Ani: Egyptian Book of the Dead





The Book of the Dead was "bible" of the
ancient Egyptians.  More than anything else,
they prepared for death.  For the most part
the "Papyrus of Ani" (as it is often refered
to) was a manual on proper living and moral
life.  Many of the "prayers" (commonly translated
as "spells") are a saying of words to the various
gods that the person has done the proper things.

One of the more moving ones goes something
like this:

  I have have given to those who did not have.
  I have not held back when I had plenty to share.

Many of the sayings are in pairs of both a POSITIVE
and a NEGATIVE.  Thus, it comprises a very holy and
moral code,  They pray to the various gods so as to
be forgiven for their sins, and that they have tried
to do what is right.  For example:

   Homage to hyou, O gods these!
   I, even I, know you.
   I know your names.
   Do not cast me downn to your
   slaughtering knives, do not
   bring forward my wickedness
   before god this whom ye follow,
   and let not the time of my failings
   come before you.  I pray you, declare
   me right and true in the presence of
   the universal God, because I have
   done that which is right and true
   in Tamera. I have not cursed the God.

   Homage to you, O ye gods who live in your
   hall of Right and Truth, and who have no
   evil in your bodies, who fed on your own
   substance in the presence of Horus who
   liveth in this disk, deliver me from Baabi,
   who feedeth on the inwards of the mighty
   ones of the day of the great judgement
   which shall be holden by you.

   I have come unto you; I have committed no
   faults I have not sinned; I have done no
   evil; I have accused no man falsely;
   therefore let nothing be done against me.
   I live in right and truth, and I feed my
   heart upon right and truth. That which men
   have bidden, I have done, and the gods are
   satisfied there-at.  I have pacified the
   god, for I have done his will. I have given
   bread unto the hungry, and water unto those
   who thirst, clothing unto the naked, and a
   boat unto the shipwrecked mariner.  I have
   made holy offerings unto the gods; and I
   have given meals of the tomb  to the sainted
   dead.

   O, then deliver ye me, and protect me; accuse
   me not before the great god.  I am pure of mouth,
   and I am pure of hands.  May those who see me
   say, "come in peace, come in peace."

[Pp. 204-205, Budge]  Sources:  Egyptology





                 110K version of above gif

Spell 93:  Ani stands holding a scribe's palette,
           his other arm raised to send away the
           ferry-boat in which the ferryman squats,
           his head turned back and a flail on his
           knee. 10470/17
[Pp. 90-98, Faulkner]  Sources:  Egyptology
(notes and photos' from that source!)



Spell 99:  Provisioning of the Boat in preparation
           for crossing the Celestial River.

This prayer is concerned with the provision of a
boat for the deceased to cross the celestial
reiver.  Equated by the Egyptians with the Milky
Way.  It falls into three parts:

I.  The deceased calls upon the celestial
    frerryman, whose name is Mahaf, to
    arouse Awuqne, who apparently has
    charge of the boat and who is sound
    asleep.  Mahaf cross-examines and
    tries to disuade the deceased from
    using the boat -- a kind of game of
    cross questions and crooked answers.

II:  Aqen is called upon to bring the boat.
     Now the ferryman proceeds to make all
     kinds of difficulties for the deceased.
     [Again, this is a test to make sure
     that the living person will know the
     correct and proper way of death and
     so be ferryied across when their
     time comes].

III:  The boat is brought, but each part
      asks the deceased to name it and
      its importance.

  I have included only the text of parts
  II and III (Faulkner's book -- which
  contains the complete text -- is rich
  in its tapestry and the beauty of
  the translation).


The names of some of the gods

Aqen - God associated with the celestial ferryman.
Apep - Serpent-demon. arch-enemy of the sun-god.
Henswa -
Horus - Falcon god: ancient creator god;
        opponent of Seth; song of Osiris and
        Isis and his successor to the kingship
        of Egypt.
Khnum - God who created man on a potter's wheel.
Re - Form of the sun-god at his noon-day
     strength, often shown as falcon-headed.





II

       'What is it?'  says Aqen; 'I was asleep.'

  O Aqen, as you are endowed with life,
          bring me this,
          for see,
          I have come.

       Who are you who comes?

  I am a magician.

       Are you complete?

  I am complete.

       Are you equiped?

  I am equipped.

       Have you taken care of the two limbs?

  I have taken care of the two limbs?

       What are the two limbs, magician?

  They are the arm and the leg.


  O Aqen, as you are endowed with life,
           bring me this,
           for see,
           I have come.

       Have you power over what I have not
       brought you, magician?
       That is to say:  This boat?
       She has no bailer.

  Bring that ... of Knunum through which
  I am made alive, and put it in her.


  O Aqen, as you are endowed with life,
          bring me this,
          for see,
          I have come.

       Have you power over what I have not
       brought you, magician?
       That is to say:  This boat?
       She has no spars.

  What is missing from her?

       She has no beams,
       she has no rigging,
       she has no mooring post,
       she has no warps.

  Go to that god who knows you and
  all that you would mention to him
  in repsect of her spars; what he
  has given to you will come.

       Who is that god who knows me
       and all that I would metnion to him
       in respect of her spars, so that what
       he has biven to me will come?

  He is Horus with whom is a seal-ring.


  O Aqen, as you are endowed with life,
          bring me this,
          for see,
          I have come.

       Have you power over what I have not
       brough to you, magician?
       That is to say:  This boat?
       She has no cable.

