Description:

240 BC

THE PAPYRUS OF ANI

THE EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD

Translated by E.A. Wallis Budge

 

Part 11

  (From the Papyrus of Nebseni, Brit. Mus. No. 9900, Sheet 14, ll.

16ff.)

  "As concerning the Divine Twin-gods they are Heru-netch-her-tefef

and Heru-khent-en-Ariti (Horus the Advocate of his father [Osiris],

and Horus the sightless).

  "Others say that the double Divine Soul which dwelleth in the Divine

Twin-gods is the Soul of Ra and the Soul of Osiris, and yet others say

that it is the Soul which dwelleth in Shu, and the Sould which

dwelleth in Tefnut, and that these two Souls form the double Divine

Soul which dwelleth in Tetu.

  "I am the Cat which fought near the Persea Tree in Anu on the

night when the foes of Neb-er-tcher were destroyed."

  Who is this Cat?

  "This male Cat is Ra himself, and he was called 'Mau' because of the

speech of the god Sa, who said concerning him: 'He is like (mau)

unto that which he hath made'; therefore, did the name of Ra become

'Mau.'

  "Others, however, say that the male Cat is the god Shu, who made

over the possessions of Keb to Osiris.

  "As concerning the fight which took place near the Persea Tree in

Anu [these words have reference to the slaughter] of the children of

rebellion, when righteous retribution was meted out to them for [the

evil] which they had done.

  "As concerning the 'night of the battle,' [these words refer to] the

invasion of the eastern portion of the heaven by the children of

rebellion, whereupon a great battle arose in heaven and in all the

earth.

  "O thou who art in thine egg (Ra,) who showest from thy Disk, who

risest on thy horizon, and dost shine with golden beams in the

height of heaven, like unto whom there is none among the gods, who

sailest above the Pillars of Shu, who sendest forth blasts of fire

from thy mouth, [who illuminest the Two Lands with thy splendour,

deliver] thou Nebseni, the lord of fealty [to Osiris], from the god

whose form is hidden, and whose eyebrows are like unto the two arms of

the Balance on the night when the sentences of doom are promulgated."