DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11714#0019
THE MONUMENTS DISCOVERED.
good year;1 the gods and goddesses are re-
joicing and exultant in his sanctuary for he
chained the enemy with his wings.
2. .... " the divine hawk. The land of the
East is in joy; he has killed his enemies.2
Mannu is in delight; when this spirit has
ascended, and goes over his horizon, his ene-
mies are cut to pieces. When he has crossed the
sky with favourable winds, he reaches the good
Ament, the inhabitants of the West are in joy;
3. " seeing he comes near them their limbs
tremble in seeing him; he is always in their
mouths ;3 none of them dare to rise; their
limbs are stretched before him ; he is the only
one, he who chooses (?) where he will approach
the mountain of Bakhu. When he rises
4. " on that mountain, all the quadrupeds of
the land are shouting to him; his rays and his
splendour are upon them; he brings on the
noon, when the mysterious hour has passed in
Nut; the stars of the North and South 4 have
no rest. Horthema, his arms carry the lance;
he slays Apophis
5. " in front of his boat; Horus takes hold of
the helm in order to steer the great boat. The
mighty Safekh, the lady of writing, utters her
sacred formulas in his divine barge. He came
and smote his adversaries in his form of Ahti.5
6. " He himself causes his body to increas
e6
' /WWVX
□ "X
{-J he opened the good year. I believe
the whole line has reference to astronomy. Brugsch, The-
saurus, i. p. 77.
—*— O © mi
^ /] ( There are four instances in
this hymn in which after a verb we find the two signs O
which should be read Ra, where we expect to find only the
pronoun J^=—. The other instances are : 1. 1 ^
3 They are incessantly praising him.
4 Brugsch, Thes. i. p. SO and 32.
5 Q K \\ ^ This name appears only once in an inscrip-
tion of Roman time, as that of a goddess. I suppose it
means, he who holds the string or the net.
6 Cf. Todt. 87, 1. 3,
in his name of Horus Sopt; he completes, it in
the appointed hour in his name of Mahes ; he
himself provides it with his limbs in his name
7. " of Horus of the East. He smote them
(his enemies) by the heat which is in his body
in his name of Horthema. He pierced them in
one blow; (their bodies) are thrown to the East
and to Bakhu. He smote them
8. " on the mountain of the East, their limbs
are consumed by fire. He feels the good wind
every day in his name of the victorious Horus.
He increases every day in his name of Hor Sopt.
Hail to thee to the limits of the sky, Sopt
Harmachis who is . . .
9. . . . " gods and goddesses ... of joy,
every day are united pleasure and joy, spirit of
the East, hawk of the East who is Ra in Bakhu,
ho crosses the sky himself ... on the East of
his boat every day."
This hymn was the .first text which presented
itself to the eye of the spectator. We here
find the repetitions which are so common in
religious texts, and which often make them so
tedious to the reader. Besides there are the
singular etymologies where a proper name is
derived from a word having a quite different
meaning, but which sounds alike. The most
striking example of those quibbles, for which the
Egyptians seem to have had a great taste, is in
1. 6. The god is called mahes, a lion ; and why ?
Because he completed mahsu (his body) him-
self ; mahsu is thus the origin of mahes, for no
other reason than a similarity in the sound of
the two words.
The characteristic feature of the god on which
the author of the hymn dwells at greatest
length, is his warlike frame. He is a fighting
god, as we shall see further when we study the
different forms which he assumes.
I pass on now to the texts on the other sides
of the naos, and first of all to the inscriptions in
large characters which I have called dedicatory.
I begin on the left side (pi. ii.), where it is
good year;1 the gods and goddesses are re-
joicing and exultant in his sanctuary for he
chained the enemy with his wings.
2. .... " the divine hawk. The land of the
East is in joy; he has killed his enemies.2
Mannu is in delight; when this spirit has
ascended, and goes over his horizon, his ene-
mies are cut to pieces. When he has crossed the
sky with favourable winds, he reaches the good
Ament, the inhabitants of the West are in joy;
3. " seeing he comes near them their limbs
tremble in seeing him; he is always in their
mouths ;3 none of them dare to rise; their
limbs are stretched before him ; he is the only
one, he who chooses (?) where he will approach
the mountain of Bakhu. When he rises
4. " on that mountain, all the quadrupeds of
the land are shouting to him; his rays and his
splendour are upon them; he brings on the
noon, when the mysterious hour has passed in
Nut; the stars of the North and South 4 have
no rest. Horthema, his arms carry the lance;
he slays Apophis
5. " in front of his boat; Horus takes hold of
the helm in order to steer the great boat. The
mighty Safekh, the lady of writing, utters her
sacred formulas in his divine barge. He came
and smote his adversaries in his form of Ahti.5
6. " He himself causes his body to increas
e6
' /WWVX
□ "X
{-J he opened the good year. I believe
the whole line has reference to astronomy. Brugsch, The-
saurus, i. p. 77.
—*— O © mi
^ /] ( There are four instances in
this hymn in which after a verb we find the two signs O
which should be read Ra, where we expect to find only the
pronoun J^=—. The other instances are : 1. 1 ^
3 They are incessantly praising him.
4 Brugsch, Thes. i. p. SO and 32.
5 Q K \\ ^ This name appears only once in an inscrip-
tion of Roman time, as that of a goddess. I suppose it
means, he who holds the string or the net.
6 Cf. Todt. 87, 1. 3,
in his name of Horus Sopt; he completes, it in
the appointed hour in his name of Mahes ; he
himself provides it with his limbs in his name
7. " of Horus of the East. He smote them
(his enemies) by the heat which is in his body
in his name of Horthema. He pierced them in
one blow; (their bodies) are thrown to the East
and to Bakhu. He smote them
8. " on the mountain of the East, their limbs
are consumed by fire. He feels the good wind
every day in his name of the victorious Horus.
He increases every day in his name of Hor Sopt.
Hail to thee to the limits of the sky, Sopt
Harmachis who is . . .
9. . . . " gods and goddesses ... of joy,
every day are united pleasure and joy, spirit of
the East, hawk of the East who is Ra in Bakhu,
ho crosses the sky himself ... on the East of
his boat every day."
This hymn was the .first text which presented
itself to the eye of the spectator. We here
find the repetitions which are so common in
religious texts, and which often make them so
tedious to the reader. Besides there are the
singular etymologies where a proper name is
derived from a word having a quite different
meaning, but which sounds alike. The most
striking example of those quibbles, for which the
Egyptians seem to have had a great taste, is in
1. 6. The god is called mahes, a lion ; and why ?
Because he completed mahsu (his body) him-
self ; mahsu is thus the origin of mahes, for no
other reason than a similarity in the sound of
the two words.
The characteristic feature of the god on which
the author of the hymn dwells at greatest
length, is his warlike frame. He is a fighting
god, as we shall see further when we study the
different forms which he assumes.
I pass on now to the texts on the other sides
of the naos, and first of all to the inscriptions in
large characters which I have called dedicatory.
I begin on the left side (pi. ii.), where it is