The late Dr. Pleyte, of Leyden, made a special study of these chapters,
and of several others of late date (_Chapitres supplémentaires du Livre
des Morts, Texte, Traduction et Commentaire_, Leide). The collation
which he published of various documents is the text on which this
translation has been made.
The vignette generally consists of a cow, having between her horns a
solar disk, with two plumes. Occasionally behind her there is a goddess
with a cow’s head having the same attribute. This cow I consider to be
the goddess Nut, the mother of Rā. An image of the cow, made of pure
gold, is to be put on the neck of the deceased; or, what would be much
easier and cheaper, it is to be painted on a hypocephalus of new
papyrus, and put under the deceased’s head. Part of this chapter is the
usual text found on the hypocephali.
The result of the gift of one of these amulets will be that in the
Netherworld the deceased will be surrounded by flames. This is the
effect of the presence of the amulets here described. It does not take
place in this world, but in the other, where Rā himself enjoys a similar
protection, being surrounded by “warriors of blazing fire.” This image
seems to point to the magnificent sunsets often seen in Egypt.
1. All the translators have interpreted ⁂⁂⁂ by “heat,” the
vital heat of the body. But this is not the true sense of the word,
which means “flame,” ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “flame of fire.” The root
⁂⁂ implies the idea of darting, springing forth like a flame or a
spark, and not of latent heat. ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ cannot mean
anything except a great quantity of flames. These flames will be the
protection of the deceased.
2. The lion addressed by the cow, a god of light and fire, is probably
Rā himself.
3. For the connection between generation and light, see Kuhn,
“Herabkunft des Feuers,” p. 70 and ff.
4. These barbarous names, as well as those of the following chapters,
have not yet been explained. Their interpretation is to be looked for in
the African languages, for Chapter 164 connects them with the speech of
the negroes, and the Anti of Nubia.
5. I have kept for ⁂⁂ Renouf’s translation: Heliopolis. But it
must not be understood as referring to the well-known city at the head
of the Delta. ⁂⁂ is here a city in the other world. It is a name
belonging to the mythological and not to the terrestrial geography.
6. I consider the word ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ of the Turin
text, or according to other papyri,
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ as connected with
⁂⁂ _fire_, _burning_.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER CLXIII.
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