Rebirth: Coffin Text 335a glossed - Invisible Books
Rebirth: Coffin Text 335a glossed - Invisible Books
Rebirth: Coffin Text 335a glossed - Invisible Books
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<strong>Rebirth</strong>: <strong>Coffin</strong> <strong>Text</strong> <strong>335a</strong> <strong>glossed</strong><br />
“Jj.n.j m njwt.j, pr.n.j m ta.j,<br />
“haa.j r spat, wnn.j h2na2 jt.j Jtm<br />
“m h4rt-nt2r hrw nt ra2 nb;”<br />
101
Isle of Fire: Part Three<br />
This describes the soul’s trip to the western horizon, home of Atum,<br />
who is the setting sun.<br />
“for my sins and wrongdoings are chased off, driven from me,”<br />
This separation from sin is, so to speak, the cutting of the umbilical<br />
so the deceased may be reborn.<br />
“any crime of mine is taken away.”<br />
This is the bathing of the newborn soul in the two sacred pools<br />
outside the temple in Herakleopolis, where Ra himself dwells. This<br />
occurs on the day when people make the great offering to Ra. The names<br />
of the pools are Liquid Infinity and Ocean: the one purifies, the other<br />
vindicates,<br />
“I go a road I recognize,<br />
“the one that leads to the island of the blessed dead.<br />
“I travel to the horizon of existence, to the land of bright,<br />
transfigured souls,<br />
“I come through the holy portal.”<br />
This is the route taken by Atum when he sets, finally leading back to<br />
the Eastern Reeds where he re-arises each morning, the reborn sun.<br />
Pty rf st? Ah3t pw nt Jtm.<br />
“drw jwyt.j, h3srw dwt.j,”<br />
Pty rf st? S2a2d h4paw pw n X.<br />
“sh2rw jsft jryt.j,”<br />
Pty rf st? Wa2b.tw.j pw hrw msj.tw.j m ss2wy wrwy a2awy nty m Nnj-Nsw, hrw<br />
a2abt rh3yt n nt2r pw a2a nty jms.<br />
Pty rf sw? Ra2 pw d2s.f.<br />
Pty rf ss2wy? H2h2 rn ny wa2, Wa2d2-Wr rn ny ky. S2 pw n h2smn h2na2 s2<br />
n ma2at.<br />
“s2m.j h2r wat rh3t.n.j tp-m jw n ma2atyw,<br />
“spr.j r ta ah3tyw, pr.j m sba d2sr.”<br />
Pty rf st? Wat s2mt.n Jtm h2r.s h3ft wd2a.f r sh3t-jarw.<br />
102
<strong>Rebirth</strong>: <strong>Coffin</strong> <strong>Text</strong> <strong>335a</strong> <strong>glossed</strong><br />
103
Isle of Fire: Part Three<br />
The Eastern Reed Marsh is a land of pleasure that brings forth food<br />
for the gods. It is somewhere along the Red Sea to the east of Egypt, and<br />
somewhere beyond the grave.<br />
The holy portal is also called the gate of Shu. Shu (the air) holds Nut<br />
(the sky) up over Geb (the earth), and his portal is the horizon. On the<br />
journey of the dead, this portal is the entrance into the afterlife.<br />
“O my ancestors,<br />
“reach me your hands, you who brought me into being!”<br />
The word for ancestor, “who is before,” and the word “before” are<br />
written with the glyph for penis, since a man’s penis stand out before him.<br />
So we can deduce from the spelling of the word “ancestors” here that the<br />
text alludes to the gods Hu (Command) and Sia (Thought). These came<br />
into existence from the drops of blood that fell when Ra-Atum<br />
circumcised himself. Now these two, Hu and Sia, are Atum’s constant<br />
companions.<br />
“I helped Thoth restore the eye of Horus when Seth had wounded it,<br />
on the day that pair fought for the kingship.”<br />
This eye is the moon, attacked every month by the forces of darkness.<br />
The moon’s changes mime eternally how Osiris died and Horus restored<br />
him. The moon is one of Horus’ eyes. It was injured during the his battle<br />
with Seth in which Seth threw dung in Horus’ face, and Horus in turn tore<br />
off Seth’s testicles.<br />
“I calmed the rage (nesheni) of Atum’s right eye, the sun, by freeing it<br />
of an irritating eyelash hair (sheni).”<br />
Pty rf st? Sh3t-jarw pw mst rf d2faw n nt2rw h2a karw. Jr grt sba pwy d2sr, sba<br />
pw n st2sw S2w.<br />
Ky d2d: Sba pw n Dwat.<br />
“Jmyw bah2, jmj n.j a2wy.tn! Jnk pw h3pr jm.tn.”<br />
Pty rf st? Snf pw ha(j)w m h2nn n Ra2 m wat.f r jrt s2a2t.f d2s.f. A2h2a.n h3pr<br />
nt2rw jmyw bah2 Ra2: H2w pw h2na2 Sja, wnnw m h3t jt Jtm m h4rt nt ra2 nb.<br />
“Jw mh2.n.j jrt m-h3t h4qs.s hrw pn ny a2h2a rh2wy.”<br />
Pty rf sw? Hrw pw a2h2.a n H2r jm.f h2na2 Sts2 m wdt.f sd2aw m h2r n H2r,<br />
m jt2t H2r h4rwy Sts2.<br />
104
<strong>Rebirth</strong>: <strong>Coffin</strong> <strong>Text</strong> <strong>335a</strong> <strong>glossed</strong><br />
“Jw t2s.n.j s2ny m wd2at m tr ns2ny.”<br />
