Traversing Eternity: Texts for the Afterlife from Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt [Illustrated] 019815464X, 9780198154648

Citation preview

TraversingEternity Texts for the Afterlife from Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt

MARK SMITH

OXFORD UNIVERSITY

PRESS

TRAVERSING

ETERNITY

To the Memory of Jan Quaegebeur

OXFORD UNIVERSITY

PRESS

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2

6DP

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York ,1·

Mark Smith 2009

The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2009 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

Data

Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wiltshire ISBN 978-0-19-815464-8 I 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Preface ' .... for immortality is but ubiquity in time' (Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 41)

In recent years, several books have been written on ancient Egyptian beliefs and practices relating to the afterlife. With their aid, it has become possible for anyone who so wishes to learn about a subject which was once arcane and inaccessible. In fact, one is probably justified in saying that there is now available to the interested reader more accurate and up-to-date information on this topic than there has been at any time previously. 1 A number of books devote particular attention to ancient Egyptian texts employed for the benefit of the deceased: rituals and other works designed to revivify them and supply their needs after death. The best-known collections of texts of this sort came into being during the Pharaonic Period. Nearly all of these are available in English translation. 2 However, subsequent periods of Egyptian history witnessed the composition of new works. The years when the country was ruled by the Ptolemies and the Romans were particularly fertile ones for such activity. These later texts are not as well-known as the earlier ones; nor have as many of them been translated, at least into English. It is to them that the present book is devoted. The volume is intended primarily for a general readership. Thus, a certain amount of basic explanatory material has been incorporated. However, since even among Egyptologists there are many who lack the expertise to read some of the texts presented here in the original, it is hoped that the book will be of use to professionals in the field as well. Additionally, a few of the compositions included have never been published in any form. Thus, there should be something for everyone. The texts themselves are preceded by a general introduction which supplies the background information necessary to understand them. This offers an overview of ancient Egyptian concepts of the afterlife and the beliefs and practices which evolved in connection with them. Particular attention is paid to developments in the Graeco-Roman Period, but the background of these in 1

Of works in English, the best treatment of the archaeological side of the subject is J.Taylor, Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt (London, 2001). For the textual evidence, readers are advised to consult J. Assmann, Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt (Ithaca, 2005), an abridged translation of the same author's Tod und Jenseits im al ten Agypten (Munich, 200 I). 2 See references cited in Section B of the General Introduction below.

Vl

Preface

earlier tradition is treated as well. The Introduction also explains how the book is organized and acknowledges the generous assistance I have received from others in writing it. The title of this volume, TraversingEternity, has been borrowed from that of one of the compositions included in it, mg,;.t nt sb nl:,I:,,'The Book of Traversing Eternity'. The verb sb, 'traverse', employed there signifies not only movement through a place, but also passage through time. Thus, the eternity (nl:,I:,) which the deceased are envisaged as traversing in that work has both a spatial and a temporal dimension. For the Egyptians, posthumous existence was a journey through both. This book aims to provide its readers with an understanding of how the Egyptians of the Graeco-Roman Period conceived of this journey through space and time.

Contents List of Figures Abbreviations and Conventions Outline of Egyptian Chronology The Ancient Egyptian Calendar Map 1: The 22 Names and the Principal Religious Centres of Upper Egypt Map 2: The 20 Names and the Principal Religious Centres of Lower Egypt

Xl Xlll

xv XVll

XVlll

XlX

1

General Introduction PART 1. OSIRIAN TEXTS ADAPTED FOR THE DECEASED Introduction

61

Text 1: The Great Decree Issued to the Nome of the Silent Land

67

Text 2: The Stanzas of the Festival of the Two Kites

96

Text 3: P. Bremner-Rhind Colophon

120

Text 4: The Recitation of Glorifications Which the Two Sisters Performed

124

Text 5: The Ceremony of Glorifying Osiris in the God's Domain

135

Text 6: The Rite of Introducing the Multitude on the Last Day of Tekh

152

Text 7: Book of Glorifying the Spirit (P. S~kowski, Columns 10-23)

167

Text 8: P. BM EA 10209

178

Text 9: P. Vatican Inv. 38608

193

Text 10: P. Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

2

200

Contents

Vlll

PART 2. TEXTS WITH THE DECEASED AS ORIGINAL BENEFICIARY Introduction

209

Text 11: The Embalming Ritual

215

Text 12: P. BM EA 10507

245

Text 13: P. Harkness

264

Text 14: P. Rhind 1 (demotic version)

302

Text 15: P. Rhind 2 (demotic version)

335

Text 16: The Liturgy of Opening the Mouth for Breathing (long version)

349

Text 17: The Liturgy of Opening the Mouth for Breathing (short version) (Bodi. MS. Egypt. c. 9(P) + P. Louvre E 10605)

367

Text 18: The Liturgy of Opening the Mouth for Breathing (short version) (P. Louvre E 10607)

373

Text 19: The Liturgy of Opening the Mouth for Breathing (short version) (P. Strasbourg 3 verso)

377

Text 20: Spell for Striking the Copper (P. Strasbourg 3 verso, Column x + 7)

389

Text 21: The Book of Traversing Eternity (long version)

395

Text 22: The Book of Traversing Eternity (short version)

432

Text 23: P. Bibliotheque Nationale 149

437

Text 24: Book of Glorifying the Spirit (P. S~kowski, Columns 1-2)

455

Text 25: The Letter for Breathing Which Isis Made for her Brother Osiris

462

Text 26: Supplement to the Letter for Breathing Which Isis Made for her Brother Osiris (P. Louvre N 3158, 6/4-8/1)

479

Text 27: Supplement to the Letter for Breathing Which Isis Made for her Brother Osiris (P. Louvre N 3121, 4/4-7/10)

482

Text 28: Supplement to the Letter for Breathing Which Isis Made for her Brother Osiris (P. Louvre N 3083, 9/2-21)

490

Text 29: Supplement to the Letter for Breathing Which Isis Made for her Brother Osiris (P. Louvre N 3166, 2/1-18)

494

Text 30: The First Letter for Breathing

499

Text 31: The First Letter for Breathing (short version)

511

Text 32: The Second Letter for Breathing

514

Text 33: The Second Letter for Breathing (short version)

521

Text 34: The Book of Entering the God's Domain and Promenading in the Hall of the Two Truths (P. Cairo 58009)

526

Text 35: The Book of Entering the God's Domain and Promenading in the Hall of the Two Truths (P. Parma 183)

535

Text 36: P. BM EA 10194

540

Text 37: P. Florence 3669

543

Text 38: P. Cairo 58010

546

Text 39: P. Turin N. 766

550

Text 40: P. Berlin P. 1522

557

Text 41: P. Munich MAS 826

561

Text 42: P. Cairo 31170

565

Text 43: P. BM EA 10072

568

Text 44: P. Sydney Nicholson Museum 346 b

569

Text 45: P. Louvre N 2420 c

571

Text 46: 0. Uppsala 672

573

Text 47: Edinburgh Coffin Inscription Regn. No. L. 224/3002

575

Text 48: Berlin Coffin Inscription Ag. Inv. 7227

577

Text 49: Bodl. Eg. Inscr. 1374 a+ b

579

Text 50: Columbia Missouri Mummy Shroud Inv. 61.66.3

583

Text 51: BM Mummy Board EA 35464

586

Text 52: Intercessory Hymn to the Solar Deity (P. Berlin P. 3030, 6/17-9/6)

590

Text 53: Divine Decree for the Deceased

599

Text 54: Divine Decree for the Deceased (abridged version) (0. Strasbourg D. 132 + 133 + 134)

607

Text 55: Book of Transformations (P. Berlin 3162)

610

Text 56: Book of Transformations (P. Louvre N 3122)

623

X

Contents

Text 57: Book of Transformations (P. Louvre E 3452)

627

Text 58: Bodl. MS. Egypt. a. 3(P)

650

Text 59: P. Florence 3676

663

Text 60: BM Stela Inv. 711

665

Glossary Bibliography

669 703

List of Figures (between pages 206 and 207) 1. Vignette of Spell I 25 of the Book of the Dead, showing the

weighing of the deceased's heart, from the papyrus of Hor (BM EA 10479). Ptolemaic Period, from Akhmim. Courtesy of the British Museum. 2. Painted wooden stela of Neswi with hymn to the sun god (BM EA 8468). Third century BC, from Thebes. Courtesy of the British Museum. 3. Abbreviated version of the First Letter for Breathing inscribed in hieratic for Tasemis (BM EA 10109). Second century AD, from Thebes. Courtesy of the British Museum. 4. Excerpt from collection of transformation spells inscribed in demotic for lmuthes (P. Louvre E 3452 [=Text 57]). Note enigmatic writing in lines 15-16. First century BC, from Thebes. Courtesy of the Louvre. 5. Mummy label with illustrations, inscribed in demotic for Espmetis (BM EA 14438). Roman Period, from Thebes. Courtesy of the British Museum. 6. Painted wooden chest with depictions of the four children of Horns on the sides (BM EA 35762). Third century BC, provenience uncertain, probably Thebes. Courtesy of the British Museum. 7. Amulets, chiefly of the Ptolemaic Period. Courtesy of the British Museum. 8. Gilded mummy mask of Hornedjitef (BM EA 6679). Ptolemaic Period, from Thebes. Courtesy of the British Museum. 9. Mummy case of Artemidoros with painted portrait panel attached (BM EA 21810). Second century AD, from Hawara. Courtesy of the British Museum. 10. Painted and gilded mummy case of Taminis (BM EA 29586). Late first century BC or early first century AD, from Akhmim region. Courtesy of the British Museum.

XU

List of Figures

11. Vaulted wooden coffin lid of Soter showing the sky goddess Nut flanked by signs of the zodiac (BM EA 6705). Late first century or early second century AD, from Thebes. Courtesy of the British Museum. 12. Lid of black schist sarcophagus originally made for Ankhnesneferibre, daughter of Psammetichus II (595-589 BC), usurped by Pamonthes, the brother of the beneficiary of Text 14, in the early Roman Period (BM EA 32). From Thebes. Courtesy of the British Museum. 13. Facade of the tomb of Petosiris at Tuna el-Gebel. Early Ptolemaic Period. Courtesy of M. Minas-Nerpel. 14. Hypocephalus intended for protection of the deceased's head (BM EA 8445). Ptolemaic Period, provenience unknown. Courtesy of the British Museum.

Abbreviations and Conventions ASAE

Annales du Service des Antiquites de l'Egypte ( Cairo, 1900- )

BACE

Bulletin of the Australian Centre for Egyptology (North Ryde, 1990- )

BASP

Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists(Urbana, 1964- )

BIFAO

Bulletin de l'Institut Franrais d'ArcheologieOrientale (Cairo, 1901- )

BiOr

Bibliotheca Orientalis (Leiden, 1943- )

BSEG

Bulletin de la Societe d'Egyptologie, Geneve (Geneva, 1979- )

BSFE

Bulletin de la Societe Franrais d'Egyptologie(Paris, 1949- )

CdE

Chronique d'Egypte (Brussels, 1926- )

CGC

Catalogue General des Antiquites Egyptiennes du Musee du Caire (Cairo, 1901- )

EVO

Egitto e Vicino Oriente ( Pisa, 1978 - )

JARCE

Journal of the American ResearchCenter in Egypt (Boston, 1962-)

JEA

Journal of Egyptian Archaeology ( London, 1914 - )

JEOL

Jaarbericht van het Vooraziatisch-EgyptischGenootschaap 'Ex Oriente Lux' (Leiden, 1938- )

JNES

Journal of Near Eastern Studies (Chicago, 1942- )

MDAIK

Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archi:iologischenInstituts, Abteilung Kairo (Berlin, Wiesbden, Mainz, 1930- )

0.

Ostracon

OLP

Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica(Leuven, 1970- )

OLZ

OrientalistischeLiteraturzeitung ( Berlin and Leipzig, 1898- )

OMRO

Oudheidkundige Mededelingen uit het Rijksmuseums van Oudheden te Leiden (Leiden, 1920 - )

P.

Papyrus

PSBA

Proceedingsof the Society of Biblical Archaeology (London, 1879-1918)

RdE

Revue d'Egyptologie ( Cairo and Paris, 1930- )

SAK

Studien zur Alti:igyptischenKultur (Hamburg, 1974-)

Wb.

A. Erman and H. Grapow (eds.), Worterbuch der i:igyptischenSprache, 7 vols. plus 5 vols. Belegstellen ( Leipzig and Berlin, 1926-63)

WdO

Die Welt des Orients (Gottingen, 1947-)

WZKM

Wiener Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde des Morgenlandes (Vienna, 1886- )

Abbreviations and Conventions

xiv ZA.S

Zeitschrift fur A.gyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde (Leipzig and Berlin, 1863-)

ZPE

Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik (Bonn, 1967-)

The following symbols have been employed in this book: = is equivalent to

+

plus

< is derived from > develops into In transliterations and translations of texts, < > marks an emendation in which I have supplied material inadvertently omitted by the ancient scribe, { } an emendation in which I have deleted material inserted by the scribe through error, [ ] a restoration of material lost or damaged in the original, and ( ) an addition which I have made for the sake of greater clarity.

Outline of Egyptian Chronology The chronological outline below is based on the one in I. Shaw (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (Oxford, 2003), pp. 480-9. Where dates for two or more dynasties overlap, this is because they ruled simultaneously in different parts of the country. From 690 BC onward, we know the precise years when the reigns of individual kings began and ended. Prior to then, however, there is a degree of uncertainty, which increases the further back in time one goes. In the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period, for example, the margin of likely error is about ten years, in the Old Kingdom more like fifty years, and for the start of the First Dynasty perhaps as much as one hundred and fifty years. Such uncertainty inevitably leads to discrepancies among various modern reconstructions of Egyptian chronology. The range of possible variation will become apparent if one compares the dates below with those given in another recent study, E. Hornung, R. Krauss, and D. Warburton, Ancient Egyptian Chronology (Leiden and Boston, 2006), pp. 492-5. The latter work provides a useful overview of the different types of evidence on which modern chronologies of ancient Egypt are based, as well as a discussion of the specific problems involved in establishing a reliable chronology for each individual period of Egyptian history. Early Dynastic Period First Dynasty Second Dynasty Old Kingdom Third Dynasty Fourth Dynasty Fifth Dynasty Sixth Dynasty Seventh and Eighth Dynasties First Intermediate Period Ninth and Tenth Dynasties Early Eleventh Dynasty Middle Kingdom Later Eleventh Dynasty Twelfth Dynasty Thirteenth Dynasty

C.3000-2686 BC c.3000-2890 2890-2686 2686-2160 BC 2686-2613 2613-2494 2494-2345 2345-2181 2181-2160 2160-2055 BC 2160-2025 2125-2055 2055-1650 BC 2055-1985 1985-1773 1773-after 1650

XVl

Outline of Egyptian Chronology

Fourteenth Dynasty Second Intermediate Period Fifteenth Dynasty Sixteenth Dynasty Seventeenth Dynasty New Kingdom Eighteenth Dynasty Nineteenth Dynasty Twentieth Dynasty Third Intermediate Period Twenty-First Dynasty Twenty-Second Dynasty Twenty-Third Dynasty Twenty-Fourth Dynasty Twenty-Fifth Dynasty Late Period Twenty-Sixth Dynasty Twenty-Seventh Dynasty (also called First Persian Period) Twenty-Eighth Dynasty Twenty-Ninth Dynasty Thirtieth Dynasty Second Persian Period Ptolemaic Period Macedonian Dynasty Ptolemaic Dynasty Roman Period

1773-1650 1650-1550 BC 1650-1550 1650-1580 c.1580-1550 1550-1069 BC 1550-1295 1295-1186 1186-1069 1069-664 BC 1069-945 945-715 818-715 727-715 747-656 664-332 BC 664-525 525-404 404-399 399-380 380-343 343-332 332-30 BC 332-305 305-30 30 BC-395 AD

The Ancient Egyptian Calendar Dates in the corpus of texts translated in this volume are normally expressed in terms of the Egyptian civil calendar. (There was a lunar calendar as well, but this is employed less frequently.) The civil calendar contained twelve months of thirty days' length. Their names and sequence are as follows: ( 1) Thoth, (2) Paope, (3) Hathor, (4) Khoiak, (5) Tobe, (6) Mekhir, (7) Phamenoth, (8) Pharmouti, (9) Pakhons, (10) Paoni, (11) Epip, and (12) Mesore. To these were added five extra days, called epagomenal days, which commemorated the birthdays of various divinities. Thus the total length of an Egyptian year was 365 days. Since an actual year is slightly longer, 365.25 days, this meant that after every four years a regularly recurring annual event like the heliacal rising of the star Sothis would fall one day later in the civil calendar than it did in the previous four. In our calendar, we avoid such shifts by adding an extra day to every fourth year, or leap year, so that it is 366 rather than 365 days in length. But the Egyptians did not view them as a problem. For most of their history, they were content with their traditional calendar, which resulted in the so-called 'wandering year', and saw no reason to change it. Foreign rulers did not always share this feeling. In 238 BC Ptolemy III attempted to reform the Egyptian calendar by decreeing that an additional day should be added to every fourth year, making it 366 days long rather than 365, but his decree had little impact. It was only in the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus (30 BC-14 AD), roughly in the middle of the period covered by this book, that the reform was carried through successfully. Augustus synchronized the Egyptian year and the actual year by adding a sixth epagomenal day at the end of every fourth year. Prior to his reform the start of the Egyptian year varied in relation to our own calendar, for reasons explained above. In 300 BC, for instance, New Year's Day fell on 6 November, in 200 BC on 12 October, and in 100 BC 17 September. Subsequent to the change instituted by Augustus, however, New Year's Day in the Egyptian calendar, 1 Thoth, always began on the same day, 29 August (or 30 August in leap years).

Maps

XVlll

22

17

16

Hermopolis

15 14

Ahydos •

endcra

7 6

Hutsckhem (Hu) 5 Amiant

Esna

4

Coptos

Thebes

3 El-Kah

Hicrakonpolis

2

0 0

75 km

Ectfu

Elephantine

50 mi

Map 1. The 22 Nomes and the Principal Religious Centres of Upper Egypt

Memphis•

()

0

40 km 30 mi

Map 2. The 20 Nomes and the Principal Religious Centres of Lower Egypt

General Introduction

A. EGYPTIAN

CONCEPTIONS

OF THE AFTERLIFE

Three basic conceptions underlie all ancient Egyptian beliefs and practices concerning the afterlife. The first is that of the continued survival of those who die as physical or corporeal entities. The second is that of the existence of a hierarchy of divinities and other immortal beings into which the deceased hope to be integrated. The third conception is one of a causal relationship whereby the position of the deceased within this hierarchy, and indeed whether they are admitted to it or not, is determined by their conduct while alive. The first of these conceptions explains why the Egyptians were so concerned to preserve the bodies of their dead. By themselves, the sands and hot, dry climate of Egypt were effective preserving agents. However, the Egyptians developed elaborate techniques of embalming or mummification to further the desired end. These varied over time, but generally involved washing and anointing the corpse, evisceration, dehydrating the body by means of dry crystals of natron, packing its abdominal cavity with linen, sawdust, and other materials, and wrapping it in bandages. Additional protection was afforded the completed mummy by placing it in a sarcophagus or coffin (sometimes both) and depositing it in a tomb, which might be anything from a pit or shaft sunk into the earth to an enormous stone pyramid. 1 Because the Egyptians believed that the deceased survived in corporeal form, they felt it necessary to make provision for their daily needs. From their point of view, the nature of posthumous existence was the same, in its practical aspects at least, as that of life before death. The tomb and the mummy wrappings took the place of shelter and clothing, while objects required for everyday use could be included with the burial goods. However, food and drink had to be supplied as well. This was accomplished by the 1

For a good survey of the history and evolution of Egyptian mummification techniques and tomb construction, see J. Taylor, Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt (London, 200 I), especially chapters 2, 5, and 7.

General Introduction

2

institution of a cult for the dead, who obtained their sustenance in the form of offerings. The cult services were conducted either by priests employed specifically for that purpose, or by members of the deceased's family. Most Egyptian gods and goddesses were believed to play some part in the afterlife; however, a few have more significant roles than others. For the greater part of Egyptian history, the most important divinity in this sphere was Osiris, the ruler of the realm of the dead. His female counterpart in this role was the goddess Hathor. Osiris presided over the judgement of the deceased. Each person, at death, had to go before a tribunal where his or her conduct was weighed in a balance against the standard of righteousness. This took place in a venue called the hall of the two truths, also known as the hall of the righteous or hall of the blessed. Those who received a favourable judgement were acclaimed with the epithet 'justified', blessed, and accepted into Osiris' following. Those who did not were condemned to various fates, depending upon which source one consults. Some texts indicate that the wicked were consumed immediately after judgement by a monster known as the devourer of the dead. This ferocious creature was of hybrid form, having a crocodile's head, the foreparts of a lion, and the hindparts of a hippopotamus. 2 Others state that they were condemned for all eternity to punishments like decapitation, confinement within dark and gloomy caverns, being cooked in cauldrons, or immolation in flames. 3 One late source implies that the precise form of torment inflicted upon a sinner in the afterlife was determined by his or her conduct on earth. 4 The location of the realm over which Osiris presided is not easy to specify. The place is known by a variety of names. Among the commonest of its designations is Amente, 'the West'. Egyptian cemeteries were often located on the west bank of the Nile; this designation reflects the view that the cemetery and the realm of the dead were contiguous. Thus, Osiris is often called 'foremost in the West' or 'foremost of the Westerners'. Another common designation for this realm, Duat, is conventionally translated as 'underworld', and not without reason. According to the evidence of some Egyptian texts, one descended to this region from the earth or ascended from it when returning. However, elsewhere it appears to be a celestial region, perhaps situated below the horizon. The sky is envisaged as the body of a goddess, Nut, and the Duat lies hidden within this. 5 In later texts, the conception of the 2

See Figure I; C. Seeber, Untersuchzmgen zur Darstellung des Totengerichts im A/ten Agypten (Munich, 1976), pp. 163-84. There is a description of this creature in Text 23, 1/20-21. 3 For these and other torments, see J. Zandee, Death as an Enemy (Leiden, 1960), especially chapter 2, and E. Hornung, Altagyptische Hiillenvorstellungen (Berlin, 1968), pp. 10-34. 4 For this, see Section D below. 5 See J. Allen, Genesis in Egypt (New Haven, 1988), pp. 5-7.

General Introduction

3

Duat as a subterranean realm is prevalent, hence my use of the conventional translation in this volume. Different sources describe the topography of the underworld in varying ways, although as one text puts it, no one has ever gone there and returned, 6 making a definitive account impossible. According to some texts, it is divided into regions, chambers, or caverns, separated from one another by gates guarded by ferocious demons. 7 According to others, it is a building consisting of a series of halls or rooms, access to which is progressively more restricted, with Osiris seated enthroned in the innermost one, surrounded by his court. 8 This makes the underworld sound very much like a temple, with its sanctuary or holy of holies containing the image of the resident deity, and in fact there are depictions of the entrance to that region which portray it in the form of a temple gateway.9 Although a deceased individual's home was his tomb, and this was contiguous with the realm of Osiris, the dead were not imagined to spend the whole of their posthumous existence there. Rather, in the right circumstances, they were supposed to have unrestricted freedom of movement, thus enabling them to leave and return to the realm of the dead at will. They could travel through the sky with the sun, moon, or stars, go wherever they liked on earth, and even move about underwater. The idea of leaving the underworld in order to return to the land of the living, otherwise known as 'going forth by day', becomes increasingly important from the New Kingdom onward. 10 To understand how it was thought possible to do this, it is necessary to look more closely at Egyptian views about the nature of the transition from this life to the next. The ancient Egyptian conception of the human being was monistic. They did not see in the individual a composite made up of a corruptible body and an immortal soul. For them, any hoped-for survival after death had to involve the whole entity. This survival was effected by means of the rituals and ceremonies which accompanied the process of mummification. 6

Thus the so-called Harpist's Song from the tomb of Intef. See M. Fox, The Song of Songs and the Ancient Egyptian Love Songs (Madison, 1985), p. 380, lines 8-9. For a translation of this text, see M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature I (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 1973), pp. 194-7. 7 For descriptions and depictions of the underworld in these terms, see especially E. Hornung, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife (Ithaca, 1999), pp. 26-111. 8 See the description of the underworld in P. BM EA I 0822 cited in Section D below. 9 See, for instance, the one on a shroud now in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, reproduced in colour in E. Doxiadis, The Mysterious Fayum Portraits: Facesfrom Ancient Egypt (London, 1995), p. 21. For other examples, see L. Corcoran, Portrait Mummies from Roman Egypt (Chicago, 1995), pp. 52-3. 10 See Introduction to Text 21 in this volume.

General Introduction

4

Performing such rites was believed to restore the deceased to life, but this was not their only result. Another consequence was that they elevated him or her to a new, exalted status, that of akh. The root from which this word is derived refers to a power or force which operates without visible connection between cause and effect. One can see the result of its application but not how this came about, since it originates in a sphere concealed from view or cognition. For the Egyptians, the prototypical manifestation of this force in the natural world was the sun, whose rays were perceived to illuminate the world before it was actually visible above the horizon. In fact, the Egyptian word for horizon, akhet, which denotes the place where the boundary between 11 the visible and the hidden is located, is derived from the same root as akh. Typically, the power described above was possessed by divinities, but human beings who acquired the status of akh received a share of it as well. Thus, after death, they were transfigured or glorified, and raised to a new plane of existence. In this form, they were able to transcend the boundary between the visible and hidden, and move freely from one sphere to the other. Consequently, akhs could go wherever they wished and do whatever they desired. They were even supposed to be capable of interacting with the living. On the one hand, they could intercede on behalf of their loved ones before the gods; on the other, they could injure those who were their enemies. 12 In the present volume I have translated the noun akh as 'spirit', since this rendering best reflects the term's primary significance as the embodiment of a force or power originating in a sphere beyond the apprehension of human faculties. 13 A further consequence of the rites of mummification was the awakening or animating of the ba of the deceased. The word ba means literally 'what is immanent', i.e. visible manifestation. In Greek, it can be rendered as 14 Et8wAov. Egyptian texts often contrast the ba of a deceased person and his body, but one should not conclude from this that the former was regarded as a soul or disembodied spirit. The ba is not an element or component of an individual. Rather, it is the whole person, but as seen from a particular aspect: the form in which the deceased was manifested in the physical world.

11

For this explanation of the root akh and its derivatives, see J. Assmann, Altagyptische Totenliturgien 1 (Heidelberg, 2002), pp. 21-2. 12 For the interaction of akhs and the living, see M. Smith, The Mortuary Texts of Papyrus BM 10507 (London, 1987), pp. 124-5, and literature cited there. 13 Cf. John 3: 8, 'The wind blows wherever it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it has come from or where it is going. This is how it is with all who have been born of the Spirit.' In this passage, 'wind' and 'Spirit' are said to share the same properties. In the original, both are represented by the same noun, pneuma. 14 See J. Quaegebeur, 'Mummy Labels: An Orientation', in E. Boswinkel and P. Pestman (eds.), Textes grecs, demotiques et bilingues (Leiden, 1978), pp. 253-4.

General Introduction

5

As a ba, the deceased could leave the realm of the dead and travel anywhere on earth or in the sky. In fact, mobility was one of the most salient characteristics of this aspect of an individual. Bas were corporeal; they ate and drank and could even engage in sexual activity. They also had the capacity to assume non-human forms. This not only enhanced the deceased's power, but brought them into closer communion with the gods as well, since by assuming the form of a particular creature they could join the following of the deity with whom it was associated. The belief that the ba could adopt multiple modes of appearance probably explains why, in some sources, an individual is said to possess more than one. 15 After undergoing a transformation of the type described above, or engaging in other sorts of activity, the ba of a dead person was believed to rejoin his body in the underworld each night, alighting and breathing upon it, thereby maintaining it in a state of life. 16 There are important differences between the concepts of the ba and the akh. The two terms belong to different levels of classification. The status of being an akh or spirit is primary, in the sense that it is only when one has been transfigured in this way that the ba is awakened or animated. Thus a spirit has a ba, but not vice versa. Likewise, having a fully functioning ba is contingent upon being or becoming a spirit. Another difference is that the term ba has reference to the deceased as an individual, whereas the designation akh or spirit explicitly situates the dead person within a group. Thus the latter has a social aspect which is lacking in the former. An important part of being transfigured as a spirit is the perception of that status by others, chiefly the deities into whose company the deceased seeks to be accepted. Only through their reaction is it reified. As Assmann aptly puts it, paraphrasing Ralph Waldo Emerson, transfiguration is in the eye of the beholder. 17 Another aspect of the deceased to which reference is often made in Egyptian texts is the ka. This was conceived of as performing a variety of roles at different periods of a person's existence: double, vital force, essence, guardian angel, and even conscience. 18 The ka of an individual was supposed to come 15

Although confusion with a related word, b3. w, 'might, glory', may have played a part as well. Cf. ibid., p. 254. 16 For a good overview of Egyptian ideas about the ba, see ). Assmann, Tod und Jenseits im alten Agypten (Munich, 2001), pp. 120-31; L. Zabkar, A Study of the Ba Concept in Ancient Egyptian Texts (Chicago, 1968). 17 See Assmann, Tod und Jenseits im a/ten Agypten, pp. 453-4; idem, Altiigyptische Totenliturgien 1, p. 23. 18 Cf. the suggestion that the noun k3 comes from the same root as the verb k3i, 'think' (Assmann, Tod und Jenseits im a/ten Agypten, p. 137). For a survey of Egyptological research on the ka and its different roles, see A. Bolshakov, Man and his Double: The Ka in Egyptian Ideology of the Old Kingdom (Wiesbaden, 1997), pp. 123-32.

