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The Osireion at Abydos [19th Dynasty]
[Published in 1904 for the Egyptian Research Account by Bernard Quaritch in London.]
CHAPTER I (Sections 1-9; plates 1-6, 16)
PREFACE
In
the winter of 1901-02 Mr. St. G. Caulfeild undertook the further
examination of the temple of Seti at Abydos (figs.1,2). Our work there resulted in
finding the temenos wall, and showing the connection between the
planning of that temple and the Royal Tombs of the early kings on the
desert behind it. These results, and his careful study of the plan of
the temple appeared in the last volume of the Research Account. But he
also made other discoveries, which have been followed up during the
next winter by Miss Murray, with the results here issued in this
volume.
Fig.1: Map of Egyptian sites, showing location of Abydos.
.
When Mr. Caulfeild began to excavate, I noticed some
thick masses of crude brick, and suggested that they might be mastabas.
He cleared along them and found that they formed a continuous wall,
which we then identified as the temenos wall of the temple. I observed
that parallel with this there was a slight long hollow on the surface,
and proposed that he should clear it out (pl.1-1). Some time after, on looking
at the site, I was told the men had found desert a few feet down. This
seemed strange, and on looking at it I saw that there was only blown
sand. So they were told to go deeper. Again, after some time, on going
there again, the same story of desert at the bottom was repeated ; only
this time about fifteen feet down. On examining it I found blown sand.
So a third time they were told to go down, and soon after they struck
some great blocks of limestone.
Fig.2: Plan of the Osireion and its location within the temenos of the Temple of Seti I (Plates XV and XVI).
The final result was that we
found the pavement of the hall was forty-one feet under the surface ; a
depth filled up with some Roman rubbish and much blown sand over it.
After the excavations by Miss Murray and my wife, we realized that
these great stones which we first found were the remains of the doorway
to a limestone chamber near the north-west corner of the temenos, which
had been entirely carried away for lime burning in Roman times. From
the place of this doorway Mr. Caulfeild carried on excavations,
continually expecting to come to an end of the entrance passage to the
south, and find a door of approach to the subterranean constructions ;
but after continuing for a couple of hundred feet this seemed as far
off as ever ; and the season being at an end nothing more was done.
Miss
Murray, then, entered on the work, with the certainty of a long
inscribed passage to be cleared and copied, and its terminations to be
found. Various attempts were made to settle the beginning of it by
surface workings, tracing the filling of made earth which lay over it.
And these resulted in showing that it turned at right angles, and led
up towards the back doorway of the temple. But it could not be found at
its beginning owing to the immense rubbish heaps thrown out in
Mariette's clearing of the temple halls.
The work was
therefore concentrated on a point where the filling seemed to be
undisturbed over the construction, hoping to find there the roof
intact, and so enter an unbroken part of the passages. But on
descending we found that the filling in had only been left because
there was no roof under it there ; and the whole of the ancient roofing
had been removed, so far as we were able to ascertain, excepting one
cracked lintel. Thus, nothing short of removing the whole forty feet of
stuff over the whole construction can ever clear it. This season only
sufficed for the trial working, and clearing the great hall, one
chamber, and part of a passage. To do the whole clearance is beyond the
slight resources of the Egyptian Research Account ; and it is much to
be hoped that the Department of Antiquities will undertake to open and
maintain this unique hypogeum of Osiris as a part of the great temple
which is one of the main attractions of Egypt. It was most fortunate
that we had the knowledge of Miss Murray and the artistic copying of
Miss Hansard available for such a work, which required long and tedious
facsimiles to be prepared, with due attention to the inscriptions. The
elaborate study of Osiris which Miss Murray has here issued will, it is
hoped, serve to clear up and emphasize the various aspects and
connections of one of the fundamental deities of the Egyptian worship
and beliefs.
W. M. Flinders Petrie
INTRODUCTION.
1.
The excavations this year were carried on by Mrs. Petrie and myself.
Mrs. Petrie managed the actual excavations, overseeing the men, paying
the wages, in short, all the dull and uninteresting, though very
necessary, part of the work, whereas I had the more congenial and
amusing employment of copying the sculptures. Till the sculptures were
sufficiently cleared for me to draw them, I spent my time in the Sety
Temple, making fac-simile copies of the Coptic graffiti on its walls.