105
Isle of Fire: Part Three<br />
This allusion depends on puns. Atum’s eye, the sun, was angry (sheni ).<br />
Appropriately, for he had sent it off to punish wicked mankind. When<br />
justice had been scorchingly performed, Thoth calmed down the eye,<br />
brushing back into place an eyelash hair (sheni ) that was irritating it. Then<br />
he sent it back to Ra, content and none the worse.<br />
One can also read this as an allusion to a much earlier event. Before<br />
the creation, when Atum still floated in the waters of primordial chaos, he<br />
created Shu and Tefnut and sent them off to explore, dispatching his eye<br />
along with them to light their way. But the eye missed its partner, and thus<br />
it was sick with loneliness when it returned. Thoth, whose saliva is a<br />
magical medicine, put it right by spitting on it.<br />
“I saw the birth of rising Ra, the dawn, Yesterday’s child,<br />
I saw him emerge from between the thighs of Hathor:<br />
Hathor, the great wader, who slogged up from the waters of Chaos<br />
to become our sky, like a cow wading out of the Nile.”<br />
Hathor is the sky, bestriding our world, one leg on each cardinal<br />
point. Because she stands in Egypt’s water-clear air as a cow might stand<br />
in the the Nile’s air-clear water, she is called “the great wader.”<br />
Another view is that the passage refers only to the sun, the great eye of<br />
Ra, which is called ‘the great wader’ because it surfaces in the dawn sky as<br />
if emerging from watery depths.<br />
Pty rf sy? Jrt pw wnmt nt Ra2 m s2nyt.s rf m h3t hab.f sy. Jn grt D2h2wty jt2<br />
s2ny jm.s jnt.f sy a2-w-s. nn bag.s nb.<br />
Ky d2d: Wnn jrt.f pw mr h2r wnn.s rmyt n snwt.s. A2ha2.n jn D2h2wty psg r.s.<br />
“Jw ma.n.j Ra2 pwy, msy m sf r h3pdw Mh2t-Wrt.<br />
“Wd2a.f, wd2a.j, t2s-ph4r . . .”<br />
Pty rf st? Nwy pw ny nwyt nt pt.<br />
Ky d2d: Twt pw n jrt Ra2 dwayt r mst.f ra2 nb. Jr grt Mh2t-Wrt, Wd2at pw nt<br />
ra2 nb.<br />
(No further portion of the <strong>glossed</strong> version can be clearly interpreted.)<br />
106
<strong>Rebirth</strong>: <strong>Coffin</strong> <strong>Text</strong> <strong>335a</strong> <strong>glossed</strong><br />
107
Part Four<br />
Gaining Magic Powers
Isle of Fire: Part Four<br />
Pyramid <strong>Text</strong> 273-4<br />
This is a propaganda poem of the 1st dynasty: it describes the original unification of<br />
the country. Southern Egypt conquered the north, making “the kingdom of the two<br />
lands,” and inaugurating the long series of Egyptian dynasties.<br />
Hilly southern Egypt, without the rich farmlands of the delta, depended more on<br />
hunting and herding, and its astral pantheon reflected this circumstance. Its neighbor to<br />
the north, in the fertile valley, practiced agriculture and so had a highly cthonic<br />
pantheon. The contrast, not to say conflict, is fully brought out in our poem.<br />
The idea of absorbing power by eating its possessor is as archaic and universal as<br />
possible, and this is the classic, unabashed example of it.<br />
To my knowledge, I am the first to place this poem in its obvious historical context.<br />
It has long been overlooked, due to the usual scholarly squeamishness.<br />
Let the sky itself be clouded over, let the very stars be darkened,<br />
let a global shudder earthquake across the world’s nine nations.<br />
The bones of Aker, two-headed lion, guardian of the round flat<br />
earth’s outer rim —<br />
let Aker’s bones be shaken! Every single moving thing stands still<br />
when the king has manifested, a powerful ghost, a ba,<br />
who lives on the gods who made him, who feeds on the goddesses<br />
who fostered him.<br />
The king is a master of cunning, his own mother didn’t realize his true<br />
nature.<br />
His magnificence lights the sky, his power fills the horizon like the<br />
setting sun, Atum,<br />
like Atum, his father, androgynous total Atum, who both begot and<br />
birthed him,<br />
yet he is stronger than Atum!<br />
The king’s vital spirits, his kas and hemewsets, stand behind him and<br />
sustain him;<br />
gods in the form of serpents are a live crown for his head,<br />
like a cobra looming, neck spread, above his forehead,<br />
leading him, scanning for enemies,<br />
like a dazzling ba, like a fiery eye that scorches when it looks.<br />
The king’s head is set on his neck like an archer on a battlement.<br />
Jgp pt, jh2y sbaw,<br />
