DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.30604#0411
B.D. Chap. XV.]
THE BOOK OF THE DEAD.
247
“ ka 1 of Osiris,2 the scribe Ani, triumphant3 before Osiris, (6) who saith : Hail
“ all ye gods of the Temple of the Soul,4 who weigh heaven and earth in the
“ balance, and who provide food and abundance of meat. Hail Tatunen,5 One,
“ (7) creator of mankind and of the substance of the gods of the south and of the
“ north, of the west and of the east. Ascribe [ye] praise unto Ra, the lord of
“ heaven, the (8) Prince, Life, Health, and Strength, the Creator of the gods, and
“ adore ye him in his beautiful Presence as he riseth in the atet^ boat. (9) They
“ who dwell in the heights and they who dwell in the depths worship thee.
“ Thoth7 and Maat both are thy recorders. Thine enemys is given to the (10)
“ fire, the evil one hath fallen ; his arms are bound, and his legs hath Ra taken
“ from him, The children of (11) impotent revolt shall never rise up again.
©
According to the Egyptian belief man consisted of a body xa> a soul ba, an intelligence
XU, and u a ka. The word ka means “image,” the Greek el'SivXov (compare Coptic KUJ,
Peyron, Lexicon, p. 61). The ka seems to have been the “ghost,” as we should say, of a man,
and it has been defined as his abstract personality, to which, after death, the Egyptians gave a material
form. It was a subordinate part of the human being during life, but after death it became active;
and to it the offerings brought to the tomb by the relatives of the dead were dedicated. It was
believed that it returned to the body and had a share in its re-vivification. See Birch, Memoire sur une
pattre Egyptienne (in Trans. Soc. Imp. des Antiquaires de France, 1858; Chabas, Papyrus Magique,
pp. 28, 29 ; Maspero, Etude sur quelques peintures, p. 191 ff.; Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch., vol. vi., p. 494 ff.;
Brugsch, Aegyptologie, p. 181; Wiedemann, Religion der alten Aegypter, p. 126 f.).
2 The deceased is always identified with Osiris, or the sun which has set, the judge and god of the
dead. As the sun sets in the west and rises again in the east, so the dead man is laid in his tomb on
the western bank of the Nile, and after being acquitted in the Hall of Judgment, proceeds to the east to
begin a new existence.
3 maaxeru or maatxeru. On this word, see Naville, Litanie du Soleil., p. 74; Devdria, EExpression
Maa-xerou (in Recueil de Travaux, tom. i., p. 10 ff).
4 Compare
cs
idcn
, Brugsch, Dict. Giog., pp. 185, 186.
6 Tatunen, or Tenen ww>aM), was, like Seb with whom he was identified, the god of the earth;
his name is often joined to that of Ptah., and he is then described as the creator of gods and men, and
the maker of the egg of the sun and of the moon. See Lanzone, Dizionario, p. 1259; Wiedemann,
Religion, p. 74; Pierret, Pantli'eon, p. 6; and Naville, La Litanie du Soleil, pp. 118, 119, and
plate xxiv., 1. 3.
This god was, in one aspect, a destroyer of created things;
i, Naville, op. cit., p. 89.
compare
6 A name for the boat of the evening sun.
7 See infra, p. 257, note 2.
8 The enemy of Ra was darkness and night, or any cloud which obscured the light of the sun.
The darkness personified was Apep, Nak, etc., and his attendant fiends were the mesu betesh, or
‘ children of unsuccessful revolt.”
2 K 2
THE BOOK OF THE DEAD.
247
“ ka 1 of Osiris,2 the scribe Ani, triumphant3 before Osiris, (6) who saith : Hail
“ all ye gods of the Temple of the Soul,4 who weigh heaven and earth in the
“ balance, and who provide food and abundance of meat. Hail Tatunen,5 One,
“ (7) creator of mankind and of the substance of the gods of the south and of the
“ north, of the west and of the east. Ascribe [ye] praise unto Ra, the lord of
“ heaven, the (8) Prince, Life, Health, and Strength, the Creator of the gods, and
“ adore ye him in his beautiful Presence as he riseth in the atet^ boat. (9) They
“ who dwell in the heights and they who dwell in the depths worship thee.
“ Thoth7 and Maat both are thy recorders. Thine enemys is given to the (10)
“ fire, the evil one hath fallen ; his arms are bound, and his legs hath Ra taken
“ from him, The children of (11) impotent revolt shall never rise up again.
©
According to the Egyptian belief man consisted of a body xa> a soul ba, an intelligence
XU, and u a ka. The word ka means “image,” the Greek el'SivXov (compare Coptic KUJ,
Peyron, Lexicon, p. 61). The ka seems to have been the “ghost,” as we should say, of a man,
and it has been defined as his abstract personality, to which, after death, the Egyptians gave a material
form. It was a subordinate part of the human being during life, but after death it became active;
and to it the offerings brought to the tomb by the relatives of the dead were dedicated. It was
believed that it returned to the body and had a share in its re-vivification. See Birch, Memoire sur une
pattre Egyptienne (in Trans. Soc. Imp. des Antiquaires de France, 1858; Chabas, Papyrus Magique,
pp. 28, 29 ; Maspero, Etude sur quelques peintures, p. 191 ff.; Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch., vol. vi., p. 494 ff.;
Brugsch, Aegyptologie, p. 181; Wiedemann, Religion der alten Aegypter, p. 126 f.).
2 The deceased is always identified with Osiris, or the sun which has set, the judge and god of the
dead. As the sun sets in the west and rises again in the east, so the dead man is laid in his tomb on
the western bank of the Nile, and after being acquitted in the Hall of Judgment, proceeds to the east to
begin a new existence.
3 maaxeru or maatxeru. On this word, see Naville, Litanie du Soleil., p. 74; Devdria, EExpression
Maa-xerou (in Recueil de Travaux, tom. i., p. 10 ff).
4 Compare
cs
idcn
, Brugsch, Dict. Giog., pp. 185, 186.
6 Tatunen, or Tenen ww>aM), was, like Seb with whom he was identified, the god of the earth;
his name is often joined to that of Ptah., and he is then described as the creator of gods and men, and
the maker of the egg of the sun and of the moon. See Lanzone, Dizionario, p. 1259; Wiedemann,
Religion, p. 74; Pierret, Pantli'eon, p. 6; and Naville, La Litanie du Soleil, pp. 118, 119, and
plate xxiv., 1. 3.
This god was, in one aspect, a destroyer of created things;
i, Naville, op. cit., p. 89.
compare
6 A name for the boat of the evening sun.
7 See infra, p. 257, note 2.
8 The enemy of Ra was darkness and night, or any cloud which obscured the light of the sun.
The darkness personified was Apep, Nak, etc., and his attendant fiends were the mesu betesh, or
‘ children of unsuccessful revolt.”
2 K 2