Traduction Comparee des Hymnes au Soleil, p. 39; De Rougd,
Inscription d’A/imis, p. 110; Archaeologia, vol. 52, p. 541 £f.; Wiedemann, Die Religion der Alten
Aegypter, p. 17; Brugsch, Religion und Mythologie, p. 245, etc.
3 The goddess Nut represented the sky, and perhaps also the exact place where the sun rose. She
was the wife of Seb, the Earth-god, and gave birth to Isis, Osiris, and other gods. One of her commonest
titles is “ mother of the gods.” She is depicted as a woman bearing a vase Q upon her head, and some-
times wears the disk and horns usually characteristic of Isis and Hathor. She was the daughter and
mother of Ra. See Lanzone, Dizionario, p. 392 ; Pierret, Pantheon, pp. 34, 36; Brugsch, Religion und
Mythologie, pp. 603-610.
4 Manu is the name given to the mountains on the western bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes,
wherein was situated tu Manu, “the mountain of Manu,” the chief site of rock-hewn
I nnm —
tombs. See Brugsch, Did. Geog., p. 259.
B Maat, “ daughter of the Sun, and queen of the gods,” is the personification of righteousness and
truth and justice. In many papyri she is represented as leading the deceased into the Hall of Double
Maat, where his heart is to be weighed against her emblem. She usually wears the feather
emblematic of Truth, and is called the “ lady of heaven”: see Lanzone, Dizionario, p. 276 (and
tav. 109, where the twin-goddesses Maat are shown); Pierret, Pantheon, p. 201. She is sometimes
represented blind-fold : see Wiedemann, Religion der alten Aegypter, p. 78. For figures of the goddess
in bronze and stone, see Nos. 380, 383, 386, 11,109, and 11,114 in the British Museum.
6 Heru-khuti, i.e., “ Horus of the two horizons,” the Harmachis of the Greeks, is the day-sun
from his rising in the eastern horizon to his setting in the western horizon; for the various forms in
which he is represented, see Lanzone, Dizionario, tav. 129. Strictly speaking, he is the rising sun, and
is one of the most important forms of Horus. As god of mid-day and evening he is called Ra-
Harmachis and Tmu-Harmachis respectively. The sphinx at Gizeh was dedicated to hirri.