It will be remembered that Meskhenet accompanied Isis, Nephthys, Heqet,
and Khnemu to the house of the lady Rut-Tettet, who was about to bring
forth three children. When these deities arrived, having changed their
forms into those of women, they found R[=a]-user standing there. And
when they had made music for him, he said to them, "Mistresses, there is
a woman in travail here;" and they replied, "Let us see her, for we know
how to deliver a woman." R[=a]-user then brought them into the house,
and the goddesses shut themselves in with the lady Rut-Tettet. Isis took
her place before her, and Nephthys behind her, whilst Heqet hastened the
birth of the children; as each child was born Meskhenet stepped up to
him and said, "A king who shall have dominion over the whole land," and
the god Khnemu bestowed health upon his limbs. [Footnote: See Erman,
_Westcar Papyrus_, Berlin, 1890, hieroglyphic transcript, plates 9 and
10.] Of these five gods, Isis, Nephthys, Meskhenet, Heqet, and Khnemu,
the first three are present at the judgment of Ani; Khnemu is mentioned
in Ani's address to his heart (see below), and only Heqet is
unrepresented.
As the weighing of his heart is about to take place Ani says, "My heart,
my mother! My heart, my mother! My heart whereby I came into being! May
naught stand up to oppose me in the judgment; may there be no opposition
to me in the presence of the sovereign princes; may there be no parting
of thee from me in the presence of him that keepeth the Balance! Thou
art my _ka_, the dweller in my body; the god Khnemu who knitteth and
strengtheneth my limbs. Mayest thou come forth into the place of
happiness whither we go. May the princes of the court of Osiris, who
order the circumstances of the lives of men, not cause my name to
stink." Some papyri add, "Let it be satisfactory unto us, and let the
listening be satisfactory unto us, and let there be joy of heart unto us
at the weighing of words. Let not that which is false be uttered against
me before the great god, the lord of Amentet! Verily how great shalt
thou be when thou risest in triumph!"
The tongue of the balance having been examined by Anubis, and the ape
having indicated to his associate Thoth that the beam is exactly
straight, and that the heart, therefore, counterbalances the feather
symbolic of Ma[=a]t _(_i.e._, right, truth, law, etc.), neither
outweighing nor underweighing it, Thoth writes down the result, and then
makes the following address to the gods:--
"Hear ye this judgment. The heart of Osiris hath in very truth been
weighed, and his soul hath stood as a witness for him; it hath been
found true by trial in the Great Balance. There hath not been found
any wickedness in him; he hath not wasted the offerings in the
temples; he hath not done harm by his deeds; and he spread abroad no
evil reports while he was upon earth."
In answer to this report the company of the gods, who are styled "the
great company of the gods," reply, "That which cometh forth from thy
mouth, O Thoth, who dwellest in Khemennu (Hermopolis), is confirmed.
Osiris, the scribe Ani, triumphant, is holy and righteous. He hath not
sinned, neither hath he done evil against us. The Devourer [=A]m-mit
shall not be allowed to prevail over him, and meat-offerings and
entrance into the presence of the god Osiris shall be granted unto him,
together with a homestead for ever in the Field of Peace, as unto the
followers of Horus." [Footnote: These are a class of mythological
beings, or demi-gods, who already in the Vth dynasty were supposed to
recite prayers on behalf of the deceased, and to assist Horus and Set in
performing funeral ceremonies. See my _Papyrus of Ani_, p. cxxv.]
Here we notice at once that the deceased is identified with Osiris, the
god and judge of the dead, and that they have bestowed upon him the
god's own name; the reason of this is as follows. The friends of the
deceased performed for him all the ceremonies and rites which were
performed for Osiris by Isis and Nephthys, and it was assumed that, as a
result, the same things which took place in favour of Osiris would also
happen on behalf of the deceased, and that in fact, the deceased would
become the counterpart of Osiris. Everywhere in the texts of the Book of
the Dead the deceased is identified with Osiris, from B.C. 3400 to the
Roman period. Another point to notice is the application of the words
_ma[=a] kheru_ to the deceased, a term which I have, for want of a
better word, rendered "triumphant." These words actually mean "true of
voice" or "right of word," and indicate that the person to whom they are
applied has acquired the power of using his voice in such a way that
when the invisible beings are addressed by him they will render unto him
all the service which he has obtained the right to demand. It is well
known that in ancient times magicians and sorcerers were wont to address
spirits or demons in a peculiar tone of voice, and that all magical
formulae were recited in a similar manner; the use of the wrong sound or
tone of voice would result in the most disastrous consequences to the
speaker, and perhaps in death. The deceased had to make his way through
a number of regions in the underworld, and to pass through many series
of halls, the doors of which were guarded by beings who were prepared,
unless properly addressed, to be hostile to the new-comer; he also had
need to take passage in a boat, and to obtain the help of the gods and
of the powers of the various localities wherein he wanted to travel if
he wished to pass safely into the place where he would be. The Book of
the Dead provided him with all the texts and formulae which he would
have to recite to secure this result, but unless the words contained in
them were pronounced in a proper manner, and said in a proper tone of
voice, they would have no effect upon the powers of the underworld. The
term _ma[=a] kheru_ is applied but very rarely to the living, but
commonly to the dead, and indeed the dead needed most the power which
these words indicated. In the case of Ani, the gods, having accepted the
favourable report of the result obtained by weighing Ani's heart by
Thoth, style him _ma[=a] kheru_, which is equivalent to conferring upon
him power to overcome all opposition, of every kind, which he may meet.