Then, when it was possible to draw in the hypogeum, I set to work
there, but it was entirely owing to Miss Hansard's kind help that I was
able to secure drawings of all the sculpture that we uncovered (with
one exception, the sloping passage), before they were silted up. I have
to thank Miss Eckenstein also for her help in copying in fac-simile the
Greek and Phoenician graffiti in the Seti Temple, which are published
in this volume. My thanks are due also to many people for assistance in
various ways, but particularly to Mr. Thompson and Dr. Walker for help
in translating the hieroglyphic inscriptions, and to Mr. Griffith, Mr.
Crum, and Mr. Milne for translating the hieratic, Coptic, and Greek
graffiti.
I should like also to say that anything that
is good in this book is due to Professor Petrie and to Mr. Griffith, to
whom I owe all my knowledge of Egyptology.
Plate I:
Nos.1-3, showing original trench, and exposures of the Sculptured
Chamber and Great Hall at the 19th Dynasty Osireion at Abydos.
In the
previous season Mr. Caulfeild had partially cleared the long passage
within the temenos wall; the passage itself had not been laid bare, but
the great mass of sand had been removed, leaving a gigantic furrow like
a natural ravine (pl.1-1.). The method of constructing this great
hypogeum rendered it comparatively easy to discover that there was
building below, though the depth at which it lay made it impossible to
clear more than a small portion. The nature of the desert is that after
removing from two to four feet of loose windblown sand, the hard marl,
called gebel by the workmen, comes into view. This is so firmly
compacted together that it can be cut like rock. The ancient builders
took advantage of this fact, and excavated passages and halls with
steeply sloping, almost perpendicular, sides. These were lined and
roofed with great blocks of stone, and the hollow at the top filled up
with sand; the building was then completely hidden from the outside.
In
our clearance it was only necessary to descend a few feet till the
rock-like gebel was exposed, and then to follow down the excavation;
and the trial-pits that we sunk within the temenos invariably showed
that the gebel had been cut perpendicularly to admit of building below.
We spent three weeks in hunting for a place where the roof still
appeared to remain, and were puzzled all the time at the number of
right-angled turns which this extraordinary passage, as we then thought
it, appeared to make. These turns, as we now know, must be the rock
cuttings to hold chambers and halls. Finally we decided on a likely
place, where the Roman rubbish, which had filled the part already
cleared by Mr. Caulfeild, touched the clean marl filling of the desert.
Here it was that we hoped to find the place where the roof was still
intact. For days I carried candles and matches in in my pocket ready to
enter the passage as soon as there was a hole big enough to squeeze
through; but they were never required. Throughout this excavation it
was always the unexpected that happened; we expected to find a passage,
we found chambers and halls; we expected to find it roofed in, the roof
had been completely quarried away; we expected to find a tomb, we found
a place of worship.
Our first deep pit brought us into
the South Chamber, which gave us the cartouche of Merenptah, and made
us realize that we had found a building which has no known counterpart
in Egypt. Then came the discovery of the Great Hall and then of (p.2)
the sloping passage. Here our hopes rose high, for the entrance to the
passage had an enormous roofing stone still in position; but we soon
found that it was the only one that remained, the rest of the roof
having suffered the same fate as the other parts of the building. I was
able to copy only a very small portion of the inscriptions; for though
we cleared the passage to the floor, two days of high winds silted it
up to the level of the roof. The whole of the excavation was greatly
retarded by heavy falls of sand, the Roman filling being so loose that
there were continual rivulets of sand running down the sides; and a
high wind would bring down half a ton of sand and stones in one fall.
To sit in a deep pit under an irregular but continuous fire of small
stones, with the chance of a big stone coming down too, is an
experience more amusing to look back upon than to endure.
At
the north end of the north passage we started another excavation, for
it was there, beyond the temenos wall, that the big marl heaps stood.
It was partly by these heaps that Professor Petrie had deduced the fact
that a large building lay below the surface of the desert. They were
not natural heaps, and yet they were of clean marl unmixed with any
remains left by man. They were too far from the temples of Seti and
Rameses to have been the rubbish removed from their foundations; they
were too large to be from the excavations of an ordinary tomb; and as
the ancient Egyptian, like his modern descendants, never took
unnecessary trouble, it follows that the tip-heap would be as near to
the excavation as was allowable. Just inside the temenos wall, at a
depth of about thirty feet, we came upon a vaulted passage of mud
bricks which extended thirty-five feet northward, and was then
apparently broken, for it was filled with sand. The thirty-five feet
brought us to the north face outside the temenos wall, where we sank a
large pit with this curious result: —
The rock-like
gebel, at a distance of about sixty feet from the wall, was cut in a
slope like a staircase from the surface of the desert, sloping down
towards the wall. Two mud-brick retaining walls had been built across
it to hold back the sand.
