DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18905#0052
34
THE PAPYRUS OF KERASITER (OR KELASHER).
Brugsch, who in 1851 published1 a hieroglyphic
transcript of the hieratic text of the work from
a papyrus at Berlin, and also a copy of the hieratic
text which Denon had already given in his Voyage
dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte pendant les
Campagnes du General Bonaparte, Pans, an X
(1802), Pl. 136. In 1863 the late Dr. S. Birch
gave a brief summary of the contents of Brugsch’s
text in his Facsimiles of Two Papyn found in a
Tomb at Thebes, p. 3 ; and in 1875 M. J. cle
Horrack gave an English rendering of the
Egyptian text according to the papyrus of Ausar-
aau, preserved in the Museum of the Louvre2
(No. 3284), in Records of the Past, Vol. IV.,
p. 121, ff.
The papyrus opens with a scene in which the
deceased Iverasher is being presented to the god
Osiris, who is seated in a shrine, the cornice of
which is ornamented with a row of uraei crowned
with clisks. The god has the atef crown upon his
head, and in his hands, which are claspecl over
his breast, he holds the crook or sceptre and
flail or whip, the emblems of sovereignty and
clominion ; behind him stands the goclcless Isis,
“ the great lady, the clivine mother,” but her sister,
Nephthys, who is usually present in the shrine, is
wanting. Instead of the bullock-skin dripping
with blood, which is generally seen suspended near
the throne of the gocl, masses of lotus flowers are
represented. Outside the shrine are the four
children of Plorus or Osiris, Mestha, Hapi,
Tuamautef, and Qebhsennuf, standmg upon a
lotus flower; and near them are the meat and
drink offerings which have been brought to the
god by the cleceased. The gocl Thoth, ibis-
headed, and wearing a crown with horns, urad,
disk, plumes, ctc., stands near, with his right hand
raisecl in salutation of the god Osiris, to whom he
makes an address on behalf of the cleceased.
Between Anubis, who wears the double crown of
the North and the South f, and a cow-headed
goddess wearing a crown with horns, disk, and
plumes, comes the deceased Kerasher ; he wears
a collar, ancl bracelets and armlets, and a white
tunic, and he holds a lotus flower in his left hand.
The cow-headed goddess is either Isis-PIathor or
Maat, goddess of Right and Truth. Between
Anubis and Thoth are two short lines of hiero-
1 Sai an sinsin sive Liber Metempsychosis veterum Aigyptiorum,
Berlin, 1851.
2 See Deveria, Catalogue des MSS. Lgyptiens dcrits sur
papyrus, etc., Paris, 1881, p. 132.
glyphics, containing an adclress to Iverasher by
one of these gods:—
w | n ^ ^ n 1 ^ c—/ww'A
mai bes - k er bu ycr tef - f erta - nef
“ Come, pass thou on to the place where thy fathcr is that he may
^ = £ m
tuk em-yennu hesu
“ place thee among the divine favoured ones.”
It will be noted that the Judgment Scene,
which appears in the Book of the Dead, is here
omitted ; it may be that it was thought to be
superfluous m papyri m the Roman penocl, but
more probably the artist was unequal to the task
of painting lt together with the figures of the
company of the gods, and the texts which should
accompany the scene.
P'ollowing the vignette described above are
three columns of hieratic writing, which contain
the text of the “ Book of Breathings.” A translation
of this remarkable work is given below, as well as
a transcript into hieroglyphics with interlincar
transliteration and translation.
In the last section of the papyrus, upper
register (see Plate 2, No. 2), are the following
vignettes :—
1. The god Ra-Harmachis seatcd
upon a throne resting upon the heavens f=* ; on
his head he wears a disk encircled by a urseus 50 ;
in his right hand is the symbol of life and in
his left the sceptre j.
2. The mummy of “ Osiris Kerasher ”
BSsM' supportcd by the god Anubis;
before the mummy kneels the wife or sister of the
deceased.
3. A priest pouring out a libation, probably
in connection with the performance of the ceremony
of “ opening the mouth.”
4. A funeral chest, or table for offerings.
5. A priest, wearing a panther’s skin, reading
the appointed chapter of the Book of the Dead
from a papyrus roll. The feathers (?) upon his
head are not depicted in the older papyri.
6. Two obelisks, types of the god Amen-Ra.
7. Three priests holding standards, sur-
mounted by figures of a jackal, a hawk, and an ibis
respectively.
8. A priest drawing by a rope a funeral
shrine, on which is painted the figure of a god
wearing a crown with horns ancl plumes.
9. A priest bearing a censer upon his right
shoulder.