nmnm psd2t-pd2wt, sda qsw Akr:<br />
grr.sn, gnmw, ma.n.sn nsw X h3jw, ba,<br />
m nt2r a2nh3 m jtw.f, ws2b m mwt.f.<br />
Nsw X pw nb sabwt, h3mj.w.n mwt.f rn.f.<br />
Jw s2psw nsw X m pt.<br />
110
Gaining Magic Powers: Pyramid <strong>Text</strong> 273-4<br />
Jw wsr.f m ah3t mj Jtm jt.f msj sw.<br />
Jw msj.n.f sw, wsr sw r.f.<br />
Jw kaw nsw X h2a.f. Jw h2mwswt.f h4r rdwy.fy.<br />
Jw nt2rw.f tp.f. Jw ja2rwt.f m wpt.f.<br />
Jw ss2mwt nsw X m h3at.f, ptrt, ba, ah3t ntb.s.<br />
Jw wsrwt nsw X h2r mkt.f. 1<br />
1 Puns on wsrt, neck, and wsrwt, powers, as on mkt, right place, and mkt, protection.<br />
111
Isle of Fire: Part Four<br />
The king is the bull of heaven, who bellows out thunder, his heart full<br />
of rage,<br />
he lives off the life force of all the gods,<br />
he eats up their hearts, their lungs, their livers, when these are full of<br />
magic,<br />
when the gods return, renewed, from the Isle of Fire.<br />
The king is ready, he’s connected to all his spirit powers,<br />
he manifests as this great creature: prime minister of Hell<br />
with full authority over its officials, for he shares the throne of Hell with (the<br />
earth god) Geb.<br />
It is the king who will judge the dead, accompanied by Hell’s chief<br />
executioner<br />
He-who-must-not-be-named, on the day the revered gods are slaughtered.<br />
The king orders sacrifices, he alone controls them.<br />
The king eats humans, feeds on gods.<br />
He has them presented on an altar to himself.<br />
He has agents to do his will. He fires off the orders!<br />
Nsw X pw ka pt, nhd m jb.f,<br />
anh3 m h3pr n nt2r nb,<br />
wnm wsmw.sn, jww,<br />
mh2w 1 h4t.sn m h2kaw m jw nsjsj (=nsrsr).<br />
Nsw X pw a2prw, ja2b ah3w.f.<br />
Jw nsw X h3a2(j) m wr pw nb jmjw-st-a2,<br />
h2ms.f sa.f r Gb. Jn nsw X wd2a2 mdw.f<br />
h2na2 Jmn-rn-f hrw pw n rh3s smsw.<br />
Nsw X pw nb h2tpt, t2s a2qa. 2<br />
Nsw X pw jrj awt.f d2s.f.<br />
Nsw X pw wnm rmt2w, a2nh3 m nt2rw.<br />
Nsw X pw nb jnw h3aa2 wpwt.<br />
1 Past passive sd2m.w.f<br />
2 “Who knots the cord,” a boating term, equivalent to “who is in control.”<br />
112
Gaining Magic Powers: Pyramid <strong>Text</strong> 273-4<br />
113
Isle of Fire: Part Four<br />
The cauldron-demon Grab-’Em-By-The-Hair lassos and catches<br />
victims for him,<br />
the demon Head-Raised-Like-An-Angry-Cobra’s brings them under<br />
control, then guards them,<br />
the demon Out-for-Blood ties them to the slaughter block.<br />
The moon god Khonsu, pendulum of heaven, precise divider of<br />
months,<br />
Khonsu, most mathematical aspect of Thoth,<br />
Khonsu, precise as a knife-edge in the service of his masters,<br />
slits them open and pulls out their guts.<br />
He’s the officer sent by the king to carry out the sentence.<br />
It’s Shemsu, red-stained god of the winepress, who’ll cut the bodies<br />
up,<br />
he cooks them into an offering-meal for the king, roasts them over<br />
an open fire in the evening.<br />
The king eats their magic, he gulps down their souls,<br />
the adults he has for breakfast,<br />
the young are lunch,<br />
the babies he has for supper,<br />
the old ones are too tough to eat, he just burns them on the altar as an<br />
offering to himself.<br />
It’s the circumpolar stars, unsetting lords of the northern sky, who<br />
light his fire<br />
under the pots for the gods, filled with their chiefs’ thigh-meat.<br />
The stars bustle like kitchen-boys to serve the king<br />
as the kettles are filled with the tender legs of the slaughtered wives of<br />
the gods.<br />
Jn H3ma2-Wpwt-Jmy-Kh2aw sph2 sn n nsw X.<br />
Jn D2sr-Tp saa sn n nsw X h3sf.n.f sn.<br />
Jn H2ry-T2rwt (= t2r) qas sn n nsw X.<br />
Jn H3nsw, mds nbw, d2ad sn n nsw X<br />
s2dy.f n.f jmyt h4t.sn:<br />
wpwty pw hab.w nsw X r h3sf.<br />
Jn S2smw rh3s.f sn n nsw X,<br />
fss (= psj) n.f jh3t jm.sn m ktwt ms2rwt.<br />
Nsw X pw wnm h2kaw.sn, ja2m (= a2m) a2h3w.sn.<br />
Jw wrw.sn n js2t.f (=jh3t.f) dwat.<br />
Jw h2ryw-jb.sn n ms2rwt.f.<br />
114
Gaining Magic Powers: Pyramid <strong>Text</strong> 273-4<br />
Jw s2rrw.sn n js2t h3awj.<br />
Jw jaw.sn jawt.sn n kapt.f.<br />
Jn a2aw mh2tyw pt wdjw.f sd2t<br />
r wh2awt h4ryt.sn, m h3ps2w nw smsw.sn.<br />
Jw ph4r jmyw-pt n nsw X<br />
s2sr.tw n.f ktwt m rdw nw h2mwt.sn.<br />
115
Isle of Fire: Part Four<br />
The king has traveled from the eastern horizon to the western one,<br />