At a distance of fifteen feet from
the temenos wall we found a square shaft (of which the wall formed one
side), lined with mud bricks, some of which bore the cartouche of Seti
I. The vaulted passage, which we had entered from the other side, ended
in a small arch in the temenos wall, and its floor was paved with
blocks of stone. We reached a depth of over thirty feet, and came to
undisturbed basal sand on which the walls rested. In the vaulted
passage, the pavement was lifted, but with the same result—undisturbed
basal sand. This was during the last days of the excavations, and there
was no time to make further research. As to the meaning of this
extraordinary shaft I can offer no explanation, nor can I even hazard a
guess. The great marl heaps lead to the belief that there is still a
large underground building at that end, though our efforts failed to
find it.
2. This hypogeum appears to Professor Petrie to
be the place Strabo mentions, usually called Strabo's Well. He
describes it as being under the Memnonium; with low vaulted arches
formed of a single stone, by which he probably meant that the stone
beams went across the halls and chambers in a single span, whether the
entrance is really inside the Temple of Seti, thereby leading him to
believe that it was under that building, or whether it was entered from
the back door of the temple was not ascertained. As to the spring which
he mentions, it might well be that already the lower parts of the
hypogeum were then below high Nile level, and that what Strabo saw was
the remains of the inundation, which he mistook for a natural
spring.
3. At first sight there was nothing to indicate the
real nature of this building, but later, two hypotheses presented
themselves. The cartouche of Merenptah appeared in every place where it
could be inserted, and we therefore had to consider the possibility of
its being his tomb. The two points in favour of this hypothesis are
that the walls are inscribed with scenes and chapters from the Books of
Am Duat and of the Dead, and that Merenptah is called the Osiris and
“Maat-kheru."
Now
M. Maspero has pointed out very clearly that the
epithet Maat-kheru can be applied to the living equally well as to the
dead; one of his most convincing instances being taken from the Temple
of Seti at Abydos, where the youthful Rameses II, destined to live to a
very great age, is called Maatkheru. I have endeavoured to prove
(chap.5) that the king, in his lifetime as well as in death, was
identified
with Osiris; this being so, the fact of his being called Osiris does
not of itself show that this was his funeral monument. We must remember
also that Merenptah had a very fine tomb in the (p.3) Valley of the
Kings; he was hardly likely to make two of such magnificence, one at
Thebes and one at Abydos.
The other hypothesis was that this was the
building for the special worship of Osiris and the celebration of the
Mysteries, and this appears to me to be the true explanation, for many
reasons. Each reason may not be convincing in itself, but the
accumulation of evidence goes to prove the case. There is no tomb even
among the Tombs of the Kings that is like it in plan, none having the
side chamber leading off the Great Hall. Then, again, no tomb has ever
been found attached to a temple; the converse is often the case, I mean
a temple attached to a tomb; but this, as far as we can judge, is a
kind of extra chapel, a “hidden shrine," as the mythological texts
express it, belonging to the temple.
It
is only to be expected that
Osiris, one of the chief deities of Egypt, should have a special place
of worship at Abydos, where he was identified with the local god. And
that it should be a part of the temple dedicated to the worship of the
dead, and which had special chambers set apart for the celebration of
the Osirian mysteries is very natural likewise. The building lies
immediately in the axis of the temple; a line drawn through the temple
and the desert pylon to the Royal Tombs passes through the sloping
passage and across the centre of the Great Hall. This is not the result
of accident, the temple being older than the hypogeum, but shows that
both were dedicated to the same worship. The sculptures in the Great
Hall are the Vivification of Osiris by Horus, and the offering of
incense by Merenptah; between the two sculptures is inscribed chapter
142 of the "Book of the Dead," the “Chapter of knowing the Names of
Osiris." The other chapters of the “Book of the Dead “inscribed on the
walls were pronounced by M. Maspero, when he saw them, to be the “Book
of Osiris." The books of "Gates" and of "Am Duat," which are sculptured
and painted on the North passage, were said by the ancient Egyptians to
have had their origin in the decorations which Horus executed on the
walls of the tomb of his father Osiris.
CHAPTER I. THE SOUTH CHAMBER.
4.
The chamber south of the Great Hall is sculptured on the east, south,
and west walls with the 148th chapter of the “Book of the Dead."