General Introduction

6

into being at birth. In some sense, it was transmitted to him by his progenitor. 19 Thus, it too has a social aspect, but it links the deceased with the other members of his family, both ancestors and descendants, rather than with a larger group. It does not seem to have had an active existence until after death, when a person could be said to go to his ka. Thereupon, it took up residence in the tomb. It was to the ka in particular that the offerings of the mortuary cult were directed. 20 In later texts, the ka is sometimes equated with the name of a person. Names were often handed down from one generation to the next in ancient Egypt. Thus, like the ka, they constituted a form of 'genetic material' which conferred social status and identity upon their bearers. This similarity probably accounts for the use of one term as a synonym for the other. The god Osiris was not only the ruler of the realm of the dead and the chief of its tribunal. He was also a model for emulation by the deceased. According to Egyptian belief, Osiris was murdered by his brother Seth, who cut his body into pieces and scattered them over the length and breadth of Egypt. The god's wife and sister Isis searched out and collected his limbs, and his corpse was duly reconstituted through mummification. Subsequently, Osiris was revivified by her, with the help of other gods and goddesses, and justified in a tribunal against his murderer. These two concepts, revivification and justification, are intimately linked. The latter has been described, with good reason, as 'moral mummification'. 21 In obtaining justice against Seth, Osiris regains full life, since his death was an injustice. By his justification, he gains total mastery over death. As Osiris was restored to life and declared to be free of wrongdoing, so all who died hoped to be revived and justified, as a result of the ceremonies of mummification and the performance of the requisite mortuary rituals. These actually incorporated an assessment of the deceased's character which prefigured the one conducted in the underworld. 22 A favourable assessment helped to ensure their integration into the social hierarchy of the afterlife, just as the embalming itself restored their corporeal integrity. An unfavourable assessment, by contrast, resulted in torment. 23 From this it should be evident that, if justification can be described as 'moral mummification', it is no less accurate to speak of mummification as 'corporeal justification'. At the conclusion of the embalming rites, having been returned to life and freed from imputation of wrongdoing, the deceased could be said to possess 19

20 21

22 21 ·

This explains why the noun is sometimes linked with the homophonous k:;, 'bull'. H ence t h e terms' assoc1at10n . . m . some sources wit. h t h e noun k:;. w, 'C100 d'. .. Assmann, Tod und Jenseitsim a/ten Agypten, p. 103. Ibid., pp. 102-5 and pp. 372-93; Assmann, Altiigyptische Tote11lit11rgie11 I, p. 53. See Section D below.

General Introduction

7

an Osiris-aspect. Indeed, the performance of such rites was sometimes described as giving an 'Osiris' to someone. Many Egyptian afterlife texts are addressed, or make reference, to the Osiris of an individual, an aspect or form which the dead person acquired through the efficacy of the rituals performed for his benefit in the embalming place. 24 Acquisition of this aspect did not involve identification with the deity, contrary to what is said in many books about Egyptian religion. Rather it meant that the deceased was admitted to the god's following and became one of his devotees in the underworld. Thus it was a unio liturgica rather than a unio mystica. 25 The Osirian form was an outward mark of a person's status as a member of this community of worshippers. Both men and women could be endowed with the form in question. The gender difference between the latter and the god posed no obstacle to their acquisition of an Osirian aspect, since adherence to the deity's cultic sphere rather than identification with him is what was entailed in this, and females as well as males were eligible to join in his worship. Nevertheless, at some point prior to the Ptolemaic Period, the belief arose, or first found expression, that women could also acquire the aspect ofHathor, Osiris' female counterpart as ruler of the realm of the dead, as an alternative to that of Osiris himself. 26 Exactly when this happened is uncertain. The earliest textual reference to the 'Hathor' of a woman is from sometime between the 7th and the 4th centuries BC. 27 This aspect or form was acquired by the same ritual means as the Osirian one described above. The only difference was that the designation Hathor of so and so placed special emphasis upon a person's status as a devotee of that goddess rather than Osiris in the afterlife. Despite this innovation, the Egyptians did not cease to attribute an Osirian aspect to women. Females continued to be designated as the Osiris of so and so, as well as the Hathor of so and so, as long as texts relating to the afterlife

24

See M. Smith, 'Osiris NN or Osiris of NN?', in B. Backes, I. Munro, and S. Stohr (eds.), Totenbuch-Forschungen: Gesammelte Beitriige des 2. Internationalen Totenbuch-Symposiums, Bonn, 25. bis 29. September 2005 (Wiesbaden, 2006), pp. 325-37. Occasionally, texts refer to the Sokar Osiris of an individual, Sokar being another form of the god. 25 Ibid., pp. 334-6. 26 Ibid., p. 325. 27 See Smith, The Mortuary Texts of Papyrus BM 10507, pp. 129-30, with reference to Cairo sarcophagus CGC 31154. C. Riggs, The Beautiful Burial in Roman Egypt (Oxford, 2005), p. 45, ascribes three statues of women in the Cairo Museum with inscriptions calling their owners 'Hathor of so and so' to the latter century, but not everyone dates these objects as early as she does. S. Albersmeier, Untersuchungen zu den Frauenstatuen des ptolemiiischen Agypten (Mainz am Rhein, 2002), pp. 320, 322, and 325, for instance, dates them to the first or second centuries BC.

General Introduction

8

were composed. Some texts credit the same person with possessing both c to a composite · 10rm, c · · H at h or., 28 aspects; ot h ers re1er a woman ,s 'O sinsWhy this sort of distinction should have arisen is unclear. As noted above, Hathor, like Osiris, was a ruler of the underworld. However, unlike that god, she did not die and subsequently return to life. Her special province was maintaining rather than restoring life, particularly through her role as provider of nourishment and sustenance. 29 One explanation attributes the development of the concept of a 'Hathor' of a deceased woman to 'an increasing concern with individualizing the deceased in funerary texts and pictorial representations, by maintaining in the afterlife the gendered role, identity, and body that individuals assumed in Egyptian society'. 30 This begs the question of why such a concern should have arisen in the first place. Nor does it adequately account for the fact that the Osirian designation of the deceased was never totally superseded by the Hathorian one where women were concerned, but remained in use alongside it, occasionally even alternating with it in different passages of the same text. It is evident from this that the introduction of the latter cannot be attributed solely to a wish to eliminate gender-based distinctions between the deceased and the deities whom they served in the afterlife. Moreover, the use of gender as a basis for classification and association has a long history in Egypt, and can be paralleled in numerous earlier Egyptian sources. 31 Nor is the belief that men might adhere to the cultic sphere of Osiris in the afterlife and women that of Hathor really new. It is already attested in the inscription on a statue of a man and his wife dating to the 11th Dynasty, which describes him as being revered before the god and her before the goddess. 32 It may be, therefore, that the designation of deceased women as the Hathor of so and so, alluding to their posthumous cultic affiliation, is a formalization, or articulation in slightly different terms, of an idea oflong standing, rather than an innovation. It will be clear from the foregoing survey that the successful transition from this life to the next had a profound effect on those who experienced it. They were not simply restored to vitality again. In addition, they were elevated to the status of akhs, their bas were awakened, their kas were activated, and they were endowed with an Osirian or Hathorian aspect, in some cases with both. The mummification and its attendant rites did more than reconstitute their bodies. 28

Smith in Backes, Munro, and Stohr ( eds.), Tote11b11ch-Forsch11ngen: Gesammelte Beitriige des 2. Internationalen Totenbuch-Symposiums, Bonn, 25. bis 29. September 2005, p. 325. 29 Cf. f. Assmann, Altiigyptische Totenlit11rgien2 (Heidelberg, 2005), pp. 378-9. 0 -' Riggs, The Beautifi1/ Burial in Roman Egypt, p. 41. 31 See Smith, The Mortuary Texts of Papyrus BM 10507, pp. 88 and 130-1; idem, The Liturgy of Opening the Mouth for Breathing (Oxford, 1993), p. 37; idem, Papyrus Harkness (Oxford, 2005 ), p. 144. 32 W.M.F. Petrie, Dendereh 1898 (London, 1900), p. 26 with plates 15 and 21. Cf. Riggs, The Beautiful Burial in Roman Egypt, p. 44, figure 9.

General Introduction

9

In addition, through the justification which they incorporated, these ceremonies gave their beneficiaries a position in the hierarchy of gods and blessed spirits in the afterlife. We have seen that the ancient Egyptians did not divide the person into a corruptible body and immortal soul. They did, however, perceive each individual as having a 'corporeal self' and a 'social self'.33 The mummification rites restored the integrity of both. Transfigured and raised by these means to a new plane of being, the deceased were not confined to their tombs or to the underworld. For them, the cemetery was only a resting place; their sphere of existence encompassed the whole of the cosmos. Occasionally, it has to be said, one finds doubts expressed about this optimistic picture of the afterlife in Egyptian sources. A famous text of the Middle Kingdom, known as 'The Dispute Between a Man and his Ba', queries the belief that the dead actually derive any benefit from their elaborate tombs and the offering cult performed for them. 34 A song attributed to a harpist, preserved in a papyrus and an inscription from a tomb, both dating to the New Kingdom, is likewise sceptical, noting that no one has ever returned from the land of the dead to inform us about the condition of its inhabitants, their wants, and their needs. 35 Moving forward in time to the Ptolemaic Period, the inscription on a stela belonging to a woman called Taimhotep, who died in the reign of Cleopatra VII (51-30 Be), describes the West as a gloomy land of sleep and darkness. Those who dwell there are separated from their families and suffer thirst, even though libations have been presented to them by the living.36 Similar ideas occur in some of the texts translated in this book, where darkness, thirst, loneliness, and other privations are said to be the fate of the deceased in the underworld. 37 Death inflicted misery upon both the departed and the bereaved, and never more so than when it arrived prematurely. A number of Egyptian texts, from the Graeco-Roman Period and earlier, bemoan the lot of those who died before their due time. There is some evidence to suggest that the prematurely dead may have been the objects of special veneration, or were thought to receive a privileged position in the underworld. 38 33

For this conception of the individual, see Assmann, Tod wzd Jenseits im a/ten Agypten, pp. 118-20. 34 See R.O. Faulkner, 'The Man Who was Tired of Life', ]EA 42 (1956), pp. 21-40. Another and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems (Oxford, 1997), translation: R. Parkinson, The Tale of Si1111he pp. 150-65. 35 See note 6 above. 36 For text and bibliography, see E.A.E. Reymond, From the Recordsof a Priestly Family from Memphis I (Wiesbaden, 198 I), pp. 165-77. There is also a translation in M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature 3 (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 1980), pp. 59-65. 37 See e.g. Texts l, 12, and 13. 38 See M. Chauveau, 'Glorification d'une morte anonyme (P. dem. Louvre N 2420 c)', RdE 41 (1990), p. 6; Smith, Papyms Harkness, p. 155.

10

General Introduction

The pessimistic views about the afterlife outlined above should not be seen as opposing the more optimistic one described earlier. Rather, they represent another way of looking at death, regarding it from the perspective of this world, whereas the traditional view adopts the perspective of the next. Thus, the different views complement, not contradict, each other. This explains why one sometimes finds both positive and negative ideas about the afterlife expressed side by side in a single papyrus or tomb inscription. By combining or juxtaposing such ideas, the Egyptians were able to articulate a more rounded, balanced view of dying and its consequences, incorporating both the beneficial and the untoward aspects of these, which reflected more accurately the reality of death as they experienced it. 39 In comparing Egyptian conceptions of the afterlife as they appear in sources of the Graeco- Roman Period with what one finds in earlier sources, one is struck with the clear continuity of ideas. A belief may be expressed in a new way, whether pictorially or verbally, but the basic conception remains the same. Some have claimed that Egyptian ideas about the afterlife underwent considerable change at this time, chiefly owing to foreign, specifically Greek, influence. Such claims have little to recommend them. Typically, they rest upon misunderstandings of the Graeco-Roman Period evidence, insufficient fan1iliarity with the evidence of earlier periods, or a combination of the two. Often, what is identified as a late innovation turns out to be well-attested in Egypt long before this time. Good examples include the conception of an Osiris of or belonging to an individual, and the attribution of a Hathorian aspect to deceased women, both of which are discussed above, as well as the conception of the four children of Horus as constituents of the deceased's personality and the idea of a purification of non-royal individuals by the divine pair Horus and Thoth. 40 Even the pessimistic views about the afterlife described in the preceding paragraphs have, as shown there, a long history in Egypt. Where genuine innovation can be detected in this sphere, there is no reason why it should not be explained as an internal development within the native Egyptian tradition, rather than a consequence of foreign influence. What is more, given the absence of any compelling evidence to the contrary, it is simpler and more logical to do so.

39

For this dual perspective on death, see Smith, Papyrus Harkness, p. I 03, and literature cited there. 40 See Smith, The Mortuary Texts of Papyrus BM 10507, p. I 3 I, and references cited there.

General Introduction B. EGYPTIAN TEXTS FOR THE AFTERLIFE THE PHARAONIC PERIOD

11

I:

The preceding description of conceptions of the afterlife in ancient Egypt is based almost exclusively on material drawn from Egyptian textual sources, in particular, works composed for the benefit of the deceased, to be used both during and after the transition from this life to the next. Large numbers of such texts have been preserved from all periods of Egyptian history. There are many different varieties. Some were intended for recitation in the course of rituals performed by others on behalf of the deceased; others were intended for use by deceased individuals themselves. Some are prayers or spells addressed to divinities to secure their favour and assistance; others are imprecations or curses directed against maleficent beings who might seek to harm the dead. 41 One very important category of afterlife texts is that of glorifications. The Egyptian word for these, sakhu, is derived from the same root as the noun akh discussed in Section A, and means literally 'making or transfiguring into a spirit'. 42 One becomes a spirit as a result of their recitation. Glorifications, for the most part, are addressed directly to the deceased, although in a few cases, particularly in earlier periods, they refer to them in the third person. The speaker is often anonymous, although instances where the recitant's identity is made explicit are not unknown. Glorification spells have an active, dynamic character. Their emphasis is upon becoming rather than being, what will happen rather than what is. They consist mainly of verbal sentences asserting that the dead will be revived, protected, nourished, and accepted among the underworld gods and their followers. These are normally expressed in Egyptian with a form called the future s4m=f Such texts are based on a belief in the 'performative' power of speech. To the Egyptians, it was possible to trigger off an event by proclaiming it verbally within the appropriate ritual context. Thus, the constituent sentences of glorification spells are not wishes, and should not be translated as such. Their effectiveness was deemed to be independent of any external agency, stemming from the power of akh inherent in their recitation, which

41

For general surveys of Egyptian works of this type, see Hornung, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife; S. Quirke and W. Forman, Hieroglyphs and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt (London, I 996). The former has a useful bibliography, including references to translations of individual texts, on pp. 157-82. The latter is particularly valuable for its colour illustrations showing inscriptions, papyri, and related artefacts. 42 Assmann, Tod und Jenseits im a/ten Agypten, p. 323.

12

General Introduction

mediated between the cultic and divine spheres, transforming a ritual utterance in the former into an event in the latter. From this description it will be evident that context was all-important in ensuring the efficacy of glorifications, even more so than any of the formal characteristics enumerated above.43 It was not their constituent words as such, but rather their recitation in the proper ritual setting that actualized what they asserted. As Assmann has put it, according to the Egyptian view, it was not faith, but the correct spell, recited at the correct time in the correct place by the correct speaker, that could move mountains. 44 There were two main cultic contexts in which glorification spells were employed: offering and embalming rites. The lamentation is another genre of afterlife text. As the name would suggest, lamentations express the sorrow felt by the bereaved at the death of a loved one. They are charged with a distinctive emotional colouring. They were believed to function in much the same way as glorifications did, awakening the dead and transfiguring them, and are often found in conjunction with or incorporated in spells of this type. 45 Some categories of text were recited only at specific times: in the course of the ceremonies of mummification or during the funeral itself. Others, such as offering liturgies, were recited regularly even after the interment, as part of the mortuary cult. Yet others were meant to accompany the deceased to the realm of the dead. They served as passports admitting them to that kingdom, imparted special knowledge about the dangers to be faced on the journey there and how to avoid them, described the realm's inhabitants, and specified what to say and how to behave in their presence. Even those texts which were composed for recitation during a specific ritual event such as the ceremony of mummification did not cease to be effective after their initial performance. They might be repeated at regular intervals, e.g. the anniversary of a person's interment, by surviving relatives. Moreover, by placing copies of the appropriate texts in a tomb, whether inscribed upon the walls of the burial chamber or coffin, on a roll of papyrus, or even on the bandages of the mummy itself, the Egyptians believed that they 4

·' Compare C.). Eyre, The Cannibal Hymn: A Cultural and Literary Study (Liverpool, 2002), p. 66: 'The proper definition of s;[nv remains one of ritual context and not one ofliterary form.' Similarly, H. Willems, 'The Social and Ritual Context of a Mortuary Liturgy of the Middle Kingdom ( CT Spells 30-41 )', in H. Willems (ed.), Social Aspects of Funerary Culture in the Egyptian Old and Middle Kingdoms (Leuven, Paris, Sterling, 2001 ), pp. 355-6. For good examples of texts explicitly labelled as glorifications that diverge significantly in formal terms from the standard pattern, see H. Hays, Review of). Assmann, Altiigyptische Totenliturgien I, in JNES 65 (2006), p. 227 note I; also Text 24 in this volume. 44 Assmann, Altiigyptische Totenliturgien I, p. 37. 45 See, for instance, Texts I, 2, 4, 5, and 6.

General Introduction

13

could impart to rituals an eternal status, ensuring that their performance would recur again and again in an unending cycle, even without any human intervention. The earliest preserved group of Egyptian writings for the afterlife is known as the Pyramid Texts. These are so called because they were first discovered inside the pyramids of kings and queens of the 5th and 6th Dynasties at 46 Saqqara. They do not constitute a single, uniform composition. Rather, they are a collection of different spells or utterances. Not all pyramids contain the same number of these utterances; nor do they all preserve them in the same order. The rituals which constitute the Pyramid Texts were intended to bring about the resurrection of the king after his death and allow him to ascend to a new plane of existence in the sky, while at the same time providing his sustenance and other material needs. The celestial emphasis of these texts is very marked, so much so that in a few passages a posthumous existence on or under the earth is described as something to be avoided. 47 During the Old Kingdom, only royal tombs seem to have been inscribed with texts of this nature. They are not found within the tomb chambers of nobles or commoners. It is known, however, that such persons enjoyed the benefits of glorification spells, since pictorial representations of their funerals and other rites show priests in the act of reading them from scrolls. 48 It is likely that both royalty and non-royalty shared the same basic corpus of texts for the afterlife at this period. In fact, there is relatively little in the Pyramid Texts which appears to be of explicitly royal nature, while on the other hand a number of Pyramid Text spells show clear evidence of having been composed with non-royal persons in mind, e.g. Spell 467, where the deceased king is represented as claiming not to have reviled the king, a claim which makes little sense unless originally made by someone else of non-royal status. 49 Chronologically, the next important group of ancient Egyptian writings concerned with the afterlife is the Coffin Texts.50 This is the name given to a collection of spells which number in excess of 1,000, primarily found painted in ink on the sides and other parts of coffins of the First Intermediate Period 46

For description and bibliography, see Hornung, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife, pp. 1-6 and 159-62. The most recent translation into English is J. Allen, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts (Atlanta, 2005). This also provides details of more recent publications. 47 See, for instance, Spells 258-9. To some extent, the attitude expressed toward the subterranean sphere may be conditioned by the nature and function of the spell in which it occurs and its location within the pyramid. See Allen, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, pp. 5-12. 48 See L. Kakosy, 'The Pyramid Texts and Society in the Old Kingdom', Studia Aegyptiaca 7 (1981), pp. 33-4; Assmann, Altiigyptische Totenliturgien l, pp. 13-15. 49 Kakosy, Studia Aegyptiaca 7 (1981), pp. 30 and 34. 50 For description and bibliography, see Hornung, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife, pp. 7-12 and 162-4. English translation: R.O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, 3 volumes (Warminster, 1973-8).

14

General Introduction

and Middle Kingdom. More rarely, they occur on papyri, tomb walls, receptacles for the internal organs of the deceased after their removal from the body, masks, stone sarcophagi, statues, and stelae. Not all coffins inscribed with these texts include the same number of spells; nor are they always given in the same order. The variations sometimes appear to have a regional basis. For example, within the corpus of Coffin Texts, it is possible to isolate a particular composition called 'The Book of the Two Ways'.51 This is essentially a guide which enables the deceased to reach a specific destination in the hereafter, the place where the body of Osiris lay, locked in darkness and surrounded by fire. It shows the various dangers which are encountered on the way and explains how they are to be avoided. It is generally found on the floor panels of coffins, as if placed beneath the feet of the deceased to direct their steps. The composition is found primarily on 52 coffins which come from the site of el-Bersha in Middle Egypt. A number of spells from the Pyramid Texts occur in the Coffin Texts as well, together with a large amount of previously unattested material. 53 New types of spell appear, and new themes are emphasized, for example the importance of family links, in particular those between father and son. Moreover, in the Coffin Texts, there is resolved to a much greater extent the apparent conflict between the chthonic and the celestial concepts of the afterlife. There is a celestial component in them, to be sure, just as there is a chthonic, Osirian component in the Pyramid Texts, but they demonstrate that, increasingly, however free the deceased may have been considered to travel where they wished, their base was in the land of the dead with Osiris. The third major collection of Egyptian texts concerned with the afterlife originated during the Second Intermediate Period. This collection is known 54 today as the Book of the Dead, although its actual title is Going Forth by Day. First attested on coffins and shrouds, from the 18th Dynasty onwards the spells of the Book of the Dead were written on rolls of papyrus, often 51

See E. Hermsen, Die zwei Wege des Jenseits (Freiburg and Gottingen, 1991 ); B. Backes, Das altiigyptische "Zweiwegebuch" (Wiesbaden, 2005). 52 For examples from elsewhere, see ibid., p. 159. For other possible examples of regional particularities in the Coffin Texts, see ). Hoffmeier, 'Are There Regionally-Based Theological Differences in the Coffin Texts?', in H. Willems (ed.), The World of the Coffin Texts (Leiden, I 996), pp. 45-54. s., For Pyramid Texts in the Coffin Texts, cf. ). Allen, The Egyptian Coffin Texts 8 (Chicago, 2005). 54 For description and bibliography, see Hornung, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife, pp. I 3-22 and 165-8; S. Gulden and I. Munro, Bibliographie zum altiigyptischen Totenb11ch (Wiesbaden, 1998). The Bonn University Totenbuch-Projekt is publishing many new manuscripts of this work. English translations: T.G. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day (Chicago, 1974); R.O. Faulkner (ed. C.A.R. Andrews), The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead (London, 1985).

General Introduction

15

accompanied by vignettes or small pictures illustrating the content of each spell. The earliest copies contain between 35 and 40 spells, out of a total of around 150 then known. Later copies of the Book of the Dead are often much longer. As with its predecessors, some parts of the Book of the Dead were intended to be recited on behalf of the deceased by others in the course of rituals, although the number of these is smaller than before. Other parts were to be used by the dead themselves on their arrival in the underworld. Accordingly, copies of the Book of the Dead written on papyrus were often buried with them. In addition, spells from this collection are found on temple and tomb walls, coffins, sarcophagi, rolls of leather, linen mummy wrappings, statues, sherds of pottery, and amulets. There are, apart from these three major collections of Egyptian afterlife texts, other works which deserve mention as well. From the New Kingdom onwards, there is attested a group of compositions which describe the passage of the sun through the underworld at night. Initially, they adorned the walls of royal tombs; their purpose was to link the regeneration of the king with that of the sun god, who was reborn each day in the eastern horizon after passing through the realm of the dead. Subsequently, these texts were inscribed on papyri, coffins, sarcophagi, and the tomb walls of non-royal individuals. 55 Underworld books of this sort provide valuable information about the topography of that region, its principal divisions, the names and appearances of those who inhabit them, and what was believed to happen there. Three such works are of particular importance: the Writings of the Hidden Space, more often known as the Amduat or Book of What is in the Underworld,56 the Book of Gates,57 and the Book of Caverns.58 The Amduat occurs initially in the tomb of Tuthmosis I (c.1504-1492 BC) near the beginning of the 18th Dynasty; the Book of Gates, in the tomb of Haremheb ( c.1323-1295 Bc), the last king of that dynasty. The Book of Caverns does not make its appearance until the reign of Seti I (c.1294-1279 BC) in the 19th Dynasty. The first of these is divided into twelve sections, one devoted to each hour of the night occupied by the sun's passage through the underworld. The second and third, as the names given to them imply, describe the sun's journey in terms of a series of gates or caverns through which it travels. Other works from this

55

Not all of them are available in accurate, up-to-date English translations; see the detailed survey in Hornung, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife, pp. 26-151, with bibliographical notes, including references to renderings in various languages, on pp. 170-82. 56 Ibid., pp. 27-54 and 170-3. 57 58 Ibid., pp. 55-77 and 173-5. Ibid., pp. 83-95 and 175-6.

16

General Introduction

period which treat the mysteries of the sun's nocturnal progression through the realm of the dead, sometimes conceptualized as the body of the sky 60 goddess Nut, include the Litany of Re, 59 the Book of the Night, the Book of 62 the Earth, 61 and the Enigmatic Book of the Netherworld. One of the last ceremonies to be performed over the mummy before it was buried was the Rite of Opening the Mouth. This was normally conducted at the entrance to the tomb itself. It was intended to reanimate the deceased's body and restore his mental and physical faculties. The same ceremony was performed over statues and other inanimate objects, as well as the bodies of those who died. In fact, originally, a statue of the deceased rather than the deceased himself was the object of the ritual. Although references to the Rite of Opening the Mouth occur in the Pyramid Texts and even earlier, it is only from the New Kingdom onwards that texts have been preserved recording the words recited during it; in some cases, on the walls of tombs or temples, in others, on papyri. The ritual was performed by a group comprising both priests and lay people, some of whom impersonated gods or goddesses. It was not only a verbal ritual; its words were accompanied by offerings, purifications, and applications of sacred instruments to the mummy of the deceased. 63

C. EGYPTIAN TEXTS FOR THE AFTERLIFE THE GRAECO-ROMAN PERIOD

II:

Many of the texts described in the preceding section remained in use for many centuries after the date of their composition. For example, the Rite of Opening the Mouth is attested in papyri inscribed as late as the 2nd century 64 AD. Spells which occur in the Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts may also be

59

Hornung, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife, pp. 136-47 and 179-81. 61 Ibid., pp. 122-35 and 179. Ibid., pp. 95-107 and 176. 62 Ibid., pp. 77-83 and 175. J. Darnell, The Enigmatic Netherworld Books of the Solar-Osirian Unity: Cryptographic Compositions in the Tombs of Tutankha1111111, Ra111esses VI and Ramcsses IX ( Fribourg and Giittingen, 2004) should be added to the bibliography. 63 The standard edition is E. Otto, Das iigyptische M1111diiffnungsrit11al, 2 volumes (Wiesbaden, 1960), now in need of updating. For supplementary bibliography, see Assmann, Tod 1111d Jenseits im a/ten Agypte11,pp. 408-31; J. Quack, 'Fragmente des Mundi.iffnungsrituals aus Tebtynis', in K. Ryholt (ed.), The CarlsbergPapyri 7: Hieratic Textsfrom the Collection (Copenhagen, 2006), pp. 69-70 note 2. 64 See manuscripts published by Quack in Rybolt (ed.), The CarlsbergPapyri 7: Hieratic Texts from the Collection. 60

General Introduction

17

found in papyri dating to the Graeco-Roman Period, 65 while copies of the Book of the Dead continued to be produced into that time as well.66 But although the Egyptians of the Graeco-Roman Period continued to employ these earlier works, they also composed new, original ones to use alongside them. In fact, as stated in the Preface, the years when Egypt was ruled by the Ptolemies and the Romans witnessed a burst of creativity in this particular sphere. Why this should have happened is not entirely certain. Possibly, the permanent loss of political independence and the consequent domination of many important social institutions by foreigners fostered a sort of cultural renewal in those areas of Egyptian life which most successfully preserved their traditional aspect and remained free from outside interference, one such being the area of funerary beliefs and practices. 67 This may have been a factor, but there is another, more germane reason in my opinion, which it will be best to consider below once some account has been given of mummification and burial practices in the Graeco-Roman Period. Egyptian afterlife texts of this time are similar in many respects to those of the Pharaonic Period, and may be seen to draw heavily upon them for inspiration. The characteristic textual genres, like glorifications, remain in use. Often, the newer works take one particular theme from the earlier ones and develop it at greater length. For example, Egyptian texts of the Pharaonic Period sometimes promise that the ba of the deceased will be able to visit the temples of the gods and partake of the benefits of the cults celebrated in them, especially at the major festivals. From the Graeco- Roman Period there are preserved on papyri and stelae several copies of a work called the Book of TraversingEternity(= Texts 21 and 22 below), which is devoted entirely to the aforesaid theme.

65

For late versions of Pyramid Texts spells, see T.G. Allen, Occurrencesof Pyramid Texts with Cross Indexes of These and Other Egyptian Mortuary Texts (Chicago, 1950); M. Patane, Les variantcs des Tc~tesdes Pyramides II la Basse Epoque (Geneva, 1992); also Text 58 in the present volume. For late versions of Coffin Texts, see L. Gestermann, 'Zu den spatzeitlichen Bezeugungen der Sargtexte', SAK 19 (I 992), pp. 117-32; idem, Die Uberliefenmg ausgewiililter Texte altiigyptischer Totenlitemtur ("Sargtexte") in spiitzeitlichen Grabanlagen (Wiesbaden, 2005). Two works preserved in papyri of this period, the so-called Second and Third Books of Glorifications, consist largely of spells taken from the Pyramid and Coffin Texts. See J. Assmann, 'Egyptian Mortuary Liturgies', in S. Israelit-Groll (ed.), Studies in Egyptology Presented to Miriam Lichtheim 1 (Jerusalem, 1990), pp. 8-12; idem, Altiigyptische Tote11/it11rgiet1 3 (Heidelberg, 2008), pp. 227--498. 66 For the latest manuscripts of the Book of the Dead, see M. Coenen, 'On the Demise of the Book of the Dead in Ptolemaic Thebes', RdE 52 (2001 ), pp. 69-84. In this volume, see Texts 20, 23, and 60. 67 Cf. R. Jasnow and K.-Th. Zauzich, Tlie Ancient Egyptian Book ofThoth (Wiesbaden, 2005), p. 77, and references cited there.