he’s journeyed all through both the banks that make up rivered Egypt,<br />
but he’s the greatest power he’s found, a force beyond all forces;<br />
He’s the falcon of falcons, most rapacious and holy of all,<br />
if he finds anyone in his path he eats him raw.<br />
The home of the king is the place the sun rises, he’s foremost among<br />
the spirits and gods.<br />
His servants are infinite: immense the number of his worshippers.<br />
He was given all power in heaven and earth by Rigel, the brightest star<br />
in Orion,<br />
brightest in the whole southern sky, Rigel, father of the gods.<br />
The king shines out anew in the sky, victorious, a rising sun,<br />
he wears the white crown of Southern Egypt, he’s king of the gods,<br />
enthroned on the horizon.<br />
He snapped the spines, pulled out the hearts of the gods.<br />
He ate the red crown of Northern Egypt, gulped down its goddess<br />
the great cobra Wadjet,<br />
he embodies the country’s unity, swallows it up in one-ness.<br />
Jw dbn.n.f pty tmty. Jw ph4r.n.f jdbwy,<br />
nsw X pw sh3m wr, sh3m m sh3mw;<br />
nsw X pw a2s2m (=ah4m), a2s2m a2s2mw wrw,<br />
gmy(w).f m wat.f, wnm.f n.f sw mwmw.<br />
Jw mkt nsw X m h2at sa2h2w nbw jmyw ah3t.<br />
Nsw X pw nt2r smsw r smsw.<br />
Jw ph4r n.f h3aw. Jw wdn n.f s2wt.<br />
Jw rdj.w n.f a2 sh3m wr jn Sah2 jt nt2rw.<br />
Jw wh2m.n nsw X h3a2w m pt. Jw.f snb.w nb m ah3t.<br />
Jw h2sb.n.f t2sw bqsw,<br />
jw jt2j.n.f h2atyw nt2rw.<br />
Jw wnm.n.f Ds2rt. Jw a2m.n.f Wad2t.<br />
116
Gaining Magic Powers: Pyramid <strong>Text</strong> 273-4<br />
117
Isle of Fire: Part Four<br />
He’s eaten the perceptive power the gods had in their sensory organs,<br />
their life he absorbed from their hearts, their magic he ate with their<br />
brains. These content him.<br />
The king licks his lips, savoring the silty richness of Lower Egypt’s<br />
papyrus swamps. He’s conquered, absorbed that kingdom.<br />
He’s deliciously gorged as the fields when the Nile floods. His belly is<br />
filled with all the gods’ magic.<br />
No one will snatch away the king’s powers or rank, he’ll hold them<br />
always.<br />
He has swallowed the intelligence of every god.<br />
The lifetime of the king is eternity, everlasting is his reign,<br />
his title is is Does-What-He-Wants-To-Do-And Does-Nothing-He-<br />
Doesn’t-Like,<br />
dweller in the distance, lord of the horizon, forever and ever.<br />
Now he has digested the physical power, the ba, of the gods, and he<br />
controls their ak, their occult forces.<br />
Fed full with the flesh of gods and the broth boiled out of their bones,<br />
now he controls their ak, he leaves them nothing but their shadows.<br />
Ws2b nsw X m smaw saaw. 1<br />
Htp.f m a2nh3 m h2atyw h2kaw.sn jst2.<br />
{Fjw nsw X nsb.f sbs2w jmyw ds2rt}. 2<br />
Jw wah3j.f. Jw h2ka.sn m h4t.f.<br />
Nn nh2m m sa2h2w nw nsw X m a2.f.<br />
Jw a2m.n.f. sja n nt2r nb.<br />
A2ha2w pw n nsw X nh2h2h,<br />
d2r pw d2t m sa2h2.f pn n<br />
“Mrr(w).f jrr(w).f msd2d2d(w).f n jrr(w).f”<br />
jmy d2rw a2h3t, d2t r nh2h2.<br />
1 The lungs were seen as sense organs. See line 56 of the widely translated Memphite<br />
Theology on the Shabaka stone.<br />
2 Quite unclear. I wouldn’t be surprised if fjw were originally Jw.f, which would<br />
parallel the next line. Or even jwf, “meat,” which could give the reading Jwf nsw nsb.w.f<br />
sbs2w ds2rt, “for the meat of the king, which he eats, is the sbs2w of Upper Egypt.” Since<br />
no one knows what sbs2w are, one can only conjecture. The reading fjw, “is disgusted,” is<br />
very unlikely to be right in the context of the king’s gourmandise, especially since the<br />
next word is nsb.f “he licks up.”My translation posits an original Jw.f and assumes (with<br />
Sethe) that sbs2w is part of the crown. 118
Gaining Magic Powers: Pyramid <strong>Text</strong> 273-4<br />
Sk (=jst2) ba.sn m h4t nsw X, ah3w.sn h3r nsw X<br />
{m h2aw jh3t r nt2rw} krrt.n nsw X m qsw.sn. 1<br />
Sk ah3.sn h3r nsw X, s2wt.sn m a2 jryw.sn.<br />
1 This is a little garbled, and no one has any great ideas about what to do with the r;<br />
still, the overall sense seems clear enough.<br />
119
Isle of Fire: Part Four<br />
These last lines are probably a later addition to make this astral poem less incongruous<br />
for inclusion in a pyramid:<br />
Among the gods the king shines forth like the sun,<br />
and like the sun he endures,<br />
for no evil man will be able to dig up his tomb<br />