Henceforth every door will open at his command, every god will hasten to
obey immediately Ani has uttered his name, and those whose duty it is to
provide celestial food for the beatified will do so for him when once
the order has been given. Before passing on to other matters it is
interesting to note that the term _ma[=a] kheru_ is not applied to Ani
by himself in the Judgment Scene, nor by Thoth, the scribe of the gods,
nor by Horus when he introduces him to Osiris; it is only the gods who
can make a man _ma[=a] kheru_, and thereby he also escapes from the
Devourer.
The judgment ended, Horus, the son of Isis, who has assumed all the
attributes of his father Osiris, takes Ani's left hand in his right and
leads him up to the shrine wherein the god Osiris is seated. The god
wears the white crown with feathers, and he holds in his hands a
sceptre, a crook, and whip, or flail, which typify sovereignty and
dominion. His throne is a tomb, of which the bolted doors and the
cornice of uraei may be seen painted on the side. At the back of his
neck hangs the _menat_ or symbol of joy and happiness; on his right hand
stands Nephthys, and on his left stands Isis. Before him, standing on a
lotus flower, are the four children of Horus, Mestha, H[=a]pi, Tuamutef,
and Qebhsennuf, who presided over and protected the intestines of the
dead; close by hangs the skin of a bull with which magical ideas seem to
have been associated. The top of the shrine in which the god sits is
surmounted by uraei, wearing disks on their heads, and the cornice also
is similarly decorated. In several papyri the god is seen standing up in
the shrine, sometimes with and sometimes without the goddesses Isis and
Nephthys. In the Papyrus of Hunefer we find a most interesting variant
of this [Illustration: Horus, the son of Isis, leading the scribe Ani
into the presence of Osiris, the god and judge of the dead; before the
shrine of the god Am kneels in adoration and presents offerings.]
portion of the scene, for the throne of Osiris rests upon, or in, water.
This reminds us of the passage in the one hundred and twenty-sixth
chapter of the Book of the Dead in which the god Thoth says to the
deceased, "Who is he whose roof is of fire, whose walls are living
uraei, and the floor of whose house is a stream of running water? Who is
he, I say?" The deceased answers, "It is Osiris," and the god says,
"Come forward, then; for verily thou shalt be mentioned [to him]."
When Horus had led in Ani he addressed Osiris, saying, "I have come unto
thee, O Un-nefer, and I have brought the Osiris Ani unto thee. His heart
hath been found righteous and it hath come forth from the balance; it
hath not sinned against any god or any goddess. Thoth hath weighed it
according to the decree uttered unto him by the company of the gods; and
it is very true and right. Grant unto him cakes and ale; and let him
enter into thy presence; and may he be like unto the followers of Horus
for ever!" After this address Ani, kneeling by the side of tables of
offerings of fruit, flowers, etc., which he has brought unto Osiris,
says, "O Lord of Amentet, I am in thy presence. There is no sin in me, I
have not lied wittingly, nor have I done aught with a false heart. Grant
that I may be like unto those favoured ones who are round about thee,
and that I may be an Osiris greatly favoured of the beautiful god and
beloved of the Lord of the world, [I], the royal scribe of Ma[=a]t, who
loveth him, Ani, triumphant before Osiris." [Footnote: Or "true of voice
in respect of Osiris;" _i.e._, Ani makes his petition, and Osiris is to
hear and answer because he has uttered the right words in the right
manner, and in the right tone of voice.] Thus we come to the end of the
scene of the weighing of the heart.
The man who has passed safely through this ordeal has now to meet the
gods of the underworld, and the Book of the Dead provides the words
which "the heart which is righteous and sinless" shall say unto them.
One of the fullest and most correct texts of "the speech of the deceased
when he cometh forth true of voice from the Hall of the Ma[=a]ti
goddesses" is found in the Papyrus of Nu; in it the deceased says:--
"Homage to you, O ye gods who dwell in the Hall of the Ma[=a]ti
goddesses, I, even I, know you, and I know your names. Let me not fall
under your knives of slaughter, and bring ye not forward my wickedness
unto the god in whose train ye are; and let not evil hap come upon, me
by your means. O declare ye me true of voice in the presence of
Neb-er-teber, because I have done that which is right and true in
Ta-mera (_i.e._, Egypt). I have not cursed God, therefore let not evil
hap come upon me through the King who dwelleth in his day.