18

General Introduction

Similarly, texts of Pharaonic date stress the importance of respiration, the ability to breathe freely, for the survival of the deceased. In Ptolemaic times, Theban priests of Amun, the god who was supposed to suffuse all living things with breath, created a genre of compositions called Letters for Breathing, specifically designed to ensure this capacity. There are three main works of this type, called in Egyptian the First Letter for Breathing, the Second Letter for Breathing, and the Letter for Breathing Which Isis Made for her Brother Osiris (Texts 25 and 30-33). In addition to ensuring breath for the deceased, they functioned as passports granting them admission to the underworld. Some texts from earlier periods of Egyptian history refer in passing to decrees promulgated by various deities on behalf of Osiris, whose ordinances were subsequently extended to apply to deceased individuals as well. Texts 1, 53, and 54 actually preserve copies of such decrees, the first promulgated for Osiris himself and the other two for the deceased. Those for people are inscribed on wooden stelae or sherds of pottery. Like the Letters for Breathing, they are a characteristically Theban development. Other themes treated at greater or lesser length in afterlife texts of the Pharaonic Period which became the subjects of independent compositions in Graeco-Roman times include the preservation of the deceased's name and the potential of the dead to assume non-human forms. The first of these is an important concern of the Second Letter for Breathing and some other texts as well (cf. Texts 32, 33, and 39). The second is treated at length in three papyri, the spells of which allow the deceased to assume the forms of a range of birds, mammals, reptiles, and other creatures (Texts 55-57). Some compositions of the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods combine one or more themes found in works of earlier periods. One such is the Liturgy of Opening the Mouth for Breathing (Texts 16-19). This is an adapted and abridged version of the Rite of Opening the Mouth which depended upon the efficacy of ritual utterances to achieve its purpose, eschewing most of the personnel, elaborate sacrifices, and specialized equipment prescribed for that ceremony. It may have served as a convenient substitute in circumstances where the number of participants had to be restricted or where the necessary cultic implements were unobtainable. As its title suggests, however, this work was also intended to function like the letters for breathing described above. A number of rituals which were originally composed for use in the cult of the god Osiris were adapted and employed for the benefit of ordinary deceased persons in the Graeco-Roman Period, thus extending the range and number of afterlife texts available to them even further. Most of the works thus adapted were glorifications or apotropaic in nature. Several of these are translated in Part 1 of the present volume, but there are others as well. Among those which have not been included are the Rite of Bringing Sokar

General Introduction

19

out of the Shrine,68 the Revelations of the Mysteries of the Four Balls,69 the Great Ceremony of Geb,70 and the Book of Protecting the Neshmet-Bark.71 This sort of adaptation was by no means a one-way process, since there is evidence of texts which originated in the private funerary sphere being taken over for use in the cult of the god as well. As will be evident from the foregoing description, the corpus of texts concerned with the afterlife which the Egyptians had at their disposal during the Graeco-Roman Period was of diverse character. It included works written in earlier periods of Egyptian history which still remained in use, new compositions which reworked important themes from those works or combined them together in different forms, and texts borrowed from the temple cult of Osiris and adapted for the benefit of ordinary deceased people. But alongside material of this sort, there are also numerous texts composed specifically for use in the private funerary sphere for which there is no known precedent. These record beliefs, practices, and rites which are unparalleled in earlier sources. Examples include a section of Text 13 which provides instructions for a method by which a deceased woman can enjoy permanent refreshment in her tomb. A grapevine, a henna bush, and a shoot of ebony are made to grow within its interior. The first of these provides wine to drink, the second emits a pleasant perfume, and the third spreads out to supply shade when she sleeps. 72 Another passage in the same text describes a rite which she is to perform with various flowers and plants involving, among other things, the exposure of a rose to the breeze of the north wind. 73 Unique as well is Text 45, in which an unidentified speaker, presumably a divinity, gives instructions for the deceased's reception in the underworld, where she is to encounter the goddess Hathor seated on a couch, surrounded by a herd of antelope, gazelles, deer, and other wild creatures who appear to regard the dead woman as their mother. In yet another text, not translated in the present volume, a curious ceremony performed with the mummy of a deceased woman prior to burial is 68

See J.-C.Goyon, Le papyrus d'lmouthes _filsde Psintaes au Metropolitan Museum of Art de New-York (PapyrusMMA 35.9.21) (New York, 1999), pp. 95-100 and plates 41-3. For additional bibliography, see J. Quack, 'Eine Handschrift des Sokarrituals', in K. Ryholt (ed.), The Carlsberg Papyri 7: Textsfrom the Collection (Copenhagen, 2006), p. 65 note I. 69 Goyon, Le papyrus d'lmouthes fils de Psintaes au Metropolitan Museum of Art de New-York (Papyrus MMA 35.9.21), pp. 63-73 and plates 25-31. 7 Cf. J.Quack, 'Ein kleines Fragment der "grossen Liturgie des Geb" (pDuke Inv. 800)', SAK 27 (I 999), pp. 301-12, with references to earlier literature. 71 Goyon, Le papyrus d'lmouthes fils de Psintaes au Metropolitan Museum of Art de New-York (Papyrus MMA 35.9.21), pp. 75-81 and plates 32-4. 73 72 See Text 13, 1/18-20. Ibid., 1/12-13.

°

20

General Introduction

prescribed. 74 Priests are to enter in before her mummy, which is described as 'the god', while its head is facing north and its feet south, and pour out libations and burn incense. The process is repeated three times, first with the mummy repositioned so that the head faces west and the feet east, then with the head facing east and the feet west, and finally once again with the head turned towards the north and the feet to the south. One has here a ritual orientation of the mummy towards three of the four points of the compass. Why the fourth should be omitted is unclear. The repetition of the initial orientation may be due to a mistake in the text. Alternatively, the orientation of the deceased's mummy towards the south may have been avoided because of religious scruples, inasmuch as some sources associate that direction with inimical forces like the god Seth. 75 Obviously, the fact that a rite, belief, or practice is only attested in texts of the Graeco-Roman Period does not constitute incontrovertible proof that it was unknown before then. Things of this nature may have been documented in an earlier source or sources no longer extant. It is probable, nevertheless, that innovation is just as much a feature of our corpus as continuity is. This is certainly the case as far as script and language are concerned, since an undoubted innovation of the Graeco-Roman Period was the adoption of demotic as a medium for the composition and transmission of texts concerned with the afterlife. Prior to this time, all such works were written either in the hieroglyphic or the hieratic scripts. Hieroglyphs appear for the first time on seals and other small objects dating to around 3100 BC or shortly before. The earliest known hieratic texts are probably not much later. 76 Hieratic is essentially a simplified, more cursive counterpart of hieroglyphic writing. The difference in appearance between the two is illustrated by Figures 2 and 3. The first shows a wooden stela with a hymn to the solar deity painted in hieroglyphs from the 3rd century BC. The second shows an excerpt from an abbreviated version of the First Letter for Breathing written in hieratic during the 2nd century AD. For many centuries, these were the only scripts employed by the ancient Egyptians. However, at some point during the 7th century BC, a new script 74

See E. von Bergmann, Hieratische 1111d hieratisch-demotische Texte der Sammlung aegyptischerAlterthiimer des allerhochsten Kaiserhauses(Vienna, 1886), plate 9; W. Spiegelberg, 'Eine Tot~nliturgie der Ptolemiierzeit', zAs 54 ( I 918), pp. 91-2. 70 See, for instance, H. te Velde, Seth, God of Confusion (Leiden, 1967), p. 61; A.H. Gardiner, 'The Baptism of Pharaoh', JEA 36 (1950), p. 9. Note, however, that no such scruple prevented the mummy's face from being turned toward the south in other ceremonies, for example, the Rite of Opening the Mouth. Assmann, Altiigyptische Totenliturgien 2, p. 444, suggests that the latter may have been done to ensure maximum exposure of the mummy to the rays of the mid-day sun. 76 For an overview of the different Egyptian scripts and their development, see W.V. Davies, Egyptian Hieroglyphs (London, 1987).

General Introduction

21

was introduced, to which Egyptologists have given the name demotic. This script was derived from hieratic, of which it is a yet more cursive form. Figure 4 reproduces an excerpt from a demotic papyrus of the I st century BC (=Text 57 in the present volume). The word demotic is also used to denote a particular stage of the Egyptian language used in conjunction with the script of that name. In speaking of demotic texts, therefore, one is normally referring to texts characterized not only by the script in which they are written, but by their grammar as well.77 For many years after its introduction, demotic was used only to write documents: contracts, letters, deeds of sale, and the like. The earliest known demotic literary texts date to the 4th or possibly the 5th century BC, while it was only around the middle of the 1st century BC that demotic texts concerned with the afterlife began to appear. Why it should have taken so long for this to happen is unclear. The hieroglyphic and hieratic scripts were consecrated by tradition as the only ones appropriate for use in works of this nature, and initially the Egyptians may have been reluctant to entrust their well-being in the next world to texts written in the new script. Once they had made their appearance, demotic texts for the afterlife in no way supplanted those written in the earlier scripts, which continued in use alongside them. In fact, two papyri have been preserved, each of which contains hieratic and demotic versions of the same composition, one written immediately below the other. The two demotic versions are included in this volume as Texts 14 and 15. One of the earliest known demotic texts for the afterlife, P. Louvre E 3452 (Text 57), written in 56 or 57 BC, is of particular interest. Its composer employed the demotic script; however, he wrote his work not in the form of Egyptian which was customarily used with that script, but in Middle Egyptian, the language normally employed in hieroglyphic and hieratic afterlife texts. In this respect, the Louvre papyrus is a transitional document. A small number of other demotic texts of the same nature, roughly contemporary with this one, are written in Middle Egyptian as well.78 But nearly all subsequent ones employ the language characteristic of demotic texts in general, with the addition of a few archaisms borrowed from Middle Egyptian. The range of such works preserved in the demotic script is as wide as that of those written in hieroglyphs or hieratic. A few texts attested in hieroglyphs or hieratic are found in demotic as well. Apart from Texts 14 and 15 mentioned above, one demotic papyrus (Text 23) combines an abbreviated version of a 77

For a more detailed description of the demotic script and language, see M. Depauw,

A Companion to Demotic Studies (Brussels, 1997), pp. 19-47. 78

See Texts 54, 58, and 60. A further example, Text 20, is slightly later than these, having been written around the beginning of the I st century AD.

22

General Introduction

text which sometimes occurs as an annexe to the Book of Traversing Eternity with a version of Spell 125 of the Book of the Dead. A stela (Text 60) is inscribed with a demotic version of the beginning of Spell 15 of the latter work, while two papyri (Texts 20 and 58) preserve demotic copies of Book of the Dead Spell 171. Text 58 also includes a work entitled the Spellfor Presenting Offerings to Spirits, which is known from hieroglyphic and hieratic versions as well, in addition to a pair of Pyramid Text spells.

D. EGYPTIAN BELIEFS AND PRACTICES RELATING TO THE AFTERLIFE AS REFLECTED IN OTHER TEXTS OF THE GRAECO-ROMAN PERIOD, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO DEMOTIC SOURCES As noted above, the adoption of the demotic script and language as a medium for the composition and transmission of texts relating to the afterlife constituted a significant innovation on the part of those responsible. However, unlike the hieroglyphic and hieratic scripts, which were employed solely for religious purposes in the Graeco-Roman Period, demotic continued to be used to write a wide variety of non-religious texts as well. These other texts sometimes shed light on Egyptian beliefs and practices concerning the afterlife while treating them from a perspective very different to that of the texts described in the preceding section. Here, I will survey sources of this type and consider what they have to tell us about how the Egyptians of the GraecoRoman Period viewed death and attempted to come to terms with that event. A number of demotic documents shed interesting light on the more mundane aspects of mummification and its aftermath. These include instructions for the delivery of bodies to the embalmers, receipts for expenses incurred during their work, lists of materials employed by them, promises made by the embalmers to complete the mummification within a specified time, and agreements demarcating the tasks to be performed by them and other necropolis workers. 79 79

For a survey of such documents, see D. Devauchelle, 'Notes sur la administration funeraire egyptienne', BIFAO 87 (1987), pp. 141--60; F. Janot, Les instruments d'embaumement de /'Egypte ancienne (Cairo, 2000), pp. 68-70 and 73. Various Greek papyri from Egypt inform us about the practical, generally pecuniary, aspects of mummification as well. See e.g. T. Derda, 'Necropolis Workers in Graeco-Roman Egypt in the Light of the Greek Papyri', Journal of JuristicPapyrology21 (1991), pp. 13-36; D. Montserrat, 'Death and Funerals in the Roman Fayum', in M.L. Bierbrier (ed.), Portraits and Masks: Burial Customs in Roman Egypt (London, 1997), pp. 33-44. A comprehensive treatment of all the sources, both Egyptian and Greek, is in preparation by Maria Cannata.

General Introduction

23

To judge from the documents, determining who was entitled to do what was occasionally a matter of dispute. Equally contentious, sometimes, was the problem of territorial rights. Each group of practitioners had its own sphere of operations, and it was illegal for other groups to infringe upon it. The following is the full text of a document granting permission to bury a corpse to one Totoes, the son of lmuthes. It was issued by the priests who carried out the mummification, and would have constituted legal proof that Totoes, and no one else, had the right to conduct the funeral of the deceased: 'Petosiris the son of Oteyris says to Totoes the son of lmuthes, the overseer of the mystery of Osiris Buchis: perform burial for Tnaphersais the daughter of Horos, whose mother is Nebtudja. Written in year 15 (scil. of the Roman emperor Augustus), the sixth of the month Pharmouti.' 80 The date corresponds to 1 April, 15 BC. The title of Totoes identifies him as the chief embalmer of the sacred bull venerated in the town of Armant in Upper Egypt. This point is of interest because it shows that the same person could conduct the posthumous rites of both humans and sacred animals. Other demotic documents provide information about the construction and sale of tombs, 81 the interment of the deceased in them, and the posthumous rites performed for the benefit of the dead. A tax was levied on the necropolis workers in respect of each body that they brought for burial; receipts are extant which record the payment of this tax. 82 Contracts have been preserved which make provision for the appointment of priests to perform the mortuary cult for the deceased. The offices of such priests, together with their stipends, could be bought, sold, transferred to others, or inherited by the children of the original incumbents. Numerous documents have survived, both in demotic and in Greek, which record such transactions. 83 A large number of short texts have been preserved on small plaques of wood, stone, or other materials. These are often called, somewhat inaccurately, 'mummy labels'. Such texts may consist solely of the name of a deceased 80

M.A. Nur el Din and R. Vos, 'Wooden Tag for the Mummy ofTnaphersa1s', in Boswinkel and Pestman (eds.), Textes grecs, demotiques et bilingues, pp. 176-7. 81 See, for instance, P. Philadelphia 30 (N. Reich, 'The Papyrus-Archive in the Philadelphia University Museum III', Mizraim 9 [ 1938j, plates 25-6; cf. H.-J. Thissen, 'Ziegelfabrikation nach demotischen Texten', Enchoria 12 [1984], pp. 51-5). 82 See M. Depauw, The Archive of Teas and Thabis from Early Ptolernaic Thebes ( Brussels, 2000), pp. 64-5. "·' See P.W. Pestman, The Archive of the Theban Choachytes (Leuven, 1993), and S.P. Vleeming, 'The Office of a Choachyte in the Theban Area', in S.P. Vleeming (ed.), Hundred-Gated Thebes (Leiden, 1995), pp. 241-55, for those from the most important centre in Upper Egypt. Documents from Memphis and Hawara in the north are treated in D. Thompson, Memphis under the Ptolemies (Princeton, I 988), pp. 155-89, and S. Pasek, Hawara: Eine iigyptische Siedlung in hel/enistischer Zeit (Berlin, 2007), respectively. The forthcoming work of Maria Cannata cited in note 79 above will cover texts from all areas of Egypt.

24

General Introduction

person. More frequently, the name of the individual's father or mother is mentioned as well. To this information may be added the person's age, occupation, and date of death. Greek, as well as demotic, specimens of this type are known. A number of them have demotic on one side and Greek on the reverse. The demotic texts often contain a religious formula as well, of the sort found in texts for the afterlife. However, they do not actually belong to that genre of text. This is because their primary purpose was commemorative; they served as inexpensive substitutes for memorial tablets or stelae, and were sometimes designated as such. Short texts of this type had another function as well. Often, the plaques on which they were inscribed were pierced with holes, through which pieces of string were drawn to attach them to mummies. Thus attached, they served to identify the bodies for the benefit of those engaged in embalming and burying them. Similar inscriptions are son1etimes found on the mummy bandages themselves, or other associated articles. 84 The following is a translation of a typical specimen of this sort of text. It dates to the 3rd century AD and is now in the collection of the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam: 'Her ba will serve Sokar Osiris, the great god and lord of Abydos, Senenteris the daughter of Haruotes, whose mother is Taesis, the married woman from Bompae who was eleven years old.' It is of some interest to note that the deceased had been married before she reached her teens. Some girls in Graeco- Roman Egypt may even have wed as early as the age of eight. 85 Reference was made above to commemorative tablets or stelae. The earliest Egyptian examples of objects of this type date to the 1st Dynasty. Numerous specimens of Graeco-Roman date are known as well, some with hieroglyphic inscriptions like that shown in Figure 2, but many of them with demotic. Stelae with demotic inscriptions occur in a variety of shapes; often they are rectangular with a rounded top. 86 The formulae which occur on them are very similar to the ones found on the so-called mummy labels. It is not uncommon for much of the surface area of such stelae to be given over to representations of Osiris and other underworld deities. 84

An illustrated mummy label is reproduced in Figure 5. For a good introduction to this genre of text, see Quaegebeur in Boswinkel and Pestman (eds.), Textes grecs, demotiques et bilingues, pp. 232-59. References to more recent discussions are provided in Depauw, A Companion to Demotic Studies, p. 121. The forthcoming work of S.P. Vleeming, Demotic and Greek-Demotic Mummy Labels and Related Short Texts Gathered from Many Publications, will provide a comprehensive treatment of all published labels. 85 See P.W. Pestman, 'Der demotische Text der Mumientafelchen aus Amsterdam', OMRO 46 (I 965 ), p. 49 and plate Vl.3; Quaegebeur in Boswinkel and Pest man (eds.), Textes grecs, demotiques et bilingues, p. 255 note 223. For the divine names and toponyms in this text, see the Glossary. 86 See, for instance, Text 60 in the present volume.

General Introduction

25

A typical specimen is Stela Cairo 31121, inscribed during the Roman Period. 87 Here, the upper rounded portion depicts the deceased lying in the bark of the sun god, flanked on either side by crouching jackals. The ba of the deceased, in the form of a human-headed bird, is shown above his body. A sign representing the sky separates this scene from a lower one in which the god Anubis presents the deceased to Osiris and his spouse Isis. Immediately below this there is an inscription of four lines which says: 'May the ba of Pakebis the son of Psenosiris, who is called Shishen, live in the presence of Osiris Wennefer of Coptos, foremost within the mansion of gold, for ever.' In a few cases, such stelae contain longer inscriptions. The additional material is often biographical in nature. 88 Occasionally, brief descriptions of the deceased's mummification are included as well. These provide a useful supplement to the information on this topic found in other sources. 89 We know from a great many Egyptian texts, demotic and otherwise, that visitors to tomb chapels and other places where deceased persons were commemorated were enjoined to recite offering formulas and perform ritual gestures like bending the arm for them. In return, they are promised blessings of various kinds. From demotic sources, we learn that visitors could be requested to perform a ritual dance for the person commemorated as well. A memorial inscribed in one of the stone quarries at Gebel es-Silsila in Upper Egypt urges the passer-by to recite the good name of the person who left it, raise his hand, and perform a dance before the inscription. In return, it is promised, the inspiration of the god Mon tu will descend upon him. 90 Demotic magical texts yield valuable details about Egyptian conceptions of the afterlife. It was believed, for example, that magicians could compel the dead to come forth from the underworld and do their bidding. This belief is illustrated by a spell preserved in a papyrus of the 3rd century AD. The magician threatens a recalcitrant spirit, saying that if he does not obey him, 'your ba will not rise up to the sky 91 from the 25th to the morning of the 26th of the month Khoiak, when the excellent spirits rise up'.92 The 26th of Khoiak was the date of the climax of the festival of the god Sokar, when that deity was conducted in triumphant procession. Great blessings were supposed to accrue

87

W. Spiegelberg, CGC: Die demotischen Inschriften (Leipzig, 1904), pp. 47-8 and plate 11. See, for instance, the stela of Taimhotep cited in Section A above. 89 For bibliography on stelae with demotic inscriptions, see Depauw, A Companion to Demotic Studies, pp. 120-1. 90 See F. Preisigke and W. Spiegelberg, Agyptische und griechische Inschriften und Graffiti aus den Steinbruchen des Gebel Silsile (Oberiigypten) (Strasbourg, 1915), p. 17 and plate 20, no. 282. 91 0 . 1y ,nse . up.' r s1mp 88

92

P. Louvre E 3229, 5/7-9 (J.H. Johnson, 'Louvre E3229: A Demotic Magical Text', Enchoria 7 [1977], plate 14).

26

General Introduction

to everyone, whether living or dead, who participated in that event. Consequently, the magician's threat must have been considered a very grave one. On the other hand, the dead could return to earth of their own volition and attack the living if they felt angry or hostile towards them. A series of documents which demotists call 'self-dedications', in which individuals bind themselves to the service of a particular deity in return for protection against various threatening forces, supernatural and otherwise, lists among the dangers to be averted: dead men, male and female spirits, 'sleepers', and 'men of 93 the West', the latter two being alternative designations of the deceased. A composition known as the Book of Thoth, preserved in multiple copies dating to the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, records a dialogue between a disciple, called 'the lover of knowledge', and his teacher, who is identified as the god Thoth. 94 Its precise function, whether ritual, didactic, or both, is unknown, but it is evidently concerned with the acquisition of scribal training and initiation into the arcane lore of the House of Life, the repository of all knowledge pertaining to the cult and many other types of learning as well. What is of interest from our point of view is that the mastery of this lore is characterized in terms that mirror the deceased's rebirth in the afterlife, and the disciple's progress towards his goal is described as if it were a journey into the underworld, with the House of Life, or a part of it called 'the chamber of darkness', representing the realm of the dead. Accordingly, much space is devoted to descriptions of that region, whose extent, topography, and inhabitants the initiate is expected to know. 95 Particular attention is given to the various bodies of water which have to be traversed there, a feature known from the underworld books of the Pharaonic Period as well, while the imagery of the deceased's journey to the next life as a nautical voyage is paralleled in some of the texts translated in this volume. 96 Finally, demotic literary texts shed valuable light on beliefs about the afterlife. A sapiential tractate of the 1st century BC, Papyrus Insinger, comments on the fate suffered in the embalming place during the initial stages of mummification by one who was overly concerned with amassing wealth while alive: 'It is the chief of the spirits (= Anubis) who is first to punish after the taking of breath. Juniper oil, incense, natron, and salt, searing ingredients, are a "remedy" for his wounds. A "friend" who shows no mercy attacks his flesh. He is unable to say "desist" during the punishment of the assessor. The end of the pious man is his burial on the mountain (=the necropolis) together with 93

See H. Thompson, 'Two Demotic Self-Dedications', JEA 26 (1940), pp. 76-7, with additional bibliography in Depauw, A Companion to Demotic Studies, p. 136. 94 See Jasnow and Zauzich, The Ancient Egyptian Book of Thoth. 95 See the synopsis of the work's contents, ibid., pp. 3-54. 96 See, for instance, Introduction to Text 13.

General Introduction

27

his funerary equipment, (but) the possessor of wealth who acquired it through hoarding will not take it with him to the mountain.' 97 Here, the embalming table is also a judge's tribunal and the chief embalmer, Anubis, doubles as the judge who executes sentence. 98 For the wicked man, mummification, the very process which is supposed to restore life and grant immortality, becomes a form of torture from which no escape is possible. The ingredients which should preserve his body burn it instead, and the god Anubis, normally every dead person's best friend, who conducts them to the underworld, punishes him without mercy. The passage informs us that having the financial means to pay for embalmment is in itself no guarantee that one will be able to enjoy its benefits; there is a moral dimension to consider as well. Unless one has led a good life, the benefits are withheld and the mummification process brings only suffering. Understandably, this darker aspect is rarely alluded to in the corpus of afterlife texts itself. The moral dimension to which reference has just been made figures even more prominently in the next text which I will consider here. This is a work of narrative fiction, the story of Setne Khaemwast and his son Siosiris.99 The beginning of this tale relates a journey to the underworld made by the two protagonists. One day, Setne sees two funeral processions on their way to the cemetery: one, very elaborate, is for a rich man; the other is for a pauper who is wrapped only in a mat. Siosiris expresses the wish that his father will be treated in the underworld in the same way as the latter. Setne shows surprise at this statement; thereupon his son conducts him to the realm of the dead. On their arrival, they pass through a series of seven halls. In the fourth hall, ' 00 they see people suffering various torments. Some plait ropes, which are chewed up instantly by donkeys. Others strain to reach water and bread 97

P. Insinger, 18/8-13 (F. Lexa, Papyrus Jnsinger I [Paris, 1926], pp. 57-8). For this interpretation of the passage, see M. Stadler, 'Zwei Bemerkungen zum Papyrus Insinger', ZAS 130 (2003), pp. 189-96, correcting the earlier one ofJ. Quack, 'Balsamierung und Totengericht im Papyrus Insinger', Enchoria 25 ( 1999), pp. 27-38. The latter relies excessively on emendation and, in any case, fails to note the ironic tone with which words like 'remedy' and 'friend' are employed here. 98 For the link between mummification and judgement, see Section A above. It is clear from Papyrus lnsinger and other sources, e.g. Text 14 below, that this persisted into the GraecoRoman Period, contrary to the view of Assmann, Tod und Jenseitsim a/ten Agypten, pp. 392-3, that the two had become separate by the New Kingdom. On Anubis as a judge, see Stadler, ZAS 130 (2003), pp. 195-6, and references cited there. 99 Setne Khaemwast was a real person, the son of king Ramesses II (c.1279-1213 BC) and chief priest of Ptah at Memphis. He appears as a character in a number of demotic works of fiction. This particular one is preserved in P. BM EA 10822. See F. LI. Griffith, Stories of the High Priests of Memphis: Atlas (Oxford, 1900). 100 The part of the text describing their passage through the first three has been lost.

28

General Introduction

which have been suspended above them, but are prevented from doing so by people who dig pits beneath their feet. On entering the fifth hall, they see the august spirits standing in their ranks, while those accused of crin1es stand at the door pleading. The pivot of the door of the fifth hall is fixed in the right eye of one of the accused. In the sixth hall, Setne and Siosiris see the gods who constitute the tribunal of the underworld. In the seventh hall, they see Osiris himself, crowned and seated on a throne of gold, with Anubis and Thoth on either side of him. A balance stands before them in which the good and evil deeds of the deceased are weighed up. The one whose evil deeds outweigh his good deeds is handed over to the devourer of the dead; his ba and body are destroyed and he ceases to breathe. The one whose good deeds outweigh his evil deeds is made a member of the tribunal of the underworld; his ba goes to the sky together with the august spirits. The one whose good and evil deeds are equal joins the excellent spirits who follow Sokar Osiris. Subsequently, Setne sees a rich man clothed in fine linen standing near Osiris. His son informs him that this is the poor man whom he had seen being taken out for burial. Because he was judged to be virtuous, he was given the burial equipment of the rich man who was buried at the same time. The latter, because he had been wicked, was deprived of his burial equipment and punished in the underworld. He was, in fact, the man whom they had seen with the door pivot fixed in his eye. Siosiris goes on to explain about the people whom he and his father saw in the fourth hall as well, those forced to plait ropes which were instantly chewed up and those who were prevented from reaching food and water. These are evildoers too, he says. While they lived on earth, their existence was an unhappy one; and as punishment for their sins, they are afflicted with the same miseries which they experienced when alive in the underworld as well. Siosiris concludes his guided tour of the realm of the dead with the following words: 'Find it in your heart, my father Setne, he who is good on earth, they will be good to him in the West. But he who is evil, they will be evil towards him. These things are fixed [and will] never [alter].' 101 Since not all Egyptians could afford to make elaborate and expensive preparations for burial, there had to be some mechanism whereby those who could not enjoyed the same hope for salvation in the afterlife as those who could. Otherwise, only the wealthy could look forward to a blessed existence in the following of Osiris. The story of Setne reveals one means by which the poor could overcome the disadvantages of their social position 101

P. British Museum EA 10822, 1/15-2/22 (Griffith, Stories of the High Priests of Memphis: Atlas, plates 1-2). For translation, see Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature 3, pp. 138-51.

General Introduction

29

when alive. The idea that the inhabitants of the underworld would provide for them is found in the Book ofThoth as well, where reference is made to a group of benevolent beings who 'regenerate (snfr) the corpse which has no papyrus roll', in effect, performing the rites of mummification for the one who would otherwise be denied them. 102 The belief that, in certain circumstances, two individuals might actually exchange positions in the afterlife through the agency of a god is also attested in a hymn of2lst Dynasty date, where Khonsu is described as 'he who saves the one whom he loves when he is in the underworld and puts another in his place'. 103 It emerges later in the story of Setne that his son Siosiris is actually a longdead magician who has obtained permission from Osiris to return to earth in order to save Egypt from danger. He has accomplished this by entering a plant which Setne's wife eats, after which she becomes pregnant and gives birth to him in the normal way. Thus he is not, strictly speaking, a ghost, even though at the conclusion of the narrative he is said to vanish 'like a shadow'. Rather, he describes what he has done as 'rising up and returning to the womb again'. 104 There are, however, a number of other demotic narratives, some with Setne as their protagonist, which do feature dead people who appear to the living in spectral form. They manifest themselves for various reasons: to ask assistance from the living, offer guidance, transmit . C • d agamst . warnmgs, or seek vengeance 10r wrongs comm1tte t h em. !OS- As might be expected, this sort of revenant behaviour, occasioned as it generally is by some untoward event or circumstance, is rarely alluded to in contemporary texts for the afterlife.

