Chapters 145 and 146 are two versions of the same text. They are the
chapter of the arrival of the deceased to the ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ of
the house of Osiris. It is difficult to know what these
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ really are. Renouf translates the word by
_pylon_. At the same time he says they are not mere gates, but keeps
or holds. I shall use his word pylon; but the word which seems to me
to convey most exactly the meaning is a _cell_, since each of the
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ has an inhabitant. There are various versions of
these chapters. The oldest, No. 146, is found in several papyri, and
has been translated from _Lc._ (Leyden), the only one which has the
chapter complete. It consists of 21 paragraphs, each of which begins
with a sentence giving the names of the pylon. It is followed by that
of the ⁂⁂⁂⁂, which I translate, with Renouf, the
_porter_ or _doorkeeper_ though I should prefer, he who is within the
door, since the vignettes show that the so-called porter or doorkeeper
is the god who occupies the cell. There are 21 pylons, out of which
the papyri give us a certain number. Brugsch finds in their names
those of some of the hours of night or day; but the fact of their
being 21, absolutely precludes the idea of these pylons being the
hours.
The papyrus of _Nu_ in the British Museum gives a slightly different
version of this chapter 146. Each pylon is introduced by these words,
“said by Nu when he arrives at the first pylon: I have arrived, I know
thee, I know the name of the god who guardeth thee; the lady of
trembling, &c., is thy name, the name of the doorkeeper is the brave.”
The other version which constitutes chapter 145 shows that the god who
guardeth the pylon and the doorkeeper are the same person.
Chapter 145 is the same text which has been spun out a little more. We
have no older copy of it than the fragments in the tomb of Meneptah
Siphtah and queen Tauser, which give us only eleven pylons, with a very
incorrect text. As for the Turin text, it is so hopelessly corrupt,
especially in the most important part, the names, that I did not attempt
to translate it. Then chapter 145 is the text of Nu for 146 still more
developed. In the version of the royal tomb, each paragraph is called:
“The salutation of Osiris, the king, to the pylon: I know thee, I know
thy name, I know the name of the god who guardeth thee.” Then follow the
name of the pylon, and that of the god, and after having said them, the
deceased describes the purifications he goes through, the oils with
which he has been anointed, and the text ends with these words: pass on,
thou art pure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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