"Homage to you, O ye gods, who dwell in the Hall of the Ma[=a]ti
goddesses, who are without evil in your bodies, and who live upon
right and truth, and who feed yourselves upon right and truth in the
presence of the god Horus, who dwelleth in his divine Disk; deliver ye
me from the god Baba [Footnote: The first born son of Osiris.] who
feedeth upon the entrails of the mighty ones upon the day of the great
reckoning, O grant ye that I may come to you, for I have not committed
faults, I have not sinned, I have not done evil, I have not borne
false witness; therefore let nothing [evil] be done unto me. I live
upon right and truth, and I feed upon right and truth. I have
performed the commandments of men [as well as] the things whereat are
gratified the gods; I have made God to be at peace [with me by doing]
that which is his will. I have given bread to the hungry man, and
water to the thirsty man, and apparel to the naked man, and a boat to
the [shipwrecked] mariner. I have made holy offerings to the gods, and
sepulchral meals to the beatified dead. Be ye then my deliverers, be
ye then my protectors, and make ye not accusation against me in the
presence of [Osiris]. I am clean of mouth and clean of hands;
therefore let it be said unto me by those who shall behold me, 'Come
in peace, come in peace.' I have heard the mighty word which the
spiritual bodies spake unto the Cat [Footnote: _i.e._, R[=a] as the
slayer of the serpent of darkness, the head of which be cuts off with
a knife. (See above, p. 63). The usual reading is "which the Ass spake
to the Cat;" the Ass being Osiris and the cat R[=a].] in the house of
Hapt-re. I have testified in the presence of Hra-f-ha-f, and he hath
given [his] decision. I have seen the things over which the Persea
tree spreadeth within Re-stau. I am he who hath offered up prayers to
the gods and who knoweth their persons. I have come, and I have
advanced to make the declaration of right and truth, and to set the
Balance upon what supporteth it in the region of Aukert.
"Hail, thou who art exalted upon thy standard (_i.e._, Osiris), thou
lord of the 'Atefu' crown whose name is proclaimed as 'Lord of the
winds,' deliver thou me from thy divine messengers who cause dire
deeds to happen, and who cause calamities to come into being, and who
are without coverings for their faces, for I have done that which is
right and true for the Lord of right and truth. I have purified myself
and my breast with libations, and my hinder parts with the things
which make clean, and my inward parts have been [immersed] in the Pool
of Right and Truth. There is no single member of mine which lacketh
right and truth. I have been purified in the Pool of the South, and I
have rested in the City of the North, which is in the Field of the
Grasshoppers, wherein the divine sailors of R[=a] bathe at the second
hour of the night and at the third hour of the day; and the hearts of
the gods are gratified after they have passed through it, whether it
be by night, or whether it be by day. And I would that they should say
unto me, 'Come forward,' and 'Who art thou?' and 'What is thy name?'
These are the words which, I would have the gods say unto me. [Then
would I reply] 'My name is He who is provided with flowers, and
Dweller in his olive tree.' Then let them say unto me straightway,
'Pass on,' and I would pass on to the city to the north of the Olive
tree, 'What then wilt thou see there?' [say they. And I say]' The Leg
and the Thigh,' 'What wouldst thou say unto them?' [say they.] 'Let me
see rejoicings in the land of the Fenkhu' [I reply]. 'What will they
give thee? [say they]. 'A fiery flame and a crystal tablet' [I reply].
'What wilt thou do therewith?' [say they]. 'Bury them by the furrow of
M[=a][=a]at as Things for the night' [I reply]. 'What wilt thou find
by the furrow of M[=a][=a]at?' [say they]. 'A sceptre of flint
called Giver of Air' [I reply]. 'What wilt thou do with the fiery
flame and the crystal tablet after thou hast buried them?' [say they].
'I will recite words over them, in the furrow. I will extinguish the
fire, and I will break the tablet, and I will make a pool of water' [I
reply]. Then let the gods say unto me, 'Come and enter in through the
door of this Hall of the M[=a][=a]ti goddesses, for thou knowest us.'"
After these remarkable prayers follows a dialogue between each part of
the Hall of M[=a][=a]ti and the deceased, which reads as follows:--
_Door bolts_. "We will not let thee enter in through us unless thou
tellest our names."
_Deceased_. "'Tongue of the place of Right and Truth' is your
name."
_Right post_. "I will not let thee enter in by me unless thou tellest
my name."
_Deceased_. "'Scale of the lifter up of right and truth' is thy
name."
_Left post_. "I will not let thee enter in by me unless thou tellest
my name."
_Deceased_. "'Scale of wine' is thy name."
_Threshold_. "I will not let thee pass over me unless thou tellest my
name."
_Deceased_. "'Ox of the god Seb' is thy name."
_Hasp_. "I will not open unto thee unless thou tellest my name."
_Deceased_. "'Leg-bone of his mother' is thy name."
_Socket-hole_. "I will not open unto thee unless thou tellest my
name."
_Deceased_. "'Living Eye of Sebek, the lord of Bakhau,' is thy name."
_Porter_. "I will not open unto thee unless thou tellest my name."
_Deceased_. "'Elbow of the god Shu when he placeth himself to protect
Osiris' is thy name."
_Side posts_. "We will not let thee pass in by us, unless thou tellest
our names."
_Deceased_. "'Children of the uraei-goddesses' is your name."
"Thou knowest us; pass on, therefore, by us" [say these].
_Floor_. "I will not let thee tread upon me, because I am silent and I
am holy, and because I do not know the names of thy feet
wherewith thou wouldst walk upon me; therefore tell them to
me."