102

Jasnow and Zauzich, The Ancient Egyptian Book of Thoth, pp. 318,320, and 324. See Assmann, Altiigyptische Totenliw,-gien2, p. 574; idem, Som1e11hymnenin thebanischen Graben (Mainz am Rhein, 1983), p. 283. 104 P. BM EA 10822, 7/2-3. The noun l]e.r can mean 'body' as well as 'womb', but the latter seems more appropriate in this context. 105 See, for instance, P. Cairo 30646 (W. Spiegelberg, CGC: Die de1110tischen Papyms [Strasbourg, 1906-8], plates 44-7; translation: Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature 3, pp. 127-38); P. Cairo 30692 (Spiegelberg, CGC: Die de111otische11 Papyms, plate 51; K.-Th. Zauzich, 'Die schlimme Geschichte von dem Mann der Gottesmutter, der ein Gespenst war', Enchoria 6 [ 1976], pp. 79-82); P. Carlsberg 207 (W.J. Tait, 'P. Carlsberg 207: Two Columns of a Setnatext', in P. Frandsen [ed.], The Carlsberg Papy,-i 1: Demotic Texts from the Collection [Copenhagen, 1991], pp. 19-46 and plates 1-3; J. Quack and K. Ryholt, 'Notes on the Setne Story P. Carlsberg 207', in P. Frandsen and K. Ryholt [eds.], The Carlsberg Papyri 3: A Miscellany of Texts and Stlldies [Copenhagen, 2000], pp. 141-63 and plates 24-6); and the so-called Petese stories (K. Ryholt, The CarlsbergPapyri 4: The Story of Petese Son of Petetum and Sevrnty Other Good and Bad Stories [Copenhagen, 1999]; idem, The Carlsberg Papy,-i6: The Petese Stories II [Copenhagen, 2006]). A comprehensive study of this sort of manifestation is currently in preparation by Christina Adams. 10 -'

30

General Introduction

E. MUMMIFICATION AND BURIAL PRACTICES IN THE GRAECO-ROMAN PERIOD All of the texts translated in this volume make at least some reference to the embalmment and funeral of the deceased. As mentioned above, a number of them were actually written for use during those ceremonies. What follows is an account of how such rites were conducted during the time when the texts in question were being produced, that is to say, during the Graeco-Roman Period. 106 In general, the embalmers of this time followed the practice of their counterparts in earlier times. They did, however, abandon certain customs while introducing new ones. Some of the later stages of the mummification process are described in considerable detail in Text 11 below, which is unfortunately incomplete. When a person died, there was normally an initial mourning period of four days' length, after which his or her corpse was handed over for mummification. According to some sources, this was performed in a structure called the 'place of purification' (w('b.t); others name the venue as the 'perfect house' (pr-nfr). Although in some contexts these two terms may denote separate structures where different stages of the embalming process were carried out, they could also be used as synonyms, or one employed to designate a specific part of the other. 107 Originally, the embalming place was a sort of tent or booth, erected temporarily near the tomb. In later periods, when not every person had a sepulchre of his or her own,

106

On the mummification and burial practices of this time, see A. Charron (ed.), La mart n'est une fin: pratiques funeraires en Egypte d'Alexandre a Cleopatre (Aries, 2002); N. Strudwick and J. Taylor (eds.), The Theban Necropolis, Past, Present and Future (London, 2003), pp. 155-201; Riggs, The Beautiful Burial in Roman Egypt; F. Dunand and R. Lichtenberg, 'Pratiques et croyances funeraires en Egypte romaine', in W. Haase (ed.), Auf,tieg und Niedergang der riimischen Welt II 18.5 (Berlin and New York, 1995 ), pp. 3216-3315; L. Kakosy, 'Probleme der Religion im romerzeitlichen Agypten', ibid., pp. 2997-3023; Montserrat, in Bierbrier (ed.), Portraits and Masks: Burial Customs in Roman Egypt, pp. 33-44; and K. Lembke, C. Fluck, and G. Vittmann, Agyptens spate Bliite: Die Romer am Nil (Mainz am Rhein, 2004), pp. 51-65. More general works on Egyptian mummification and burial include A.C. Aufderheide, The Scientific Study of Mummies (Cambridge, 2003), pp. 212-59; Taylor, Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt; S. Ikram and A. Dodson, The Mummy in Ancient Egypt (London, 1998); S. D'Auria, P. Lacovara, and C. Roehrig (eds.), Mummies and Magic: Tlze Funerary Arts of Ancient Egypt (Boston, 1988); Janot, Les instruments d'embaumement de l'Egypte ancienne; and F. Dunand and R. Lichtenberg, Les momies et la mart en Egypte (Paris, 1998). All six make some reference to developments in this sphere during the last phases of Egypt's history. 107 See Introduction to Text 14.

General Introduction

31

communal embalming places were constructed in cemeteries, often utilizing more permanent materials like mud brick. 108 After an initial washing, the body was laid on a table. First it was eviscerated, to impede rapid decay, and the brain was removed. The latter operation was effected by introducing a chisel or similar implement into the cranial cavity via the nostril and extracting the brain piecemeal through that orifice. The viscera were removed either through an incision made in the lower abdomen on the left hand side or via the anus. However, this practice seems not to have been universal, since mummies of Graeco-Roman date have been discovered with the viscera intact. Practice may have varied from one place to another. In a Roman Period cemetery at Dush in the Khargeh Oasis, for instance, the excavators found only a few cases where corpses had been eviscerated, although removal of the brain was the rule. ' 09 In a cemetery of roughly the same date at Ismant elKharab in the nearby Dakhleh Oasis, on the other hand, seven out of ten bodies examined had had the viscera removed. 110 But expense may have been a factor as well, with wealthier individuals being able to afford the more elaborate mummification technique, since eviscerated and uneviscerated mummies have been found together at the same site. In earlier periods, the Egyptians preserved the liver, lungs, spleen or stomach, and intestines in special containers called canopic jars. Each of these organs was under the protection of one of the four children of the god Horus: Amseti guarded the liver, Hapi the lungs, Duamutef the spleen or stomach, and Qebehsenuef the intestines. The stoppers of canopic jars were often made to resemble the heads of these deities. Such vessels continued in use into the Ptolemaic Period, although largely superseded by chests with the guardian deities depicted on the sides. 111 Occasionally, these were buried with the dead even when no evisceration had taken place, or when the internal organs had been treated and returned to the abdominal cavity, or wrapped up 108

For an Egyptian depiction of a 'perfect house', showing it as a fairly substantial edifice with a cavetto cornice, see P. Frandsen, 'On the Root nfr and a "Clever" Remark on Embalming', in J. Osing and E. Nielsen (eds.), The Heritage of Ancient Egypt: St11diesin Hono11rof Erik Iversen ( Copenhagen, 1992), pp. 56-7. For what may be the remains of actual embalming places from our period, see D. Aston, 'The Theban West Bank from the Twenty-fifth Dynasty to the Ptolemaic Period', in N. Strudwick and J. Taylor (eds.), The Theban Necropolis, Past, Present and F11ture(London, 2003), pp. 159-60; Janot, Les instruments d'embaumement de /'Egypte ancienne, pp. 42-3. 109 Dunand and Lichtenberg in Haase (ed.), Aufstieg zmd Niedergang der ri:imischenWelt II 18.5, pp. 3262-3. 110 A.C. Aufterheide et al.,'Human Mummification Practices at Ismant el-Kharab', /EA 85 (1999), p. 202. 111 See D. Aston, 'Canopic Chests from the 21st Dynasty to the Ptolemaic Period', Agypten und Levante 10 (2000), pp. 159-78. An example of such a chest is reproduced in Figure 6.

General Introduction

32

between the corpse's legs. This may reflect a view, presented in Text 14 below, that the children of Horus were not simply the guardians of the viscera, but were actually identical with them. Perhaps the burial of canopic chests or vessels with uneviscerated bodies was thought to ensure external as well as internal protection for the deceased. The implements used for evisceration and other stages of the embalming process included knives, hooks, pincers, needles, syringes, and clamps, as well as the chisel to which reference has been made above. Since many of these objects were used for other purposes as well, it is difficult to identify specimens of them as embalmers' tools unless they are explicitly labelled as such or discovered in archaeological contexts which leave no doubt as to how they were employed. 112 Some implements of this nature have actually been found inside mummies, where they may have been left inadvertently. 113 A number of specimens have been preserved of the tables used in the operations described here. The most elaborate have the appearance of a bed or bier formed in the . 114 sh ape o f a 110n. Following evisceration, the next important stage in the process of mummification involved the dessication of the corpse. This was accomplished by means of natron, a compound of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. This substance dehydrates and purifies chemically by destroying fat and grease. The ancient Egyptians employed it as a purifying agent in daily life and temple ritual, as well as in the embalming process. Natron was applied to the corpse both internally and externally. Bodies were laid out on tables or mats, heaped with natron crystals. In addition, bags of the substance, or scraps of linen impregnated with it, were inserted in the bodily cavities. Caches of materials used in the dessication process have been discovered in many places. Because they had been in contact with the body they had to be buried with respect, but on account of the impurities which they had absorbed, they could not be interred in the same place as the mummy itself. 115 When the corpse had been dehydrated, it was washed and anointed with oils and unguents. Both the cranial cavity and the thorax were filled with molten resin mixed with other substances. Text 14 mentions the following

112

Cf. the find discussed in Janot, Les instruments d'embaumement de l'Egypte ancienne, pp. 99-10 I. For implements with no secure archaeological context, see ibid., pp. 119-40. i 1, .b.d · l I ., p. I 62. 14

Ibid., pp. 53 and 131-2; Ikram and Dodson, The Mummy in Ancient Egypt, p. 107, with illustrations; A. Bataille, Les Memnonia (Cairo, 1952), pp. 206-7; and H. Winlock, 'A Late Dynastic Embalmer's Table', ASA£ 30 (1930), pp. !02-4. For embalming tables from earlier periods, see L. Habachi, 'An Embalming Bed of Amenhotep, Steward of Memphis under Amenophis III', MDAIK 22 (I 967), pp. 42-7. 115 Janot, Les instruments d'embaumement de l'Egypte ancienne, pp.91-118. :

General Introduction

33

ingredients: Syrian unguent, myrrh, incense, resin, and cow's fat. Sawdust and linen impregnated with resin were sometimes used as packing materials as well. Finally, the embalming incision, if there was one, was closed and the entire body was coated liberally with molten resin or wood pitch. This had a practical value, since resin is an effective preserving agent and sealant, but the Egyptians attributed other, symbolic, powers to that substance as well, for example, that of warding off evil. 116 There were, in addition, a number of other operations which could be carried out. In some mummies of the Graeco-Roman Period, the eye sockets were filled with artificial eyes; with others, gold leaf was applied to the face, nails, or other parts of the body. The flesh of the gods themselves was believed to be made of gold. Thus, the Egyptians thought to divinize the deceased by gilding their features. 117 Now came the time for swathing the corpse in linen. The wrappings used for this purpose were of three basic types: shrouds, bandages, and pads. 118 The first were used to envelop the whole corpse or a part of it; the last were employed as stuffing to reproduce as far as possible the shape of the body in life. Bandages served to hold the shrouds and pads in place. The number seven was believed to possess regenerative and apotropaic powers by the Egyptians and, with some mummies of the Graeco-Roman Period one finds that the number of wrappings employed, whether shrouds or layers of bandages, is seven or a multiple thereof. 119 One such mummy, for example, was enveloped in seven shrouds held in place by fourteen bandages. 120 Wrappings were sometimes numbered as a guide to the embalmers. 121 The linen used to swathe the corpse might be purchased specifically for that purpose. Alternatively, it might be drawn from the household stores of the deceased or their

116

See Smith, Papyrus Harkness, pp. 127-8, and references cited there. Ibid., p. 104; Dunand and Lichtenberg, Les momies et la mart en Egypte, p. 102 ; idem in Haase (ed.), Aufstieg und Niedergang der riimischen Welt II 18.5, pp. 3266-8; Z. Hawass, Valley of the Golde11Mummies (New York, 2000), pp. 53-69. 118 See Janot, Les instruments d'embaumement de l'Egypte ancienne, pp. 70-5; F. Silvano, 'Bende e techniche di bandaggio nell'antico Egitto', EVO 27 (2004), pp. 73-80. Ostraca found at Deir el-Medina actually depict the different pieces of cloth employed in mummification; see Janot, Les instruments d'embaumement de /'Egypte ancienne, p. 86, figures 24 and 25. 119 Ibid., p. 71; B. Bruyere and A. Bataille, 'Une tombe greco-romaine de Deir el-Medineh (suite)', BIFAO 38 (1939), p. 74. On the magical significance of the number seven, see zum Symbolgehalt M. Rochholz, Schiipfung, Feindvernichtung, Rege11eration:Unters11c/11111gen der machtgeladenen Zahl 7 im a/ten Agypten (Wiesbaden, 2002). 120 See Bataille, Les Me11111011ia, p. 214. 121 Janot, Les instruments d'embaumement de /'Egypte a11cie11ne, pp. 75-80. There is a much more detailed study of numbers and other scribal notes on mummy bandages in H. Kockelmann, Untersuchzmgenzu den spiiten Totenbuch-Handschriften auf Mumienbinden 2 (Wiesbaden, 2008), pp. 147-89. 117

34

General Introduction

families. 122 Those who could afford it were sometimes wrapped in cast-off linen previously used to clothe divine images in the ten1ples.123 In the most careful wrapping, even the smallest appendages, fingers and toes, received separate treatment. The arms usually were either extended at the sides of the body or else folded across the chest. 124 A few mummies have one arm extended and the other lying over the abdomen. 125 The mummies of young males sometimes have the hands held over the genital area. Normally, the arms were enveloped along with the body. In exceptional cases, the individual limbs were left free. Great effort was expended on the wrappings of the mummy in GraecoRoman times. It is common to find the outer layers oflinen wound round the body in elaborate geometrical patterns. Sometimes, these were embellished with gilded studs or bosses. 126 Modern-day writers are accustomed to speak of a decline in the standard of embalming techniques at this tin1e, with all of the embalmers' care being devoted to the wrappings which enswathed the deceased while, conversely, very little attention was given to their actual bodies. It is true that some mummies of the Graeco-Roman Period have been crudely or hastily embalmed. There are even instances known in which the wrappings conceal incomplete bodies, or composites made up of parts of more than one individual. But two points need to be taken into consideration. First, low standards were by no means universal. At the aforementioned Roman Period cemetery of Dush, for example, the quality of the embalming was found to be relatively good. 127 Secondly, although the Egyptians believed in survival after death in corporeal form, the body which was supposed to provide a vehicle for this survival was not the earthly one, but a new eternal one which came into existence as a consequence of the mummification rites, comprising the wrappings and everything which lay beneath them. What was

122

For ordinary garments re-used as mummy linen, see e.g. Dunand and Lichtenberg, Les momies et la mart en Egypte, pp. I 03-4. 123 Smith, Papyrus Harkness, pp. 94-5. 124 P. Gray, 'Notes Concerning the Position of Arms and Hands of Mummies with a View to Possible Dating of the Specimen', ]EA 58 ( 1972), pp. 200-1, states that, in a sample of one hundred and eleven specimens X-rayed by him, wrapping with the arms extended was more common among the Roman Period mummies while wrapping with arms folded across the chest was more usual among the Ptolemaic ones. Likewise, at the Roman Period cemetery of Dush, the former was the norm. 125 See, for instance, Dunand and Lichtenberg in Haase (ed.), Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt II 18.5, p. 3264. For a picture of a New Kingdom mummy with its arms positioned thus, see Ikram and Dodson, The Mummy in Ancient Egypt, p. 124. 126 See Corcoran, Portrait Mummies from Roman Egypt, pp. 82-125. 127 Dunand and Lichtenberg in Haase (ed.), Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt II 18.5, pp. 3260-2.

General Introduction

35

important was to preserve the physical integrity of this new entity, and not merely the corpse which formed one of its constituent elements. The accessories provided for mummies in the Graeco-Roman Period varied greatly, depending on what the families of the deceased could afford. Amulets of different sorts might be placed on the corpse itself or inserted within the wrappings. Some of these were supposed to impart specific powers to the deceased, e.g. sight, freedom of movement, or the retention of eternal youth. Others were apotropaic in nature, and protected the deceased from potential harm. Amulets were fabricated from many different materials, among them precious metals, stone, glazed composition, glass, and wood. 128 Pieces of papyrus inscribed with figures of deities, animals, and other objects, could · funct10n. · 129 a1so serve an amu 1etJc The completely wrapped mummy might be further enveloped in an outer shroud of reddish hue. The Egyptians believed that this colour possessed apotropaic powers. 130 Over this might be placed a network pattern of green and yellow beads, a garment modelled upon a similar one worn by Osiris. Alternatively, an imitation of such a net might be painted directly on the shroud. 131 Other outer coverings bear elaborate representations depicting the deceased, Osiris, or both together. A few specimens actually show the deceased being presented to Osiris by the god Anubis, the guide and guardian of the West.132 The head of the mummy received special treatment. Often it was covered with an elaborate mask made of cartonnage or plaster. 133 Occasionally, additional pieces of cartonnage were placed over the chest, abdomen, and legs, each panel being heavily decorated with religious symbols. A further piece of the same material might be placed over the feet, on which was depicted a pair of sandals. In some parts of Egypt, notably the Fayyum, a flat wooden panel

128

For a selection of examples dating to our period, see Figure 7; Charron (ed.), La mart n'est fin: pratiques funeraires en Egypte d'Alexandre a Cleopatre, pp. 108-9. 129 See Kockelmann, Untersuch1mge11 zu den spiite11Tote11lmch-Handschriftenauf Murnienbi11den2, pp. 309-46. 130 See Smith, The Mortuary Texts of Papyrus BM 10507, p. 95; Corcoran, Portrait Mummies from Roman Egypt, pp. 28-9 and 39-44. On the symbolism of the colour red in this context, see ibid., pp. 55-8. 131 See ibid., pp. 7, 134-5, 137, and 151; M. Zecchi, A Study of the Egyptian God Osiris Hemag (Bologna, 1996), pp. 69-70 and 78; ). Quack, 'Ein neuer funeriirer Text der Spiitzeit (pHohenzollern-Sigmaringen II)', ZAS 127 (2000), p. 80. 132 See, for instance, the shroud cited in note 9 above. 133 A Greek papyrus of the 2nd century BC from the Fayyum gives permission to two artisans to exercise the trade of painting and gilding such masks provided that they pay the requisite trade taxes regularly. See W. Clarysse, 'Gilding and Painting Mummy Masks', in B. Palme (ed.), Wiener Papyri a/s Festgabezum 60. Geburtstag van Hermann Harrauer (Vienna, 2001), pp. 67-70 (reference courtesy of Maria Cannata). A good example of a gilded mask is reproduced in Figure 8 of this volume. !Ille

36

General Introduction

with a portrait of the deceased painted on it was fixed over the face. The earliest specimens of portraits of this type date to the 1st century AD. They originated among Greeks living in Egypt and their style is purely Hellenistic. 134 According to the testimony of numerous Egyptian texts, the process of mummification normally extended over a period of seventy days. This was the length of time for which the star Sothis became invisible prior to its heliacal rising at the beginning of each year. The Egyptians explained this as a cycle of death followed by rebirth. Just as the star was reborn after a period of seventy days, so too the deceased, it was thought, would be reborn after seventy days in the embalmers' workshop. 135 Had the Egyptians wished, they could have completed the mummification process much more quickly. It has been calculated that the maximum amount of time required for the dessication of a corpse would have been one Egyptian week, or ten days, 136 and in fact, we know from a Greek papyrus of the 1st century AD an instance in which a woman's mummification was completed in only nine days. 137 But the amount of time expended on preparing a body for burial was not determined by practical considerations alone. As noted above in Section A, mummification was carried out in conjunction with a series of rituals, intended to revivify the deceased and integrate them within the hierarchy of gods and blessed spirits. It was these which occupied the greater part of the seventy days. Each stage in the mummification process was accompanied by ritual acts or gestures, for example, pouring libations of water or fumigating with incense. At the same time, formulas had to be recited, prayers uttered, and hymns intoned. The rites accompanying the embalming process were performed both day and night. In some instances, the officiants acted in their own capacity as priests; in others, they impersonated gods or goddesses who were supposed to present specific types of unguent or linen bandages to the deceased. That section of the En1balming Ritual (Text 11) which deals with the bandaging of the head, for example, names more than a dozen divinities who are said to participate in the act. 134

For a good selection of colour reproductions of shrouds, masks, cartonnages, portraits, and other accessories of the sort described here, see S. Walker and M.L. Bierbrier, Ancient Faces (London, 1997); ). Corbelli, The Art of Death in Graeco-Roman Egypt (Princes Risborough, 2006), pp. 53-62. On the mummy portraits in particular, see Doxiadis, The Mysterious Fay11111 Portraits;Corcoran, Portrait Mummies from Roman Egypt; B. Borg, M11111ie11portriits: Chronologie rmd kultcreller Kontext (Mainz am Rhein, 1996 ). A particularly fine specimen, still attached to its mummy, is reproduced in Figure 9 in the present volume. 5 '-' See 0. Neugebauer and R. Parker, Egyptian Astronomical Texts I (London, 1960), pp. 73-4; Janot, Les instruments d'embawnement de l'Egypte ancienne, pp. 14-15 note 20; and Rochholz, Schopfung, Feindvernichtrmg, Regeneration: Untersuchwzgen wm Symbolgehalt der machtgeladenen Zahl 7 im a/ten Agypten, pp. 175-6. Note that this figure= 7 x 10 days. 136 See ).-C. Goyon and P. Josset, Un corps pour /'eternite (Paris, 1988), p. 75. 137 Bataille, Les Memnonia, p. 216.

General Introduction

37

The mummification ofOsiris, unlike the normal Egyptian one, was effected in the course of a single night. To make the latter conform in length with that of the god, there was a ritual re-enactment or recapitulation of the entire process during the nocturnal hours immediately before the day of burial, called in some sources 'the night of mummification'. One of its components was an hourly vigil conducted over the body of the deceased, the so-called Stundenwachen, modelled on that kept over the corpse of Osiris to protect it . attac ks from h.1s enemies. . 138 agamst Egyptian sources do not state precisely how long each individual stage of the mummification process lasted. A number of texts make specific reference to a period of thirty-five days within the seventy, effectively the second half of that period; this seems to have been the amount of time that was allotted for the wrapping. 139 How long each of the preceding stages lasted is impossible to say. A demotic embalmers' agreement written in 157 BC specifies the fourth and sixteenth days, along with the thirty-fifth, as marking important steps in the embalming process, but without indicating what these were. 140 As noted above, the fourth day after death was normally when the body was handed over to the embalmers for treatment. Perhaps the sixteenth day marked the conclusion of the dessication process. The inscription on the stela of a high-ranking priest who died in 73 BC states that from the fifty-second to the fifty-sixth day of his mummification, unguents were cooked for him, and wrappings of fine linen and amulets like those of the temples of Egypt were brought to him. 141 No other text singles this period out for special mention. Perhaps, when the means were available, it was at this point that the higher quality bandages and other items procured from the temples and elsewhere were applied to the mummy. 142 The stela goes on to say that thereafter all purifications and rites were performed for the priest, and a 'great and perfect qs3.t was carried out for him' from the sixty-eighth until the morning of the seventy-second day after the commencement of his embalming. 143 The noun q53.t can mean either 138

See Introductions to Texts 12 and 14. See Introduction to Text 14 below. 140 A.F. Shore and H.S. Smith, 'A Demotic Embalmers' Agreement', Acta Orientalia 25 (I 960), pp. 277-94. 141 Stela Cairo 31099, line 8 (Spiegelberg, CGC: Die demotische11I11schriften,pp. 28-33 and plate 6 ). 142 See note 123 above. 143 Stela Cairo 31099, line 9, where one should read [ ibt 3 smwsw 6 srtw; 11 sw JO, 'from the 6th of Epip until the morning of the I 0th'. ( The mummification began on the 28th of Pharmouti in this instance.) This passage is frequently cited in the literature, almost invariably by those who have never looked at the original and therefore report it inaccurately. For a recent example, see Assmann, Altagyptische Totenliturgien 2, p. 277. 139

38

General Introduction

'mummification' or 'burial'. It is unlikely to signify the latter here, since the time devoted to it seems to overlap with the period of the embalmment itself. I suspect therefore that a 'great and perfect mummification' is what is involved, this being the ritual recapitulation of the entire process normally conducted on the night immediately before burial, to which reference has already been made above. The fact that this particular recapitulation seems to have been more elaborate and lasted longer than a single night may be due to the status of the one for whose benefit it was performed. As this example shows, wealth undoubtedly played a part in determining what was done to whom and when, and in practice the length of time devoted to each part of the mummification process may have varied from one individual to another, . upon t heir . means. 144 depen d1ng Although some texts characterize the period of mummification as one of mourning, it is clear that it was a time for festivity as well. A demotic literary text of Ptolemaic date describes the mortuary preparations for a priest who was accorded a 'festive entry into the perfect house of sixteen days'.145 Text 14 translated below refers to a series of festive processions which were held in honour of the deceased: eight during the first thirty-four days in the embalming place and nine in the days thereafter, making a total of seventeen processions during the entire period of seventy days. Similarly, in Text 21, 5/27-8, the deceased is told 'All the ceremonies of the embalming place will be conducted for you on the days of festive procession.' A further demotic papyrus inscribed with the regulations of a guild of priests stipulates that, when a member has died, the guild will subsidize 'two days of drinking in the embalming place' for those belonging to his family. 146 Such gatherings may have resembled a modern-day wake. At the conclusion of the mummification rites, the deceased was placed in a coffin or mummy case, if his or her family could afford one. Instances are known where more than one person was buried in the same coffin, presumably for reasons of economy. The less well-off were interred without coffins or laid out on a flat wooden board. Text 51 below is inscribed on such an object. The poor did not even have this. Several different types of coffin were in use during the Graeco- Roman Period. One relatively inexpensive type was made out of pottery in the form 144

For further discussion of the evidence pertaining to the length of the various parts, see A.F. Shore, 'Human and Divine Mummification', in A.B. Lloyd (ed.), Studies in Pharaonic Religion and Society in Honour of f. Gwyn Griffiths (London, 1992), pp. 226-35. 145 P. Cairo 30646, 4/24-5 (Shore and Smith, Acta Orientalia 25 [1960], p. 291). Could the 'sixteenth day' discussed above be the final day of this period? 146 P. Berlin 31 ISA, line 6 (F. de Cenival, Les associations religieuses en Egypte [Cairo, 1972], p. 106 and plate 8).

General Introduction

39

of a rectangular box or, alternatively, a 'slipper' left open at the head end for the insertion of the mummy. 147 In some places, the dead were buried in receptacles woven from reeds. Anthropoid coffins or mummy cases could be made of cartonnage, wood, or a mixture of mud and straw. Some of these were gilded and elaborately decorated with religious texts and motifs. 148 Other wooden coffins were rectangular in shape, with vaulted or gabled lids and corner posts. Again, these could be elaborately decorated. 149 A popular motif was the depiction of the sky goddess Nut on the interior of the coffin lid, arms outstretched to protect the deceased. She was conceived of as the mother of the dead, the agent of their rebirth, and she personified the object on whose lid she was depicted. In the Roman Period, her image was sometimes supplemented by representations of the zodiac, planets, and other astronomical subjects. The floor or base of the coffin might depict Nut as well. 150 Well-to-do people might be buried in nests of two or three anthropoid coffins, or an anthropoid coffin within a rectangular one. 151 So-called 'shrine' sarcophagi consisted of an upright wooden cabinet with doors at the front which opened to display an anthropoid coffin inside. 152 Also employed during this period were close-fitting limestone sarcophagi, used independently of an inner coffin. 153 Heavier sarcophagi of granite and similar materials were restricted to use by high officials, and are not found after the beginning of the Ptolemaic Period. Occasionally, sarcophagi and coffins from earlier times were appropriated by the less scrupulous and re-employed in their own burials. 154 Normally, the burial took place immediately after the conclusion of the seventy day period of mummification. Exceptions are known, however. In 147

See Corbelli, The Art of Death in Graeco-Roman Egypt, pp. 48-9, with illustration; Dunand and Lichtenberg in Haase (ed.), Aufstieg und Niedergang der romisc/ien Welt II 18.5, p. 3285. 148 For a selection of examples reproduced in colour, see Walker and Bierbrier, Ancient Faces, pp. 29-36. See also Figure 10 in the present volume. 149 Corbelli, The Art of Death in Graeco-Roman Egypt, pp. 46-7. 150 See, for instance, some of the coffins of the so-called 'Soter group', one of which is illustrated in Figure 11, Riggs, The Beautiful Burial in Roman Egypt, pp. 182-94, and F.-R. Herbin, Padiimenipet fils de Soter: Histoire d'1me famille dans /'Egypte romaine (Paris, 2002). 151 e.g. Walker and Bierbrier, Ancient Faces, pp. 29-30; Corbelli, The Art of Death in GraecoRoman Egypt, p. 49. 152 See Riggs, The Beautiful Burial in Roman Egypt, pp. 149-55; Dunand and Lichtenberg, Les momies et la mart en Egypte, p. 107. 153 For illustrations, see Corbelli, The Art of Death in Graeco-Roman Egypt, p. 46; Ikram and Dodson, The Mummy in Ancient Egypt, pp. 49 and 272-3. 154 See the family burial at Thebes described later in this section. Figure 12 shows the lid of the stone sarcophagus originally made for Ankhnesneferibre, daughter of the 26th Dynasty ruler Psammetichus II {595-589 BC) and subsequently usurped by a man called Pamonthes, brother of the head of that family. C. Riggs, 'Roman Mummy Masks from Deir el-Bahri', JEA 86 (2000), pp. 136-40, cites instances of recycled coffins from the Theban region.

