DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18905#0037
THE PAPYRUS OF ANHAI.
Phe papyrus of Anhai was found
at Der el-bahari, a place situated on the western
bank of the Nile opposite the site of the ancient
city of Thebes, and it was purchased, along with
several objects which fonned part of the funeral
furniture of the cleceased, by the Trustees of
the British Museum in 1888. It measures
14 ft. 6| m. by 1 ft. 4^ in., and is composed
of good though somewhat thin material, of a
light colour, ancl owing to its excessive brittle-
ness it was damaged in several places by the
finders, but very few words of the text are
wanting.
The papyrus of Anhai is valuable rather as a
work of art than as an authority for the text of
any portion of the Book of the Deacl. It is
profusely illustrated, ancl the work of the artist is
of more value than that of the scribe, the latter
having only filled up the spaces not already occu-
piecl by the vignettes, rather with a view to
calligraphic effect than to supply an accurate or
even consecutive text. As an example of the
illustrated papyri which were buried with the
priests and priestesses of Amen-Ra at Thebes
this papyrus is highly important; and for pur-
poses of coinparison with the beautiful specimens
of the XVIIIth dynasty anci of tracing the
modification and developement of artistic design
ancl religious ideas, it is of the greatest value.
Of the lady Anhai we know nothing beyond
the fact that she was a sin«-er in the Colleee of
Amen-Ra at Thebes ; and as she is called “ lady
of the house” ne^ 'Per (see Plate R 1. 4),
she was probably a marriecl woman. H er hus-
band’s name does not appear, but the digging
figure in the first section of the Elysian Fields
may represent him (see Plate VI.). I ler mother’s
name was Neferitu who, though it
is not so stated, was probably, like Anhai, a
priestess; her father is nowhere mentioned.
There is nothing in the papyrus to enable us to
assign an exact clate to the papyrus, but, inas-
much as the artistic work—though different from,
and in some respects inferior to, that of the
XVIIIth and XlXth dynasties—is well executed,
ancl betrays none of the carelessness characteristic
of that of the Vlllth ancl Vllth centuries before
Christ, we may assume, with probable correctness,
that the document was written shortly after the
end of thc rule of the XXth or XXIst dynasty,
about b.c. 1100.
In the older Theban papyri the vignettes
and text are enclosecl within a border of two
colours, red and yellow. In the papyrus of Anhai
the upper border is in the form of the skv-symbol
f=j, and is paintecl blue accordingly ; the border
at each end of the papyrus is a thin black line ;
and only that at the bottom is painted red and
yellow. The text is divided usually by recl lines
insteacl of black; but in the hymn to the rising
sun (see Plate I.) the dividing lines are blue, ancl
on each side of them is a thin recl line. The
catch-words, etc., are, as usual, in red ; there are
no rubrics, and the titles of only a few of the
texts are given.
The contents are as follows:—
1. Hymn to Ra-Harmachis in the eastern
part of the sky; with vignette.
2. Speech of Thoth, declaring what he has
done for Osiris, as in the papyrus of Hunefer.
3. Speech of “ Idorus, the avenger of his
father,” who appears to be leading Anhai to
some of the pylons of the realm of Osiris ; with
vignettes.
4. A version of the Introduction to Chapter
CXXV. of the Book of the Dead, which is only
F 2
Phe papyrus of Anhai was found
at Der el-bahari, a place situated on the western
bank of the Nile opposite the site of the ancient
city of Thebes, and it was purchased, along with
several objects which fonned part of the funeral
furniture of the cleceased, by the Trustees of
the British Museum in 1888. It measures
14 ft. 6| m. by 1 ft. 4^ in., and is composed
of good though somewhat thin material, of a
light colour, ancl owing to its excessive brittle-
ness it was damaged in several places by the
finders, but very few words of the text are
wanting.
The papyrus of Anhai is valuable rather as a
work of art than as an authority for the text of
any portion of the Book of the Deacl. It is
profusely illustrated, ancl the work of the artist is
of more value than that of the scribe, the latter
having only filled up the spaces not already occu-
piecl by the vignettes, rather with a view to
calligraphic effect than to supply an accurate or
even consecutive text. As an example of the
illustrated papyri which were buried with the
priests and priestesses of Amen-Ra at Thebes
this papyrus is highly important; and for pur-
poses of coinparison with the beautiful specimens
of the XVIIIth dynasty anci of tracing the
modification and developement of artistic design
ancl religious ideas, it is of the greatest value.
Of the lady Anhai we know nothing beyond
the fact that she was a sin«-er in the Colleee of
Amen-Ra at Thebes ; and as she is called “ lady
of the house” ne^ 'Per (see Plate R 1. 4),
she was probably a marriecl woman. H er hus-
band’s name does not appear, but the digging
figure in the first section of the Elysian Fields
may represent him (see Plate VI.). I ler mother’s
name was Neferitu who, though it
is not so stated, was probably, like Anhai, a
priestess; her father is nowhere mentioned.
There is nothing in the papyrus to enable us to
assign an exact clate to the papyrus, but, inas-
much as the artistic work—though different from,
and in some respects inferior to, that of the
XVIIIth and XlXth dynasties—is well executed,
ancl betrays none of the carelessness characteristic
of that of the Vlllth ancl Vllth centuries before
Christ, we may assume, with probable correctness,
that the document was written shortly after the
end of thc rule of the XXth or XXIst dynasty,
about b.c. 1100.
In the older Theban papyri the vignettes
and text are enclosecl within a border of two
colours, red and yellow. In the papyrus of Anhai
the upper border is in the form of the skv-symbol
f=j, and is paintecl blue accordingly ; the border
at each end of the papyrus is a thin black line ;
and only that at the bottom is painted red and
yellow. The text is divided usually by recl lines
insteacl of black; but in the hymn to the rising
sun (see Plate I.) the dividing lines are blue, ancl
on each side of them is a thin recl line. The
catch-words, etc., are, as usual, in red ; there are
no rubrics, and the titles of only a few of the
texts are given.
The contents are as follows:—
1. Hymn to Ra-Harmachis in the eastern
part of the sky; with vignette.
2. Speech of Thoth, declaring what he has
done for Osiris, as in the papyrus of Hunefer.
3. Speech of “ Idorus, the avenger of his
father,” who appears to be leading Anhai to
some of the pylons of the realm of Osiris ; with
vignettes.
4. A version of the Introduction to Chapter
CXXV. of the Book of the Dead, which is only
F 2