_Deceased_. "'Traveller of the god Khas' is the name of my right foot,
and 'Staff of the goddess Hathor' is the name of my left
foot."
"Thou knowest me; pass on, therefore, over me" [it saith].
_Doorkeeper_. "I will not take in thy name unless thou tellest my
name."
_Deceased_. "'Discerner of hearts and searcher of the reins' is thy
name."
_Doorkeeper_. "Who is the god that dwelleth in his hour? Utter his
name."
_Deceased_. "'M[=a]au-Taui' is his name."
_Doorkeeper_. "And who is M[=a]au-Taui?"
_Deceased_. "He is Thoth."
_Thoth_. "Come! But why hast thou come?"
_Deceased_. "I have come and I press forward that my name may be
mentioned."
_Thoth_, "In what state art thou?"
_Deceased_. "I am purified from evil things, and I am protected from
the baleful deeds of those who live in their days; and I
am not of them."
_Thoth_. "Now will I make mention of thy name [to the god]. And who is
he whose roof is of fire, whose walls are living uraei, and
the floor of whose house is a stream of water? Who is he, I
say?"
_Deceased_. "It is Osiris."
_Thoth_. "Come forward, then; verily, mention of thy name shall be
made unto him. Thy cakes [shall come] from the Eye of R[=a];
and thine ale [shall come] from the Eye of R[=a]; and thy
sepulchral meals upon earth [shall come] from the Eye of
R[=a]."
With these words Chapter CXXV comes to an end. We have seen how the
deceased has passed through the ordeal of the judgment, and how the
scribes provided him with hymns and prayers, and with the words of a
confession with a view of facilitating his passage through the dread
Hall of the Ma[=a]ti goddesses. Unfortunately the answer which the god
Osiris may be supposed to have made to his son Horus in respect of the
deceased is not recorded, but there is no doubt that the Egyptian
assumed that it would be favourable to him, and that permission would be
accorded him to enter into each and every portion of the underworld, and
to partake of all the delights which the beatified enjoyed under the
rule of R[=a] and Osiris.
CHAPTER V.
THE RESURRECTION AND IMMORTALITY.
In perusing the literature of the ancient Egyptians one of the first
things which forces itself upon the mind of the reader is the frequency
of allusions to the future life or to things which appertain thereto.
The writers of the various religious and other works, belonging to all
periods of Egyptian history, which have come down to us, tacitly assume
throughout that those who once have lived in this world have "renewed"
their life in that which is beyond the grave, and that they still live
and will live until time shall be no more. The Egyptian belief in the
existence of Almighty God is old, so old that we must seek for its
beginnings in pre-dynastic times; but the belief in a future life is
very much older, and its beginnings must be as old, at least, as the
oldest human remains which have been found in Egypt. To attempt to
measure by years the remoteness of the period when these were committed
to the earth, is futile, for no date that could be given them is likely
to be even approximately correct, and they may as well date from B.C.
12,000 as from B.C. 8000. Of one fact, however, we may be quite certain;
that is to say, that the oldest human remains that have been found in
Egypt bear upon them traces of the use of bitumen, which proves that the
Egyptians at the very beginning of their stay in the valley of the Nile
made some attempt to preserve their dead by means of mummification.
[Footnote: See J. de Morgan, _Ethnographie Prehistorique_, Paris, 1897,
p. 189.] If they were, as many think, invaders who had made their way
across Arabia and the Red Sea and the eastern desert of the Nile, they
may have brought the idea and habit of preserving their dead with them,
or they may have adopted, in a modified form, some practice in use among
the aboriginal inhabitants whom they found on their arrival in Egypt; in
either case the fact that they attempted to preserve their dead by the
use of substances which would arrest decay is certain, and in a degree
their attempt has succeeded.
The existence of the non-historic inhabitants of Egypt has been revealed
to us in recent years by means of a number of successful excavations
which have been made in Upper Egypt on both sides of the Nile by several
European and native explorers, and one of the most striking results has
been the discovery of three different kinds of burials, which
undoubtedly belong to three different periods, as we may see by
examining the various objects which have been found in the early graves
at Nak[=a]dah and other non-historic sites of the same age and type. In
the oldest tombs we find the skeleton laid upon its left side, with the
limbs bent: the knees are on a level with the breast, and the hands are
placed in front of the face. Generally the head faces towards the south,
but no invariable rule seems to have been observed as to its
"orientation." Before the body was laid in the ground it was either
wrapped in gazelle skin or laid in loose grass; the substance used for
the purposes of wrapping probably depended upon the social condition of
the deceased. In burials of this class there are no traces of
mummification, or of burning, or of stripping the flesh from the bones.