nor loot the chosen place of the Pharaoh X,<br />
no, not one of all who’ll live in this land<br />
henceforth, forever and ever.<br />
Jw nsw X m nn h3a2j h3a2j, jmn jmn.<br />
n sh3m jr(j)w jrwt m h3bs<br />
st jb nt nsw X m anh3w m ta pn d2t r nh2h2.<br />
120
Gaining Magic Powers: Pyramid <strong>Text</strong> 273-4<br />
121
Isle of Fire: Part Four<br />
<strong>Coffin</strong> <strong>Text</strong> 5<br />
You who are deceased! take over the sky, claim the earth as your<br />
inheritance!<br />
Who could take the sky away from that young and beautiful god you<br />
are,<br />
you who are Ra, eldest of the gods; you who are Horus, heir of Osiris;<br />
you, declared innocent by the underworld court—all the hexes of<br />
your enemies annulled?<br />
Ha Wsjr X: jt2 n.k pt, jwa2 n.k ta!<br />
Nm jrf nh2m.w.f pt tn m-a2.k, m nt2r pn rnpj nfr,<br />
Ra2 js, smsw nt2rw, H2r js stj Wsjr,<br />
maa2-h3rw r h3ftyw.k, h2mwt-ra?<br />
122
Gaining Magic Powers: <strong>Coffin</strong> <strong>Text</strong> 5<br />
123
Part Five<br />
Perils of the Other World
Isle of Fire: Part Five<br />
<strong>Coffin</strong> <strong>Text</strong> 335b<br />
I omit the glosses that accompany this spell, which are mere lists of names and obscure<br />
epithets, along with the opaque final ten lines.<br />
O Ra, you who hatch every morning from the sky’s blue shell, rising<br />
as the sun disk,<br />
glinting gold from the horizon, you who make the sky dazzle like<br />
polished bronze,<br />
without peer among the gods, you who sail the open heavens, the vast<br />
vault held up by Shu (god of the air),<br />
who set the winds in motion by the fiery breath of your mouth, who<br />
make the Two Lands (Upper and Lower Egypt) resplendent:<br />
protect me from that god whose shape is so strange,<br />
whose eyebrows are the arms of the balance that weighs the heart on<br />
the day every thief is called to account,<br />
who ropes the wicked and drags them to his chopping block, the<br />
slaughterer of souls;<br />
save me from the assassins, the sharp-clawed butchers! Don’t give me<br />
up to their flint knives,<br />
don’t let me go down into their cauldrons, don’t let me walk into their<br />
slaughterhouse!<br />
I know all of your names! On earth I walk with Ra, and when I finally<br />
moor life’s boat it will be beside Osiris!<br />
Don’t let them make me a sacrificial animal to roast on their altar! I am a<br />
follower of the Lord of All Things (Osiris).<br />
I will become a victorious Horus, fly up like a falcon! I shall be like the<br />
goose who heralded all existence, whose great creative ONK! transformed the<br />
primordial silence!<br />
I will exist through all the eternities like Neheb-Kaw,<br />
the two-headed serpent, who was the Chaos ocean before Atum<br />
separated himself out of it,<br />
the original unity of being, to which all things shall return.<br />
Jj Ra2 jmy swh2t.f, wbn m jtn.f,<br />
psd2 m ah3t.f, nbw h2r bja.f,<br />
jwty snw.f m nt2rw, sqdd h2r st2sw S2w,<br />
dd t2aw m hh n r.f, sh2d tawy m ah3w.f<br />
Nh2m.k wj m-a2 nt2r pw s2ta jrw, wnn jnh2wy.fy m a2wy mh3at hrw pf n h2sb<br />
a2wa, dd sph2w n jsftyw r nmt.f, dnd baw;<br />
Nh2m.k wj m nw n jry-st2aw, jmnh2yw spdw d2ba2w! Nn sh3m dsw.sn jm.j,<br />
nn h2ay.j r wh2awt.sn, nn a2q.j r jatt.sn, h2r-ntt rh3.kwj rnw.t2n, h2r-ntt jnk<br />
wd2a.j tp ta h3r Ra2, mnj.j h3r Wsjr.<br />
Nn h3pr a2abt.sn jm.j n na n h2ryw ah3w.sn. Jw.j m s2ms n nb-h3t, a2h4y.j m<br />
bjk, ngg.j m smn, sky.j nh2h2 mj Nh2b-Kaw!<br />
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Perils of the Other World: <strong>Coffin</strong> <strong>Text</strong> 335B<br />
127
Isle of Fire: Part Five<br />
O Ra-Atum, king in the palace of the gods, save me from the hand of<br />
that god who lives by slaughter, with the head of a dog but the body of a<br />
man, the one who lives in the middle of the lake of fire, who gulps down<br />
the shadows that once had bodies, stealer of souls, the god Decay, eater<br />
of myriads, invisible and stinking.<br />
J Ra2-Jtm, jmy h2wt-a2at, jty nt2rw nbw, nh2m.k wj m-a2 nt2r pw anh3 m<br />
h3ryt, nty h2r.f m t2sm, jnm.f m rmt2; jmy qab pw n s2 nsrt, a2m s2wt, h3np<br />
h2atjw, wdd st2j, n ma.n.tw.f.<br />
128
Perils of the Other World: <strong>Coffin</strong> <strong>Text</strong> 335B<br />
129
Isle of Fire: Part Five<br />
Book of the Dead 7<br />
Spell to be recited over a wax doll of Apep<br />