This is a rare chapter, being known only in three papyri, one in the
Cairo Museum from the tomb of Amenhotep II, one in the British Museum
(No. 10,478) of the XXth Dynasty, and one at St. Petersburg. This,
however, is the only instance in sculpture of this chapter. The papyrus
of Amenhotep II has been published in fac-simile without translation,
the British Museum papyrus has been translated by Dr. Budge, but the
vignettes are not published; and the St. Petersburg papyrus is still
unpublished. In none of these papyri does the king appear, nor are the
gods of the first seven Qererts mentioned.
5. At first sight
the arrangement appears confused, but a closer examination shows a very
definite order. The whole chapter is devoted to the worship of the gods
of the twelve Qererts by the king. Each section contains a vertical
line of inscription, reaching from the top of the wall to the bottom;
this gives the numbers of the Qererts. On one side of each of these
vertical inscriptions are three figures of the king kneeling and making
an offering; above his head are three, four, or five short vertical
lines of hieroglyphs. On the other side of the long vertical
inscription are representations of the gods of each Qerert. These
generally appear in three registers, corresponding with the figures of
the king, thus the king makes an offering to every register. (In the
description the registers are numbered 1, 2, 3, beginning at the top;
the sections are indicated by Roman numerals.) The word Qerert in its
literal sense is a Cavern, but it may here be taken, perhaps, to mean a
Division of the night.
Plate 5: The East Wall of the Osireion's South Chamber [left side].
6. I. The East Wall. (Pl.5)—Long
vertical line of inscription: “The gods of the first Qerert in the
Duat. The gods of the second Qerert. The gods of the third Qerert. The
gods of the fourth Qerert. The gods of the fifth Qerert. The gods of
the sixth Qerert."
On the left side of the inscription: —
1.
The king kneeling and making an offering. Above him are five vertical
lines of inscription: (i) “Yu uden en sen a tep ta. There is offered
to them a handful (measure of capacity) upon earth. (2) It is that the
king Ba-en-Ra mer-Neteru, true of voice, (3) son of the Sun, his
beloved. Hotep-her- Maat Merenptah, true of voice, (4) is as the lord
of offerings in Amentet (5) and of cool water in [the Field] of
Offerings."
2. The king kneeling and making an
offering.(p.4) Above are five short lines of hieroglyphs: (i) “There is
offered to them a hin-measure upon earth. (2) It is that the king
Ba-en-Ra mer-Neteru, true of voice, (3) son of the Sun, Lord of Crowns,
Hotep-her- Maat Merenptah, true of voice, (4) is as the lord of
offerings in Amentet, (5) and of cool water in the Field [of
Offerings] ."
3. The king kneeling and making an offering.
Above are five short lines of hieroglyphs: (i) “There is offered to
them a hin-measure upon earth. (2) It is that the king Ba-en-Ra
mer-Neteru, true of voice, (3) lord of Crowns, Hotep-her-Maat
Merenptah, true of voice, (4) lord of offerings in Amentet, (5) in the
Field [of Offerings]."
On the right-hand side of the long
vertical line are the gods of the six Qererts enumerated in the
inscription. In each Qerert there are three deities, male, female,
male. Those of the first, third, and fifth Qererts are mummified
figures; the others are represented as living.
II. The long
vertical line of inscription reaching from the top of the wall to the
bottom: “The gods of the eighth Qerert." Then comes a sentence with
the hieroglyphs reversed: “Hail, O ye souls, weighing . . . . . distinguishing
righteousness from evil." A blank space, after which the hieroglyphs
are written as at the top of the line: “The gods of the seventh
Qererts." The reason that the two numbers, seven and eight, are in
reverse order appears to be that the gods of the seventh Qerert are
onlv three in number, like those immediately preceding, and that they
can be fitted into the sculpture only in that particular place.
On
the right is another vertical line of hieroglyphs reaching from the top
of the wall to the bottom. The inscription is divided into three parts,
which must be read in connection with the short lines of hieroglyphs
above the figure of the king.
On the left of the long vertical inscription:—
1.
The king kneeling and making an offering. Above are three short lines
of hieroglyphs. (From the long line:) “There is offered to them a
handful upon earth from the Lord of offerings in Amentet, and of cool
water in the Field of Offerings." (The short lines) (i) “It is that the
king Ba-en- Ra mer-Ptah, true of voice, (2) is as Lord of offerings in
Amentet, (3) and of cool water in the Field of Offerings."
2.
The king kneeling and making an offering. Above are three short
vertical lines of hieroglyphs. (The long line:) “There is offered to
them a handful upon earth when the chiefs of the living ones hear."
(Short lines) (i) "There is offered to them a hin-measure upon earth.
(2) It is that the king Ba-en- Ra mer-Neteru, true of voice, (3) is as
the hearer (?) . . . . of the living."