In the next oldest graves the bodies are found to have been wholly or
partly stripped of their flesh; in the former case all the bones are
found cast indiscriminately is the grave, in the latter the bones of the
hands and the feet were laid together, while the rest of the skeleton is
scattered about in wild confusion. Graves of this period are found to be
oriented either north or south, and the bodies in them usually have the
head separated from the body; sometimes it is clear that the bodies have
been "jointed" so that they might occupy less space. Occasionally the
bodies are found lying upon their backs with their legs and arms folded
over them; in this case they are covered over with clay casings. In
certain graves it is clear that the body has been burnt. Now in all
classes of tombs belonging to the prehistoric period in Egypt we find
offerings in vases and vessels of various kinds, a fact which proves
beyond all doubt that the men who made these graves believed that their
dead friends and relatives would live again in some place, of the
whereabouts of which they probably had very vague ideas, in a life which
was, presumably, not unlike that which they had lived upon earth. The
flint tools, knives, scrapers and the like indicate that they thought
they would hunt and slay their quarry when brought down, and fight their
foes; and the schist objects found in the graves, which M. de Morgan
identifies as amulets, shows that even in those early days man believed
that he could protect himself against the powers of supernatural and
invisible enemies by talismans. The man who would hunt and fight in the
next world must live again; and if he would live again it must be either
in his old body or in a new one; if in the old body, it must be
revivified. But once having imagined a new life, probably in a new body,
death a second time was not, the prehistoric Egyptian hoped, within the
bounds of possibility. Here, then, we have the origin of the grand ideas
of the RESURRECTION and IMMORTALITY.
There is every reason for believing that the prehistoric Egyptian
expected to eat, and to drink, and to lead a life of pleasure in the
region where he imagined his heaven to be, and there is little doubt
that he thought the body in which he would live there would be not
unlike the body which he had while he was upon earth. At this stage his
ideas of the supernatural and of the future life would be like those of
any man of the same race who stood on the same level in the scale of
civilization, but in every way he was a great contrast to the Egyptian
who lived, let us say, in the time of Mena, the first historical king of
Egypt, the date of whom for convenience' sake is placed at B.C. 4400.
The interval between the time when the prehistoric Egyptians made the
graves described above and the reign of Mena must have been very
considerable, and we may justly believe it to represent some thousands
of years; but whatever its length, we find that the time was not
sufficient to wipe out the early views which had been handed on from
generation to generation, or even to modify some of the beliefs which we
now know to have existed in an almost unchanged state at the latest
period of Egyptian history. In the texts which were edited by the
priests of Heliopolis we find references to a state or condition of
things, as far as social matters are concerned, which could only exist
in a society of men who were half savages. And we see from later works,
when extracts are made from the earlier texts which contain such
references, that the passages in which objectionable allusions occur are
either omitted altogether or modified. We know of a certainty that the
educated men of the College of Heliopolis cannot have indulged in the
excesses which the deceased kings for whom they prepared the funeral
texts are assumed to enjoy, and the mention of the nameless abomination
which the savage Egyptian inflicted upon his vanquished foe can only
have been allowed to remain in them because of their own reverence for
the written word.
In passing it must be mentioned that the religious ideas of the men who
were buried without mutilation of limbs, or stripping of flesh from the
body, or burning, must have been different from those of the men who
practised such things on the dead. The former are buried in the
ante-natal position of a child, and we may perhaps be justified in
seeing in this custom the symbol of a hope that as the child is born
from this position into the world, so might the deceased be born into
the life in the world beyond the grave; and the presence of amulets, the
object of which was to protect the body, seems to indicate that they
expected the actual body to rise again. The latter, by the mutilation of
the bodies and the burning of the dead, seem to show that they had no
hope of living again in their natural bodies, and how far they had
approached to the conception of the resurrection of a spiritual body we
shall probably never know. When we arrive at the IVth dynasty we find
that, so far from any practice of mutilation or burning of the body
being common, every text assumes that the body is to be buried whole;
this fact indicates a reversal of the custom of mutilation, or burning,
which must have been in use, however, for a considerable time. It is to
this reversal that we probably owe such passages as, "O flesh of Pepi,
rot not, decay not, stink not;" "Pepi goeth forth with his flesh;" "thy
bones shall not be destroyed, and thy flesh shall not perish,"
[Footnote: See _Recueil de Travaux_, tom. v. pp. 55, 185 (lines 160,
317, 353).] etc.; and they denote a return to the views and ways of the
earliest people known to us in Egypt.
In the interval which elapsed between the period of the prehistoric
burials and the IVth dynasty, the Egyptian formulated certain theories
about the component parts of his own body, and we must consider these
briefly before we can describe the form in which the dead were believed
to rise. The physical body of a man was called KHAT, a word which
indicates something in which decay is inherent; it was this which was
buried in the tomb after mummification, and its preservation from
destruction of every kind was the object of all amulets, magical
ceremonies, prayers, and formulae, from the earliest to the latest
times. The god Osiris even possessed such a body, and its various
members were preserved as relics in several shrines in Egypt. Attached
to the body in some remarkable way was the KA, or "double," of a man; it
may be defined as an abstract individuality or personality which was
endowed with all his characteristic attributes, and it possessed an
absolutely independent existence. It was free to move from place to
place upon earth at will, and it could enter heaven and hold converse
with the gods. The offerings made in, the tombs at all periods were
intended for the nourishment of the KA, and it was supposed to be able
to eat and drink and to enjoy the odour of incense. In the earliest
times a certain portion of the tomb was set apart for the use of the KA,
and the religious organization of the period ordered that a class of
priests should perform ceremonies and recite prayers at stated seasons
for the benefit of the KA in the KA chapel; these men were known as "KA
priests." In the period when the pyramids were built it was firmly
believed that the deceased, in some form, was able to be purified, and
to sit down and to eat bread with it "unceasingly and for ever;" and the
KA who was not supplied with a sufficiency of food in the shape of
offerings of bread, cakes, flowers, fruit, wine, ale, and the like, was
in serious danger of starvation.
