UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
AT LOS ANGELES
RECORDS OF THE PAST
BEING
ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS
OF THE
ASSYRIAN AND EGYPTIAN MONUMENTS.
PUBLISHED UNDER THE SANCTION
OF
THE SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCH/EOLOGY.
VOL. VIII.
EGYPTIAN TEXTS.
I
Multae terricolis linguae, coelestibus una.
LONDON :
SAMUEL BAGSTER AND SONS,
15, PATERNOSTER ROW.
RECORDS OF THE PAST.
I
VOL. VIII.
EGYPTIAN TEXTS.
NOTE.
Every Text here given is either now translated for the first
time, or has been specially revised by the Translator to the
date of this publication.
PREFACE.
THE Eighth Volume of the " RECORDS OF THE
PAST " has been continued on the same principle as
its predecessors. A prominence has naturally been
given to historical texts, as they are the most im-
portant which have been handed down by ancient
Egypt. No branch, however, of Egyptian researches
has been more minutely explored, and the great his-
torical texts are almost exhausted. In the present
volume will be found, a translation of the Sallier
Papyrus relating to the Hykshos, the end of the
Papyrus comprising the political condition of Egypt
in the reign of Rameses III. ; the Case of Conspiracy
against the life of the same monarch ; the texts
relating to the Gold Mines in the reigns of Seti I. and
Rameses II.; and the decree of Canopus, of the reign
of Ptolemy Euergetes II., an inscription throwing
great light upon the condition of the Egyptian priest-
hood under the rule of the Greeks in Egypt.
The subject of mythology is, however, by no
means exhausted, and the important texts relating to
it are not only beginning to attract attention, but are
felt to be necessary for the due comprehension of the
religious ideas of the Egyptians. A diversity of
opinion, it must be stated, exists amongst scholars as
to the value of later inscriptions of the Ptolemaic and
Roman period. Some consider these texts to hand
down the esoterical notions of ancient Egypt, which,
except in the so-called Ritual or Book of the Dead,
ii PREFACE.
scarcely appear in the official monuments, although
partly illustrated by the hymns to the gods found at
the time of the XlXth. and subsequent Dynasties.
The present volume contains one of these earlier
litanies, that of Ra; and there are others still untrans-
lated capable of throwing, incidentally, considerable
light on the cosmic and demiurgic characteristics of
the leading deities of the Pantheon. A hymn to the
god Ammon of the Oasis, inscribed on the walls of
El-Khargeh and of a nature remarkably Pantheistic,
is also included in this collection, it probably is the
composition of an eclectical denomination which, at a
much earlier age, had attempted to reconcile the
polytheism with the monotheistic tendencies of a
party once dominant, although ultimately unable to
effect a religious reformation.
Of literature, as distinct from mythology or history,
there are few remains even amongst the numerous
papyri which have been found or explored. A rare
example, the Praise of Learning and Literature, a
poem exalting the occupation of the scribe above all
others, will be found at the end of the volume. The
difficulties of translation increase greatly when the sub-
ject belongs neither to the domain of mythology nor
histoiy, and the language becomes more metaphorical
or colloquial. Literary compositions are, however,
not the least interesting portion of the subject, as
they exhibit a vivid picture of national manners and
innate thought.
S. BIRCH.
London,
26th November, 1876.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE ... ... ... ... ... ... i
Fragment of the First Sallier Papyrus ... ... i
By Prof. E. L. LUSHINGTON, LL.D., D.C.L.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. :—
The Great Harris Papyrus ... ... ... 5
By Prof. EISEXLOHR and S. BIRCH, LL.D.
Abstract of a Case of Conspiracy ... ... ... 53
By P. LE P. RENOUF.
Inscription of the Gold Mines at Rhedesieh and
Kuban ... ... ... ... ... ... 67
By S. BIRCH, LL.D.
Decree of Canopus 81
By S. BIRCH, LL.D.
The Great Mendes Stele ... ... ... ... 91
Translated from BRUGSCH-BEY.
The Litany of Ra ... ... ... ... ... 103
By EDOUARD NAVILLE.
Hymn to Ra-Harmachis ... ... ... ... 129
By Prof. E. L. LUSHINGTON, LL.D., D.C.L.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Inscription of Darius at El-Khargeh ... ... 135
By S. BIRCH, LL.D.
The Praise of Learning ... ... ... ... 145
By S. BIRCH, LL.D.
The Papyrus of Moral Precepts ... ... ... 157
By M. THEOD. DEVEHIA.