3. The king kneeling and
making an offering. Above are three short vertical lines of
hieroglyphs. (Long line) “There is offered to them a hin-measure upon
earth. (Short lines) (i) “There is offered to them a hin-measure upon
earth. (2) It is that the king Ba-en-Ra mer-Neteru, true of voice, (3)
is as the hearer . . . . of the living."
On the right of the two long vertical inscriptions:
1. Four men, each carrying a woman on his shoulder. Fayu hert-sen, “Those who carry their mistresses."
Four men, each carrying a man on his shoulder. Fayu hcru-sen, "Those who carry their masters."
A vertical line of hieroglyphs: “There is offered to them a handful upon earth at the sacred pylon of Neb Zat."
Four
women lying on their faces with their hair falling down. The papyrus of
Amenhotep gives the word Nenyu, here shortened to Nen, “Those who give
honour."
2. Three men and a woman lying on their faces,
making offerings. They are called Kheryu Autu, “The possessors of
food offerings." Below these are two men and two women lying on their
faces, with outstretched hands. Mr. Griffith suggests that the
hieroglyphs may read, “The smitten of Ra," and that what appears to be
the loose hair falling over the face is really blood pouring down, as
in the hieroglyphic sign for Death. This is a very probable
explanation, as two of the figures are of men, for whom long hair would
be quite inappropriate.
A vertical line of inscription:
“There is offered to them a hin-measure upon earth, when the body
lives in Amentet. There is offered to them upon earth from the
follower of the great God at the secret door."
Four men
bending down so that their hands touch the ground. The hieroglyphs are
partially destroyed, but the name can be recovered from the papyrus of Amenhotep II, Hefiu, "The humble ones."
3. Four men supporting tall pillar-like objects. Kheryu hotcpu, "The possessors of ofterings."
(p.5)
III. A vertical line of inscription reaching from the top to the bottom
of the wall: “The gods of the ninth Qercrt in the Duat, secret of
forms, cutting off the winds (?)."
On the left of the vertical inscription:
1.
The king kneeling and making an offering. Above are four short vertical
lines of hieroglyphs: (i) “There is given to them a handful upon earth.
(2) It is that the king Ba-en-Ra mer-Ptah, true of voice, (3) is as
Lord of offerings in Amentet at the sacred pylon in Neb-Zat.''
2.
The king kneeling and making an offering. Above are four short vertical
lines of hieroglyphs greatly defaced, (i) "There is . . . . upon earth. (2) It
is that . . . . . true of voice, (3) son of the Sun, Lord of . . . . . . true of voice, when
entering the secret places." The word menu is probably a scribe's
blunder for Shetau.
3. The king kneeling and making an offering. Above are four short vertical lines of hieroglyphs:
(i)
“There is offered to them a hin-measure upon earth. (2) It is that the
king Ba-en-Ra mer-Neteru, true of voice, (3) in entering the secret
[places] in Amentet."
(Pl.4.) To the right of the vertical
line:—
I. A god holding an uas-sceptre, his name is Aha, “He who is
firmly placed."
A mummified figure called Sheta, “Secret."
A bull and a
uraeus on a stand; the bull is called . . . deg Asar . . . . . “Osiris."
A
mummified figure without a name.
A bull and uraeus on a stand, he is
called Ymen-Asar, “Osiris is hidden."
Below are two bulls with uraei
on stands, and two mummified figures, alternately; the first bull is
Ymen-Asar, “Osiris is hidden"; the mummified figure is Hap; the
second bull is Sesheta Asar, “Making Osiris to be in secret." The
mummified figure is called apparently Sheth.
Two short
vertical lines of hieroglyphs: (i) “There is offered to them a handful
upon earth, (2) from him who belongs to the eastern people in the
Duat." Below these, though not exactly under them, are two more short
vertical lines of hieroglyphs: (i) “There shall be offered to them a
handful upon earth from him who belongs (2) to the eastern people in
the Duat."
A crocodile-headed god holding an uas-sceptre
and an ankh; behind him are four mummified figures. Unfortunately the
inscription is so mutilated as to be illegible, and it cannot be
restored from the papyrus of Amenhotep II.
Two vertical
lines of inscription partially destroyed: (i) “[There is offered] to
them a handful upon earth from a powerful one (2) . . . . . . every land, great of . . . . . .
, chief of the Glorious Ones."
Four women kneeling on
chairs; the first letter of the name is broken away, and in the papyrus
of Amenhotep it is almost illegible, it may, however, be S, for there
is a word Senen, which means “Image," and here the name is
Senentyut.