The soul was called BA, and the ideas which the Egyptians held
concerning it are somewhat difficult to reconcile; the meaning of the
word seems to be something like "sublime," "noble," "mighty." The BA
dwelt in the KA, and seems to have had the power of becoming corporeal
or incorporeal at will; it had both substance and form, and is
frequently depicted on the papyri and monuments as a human-headed hawk;
in nature and substance it is stated to be ethereal. It had the power to
leave the tomb, and to pass up into heaven where it was believed to
enjoy an eternal existence in a state of glory; it could, however, and
did, revisit the body in the tomb, and from certain texts it seems that
it could re-animate it and hold converse with it. Like the heart AB it
was, in some respects, the seat of life in man. The souls of the blessed
dead dwelt in heaven with the gods, and they partook of all the
celestial enjoyments for ever.
The spiritual intelligence, or spirit, of a man was called KHU, and it
seems to have taken form as a shining, luminous, intangible shape of the
body; the KHUs formed a class of celestial beings who lived with the
gods, but their functions are not clear. The KHU, like the KA, could be
imprisoned in the tomb, and to obviate this catastrophe special formulae
were composed and duly recited. Besides the KHU another very important
part of a man's entity went into heaven, namely, his SEKHEM. The word
literally means "to have the mastery over something," and, as used in
the early texts, that which enables one to have the mastery over
something; _i.e._, "power." The SEKHEM of a man was, apparently, his
vital force or strength personified, and the Egyptians believed that it
could and did, under certain conditions, follow him that possessed it
upon earth into heaven. Another part of a man was the KHAIBIT or
"shadow," which is frequently mentioned in connexion with the soul and,
in late times, was always thought to be near it. Finally we may mention
the REN, or "name" of a man, as one of his most important constituent
parts. The Egyptians, in common with all Eastern nations, attached the
greatest importance to the preservation of the name, and any person, who
effected the blotting out of a man's name was thought to have destroyed
him also. Like the KA it was a portion, of a man's most special
identity, and it is easy to see why so much importance grew to be
attached to it; a nameless being could not be introduced to the gods,
and as no created thing exists without a name the man who had no name
was in a worse position before the divine powers than the feeblest
inanimate object. To perpetuate the name of a father was a good son's
duty, and to keep the tombs of the dead in good repair so that all might
read the names of those who were buried in them was a most meritorious
act. On the other hand, if the deceased knew the names of divine beings,
whether friends or foes, and could pronounce them, he at once obtained
power over them, and was able to make them perform his will.
We have seen that the entity of a man consisted of body, double, soul,
heart, spiritual intelligence or spirit, power, shadow, and name. These
eight parts may be reduced to three by leaving out of consideration the
double, heart, power, shadow and name as representing beliefs which were
produced by the Egyptian as he was slowly ascending the scale of
civilization, and as being the peculiar product of his race; we may then
say that a man consisted of body, soul, and spirit. But did all three
rise, and live in the world beyond the grave? The Egyptian texts answer
this question definitely; the soul and the spirit of the righteous
passed from the body and lived with the beatified and the gods in
heaven; but the physical body did not rise again, and it was believed
never to leave the tomb. There were ignorant people in Egypt who, no
doubt, believed in the resurrection of the corruptible body, and who
imagined that the new life would be, after all, something very much like
a continuation of that which they were living in this world; but the
Egyptian who followed the teaching of his sacred writings knew that such
beliefs were not consistent with the views of their priests and of
educated people in general. Already in the Vth dynasty, about B.C. 3400,
it is stated definitely:--
"The soul to heaven, the body to earth;" [Footnote: _Recueil de
Travaux_, tom. iv. p. 71 (l. 582).] and three thousand years later the
Egyptian writer declared the same thing, but in different words, when
he wrote:--[Footnote: Horrack, _Lamentations d' Isis_, Paris, 1866,
p. 6.] "Heaven hath thy soul, and earth thy body."
The Egyptian hoped, among other things, that he would sail over the sky
in the boat of R[=a], but he knew well that he could not do this in his
mortal body; he believed firmly that he would live for millions of
years, but with the experience of the human race before him he knew that
this also was impossible if the body in which he was to live was that in
which he had lived upon earth. At first he thought that his physical
body might, after the manner of the sun, be "renewed daily," and that
his new life would resemble that of that emblem of the Sun-god R[=a]
with which he sought to identify himself. Later, however, his experience
taught him that the best mummified body was sometimes destroyed, either
by damp, or dry rot, or decay in one form or another, and that
mummification alone was not sufficient to ensure resurrection or the
attainment of the future life; and, in brief, he discovered that by no
human means could that which is corruptible by nature be made to become
incorruptible, for the very animals in which the gods themselves were
incarnate became sick and died in their appointed season. It is hard to
say why the Egyptians continued to mummify the dead since there is good
reason for knowing that they did not expect the physical body to rise
again. It may be that they thought its preservation necessary for the
welfare of the KA, or "double," and for the development of a new body
from it; also the continued custom may have been the result of intense
conservatism. But whatever the reason, the Egyptian never ceased to take
every possible precaution to preserve the dead body intact, had he
sought for help in his trouble from another source.