Lists of Further Texts, Assyrian and Egyptian ... 161
Selected by the late GEORGE SMITH, and
P. I,E PAGE RENOUF, F.R.S.L.
FRAGMENT
OF
THE FIRST SALLIER PAPYRUS.
RELATING TO THE HYKSOS PERIOD.
TRANSLATED BY
E. L. LUSHINGTON, D.C.L.
PHIS very defective fragment, which consisted when
complete of two pages and three lines, refers to
that obscure period when foreign invaders, commonly
called Hyksos, or shepherds, held dominion in Egypt,
entrusting the government of the Southern region to
a subordinate native viceroy. Apapi, the Hyksos
king here mentioned, Apophis in the Greek form, is
apparently the last of his dynasty. The struggle of
which this fragment indicates the commencement,
resulted eventually in the re-establishment of Egyp-
tian independence and supremacy. The native prince,
Sekenen-Ra, or Tiaaken, was the predecessor of Ahmes
(Amosis), who is generally reckoned the 1st king of
the XVI Ilth dynasty.
VOL. VIII. 2
2 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
The interest of the subject has attracted the
attention of several eminent scholars to this relic of
early history. It was first recognised by De Rouge,
translated in part by Brugsch, Z. S. f. d. D. Morg.
Ges., 9,200, in 1855, and again later in his Histoire de
VEgypte, 1859, p. 78 ; more fully by Mr. Goodwin,
Cam. Ess, 1858, p. 243. More recently it has been
treated by Dr. Birch, in Bunsen's Egypt, Vol. V., p.
730, 1867 ; Chabas, Les Pasteur s en Egypte, 1868,
p. 16; and Ebers, j&gypten «. d. Biichcr Moses, 1868,
p. 204.
The style of the fragment is in general simple and
easy ; the difficulties that remain even after the
labours of these admirable pioneers in vanquishing
obstructions are mainly due to its dilapidated con-
dition. At the end of line 3, p. 3, it breaks off in the ,
middle of a sentence, and line 4 commences with a
different subject. The present translation appeared
in the Transactions of the Society of Biblical A rckceology,
Vol. IV., p. 263.
FIRST SALLIER PAPYRUS.
PAGE i.
1 It came to pass that the land of Egypt was held by the
impure ; there was no sovran master on the day when
this came to pass. Then King SEKENEN-RA was
Ruler in the Southern region, the impure in the district
of Amu,
2 their Chief King APAPI in the city Avaris ; the whole
land did homage to him with their handiwork, paying
tribute alike from all good produce of Tameri. King
APAPI
3 took to himself SUTECH for Lord, refusing to serve any
other god in the whole land he built for him a
temple of goodly and enduring workmanship; King
APAPI (appointed)
4 festivals, days for making sacrifice to SUTECH (with all
rites), that are performed in the temple of RA HAR-
MACHIS
5 ... APAPI King SEKENEN-RA .... many
days after this . . .
[Three or four lines lost.]
PAGE 2.
1 with him . . . not assent (to serve) any of the gods in
the whole land except AMEN RA, King of gods ....
many days after this
2 King APAPI sent to the Ruler of the South a notice,
according as his scribes knowing in affairs said.
2*
4 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
3 Now when the Messenger of King APAPI (came to) the
Ruler of the South, he was conducted before the Ruler
of the South.
4 He said to the Messenger of King APAPI, " Who sent
thee to the Southern region ? For what art thou come to
the roads ? " The Messenger said to him
5 " King APAPI sent me to thee to say . . . touching the
well for cattle which is .... the city ; verily, no
6 sleep came to me day or night." . . . the Ruler of the
South (was amazed). It came to pass he knew not how
7 to reply to the Messenger of King APAPI. (At length)
he said, " Has not thy royal Master l
8 ' which he sent . . . ."
9 ' cakes of bread
10 'all that thou hast said I find . . .'
ii J (the Messenger of) King APAPI rose to depart to
where
PAGE 3.
1 his royal Master was. Then the Ruler of the South bade
summon his mighty Chiefs, likewise his .Captains and
expert guides ; he
2 repeated to them the tale entire of the words which King
APAPI sent to him concerning them. They were all silent
at once, in great dismay
3 they knew not how to answer him good or ill. King
APAPI sent to . . .'
1 Lacunae.
2 Of lines 8, 9 and 10 hardly anything can be made; they seem to con-
tain the words given in the translation, but their connection of course is
obscure.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III.
THE GREAT HARRIS PAPYRUS.
Continued from Vol. VI., p. 70.