40

General Introduction

extreme cases, the interval between death and burial could be six years or longer. 155 The mummy may have spent all or part of this period in a temporary tomb in such instances, before its final interment took place. Some maintain that the dead were kept in the homes of their living relatives for a period of time after their demise, but the evidence for this has been disputed. 156 On the day of the interment itself, the deceased was conveyed from the place of embalming to his or her tomb amidst much mourning, at the head of a procession of friends and relatives. At the entrance to the tomb, the Rite of Opening of the Mouth or an equivalent thereof was performed on the mummy. Other rites were enacted during the funeral as well. The day of interment is called the 'burial feast' in some texts of the Graeco- Roman Period. 157 Although an occasion for sadness, it was not without a festive aspect. After the interment had taken place, the relatives of the deceased might enjoy a banquet at the tomb in honour of his or her memory. Sin1ilar banquets were also held on important feast days like the Festival of the Valley,158 and possibly on the anniversary of the interment itself. 159 There are relatively few large tombs in Egypt with a built stone superstructure which can be dated to the Graeco- Roman Period. The most notable example is the tomb of Petosiris, a high priest of Thoth, at Tuna el-Gebel in Middle Egypt. 160 This is constructed of limestone and has the appearance of a temple with a columned pronaos. Behind this is an offering chapel with a shaft descending to the burial chamber below. Petosiris died in the reign of Ptolemy I (305-282 BC). The reliefs in his tomb depict traditional religious subjects as well as scenes from daily life. Some of the work in the pronaos shows signs of having been influenced by Greek art. 161 A much later specimen of a free-standing tomb is that of a man called Kotinos at 'Ezbet Bashandi in the Dakhleh Oasis. 162 This has been dated to the 1st century AD. It too is decorated with reliefs and texts dealing with religious 155

Quaegebeur in Boswinkel and Pestman (eds.), Textesgrecs, demotiques et /Jiling11es, p. 238. Montserrat in Bierbrier (ed.), Portraits and Masks: Burial Customs in Roman Egypt, pp. 38-40. 157 See, for example, Text 12 below. 158 See Introduction to Text 8. 159 Dunand and Lichtenberg in Haase (ed.), A11fstieg1111d Niedergang dcr ro111ischenWelt II 18.S, pp. 3290-1. 160 Sec Figure 13; G. Lefebvre, Le to111beaude Petosiris, 3 volumes (Cairo, 1923-4); N. Cherpion, J.-P. Corteggiani, and ).-F. Gout, Le tom/Jeau de Petosiris ,i Touna el-Ge/Jcl (Cairo, 2007). 161 The restriction of Greek-influenced forms to this portion of the tomb is significant. The decoration in the rear part is more traditional (Riggs, The Beautiful Burial in Roman Egypt, p. 137). 162 ). Osing et al., Denkma/er der Oase Dach/a ,ws dem Nachlass van Ahmed Fakhry (Mainz am Rhein, 1982), pp. 58-69 and plates 12-19, 64-69. 156

General Introduction

41

themes. Within the sandstone superstructure are six rooms, three at the front of the edifice and three at the rear. The middle room of the rear suite probably contained the burial. More often, the deceased were buried in chambers cut into the rock. W.M.F. Petrie investigated several tombs of this sort at the site of Atripe. One in particular is well-known because of the horoscopes and representations of the zodiac painted on its ceiling. The tomb was made for two brothers called Ibpameni and Pamehit, whose horoscopes reveal that they were born in 148 and 141 Ao. 163 Two other notable rock-cut tombs are those of Petubastis and Petosiris at Qaret el-Muzawwaqa, again in the Dakhleh Oasis. 164 The former consists of a single chamber reached by a passageway; the second of a pair of chambers. The tombs have been dated to the 1st century AD or slightly later. Both are abundantly decorated with painted representations, in a predominantly Egyptian style. The walls are covered with religious scenes; the ceilings depict the zodiac. These latter depictions are of particular interest because they conflate Egyptian, Greek, and possibly Mithraic symbols. Yet other tombs were completely subterranean, their burial chambers reached by means of a vertical shaft. The tomb of Psenosiris at Atripe, late Ptolemaic or early Roman in date, is one such. 165 Its shaft leads to a small anteroom which leads in turn to the burial chamber proper. The latter has niches for the reception of mummies in its rear and lateral walls. The tomb is richly decorated throughout with scenes and texts in sunk relief of remarkably fine quality. 166 It should not be assumed that all tombs of the Graeco- Roman Period were as elaborate as those described in the preceding paragraphs. Poorer people had to be content with less imposing resting places, often undecorated. Small pyran1idal or pyramid-capped tomb chapels were constructed at Thebes during the Ptolemaic Period. 167 Some individuals were buried in bricklined chambers with either vaulted or flat roofs, 168 others in simple pits hastily excavated in the ground. 169 The type of tomb chosen may have '"' W.M.F. Petrie, Athribis (London, I 908), pp. 12-13 and plates 36-42; 0. Neugebauer and R.A. Parker, Egyptian Astronomical Texts 3 (Providence and London, 1969), pp. 96-8 and plate 51. lM Osing et al., Denkmiiler der Oase Dach/a aus dem Nachlass vo11Ah111ed Fakhry, pp. 71-101 and plates 20-45, 63, 70-1. Cf. Riggs, The Bea11tiji1/Burial in Roman Egypt, pp. 161-4. '''· R. el-Farag, U. Kaplony-Heckel, and K. Kuhlmann, 'Recent Archaeological Explorations at Athribis (ffw.t Rpjj.t)', MDAIK 41 (1985), pp. 4-8 and plates 9-17. 1 For other examples of painted and carved tomb decoration from this period, see "" I. Kaplan, Grabmalerei und Grabreliefsder Riimerzeit (Vienna, 1999). 1 7 " C.A.R. Andrews, Ptolemaic Legal Textsfro111the Theban Arca (London, 1990), p. 87. 168 H. Carter in: The Earl of Carnarvon and H. Carter, Five Years' Explomtion at Thebes ( London, 1912), pp. 42-4 and plates 33-4. 169 W.M.F. Petrie, Roman Portraits and Memphis 4 (London, 1911 ), pp. 2-3; L. Corcoran, 'Hawara Portrait Mummy No. 4', ]EA 71 ( 1985), pp. 192-3.

42

General Introduction

depended as much upon the nature of the available terrain as upon the financial resources of the deceased. An interesting practice is attested at the cemetery of Tuna el-Gebel, mentioned above as the location of the tomb of the high priest Petosiris. Starting in the Ptolemaic Period, a number of people were buried there in 'houses' constructed of brick or limestone. These are arranged in streets, and have doors and windows. Typically they contain two rooms, one of which was supplied with a niche to receive the actual burial. Some are elaborately decorated with painted scenes drawn from Greek mythology. The decoration of others displays a purer Egyptian style. 170 Similar buildings have been found at Bagawat. However, there the dead were laid to rest in pits excavated below the superstructure rather than in niches. 171 Not everyone who died during this time was buried in a tomb which had been made expressly for them. The practice of re-using existing tombs was widespread, particularly in areas where there were extensive ancient cemeteries which could be exploited. On the west bank at Thebes, for example, many burials of this sort have been discovered. 172 The man for whom Text 14 was inscribed is a case in point. Although he died in the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus (30 Bc-14 AD), he was buried in a rock-cut tomb made originally for an official of the 19th Dynasty, more than one thousand years before. The 19th century excavators of this sepulchre found that a horizontal passage about eight feet high, eight and a half feet wide, and some fifty-five feet in length, had been cut into the rock. 173 This contained, among other items, a statue of the original owner of the tomb and his wife. The end of the passage was barred by a massive wooden door. When this was removed, access was gained to a downward-sloping tunnel approximately six feet high, which 170

For a description of one of the largest and most elaborate, see Riggs, The Beautifiil Burial in Roman Egypt, pp. 129-39. 171 See Dunand and Lichtenberg in W. Haase (ed.), Aufstieg und Niedergang der ro111ischen Welt II 18.5, p. 3250 and plates 1-3. 172 For the re-use of earlier tombs at Thebes, see N. Strudwick, 'Some Aspects of the Archaeology of the Theban Necropolis in the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods', in N. Strudwick and J. Taylor (eds.), The Theban Necropolis, Past, Present and Future ( London, 2003 ), pp. 171-5, 179, and 182; C. Riggs, 'The Egyptian Funerary Tradition at Thebes in the Roman Period', ibid., p. 190. Whether this practice was motivated more by expediency or by veneration of the past and a de:ire for association with it, as some have maintained, is impossible to say. Both may have been a factor. It is interesting to note that some re-used New Kingdom tombs, for example that of the 19th Dynasty priest Nebwenenef, were still known by the names of their original owners even in the Ptolemaic Period (Strudwick in Strudwick and Taylor [eds.], The Theban Necropolis, Past, Present and Future, p. 17I). 173 The description that follows is based on the account of the discovery given in A.H. Rhind, Thebes its Tombs and Their Tenants (London, 1862), pp. 87-123.

General Introduction

43

wound its way into the earth for a further seventy feet before terminating in a vertical shaft twenty feet deep. Stout wooden beams had been laid across the top of this in antiquity, from which the remains of a rope of twisted palm fibres was suspended. Evidently, this had been used to lower the body of the new occupant of the tomb into its final resting place. Below, each of the four sides of the shaft opened out into a chamber. In one of these lay a massive granite sarcophagus which had been made for the tomb's original owner. However, his remains had been displaced and within it lay the mummy of the man who had usurped it from him. The latter's head was encased in a gilt mask, around the temples of which had been placed a garland of gold and copper. Over his body lay a shroud painted in a diagonal pattern. In the wrappings below this were concealed amulets of various shapes and materials, while at his left side, Text 14 had been deposited. Molten resin had been poured over the mummy in sufficient volume to fill the entire sarcophagus. A number of this man's relatives had been buried with him in the other chambers at the bottom of the shaft. These included his wife, the beneficiary of Text 15, who lay within a wooden coffin with a vaulted lid and square pillars at each corner, her papyrus at her left side. In an adjacent chamber, in a coffin of similar design, lay the man for whose benefit Text 47 was inscribed. He had the same name as the father of the above-mentioned woman, but whether he was actually related to her or her husband is uncertain. 174 Twelve people in all were found to have been interred in this one tomb, including two very young children. Such family sepulchres ensured 'trans-generational connectivity' at a period when the resources required for construction of individual tombs adjacent to one another for each member of a family were growing more scarce. 175 Multiple burials of this sort are well-attested from Graeco-Roman times. Occasionally, there is evidence of subdivision of a larger tomb into separate burial spaces by means of mud brick or stone emplacements. 176 Sometimes objects like offering tables and architectural elements from earlier constructions were used for the same purpose. At Deirel-Medineh in the Roman Period, nine members of the family of a man called Pebos were actually laid to rest in the cellar of an abandoned house. 177 In addition to family tombs, a number of 174

H.-J. Thissen, 'Zur Familie des Strategen Monkores', ZPE 27 (1977), p. 188. See Assmann, Tod und Jenseits im a/ten Agypten, p. 241. 176 Riggs in Strudwick and Taylor (eds.), The Theban Necropolis, Past, Present and Future, p. 190. 177 D. Montserrat and L. Meskell, 'Mortuary Archaeology and Religious Landscape at Graeco-Roman Deir el-Medina', JEA 83 (1997), pp. 188-93; Riggs in Strudwick and Taylor (eds.), The Theban Necropolis, Past, Present and Future, pp. 195-8; idem, The Beautiful Burial in Roman Egypt, pp. 205-17. 175

44

General Introduction

mass graves have been discovered, containing several mummies with no discernible relation to one another. Some, indeed, were used to store bodies temporarily until a 1nore permanent resting place could be found for them. Irrespective of its shape, form, or size, whether plain or elaborately decorated, re-used or newly made, the tomb was intended as a home for the deceased which would endure for ever. It marked the boundary between this world and the next, mediating between them. A common Egyptian designation for the resting place of the dead is 'house of eternity'. In earlier periods of Egyptian history, such 'houses' were richly furnished with all that the deceased would require in the course of their posthumous existence. Entire chambers of a tomb might be given over to burial goods, whether objects of religious significance or those for everyday use. Provision on such a large scale was not continued into the Graeco-Roman Period, or at least no tombs from that time so provided have been discovered. The deceased might be placed upon a wooden bed, the sides of which were fashioned to resemble lions (a protective symboi). 178 In the absence of anything better, bricks or stones might be positioned beneath the mummy to prevent it from coming into contact with the soil, or else a mat might be wrapped around it. 179 Other burial goods found in sepulchres of this date, in addition to those described earlier in the present section, include small pieces of furniture, statuettes of guardian deities, incense and other aromatic products, food and drink offerings, pottery vessels for storing them, and garlands and bouquets of flowers and other plants, both genuine and artificial. At the Roman Period cemetery of Dush, for instance, wine, dates, sycamore figs, olives, raisins, pomegranates, apples, prunes, cucumbers, cress, peas, and various cereals were among the comestibles which had been deposited in tombs. 180 Small implements for everyday use found there included items of toiletry like combs of bone or wood, pins, sticks of kohl, and perfumes, agricultural implements, spindles, weavers' shuttles, needles, fish hooks, scribal palettes, boxes, baskets, and brooms. 181 The earlier Egyptian practice of depositing shabtis in the tomb, little statues of servants who were supposed to do work for the deceased in the afterlife, 178

See, for example, W. Needler, An Egyptian F11nemryBed of the Roman Period in the Royal O:itario M11seum(Toronto, 1963); ). Corbelli, The Art, of Death in Graeco-Roman t:1;ypt, pp, 43-4; Dun and and Lichtenberg, Les mo111ies et la mart en Egypte, p. 104; idem in Haase (ed, ), Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt II 18.5, pp. 3285-6, 17 " Ibid., pp. 3284-5; Corbelli, Joe. cit. 80 ' Dunand and Lichtenberg in Haase (ed.), A11.f,tieg1111d Niedergang der 1·omischenWelt II 18.5, pp. 3289-90. 181 Ibid., p, 3293.

General Introduction

45

continued into the Ptolemaic Period, but not thereafter. 182 One tradition which did continue into the Roman Period was that of including small terracotta figures of nude women among the burial goods. The term 'concubines of the dead' sometimes used to describe these is inaccurate, since they are found in the tombs of both men and women. Perhaps such figurines functioned in a more general way to enhance or restore the fecundity of the deceased. Alternatively, they may have been votive offerings deposited by the living in order to solicit the help of the dead in conception or childbirth. 183 The burial of the man described six paragraphs above contained an interesting selection of grave goods. In the doorway of the chamber with his large granite sarcophagus was found a tall cylindrical jar filled with the fruit of the nand and Lichtenberg in Haase (ed.), A11fstieg1111d Niedergang der riimischen Welt II 18.5, pp. 3244-5. 188 See Pestman, The Archive of the Theban Choachytes, pp. 101-2. 189 Rhind, Thebes its Tombs and Their Tenants, pp. 92-3. 14 For ot her papyn . mserte . d wit. h.m t he lJan dages of the mummy, see C. Martin and K. Ryholt, 'Put My Funerary Papyrus in My Mummy, Please', /EA 92 (2006), pp. 273-4; Kockelmann, Untersuchungen zu den spiiten Totenbuch-Handschriften auf M11mie11binde11 2, pp. 232-4.

°

General Introduction

47

deposited there. 191 Conversely, the Second Letter for Breathing (Text 32) was supposed to be placed under an individual's feet. Texts for the afterlife were also inscribed on the mummy bandages themselves. Numerous Book of the Dead spells are preserved on bandages of the Ptolemaic Period. 192 Occasionally, other works are found on wrappings as well. 193 Although most copies of the Liturgy of Opening the Mouth for Breathing (Texts 16-19) are written on papyrus, one (now in the British Museum) was inscribed on the mummy bandages of its intended beneficiary. 194 A parallel to part of Text 58 is preserved on some unpublished bandages in the Louvre, 195 while a text similar in character to Texts 40-50 is written on a piece oflinen in Cairo. 196 One of the parallels to Text 52 is inscribed on a shroud. Such close juxtaposition of text and body is not an innovation of the Graeco- Roman Period, but there does appear to be a greater emphasis upon it at this time than there was formerly. Various explanations might be adduced to account for such a development. Obviously, placing a text in proximity to the deceased's mummy ensured that he or she would have ready access to it in the afterlife, but this is hardly a new concern. Ensuring such access would have been equally important in earlier periods. It has also been suggested that the development reflects an increased belief in the inherent amuletic or apotropaic efficacy of written texts in the GraecoRoman Period, and hence a desire to position them as closely as possible to those whom they were intended to protect. 197 Conceivably this may be so, but perhaps there was a more practical reason as well. As we have seen, the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods are characterized by a decrease in the number of people who were interred in their own individual tombs or with elaborate burial goods like sarcophagi and coffins. As a corollary, there was an increased tendency for the body itself to be treated as the focus of funerary provision. When no other alternative suitable for bearing inscriptions was available, like a tomb wall or coffin, the mummy

191

a

See J. Yoyotte, 'Contribution l'histoire du chapitre 162 du Livre des Marts', RdE 29 ( 1977), p. 195. For illustrations ofobjects of this type, see Figure 14, Charron (ed.), La mart n'est 1111e fin: pratiques ji111erairesen Egypte d'Alexa11dre,1 Cleop,ltre p. 110, and C.A.R. Andrews, Egyptian M111111nies (London, 1984 ), p. 59. 192 See Kockelmann, Untersuch1111gen zu den spiiten Tote11ln1ch-Handschriften a11fMumienbinden 2, for a comprehensive study of these. 193 Ibid., pp. 205-8. 194 For this, see Introduction to Text 16. 195 See note 49 on that text. 196 P. Cairo 31175 (Spiegelberg, CCC: Die demotischen Papyrus, pp. 284-5 and plate 114). Another text of the same type on linen, P. Cairo 31176, is mentioned ibid., p. 285. 197 So Kockelmann, Untersuchungen Zll den spiiten Totenlmc/1-Handschriftenauf M11mienbi11den 2, pp. 232-6.

48

General Introduction 198

could, one might even say had to, function as a substitute. This could explain the greater emphasis upon close juxtaposition of text and mummy, and even the use of the latter as a writing surface for the former. Attention has been drawn above to the fact that the Graeco- Roman Period witnessed the composition of many new texts for the afterlife. There was an intense burst of creativity in this sphere during the years of foreign domination, and the activity of writing such works flourished. One possible reason for this has already been noted in Section C, but there is an alternative explanation, preferable in my view, which is directly related to the developments outlined in the preceding paragraph. If increasing numbers of people no longer had access to individual tombs or the means to provision them, perhaps the texts served in some measure as a substitute. Assmann has identified four functions of the traditional monumental tomb in ancient Egypt. These are: ( 1) concealing the body of its occupant in the manner of the underworld, (2) providing a venue for the cult of offerings, (3) serving as a medium whereby its owner's identity could be perpetuated and his or her social status established in the afterlife, and (4) enabling that person to enjoy proximity to the gods and worship them. 199 Which, if any, of these functions might texts for the afterlife have assumed in the GraecoRoman Period? The simpler, less elaborate group burials which became more prevalent at this time were probably deemed to be just as effective in concealing the body as interment in an individual sepulchre, perhaps even more effective by virtue of being less conspicuous. Likewise, as we know from the numerous contemporary documents which detail the activities of the priests who performed the mortuary cult for the deceased, the advent of such burials provided no obstacles to the continued provision of sustenance for them in the form of offerings. 200 Thus, there would have been no real need for the written word to assume these two functions. More difficult, however, would have been the problems of ensuring the perpetuation of the deceased's identity and the establishment of his or her social status in the afterlife, while enabling that person to enjoy proximity to the gods and worship them, since for obvious reasons group burials could not do this as effectively as the traditional inscribed and decorated tomb. It is precisely these ends which the afterlife texts of the Graeco- Roman Period were intended to accomplish. Thus, they were well-suited to assume those 198

'.iee references cited in note 186 above. The last only from the New Kingdom onwards. See Assmann, Altiigyptische Tote11liturgic11 2, p. 36. 2005 ee re,erences C "d" m note 83 above. cite 199

General Introduction

49

functions of the traditional tomb whose continued fulfilment was threatened by changes in Egyptian burial customs. This could account for their proliferation at a time when such tombs were decreasing in number. In support of this suggestion, it can be noted that many of the works translated in this volume contain references to or descriptions of their beneficiary's sepulchre and its burial goods. Some incorporate what are purportedly texts inscribed inside the tomb or sarcophagus. 201 One manuscript, Text 13, contains a particularly elaborate description of its deceased owner's tomb, its appearance, its various rooms and compartments, the materials of which it is constructed, and the manner in which it is decorated and provisioned. Simultaneously, the text emphasizes the relationship between the tomb and its occupant and how this perpetuates her identity. The tomb is both her mother and her double or alter-ego, giving birth to her and being reborn along with her. The sepulchre has never been discovered, and some of the more fantastic features of its description make it improbable that it ever existed, at least as it is portrayed in this manuscript. That seems hardly important, however, since here the written word replaces the monument. One could even say, with justice, the written word is the monument. A well-known literary text of the New Kingdom expresses scepticism about the efficacy of tombs and their provisions as a means of ensuring one's immortality, observing that, with time, even the grandest sepulchre crumbles into dust and its owner is forgotten. It contrasts the ephemeral character of such edifices with the lasting repute gained by famous sages of the past for their literary productions. Such works confer genuine immortality upon their authors, since they cause them to live in the memory for ever. The text goes so far as to claim that writings are the only real tombs and pyramids, in the sense 202 that they are truly monuments for eternity. I suspect that the composers of many of the texts translated in the present volume would have found this view congenial. Although understanding it in a rather different sense, they too would have subscribed to the dictum 'text is tomb'.

F. THE PLAN OF THE PRESENT

WORK

In planning a book like this one, an obvious initial step is to decide which texts should be included in it. I have made my selection utilizing the following , -' 63 over you when you approach her (10) and protect your body from every evil. Confusion will depart within her. 64 She will exorcise every bad thing which afflicts your body, solitude being broken off as if it had never come to pass. 0 child, lord who came forth from the sky, (15) for whose benefit this land was made as before,° 5 lord, child who came forth from this womb which the gods impregnated, 60

Or 'hasten ' (so Kucharek). Seil. Isis. Cf. 14/27 and the note immediately following; also note 122 on Text 21. 62 According to Egyptian tradition, Isis was decapitated by Nenlti in Metenu, the 22nd Upper Egyptian nome, and Thoth replaced her head with that of a cow. See J. Vandier, Le Papyrus Jumilliac ( Paris, I 961 ), pp. 63-73, 132, and 213 note 721. 6l· Read" ' . mg ps=s 64 The determinative of stnm, 'confusion', has been omitted. 65 The parallel in P. Asasif 11 has 'as it was before'. 61

Text 2

109

who opened up the West when it was not his due time, 66 who departed young, not at the proper moment, your father Re will protect you, (20) while your son Horus refashions you. Seth has succumbed to every evil which he has perpetrated. May you come to your house. There is nothing for you to fear.

3

Words to be recited by the ones with braided hair. 0 fair sistrum player, come to your house. (25) How presumptious you are towards your house, although the gods are in their places. 67 I am a woman who is beneficial for her brother, your wife and sister (born) of your mother. (7/1) May you come to me swiftly, since I desire to look upon your face after not seeing your visage. Darkness(?) 68 is here for us in my view, even though Re is in the sky. Heaven has joined with the earth and shadow has been created m the land today, (5) while I am hot-tempered because of your wrongful departure, furious because you have turned your back to me, for there was no fault which you found in me. The two mounds were hacked up, the roads cast into confusion, while I searched in order to see you. (10) I was in a city without ramparts, more concerned for your love than for myself. Come, do not be alone, do not be distant. Behold, your son will drive Tebha into the _slaughter house. I hid myself in the marshes so as to conceal your son to avenge you, (IS) because of this most heinous crime-may it be far from you66

Emend the text to read n(n) is r tr=f Compare 1/15. Isis rebukes Osiris for abandoning her; cf. 7/5-7. For the idiom q3 S3, 'be presumptious, overweening', see Faulkner, A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, p. 275. Alternatively, translate 'Be exalted (twice), your back to your house, while the gods are in their places', following Faulkner, JEA 22 (I 936), p. 126, who suggests that perhaps Osiris is envisaged standing in front of a shrine or temple. Compare passages in which the god is described as sitting with his back to a wall cited in Assmann, Altiigyptische Totenliturgien 3, pp. 415-17. 68 For this translation of smJw.t, see Faulkner, JEA 22 (1936), p. 136. 67

Text 2

110

since it was not fitting for your flesh. I walked in solitude, wandering around in the marshes, while a distinguished person raged against your son, a woman, in public, against this male, (20) I being aware of matters together with the judge. I wandered about the roads, I roved on account of my brother who fled wrongfully. Hundreds of thousands of faces are enraged. There is great crying 69 among the gods. Let us weep for the lord. (25) There is no end to love of you on our part, male, lord of sexual passion. Lower Egyptian king, master of eternity, (8/1) fly up in life, ruler of everlastingness. The ignorant one has perished. King of Upper and Lower Egypt, lord who set out for the Sacred Land, there is no act of yours with which I have filled my heart. Brother, lord who set out for the nome of the silent land, (5) may you come to me in your former aspect. Come in peace (twice). King of Lower Egypt, sovereign, come in peace. Would that we might look upon your face as before, since I desire to see you. My arms are extended to protect you, the one whom I have desired. (10) You whom I have desired, the two circuits of the twin northern mounds make acclamation, since you have received the head covering among them. Your dust is frankincense, husband, brother, lord of attraction. May you come in peace to your place. 0 fair sistrum player, come to your house. For so long you have been absent. (15) Mysterious are your relics as the bull of the West, and the place which conceals 70 your flesh within the house of him of the henu-bark. Hail, in your name of ruler of eternity. Horus will come to you as a champion. 71

69 7

Or 'concern'.

° For the verb stJ, 'conceal',

71

Read iw nak lfr m nl)f.

see Wb. 4, 553, 6.

Text 2

111

He will purge your body and collect for your benefit the efflux which has issued from you. (20) Your corpse will be reassembled, great god, while you are provided with your form. May you come in peace, our lord, being rejuvenated again, while your son Horus protects you. Come before your house, for your temple is inundated with love for you. Beneficent sovereign, who made a breach for himself in the egg,72 (25) unique one with mighty strength, since he is the son who opened the womb, powerful image of Geb on account of his mother, (9/1) adorned one, greatly beloved, he who acts for the West, conquering the savage one, lord of the underworld, bull of the West, offspring of Re-Harakhti, child pleasing to behold, (5) may you come to us in peace (twice). May you dispel your storms and exorcise aggression. Our lord, may you come to us in peace (twice). Hail rejuvenated one, come in peace. Hail brother, (10) come that I might see you, Lower Egyptian king, ruler of eternity. Be not weary, be not weary-hearted, our lord. May you come to your house. There is nothing for you to fear.

4 The great apotropaic rite, not to be seen or heard. Words to be recited by the lector prie~. 0 fair sistrum player, come to your house. (15) The Ennead is searching for a glimpse of you, child, lord who opened the womb. Child, your attraction is revealed in your countenance. Heir, efficacious in opening it, 73 potent son who came forth from sight and hearing, 72

Emending n=sto n=f Faulkner, JEA 22 (1936), p. 127, translates 'whom she broke out of the egg', understanding the pronoun to refer to the mother of Osiris, but she is not mentioned until a few lines later. Kucharek thinks the pronoun refers to the temple of the god mentioned in the preceding line. 7 Seil. the womb.

112

Text 2

a mansion of distress (is left) to Isis on your account. Do not be distant from your place. 74 (20) Their heads have been taken away through love for you, as they mourn for you with hair dishevelled while wigs for the head are brought. 75 Wennefer, master of sustenance, sovereign great in his majesty, deity who is over the gods, 76 may you launch the vessel, self-begotten one. (25) You possess more than the gods. The Nile flood is the efflux of his body in order to nourish nobles and commoners, master of provisions, ruler of fresh plants, great [ ... ) , tree of life, who provides oblations the gods, (10/1) and invocation offerings for the spirits. He who awakes and is sound, lord of the bier, master of amulets, 77 mysterious in the horizon, he who shines at his due season, (5) who rises at his proper time, you are the sunlight, equipped with rays. You will be luminous at the left side of Atum. 78 You will be seen in the place of Re. His rays will suffuse your mummy. (10) Your ba will soar up in the following of Re. You will shine in the morning and set in the evening. The term of your existence is every day. You will be at the left side of Atum. 79 Eternity and everlastingness are your mode of appearance. The abomination, the evil one, 80 is destroyed in (your) presence,

74

The pronouns 'their' and 'they' here presumably refer to the inhabitants of the mansion of Isis. The sense of the line is obscure. Does it mean that the normal appearance of the mourners' heads has been denied them? Or could n}:zmhere be an unetymological writing of n}:zb,'yoke together'? 75 Read i;kb=sn n=k m i;r ms bb. w(t) tp. 76 Vernus translates 'the vessel of the self-begotten one', understanding this to refer to the sun god Re. 77 For the determinative of this noun, cf. writings of mjk,.t, 'turquoise', in 15/21 and l]sbd, 'lapis lazuli', in 15/22-23. The amulets in question are the various minerals which are combined to make up the sound eye, or full moon. See S. Aufrere, L'univers mineral dans la pensee egyptienne 1 (Cairo, 1991), pp. 199-303. 78 Or 'as the left eye of Atum' (= the moon). 79 S . ee t h e prev10us note. 80 Nbd, 'the evil one', is one of the names of Seth.