It will be remembered that when Isis found the dead body of her husband
Osiris, she at once set to work to protect it. She drove away the foes,
and made the ill-luck which had come upon it to be of no effect. In
order to bring about this result "she made strong her speech with all
the strength of her mouth, she was perfect of tongue, and she halted not
in her speech," and she pronounced a series of words or formulae with
which Thoth had provided her; thus she succeeded in "stirring up the
inactivity of the Still-heart" and in accomplishing her desire in
respect of him. Her cries, prompted by love and grief, would have had no
effect on the dead body unless they had been accompanied by the words of
Thoth, which she uttered with boldness (_Ichu_), and understanding
(_ager_), and without fault in pronunciation (_an-uh_). The Egyptian of
old kept this fact in his mind, and determined to procure the
resurrection of his friends and relatives by the same means as Isis
employed, _i.e._, the formulae of Thoth; with this object in view each
dead person, was provided with a series of texts, either written upon
his coffin, or upon papyri and amulets, which would have the same effect
as the words of Thoth which were spoken by Isis. But the relatives of
the deceased had also a duty to perform in this matter, and that was to
provide for the recital of certain prayers, and for the performance of a
number of symbolical ceremonies over the dead body before It was laid to
rest finally in the tomb. A sacrifice had to be offered up, and the
deceased and his friends and relatives assisted at it, and each ceremony
was accompanied by its proper prayers; when all had been done and said
according to the ordinances of the priests, the body was taken, to its
place in the mummy chamber. But the words of Thoth and the prayers of
the priests caused the body to become changed into a "S[=A]HU," or
incorruptible, spiritual body, which passed straightway out of the tomb
and made its way to heaven where it dwelt with the gods. When, in the
Book of the Dead the deceased says, "I exist, I exist; I live, I live; I
germinate, I germinate," [Footnote: See Chap. cliv.] and again, "I
germinate like the plants," [Footnote: See Chap. lxxxviii. 3.] the
deceased does not mean that his physical body is putting forth the
beginnings of another body like the old one, but a spiritual body which
"hath neither defect nor, like R[=a], shall suffer diminution for ever."
Into the S[=A]HU passed the soul which had lived in the body of a man
upon earth, and it seems as if the new, incorruptible body formed the
dwelling-place of the soul in heaven just as the physical body had been
its earthly abode. The reasons why the Egyptians continued to mummify
their dead is thus apparent; they did not do so believing that their
physical bodies would rise again, but because they wished the spiritual
body to "sprout" or "germinate" from them, and if possible--at least it
seems so--to be in the form of the physical body. In this way did the
dead rise according to the Egyptians, and in this body did they come.
From what has been said above, it will be seen that there is no reason
for doubting the antiquity of the Egyptian belief in the resurrection of
the dead and in immortality, and the general evidence derived both from
archaeological and religious considerations supports this view. As old,
however, as this belief in general is the specific belief in a spiritual
body (S[=A]H or S[=A]HU); for we find it in texts of the Vth dynasty
incorporated with ideas which belong to the prehistoric Egyptian in his
savage or semi-savage state. One remarkable extract will prove this
point. In the funeral chapters which are inscribed on the walls of the
chambers and passages inside the pyramid of King Unas, who flourished at
the end of the Vth dynasty, about B.C. 3300, is a passage in which the
deceased king terrifies all the powers of heaven and earth because he
"riseth as a soul (BA) in the form of the god who liveth upon his
fathers and who maketh food of his mothers. Unas is the lord of wisdom
and his mother knoweth not his name. He hath become mighty like unto the
god Temu, the father who gave him birth, and after Temu gave him birth
he became stronger than his father." The king is likened unto a Bull,
and he feedeth upon every god, whatever may be the form in which he
appeareth; "he hath weighed words with the god whose name is hidden,"
and he devoureth men and liveth upon gods. The dead king is then said to
set out to limit the gods in their meadows, and when he has caught them
with nooses, he causes them to be slain. They are next cooked in blazing
cauldrons, the greatest for his morning meal, the lesser for his evening
meal, and the least for his midnight meal; the old gods and goddesses
serve as fuel for his cooking pots. In this way, having swallowed the
magical powers and spirits of the gods, he becomes the Great Power of
Powers among the gods, and the greatest of the gods who appear in
visible forms. "Whatever he hath found upon his path he hath consumed,
and his strength is greater than that of any spiritual body (S[=A]HU) in
the horizon; he is the firstborn of all the firstborn, and ... he hath
carried off the hearts of the gods.... He hath eaten the wisdom of every
god, and his period of existence is everlasting, and his life shall be
unto all eternity, ... for the souls and the spirits of the gods are in
him."
