Egyptian Literature: Comprising Egyptian tales, hymns, litanies, invocations, the Book of the Dead, and cuneiform writings — John Shaqi
Egyptian Literature: Comprising Egyptian tales, hymns, litanies, invocations, the Book of the Dead, and cuneiform writings
Religion
Egyptian Literature: Comprising Egyptian tales, hymns, litanies, invocations, the Book of the Dead, and cuneiform writings
Egyptian literature -- Translations into English
In the rubric to this chapter as found in the Papyrus of Mes-em-neter, the
chapter is said to have been “discovered in the foundations of the shrine
of the divine Hennu boat by the chief mason in the time of the King of the
North and of the South, Hesepti,(40) triumphant,” and it is there directed
that it shall be recited by one who is ceremonially pure and clean, and
who hath not touched women, and who hath not eaten flesh of animals or
fish.
Chapter Of Knowledge
[From the Papyrus of Nu (British Museum No. 10,477, sheet 13).]
THE CHAPTER OF KNOWING THE “CHAPTERS OF COMING FORTH BY DAY” IN A SINGLE
CHAPTER. The overseer of the palace, the chancellor-in-chief, Osiris Nu,
triumphant, begotten of the overseer of the palace, Amen-hetep,
triumphant, saith:
“I am Yesterday and To-morrow; and I have the power to be born a second
time. [I am] the divine hidden Soul, who createth the gods, and who giveth
sepulchral meals to the divine hidden beings [in the Tuat (underworld)],
in Amenti, and in heaven. [I am] the rudder of the east, the possessor of
two divine faces wherein his beams are seen. I am the lord of those who
are raised up, [the lord] who cometh forth from out of the darkness.
[Hail,] ye two divine Hawks who are perched upon your resting-places, and
who hearken unto the things which are said by him, the thigh [of the
sacrifice] is tied to the neck, and the buttocks [are laid] upon the head
of Amentet. May the Ur-urti goddesses (_i.e._, Isis and Nephthys) grant
such gifts unto me when my tears start from me as I look on. ‘I know the
abysses’ is thy name. [I] work for [you], O ye _Khu_s, who are in number
[four] millions, [six] hundred, and 1,000, and 200, and they are [in
height] twelve cubits. [Ye] travel on joining the hands, each to each, but
the sixth [hour], which belongeth at the head of the Tuat (underworld), is
the hour of the overthrow of the Fiend. [I] have come there in triumph,
and [I am] he who is in the hall (or courtyard) of the Tuat; and the
seven(?) come in his manifestations. The strength which protecteth me is
that which hath my _Khu_ under its protection, [that is] the blood, and
the cool water, and the slaughterings which abound(?). I open [a way
among] the horns of all those who would do harm unto me, who keep
themselves hidden, who make themselves adversaries unto me, and those who
are upon their bellies. The Eye shall not eat (or absorb) the tears of the
goddess Aukert. Hail, goddess Aukert, open thou unto me the enclosed
place, and grant thou unto me pleasant roads whereupon I may travel. Who
art thou, then, who consumest in the hidden places? I am the Chief in
Re-stau, and [I] go in and come forth in my name of ‘Hehi, the lord of
millions of years [and of] the earth’; [I am] the maker of my name. The
pregnant one hath deposited [upon the earth] her load. The door by the
wall is shut fast, and the things of terror are overturned and thrown down
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