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240 BC

THE PAPYRUS OF ANI

THE EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD

Translated by E.A. Wallis Budge

 

Part 53

  [THE CHAPTER OF] MAKING THE TRANSFORMATION INTO A DIVINE HAWK. The

Osiris Ani saith:- Hail, thou Great God, come thou to Tetu. Make

thou ready for me the ways, and let me go round [to visit] my thrones.

I have laboured. I have made myself perfect. O grant thou that I may

be held in fear. Create thou awe of me. Let the gods of the Tuat be

afraid of me, and let them fight for me in their halls. Permit not

thou to come nigh unto me him that would attack me, or would injure me

in the House of Darkness. Cover over the helpless one, hide him. Let

do likewise the gods who hearken unto the word [of truth], the Khepriu

gods who are in the following of Osiris. Hold ye your peace then, O ye

gods, whilst the God holdeth speech with me, he who listeneth to the

truth. I speak unto him my words. Osiris, grant thou that that which

cometh forth from thy mouth may circulate to me. Let me see thine

own Form. Let thy Souls envelop me. Grant thou that I may come

forth, and that I may be master of my legs, and let me live there like

Nebertcher upon his throne. Let the gods of the Tuat hold me in

fear, and let them fight for me in their halls. Grant thou that I

may move forward with him and with the Ariu gods, and let me be firmly

stablished on my pedestal like the Lord of Life. Let me be in the

company of Isis, the goddess, and let [the gods] keep me safe from him

that would do an injury unto me. Let none come to see the helpless

one. May I advance, and may I come to the Henti boundaries of the sky.

Let me address words to Keb, and let me make supplicaion to the god Hu

with Nebertcher. Let the gods of the Tuat be afraid of me, and let

them fight for me in their halls. Let them see that thou hast provided

me with food for the festival. I am one of those Spirit-souls who

dwell in the Light-god. I have made my form in his Form, when he

cometh to Tetu. I am a Spirit-body among his Spirit-bodies; he shall

speak unto thee the things [which concern] me. Would that he would

cause me to be held in fear! Would that he would create [in them]

awe of me! Let the gods of the Tuat be afraid of me, and let them

fight for me [in their halls]. I, even I, am a Spirit-soul, a

dweller in the Light-god, whose form hath been created in divine

flesh. I am one of those Spirit-souls who dwell in the Light-god,

who were created by Tem himself, and who exist in the blossoms of

his Eye. He hath made to exist, he hath made glorious, and he hath

magnified their faces during their existence with him. Behold, he is

Alone in Nu. They acclaim him when he cometh forth from the horizon,

and the gods and the Spirit-souls who have come into being with him

ascribe fear unto him.

  I am one of the worms which have been created by the Eye of the Lord

One. And behold, when as yet Isis had not given birth to Horus, I

was flourishing, and I had waxed old, and had become pre-eminent among

the Spirit-souls who had come into being with him. I rose up like a

divine hawk, and Horus endowed me with a Spirit-body with his soul, so

that [I] might take possession of the property of Osiris in the

Tuat. He shall say to the twin Lion-gods for me, the Chief of the

House of the Nemes Crown, the Dweller in his cavern: Get thee back

to the heights of heaven, for behold, inasmuch as thou art a

Spirit-body with the creations of Horus, the Nemes Crown shall not

be to thee: [but] thou shalt have speech even to the uttermost

limits of the heavens. I, the warder, took possession of the

property of Horus [which belonged] to Osiris in the Tuat, and Horus

repeated to me what his father Osiris had said unto him in the years

[past], on the days of his burial. Give thou to me the Nemes Crown,

say the twin Lion-gods for me. Advance thou, come along the road of

heaven, and look upon those who dwell in the uttermost limits of the

horizon. The gods of the Tuat shall hold thee in fear, and they

shall fight for thee in their halls. The god Auhet belongeth to

them. All the gods who guard the shrine of the Lord One are smitten

with terror at [my] words.

  Hail, saith the god who is exalted upon his coffer to me! He hath

bound on the Nemes Crown, [by] the decree of the twin Lion-gods. The

god Aahet hath made a way for me. I am exalted [on the coffer], the

twin Lion-gods have bound the Nemes Crown on me and my two locks of

hair are given unto me. He hath stablished for me my heart by his

own flesh, and by his great, two-fold strength, and I shall not fall

headlong before Shu. I am Hetep, the Lord of the two Uraei-goddesses

who are to be adored. I know the Light-god, his winds are in my

body. The Bull which striketh terror [into souls] shall not repulse

me. I come daily into the House of the twin Lion-gods. I come forth

therefrom into the House of Isis. I look upon the holy things which

are hidden. I see the being who is therein. I speak to the great

ones of Shu, they repulse him that is wrathful in his hour. I am Horus

who dwelleth in his divine Light. I am master of his crown. I am

master of his radiance. I advance towards the Henti boundaries of

heaven. Horus is upon his seat. Horus is upon his thrones. My face

is like that of a divine hawk. I am one who is equipped [like] his

lord. I shall come forth to Tetu. I shall see Osiris. I shall live

in his actual presence.... Nut. They shall see me. I shall see the

gods [and] the Eye of Horus burning with fire before my eyes. They

shall reach out their hands to me. I shall stand up. I shall be master

of him that would subject me to restraint. They shall open the holy

paths to me, they shall see my form, they shall listen to my words.

  [Homage] to you, O ye gods of the Tuat, whose faces are turned back,

whose powers advance, conduct ye me to the Star-gods which never rest.

Prepare ye for me the holy ways to the Hemat house, and to your god,

the Soul, who is the mighty one of terror. Horus hath commanded me

to lift up your faces; do ye look upon me. I have risen up like a

divine hawk. Horus hath made me to be a Spirit-body by means of his

Soul, and to take possession of the things of Osiris in the Tuat. Make

ye for me a path. I have travelled and I have arrived at those who are

chiefs of their caverns, and who are guardians of the House of Osiris.

I speak unto them his mighty deeds. I made them to know concerning his

victories. He is ready [to butt with his] two horns at Set. They

know him who hath taken possession of the god Hu, and who hath taken

possession of the Powers of Tem.

  Travel thou on thy way safely, cry out the gods of the Tuat to me. O

ye who make your names pre-eminent, who are chiefs in your shrines,

and who are guardians of the House of Osiris, grant, I pray you,

that I may come to you. I have bound up and I have gathered together

your Powers. I have directed the Powers of the ways, the wardens of

the horizon, and of the Hemat House of heaven. I have stablished their

fortresses for Osiris. I have prepared the ways for him. I have

performed the things which [he] hath commanded. I come forth to

Tetu. I see Osiris. I speak to him concerning the matter of his

Great Son, whom he loveth, and concerning [the smiting of] the heart

of Set. I look upon the lord who was helpless. How shall I make them

to know the plans of the gods, and that which Horus did without the

knowledge of his father Osiris?

  Hail, Lord, thou Soul, most awful and terrible, behold me. I have

come, I make thee to be exalted! I have forced a way though the

Tuat. I have opened the roads which appertain to heaven, and those

which appertain to the earth, and no one hath opposed me therein. I

have exalted thy face, O Lord of Eternity.