Text 2

113

(15) having been tried on the basis of testimony concerning his crime. Thus it 81 rebounded. As for the rebel, the injury which was int1icted 82 has come back against him. The imi-sehti priest 83 will act as heir for you. 84 He will pay homage to all the gods. The Ennead will rejoice at your approach. (20) You will pass the time in the presence of Re each day. Pleasing is the sight of you in 85 the left eye. Pleasing is the sight of you for the living. To you belongs the radiance, deputy of Re.86 Yours is the entire Ennead. (25) She who is upon your head rejoices before you. Her flame will attack your enemies. Be jubilant for our sakes, since your bones have been collected together for you. Your body will be set in order each day. (11/1) You will enter 87 like Atum at his proper time without being hindered. Your bones will be fastened together for you. Wepwaut will breach the mountain for you and lay open your intennent. Yours is the lord of the Sacred Land. (5) To you belong the two sisters. Have you forgotten the memory of us? They will reassemble your body from out of weariness 88 for you, those who searched in order to collect (the pieces of) your corpse with these injustices imposed on them. May you kiss our tresses. 89 (10) May you come to us so that the one who rebelled against you is not remembered. May you come in your earthly form. Dispel your wrath. May you be gracious to us, lord.

81

Seil. the crime. Wt\" here is for wd. For the idiom involved, see Wb. 2, 346, 14. 83 Title of a priest at Abydos signifying 'he who is in the ram's skin'. 84 Seil. by performing the requisite funerary rites. See Faulkner, A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, p. 12. 85 Or 'as'. 86 itnw here is for idnw, 'deputy' (Wb. I, 154, 6-7). ln lunar form, Osiris is the deputy of the sun god since he takes his place in the sky at night. 87 Reference here is to the setting sun, which enters the western mountains each evening. ss Fort he noun gmw, see Wb. 5, 169, 14-16. 89 Reading sn=kr snw=n.Or alternatively sfruj=kr ws=n,'You will be wretched because of our loss.' For sftuj as a corruption of sf, see Wb. 4, 115, 8-10. Compare 1/13. 82

Text 2

114 90

Educate the heir of the two lands, unique deity with effective plans for the gods. (15) All divinities will rejoice for you. May you come to your house. There is nothing for you to fear. Just as Re loves you, so your two noble female counterparts love you, as you rest in your place for ever.

5

Words to be recited by the two with braided hair. (20) 0 fair sistrum player, come to your house. How presumptious you are towards your house, although the gods are in their places. 91 Hail, come in peace. King of Lower Egypt, come in peace. Your son Horus will protect you. (25) May you remove the great misery which afflicts your two female counterparts, C · · 91 1or we mourn C1or you even 111 your JOY, ~ child, in accordance with the desire to see you. Please come to us. Great will be your protection and our love. (12/1) May you come to your house. There is nothing for you to fear. 0 gods who are in the sky, 0 gods who are on earth, 0 gods who are in the underworld, (5) 0 gods who are in the inundation, 0 gods who are in the retinue of Hapi, let us serve in the presence of the master, the lord of love, the male brother, the lord of sexual delight. Hail, come to me. (10) The sky has joined the earth. A shadow has fallen over the land today. Heaven has been cast down to the ground.

9

" Others translate 'take the inheritance of the two lands', hut note the divine determinative of iwc 9I • See note 67 above. 92 Others translate 'May your face illumine us with your joy', emending the determinative of l,z;yfrom the weeping eye sign to that of the radiant sun.

Text 2

115

Hail, come 9 ·' with me. The males and females in the city are seeking our lord_9 ·1 (IS) I have traversed the earth to be near our lord. Come to me, for heaven has been cast down to the ground. Grant that the god come to his place. The ability to inhale the breeze is for your nose, when the lord has entered his palace. 90 (20) Hail, Re invokes the weary one (your evil be against you, o criminal)since my heart wishes to sec you, heir, king of Lower Egypt, fair child. Hail, lord of attraction. (25) Come to me, lord, that I might see you today. Brother, come that we might see you. My arms are outstretched% to guard you. My arms are uplifted (twice) to protect you. (13/1) 0 male, lord of youthfulness, child to be invokcd, 97 our master, I am the daughter of (;eb, the earth, (but) you departed from me. Rejuvenated one, out of his due season, I have traversed the roads since love of you came to me. (S) I have trodden the earth unwearvinglv in search of vou, with a fire enflaming me because of devotion to you. Hail, come that I might see you. I shall weep because you arc alone. May you come to me swiftly since I long to see you, (10) after yearning to look upon your face. Hail, jubilation is at the entrance of your mansion. Be protected (twice) in peace. Hail (twice), may our lord come to his house. Let protection be set around his temple. (15) May our lord arrive in peace upon his throne. Be enduring in your house. There is nothing for you to fear. 0, be exalted (twice), our lord. I

91

~

I

/

. · PIura I .1mpcrat1ve. "·' Or 'Hail, come with me, males and females in the citv. Seek our lord' (so Kucharek). "" fur R0 1uj 1111.11(1is determined with the man with ha;1d to mouth, 1111has no determinative. Or translate 'Hail, Re utters this' lscil. the imprecation in the line immediately following)' Others render 'Hail, Re protects the wearv/this one', which is also pmnty. w. 41 Supplied from parallel. 42 dw,-wr, here written (!w-wr with adze determinative, is the name of an implement used in the Rite of Opening of the Mouth, sometimes hypostasized as a deity. See H. Willems, The Coffin of Heqata (Cairo JdE 36418) (Leuven, 1996), pp. 392-3. Were it not for that determinative, one could translate 'The evil which is greater than every evil will cease' (so Assmann, Altiigyptische Totenlit11rgien3, p. 5 I). 43 Or imperative, 'rejoice for Osiris'. 44 The colour red was believed to possess apotropaic powers. 45 The verb is 11~11 ( Wb. 2, 297, 12). 35

174

Text 7

(16/1) your son has come in order to see you, having protected you from him

who acted against you. He has caused you to stand up as a god and Seth shall be no more. You will be cleansed by Isis and purified by Nephthys. How great, how mighty, how glorious, how potent, how effective is what he gives you. The gods (5) are before you as you are exalted in front of the two conclaves. You will regularize the food offerings of the gods, the oblations for those who are in their tombs. End. 0, your son Horus who is over the western mountains loves you. Should the doors of the sky be closed to you, ( 17/1) then he will substitute the doors of the firmament so as to proclaim to you this word 46 your son Horus who is in charge of the western mountains. May the legs ofHorus which run for him be open, 47 that Horus might go.48 0 see, (his) father Osiris is alive. (5) Amseti, Hapi, Duamutef and Qebehsenuef, may you extend 49 Seth rejoice over him. Come to him, Thoth. The one who is equipped with his magic, he will knit your bones together for you. He will assemble (18/1) your limbs for you. He will unite your members for you as Horus who is in Sothis, the effective son. He has taken away the bones of (5) Seth, nan1ely the iron of the indestructible stars. 50 The legs of Osiris will not perish through him. Isis has reassembled you and 51 (19/1) Nephthys has pieced you together, rejoicing in your wake over this on the flood to the north of Sais. Khnum has raised you up and Hephep has made you stand erect, grasping you with their fingers and rejuvenating you so that you go to your domain, the Great Green. Osiris has descended as a star. He has run as a child. The earth pertaining to your legs has been made safe for you. 52 Your mother Nut has nursed you, bearing you as a child of one cubit, 53 father (5) of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Pharaoh, life, prosperity, and health, Osiris. Behold, he has awakened Osiris, he has saved him, Osiris. Thus Horus has spoken. I have come. Behold, have rescued you from Seth. I have brought you that naked rebel and his retinue so that the bound one might be slain and they [untranslatable word] 54 him at the feet of your ka. 46

Supplied from parallel. Parallels have wn, 'hasten' instead of wn, 'be open'. 48 Parallels insert 'before Osiris' after 'go'. 49 Supplied from parallels. so 'Iron of the indestructible stars' = meteoric iron. For the identification of this mineral as the bones of Seth, see Plutarch, De /side et Osiride, 62. 51 Or 'over what was collected' (scil. the scattered limbs of Osiris). 52 Or 'is in awe of you'. 0 : For this expression denoting a newly born child, see Wb. 2, 120, 11-12. 4 ) The verb B, determined with Gardiner Sign-list DI 9, occurs only here. Parallels in P. BM EA 10081 and P. Walters Art Museum 10.551, cited in Assmann, Altiigyptische Totenlit11rgien3, p. 468, have sn=snf3 r rd. wy k,=k, 'that they might kiss the ground at the feet of your ka', at this point, which is perhaps what our text was meant to say. 47

Text 7

175

The sound of jubilation is in the temple. Adoration is lifted up at the entrance of the two conclaves. Osiris is content with his possessions. (20/1) His offspring the gods will protect him. Seth has f_aJleninto his place of executio11. His confederates are in the custody of Aker. May your hearts be happy, children of Horus, tribunal of Osiris. The underworld and those who are in it give praise. The cavern gods are in adoration (twice). Words to be recited over four grey lag geese. Send (5) them into the presence four times. Wring their necks afterwards.

3

GlorificatioE. The two great ones will stand up.ss The mighty ones 56 will go. They will set your limbs in order for you, Osiris. Indeed, they will bring you your bones. They will lift up your members for you. 57 Your father Geb has raised you up. (21/1) Your mother Nut will support you. Behold, these your two sisters will set you firmly in place, your two noble ladies who are before the mansion of Osiris.s 8 They will grasp your arm on the way to the sky, to the pure place where you desire to be. The observation windows 59 will be unfastened for you by the corporation of the great Ennead which is in Heliopolis. You will proceed to them on your legs. So Atum has said, at your coming that you might see the bier of the god. (5) You will hear the great shout which penetrates the embalming chamber. Illness will pass away, pain will be removed, having fallen upon the ground on its belly. Osiris will go upon his legs. Behold, Osiris will stand upon his limbs, being purified in Busiris. He is a consecrated one in Netjeri. The god will travel around, 60 circumambulating Pe and occupying Dep, (22/1) the two mysterious ones 61 having guided him. He will walk upon his legs, having sallied forth with his feet. His father Geb has cleansed him. His mother Nut has equipped him. May you behold him and what was done to him. His flesh is weary, but will not suffer. Thus has Horus 55

lncipit of third spell. Reference is probably made to Shu and Tefnut. Some parallels have 'the two mighty ones'. 57 Reading SSW:Snnak 0. W{akwith the parallels. P. S~kowski has issw nak SW 0. W{ak. 58 The name of Osiris is written before the noun 'mansion' in honorific transposition. 59 Seil. of the sky. 60 Read n[r dbnaf Then after the second determinative of the verb is simply doubling its final consonant, as often in late hieratic. 61 Read st,.ty (Szczudlowska transcribes incorrectly as ss.ty). Parallels have sn.ty, 'the two sisters'. 56

176

Text 7

spoken. Come to 62 father Osiris. Establish 63 Tefnut . 64 They are the two god's offspring of Atum who do not know (5) destruction. Isis, come that you might see. Nephthys, behold. Observe Osiris as he goes upon his legs, Osiris established firn1ly on his feet, all evil pertaining to his legs having been removed for him. These two great ones have caused him to stand up so that Osiris 65 d ances.

4

Glorification. The sky will open. 66 The earth will open. The door bolts will open. Offeri~gs and dancing. 67 (23/1) The Osiris of Sminis son of Akhoapis will go up to the sky upon the wings ofThoth. The Osiris of the gesuti 68 of the estate of Amun, Sminis son of Akhoapis, will stand up together with Re in the day bark. He will issue commands to the indestructible stars. Your mother Nut has placed her arms over you. She has concealed you from the great gods (5) within Pe and Dep, Osiris of the gesuti of the estate of Amun, Sminis son of Akhoapis, justified. The Osiris of the gesuti of the estate of Amun, Sn1inis son of Akhoapis, justified, will ferry across. Words to be recited over a representation of the glorified one lying on a bier, (along with) Amseti, Hapi, Duamutef and Qebehsenuef. 69 (Although P. S~kowski stops here, some parallels extend the text of this fourth spell considerably, starting with the penultimate sentence translated above. The following supplement is based on one of these manuscripts, P. BM EA 10317, which was inscribed for the benefit of 'the god's father Teos, justified, whom Eskhonsis, justified, bore'. The relevant passage is preserved in Column x + 4, lines 4-21, of that papyrus.)

62

6 Supplied from parallels. ·' Supplied from parallels. Supplied from parallels. 65 Parallels have '(one) dances for Osiris'. 66 Incipit of fourth spell. 67 Read IJ.tib,. For dancing in association with offerings, primarily as a sign of welcome to the recipient, see e.g. Assmann, Altiigyptische Totenliturgien 3, pp. 136-7. 68 For this obscure title, see Introduction. '"' The vignette to the left of Column 23 shows both the four children of Horus and the deceased, but the latter is standing before Osiris rather than lying on a bier. See Introduction. 64

Text 7

177

+ 4/4)

Osiris foremost of the Westerners will ferry across in this ferry boat of the flame (5) of the pool. 70 When he has landed at the fields of offerings, bread and beer will be given to him there among the great Ennead which is in Heliopolis. Osiris foremost in the West will stand up in triumph beside the mound 71 of knives together with his mother Nut. He has guided the gods on the glorious roads. The deities have extended their arms to you that they might take you to the bark of Re so that you might sit among them as their father. You will speak with them like Re. Hail Osiris foremost in the West. All your limbs are complete for you in your name of Atum. 72 is that of Anubis. Travel around the secret places. You will stand up {10) together with Horus. You will sit down together with Thoth on the mounds of the libation of the stars, 73 equipped with the eye of Horus, the one with great magic. Hail Osiris foremost in the West. The gods in their nests will open the double doors of the tamarisk tree of Horus for you. The twin boats will be made double for you when they are joined together. 74 The ways of darkness will be illuminated for you. Raise yourself, Osiris foremost of the Westerners. Osiris foremost of the Westerners will throw off 75 the earth which pertains to his flesh. Osiris foremost in the West hates burial. He does not love death. The Osiris ofTeos, justified, ( 15) whom Eskhonsis, justified, bore loves life, that he might live. Hail Osiris foremost of the Westerners. You will rise up and sit down to your thousands of bread and beer. That which is given to the Osiris of Teos, justified, whom Eskhonsis, justified, bore is the food of the Ennead. Osiris foremost in the West will partake of that which the gods eat. Nine loaves will be given to him on the altar of the bas of Heliopolis. Three loaves are destined for the sky before Re, three loaves for the earth before Geb, and three loaves in the temple of the spirit. Osiris of Teos, justified, whom Eskhonsis, justified, bore, Re has placed (20) his arms beneath you. He has lifted you up. He has gathered you together. He has reassembled you. He has brought you your limbs. Your efflux belongs to you (twice), Osiris foremost of the Westerners, in your name of 'god'. (x

7

° For wnv, 'pool', see ivb. I, 332, 11.

71

Possibly a mistake for mr, 'sea'. One appears to have here a conflation of the names of two different localities in the next world, the 'island of flames' and the 'sea of knives'. Cf. E. Hermsen, Die zwei Wege des Jenseits (Freiburg and Giittingen, 1991), pp. 152-60. 72 Supplied from parallels. 7 -' According to Wb. 5, 28, 5, the libation of the stars possibly = the dew. 74 Reading q,b n=k dp.ty gw,.ti. See Burkard, Spiitzeitliche Osiris-Lit11rgienim Corpus der Asasif-Papyri, p. 115. Reference is made to the two solar barks. 75 For wfp, 'throw off', written with walking legs determinative, see Wb. l, 353, 1-8.

TEXT

8

P. BM EA 10209

INTRODUCTION This papyrus was inscribed for Sn1inis the son of Petemestous and Sentaes (also known as Irturu), the same person who owned the manuscript containing Text 2 and wrote its colophon, Text 3. 1 For details of his life and career, see Introductions to those texts. As noted there, he was a priest who lived in the 4th century BC and his sacerdotal duties were divided between cults in Thebes and the town of Hu some distance further downstrean1. Text 3, which lists all of Sminis' priestly titles and offices, was written sometime between 6 February and 7 March 305 BC. P. BM EA 10209 concludes with a similar list of titles and offices ( 5/10-19). As the latter is slightly shorter than the one in Text 3, it has been suggested that it might predate that one, reflecting an earlier stage in its owner's career. 2 There is no way of knowing whether this is true or not; there are other reasons why the list of titles in P. BM EA 10209 might be shorter than its counterpart in Text 3. Whatever the case, it is fairly probable that no great interval of time separates the two. The papyrus was written in hieratic, by two different scribes. 3 There is a short note in demotic to the right of the first column giving instructions for where it is to be placed. 4 No details have been recorded about the provenience of P. BM EA 10209, but since it is concerned with a specifically Theban rite, the Feast of the Valley, the manuscript ahnost certainly came from Thebes. The festival in question was celebrated annually during the month of Paone from the Middle Kingdom 1

Publication: F. Haikal, 'Jwo Hieratic Funerary Papyri of Nes111inI (Brussels, 1970), pp. 1619, 25-45, and plates 5-9 (description, hieroglyphic transcription, and photographs of hieratic); ibid. 2 (Brussels, 1972), pp. 7-48 and 74-6 (translation, commentary, and glossary); J. Assmann, Altiigyptische Totenliturgien 3 (Heidelberg, 2008), pp. 499-544 (transliteration, translation, and commentary); C. Martin and K. Ryholt, 'Put My Funerary Papyrus in My Mummy, Please', ]EA 92 (2006), pp. 270-4 (photographs of Column I and demotic note to the right of it, transliteration and translation of demotic note with comments). 2 So Haikal, Two Hieratic Funerary Papyri of Nesmin I, pp. 16-17. 3 On,: wrote the first three columns, the other the final two. See J.F. Quack, 'Ein neuer funerarer Text der Spiitzeit (pHohenzollern-Sigmaringen II)', ZAS 127 (2000), p. 76 note 11. 4 Haikal, Two Hieratic Funerary Papyri of Nesmin I, p. 19; 2, pp. I 0-11, and Martin and Ryholt, ]EA 92 (2006), p. 272, give this incorrectly. The note says: my s!J=tt'n=_\' s!Jr-!Jn-np, /mw n qty qs sb Ns-Mn, 'Let a text be written for me in the nt-iw=wr ti.f=Yr-bn=fmy tw=wp, l w hose mot her 1s 1our times. ·

5 0 Tanaweruow daughter of Hartophnakhthes, whose mother is Tatita, the gods of Upper and Lower Egypt will cause you to serve. You are enduring and 132 excellent among the great bas. (10) You will be received at Ou poke with the 133 You will be one with the gods who guide the underworld. living bas. The western mountains will rejoice when you have reached them every day. The spirits will exult when they have seen you. The deceased will be jubilant when you have come to be among then1. Anubis will endure for you. He has embalmed you and wrapped you (in) bandages with his own hands. Horus and Thoth purify you. Isis and Nephthys will favour you and cause you to appear in a beautiful form. Osiris Hathor of Tanaweruow daughter of Hartophnakhthes, you will fare northwards to Busiris. You will fare southwards to Abydos. Osiris will cause you to follow during the Wag feast. 134 Your ba will come to follow Osiris during the feast in Ombos. 135 0 doorkeepers of the underworld, guardians of the West who feed on shadows (in) the circuit of the holy underworld, 136 make a way for the Osiris Hathor of Tanaweruow daughter of Hartophnakhthes, whose mother is Tatita. (IS) Let her come to see this perfection in life. You will be renewed (twice). Your ba, your ba will be renewed. You will be renewed. You will live (twice) in the night. You will fly up (twice) in the day. You will rise up to the earth together with the spirits on the night of the 25th ofKhoiak. 137 You will approach the neshmet-bark on this 131

For the closing lustration formula, see Introduction. The parallel in Text 12 ends at this

point. 132

A term normally used to denote the gods buried in a necropolis, used with particular reference to the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. LB Another designation for deities buried in a necropolis, in this instance at Abydos. ii.i For this feast, see note 93 above. 135 Ombos = the present day Korn Ombo. For the Osirian festival in that city, see Smith, Papyrus Harkness, p. 171. 1 "' Reference is made to fierce guardian demons who devour the shadows of the wicked. 137 The night in question is the so-called 'divine night', when the spirits of the dead hoped to return to earth and participate in the mysteries of Osiris. For the navigation of the neshmet-bark on that occasion, see Smith, Papyrus Harkness, p. 142.

Text 13

289

day. Your ba will be deified as a living ba. You will be renewed and endure like the one who is among the gods. You will breathe in accordance with the writing. 138 Your ba will awaken (as) a divine falcon. You will rest within the portal. 139 You will live on goodness. Alkhai will endure. The western mountains will rejoice for you. Your ba will be elevated on the day of panic. Your ba will be created so as to assume every form. 0 rowers of the bark of Pre, do not hinder her from the morning bark. As for the Osiris Hathor of Tanaweruow, daughter ofHartophnakhthes, she is a beautiful ba, strong (in) the ceremony of light. No blow (on) earth will reach (her). (20) 0, the gods of Upper and Lower Egypt, they will stand and receive your prow rope. They will moor you at the beautiful necropolis. 0 effective female ba, serve Osiris, the living image(?) 140 of the gods. Your feet will travel southwards to your place of promenade and your place of rest, the horizon-land. Nome and city will be expansive for you containing offerings, while Horus Khentirti plies the steering oar of your bark and Nefertem the lion is by your prow rope. 141 A pure offering will be brought to you from the magazine. The males and females will call out to you. They will perform mourning for you. You will go and come before the cavern gods. They will do all that you say in the hour when you have commanded. You will be received at the morning bark along with the indestructible stars. 142 The evening bark ofOsiris will moor you every day. The unwearying stars 143 rejoice for you. They will moor you at the holy underworld. Isis is before you, 144 Nephthys behind you. Right will be determined for you. will assign a thousand loaves and a thousand milk offerings to you at the offering table, (25) a thousand of all good things which are pure for your maintenance. An offering table endures with provisions before you. A mansion is established like (those of) the gods. Sokar will see you among his followers of the god. Anubis will wish you among his emissaries. Hathor to whom the West has been entrusted will seek you out among those who are in the underworld. 138

Probably reference is made here to one of the 'letters for breathing'. See Texts 25-34

below. 139

Seil. of the domain of Osiris. Quack, Orientalia 75 (2006), p. 159, would read wg;.t, 'sound eye', referring to the full moon, rather than wb;.t, 'portal'. 140 sn with man with hand to mouth determinative occurs only here. Perhaps this is a writing of the snn, 'image', of Wb. 3,460, 6-17. 141 For the god Nefertem in lion form, see Smith, Papyrus Hark11css,pp. 179-80. His position at the prow of the deceased's bark is due to the protective capacity inherent in the form which he is said to assume here. 142 Either the circumpolar stars or the stars to the north of the axis of the ecliptic, a group comprising not only the circumpolar stars but others as well. For these stars as the crew of the morning bark, see ibid., p. I 80. 143 Those stars situated on or to the south of the axis of the ecliptic. For these stars as the crew of the evening bark, see ibid., p. 181. 144 The suffix pronoun w has been omitted after ip, 'assign', through haplography.

l

290

Text 13

You will be in the praises and thoughts of this son. 145 Protection will be effected for you in the great mansion. 146 You will come to be among the gods in the bark who sit in order to deliberate. The great of five, 147 Thoth, will cause your heart to be sound. He will establish your heart in its place. He will allow you to fulfil your desire on earth. You will receive sin-offerings before the living trees which are in the mansion of the underworld. 148 Tebi-plants of the Two Living Trees will be brought to you. 149 They will bring you water of the House of Osiris of Antaeopolis. Your ba will live in the presence of Sokar daily. You will be renewed within the portal. 150 You will awaken in the southern regions. Amun will rejoice for you. He will decree life for you (30) to cause you to breathe. He will let you repeat the form of a divine falcon. You will awaken in the northern regions. You are renewed (in) Lower Egypt. Wadjit, the efficacious one within the papyrus, will make you flourish(?) with the divine seneb-plant. 151 You will awaken in the east. You are in the presence of Re-Atum the lord of Heliopolis. He will adorn you with mummy wrappings. He will clothe you with linen and you will see him every day. You will rise up in the west. You are in the presence of Ptah the exalted. He will fashion you, and renew you in a repetition of life. 152 Khnum will come to you. He will fashion you again. 153 Thoth will come to you to fortify your heart. He will cause an offering table, platform, and forecourt to be before you, with burnt offerings enduring as they elevate a torch for you every day. 154 Thoth is on the left side, purifying you. Horus is on the right side, doing likewise. Pure, pure, Osiris foremost in the West, four times. Pure, pure, Osiris 115

Seil. Osiris. The temple of the sun god in Hdiopolis. 1 17 ' Title of the high priest of Thoth at Hermopolis. The epithet could also be applied to the god himself, as here. 148 syn is perhaps identical with the sny, 'bread', cited in Erichsen, Demotisches Glossar,p. 437. 'Living tree' is a term denoting a sacred tree. Or should one translate 'trees of the living one' (scil. Osiris)? The 'mansion of the underworld' is probably associated with the temple of Osiris in Antaeopolis. See Smith, Papynis Harkness, pp. 184-5. Compare the similar sentence which occurs in 4/29. 1 19 · The toponym 'Two Living Trees' occurs only here. Context suggests that it denotes a place somewhere in the vicinity of Antaeopolis. 15 " See note 139 above. 151 The verb which I have translated 'make to flourish' with a query could be identical with the it,y to which that meaning is assigned in R.O. Faulkner, A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian (Oxford, 1962), p. 29. The seneb-plant, frequently associated with the cobra goddess Wadjit, was noted for its apotropaic powers. isc The passage alludes to the tradition that Ptah fashioned mankind as a craftsman or artisan. 15 ·' Khnum is supposed to have fashioned humanity, like clay, on a potter's wheel. In this and the preceding sentence, the sense is that the deceased will be created anew. 154 Torches were frequently employed in offering rites, both for apotropaic purposes and as a means of purification. See Introduction to Text 20. 146

Text 13

Hathor of (35) Tanaweruow daughter of Hartophnakhthes, bore, four times.

291

whom Tatita

6

The gods will purify you with fresh water. Your enemy is robbed of you. You will rest (in) Upper Egypt and be renewed (in) Lower Egypt. Respect for you will be great in Abydos. You will be given a bouquet among the great Ennead. You will approach the house of Re-Harakhti, 155 while your (own) house endures every day. Anubis as embalmer will enter your presence and clothe you with cloth of Sais, brought from the resnet- and me/met-sanctuaries. 156 He will raise you up to the standing pillar and protect you in the recumbent pillar. 157 0 Osiris of Tanaweruow daughter of Hartophnakhthes, you will be presented to 158 (4/1) You will be presented to the excellent bas. Water will be poured out for you at the offering table of the House of Osiris of Antaeopolis, while the bas are greatly respectful. A libation will be poured out for you in every city and every district of the no mes. Your name will be pronounced at the offering tables of the lord of the gods in the course of every single day. Water, shedehdrink, 159 and milk will be poured out for you at an offering table of abusenstone. 160 Water and wine will be poured out for you at an offering table of turquoise, while the sacrificial cattle are purified 161 before you. You will live (twice) for ever. They will present you with all sweet-scented incense. You will enter by the west in order to renew your body. You will not enter any eastern necropolis. 162 The bas of Heliopolis will apportion (5) sovereignty in the 155

Either a designation of a specific solar sanctuary on earth or a more general term denoting the celestial regions to which the deceased is promised access. 156 Sais was famed as a centre for the fabrication of cloth, which was presented to both divinities and the deceased. Such cloth is often said to come from the twin Saite sanctuaries, the rs-,1.( and m~-n.t. See Smith, Papyrus Harkness, p. 191, for details. 157 The pillar in question here is the djed-pillar, which was erected on the last day of the Osiris mysteries as a symbol of the god's resurrection. In the present passage, 'protecting the deceased in the recumbent pillar' probably means tending to her corpse, while 'raising her up to the standing pillar' probably signifies effecting her resurrection. 158 The words sp=w f=t r which conclude 3/37 are repeated at the beginning of 4/1. For an explanation of this, see note 95 above. 159 See note 116 above. 160 An unidentified mineral. Elsewhere in demotic it appears as a material used to make offering tables, as here, and as part of the fabric of a temple. See Smith, Papyrus Harkness, p. 193. 161 Or understand stf as the verb meaning 'slaughter', despite the jar determinative. 162 In Egyptian thought the east was a place of punishment for the wicked, and thus to be avoided.

292

Text 13

underworld to you when you have commanded. Ptah will come to you to rejuvenate your limbs. Respect will accrue to you on this day. Your ba will appear among the human masters. 163 A palm branch will be cut off for you on . wit. h 1t, . 164 w h"l t h e d ay o f appeanng 1 e a receptac Ie o f d ates, tel1e,1-p lants, 160· and a forecourt are before you. Thoth the embalmer will fix your ornaments for you. He will inscribe a record of your useful knowledge for you, while the Greater Ennead and the Lesser Ennead are joyful at the sight of you. You will approach the neshmet-bark on the day of rowing Sokar. 166 You will approach Abydos when Osiris is there. You will be reckoned among the lions of the bier in which Osiris went forth to the Wag feast. 167 You will be presented to the youths of Heliopolis, the children of Pre who are in the libation pool, 168 while a daughter bears surfeit (with) a ring of gold, censing for you (10) and making a libation at the doors of your underworld, all those of your generation being assembled around her. 169 Pure, pure, Sokar Osiris, foren1ost in the West, four tin1es. Pure, pure, Sokar Osiris Hathor of Tanaweruow daughter of Hartophnakhthes, whose mother is Tatita, four times.

7

0 Tanaweruow daughter of Hartophnakhthes, whom Tatita bore. You will set (in) Tamerira(?). 170 You will rise in the horizon-land like Pre. You will perform his 1noorings eternally. You will moor at Alkhai. The lord of the gods will cause you to serve. Water will be poured out for you at every offering table every nine-day period and every decade that con1es, each month during every year, eternally. You will be given a position in the hall of the western 1 "'

'Master' was an epithet ascribed to deceased individuals who were thought to be worthy of special veneration. The qualifier 'human' serves to distinguish them from the divine master of the underworld, Osiris. 16 1 ' See note I 05 above. 165 The botanical term thn has not been identified. Elsewhere in demotic, this plant is attested as a material of which boats are made. 16 '' Seil. the 25th of Khoiak. See note 61 on Text 12. 167 For the Wag feast, see note 93 above. Egyptian funerary beds were frequently made in the shape of a lion or lions; these were supposed to protect the occupant. Our text implies that the deceased will be among the guardians of the bier of Osiris when it is carried in procession during the Wag feast. 168 For this Heliopolitan pool, see Smith, Papyrns Harkness, p. 199. This and the preceding statement recur in 5/ 4, q. v. 169 Cf. 2/20 and note 109 above. 170 Or Tahira? The reading of this toponym is uncertain, but the context suggests that it is a name for the western horizon or underworld.

