Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

possess.
DURING I'.)"' CENTURY: EGYPT G55
Although they may not reach back to prehistoric
times, that is, before the foundation of the Egyptian state,
as Maspero in his first enthusiasm wrote, they nevertheless
date back to the earliest historical period, to the beginning
of Egyptian history, i. e. y
the time of King Menes.
The contents of the pyramid texts are all religious. They
contain hymns and prayers, magical formulae and magical
incantations, which were intended to secure life eternal in
next world and to accompany the dead to the realms beyond.
The Egyptian believed in a life after death, but he also believed
that the deceased needed to eat and drink in the next
world the same as in this. These necessaries of life were
obtained for him by means of various formulae. The deceased,
in one passage, is addressed thus :
" Receive thy
bread which does
the
not dry up, and thy beer which does not
turn sour, for thee the corn is cut and barley is harvested."
Hunger and thirst are the conditions mostly feared by
men, as they bring not only earthly but also eternal
death. Against these dangerous enemies, therefore, many
of these incantations are directed. In one of them we read :
" Hunger, go not to King Pepi, hurry instead into the
celestial waters." Pepi is satisfied ; he has no hunger because
of the bread of Horus, which he has eaten, and which
his eldest daughter has prepared for him in order that he
might satisfy himself thereon. Then four demons, which
protect the human body, are called to " drive away the
hunger in the body of Pepi and the thirst upon his lips."
While the liberated image of the man, his other " Self,"
his " Psyche," remains in the grave upon earth eating and
drinking, his soul in the form of a bird flies to heaven or
sails with the Sun-god by day in his bark or shines as a star
on the firmament.
Nearly all
these texts, which reflect the manifold popular
ideas of life after death, are permeated with the notion that
after man has done with this temporary existence, he shall