EGYPT
348
EGYPT
mon guide, with variations peculiar to the doctrine of
the school. For further details see the masterly re-
view by Maspero of NaviUe's edition of the Book of the
Dead during the Eighteenth to Twentieth Dynasties,
in "Revue de I'histoire des religions", XV (1887), pp.
263-315. The most important chapters, from a theo-
logical viewpoint, are perhaps the seventeenth, a
compendious summary of what the deceased was sup-
posed to know on the nature of the gods with w'hom
he was to identify himself, and the one hundred and
twenty-fifth, where, along with the disclaimer of forty-
two offences, we find also an enumeration of several
good works, as feeding the hungrj', clothing the naked,
making offerings to the dead, and sacrificing to the
gods. The Book of the Dead naturally received many
additions in the course of centitfies, as new concepts
evolved from the older ones. It would not be correct,
however, to conclude that all the chapters not to be
found in the older copies are of recent date. Com-
parison between various copies of known dates shows
that, as a rule, they were mere abstracts from the
standard copies preserved by the corporations of em-
balmers, or midertakers, the deceased individual hav-
ing, as a rule, ordered during his lifetime a copy to be
prepared according to his own belief and means.
The fact that certain chapters, like Ixiv, were assigned
by the manuscripts to what seem to us remote dates,
such as the reigns of King Ivhufu (Cheops), of the
fourth, or King Usaphais, of the first, dynasty, does
not prove that these chapters were thought to be
older than the others; the reverse is more likely to be
the correct view. The bulk of the chapters were be-
lieved by the Egj'ptians to antedate the human dy-
nastic times, and, as Professor Maspero remarks, the
discovery of the Pyramid Texts, to which the Book of
the Dead is closely related, sliows that this idea was
not altogether futile (op. cit., XV, 299). The Book of
the Dead contains several passages in common with
the ritual of the dead represented by the PjTamid
Texts, and its first fifteen chapters were likewise read
at burials, but otherwise it constitutes a distinct type.
The Book of the Deatl occurs in two recensions; the
Theban (Eighteentli to Twentieth Djmasty) and the
Saitic (Twenty-sixth Dynasty). The latter, which,
naturally, is the longer (1G5 chapters), was published
by Lepsius (Das Todtenbuch der Aegj'pter, Leipzig,
1842), from a Turin papjTus. The first two trans-
lations of the Book of tlie Dead by Birch (in Bunsen,
"Egj-pt's Place in Universal History", V, 66-333) and
Pierret (Le Livre des Morts des Anciens Egj'ptiens,
Paris, 1882) are based on that edition. In 1SS6 E.
Naville published a critical edition of the Theban re-
cension, "Das ag>'ptische Todtenbuch der XVIII. bis
XX. Dynastie", Berlin, 1886. In 1901 Dr. E.A.W.
Budge published a translation of that same recension,
but augmented w'ith a considerable number of chap-
ters (in all, 160) from new Theban manuscripts and 16
chapters from the Saitic recension (The Book of the
Dead, London, 1901). For further bibliographical
details see Budge, "The Papyrus of Ani" (London,
1895, 371 sqq.).
Substitules for the Hook of the Dead. — Other books similar in scope to the Book of the Dead, and often substituted for it in tombs, are: (1) "The Book of the Respirations communicated by Isis to her brother Osiris to restore a new life to his soul and body and renew all his limbs, so that he may reach the horizon with his father Re, and his soul may rise to the heavens in the disk of the moon, and hi.s Ijody shine in the stars of Oriim on the bosom of NiU; in order that this may also happen to the Osiris N." This book has so far been found only wit h tlie mummies of the priests and priestesses of Ammon-Re. It not only makes allusion to the formula' and acts by means of which the resurrection is effected, but also treats of the life after death ftr. by P. J. Horrack in "Records of the Past", IV, 119 sqq.). A variation of this book under
the title of "Another Chapter of Coming Forth by
Day, in order not to let him [the deceased] absorb im-
purities in the necropolis, but to let him drink truth,
eat truth, accomplish all transformations he may
please, to restore a new life" etc. (as above) was pub-
lished by Wiedemann, "Hieratische Texte aus den
Museen zu Berlin u. Paris" (Leipzig, 1879). (2) 'The
Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys" (tr. by Horrack,
op. cit., II, 117 sqq.). (3) "The Book of the Glorifi-
cation of Osiris", a variation of the preceding, pub-
lished by Pierret from a Louvre papyrus. (4) The
"Book of the Wandering of Eternity", published l>y
Bergmann, "Das Buch vom Durchwandel der Evvig-
keit" in " Sitztmgsber. d. K.K. Ak. d. Wiss. in Wien",
1877.
Mythological Compositions. — A different group of funeral books is represented by certain mythological compositions. They consist principally of figures re- lating to the various diurnal and nocturnal pliases of the Sim, accompanied with explanatory legends. The oldest of such compositions can be assigned to the Eighteenth Dynasty, and refers to both the daily and nightly courses of the sim, the two being often com- bined in one picture in two sections. In later times the nocturnal aspect of the sun prevails, and the com- position becomes more and more funereal in character and scope, until the diurnal solar symbols disappear almost entirely (see Devdria, "Catalogue" etc., pp. 1-15). Several of the figures are borrowed from the Book of the Dead.
Book oj the Dual. — Closely related to these mytho- logical compositions is the " Book of what there is in the Duat" (or Lower Hemisphere, as commonly, though perhaps wrongly, understood. See below, under .4s<ranomj/). It consists of a hieroglyphic text with numerous mythological or symbolical illustra- tions describing the nocturnal navigation of the sun (represented as the ram-headed god Chntjm) on the river Uernes (cf. the Oipavbs of the Greeks) during the twelve hours of night, through as many halls. To each hall corresponds one of the successive modifi- cations through which every being was supposed to be brought back from death to a new life. Such modifi- cations are effected by the deities in charge of the various halls, who, in addition, contribute, either by towing or in some other mysterious way, to the prog- ress of the solar bark on the Uernes, typifying that of the regeneration. However, this process of regenera- tion is not accomplished in Chniim himself but in the god Sokari, who plays the part of the dead sun. The deceased, who is never mentioned by his name, ap- pears as a mere figurant, or rather an onlooker. All those who take part in the action seem to be per- manently settled in the Duat, with no other apparent purpose than to play their own parts on the passage of the solar bark. This is the case even with the damned, who, when the time of retribution comes at the end of the tenth, and during the eleventh, hour, im- personate the enemies of Osiris, and for the time being are submitted to atrocious torments and even anni- hilated. Wliether one is justified, as generally granted, in seeing in this last point a proof that the Egyp- tians as a people believed in eternal retribution, does not appear qiiite certain if we consider the highly mystical character of that book, the understanding of which was the privilege of a few initiated. For fur- ther details see the introduction to and the analysis of that book by Dev^ria ("Catalogue" etc., pp. 15-39. See also Jdquier, " Livre de ce qu'il y a dans I'Hades", Paris, 1894).
Ritual of the Emhalminq. — To close the above re- marks on the fiuieronl literature we must mention the Ritual of Embalming, published by Professor Masp<'>ro (Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits etc., t. XXIV, Paris, 1882).
Liturgies.— The religion of the living, if we may so express ourselves, is far from being as largely repre-