We have, it is clear, in this passage an allusion to the custom of
savages of all nations and periods, of eating portions of the bodies of
valiant foes whom they have vanquished in war in order to absorb their
virtues and strength; the same habit has also obtained in some places in
respect of animals. In the case of the gods the deceased is made to
covet their one peculiar attribute, that is to say, everlasting life;
and when he has absorbed their souls and spirits he is declared to have
obtained all that makes him superior to every other spiritual body in
strength and in length of life. The "magical powers" (_heka_) which the
king is also said to have "eaten," are the words and formulae, the
utterance of which by him, in whatever circumstances he may be placed,
will cause every being, friendly or unfriendly, to do his will. But
apart from any question of the slaughter of the gods the Egyptians
declared of this same king, "Behold, thou hast not gone as one dead, but
as one living, to sit upon the throne of Osiris." [Footnote: _Recuell de
Travaux_, tom. v. p. 167 (l. 65).] and in a papyrus written nearly two
thousand years later the deceased himself says, "My soul is God, my soul
is eternity," [Footnote: Papyrus of Ani, Plate 28, l. 15 (Chapter
lxxxiv.).] a clear proof that the ideas of the existence of God and of
eternity were identical. Yet one other example is worth quoting, if only
to show the care that the writers of religious texts took to impress the
immortality of the soul upon their readers. According to Chapter CLXXV.
of the Book of the Dead the deceased finds himself in a place where
there is neither water nor air, and where "it is depth unfathomable, it
is black as the blackest night, and men wander helplessly therein. In it
a man may not live in quietness of heart, nor may the longings of love
be satisfied therein. But," says the deceased to the god Thoth, "let the
state of the spirits be given unto me instead of water, and air, and the
satisfying of the longings of love, and let quietness of heart be given
unto me instead of cakes and ale. The god Temu hath decreed that I shall
see thy face, and that I shall not suffer from the things which pained
thee; may every god transmit unto thee [O Osiris] his throne for
millions of years! Thy throne hath descended unto thy son Horus, and the
god Temu hath decreed that his course shall be among the holy princes.
Verily he shall rule over thy throne, and he shall be heir of the throne
of the Dweller in the Lake of the Two Fires. Verily it hath been decreed
that in me he shall see his likeness, [Footnote: _i.e._, I shall be like
Horus, the son of Osiris.] and that my face shall look upon the face of
the lord Tem." After reciting these words, the deceased asks Thoth, "How
long have I to live?" and the god replies, "It is decreed that thou
shalt live for millions of millions of years, a life of millions of
years." To give emphasis and additional effect to his words the god is
made to speak tautologically so that the most unlettered man may not
miss their meaning. A little later in the Chapter the deceased says, "O
my father Osiris, thou hast done for me that which thy father R[=a] did
for thee. So shall I abide on the earth lastingly, I shall keep
possession of my seat; my heir shall be strong; my tomb and my friends
who are upon earth shall flourish; my enemies shall be given over to
destruction and to the shackles of the goddess Serq. I am thy son, and
R[=a] is my father; for me likewise thou shalt make life, and strength,
and health!" It is interesting to note that the deceased first
identifies Osiris with R[=a], and then he identifies himself with
Osiris; thus he identifies himself with R[=a].
With the subjects of resurrection and immortality must be mentioned the
frequent references in the religious texts of all periods to the meat
and drink on which lived the beings who were believed to exist in the
world beyond the grave. In prehistoric days if was natural enough for
the dead man's friends to place food in his grave, because they thought
that he would require it on his journey to the next world; this custom
also presupposed that the deceased would have a body like unto that
which he had left behind him in this world, and that it would need food
and drink. In the Vth dynasty the Egyptians believed that the blessed
dead lived upon celestial food, and that they suffered neither hunger
nor thirst; they ate what the gods ate, they drank what they drank, they
were what they were, and became in such matters as these the
counterparts of the gods. In another passage we read that they are
apparelled in white linen, that they wear white sandals, and that they
go to the great lake which is in the midst of the Field of Peace whereon
the great gods sit, and that the gods give them to eat of the food (_or_
tree) of life of which they themselves eat that they also may live. It
is certain, however, that other views than these were held concerning
the food of the dead, for already in the Vth dynasty the existence of a
region called Sekhet-Aaru, or Sekhet-Aanru had been formulated, and to
this place the soul, or at least some part, of the pious Egyptian hoped
to make its way. Where Sekhet-Aaru was situated we have no means of
saying, and the texts afford us no clue as to its whereabouts; some
scholars think that it lay away to the east of Egypt, but it is far more
likely to represent some district of the Delta either in its northern or
north-eastern portion. Fortunately we have a picture of it in the
Papyrus of Nebseni, [Footnote: Brit. Mus., No. 9900; this document
belongs to the XVIIIth dynasty.] the oldest probably on papyrus, and
from this we may see that Sekhet-Aaru, _i.e._, the "Field of Reeds,"
typified some very fertile region where farming operations could be
carried on with ease and success. Canals and watercourses abound, and in
one section, we are told, the spirits of the blessed dwelt; the picture
probably represents a traditional "Paradise" or "Elysian Fields," and
the general characteristics of this happy land are those of a large,
well-kept, and well-stocked homestead, situated at no great distance
from the Nile or one of its main branches. In the Papyrus of Nebseni the
divisions of the Sekhet-Auru contain the following:-- |
|
댓글 없음:
댓글 쓰기