Legends of the Gods: The Egyptian Texts, edited with TranslationsBudge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
General
Legends of the Gods: The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations
Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
Egyptian literature -- Translations into English; Mythology, Egyptian
The text of this most interesting legend is found in hieroglyphics on
one side of a large rounded block of granite some eight or nine feet
high, which stands on the south-east portion of Sahal, a little island
lying in the First Cataract, two or three miles to the south of
Elephantine Island and the modern town of Aswan. The inscription is
not cut into the rock in the ordinary way, but was "stunned" on it with
a blunted chisel, and is, in some lights, quite invisible to anyone
standing near the rock, unless he is aware of its existence. It is in
full view of the river-path which leads from Mahallah to Philae, and
yet it escaped the notice of scores of travellers who have searched the
rocks and islands in the Cataract for graffiti and inscriptions. The
inscription, which covers a space six feet by five feet, was discovered
accidentally on February 6th, 1889, by the late Mr. C. E. Wilbour, a
distinguished American gentleman who spent many years in research in
Egypt. He first copied the text, discovering in the course of his work
the remarkable nature of its contents and then his friend Mr. Maudslay
photographed it. The following year he sent prints from Mr. Maudslay's
negatives to Dr. Brugsch, who in the course of 1891 published a
transcript of the text with a German translation and notes in a work
entitled Die biblischen sieben Jahre der Hungersnoth, Leipzig, 8vo.
The legend contained in this remarkable text describes a terrible
famine which took place in the reign of Tcheser, a king of the IIIrd
Dynasty, and lasted for seven years. Insufficient Nile-floods were, of
course, the physical cause of the famine, but the legend shows that the
"low Niles" were brought about by the neglect of the Egyptians in
respect of the worship of the god of the First Cataract, the great god
Khnemu. When, according to the legend, king Tcheser had been made to
believe that the famine took place because men had ceased to worship
Khnemu in a manner appropriate to his greatness, and when he had taken
steps to remove the ground of complaint, the Nile rose to its
accustomed height, the crops became abundant once more, and all misery
caused by scarcity of provisions ceased. In other words, when Tcheser
restored the offerings of Khnemu, and re-endowed his sanctuary and his
priesthood, the god allowed Hapi to pour forth his streams from the
caverns in the Cataract, and to flood the land with abundance. The
general character of the legend, as we have it here, makes it quite
certain that it belongs to a late period, and the forms of the
hieroglyphics and the spellings of the words indicate that the text was
"stunned" on the rock in the reign of one of the Ptolemies, probably at
a time when it was to the interest of some men to restore the worship
of Khnemu, god of the First Cataract. These interested people could
only have been the priests of Khnemu, and the probability that this was
so becomes almost a certainty when we read in the latter part of the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account