the serpent long as the fall into nonexistence.<br />
This spell allows one to tread on the ugly neck of that monster<br />
who is neck from the neck down.<br />
O thing of wax, mere image of Apophis, the soul-snatcher who feeds<br />
on those weak ones,<br />
the dead souls whose life force is exhausted, I will not tire and<br />
become your prey,<br />
because your poison, the weariness of the dead, hasn’t penetrated my<br />
body<br />
— my body is the body of Atum! If I don’t weaken, your venom<br />
won’t enter me.<br />
I am one with Atum when he still floated alone in Nun, the waters of<br />
chaos, before any of his strength had gone into creating the cosmos.<br />
I am Atum at his most inexhaustible — the potence and potential of<br />
all that is to be.<br />
This is my magic protection and it’s older and greater than all the<br />
gods together!<br />
There isn’t even a name for who I am, and since I have no name, no<br />
one can use it to magically control me. I am holy, royal, more so than all<br />
the millions of beings I go among.<br />
R n jwt h2r t2s qsn ny A2app: d2d-mdw jn X:<br />
J wa2 mnh2, jt2(j) m a2wa, a2nh3 m nnyw!<br />
Nn nny.j n.k, nn gnn.j n.k, n a2q mtwt.k m a2wt.j: a2wtj a2wt Jtm.<br />
Jr tm gnnw.j n.k, nn a2q gmwt.k m a2wt.j jptn.<br />
Jnk Jtm h2r-h3nt Nnw. Jw mkt.j m nt2rw nbw d2t.<br />
Jnk ss2ta-rn: d2sr-st r h2h2 jnk jmytw.<br />
Spr n.j h2na2 Jtm. Jnk nty n jp.tw.f, wd2a.kwy sp sn.<br />
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Perils of the Other World: Book of the Dead 7<br />
131
Part Six<br />
Daily Life<br />
in the World of the Dead
Isle of Fire: Part Six<br />
<strong>Coffin</strong> <strong>Text</strong> 472<br />
Note: there is no etymology for the word schwabty.<br />
Spell for causing a schwabty to do work for its owner in the<br />
underworld. To be recited over the schwabty, which will be made either<br />
of tamarisk or thorn wood. This shall be carved to resemble its owner as<br />
he appeared in life, and placed in the tomb.<br />
Look upon this man, ye gods, transfigured souls and spirits of the<br />
dead,<br />
for he has acquired force, seized his moment, taken on royal<br />
authority,<br />
he’s a pharaoh, ruling mankind, controlling them like cattle.<br />
They were created to serve him. The gods themselves ordained it.<br />
Now, schwabty:<br />
If, in the world of the dead, X is ordered to perform the yearly stint of<br />
public work all Egyptians owe their pharaoh,<br />
be it to move bricks, level off a plot of ground, re-survey land when<br />
the Nile-flood recedes or till new-planted fields,<br />
you will say: “Here I am!” to any functionary who should come<br />
looking for X while he is trying to enjoy his meal of funerary offerings.<br />
Take up your hoe, schwabty, your pick, your demarcation pegs, your<br />
basket, just as any slave would for his master.<br />
O schwabty made for X, if X is called for his obligations to the state<br />
you will pipe up: “Here I am!” whether X is summoned to oversee<br />
workers in the new-planted fields, tend to irrigation, move sand from<br />
East to West or vice versa —<br />
“Here I am!” you will say and take his place.<br />
R n rdjt jry s2wabty kat n nb.f m h4rt-nt2r:<br />
Ma sw jr-t2n, nt2rw ah3w mtw jmyw pt ta,<br />
jt2.n.f. ph2ty.f at.f, jt2.n.f n.f nsty.f,<br />
h2qa.n.f. m a2wt jrt n X pn h3ft wd2 nt2rw.<br />
Jr jp.tw X pn r jwa n d2bt, r drdrw n wa2rt, n sph4r wd2b, r sh3rt sh3wt mawt n<br />
nsjw jmy haw.f,<br />
“Mk wj!” ka.k n wpwty nb jwt.f n X pn m snw.f,<br />
T2a n.k jmrt.k, h2nn.k, nbaw.k, h2nkw.k m a2.k, my jrt h4rd nb n nb.f.<br />
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Daily Life in the World of the Dead: <strong>Coffin</strong> <strong>Text</strong> 472<br />
J s2wabty jry n X pn, jr jp.tw X pn n h4rt.f . . . “Mk wj!” ka.k.<br />
Jr jp.tw X pn r nwa jrrw jm n sh3rt sh3wt mawt, r srdt wd2b, r h4nt s2aj jmnty<br />
dyw n jabtt, t2s-ph4r, “Mk wj!” ka.k n.f r.s.<br />
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Isle of Fire: Part Six<br />
D2d-mdw h2r ss2m n nb, n tpj-ta, jrw m jsr m nbs, djw m kar n ah3.<br />
136
Daily Life in the World of the Dead<br />
137
Isle of Fire: Part Six<br />
Book of the Dead 15b<br />
An adoration of Ra, falcon lord of both horizons, as he sets in the<br />
western one:<br />
Greetings to you, Ra, in your aspect of Atum (“the complete”), the<br />