Text 13

293

mountains. Your ba will breathe like a divine falcon. You will fly up by day and be compatible with the sun disc. You will assume a secret form every day. (15) If you desire going and coming, they will write in your presence. 171 You will be a shadow together with those of the underworld. You will rejoice with those of the holy underworld. You will go and come within the hall of the western mountains. Your name will be accepted at Alkhai. You are one and two, you are two and three, you are three and four, you are four and five. The great of five, Thoth, will make you sound. 172 He will establish your ba at your body daily. He will cause the doing of what you wish on earth. Those of the first, those of the second, those of the third, those of the fourth, those of the fifth, those of the seventh, those of the tenth, the magistrate gods of the West, and Anubis the great, son of Osiris, will cut off all struggle and strife from you. 173 Tithoes the great of strength will speak to you to make a good steering oar for you within you. 174 It will moor you at the bank safely. Your feet will travel southwards to your place of promenade and your place of rest and appearance. 0 Tanaweruow daughter of Hartophnakhthes, (20) whose mother is Tatita. You will awaken and rise up. So she says, namely Isis. You will speak and respond. So she says, Nephthys. The gods and goddesses come to see you. Neith the triumphant, Bastet, and Sekhmet the great will overthrow your enemy. Those of your city will rejoice. The no mes will exult for you on the day when you come to them. You will ascend and your ba will ascend (in) triumph. You will rise upwards with the indestructible stars. You will be one with the unwearying stars. 175 The divine bas will make your ba complete (with) the afnet-headcloth, to cause you to go forth among the excellent bas. 176 The western mountains will say: Go to the door of Alkhai (on) the night of the festival of Sokar. You will go to the sky to fulfil your wish. You will come to the earth to do what you desire. 0 excellent female ba, Osiris will cause you to serve. You will be renewed and endure like the one who is among the gods. You will be adored daily in (25) their temples. 0 doorkeepers of the 171

i.e. a document will be written giving the deceased permission to leave and enter the underworld as she pleases. 172 For this epithet of Thoth, see note 147 above. The preceding sentence identifies the deceased in turn with each of the five members of the divine corporation of which that god was the chief. 175 Allusion is probably made here to the members of the ten great councils mentioned in Book of the Dead Spell 18 and elsewhere, in which the deceased were supposed to be vindicated against their enemies. See Smith, Papyrus Hark11ess,pp. 202-3; also Introduction to Text 30 below. 174 Reference is made to the deceased's heart, which is to function as a guide within her and conduct her to her desired destination. For the oracular sphinx deity Tithoes, see Smith, PapyrnsHarkness,p. 204. 175 For these two groups of stars, see notes 142 and 143 above. 176 The noun "fn.t denotes a type of veil or head covering worn by deities and the blessed dead. Through adornment with this article, the deceased's ba is made perfect and enabled to proceed in the company of the latter.

294

Text 13

underworld, guardians of the West, those who feed on the dew in their sarcophagi (within) the circuit of the holy underworld, n1ake a way for the Osiris Hathor ofTanaweruow daughter of Hartophnakhthes, whose mother is Tatita. 177 Purify her with good things in life. Present offerings to her on the altar during the day on the night-offerings feast. 178 Your father will repeat his speech at your forecourt, saying: Speak to me (twice), great ba of a daughter greatly respected. You will be received at the great places. The western mountains will effect your protection. You will be justified before the great protectress(?). 179 As for your enemy, his name will not be recognized in the nomes. You will receive sin-offerings at the trees of the House of Osiris of Antaeopolis, those of the holy underworld. 180You will be seen on a shadow. You will be pleasant in life, while your ba is (in) the temples. (30) You will be renewed. Renewal is for your body. Soundness is for your body in the day. You will rise up to earth. You will come to us every lunar month. You will receive praise (on) the sixth day festival and the fifteenth day festival, your day of promenading. The gods of the green-headed one will protect you continuously.181They will save you from evil(?). 182Every land will be content at the sight of you. You will be caused to assume the form of a divine falcon. Those of the sarcophagi 183 will rejoice and take up a crown. 0 those of the houses of rest, 177

Compare the similar injunction in 3/13-14. There the guardians are characterized as those 'who feed on shadows (in) the circuit of the holy underworld'. Unless ytu, 'dew', in our passage is a mistake for the byb;.t, 'shadows', found there, it must have the figurative sense of 'libations' or 'offerings'. See Introduction. 178 The term ifz.t-fzmy (here written i[1y-1Jw;)denotes a specific feast, that of the fifth day of the lunar month, but is also used more generally to mean 'evening meal, offering'. If it is being employed with the latter sense here, th~n translate 'during the day and at the time of the evening meal' (i.e. both day and night). 179 The feminine noun s, 0 .t is perhaps identical with s,y.t, a term denoting a protective goddess ( Wb. 3, 418, 14). 18 Cf. the similar sentence which occurs in 3/28. The trees mentioned here are probably identical with those found in that passage. The 'mansion of the underworld' there and the 'holy underworld' here could be synonyms as well, both being associated with the temple of Osiris in Antaeopolis. See Smith, Papyrus Harkness, pp. 184-5 and 209. 181 The epithet p; w;(j-tp, 'the green-headed one' could refer to either Osiris or Ptah, both of whom can be depicted with a green face. If the latter is meant, then the gods belonging to him are probably the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. Compare 5/6, where these deities are said to protect the deceased continually. Alternatively, p; vn{j-tp could be an unetymological writing of p,w.t Ip, 'the first primordial time'. In this case, reference would still be to the Ogdoad. 182 This problematic noun appears to be written smw. The translation suggested here is based on the word's evil determinative and the context. Quack, Orientalia 75 (2006), p. 160, suggests that it may be a demotic form of the noun sm;y.t, 'gang', often used with reference to the band of evil confederates who follow Seth. He also draws attention to a passage in Plutarch's De !side et Osiride 376 B where one of the names of Typhon is said to be I:µv. See J. Gwyn Griffiths, Plutarch's De !side et Osiride ( Cardiff, 1970), pp. 216-17 and 522. 183 Perhaps identical with the guardians mentioned in line 25 above, 'who feed on the dew in their sarcophagi'. Alternatively, this could be a designation for the Hermopolitan Eight. In Book of the Dead Spell 164 they are described as 'the Ogdoad, the living bas who are in their sarcophagi'.

°

Text 13

295

she will come to you, namely the good and efficacious companion, see the good one 184 and to see you. This one comes to you, a beautiful daughter, sweet of attraction, with gracious(?) 185 heart, beautiful character, and pleasant face, enjoyable to behold. May she be renewed and you be renewed. 0 negneg,186 Anubis as embalmer will come to you and wrap all your limbs. Anubis hearer and embalmer(?) 187 will come to you to assemble your body. Anubis protector of his father(?) 188 will come to you and make all your bones well. (5/1) Anubis pre-eminent in the god's booth will come to you and cause your image to appear in the temples. Anubis who is upon his mountain will come to you to renew every limb of yours. Thoth the twice very great, lord of Hermopolis, will come to you. He will give you the writings for the appearance 189 in the course of the year. He will cause your ba to appear (as) a living ba. 190 He will cause it to unite with the great sun disc. He will cause it to shine together with 191 the stars of the sky, being effulgent every day. He will cause it to shine with Atum (in) the evening. You will be presented to the youths of Heliopolis, the children of Pre who are in the libation pool. Your yard will approach the house of Shu and Tefnut, (5) the house of the magistrate, the great place, and the four bricks of faience. 192 You will live, you will be renewed, you will be sound, and you will be healthy. Ptah the exalted will favour you, the great one, father of the gods. The Ogdoad will protect you continually. The great serpent of millions of cubits 193 will not allow trembling 184

Seil. Osiris. Perhaps read im, a variant form of im3, 'gracious'. Alternatively, read if! ( < 3IJ), and translate if! lb as 'wise', although in the context one expects an epithet relating to the deceased's charm or beauty rather than to her intellectual powers. See Smith, Papyrus Harkness, pp. 212-13. 186 An epithet of the deceased, possibly related to the verb ngg, used of the cackling of geese, and the noun ngg, a term denoting such birds. Both can be written ngng, and geese were among the creatures whose forms the deceased were supposed to be able to assume. See Introduction to Text 55. 187 This otherwise unattested epithet of Anubis is composed of a form of the verb stjm, 'hear', followed by the noun ,ryt, 'embalmer'. My translation is only a guess. 188 m-/Jaf is perhaps an unetymological writing of ntj-itaf For other, less likely, interpretations, see Smith, Papyrus Harkness, pp. 213-14. 189 Or 'appearances'. The article before the noun could be singular or plural. This and the following lines describe how Thoth will cause the deceased to appear as or be united with a number of different celestial bodies. If the article is singular, then one has here a reference to an annual event like the heliacal rising of Sothis. If it is plural, then reference must be made to an event observable more than once a year, e.g. the rising of an ordinary decanal star. The writings which Thoth presents to the deceased will enable her to come forth from the underworld and participate in one of these astral cycles of rebirth. 190 The term 'living ba' here probably signifies 'star'. See Smith, Papyrus Harkness, p. 216. 191 Or 'like'. 192 The libation pool, the house of Shu and Tefnut, the house of the magistrate, the great place, and the four bricks of faience were all located in Heliopolis. See Smith, Papyrus Harkness, pp. 217-18, for a detailed discussion of each. 193 Possibly the encircling snake Mehen. 185

296

Text 13

to occur in your underworld. Osiris, the great and beneficent god, will be content. He will establish you in contentment in the great window which is in Hasro. 194 0 Tanaweruow daughter of Hartophnakhthes, whose mother is Tatita, you will approach Thebes. 195 They will exult for you and tie on a crown of justification for you. You will approach Djeme. Censing and festal oil in its every form will be made for you. You will approach Coptos. Myrrh and all pleasant-smelling incense will be presented to you. You will approach Abydos, the place of the scarab. 196 Rites will be performed for you in the mansion of provisions. (10) You will approach the underworld of the Sacred Land, the eastern door. A house of drunkenness will be made for you at the great offering tables. You will approach Alkhai, the western door. 197 Milk will be offered to you there. You will approach the necropolis of the Abydene nome. Hathor the lady of the West will not hinder you. You will approach Ipu on day 25 .198 A torch will be lit for you in the chapel of Sokar. You will approach Pernebwadjit, your own city. Offerings will be presented to you, holocausts and libations. You will approach Men1phis, the beautiful horizonland, on the feast of heavenly offerings. 199 You will approach the necropolis of Busiris at the feast of mummification. 200 Anubis, lord of the Land of the Holy Underworld, will receive you. 201 ( 15) You will approach Albeh 202 on the day of receiving libations. Water will be brought to you (from) every well to the great offering tables to say your name over them. You are favoured for ever, you are renewed eternally, king Osiris Wennefer, Osiris foremost in the West, the lord of the gods, he on whose account these ceremonies and these obsequies were 194

The name of a sacred precinct near Hermopolis, possibly the necropolis of that city. The term 'great window' denotes an aperture within a temple through which the resident deity could be seen. Our passage implies that the deceased will be enabled to dwell with the deity to whom the great window of Hasro is dedicated, or perhaps even that she will be identified with that divinity. 195 This sentence begins the second part of section 7. See Introduction. 1 "" Abydos is so called because, according to local tradition, a scarab beetle was found beneath the head of Osiris, a relic subsequently buried in the necropolis of that city. See references cited in note 131 on Text 14. 197 The terms 'eastern door' and 'western door' in this passage probably have reference to the tomb of Osiris at Abydos, which was supposed to have two such doors, corresponding to those through which the sun was believed to leave and enter the underworld. 198 Seil. of the month of Khoiak, during the festival of Sokar, hence the reference in the following sentence. 199 The feast in question occurs only here. Or is ity p.t an unetymological writing of ctzyp.l, 'raising the sky', the name of a festival of Memphite origin which commemorated the separation of heaven and earth by Ptah, as well as the Busirite burial of Osiris? 21111 Perhaps the local name for the Osiris mysteries in Busiris. 2111 'Land of the Holy Underworld' is apparently a conflation of two distinct toponyms, /; tsr.t and tw,. t tsr. t. Anubis figures here as ruler of the nether regions. 2112 The precise location of this city is unknown, but it must have been situated to the north of Busiris, since it follows that city in the south-north sequence of lines 8-15.

Text 13

297

instituted, king of the earth in its entirety, Osiris Wennefer, Osiris lord of the khetes-tree, 203 he who is (in) the great place. 204 You are favoured for ever, you are renewed eternally, these two sisters, these two companions, Isis and Nephthys, the younger sisters of Wennefer. You are favoured for ever, you are renewed eternally, Anubis lord of Tour,205 lord of the valley, Anubis lord of the holy underworld, this one who mummified, who was efficacious and effected the mummification of his father. (20) You are favoured for ever, you are renewed eternally, this chieftainess of Libya, Hathor lady and mistress of the West, the doorkeeper of the house of life, who guards at the house of the magistrate, she in whose hand are the keys to the West, to whom the portal(?) 206 has been assigned, without whom they do not close, nor do they open without her knowing. They are favoured for ever, they are renewed eternally, the gods of Abydos, the gods of the holy underworld, 207 the gods, those of the embalming place, the gods, those of the mourning, the gods of the house of unguent, 208 the gods of the house of wrapping, 209 those of Coptos, those of Busiris, those of Abydos, and those ofHerakleopolis, the great no mes of Osiris, 210 those who went up with Isis,211 those who made the chamber of Osiris, and those who set up the mummification of Osiris. You are favoured for ever, Osiris (25) arin, the efficacious companion of Osiris 212 (sic). You are favoured for ever, immersed one of the Wag feast with his travelling companions. 213 You are favoured for ever, he with whom she went 203

Possibly either Agnus castus or Sesbania sesban. This sentence begins the third part of section 7. See Introduction. The long list of deities invoked in lines 16-24 of this column recurs in virtually the same form in 6/18-26. 205 This toponym recurs in 6/21 but is otherwise unknown to me. It could be a phonetic writing of T,-r;w, modern Tura opposite Memphis, or possibly even T;w-wr, the name of the Ab);dene nome, although the latter is written in the ordinary way in line 11 above. 06 Both reading and meaning of this term are uncertain. My translation is a guess based on the context. 207 The parallel in 6/23 substitutes t, tsr.t, 'Sacred Land', for tw,.t tsr.t. Perhaps the latter is an unetymological writing of the former here. 208 The place from which the unguents employed in temple rituals and the embalming process were procured. 209 The atelier where bandages employed in the mummification process and other types of cloth were fabricated. 210 i.e. the four no mes whose capital cities, just enumerated, were most prominent in the myth of Osiris. Abydos and Busiris were renowned as burial places of the god, Coptos is where he was first mourned by Isis after his death, and Herakleopolis is the place where he reigned as king. 211 Seil. on board ship to assist her in the search for the body of her brother. 212 Probably emend the text to read n :Jst,'of Isis', rather than n Wsir after 'companion'. ,ryn is an otherwise unattested epithet of Osiris. Conceivably it might be an attempt at writing 'Orion', with which constellation the god was sometimes identified. 213 For this epithet of Osiris, see note 93 above. The travelling companions to whom reference is made here are perhaps the participants in the ritual bark voyage which took place during the Wag feast. 204

298

Text 13

on board, the one whom she moored. 214 You are favoured for ever, Isis the queen, along with Hathor the cow. Isis is renewed together with Isis (sic), as she is joyful. 215 You are favoured for ever behind Osiris. You are renewed eternally behind Wennefer, Osiris Hathor of Tanaweruow daughter of Hartophnakhthes, whom Tatita bore. Your head will be entire. Your face will be sound. You go forth, triumphant. Your feet will be entire. Your heart will be sound. Every affair of yours is like that of a blessed one. Your lips will be entire. Your tongue will be sound. The great of five216 will perform censing for you. (30) You will go on board the morning bark with Pre at dawn. You will accomplish the moorings of the evening bark in the necropolis. [The rest of the line has been left blank.) (The words) which Hartophnakhthes her father wrote in order to recite them to her, this god's servant of Isis and Nephthys, this overseer of singers of Osiris, this master of libation pourers of Osiris lord of the khetes-tree, the great god, the devoted servant of the eye of Re, the devoted servant of Horus the son of Isis and son of Osiris, the great god, (and of) Horus protector of his father, the great god, until eternity. 217

8

(6/1) 0 tomb, there are goods within you like (those of) the marketplace of Memphis. 218 There is a merchant's product within you like this one of Paibenu. 219 There is a female falcon in your magazines as in Athribis. 220 An ibis has been placed in you as in Hermopolis, the domain of Thoth. There is silver in your treasuries as in those of the king. There is wheat (in) your compartments(?) 221 as in those of Psonis. There is a utensil, there is a cup 214

Reference is probably made to Osiris, whose body Isis recovered from the water and conveyed to land. 215 This sentence makes little sense as it stands. Perhaps emend the second 'Isis' to 'Hathor'. 216 Seil. Thoth. Cf. note 147 above. 217 For the priestly titles of Tanaweruow's father, see Introduction. 218 For the imagery in this and the next three lines, in which the deceased woman is described with a series of metaphors identifying her with various treasures and valuable commodities, see Introduction. 219 Possibly a variant form of Perbenu, 'House of the Phoenix', situated near Hutsekhem in the seventh Upper Egyptian nome. Or read 'Paikhenu'? In any event, this town must have been famed for the wares sold by its merchants, since the deceased is compared with one of its products. 220 Reference is made to the sacred falcon worshipped in Athribis, with whom the dead woman is compared. 221 The reading of this word, possibly ~- wt, is not entirely certain. See Smith, Papyrus Harkness, p. 240, for other alternatives.

Text 13

299

(within) your magazines daily. 0 mansion of eternity, you have good fortune since Tanaweruow (5) daughter ofHartophnakhthes, whose mother is Tatita, is within you. Good luck is with her people while this wise woman is within you. You will not weave(?) while you are pregnant. You will not spin(?) when you give birth. For you there is no placing your flax on the spindle(?) before the moon. 222 0 mansion of eternity which Tanaweruow desires (as) a house of rest, within which this good character desires her protection, 223 property will be given to you, some being in your twin receptacles. 224 Clothing will be given to you, some being in your chest. They will give you strength. They will not be lacking in it. Take her to yourself. Do not be afraid. Good fortune is with her. 225 Favour is upon her face. A place in which she is (10) does not rest in need. [blank space]

9 Here is a speech of your father as he offers a libation to Osiris and offers a libation to you, saying: Raise your hand, Isis the great, the god's mother. Pour out water for Osiris foremost in the West, my226 king, the lord of Abydos, while the female divinities bear a libation vessel, a situla, and a nemset-jar. They pour out water at all the offering tables (from) the great river and its wells.227 You 222

A difficult passage, the understanding of which is complicated by both the figurative both written with language used and the obscure vocabulary which occurs in it. ssnand ms!J, plant determinative, may be variant forms of the verbs ssn, 'weave', and msn, 'spin', respectively. The translation of gm.t as 'spindle' is a guess based on the context. If my interpretation is correct, the deceased's father is assuring her tomb that it will not have to toil making cloth by moonlight, since this will be supplied in abundance to it in accordance with the statements made in 1/33-5 and line 8 below. 223 My translation assumes that p3y=tin i-ir t;y ;my nfr.t mr mky.J=sp3y=t!Jnis a mistake for p;y=s. Otherwise, one would have to interpret this as a main clause with second tense: 'This good character desires her protection only within you.' See Smith, Papyrus Harkness, p. 242, for this alternative. Quack, Orientalia 75 (2006), p. 160, understands the preceding relative clause as a main clause as well, which he would render 'O mansion of eternity, Tanaweruow desires you as a house of rest.' This is impossible, since the tomb is clearly referred to in the third person rather than the second person in the clause in question. Cf. note 82 above. 224 Or simply 'receptacle', with the jar determinative of !Jnw repeated by mistake. 225 i.e. under her control. The recitant stresses the benefits which will accrue to the tomb as a result of having Tanaweruow within it. 226 Or 'this'. It is not clear whether the article before PrJ3 is the possessive or the demonstrative one. 227 Quack, Orientalia 75 (2006), p. 160, suggests an alternative division of the words in this passage, connecting 'the great river and its wells' with what follows rather than with what precedes it. Thus he would translate 'It is the great river and its wells that approach these offering tables.' The ensuing sentence would then begin with the instruction 'pour out water for Osiris'.

300

Text 13

who approaches these offering tables, pour out water for Osiris. Isis, pour out water for Osiris. Horus, pour out water for Osiris. 0 the entire host from whom wrapping was received, 228 the wind has arisen. It has stood up and levied a servant. 229 (15) Here is a sound of lament which comes forth (from) the underworld. Here is the sound of crying 230from Neith. Here is the sound of the mourning of the two sisters. She speaks, namely Isis, saying one thing. She speaks, Nephthys, (saying) another. All immersed ones whose names Isis · cc · · t hem water, 23 I give water at an oaenng ta bi e (to ) my 2 ·,2 k"mg, Ioves so as to give Osiris Wennefer. Give water at an offering table (to) the Hathor of Tanaweruow. Would that he had left with those who are in the house of the magistrate. May these gods who are in the western mountains be made to serve for him. [short blank space] Give water at an offering table to Osiris lord of the khetestree233and the one who is ( in) the great place. 234 Give water at an offering table to Osiris (in) the great place along with his guardians. 235 Give water at an offering table (to) the great god of Abydos, (20) the one who entered 256 the neshmet-bark. Give water (at) an offering table (to) the great neshmet-bark of the great Ennead of Osiris. 237 Give water (at) an offering table (to) the two sisters, Isis and Nephthys. Give water at an offering table (to) Anubis lord of Tour, 238 Anubis lord of the holy underworld. Give water (at) an offering table (to) this chieftainess of Libya, Hathor mistress of the West. Give water at an offering table to the gods of Abydos and the gods of the Sacred Land. Give water (at) an offering table (to) the gods, those of the embalming place, and the gods, those of the mourning. Give water (at) an offering table (to) Horus and Thoth and him who is (in) Alkhai. 239 Give water (at) an offering table (to) the gods of the house of unguent and the (25) gods of the 228

Perhaps a reference to the gods and goddesses who provide the mummy bandages. My translation assumes that this phrase is vocative, but one could also understand it as the subject of the following verb "/;" and translate 'The entire host from whom wrapping was received waits for the wind.' 229 Depending upon how one renders the previous sentence, the subject here is either the host from whom wrapping was received or the wind. 230 Read SW!U? The word is unattested elsewhere, but the sense 'crying, mourning' or similar is required by the context. 231 For the identity of these immersed ones, see note 26 above. 232 See note 226 above. 233 For this botanical term, see note 203 above. 234 The list of deities invoked in lines 18-26 of this column recurs in virtually the same form in 5/16-24. 2 0 The 'great place' here and in the preceding line is the sepulchre of Osiris in Pernebwadjit. ' 236 Or 'brought in'. The verb "k can have causative force as well as its more normal sense. 237 In this context, probably the divine standards which accompanied the god when he was carried in procession in the neshmet-bark. 238 See note 205 above for this toponym. 239 Seil. Osiris.

Text 13

301

240

house of wrapping. Give water (at) an offering table (to) those of Coptos, those ofBusiris, those of Abydos, and those ofHerakleopolis, the great nomes . 242 t h ose wh o ma de t he chamber of . . 241 t h ose w h o went up wit. h Isis, o f Os1ns, Osiris, and those who set up the mummification of Osiris. Give water at an 243 offering table (to) these immersed ones, those of this necropolis. Give water (at) an offering table (to) all these bas, those of this mountainous region. 244 Give water (at) an offering table (to) the Osiris Hathor of this bringer of the 245 distant one, Tanaweruow daughter ofHartophnakhthes, whom Tatita bore. 46 Deliver them all (to) my2 king, Osiris. Give them all to him, to my247 king, Osiris Wennefer. (30) Take water for yourself behind Osiris. Take a libation for yourself behind Wennefer. Tanaweruow daughter of Hartophnakhthes, whose mother is Tatita, water has been given to you at the proper occasion. A holocaust, burnt offerings, and libations have been made for you at the appointed time. They have mourned you (at) the rightful moment. Tanaweruow daughter of Hartophnakhthes, whose mother is Tatita, who died (in) year 7 of Nero, on the 21st ofMehkir. 248 24

° For these establishments,

241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248

see notes 208 and 209 above. For the significance of this expression, see note 210 above. See note 211 above. For the identity of these, see note 26 above. For the landscape feature in question, see note 80 above. See note 3 above for this title of the deceased. See note 226 above. See note 226 above. The date ofTanaweruow's death corresponds to 15 February, 61 AD. See note 6 above.

TEXT

14

P. Rhind 1 ( demotic version)

INTRODUCTION P. Rhind 1 (Edinburgh 908 + 540) was written for a man named Menthesouphis, also known as Hamsouphis or simply Souphis, whose father and mother were Monkeres and Senpamonthes. 1 He belonged to a family of important officials and priests from the Upper Egyptian city of Armant, referred to in our text as either 'Heliopolis of Upper Egypt' or 'Heliopolis of Mon tu'. 2 Hamsouphis himself held the titles of relative of Pharaoh 3 and cavalry officer. In P. Rhind l, his father is called a great one of his city, god's servant ofMontu-Re lord ofHeliopolis of Upper Egypt, agent of Pharaoh, 4 master of Heliopolis of Upper Egypt, 5 god's servant of Montu, leader of the army 6 of 1

Publication: A.H. Rhind, Thebes its Tombs and Their Tenants (London, 1862), pp. 77-123 (account of discovery of tomb where papyrus was found with description of it on pp. 118-20); S. Birch and A.H. Rhind, Facsimiles of Two Papyri Found in a Tomb at Thebes (London, 1863) (account of discovery, description, translation of hieratic version of the text, colour facsimiles of manuscript and vignettes); H. Brugsch, A. Henry Rhind's zwei bilingue Papyri (Leipzig, 1865) (transliteration and translation of demotic version of the text with reproduction of Birch's earlier translation of the hieratic, glossary, interlinear facsimile of both versions and comparative palaeographical tables); idem, Die Agyptologie (Leipzig, 1891), pp. 189-95 (translation of demotic version of the text); idem, Thesaurus Inscriptionum Aegyptiacarum 5 (Leipzig, 1891), pp. 897-9 (hand copy and translation of demotic version of P. Rhind 1, 1/1-9 and 3/6-9); G. Moller, Die beiden Totenpapyrus Rhind des Museums zu Edinburg (Leipzig, 1913) ( description, transcription of hieratic version and transliteration of demotic version with translations of both, commentary, glossary, and photographs of the manuscript); E. Revillout, 'Les vignettes du Papyrus Rhind No l', Revue Egyptologique 14 (1914), pp. 77-82 (discussion of vignettes and their labels); G. Elliot Smith and W.R. Dawson, Egyptian Mummies (London, 1924), pp. 50-3 (translation and discussion of hieratic version of P. Rhind l, 3/1-11); G. Roeder, Der Ausklang der agyptischen Religion mit Reformation, Zauberei und Jenseitsglauben (Zurich and Stuttgart, 1961 ), pp. 328-53 ( description of papyrus, translation of hieratic version of the text with important differences in the demotic version noted, reproduction of several vignettes). For the known attestations of the members of this family, see H.J. Thissen, 'Zur Familie des Strategen Monkores', ZPE 27 (1977), pp. 181-91; L. Mooren, The Aulic Titulary in Ptolemaic Egypt: Introduction and Prosopography (Brussels, 1975), pp. 117-18 and 122; L. Goldbrunner, Buchis: Eine Untersuchung zur Theologie des heiligen Stieres in Theben zur griechisch-riimischen Zeit (Turnhout, 2004), p. 335, s.v. Kalasiris, Monkores, and Pamonthes-Plenis. 3 Equivalent to Greek syngenes. See I. Guermeur, 'Le syngenes Aristonikos et la ville de To-bener', RdE 51 (2000), pp. 74-5 note (b). 4 Variant: 'agent of Pharaoh of Heliopolis of Mon tu'. 5 Variant: 'master/great one of Heliopolis of Montu'. 6 Equivalent to Greek strategos.