BY
PROFESSOR EISENLOHR AND S. BIRCH, LL.D.
PLATE 43.
[Rameses III. wearing the royal head-dress namms a
collar usx with urezus round the neck and a tunic basui fluted,
jewels or other ornaments girdled with the head of a panther
and six pendant disked urtzi, a kind of a strap from the right
to the left, bracelets mennefer en kabu and armlets, with a
kind of tail behind menkrat or sat1 and sandals tebu on the feet
raises his right hand addresses the Triad of Memphis, Ptah,
Sekhet, and Nefer-Tum. Before him are his names and titles.]
The Lord of the two countries RA-USER-MA beloved
of AMEN, the Lord of diadems2 RAMESES Ruler of An
[And his declaration to the gods.]
I speak the good prayers, the adorations, the supplica-
tions and the glorious deeds I made before thee. On his
Southern wall
[Ptah wearing a scull cap namms, a collar usx, long beard,
counterpoise maan\ standing draped in a reticulated garment
on a pedestal in shape of a cubit, bracelets on his wrists and
holding the uas sceptre emblem of life 0«x and stability tat
before him by both hands, he is called]
1 See Lepsius, Aeltesle Texte, PI. 7.
* Lord of the diadem of the vulture or female diadem, and of the urceus,
the male royal diadem ; or else, of Nishem the goddess of the South, and
Uati or Buto the goddess of the North.
6 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
PTAH great (god) who is the rampart of the South,
Living Lord of the Upper and Lower world.
[Behind him stands Sekhet lion-headed waving a disk of the
Sun and uroeus serpent ; she wears a long female head-dress
collar usx and bracelets, armlets menefer en kabu and anklets,
mennefer en rat, and a long reticulated female garment held up
across the shoulders by straps. In her left hand she holds a
papyrus sceptre yjia and in her right an emblem of life an^.
She is called]
SEKHET greatly beloved of PTAH.
[Behind her stands Nefer Turn wearing on his head the tall
plumes and lotus of the Sun, a long head-dress tied by a fillet, a
collar us\ round the neck, and long tunic from the breast to
the knees reticulated, armlets and bracelets mennefer en kabu,
and anklets mennefer en rat. In his left hand he holds a sceptre,
in his right an emblem of life. ]
PLATE 44.
1 The glorifications, prayers, and addresses, invocations
and glorious actions which the King of the Upper and
Lower country RA-USER-MA beloved of AMEN, the living,
the great god to
2 his father PTAH the Chief of the Southern wall, living
Lord of the two countries, SEKHET the greatly beloved
of PTAH, TUM the protector of the two countries, the
circle of all the gods of the House of PTAH-KA.' Said
the King of the Upper country RA-USER-MA, Beloved of
AMEN the Great God
3 to his father, the noble god, PTAH, who is Chief of the
Southern wall, Living Lord of the two countries, TATUNEN,"
the father of the gods, having tall plumes, and pointed
horns, fine face, over the great throne. I salute thee
great one, magnified,
4 TATUNEN, father of the gods, god Chief at first, builder
of men, maker of gods, being first of the first order, all
1 Memphis. * Or Tanen.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 7
were coming after him, making the heaven creating his
tent,
5 supporting it by lifting his heavenly plumes, founding the
earth in that he made it himself, encircling it with the
waters of the great sea, making the Empyreal gateway to
give rest to bodies, causing the Sun to come down to
keep them well,
6 as Ruler living for ages, Lord of eternity, Living
Lord, opening supplying the throat, giving breath to
every nostril, giving life to all persons by his supplies.
A time of life begins under his authority, life comes from
his mouth, he makes
7 the peace of all the gods in his divine form of the great
heavenly water ' Lord for ever and ever, he circulates
the breath of life to all living, he conducts the King to
his throne of the palace, in his name of King of the two
countries I am thy son, crowned as King
8 on the throne of (my) father in peace, I am fulfilling
thy plans for thee, I have redoubled thy good things
being on earth, conduct me to rest in the West of the
heaven like all the gods of the tombs2 of the Empyreal
gate, the relations
9 of the cycle, being in thy sacred place like HAPUS thy
noble son who is with thee, let me devour the flower of
thy sacred food, bread, incense, beer, spirits, wine, grant
(me)
PLATE 45.
i ta renew my life in the Taser4 seeing .thee daily like
thy circle of gods, living Ruler on earth as Lord of
1 Nu, the g-od of the heavenly water. The reading Han, " vase," is also
found as a variant of this name ; cf. Horapollo, I. 21.