A jackal-headed god, with his name Anubis above
him, holding a human-headed staff in each hand. In the papyrus of
Amenhotep he holds two heq-signs.
In the row below are four
mummified male figures. Shetayu a, “Those who hide the hand"; four
mummified female figures, Shetayut a, “Those who hide the hand."
A god
holding an uas-sceptre and an ankh, Amcn hau, “Hidden of limbs."
Two vertical lines of hieroglyphs: (1) "There is offered to them a
handful upon earth. It is that the king Ba-en-Ra mer-Neteru (2) is
among the hearers who are upon earth."
Four birds, each
sitting on a tree, Bau peryu, “The souls which go forth."
Four
mummified figures, Aryu nehaut, "Those who belong to the sycamore
trees."
Four men bending backwards, Shesepyu, "Those who
bend (?)."
2 and 3. A vertical line of inscription; the words
are repeated twice: “There is given to them a hin-measure upon earth in
entering the secret places."
Twelve figures of Osirified
gods in shrines. The hieroglyphs read: “The gods who are in their
shrines upon the sand." There is a curious curved line going from one
side of the shrine to the other; I take this to be an attempt to
indicate that the inner part of the shrine itself was curved.
Two
vertical lines of inscription reaching to the ground. There is only one
sentence, repeated four times, showing that it applies to the four rows
of figures who come next. Each sentence begins in the left-hand line
and ends in the right-hand line; it occupies exactly the same space as
a single register of the gods to whom it applies: “There is offered to
them a handful upon earth from a Glorious One who is in the secret
place at the chamber (aryt) within the Duat."
Four rows of
twelve figures, alternately male and female. The gods carry
uas-sceptres and ankhs; of the goddesses, six carry the ankh, the
rest are empty-handed. The hieroglyphs are the same in each row, Neteru
netertyu (sic) ymyu khet Asar, “The gods and goddesses who follow
Osiris."
(p.7) The carelessness of the sculptor is very well
exemplified here; the base line of the third row of deities is still
incomplete, a piece in the middle not having been incised.
Plate 3: The South and West Walls in the South Chamber.
7.
Pl.3. The South Wall.—At the top is the winged disk with horns and
pendant uraei. The wings are drooped so as to fit the gable of the
pent-roof; nearly half the gable has been destroyed, but fortunately the
name of Ba-en-Ra mer-Ptah, the throne name of Merenptah, still remains
between the the two uraei. To the left at the tip of the wing is the
name Behdet, determined with the city sign. Under the curve of the wing
are the words, “May he give the [sweet] breezes of life."
The
whole wall is occupied with the inhabitants of the tenth Qerert. The
inscription appears to begin as usual with the long vertical line which
comes next to the king making offerings. "The gods of the tenth
northern Qerert of the Duat, those who cry aloud, sacred of
mysteries."
To the left of the long vertical inscription:—
1.
The king, beardless, kneeling and making an offering. Above are four
vertical lines of hieroglyphs: (1) There is offered to them one hin-measure upon earth. (2) It is that the king Ba-en-Ra mer-Ptah,
true of voice, (3) [son of the Sun], his beloved, Hotep-her-Maat
Merenptah, before the lords of eternity, (4) he who makes light in the
secret places."
2. The king, bearded, kneeling and making an
offering. Above are four vertical lines of inscription: (1) “There is
offered (2) to them a handful upon earth. (3) It is that the king
[Ba-en-Ra] mer- Neteru, true of voice, (4) is as lord of the offerings
of food."
3. The king, beardless, kneeling and making an
offering. Above are four vertical lines of inscription: (1) "There is
offered (2) to them a handful upon earth. (3) It is that the king
Ba-en-Ra mer-Neteru is as an excellent Glorious One in the Duat."
To the right is a long vertical line of inscription: “There is
offered to them a hin-measure upon earth from him who makes light in
the secret place . . . . . . repulsing the Sebyu-fiend on the day of . . . . . . . powerful in
Amentet."
I. Two rows of four men standing. The name is almost destroyed.
Nine
mummies laid upon biers. The hieroglyphs are Pat sau ymyu. “The whole
body of the sons who are within (?)." The word Pat is said by Dr. Budge
to mean the "mass" (like a cake or dough), meaning “the whole body";
e.g., Pat neteru would be “the whole body of the gods."
3.
Thirty-one figures in a walking attitude, but lying horizontally; they
are in pairs, except those at the left-hand corner where there are
three together. Above them is written Bau kheperyu em Asar, “The souls
who become as Osiris."