Text 14

303

Heliopolis ofMontu, and god's servant ofOsiris Buchis the great god and lord of the mansion of Atum. 7 Elsewhere several additional titles are attributed to him. 8 The mother of Hamsouphis has none. According to the information given in P. Rhind 1, its owner was born on 27 Hathor in year 13 of Ptolemy XII(= 4 December, 69 BC) and died on 10 Epip in year 21 of the reign of Augustus(= 4 July, 9 BC), having lived fifty-nine years, seven months, and fourteen days.9 The manuscript must have been written shortly after his death. It was found interred together with him in his tomb at the foot of Sheikh Abd al-Gurna on the west bank at Thebes, where it had been deposited in his sarcophagus at his left side. 10 P. Rhind 1 is bilingual. It preserves hieratic and demotic versions of the same text. The corresponding sections of each version are written one above the other, with the hieratic version on top. The only other manuscript translated in the present volume of which this is true is P. Rhind 2 (Text 15), which was inscribed for the wife of the owner of our text and is essentially an abbreviated version of it. There is a coloured vignette above each of the manuscript's eleven columns, in a field demarcated by double lines. Above each vignette there is a caption. Sometimes individual figures have their own labels as well. Most of the labels and captions are written in demotic but a few are written in hieroglyphs and there is one label in hieratic. The hieratic part of P. Rhind 1 is written in the form of Classical Egyptian characteristic of other hieratic afterlife texts of the Graeco- Roman Period, socalled Traditional or Late Middle Egyptian, with some traces of demotic influence. The demotic part, conversely, employs a few Classical Egyptian forms as archaisms, but is mainly composed in the language found in contemporary documents written in that script. 11 The demotic version omits a 12 few sentences found in the hieratic. There are also variations in grammar and 7

I quote the father's titles in their demotic form. The 'mansion of Atum' mentioned in the last is the Bucheum, the sacred precinct of the divine bull Buchis at Armant. See Goldbrunner, Buchis: Eine Untersuchung zur Theologie des heiligen Stieres in Theben zur griechisch-romischen Zeit, p. 346, s.v. f:zw.t-'Jtm. 8 See Thissen, ZPE 27 (I 977), pp. 184-6; Mooren, The Aulic Titulary in Ptolemaic Egypt: Introduction and Prosopography, pp. 117-18. 9 See M. Smith, 'Did Psammetichus I Die Abroad?', OLP 22 (1991), p. 104. Moller, Die beiden Totenpapyrus Rhind des Museums zu Edinburg, p. 8, gives Hamsouphis's birthdate incorrectly as 23 November 68 BC. 10 See description of the discovery of this tomb in Section E of the General Introduction. This occurred in late 1856 or early 1857 (so Rhind, Thebes its Tombs and Their Tenants, p. 75), and not 1860 as later authors like Birch and Moller have stated. 11 One notable linguistic feature of the demotic part of the text deserves comment: in some passages a present tense clause is used to express action concomitant with that of a preceding verbal construction even though it is not preceded by the converter iw. For examples, see note 142 below. 12 Cf. 5/1 and ll/5 of the latter.

304

Text 14

vocabulary, as one would expect. But otherwise the two versions agree fairly closely. It is difficult to say which is the original. It may be that some sections of the manuscript were first composed in demotic and then translated into Classical Egyptian. But in other sections, the process may have been reversed. 13 It is evident that both the hieratic and demotic parts of P. Rhind 1 are the work of the same scribe. In 2/ l 3 of the former, the names of the deceased and his father are actually written in demotic, and the writings of these are identical with the writings of the two names found in the demotic portion of the text. The latter incorporates a few words written in the hieratic script, 14 and the orthography of these is always the same as that of the words in question in the hieratic version itself. The purpose of having the same composition written in two different scripts and two different forms of the Egyptian language can only have been to facilitate comprehension. A user unfamiliar with hieratic could have recourse to the demotic, and vice versa. I have opted to translate the demotic version of P. Rhind 1 below, since it has been studied less than its hieratic counterpart. All references to column and line numbers of that manuscript in the paragraphs that follow are those of the demotic portion unless otherwise indicated. The demotic text of P. Rhind 1 can be divided into a number of different sections. Some of these are introduced with a distinctive title, heading, or other formula. Others, while lacking such an introductory element, have their end clearly demarcated in some fashion, e.g. with the name and titles of the deceased and those of his parents. In several cases, the end of a section of the text coincides with that of a column. A few sections have both beginning and end clearly marked. The initial section of the text (1/1-8) is a biographical notice of Hamsouphis, providing the date of his birth, his age at the time of decease, details of his parentage, and a description of his character. The second section gives the date of his death (1/8-9), followed by the words 'The letter which Thoth wrote for the West to cause those who are in the underworld to hear that the relative of Pharaoh Hamsouphis, son of the agent of Pharaoh and god's servant of Montu-Re lord of Heliopolis of Upper Egypt Monkeres, whom Senpamonthis bore, died' (1/9-11). These are clearly meant to function as a title of some sort. Since in a subsequent passage (8/1-3), the manuscript as a whole is characterized as a letter written by Thoth to the inhabitants of the West, this is very likely to be the title of the entire composition. Immediately after the words just quoted, in section 3, one has a very summary account of the initial stages of the deceased's embalmment, the 13

For an attempt to ascertain which sections were composed in which form of Egyptian, see M1ller, Die beiden Totenpapyrus Rhind des Museums zu Edinlmrg, pp. 8-11. See e.g. 1/4, 2/10, 6/8, 7/13, and 9/10.

Text 14

305

making of an incision in his side and his evisceration (2/1-5 ). The violation of the corpse in this way, although necessary, was not a subject on which the Egyptians wished to dwell, which accounts for the rather laconic and allusive treatment that these operations are accorded. The venue for their performance is said to be the embalming place (W'b.t). 15 The ensuing fourth section of the text (2/5-14) is introduced with the words 'The voice of Anubis as he speaks to Hamsouphis'. The deity in question welcomes the deceased to the perfect house (pr-nfr), the place where the subsequent stages of the mummification are to be carried out and declares that he will treat the body of Hamsouphis exactly like that of his father Osiris. It is not clear whether the term pr-nfr here refers to a structure distinct from the W'b.t mentioned previously or simply a specific part of that building. In other Egyptian sources, the two nouns are sometimes used as synonyms, 16 and a later passage of our text (3/4) implies that the entire mummification process took place in the W'b.t, which might suggest the latter. The fifth section (3/1-4), like the preceding one, is addressed to Hamsouphis. The speaker enumerates the various rites which will be performed for the deceased's benefit during the course of his mummification. It is said that eight processions will be conducted for him in the period leading up to his 'thirty-six days'. 17 A number of texts refer to a period of thirty-five days within the seventy normally devoted to the mummification, effectively the second half of the process, which appears to have been spent chiefly in wrapping the body with bandages. 18 Presumably, the thirty-six days mentioned in our text correspond to this. Thereafter, 'the ceremony of the great sea of Khonsu' will be performed for the dead person's benefit. The nature and location of this 'sea' are discussed in more detail below. The rite associated with it, which was

°

1

Cf. 2/2 and 13. In 3/1, it is described more colourfully as the 'slaughtering room'. "' See A.F. Shore, 'Human and Divine Mummification', in A. Lloyd (ed.), Studies in Pharaonic Religion mid Society in Honour of f. Gwyn Griffiths (London, 1992), p. 232; P. Frandsen, 'On the Root nfr and a "Clever" Remark on Embalming', in J. Osing and E. Nielsen I eds.), The Heritage of Ancient Egypt: Studies in Honour of Erik Iversen (Copenhagen, I 992), pp. 56-60. 17 For wn or wn-pr denoting a cultic act in which a deity is conducted in a public procession, see Miiller, Die beiden Totenpapyrns Rhind des Museums z11 Edinlmrg, p. 78 note 41. 18 See P. Lille 29, line 18 (F. de Cenival, Les associations religieuses en Egypte d'apres les dornments demotiques [Cairo, 1972], pp. 7 and 35 with plates 1-2); P. Berlin 3115, A, 1/4, 3/15, and C, 1/2 and 11 (ibid., pp. 103, I 07, 1I 8-19, 121, and 124, with plate 8); P. Cairo 50127, line 17 (R. Jasnow, 'The Dispute in the Hawara Necropolis Reopened (P. Cairo 50127)', in F. Hoffmann and H.J. Thissen [eds.], Res Severa Vernm Gn11diwn:Festschriftfiir Ka,-/-TheodorZauzich zum 65. Gelnmstag nm 8. Juni 2004 [Leuven, Paris, Dudley, 2004], pp. 265, 267, and 276-7, with plate 20); and P. BM EA 10561, line 21 (A.F. Shore and H.S. Smith, 'A Demotic Embalmers' Agreement (Pap. Dern. B.M. 10561)', Acta Orientalia 25 [1960], pp. 282,284, and 291, with plate 5). The hnv mf;-35, 'thirty-fifth day', mentioned in lines 15 and 17 of P. BM EA 10561 presumably marks the start of this period.

306

Text 14

performed on the 'day of rowing', 19 appears to separate the second half of the mummification process from the stages which preceded it. Following this, nine more processions will be conducted for the deceased, making seventeen in all spread over the entire seventy days which he is to spend in the embalming place. These correspond to the number of pieces into which the corpse of Osiris was supposed to have been divided. 20 In the Khoiak mysteries of that god, two processions were conducted, one on 16 Khoiak, the other eight days later on 24 Khoiak, the interval between these dates being devoted to the reconstitution of the divine body. 21 It is probable that the processions in our text similarly mark stages in the restoration of the deceased's corporeal integrity. The nature of these processions, however, or the form which they took, is not entirely clear. They may have been purely symbolic, or enacted without actually leaving the embalming place. Nevertheless they underline the fact that the mummification rites incorporated a festive element. 22 Another reference to processions in conjunction with the ceremonies of the w~b.t occurs in Text 21, 5/27-8, where the deceased is told 'All the ceremonies of the embalming place will be conducted for you on the days of festive procession.'23 In P. Cairo 30646, 4/25-6, a king is said to authorize 'an entry into the perfect house of sixteen days, rites of thirty-five (days), and a mummification of seventy days' for his deceased son. 24 Perhaps the sixteen days devoted to entry into the perfect house there should be associated with the seventeen · process10ns o f our text. 25 The sixth section of the text ( 3/ 4- I 1) begins with an affirn1ation that the goddess Isis will issue a command to carry out a perfect mummification for the deceased, the components of which are described in some detail. These include unguent, oil, fine linen bandages, incense, myrrh, resin, cow's fat, and other products. At the conclusion of this process, he will appear and greet Sokar on the 26th of the month of Khoiak, the climactic day of the festival of Sokar when the god was carried in procession in his bark. 26

~ See 1ext 15, 3/4. -"'0 See note I 05 below. See E.Chassinat, Le mystere d'Osiris au 111ois de Khoiak 2 (Cairo, 1968), pp. 635-6. 22 On this, see M. Smith, The Mortllary Texts of Pllpyrus BM 10507 ( London, 1987), p. 23. 23 See F.-R. Herbin, Le livre de parcourir l'eternite (Leuven, 1994), pp. 212-13. 24 See W. Spiegelberg, CGC: Die de111otische11 Papyrus (Strasbourg, I 906-8), plate 45. The relevant passage reads tw Pr-°, {aWnaf "qr pr-nfr n hrw /6 tbJ n 35 qs.t n hnv 70. Shore and Smith, Acta Oriellta/ia 25 ( I 960), p. 286 note ( h), compare the expression £ "q there with . . CoRtic x1 ~€1K_ (W.E. Crum, A Coptic Dictionary [Oxford, I 939], p. _3a). . . · For a vanant tradition accordmg to whJCh the corpse of Osms was dJV1ded mto sixteen rather than seventeen pieces, see note I 05 below. 26 See note I I 4 below.

l9

21

Text 14

307

The seventh section (4/1-13 ), like the fourth, is introduced with the words 'The voice of Anubis', clearly identifying that god as the speaker. This raises the question of who recites the two intervening sections described in the preceding paragraphs. If it is Anubis, and there has been no change of recitant, then why should it be necessary to indicate the speaker's identity again here? Perhaps the words which follow the command of Isis mentioned in 3/4-5 are to be interpreted as an actual speech by that goddess rather than simply a report of the contents of her ordinance by another. 27 Whatever the case, in this section, Anubis presents himself in a different aspect to the one he displays earlier. There the emphasis was upon his role as lector priest and embalmer. Here, by contrast, he stresses his role as psychopompos, conductor of the deceased to the underworld who admits those deemed worthy to the realm of Osiris. Addressing Hamsouphis, he promises to intercede for him in view of his virtuous conduct while he was alive. As a result of his mummification, his ba will be rejuvenated and he will live again, going and coming into the presence of Osiris. The eighth section of P. Rhind 1 (5/1-12) has no explicit introduction in the demotic version, but in the hieratic parallel it begins with the words 'The great god will open his mouth to speak his utterance.' Elsewhere in the text, 28 a similar formula introduces a speech of Osiris, so that deity may be the speaker here as well. If so, it is somewhat odd that Osiris is referred to in the third person in 5/5-6, but there are cases where other divinities refer to themselves in the same way,29 so there is no reason why Osiris should not do so as well. Alternatively, the speaker could be Anubis, who is sometimes designated as a 'great god' (ntr ~;) in the underworld. 30 Whoever he is, the speaker addresses Hamsouphis, urging him to be content to come to the underworld since he has lived a long and happy life on earth. The recitant describes the welcome which awaits the deceased in the West and the benefits which he will enjoy upon his arrival there, chief among which are the privileges of seeing Osiris face to face, worshipping him, and dwelling in his presence. The ensuing ninth section (6/1-14) is introduced with the words 'Spell for the purification of Horus and Thoth'. Hamsouphis is addressed by an unidentified speaker. As the title indicates, one has here a recitation intended to 27

This would explain why Anubis is referred to in the third person in 3/8. The idea that 3/6-9 (as far as the words 'a costly wrapping') preserve the actual words of Isis is supported by the fact that in the parallel to these lines in Text 15, 4/1-7, the deceased is referred to as 'her' rather than 'you' throughout. Thereafter, the subject matter shifts from mummification to its aftermath and the text resumes addressing the deceased in the second person. 28 See 9/ I of the hieratic version. 29 See e.g. 4/ I 2, where Anubis refers to himself in the third person. 30 See note 120 below.

308

Text 14

accompany an act oflustration. Purification by Horus and Thoth, originally a prerogative of the king, is attested as a privilege accorded to the non-royal dead as early as the New Kingdom. 31 After describing the act of lustration itself, the text goes on to enumerate the benefits which will accrue to the deceased as a result of it: he will have access to the company of various deities, inhale the breath of life, partake of offerings, and enjoy the esteem of his parents and relations. The tenth section ( 7/1-13) is addressed to Hamsouphis as well. The speaker, who is not named, contrasts the fate of the deceased, who lived to an advanced age and enjoyed a life of ease, with that of young children who have died prematurely. Not even sacred animals, the embodiments of the great gods, live forever. Therefore he should be glad to join the blessed spirits in the following of Osiris and beseech the deity to accept him among his retinue on account of his blameless life. In consequence, he will see Sokar Osiris on the occasion of that god's festival and be given a joyful reception by Anubis. The eleventh section of the text (8/1-6) begins with the words 'The letter for breathing of Thoth is your protection. You will not stand outside the hall of Osiris.' Similar statements occur in other texts for the afterlife, among them Texts 21, 23, and 25 below.32 A few lines later the text continues, 'They will receive the letter which Thoth wrote in your presence. You will proceed to the doors of the underworld.' The reference here is clearly to the letter for breathing mentioned two lines earlier. The parallel in the hieratic version substitutes 'They will receive this decree which Isden 3 ·' wrote concerning going to the doors of the underworld.' Noteworthy is the equivalence of 'the t) in the demotic and 'this decree' (w(j.pn) in the hieratic. 34 The letter' (t; s~. use of the deictic qualifier in the latter indicates clearly that the document in question is P. Rhind 1 itself.35 The ensuing lines state that the deceased will be seen and acclaimed in the two solar barks, receive amulets and travel to the sky to worship Re, and enter the underworld unimpeded thanks to the letter for breathing and his virtuous conduct. The ensuing twelfth section (8/6-12) starts with the words 'The four children of Horus are before you, adoring Osiris, their hands raised in his presence. They will say, namely Amseti, Hapi, Duamutef, and Qebehsenuef.' 31

See M. Smith, Papyrus Harkness (Oxford, 2005), p. 170, and literature cited there. See Herbin, Le livre de parcourir /'eternite, p. 255; M. Stadler, Der Tote11papyrusdes Pa-Month (P. Bi/JI.11at.149) (Wiesbaden, 2003), p. 47. 33 Another name for Thoth. 34 For this, see J. Quaegebeur, 'Lettres de That et decrets pour Osiris', in J. Kamstra, H. Milde, and K. Wagtendonk (eds.), Funerary Symbols and Religion (Kampen, I 988), p. 110. 35 For the conception of our text as a letter (§c_t) written by Thoth, see also comments on 1/9-11 above. 32

Text 14

309

In the speech which follows, the four children of Horus, who not only guard the viscera of Hamsouphis but represent components of his personality as well, testify to the good treatment which they received from him during his lifetime and express the hope that Osiris will listen to their words and bestow his favour upon the deceased. 36 At the beginning of the thirteenth section of the text that god responds to the plea of the four children of Horus and gives instructions to grant Hamsouphis a place among the blessed, allow him to go where they go, and partake of their offerings (9/1-3). Next, Isis pronounces the traditional formula to provide invocation offerings for the deceased (9/3-12). At the close of this, she (or another speaker) appends additional instructions to allow the deceased a double union in the afterlife, with both the sun disc and the followers of Osiris, while his offspring persist after him on earth (9/12-14). The fourteenth section of P. Rhind 1 starts with an invocation to the gods and goddesses enumerated by Isis in the offering formula in the preceding column (10/1-6). The speaker, although not named, is probably that goddess, since they are addressed as the 'male deities and female deities whose names I have said'. The divinities are urged to perform diverse favours for the deceased and grant him various privileges. This is followed by a second invocation (10/6-15) in which another long series of deities is summoned to come to Hamsouphis, fasten their amulets on him, let him go forth justified, and grant breath to his nostrils. It is affirmed that he will enjoy freedom of movement by reason of the utterances of Re-Harakhti, whose every command comes to fruition immediately, Isis, and other divinities. The fifteenth section of the text consists of a statement to the effect that Hamsouphis lives for ever, his ba rising and setting like the sun, while he receives offerings in the temples of the gods each day (11/1-4). The sixteenth and final section is devoted to a speech addressed to the deceased by the goddess Nut (11/4-13 ). It is introduced with the words 'The writings of the figure of Nut which is in the sarcophagus', and thus purports to be an inscription accompanying a representation of that goddess within the object in question. Nut, who is identified with the sarcophagus, invites the deceased to enter her and promises that he will enjoy the protection of the two Enneads and the four children of Horus in her interior. The deities in question are among those frequently represented on the sides of sarcophagi. Furthermore, the goddess continues, Hamsouphis will be conducted to the portals of the 36

For the various roles of the children of Horns, including those performed here, see J. Assmann, 'Harfnerlied und Hornssohne', ]EA 65 (I 979), pp. 72-5; H. Kockelmann, 'Drei Gotter untern Totenbett. Zu einem ungewohnlichen Bildmotiv in einer spaten TotenbuchHandschrift', RdE 57 (2006), pp. 77-94. The latter reproduces a number of scenes which show the children of Horns actually standing with upraised arms beneath the deceased's bier.

310

Text 14

West, enter and leave it at will, receive libations and offerings on the altar of Osiris daily, and travel freely in the sky and the underworld. She concludes by affirming that he will cut off the heads of his enemies and be justified in the presence of Osiris. It is evident that the text preserved in P. Rhind 1 was intended to be recited in a cultic context, some parts of it at least in conjunction with ritual acts, for instance the purification of the deceased to which reference is made in the sixth column. A number of its constituent utterances are explicitly attributed to deities, either speaking alone or as part of a group. Conceivably, each of these may have been recited by a different officiant representing the deity in question, but it is also possible that a single recitant was responsible for all of them. 37 The difficulty one faces with this text is in determining where, when, and in which ritual context it was recited. Broadly speaking, the subject matter can be divided into four categories: (a) the deceased's life on earth, (b) his mummification, ( c) the assessment of his character, and (d) his status and mode of existence in the aftermath of that assessment. The majority of the sentences dealing with these topics are introduced with srjm=fforms. As noted in Section F of the General Introduction, there are two such forms in demotic, one expressing past time, the other future time. Both are written identically. A major problem to be resolved then, is that of ascertaining whether the various events described in the ritual utterances of the text are regarded as past or future occurrences, i.e. what has already happened or what will happen. As far as sentences referring to events in category (a) are concerned, for instance 'You grew old on earth' (4/8), this is not too difficult. Here the time reference is clearly past, since Hamsouphis was already dead when the text was inscribed. Otherwise, his date of death could not have been recorded in it. Likewise, sentences referring to events in category ( d), for example, 'You will live for ever' (8/4), clearly have future reference. The problem is with categories (b) and (c). From the standpoint of the text, are the deceased 's mummification and judgement regarded as having already happened or not? As noted above, most of the sentences dealing with these events are introduced with srjm=f forms, so theoretically either alternative is possible. The hieratic version of P. Rhind 1 employs these forms as well, so it does not really help one to choose between them. 38 There are, nevertheless, some passages which do give us a clearer insight. In 2/11-13, for instance, the god 37

Cf. Text 4 which, although parts of it are explicitly identified as utterances of Isis and Nephthys, was recited entirely by a lector priest. 38 Occasionally the hieratic version uses a different verbal construction, the srjm.naf, which allows a sr;f,nafform in the corresponding part of the demotic to be identified as a past tense with certainty (e.g. 4/2-3, 5/3, 7/8-9), but not in passages concerned with the deceased's mummification or justification.

Text 14

311

Anubis tells Hamsouphis that his viscera have already been removed and treated for preservation. The verbal constructions used in that passage, mtw s 30 appearance for him in the god's domain like Re when emerging from the earth. Give him praise and be jubilant before him. 31 Let him go up beside his bier, 32 his sarcophagus pure, and his body unfearing. Cause Seth 33 to be repulsed from him. Empower hin1 with majesty. Publication: A. Zayed, 'Stele inedite, en bois peint, d'une musicienne d'Amon a la basse epoque', ASAE 56 (1959), pp. 87-104 and plates 1-4. See especially pp. 101-2 for the appeal. 29 For this translation, see Introduction. 30 Supplied from parallels. 31 De Meulenaere translates 'kiss the earth before him', taking sJ-t3 as a writing of sn-t,. 32 Read imi [s-fr-gs nmi.t=fThe version of the decree in Text 1 has imi rs r-gs nmi.t-f, 'keep vigil beside his bier', at this point. The verbs rs and ts are easily confused. 33 Some parallels substitute sby. w, 'the rebels', or-s(!w,'the slanderer'. 28

Text 53

605

Endue him with might, make him more distinguished than the divine bas. Imbue him with life and rejuvenation in old age,34 so that his movements are vigorous and his strength great. Ennoble him among the noble ones. 35 Place him in the pure sarcophagus of Re. He should not confront any evil matter. Assign him to the great bier, Isis weeping for him and Nephthys lamenting him, while he is under the protection of Osiris foremost in the West.36 He is a deity whom one should fear in the god's domain. Open the great doors in the nome of the silent land for him, so that he might appear in glory at all times, 37 Osiris of Pinuris, justified. 38 (10) He is that august divinity, 39 approaching the Sacred Land in a state of gladness. 40 Let his ba alight in the place where he desires while his corpse endures in Thebes. Appeal of deceased (Stela Cairo JdE 88.877, lines 12-14): Words spoken by the Osiris of the sistrum player of Amun-Re Nehemesratawi, justified: 0 doorkeepers 41 and guardians in the mound of Djeme, excellent bas in the august balanites tree, open all the doors in the imhetcavern for me. 42 Let me enter before you. Report 43 to the [lords] 4 4 of the silent land about the decree which the lord of the gods made for [him (sic)] 45 because I am one revered by her city, praised by her local god. [If] 46 you probe within my body, no fault will be found.

4

0 r 't·rom o Id age.' Some parallels insert here: 'Open the cavern oflife for him. Let his throat gape wide for the sake of water. Place him in the secret coffin while he is under the protection of him who is south of his wall.' 36 Some parallels expand this to 'Osiris foremost in the West, Wennefer the justified', and then add: 'Set him in all majesty, while he is under the protection of Re-Harakhti with dappled plumage, he who comes forth from the horizon. Place him before the mighty one, while he is under the protection of Amun-Re, lord of the throne of the two lands, pre-eminent in Karnak.' 37 Or 'at any time when he appears in glory'. 38 So Quaegebeur. De Meulenaere connects the words 'Osiris of Pinuris, justified' with the following clause, i.e. 'As for the Osiris of Pinuris, justified, he is that august divinity.' According to him, the two preceding sentences refer to Amun-Re. This would be possible in the longer versions of the decree which actually insert a mention of that god before the sentences in question (see note 36 above), but not in our text. 39 Some parallels substitute 'that great divinity, the noble mummy'. 40 Some parallels add here: 'His heart is precise. No fault of his has been discovered, for the guardians of the balance have absolved him.' 41 For this translation, see Quaegebeur in Kamstra, Milde, and Wagtendonk (eds.), Funerary Symbols and Religion: Essays Dedicated to Professor M.S.H.G. Heerma van Voss, p. 117. 42 Read wn n=i r;.(w) m /111(1.t mi-qd=sn. (Quaegebeur: wn n= im~1.tmi-qd=sn). Zayed's printed text is inacrnrate at this point. Compare the photograph in his plate I. 43 One version says 'let report be made'. 44 Restored from parallel. 45 Restored from parallel text printed in Zayed, ASAE 56 ( 1959), p. 102. The reading of that stela is difficult to verify on the photograph published in his plate 2. One expects 'for [me]'. 46 Restored from parallel. ·'

35

606

Text 53

Hieroglyphic legends: Lunette: Before jackal on the left: Wepwaut of Upper Egypt, leader 47 of the two lands. Before jackal on the right: Wepwaut of Lower Egypt, leader 48 of the sky.49 Scene below lunette: Above deceased: Osiris of the god's father Pinuris, justified. Before Anubis: Anubis as embalmer, lord of the Sacred Land. Between Anubis and Osiris: Guardians of the underworld who open the doors of the sky(?).50 Before Osiris: Osiris foremost in the West, great god and lord of Abydos. Before Isis: Isis. Before Nephthys: Nephthys. Before Horus: Horus son of Osiris. Before Hathor: Hathor mistress of the West. 47

Or 'powerful one'. For the possible readings of this noun, see). Quack, 'Ein neuer funeriirer Text der Spatzeit (pHohenzollern-Sigrnaringen II)', ZiiS 127 (2000), pp. 81-2 . .ix S , ee prece d.mg note. 1 · " Read p.t. The last word is difficult to make out on the published photograph, but clearly visible on an enlarged scan. 50 The reading of the word after 'doors' is uncertain. It may be a defective writing ofp.t. See Quaegebeur in Kamstra, Milde, and Wagtendonk (eds.), F1111erary Symbols and Religion: Essays Dedirnted to Professor M.S.H.G. Heerma 1·a11 Voss, p. 117.

TEXT

54

Divine Decree for the Deceased (abridged version) (O. Strasbourg D. 132 + 133 + 134)

INTRODUCTION These three ostraca join together to form a single potsherd inscribed with seven lines of demotic. 1 The surfaces of two of them, 0. Strasbourg D. 132 and 133, are in a good state of preservation. Unfortunately, that of the third, D. 134, is rubbed and faded, making it difficult to read some of the writing on it. Among the words which are affected in this way is the name of the text's beneficiary. This is illegible apart from the final element which is 'fmn, 'Amun'. 2 The name of the beneficiary's father is Petenephotes, that of his mother Tamounis. The owner of our text possessed four sacerdotal titles: it nfr, 'god's father', mr nfr, 'beloved of the god', ~ry sst;, 'overseer of the mystery', and a further one perhaps to be restored as tb ]-nfr, '[purifier] of the god'. 3 No titles are attributed to his father. His mother is called 'mistress of the house and sistrum player of Amun-Re'. The potsherd comes from Thebes and can be dated on palaeographical grounds to the first century BC. The text inscribed on 0. Strasbourg D. 132 + 133 + 134 is an abridged version of the divine decree for the deceased preserved on numerous wooden stelae of early Ptolemaic date from Thebes. A representative specimen is Stela Turin 1569 (Text 53 in this volume). For the form and function of such decrees, see Introduction to that text. They were intended to secure admission to the underworld and continued existence in a state of well-being there for their beneficiaries. The purpose of inscribing them on stelae was to publicize their contents and preserve them as a record for posterity. To this end, the stelae were deposited in the tomb, conceptualized as a part of the underworld, which constituted the public space for their display. Apart from our text, only one other exemplar written on an ostracon rather than a stela is known, 0. Vienna Nat. Bib. Aeg. 6.4 1

The ostraca are unpublished. I am grateful to MM. P.-H. Allioux and Daniel Bornemann and Mme. Gisela Belot of the Bibliotheque Nationale et Universitaire, Strasbourg, for permission to study them in person and for providing me with digital photographs of them. 2 Reading confirmed on the original. 3 See below. 4 See H. Goedicke, 'Hieratische Ostraka in Wien', WZKM 59/60 (1963/1964), pp. 3-4 and plate 6.

608

Text 54

Some versions of this divine decree are longer and more elaborate than others. The one translated below reduces the edict to its bare essentials. The list of beings to whom the text is addressed is drastically condensed, while the enumeration of the privileges to be conferred upon the beneficiary is restricted to the most important ones. He should be allowed to enter the hall of the righteous in the underworld, his ba should be caused to live and his limbs should be rejuvenated, while he endures in the West of Thebes for ever. Like other copies of the decree, the language of ours is Middle Egyptian, even though it is written in the demotic script. 5 As might be expected in view of its condensed form, it resembles the shorter versions of the edict more than it does the longer ones. One of these in particular has aided in the decipherment of the more problematic passages in our text, the ostracon in Vienna to which reference has already been made above. This was written for a man named Apries the son of Petenephotes. 6 It is conceivable that he and the beneficiary of our text were brothers, given that their fathers have the same name and their texts display so many common features. 7 If so, then one has here a further instance in which two brothers each possessed copies of the same work, 8 in this particular case, one written in demotic and the other in hieroglyphs. Whether this was so or not, the inscription of these two specimens of the decree on potsherds rather than wooden stelae is noteworthy. This could have been done purely for reasons of economy. Alternatively, since the ostraca are later than the stelae, many of which have been assigned to the third century BC, then the two types of object could represent two distinct stages in the development and transmission of this genre of decree, the ostraca coming into use only after production of the stelae had ceased.

TRANSLATION (I) Royal decree issued to 9 Osiris [Wen] nefer the justified, king of the gods, 10 foremost in the West, lord of Busiris, the great god, ruler of eternity, and the 5

For other demotic texts where the language is Middle Egyptian, see Texts 20, 57, 58, and 60 in this volume. 6 For the reading of the patronymic, see J. Quaegebeur, 'Lettres de Thot et decrets pour Osiris', in J. Kamstra, H. Milde, and K. Wagtendonk (eds.), Funerary Symbols and Religion: EssaysDedicated to ProfessorM.S.H.G. Heerma l'