setting sun, at the end of your solar falcon flight,<br />
holy god, self-creator, primordial, he who is since the beginning!<br />
Shouts of joy meet you, maker of the gods, you who hold up the sky<br />
for the passage of sun and moon<br />
which are your eyes, you who made earth to be the great hall of your<br />
radiance,<br />
you whose light lets man see man.<br />
Mesketet (the barque of morning) feels its heart expand with joy as it<br />
carries you across the day sky;<br />
Mandjet (the night barque) rejoices in turn to carry you beneath the<br />
earth, across that under-sky.<br />
Nun is satisfied, its chaos remains in abeyance; your crew is at ease<br />
because each time you cross the border of light and darkness<br />
the bright uraeus on your crown shoots down your enemies, and the<br />
serpent Apophis winds itself back in fear.<br />
May you always be as beautiful as you are now, may your mother Nut<br />
each evening take your setting self<br />
into her arms which are the night sky.<br />
May your heart be glad as you set foot on Manu (the western<br />
mountain).<br />
The noble dead rejoice as you send the first rays down<br />
into the eternal dead-zone of Osiris,<br />
your power penetrates their graves. The painted coffin-lids slide<br />
open. The dead stiffly lift their arms in adoration, greeting your beams.<br />
They tell you all their problems, because you are the one who shines<br />
for them;<br />
the lords of hell are happy as well, your red gleam sweetens even<br />
these.<br />
In the sunset west, the land of death, eyes open at your glance, dead<br />
faces smile again at the sight of you,<br />
Dwa Ra2 H2r-ah3ty m htp.f m ah3t jmntt nt pt:<br />
J-nd2-h2r.k Ra2 m htp.f, Tm-H2r-Ah3ty, nt2r nt2ry, h3pr d2s.f, pawty, h3pr<br />
m h2at.<br />
Hnw n.k, jrj nt2rw, ah3j pt r h2pt jrty.fy, jrj ta r sh3w jah3w.f r rdjt ma s nb snnw.f.<br />
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Daily Life in the World of the Dead: B. D. 15B<br />
Jw Msktt m aw-jb, Ma2nd2t m ha2y nmj.n.sn n.k; Nnw m htp, jst.k htp.tj,<br />
sh3r.n ah3t ja2rt h3ftyw.k, nh2m.n n.k nmtt A2app.<br />
Nfr.tj m Ra2 ra2 nb; h2pt tw mwt.k Nwt; htp.k, jb.k aww m ah3t nt Manw,<br />
jmtayw (=mtw) s2psw m ha2jw sh2d2.k jm n nt2r aa2 Wsjr h2qa d2t;<br />
nbw qrswt m t2ph2wt.sn, a2wy.sn m jat n ka.k,<br />
d2d.sn n.k sprw.sn nbw m-h3t jr.k psd2.k n.sn;<br />
nbw Dwat, jbw.sn nd2mw, sh2d2.n.k jmaw;<br />
jmntyw, jrwt.sn swsh3w n maa.k, h2a2a2 jbw.sn maa.sn tw,<br />
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Isle of Fire: Part Six<br />
because you listen to their complaints, to all the sorrows of the dead.<br />
You take away their pain, you make things right again.<br />
You'll give them back the breath in their nostrils as they touch the<br />
mooring rope<br />
to draw you to that further shore, when you dock on Mt. Manu.<br />
May Ra always be this beautiful when his mother Nut takes him<br />
into her arms which are the night sky.<br />
sd2m.k.sn, nmh2w n nty m d2bat; dr.k hamw.sn, h3sf d2w.sn.<br />
Dj.k t2aw r fndw.sn ss2p.sn h2att nt wja.k m ah3t Manw.<br />
Nfr.tj Ra2 ra2 nb qnj tw mwt.k Nwt.<br />
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Daily Life in the World of the Dead: B.D. 15B<br />
141
Part Seven<br />
Anatomy of the Soul
Isle of Fire: Part Seven<br />
Book of the Dead 15a<br />
This spell is particularly valuable for its description of the soul’s three aspects. The ak or<br />
“shining one,” ascends to the sky. The ka, represented in the glyphs as a pair of arms<br />
extended in a gesture of giving, is the part of the soul that resides in the grave. It is the<br />
buried ancestor imparting paternal protection, an earth-merged entity that bestows<br />
fertility. Finally there is the ba, represented as a bird with a human head. This is the<br />
vehicular form of the soul, that in which it moves about in our daylit world like a ghost.<br />
This complex and compartmentalized view of the soul is to some degree universal.<br />
The Roman genius, lar and manes correspond roughly to the ak, ka and ba. Even we<br />
desacralised moderns are no tidier. We can talk of a dead person having a soul which<br />
survives the body on another plane, the enduring influence of someone’s spirit, and<br />
even the existence of ghosts, without ever feeling these differing conceptions need to be<br />
harmonized.<br />
An adoration of Ra who rises on the horizon,<br />
