CHAPTER IX. The Book of the Dead,

This is the name usually given by Egyptologists to a book or collection of chapters which the Egyptians called ' coming forth by day.' There are a very large number of copies of this book in the various museums of Europe, and parts of it are inscribed upon papyrus, tombs, coffins, mummies, tishabtiu figures, scaraba^i, and other objects. In many copies the chapters are accompanied by vignettes, but the arrangement of the chapters is never the same in any two manuscripts, and many of the hieroglyphic copies upon papyrus show that they have been copied from the hieratic character, for the scribe has confused signs which are alike in that style of writing. The work in some form is exceedingly old, for there are evidences as far back as the eleventh dynasty that the knowledge of the meaning of certain parts of it had been already lost. As it is now, it is by no means easy to understand, on account of the allusions to legends in it, and its writer or writers imagining that the reader understands the whole system of religion and mythology. The first complete copy of the text was published by Lepsius in 1842 ; and in 1867 Dr. Birch

l68 THE DWELLERS ON THE NU.E.

published a literal translation of it in Bunsen's * Egypt's Place in Universal History/ Vol. V.

From the Book of the Dead we gather that the religious man gained everlasting life ; first living in Hades as he lived upon earth, then passing through whatever transformations he wished, and finally being identified with Osiris, the god of the dead. The rubric of the first chapter says : ' Let this book be known on earth. It is made in writing on the coffin. It is the chapter by which he comes out every day as he wishes, and he goes to his house. He is not turned back. There are given to him food and drink, slices of flesh off the altar of the Sun. When he passes from the fields of the Elysium, corn and barley are given to him out of them. For he is supplied as he was on earth. '^

In the accompanying illustration the future state of the blessed dead is depicted. The outer border is the waters of the Nile. In the top left-hand corner of the scene are three lakes, underneath which is the inscription : ' Being in peace in the fields of the Se;^et-Aaru.' Before the ' gods of the horizon ' is a table laden with offerings, and a hawk called ' Peace, the Great Lord of Heaven.' The deceased is seen offering to the soul, and he paddles along in a boat containing tables of offerings. Behind the boat is the ' cycle of the great gods,' to whom the deceased offers : and last of all comes Thoth, writing on a palette. In the second division, the deceased is offering to Hapi or the Nile, and is represented performing all

' Bunsen, ' Egypt,' v. p. 163.

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V

THE BOOK OF THE DEAD.

the various labours of the field, ploughing, sowing, and reaping. In the third division are four pools, and the

:<is.i^m^T.ii'& t, r^k^\u^ikri

Part of the Seventeenth Chapter of the Ritual of the Dead. The Deceased in a Hall ; the Boat of the Ram rowed by the Kings.

boat of Ra Harmachis, ' when he travels to the fields of the Se;^et-Aaru.' Next comes the boat of Un-nefer or Osiris, with paddles and a throne. This division is

1/2 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

intersected by smaller streams of water : in the upper part, or * abode of the beatified dead/ dwells the Sungod, and there the corn grows to the height of seven cubits ; the lower part, is the dwelling-place of the gods, and the gods represented are Shu, Tefnut, and Seb.

The seventeenth chapter of the Book of the Dead is very important, as it contains explanations of what is laid down therein in a series of questions and answers ; for example : —

I am that splendid Bird Bennu, which is in Heliopolis. AVhat does this mean ?

The Bennu bird is Osiris who is in Heliopolis. I have set two feathers upon my head. What do these two feathers signify ?

The two feathers are the two uraei crowns upon the head of my father Turn.

The transformations of the blessed dead could be as ♦ numerous as they pleased, and a number of chapters in the Book of the Dead are taken up in discussing them. The progress of the soul in the netherworld was barred by countless demons, who waited to seize and destroy it : but their power was utterly shattered if the deceased knew certain words which were to be uttered. Attacks were made upon all parts of the body, especially the heart ; hence we find that several chapters are devoted to the purpose of teaching how these may be warded off or rendered powerless. Even after all danger from the attack of devils was over for the deceased, there still