2 S'ta, the coffins or tombs. 3 The Nile. 4 A region of the Hades.
8 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
Ta-mera.1 Was I not animated in heart by the valour
towards thee
2 to search after all glories for thy noble house, for conse-
crations before thee in thy city of the walls.
3 I made for thee a new palace in thy fore court, a
peaceful place for thy heart at each of thy processions.
The palace of RAMESES Ruler of An, the Living in the
temple of PTAH at
4 the great sacred staircase of his Southern wall founded
of stones of sandstone lying on blocks, its great ties'
holding the walls of stone of
5 Abu 3 its doors of brass 4 of six bands, the great columns
are of gold, of meh 5 of stone, the bolts of black metal 6
bordered
6 with gold having handles of katem 7 with meh 5 of gold, its
monumental figures are life like, and perfect Its towers
of stone approaching
7 heaven, above the throne of its great house is magni-
fied like the place of the great house with a covering of
gold like the doors of heaven, I made thy images
8 at rest in its shrine of gold silver and real precious
stones. I equipped it with servants, very numerous with
fields and cattle in the South and North.
PLATE 46.
i Its storehouses were inundated with infinite stores, bow-
men, galleys, workmen, incense bearers silver bearers
1 Northern Egypt, used for Egypt generally.
* Or cramps. 3 Elephantine.
4 Baa, or " bronze," brass not being used by the Egyptians.
5 A precious stone, or else " inlayings," "fillings in."
6 Baa kam, " black metal," probably iron ; laa of black colour, and also
of the colour of gold, are mentioned in the papyrus.
7 Katem or katmer, supposed to be gold. It is like the Greek word
kadmeia, a metallic substance or zinc.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 9
2 and feather bearers ' without number, heaps of corn to
tens of thousands, also very many cellars of wine and
spirits, and stalls of young cattle,
3 (and) fowl houses for fattening geese, the store houses
of Egypt, Ta-neter,2 Kharu,3 Kush 4 (which) I gave, more
numerous than the sands, in the noble treasury, the store
places had the divine food prepared
4 with provisions. There was no want in any of its places
they were for thy service, O Sole Lord, Maker of Beings,
PTAH who is the Southern wall, Eternal Ruler.
5 I give to thee twenty thousand measures of corn to be
conveyed to thy house every year to supply thy temple
with divine food, continually increasing that which was
before.
6 I made to sculpture the house of PTAH thy great seat,
I gave it to be as the horizon in which the Sun is, for I
filled its treasuries with numerous stores and loaded its
granaries with corn and barley.
7 I caused to be prepared the statue of thy image in the
new gold house of thy temple, manufactured of good gold,
of native s silver, real lapis lazuli, real turquoise (and) all
8 precious stones, I made its noble ark like the horizon of
heaven, containing thy bark in its interior reposing on it
I fixed its great walls,
9 the ark with turned beams, the ceiling of beams ; they
are of gold with settings of real stones, I fabricated its
great beams
PLATE 47.
i for moving, covered with good gold engraved with thy
name. Thou elevatest thy heart greatly in the citadel of
1 S'ui, or " merchants." * The Holy Land, or Northern Arabia.
3 Syria, or the coast of Syria. 4 Ethiopia, the modern Nubia.
5 " Silver out of its land."
IO RECORDS OF THE PAST.
Sebak ' in thy great mysterious form of his Southern wall.
Thou fillest thy stronghold with the rays of thy limbs.
2 I caused to be sanctified Ha-ka-Ptah 2 thy strong seat.
I built its temples which were decayed. I sculptured
their gods in their noble figures of gold silver and all
precious stones in the gold houses."
3 I made to thee a great plate of silver, beaten out, cut,
and engraved by the smith in the name of Thy Majesty
with the adorations and prayers I made before thee
having the decrees for the benefit of thy house for ever.
4 I made two prisms of six sides they are of the colour of
good gold engraved, marked in thy name worked with
incisions glorifying the glories I did for thee.
5 I made thee a good pectoral plate for thy breast of the
best gold, of katmer (and) silver made with a setting of meh
and of real lapis lazuli to be united to thy limbs on thy
great throne of the horizon, and the company of the
gods of the house of PTAH who rest in them.
6 I made thee a sacred shrine of stone of Abu 4 fabricating
it with eternal work of one piece having folding gates of
brass of six sides, cut in thy noble name for ever !
7 PTAH, SEKHET, NEFERTUM, are placed in it, and the
statues of the Lord the King with them, to offer before
them I gave them the due divine offerings to their faces,
remaining to thee for ever to thy handsome face.