  Bring that snake which is in the hands of
  Hemen and Anubis the Controller of the
  Two Lands, and put it in her, with its
  head in your hands, and its tail in my
  hands, and we must pull it tight between
  us (in) its name of 'Pain' ... the waterways
  which are between those two cities; the
  river is in good order and the Lake of
  Offerings which connects with that river
  is in good order.


  O Aqen, as you are endowed with life,
          bring me this,
          for see,
          I have come.

       What are those two cities, magician?

  They are the horizion and the malachite-region,
  or so I believe.

       Do you know those two cities, magican?

  I know them.

       Ahat are those two cities, magician?

  They are the Netherworld and the field of
  Rushes.

  O Aqen, as you are endowed with life,
          bring me this,
          for see,
          I have come.

       Have you power over what I have not
       brought to you, magician?
       That augut god will say:  'Have you
       ferried over to me a man who does not
       know the number of his fingers?'

  I know how to count my figners; take one,
  take the second, quench it, remove it,
  give it to me, be friendly towards me;
  do not let go of it; have no pitty on it;
  make the Eye bright; give the Eye to me.



III


  O you who bring the ferry-boat of the Abyss
  to this dificult bank, bring me the ferrry-
  boat, make fast the warp for me in peace,
  in peace!

  Come, come, hurry, hurry, for I have come
  in order to see my father Osiris.

  O Lord of Red Cloth, who mighty through
  joy; O Lord of Storm, the Male who navigates;
  O You who navigate over the sandbank of Apep;
  O You who bind on heads and make necks firm
  when escaping from wounds; O You who are in
  charge of the mysterious ferry-boat, who
  ward off Apep, bring me the ferry-boat,
  knott the warp for me, in order to escape
  from that evil land in which the stars fall
  upside down upon their faces and are unable
  to raise themselves up.

  O Henswa who is in the tongue of Re;
  O Indebu who governs the two lands;
  OMengeb their helmsman;
  O Power who reveals the solar disc,
  who is in charge of redness, fetch me,
  do not let me be boatless, for there
  comes a spirit, my brother, who will
  ferry me over to the place I know of.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the mooring-post.

  "Lady of the Two Lands in the shrine"
  is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the mallet.

  "Shank of Apis" is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the bow-warp.

  "Lock of hair of the mooring-post
  of Anubis in the craft of Embalming"
  is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the steering-post.

  "Pillars of the realm of the dead"
  is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the mast-step.

  "Earth-god' is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the mast.

  "He who brought back the Great
  Goddess after she had been far
  away" is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       say the halyards.

  "Standard of Wepwawet" is your
  name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the mast-head.

  "Throat of Imsety" is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the sail.

  "Nut" is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the oar-loops.

  "You have been made with the hide
  of the Mnevis-bull and the tendons
  of Seth" is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       say the oars.

  "The fingers of Horus the Elder"
  are your names.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the bailer.

  "The hand of Isis which swabs up the
  blood from the Eye of Horus" is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the ribs which are in her
       timbers.

  "Imsety, Hapy, Daumutef, Qebehsenuef,
   Plunderer, He who takes by robbery,
   He who sees what has brought, He who
   helps himself" are your names.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the hogging-beam.

  "She who presides over gardens' is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the rowing bench.

  "Sonsstress" is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the steering-oar.

  "Accurate" is your name. "That which
  rises from the water, whose blade is
  limited (in movement)" is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the boat.

  "That leg of Isis which Re cut off with
  a kife in order to bring blood to the
  Night-bark" is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the skipper.

  "Rebuffer" is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the wind, 'since you are
       carried thereby.'

  "North wind which went forth from
  Atum to the nose of the Foremost of
  the Westerners" is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the river, 'since you ferry
       over on me.'

  "He who sees them' is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the bank of the river.

  "Destroyer of those who stretch out the
  arm in the pure place" is your name.


       'Tell me my name,'
       says the ground, 'since you
       tread on me.'

  "Nose of the sky which goes out from
  the Embalmer whi is in the Field of
  Rushes, from which one goes out in joy"
  is your name.



       (What is to be said to them)


  Hail to you, you whose natures are kind,
  possesors of offerings who live for ever
  and ever!  I have penetrated to you so
  that you may give me a funeral meal for
  my mouth with which I speak, namely the
  cake which Isis baked in the presence
  of the Great God, for I know that Great
  God to whose nose you present the
  provisions, whose name is Tjekem.  He
  reveals himself in the eastern horizon
  of the sky.  When he departs, I will
  depart; when he is hale, I will be hale.
  You shall not repel me from the Milky
  Way, and those who are rebellious will
  not have power over this flesh of mine.

  My bread is in Pe, my bear is in Dep,
  your gifts of today shall be given to
  me, and the gifts due to me are barely
  and emmer, the gifts due to me are
  myrrh and clothing, the gifts due to me
  are life, welfare and health, the gifts
  due to me are what are issued by day in
  any shape in which I desire to go out to
  the Field of Rushes.

  As for him who knows this spell, he will
  go out into the Field of Rushes, and there
  will be given to him a cake, a jug of beer,
  and a loaf from upon the altar of the Great
  God, an aroura of land with barley, and
  emmer by th eFollowers of Horus, who will
  reap them for him.  He will consude this
  barley and emmer and will rub his body
  with them, his body will be like these
  gods, and he will go out into the Field
  of Rushes in any shape in which he desires
  to go out. A matter a million times true.



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