A vertical line of inscription
reaching from the top to the bottom of the wall: “When transformations
are made in Amentet, his soul, let it go forth for its refreshment,
those who are therein (i.e. in Amentet) let them praise Ra, when he
goes forth upon earth."
1. Eight women holding in the left
hand, which is raised above the head, an object which looks like a
whip. In the tomb of Rameses VI the whip is replaced by a net, and in
papyrus No. 10,478 of the British Museum the object is painted blue and
appears like a hatchet-shaped vessel from which water is pouring. The
name is almost entirely destroyed.
2. Eight men standing: “Those who belong to the Glorious One."
3.
Eight mummified figures from whose mouths water is pouring. Their name
is Pat ymenu a, “The whole body of the hiders of the hand." Behind
these stands a woman called Shent, who is probably the goddess Shenty.
She is generally represented under the form of a cow, and it is in the
chapels dedicated to her that some of the Osirian mysteries are
celebrated.
8. Pl.2. The West Wall.—The eleventh Qerert is
shown partly on Pl.2, partly on Pl.3. Pl.2, a vertical line of
inscription: "The gods of the eleventh northern Qerert. He that covers
the fainting one, concealing [his] secret places."
On the
right side of the long vertical inscription are three registers: —
(1)
The king kneeling and making an offering. Above are four short lines of
inscription: (1) “There is offered to them a handful upon earth.
(2) It
is that the king, Ba-en-Ra mer-Ptah, true of voice,
(3) son of the Sun,
Hotep-her-Maat Merenptah, before Osiris (?), is as a Glorious One in
going and returning and coming forth unto the day."
2. The
king kneeling and making an offering. Above are three short lines of
inscription: (i) “There is offered to them (2) a handful upon earth. It
is (p.7) that the king, the Lord of the earths, (3) Ba-en-Ra
mer-Neteru, is true of voice before Osiris."
3. The king
kneeling and making an offering. Above are three short lines of
inscription: (i) "There is offered to them (2) a handful upon earth. It
is that the king (3) Ba-en-Ra mer-Neteru, is true of voice before
Osiris."
To the left: A vertical line of inscriptions
reaching the whole height of the wall: “There is offered to them a
handful upon earth from a Glorious One going in and going out unto the
day. It is that the king Ba-en-Ra mer-Neteru, true of voice, makes
transformation as his heart desires in the Underworld."
1. The god Yqeh standing and holding an uas-sceptre and an ankh.
Nine gods lying either on or beside serpents on biers. The name is Pat ymiu-khet, “The whole body of those who follow."
Pl.3.
A vertical line of inscription: "There is offered to them a handful
upon earth from a soul who follows Ra." Nine figures lying on biers;
they are called Pat heq Yment, “The whole body of the rulers of Amentet."
A vertical line of inscription: "There is offered
to them a handful upon earth [when] entering the pylon of the Sacred
Land." Three small registers: in the upper one are four men with their
arms raised, they are called Heknyu “The Praisers." In the middle
register are four men standing, who arc called Bau ta, “The Souls (?)
of the Earth." In the lowest register is a man standing holding an uas-sceptre and an ankh; his name is Ba Amentet, “The Soul of
Amentet." Behind him is a woman treading on a snake.
2.
(Pl.2). Nine jackals on stands of the shape that are always used for
divinities. The name of these jackals is Neteru resyu,"The
gods, the watchers." A vertical line of inscription which extends to the
ground: “It is that the king Ba-en-Ra mer-Neteru, true of voice, son of
the Sun, Lord of diadems, Hotep-her-Maat Merenptah, is true of voice
before Osiris Khenti-Amentiu."
(Pl.3). Nine women lying on
their faces with their hair falling down and their arms raised. The
hieroglyphs read Pat ykebyu, "The whole body of mourners."
A
man standing with raised hand in an attitude of declamation; he is
called Nys-ta (?), “Summoner of the earth." Below him is another
standing figure holding an uas-sceptre; his name is written merely
with the reed-leaf which reads Y, the determinatives are a statue and
the papyrus roll.
3. (Pl.2). A snake with a woman's head,
called Zesert-tep, “Sacred of head “; behind her are four mummified
bearded figures, called “Those who are with the Sacred of head."
A
snake named Reny (Meheny in the papyrus of Amenhotep), behind whom are
four standing figures whose name I cannot translate.
(Pl.3).
Then comes the vertical inscription already translated above. After
that there are nine figures of men in a curious bending attitude, with
their faces turned upwards. Their title is Pat Ymen Asar, “The whole
body of the hidden of Osiris." Behind them is a standing mummified
figure called Hetem, “Destroyed of face."