8 I made thee great tablets of secret words, set up in the
hall of books of the land, of Ta-mera 5 placed in stands of
stone engraved with a chisel to benefit thy noble house
for ever and ever.
9 I have filled thy pure harem of women, I brought their
children who were absent. They were peoples, hands, and
1 The crocodile. * Memphis.
3 Probably " the saloon," or " principal hall."
4 Elephantine. 5 Egypt.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. II
other persons, I gave them to thee for the cattle in the
house of PTAH ; for them was made an order for ever.
10 I made to thee the store places to open in the festivals
of thy divine house, they were built out of earth,' of
skilful fabrication. I filled them with the slaves I brought
as captives to supply thy sacred food filled is the shrine
to
11 store the house of PTAH-KA, with food to double what
was before thee oh thou of the Southern wall, thy circle
of the gods is delighted it rejoices in them.
PLATE 48.
1 I made thee stalls full of young cattle, fowl houses for
taking care of fowl also having fat geese filling cages
for use besides, having pigeons to offer to thy service in
the course of the day.
2 I gave thee bowmen, workmen, incense bearers, I
appointed their Captains to lead them to bring their
yearly tribute for thy noble treasury to fill the store
houses of thy house with numerous things to redouble
thy divine food, to lay them for thy service.
3 I made thee granaries full of corn and barley, having
numerous heaps reaching to heaven to store thy divine
abode daily to thy beloved face, O Maker of heaven and
earth.
4 I made to thee images of the Living Lord wrought of
gold, others of pure silver wrought likewise reaching to
the ground before thee with stands and altar having divine
offerings of bread and beer offered before thee daily
5 I made to thee a great basin1 in thy fore court orna-
mented with gold good of work, making its vases of gold
and silver cut in thy name, provided with divine food, all
good things to offer before thee at the morning.
1 Either of sun-dried clay bricks, or else subterranean. * Or altar.
12 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
6 I made thee ships and galleys in the midst of the great
sea provided with crews, and galleys in great numbers to
bring the produce of Ta-neter,1 the manufactures of the
land of Taha 2 to thy great treasuries of thy city of the Wall.3
7 I made thee great festivals adding the renewed ones to
offer in thy service at each of thy celebrations. They
were provided with bread and beer, cattle, geese, incense,
fruit, sprouts, spirits, wine, royal linen, ordinary linen very
numerous good Southern linen,
8 oil, incense, honey, clear gums, all good woods sweet
scents to thy beloved face (oh) Lord of the gods.
9 I made thee great festivals on the water to thy very
noble and beloved name of PTAH NUN" the Chief, the
father of the gods they were provided with supplies of
the things produced by the water in thy noble fore court
of Sebekh-Sebak 5
10 for all thy forms and the circle of the gods of the
depths. They were as tribute paying to the treasuries
and store houses, granaries, stalls, cages, each year to
nourish the great Chiefs of Nu4 at peace, rejoiced at the
festivals at their view.
ill made thy noble boat of the Lord of Ages6 of 130
cubits, on the river of great real cedar trees, with a head
of acacia. Its great house of trees of the first kind of
gold and real stones came down to water, of gold on all
its sides, and its head,
PLATE 49.
i having a hawk of good gold, of studs of all good stones,
its stern behind made of good gold, its rudders, the handle
1 The Holy Land, Northern Arabia, or Socotora.
a Northern coast of Syria. 3 Memphis.
4 The Han, or celestial water.
5 Probably another name of Memphis.
* AW- heh, name of the barge.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 13
in good gold. There is proceeding PTAH, the handsome
face, of his Southern wall
2 to rest within its great house like the solar horizon,
satisfied is his heart at its appearance, making fully his
good passage on the water of his daughter NEBTXEHA,'
3 in the Southern wall, mortals and men rejoicing to see it.
I was delighted, having its conducting to its noble house.
4 I protected the black cattle and the Hapu * with males
and females who were proceeding from the cattle of every
house, I gave them all consecrated to the black cattle.
5 I made to be enlarged the frontiers to the places
determined, they got what was necessary for pastures
establishing their tablets cut in thy name There were
made edicts for their benefit on earth.
6 I brought to thee numerous tributes of white gum to go
round thy divine abode, with scent of Punt3 to thy noble
nostrils on the morning
7 (I) planted trees of frankincense, and gums in thy very
noble dromos in Sebekh-Sebak,4 by the bringing of my
hands from the land of Taneter 5 to welcome thy foreparts
every morning.
