And here it was that the beatified personage sat upon his throne of
steel, which was decorated in front with faces of the lion-god
⁂⁂⁂⁂ _Maaḥes_, the feet of it being the hoofs of the great
Bull _Sma-urà_, and extended his hand to the coming generation of men
(the ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂), whilst the gods approached him in
submissive attitude, and made offerings to him. It was, perhaps, from
these offerings that the Garden derived its name.
The Garden of Aarru, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ is often mentioned
in connection with that of Ḥotepit, and may perhaps be considered as the
most notable part of it. It is through its Gate that the Sun-god rises
up into Heaven.
It takes its name from a plant ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _ȧarru_ (later,
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, B.M. 551; ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, _Ag_,
Chapter 17; ⁂⁂⁂⁂,[103] _Ba_, Chapter 110, by phonetic
dissimilation of _rr_ into _nr_). The usual form in later times is
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, but we find even shorter forms in ⁂⁂,
B.M. 32, and ⁂⁂⁂. The determinative ⁂ of a reptile,
indicates a _creeping_, _climbing_, _twining_ plant, such as the
convolvulus, hop, or vine.[104]
The term ‘Garden’ implies in this connection nothing more than a
cultivated enclosure.
The names of different localities which are invoked by the deceased and
appear on the vignette of the chapter, have here been made prominent by
means of heavy type.
1. _Rise in Hotepit_, or (later on) _Hotep_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂ is the
name of one of the localities. The word ⁂ as I have often said, has
the sense of _rising up_, _coming to light_, _making an appearance_, and
like the Greek φαίνομαι is especially applicable to the appearance of
daybreak, or the rise of the heavenly bodies.
2. _Turning_, ⁂. The group has the apparent sense of _building_, but
the primitive sense is _turning_, as in the making of pottery. The
preposition ⁂ which follows it in this place seems to show that
building is not meant.
3. This, of course, sounds like nonsense, but so does the original as it
has come down to us. The papyrus of Ani, which reads ⁂⁂⁂,
forces the sense of _day_ upon the sign ⁂, which in the sense of
_turn_ would have been far more intelligible. There was the ‘Portion of
Sutu,’ and the ‘Portion of Horus,’ each being half the world,
topographically, or half the twenty-four hours as regards time.
I suspect that ‘day’ is a faulty interpretation of the ambiguous ⁂,
and that the true sense of the passage is that Sutu is satisfied with
the share which comes to his turn, and thereupon delivers Horus from
imprisonment in the lower world. The perplexity, or ignorance of the
copyists is seen in the very next words. One has ‘he who is in Merit,’
others ‘he who is in my mouth,’ and two ‘he who is in the egg,’ if this
be the sense of the very questionable group ⁂⁂⁂⁂, which
looks like a mistake for ⁂⁂⁂, a well known title of Anubis.
4. _Again and again renewed_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂.
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