Description:

240 BC

THE PAPYRUS OF ANI

THE EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD

Translated by E.A. Wallis Budge

 

Part 6

  HERE BEGIN THE PRAISES AND GLORIFYINGS OF COMING OUT FROM AND OF

GOING INTO THE GLORIOUS KHERT-NETER, WHICH IS IN THE BEAUTIFUL

AMENTET, OF COMING FORTH BY DAY IN ALL THE FORMS OF EXISTENCE WHICH IT

MAY PLEASE THE DECEASED TO TAKE, OF PLAYING AT DRAUGHTS, OF SITTING IN

THE SEH HALL, AND OF APPEARING AS A LIVING SOUL:

  The Osiris the scribe Ani saith after he hath arrived in his haven

of rest- now it is good for [a man] to recite [this work whilst he is]

upon earth, for then all the words of Tem come to pass-

  "I am the god Tem in rising. I am the Only One. I came into

existence in Nu. I am Ra who rose in the beginning, the ruler of

this [creation]."

  Who is this?

  "It is Ra, when at the beginning he rose in the city of Hensu,

crowned like a king for his coronation. The Pillars of the god Shu

were not as yet created, when he was upon the steps of him that

dwelleth in Khemenu.

  "I am the Great God who created himself, even Nu, who made his names

to become the Company of the Gods as gods."

  Who is this?

  "It is Ra, the creator of the names of his limbs, which came into

being in the form of the gods who are in the train of Ra.

  "I am he who cannot be repulsed among the gods."

  Who is this?

  "It is Temu, the dweller in his disk, but others say that it is Ra

when he riseth in the eastern horizon of the sky.

  "I am Yesterday, I know To-day."

  Who is this?

  "Yesterday is Osiris, and To-day is Ra, when he shall destroy the

enemies of Neb-er-tcher (the lord to the uttermost limit), and when he

shall establish as prince and ruler his son Horus.

  "Others, however, say that To-day is Ra, on the day when we

commemorate the festival of the meeting of the dead Osiris with his

father Ra, and when the battle of the gods was fought, in which

Osiris, the Lord of Amentet, was the leader."