when he makes his ba, the visible form of his soul, rise like a powerful<br />
ghost from the underworld —<br />
his ba, the shining spectre of Ra that is our physical sun; when he<br />
raises himself, rejoicing in the power of his ka;<br />
an adoration of Ra, his ba and his ka, when he has the sun-boat’s<br />
steersman shove off from the east and head out into deep sky<br />
while addressed in these words by the deceased:<br />
Hail Ra!<br />
Hail to your ba!<br />
Hail to your ka!<br />
The deceased knows your name, and the names of your ba and your<br />
ka in all their aspects.<br />
Dwa Ra2 wbn.f m ah3ty, swas2.f ba.f, sh2tp.f kaw.f, rd(j).f ss2 h3rp-wja<br />
h3ft njs jn Wsjr X.<br />
J.nd2-h2r.k Ra2, sp fdw!<br />
J.nd2-h2r.k ba.k, sp sfh3!<br />
J.nd2-h2r.k kaw.k, r sp md2-fdw!<br />
Jw wsjr X maa2-h3rw rh3.f rn.k,<br />
jw.f rh3.f rnw nw ba.k,<br />
jw.f rh3.f rnw nw ka.k.<br />
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Anatomy of the Soul: Book of the Dead 15a<br />
145
Isle of Fire: Part Seven<br />
Shining Ra, in your celestial aspect, as an ak,<br />
you are Atum within the sky,<br />
an old man as you set on the horizon,<br />
a judge within your palace — which is the heavens,<br />
a king enthroned in the sunset,<br />
and when you've sunk west into the underworld, a king down there as<br />
well.<br />
Atum, ancient one, who first dawned from Nun, from the black deep<br />
of her primordial night.<br />
The deceased knows the names of your ba, the form in which you<br />
travel our world — the sun:<br />
ba pure of body,<br />
health-embodying ba,<br />
ba bright and unharmed,<br />
ba of magic,<br />
ba who causes himself to appear,<br />
male ba,<br />
ba whose warm energy encourages coupling.<br />
The deceased, may he rest in peace, knows the names of your ka, the<br />
aspect of your soul that abides in the ground:<br />
Mk ntk ah3w, Tm jmy pt, smsw jmy ah3t, sd2m jmy h2wt-a2at, nsw jmy ah3t<br />
jmy dwat, nh3h3 jmy Nnw.<br />
Jw wsjr X rh3.f rnw ba.k:<br />
ba wa3b h2a2w; ba wd3a h2aw; ba ah3 wd2a; ba h2ka; ba jr qj; ba t2ay; ba<br />
snk!<br />
Jw wsjr X rh3.f rnw nw ka.k:<br />
146
Anatomy of the Soul: Book of the Dead 15a<br />
147
Isle of Fire: Part Seven<br />
nourishing ka,<br />
ka of food,<br />
lordly ka,<br />
ka the ever-present helper,<br />
ka which is a pair of kas begetting more kas,<br />
healthy ka,<br />
sparkling ka,<br />
victorious ka,<br />
ka the strong,<br />
ka that strengthens the sun each day to rise from the world of the dead,<br />
ka of shining resurrection,<br />
powerful ka,<br />
effective ka.<br />
ka h2w; ka d2fa; ka s2ps; ka s2ms; kawy jr kaw; ka wd2a; ka t2h2n; k nh3t;<br />
ka wsr; ka wbn; ka psd2; ka was2; ka spd!<br />
148
Anatomy of the Soul: Book of the Dead 15a<br />
149
Isle of Fire: Part Seven<br />
Book of the Dead 42<br />
A spell for withstanding the judgement of the dead each dawn,<br />
the sunrise-red slaughter of the forces of darkness<br />
which Ra enacts every morning as he rises from his Island of Fire in<br />
the Eastern Sea.<br />
This spell affords protection on the Island of Fire, because it is<br />
recited in Neni-Nesew, city of Ra’s sacred tamarisk tree,<br />
Neni-Nesew, where the solar eye once slew rebellious mankind,<br />
where Horus once fought with Seth,<br />
Neni-Nesew, which the Greeks call Herakleopolis, city of solar<br />
victories!<br />
This spell is being read by the deceased.<br />
Land of Ra’s tamarisk, White Crown of Egypt’s cities, White Crown<br />
on the statue of Ra, splendid as his standard carried in procession, city of<br />
Neni-Nesew which means “Son of Upper Egypt’s King,” I am become<br />
that Horus, that prince for whom the city is named.<br />
O Yebew-Weret, guardian of the slaughter-site of Ra’s Day of<br />
Judgement,<br />
today you have said and said again: “The butcher-block of justice is<br />
ready — you know what to expect.”<br />
(line unintelligible)<br />
I am Ra, ever honored, the ruler, the god who dwells in<br />
Neni-Nesew’s sacred tamarisk. How much greater is Today than<br />
Yesterday, how much greater is who I am than who I was!<br />
Long live this day, long live Today!<br />
R n h3sf s2a2t jrrt m Nnj-Nsw: d2d mdw jn X:<br />
Ta n h3t, h2d2t nt twt, jat h4nt, jnk h3y!<br />
Ya jbw-wrt,<br />
jw d3d.n.k mjn a2prw nmt m rh3t.n.k.<br />
Jnk Ra2, mn h2swt, t2sw, nt2r m h4nw jsr: nfr wy jtn r sf!<br />
Wd2a.tw, wd2a.tw hrw pn!<br />
150