THE PAPYRUS OF KERASITER (OR KELASHER).
Brugsch, who in 1851 published1 a hieroglyphic
transcript of the hieratic text of the work from
a papyrus at Berlin, and also a copy of the hieratic
text which Denon had already given in his Voyage
dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte pendant les
Campagnes du General Bonaparte, Pans, an X
(1802), Pl. 136. In 1863 the late Dr. S. Birch
gave a brief summary of the contents of Brugsch’s
text in his Facsimiles of Two Papyn found in a
Tomb at Thebes, p. 3 ; and in 1875 M. J. cle
Horrack gave an English rendering of the
Egyptian text according to the papyrus of Ausar-
aau, preserved in the Museum of the Louvre2
(No. 3284), in Records of the Past, Vol. IV.,
p. 121, ff.
The papyrus opens with a scene in which the
deceased Iverasher is being presented to the god
Osiris, who is seated in a shrine, the cornice of
which is ornamented with a row of uraei crowned
with clisks. The god has the atef crown upon his
head, and in his hands, which are claspecl over
his breast, he holds the crook or sceptre and
flail or whip, the emblems of sovereignty and
clominion ; behind him stands the goclcless Isis,
“ the great lady, the clivine mother,” but her sister,
Nephthys, who is usually present in the shrine, is
wanting. Instead of the bullock-skin dripping
with blood, which is generally seen suspended near
the throne of the gocl, masses of lotus flowers are
represented. Outside the shrine are the four
children of Plorus or Osiris, Mestha, Hapi,
Tuamautef, and Qebhsennuf, standmg upon a
lotus flower; and near them are the meat and
drink offerings which have been brought to the
god by the cleceased. The gocl Thoth, ibis-
headed, and wearing a crown with horns, urad,
disk, plumes, ctc., stands near, with his right hand
raisecl in salutation of the god Osiris, to whom he
makes an address on behalf of the cleceased.
Between Anubis, who wears the double crown of
the North and the South f, and a cow-headed
goddess wearing a crown with horns, disk, and
plumes, comes the deceased Kerasher ; he wears
a collar, ancl bracelets and armlets, and a white
tunic, and he holds a lotus flower in his left hand.
The cow-headed goddess is either Isis-PIathor or
Maat, goddess of Right and Truth. Between
Anubis and Thoth are two short lines of hiero-
1 Sai an sinsin sive Liber Metempsychosis veterum Aigyptiorum,
Berlin, 1851.
2 See Deveria, Catalogue des MSS. Lgyptiens dcrits sur
papyrus, etc., Paris, 1881, p. 132.
glyphics, containing an adclress to Iverasher by
one of these gods:—
w | n ^ ^ n 1 ^ c—/ww'A
mai bes - k er bu ycr tef - f erta - nef
“ Come, pass thou on to the place where thy fathcr is that he may
^ = £ m
tuk em-yennu hesu
“ place thee among the divine favoured ones.”
It will be noted that the Judgment Scene,
which appears in the Book of the Dead, is here
omitted ; it may be that it was thought to be
superfluous m papyri m the Roman penocl, but
more probably the artist was unequal to the task
of painting lt together with the figures of the
company of the gods, and the texts which should
accompany the scene.
P'ollowing the vignette described above are
three columns of hieratic writing, which contain
the text of the “ Book of Breathings.” A translation
of this remarkable work is given below, as well as
a transcript into hieroglyphics with interlincar
transliteration and translation.
In the last section of the papyrus, upper
register (see Plate 2, No. 2), are the following
vignettes :—
1. The god Ra-Harmachis seatcd
upon a throne resting upon the heavens f=* ; on
his head he wears a disk encircled by a urseus 50 ;
in his right hand is the symbol of life and in
his left the sceptre j.
2. The mummy of “ Osiris Kerasher ”
BSsM' supportcd by the god Anubis;
before the mummy kneels the wife or sister of the
deceased.
3. A priest pouring out a libation, probably
in connection with the performance of the ceremony
of “ opening the mouth.”
4. A funeral chest, or table for offerings.
5. A priest, wearing a panther’s skin, reading
the appointed chapter of the Book of the Dead
from a papyrus roll. The feathers (?) upon his
head are not depicted in the older papyri.
6. Two obelisks, types of the god Amen-Ra.
7. Three priests holding standards, sur-
mounted by figures of a jackal, a hawk, and an ibis
respectively.
8. A priest drawing by a rope a funeral
shrine, on which is painted the figure of a god
wearing a crown with horns ancl plumes.
9. A priest bearing a censer upon his right
shoulder.