Better Gutenberg
Free, beautifully formatted public-domain ebooks
‹Better GutenbergThe Egyptian Book of the DeadChapter III — Another Chapter Like It · 4 of 185Contents›

The Egyptian Book of the Dead

4 of 185 · Contents · Download EPUB

Chapter III Another Chapter Like It

Oh Tmu, who proceedest from Ur-henhenu,(1) who art resplendent as the Lion-faced,(2) and who strewest thy words to those who are before thee;

Here cometh the faithful N, from the band of those who do the bidding of thy words.

O ye seamen of Râ at the gloaming of the day, let N live after death, like Râ daily.

Here the helmsman: As Râ is born from Yesterday, so he too is born from Yesterday, and as every god exulteth in life, so shall N exult even as they exult in life.

I am Thoth as he goeth forth from the House of the Prince in Heliopolis.(3)

Notes

The only ancient copy of this chapter is in the papyrus of Amen-neb (Ae), and here it is imperfect.

1. A personification of the Nile, ⁂⁂⁂. The later texts read ⁂⁂⁂ ‘the great goddess in the Water.’

2. The later texts have ⁂⁂⁂⁂, implying the two lions Shu and Tefnut. But the older texts have ⁂⁂⁂⁂, a single god, with a lion’s face or form. The two notions, however, are found in combination in the Pyramid texts of Unas (l. 558) and Teta (l. 332).

3. See note 8 on Chapter 1.

← Back to The Egyptian Book of the Dead

Scroll to Top