The Literature of the Ancient EgyptiansBudge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
History
The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians
Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
Egyptian literature -- History and criticism; Egyptian literature -- Translations into English
night and by day on earth and in heaven at will.
Of the works that were originally composed for recitation on the days of
the festivals of Osiris, and were specially connected with the cult of
this god, three, which became very popular in the Graeco-Roman period,
may be mentioned. These are: (1) The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys;
(2) The Festival Songs of Isis and Nephthys; (3) The Book of making
splendid the Spirit of Osiris. The first of these works was recited on
the twenty-fifth day of the fourth month of the season Akhet
(October-November) by two "fair women," who personified Isis and
Nephthys. One of these had the name of Isis on her shoulder, and the
other the name of Nephthys, and each held a vessel of water in her right
hand, and a "Memphis cake of bread" in her left. The object of the
recital was to commemorate the resurrection of Osiris, and if the book
were recited on behalf of any deceased person it would make his spirit
to be glorious, and stablish his body, and cause his Ka to rejoice, and
give breath to his nostrils and air to his throat. The two "fair women"
sang the sections alternately in the presence of the Kher-heb and Setem
priests. The two first sections, as they are found on a papyrus in
Berlin, read thus:--ISIS SAITH: "Come to thy house, come to thy house, O
An, come to thy house. Thine enemy [Set] hath perished. O beautiful
youth, come to thy house. Look thou upon me. I am the sister who loveth
thee, go not far from me. O Beautiful Boy, come to thy house,
straightway, straightway. I cannot see thee, and my heart weepeth for
thee; my eyes follow thee about. I am following thee about so that I may
see thee. Lo, I wait to see thee, I wait to see thee; behold, Prince, I
wait to see thee. It is good to see thee, it is good to see thee; O An,
it is good to see thee. Come to thy beloved one, come to thy beloved
one, O Un-Nefer, whose word is truth. Come to thy wife, O thou whose
heart is still. Come to the lady of thy house; I am thy sister from thy
mother's [womb]. Go not thou far from me. The faces of gods and men are
turned towards thee, they all weep for thee together. As soon as I saw
thee I cried out to thee, weeping with a loud voice which pierced the
heavens, and thou didst not hear my voice. I am thy sister who loved
thee upon earth; none other loved thee more than [thy] sister, thy
sister."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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