The last section
consists of a vertical line of inscription reaching the whole height of
the wall: "The gods of the twelfth northern Qerert in the Duat. The
offerings of the gods."
To the right are three registers:—
1.
The king kneeling and making an offering. Above are five vertical lines
of inscription: (1) “There is offered to them a hin-measure upon
earth. (2) It is that the king . . . . . . true of voice, (3) son of the Sun,
Hotep-her . . . . . . the great god . . . . . . (4) in his going forth from Amentet (5) at
all the gates belonging thereto."
2. The king kneeling and
offering fruit and cakes. Above are four vertical lines of inscription:
(1) “There is offered to (2) them a handful upon earth. It is that (3)
the king Ba-en-[Ra] mer-Neteru, true of voice, (4) is as lord of
offerings of food in the Underworld."
3. The king kneeling
and making an offering. Above are four vertical lines of inscription:
(1) "There is offered to (2) them a handful upon earth. It is that (3)
the king [Ba-en-Rai mer-Neteru, true of voice, (4) is as . . . . . . . in the
Underworld."
To the left of the long vertical inscription are three registers.
1.
Fourteen snakes arranged in four rows; within the coils of each snake
lies a human figure. Four mummified bearded figures stand side by
side.
A vertical line of inscription: “There is offered to
them a handful upon earth when he goes forth and enters unto Amentet at all the gates belonging thereto."
Two registers
containing thirteen small figures in all. The figures are standing, and
each holds an (p.9) uas-sceptre, four hold an ankh also. The
inscription reads: "The gods who are in the land of Duat."
A bearded figure standing holding an uas-sceptre. His name is Maat-ta, “Truth of the earth “(?).
2. Eleven rams' heads on poles: “Those who are with those who are in heaven and the earths."
Two
vertical lines of inscription: (1) "There is offered to them a handful
upon earth. It is that (2) the King Ba-en-Ra mer-Neteru, true of voice,
is as a Glorious One, powerful in his cooling."
Two registers each containing four standing figures: “The gods who are with the lord."
A bearded figure standing and holding an uas-sceptre and an ankh. His name is Heri-ta (?), “He who is on the earth."
3.
Four men bowing. They are called Yuutyu, “The aged ones." Two
vertical lines of inscription: (1) “The King Ba-en-Ra mer-Neteru, true
of voice, when he enters and goes forth (2) from Amentet at all the gates
belonging thereto."
Fourteen snakes arranged in three
registers; in the coils of each snake lies a human figure: Neteru
ymyun Mehen, “The gods who are with, [or, in] the snake
Mehen."
Left: (1) “Speech of the Son of the Sun, Lord of
Crowns, Hotep-her-Maat Merenptah, true of voice. I come before thee,
Lord of the Sacred Land, Osiris, Ruler of Eternity. I make what thy ka
desires in the land of the living.
(2) Speech of the king, Lord of the
Two Lands, Ba-en-Ra mer- Neteru, true of voice. I come before thee.
Lord of Eternity, Unnefer, son of Nut. I make for thee offerings (?)
very great. I know that which belongs to thy table of offerings (?) on
account of it.
Plate 6: North side of South Chamber; inscriptions around doorway..
(3) Speech of the Son of the Sun, Lord of Crowns,
Hotep-her-Maat Merenptah, true of voice. I come before thee. Lord of
Amentet, Osiris, great of soul in the Duat. I have driven out evil from
the earth in order to satisfy thy heart every day.
(4) Speech of the
King, Lord of the Two Lands, Ba-en-Ra mer- Neteru, true of voice. I
come before thee. Lord of the Underworld, Lord of Eternity (neheh).
Ruler of the Dead. I increase for thy ka the offerings consisting of
bread and beer, oxen and fowls."
Right: (1) “Speech of the
Son of the Sun, Lord of Crowns, Hotep-her-Maat Merenptah, true of
voice. I come before thee, Osiris, Lord of Augert. I establish thy
cycle in the cities of the nome.
(2) Speech of the King, Lord of the
Two Lands, Ba-en- Ra mer-Neteru, true of voice. I come before thee,
Osiris, Lord of Deddu. I bring unto thee breath for thy nostril, life
and strength for thy beautiful face.
(3) . . . . . . . Hotep-her-Maat Merenptah, true
of voice. I come before thee, Osiris . . . . . . [I make] for thee sacrifices every
day. I know that thou livest by means of them.
(4) " . . . . . . . . I (cast down) thy
enemies under thee."
[Continue to part 2]
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