The Book of the DeadBudge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
Religion
The Book of the Dead
Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
Book of the dead; Death; Egypt -- Religion; Future life
the East and West, and the gods of the Mountain of Sunrise. In this
region lived the terrible Serpent-god Ami-hem-f; he was 30 cubits
(50 feet) long. In the East the deceased saw the Morning Star, and
the Two Sycamores, from between which the Sun-god appeared daily,
and found the entrance to the Sekhet Aaru or Elysian Fields. Chapter
CX and its vignette of the Elysian Fields have already been described
(see p. 31). Chapters CXI and CXII describe how Horus lost the sight
of his eye temporarily through looking at Set under the form of a
black pig, and Chapter CXIII refers to the legend of the drowning of
Horus and the recovery of his body by Sebek the Crocodile-god. Chapter
CXIV enabled the deceased to absorb the wisdom of Thoth and his Eight
gods. Chapters CXV-CXXII made him lord of the Tuats of Memphis and
Heliopolis, and supplied him with food, and Chapter CXXIII enabled
him to identify himself with Thoth. Chapters CXXIV and CXXV, which
treat of the Judgment, have already been described. Chapter CXXVI
contains a prayer to the Four Holy Apes, Chapter CXXVII a hymn to
the gods of the "Circles" in the Tuat, and Chapter CXXVIII a hymn to
Osiris. Chapters CXXX and CXXXI secured for the deceased the use of
the Boats of Sunrise and Sunset, and Chapter CXXXII enabled him to
return to earth and visit the house he had lived in. Chapters CXXXIII
(or CXXXIX)-CXXXVI resemble in contents Chapter CXXXI. Chapter
CXXXVII describes a series of magical ceremonies that were to be
performed for the deceased daily in order to make him to become a
"living soul for ever." The formulae are said to have been composed
under the IVth dynasty. Chapter CXXXVIII refers to the ceremony of
reconstituting Osiris, and Chapters CXL-CXLII deal with the setting
up of twelve altars, and the making of offerings to all the gods and
to the various forms of Osiris. Chapter CXLIII consists of a series
of vignettes, in three of which solar boats are represented.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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