^^O

THE BOOK OF THE DEAD. i;5

remained the great and final judgment, which took place before Osiris and the forty-two judges of the dead in the Hall of the Two Truths. In the accompanying illustration Osiris is sitting on a throne, and holding the whip and sceptre indicative of royalty and dominion. In front of him is an inscription which reads: * Osiris, the Good Being, the lord of life, the great god and ruler within Rustat and Akart, Khent Amenti, the great god, lord of Abydos, the king everlasting.' The forty-two figures are the judges of the dead, each of whom bore a name descriptive of his part. Before the hall of Osiris is a table laden with offerings, and above it are the four genii of the dead, Amset, Hapi, Tuaumutef, and Kebhsenuf. Near the table is the destroyer of enemies, a composite monster, and behind him stands Thoth, writing the decision on a palette ; while his cynocephalus companion is seated on the middle of the balance. The heart of the deceased is being weighed in the right-hand pan of the scale against righteousness in the other. Horus has his arm stretched out to the indicator of the balance, and Anubis is watching the pan of the scale in which the figure of Mat, righteousness, is seated. On the other side of the heart stand two figures of the goddess of right or law, holding a sceptre, and between them is the deceased. The deceased then makes what is called the ' negative confession,' that is a confession in which he declares to each god that he has not committed a particular sin or crime, thus : —

176 THE D^YELLERS ON THE NILE.

Oh Strider, coming out of Heliopolis ! I have not been idle. Oh Gaper, coming out of Kar ! I have not waylaid. Oh Nostril, coming out of Hermopolis ! I have not boasted. Oh Devourer of Shades, coming out of the orbits ! I have

not stolen. Oh Foul one, coming out of Rusta ! I have not smitten men

privily. Oh Smoking Face, coming out after entering Heliopolis !

I have not stolen the things of the Gods. Oh Cracker of Bones, coming out of Bubastis ! I have not

told falsehoods. Oh Glowing Feet, coming out of the Darkness ! I have not

eaten the heart. Oh Eater of Blood, coming from the Block ! I have not

killed sacred beasts. Oh Ruler of the Dead, coming out of the cave ! I have not

corrupted women or men. Oh Swallower, coming out of Khenem ! I have not

blasphemed. Oh Lord of Purity, coming out of Sais ! I have not multiplied

words in speaking. Oh Nefer Tmu, coming out of Ptah-ka ! I have not lied or

done any wicked sin. Oh Eye in his Heart, coming out of Sahu ! I have not defiled

the river. Oh Yoker of Good, coming out of Heliopolis ! I have not

injured the Gods, or calumniated the slave to his

master.^

^ Bunsen's ' Egypt,' v. p. 254.

THE BOOK ON THE DEAD. 1 7/

In the early part of the one hundred and twenty-fifth chapter the deceased says : —

Hail, ye Gods who are in the Hall of Truth without any deceit in your bodies, living off the dead in Heliopolis, devouring their hearts before Horus in his disk ! Save ye me from the god who feeds off the chief vitals on the day of the great judgment. Let the Osiris go ; ye know he is without fault, without evil, without sin, without crimes. Do not torture, do not anything against him. He lives off truth, he has made his delight in doing what men say, and the gods wish. The god has welcomed him as he has wished. He has given food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, he has made a boat for me to go by. He has made the sacred food of the Gods, the meals of the Spirits. Take ye them to him, guard ye them for him. Therefore do not accuse him before the Lord of the Mummies ; because his mouth is pure, his hands are pure.

Further on comes a list of the offences which the deceased has not committed, some of them being identical with those mentioned above.

If the deceased succeeds in- passing this ordeal satisfactorily, he comes forth at once as a god (there is no place of probation), he becomes identified with Osiris, in whose shape his mummy was made, and he roams through the fields of bliss at pleasure. The whole family of Osiris then do for him as they have done for the god himself, all his enemies are slain, their necks and legs are broken, and they are annihilated for ever. In future nothing can do him harm, and if all the legions

M

178 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

of night and darkness conspire to hurt them, their efforts are powerless, for he is a • GREAT GOD.' When the deceased has thus triumphed, his soul, his ka, and his shadow are all restored to him, and they are never more to be separated.

The Egyptian was a fatalist, he believed in dreams, ghosts, and demoniacal possession, yet his high moral ideal as exhibited by the inscriptions was of the purest and best ; and when we compare his lofty conceptions of the Deity w^ith those of other nations, we see that he stands remarkably alone. Thousands of years before Christ, he had arrived at these ideas, and it will be readily imagined that such a sensible and thoughtful man was not so utterly ridiculous in his religious views as he has been made to appear. Much that was absurd, such as the belief in magical words, charms, and names, had crept into his religion ; but it is quite impossible to believe that the learned priests did not perceive its futility, even though they did not oppose it actively. Still, underneath the heap of rubbish which gathered round their religion, there lie grains of truth and lofty morality which are worth picking up even by the civilised nations of to-day.