8 I made for thee vases of the tables of libation of thy
great place with censers, jars, stands having lavers, and,
water bottles, (and) great lamps for offerings,
9 with divine food, they were of gold and silver made
with inlayings of meh ' of precious stones without number
laid before thee at the end7 of the day, (O) PTAH the
Father of the Gods, Builder of Mortals. 8
1 The mistress of the sycamore, the goddess Athcu".
* The bulls Apis. 3 Arabia. 4 Memphis or Manfaloot.
5 The Holy Land, or Northern Arabia, or Socotora.
6 Supposed to be a kind of precious stone, or else inlaying.
7 Or " every day," but the lamps evidently used at night.
8 Rex, "mortals" or "intelligences."
14 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
i o I made thee the festivals of the beginning of my reign in
the very great festivals of Tatunen I redoubled to thee
what was done.1 In the throne room I appointed to thee
11 sacrifices of numerous offerings of bread, wine, beer,
spirits, fruit, virgin cattle, calves by hundreds of thousands,
bulls by tens of thousands without number, products
1 2 of the lands of Egypt like the sands of the shore of the
river. The gods of the South and North are assembled
in the midst of it, I made to be carved thy temple, the
festival houses =
PLATE 50.
1 which were ruined since there were kings I provided for
the circle of all the gods the festivals of thirty years,3
Lords of gold, silver and stones as they were before.
2 I wrapped4 them with fabrics of royal and common
linen, I anointed them with oil on their heads, I augmented
the divine food
3 offered to their persons placed in the reserves of their
supplies for ever.
4 Behold my review of the honourable things which I
did before thee PTAH who is Southern wall Lord of
Sebekh-hut.5
5 Behold the circle of the gods of the house of PTAH in
my glories.
PLATE 5 1 a.
1 The register of the property, the cattle, the cellars, the
fields, the galleys, the store places, the cities which gave
2 the king RA-USER-MA, Beloved of AMEN, the Living, the
1 " Ceremonies " or " customs."
8 Hel-set, " for the festivals of the Triakonteris," or " cycle of thirty
years."
3 Hel-set, the Triakonteris. 4 Ter tut ter.
5 The white wall or acropolis of Memphis, called by the Greeks Le.ukon
Teichos.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 15
Great God, to his noble father PTAH who is the South wall,
the Living Lord of the two Countries, as belonging to his
residence ' of ages and eternity.
3 The temple of RAMESES, Ruler of An, the Living, in the
house of PTAH, under the Chiefs, 609 heads.
4 The herds of RAMESES, Ruler of An, the Living, in the
abode of PTAH, under the charge of the Superintendent of
cattle Hui, 1361.
5 The house of RA-USER-MA, Beloved of AMEN, the town
on the West road of the Western water under the Super-
intendent of the house PENKATATT, 40.
6 The house of RAMESES, Ruler of An, the Living in the
house of PTAH, under the authority of Hui who is Chief
of the house, 16.
7 The men he gave to the house of PTAH who is the
Chief of the South wall, the Living Lord of the two
Countries, being in the palace under the authority of the
Chief of the workmen URU, 841.
8 PTAH of RAMESES, Ruler of Heliopolis. An, the Living,
found the seat in the house of PTAH, under the authority
of the ATENNU, PTAHMES, 7.
9 The Kharu * and Nahsi 3 of the captives of His Majesty
living (which) he gave to the house of PTAH, heads 205.
10 Total heads, 379.
TI Various cattle, 10,047.
12 Cellars and granaries, 5.
13 Boats and galleys, 2.
PLATE sib.
1 Fields, acres 1154.
2 Villages, i.
3 The useful things, the produce of the men of the palace
1 Or property, possessions.
s Syrians of the coast. 3 Negroes.
1 6 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
of RAMESES, Ruler of Heliopolis, the Living in the house
of PTAH,
4 the herds of RAMESES Ruler of An, in the house of
PTAH, of the house of RA-USER-MA, the Living, the city
5 at the West of the house of RAMESES Ruler of Helio-
polis in the house of PTAH, the temples of that house,
which lead to
6 the treasuries at their yearly revenues.
7 Silver, ten 98, kat Z'A %•
8 Best South linen, various, 233^.
9 Wine, amphora1 390.
10 Silver in things of the work of the men for the divine
offerings, ten 141, kat 3r/I0.
11 Corn, the produce of the labourers, bushels 37,400.
12 Green fodder, trusses 600.
13 Heifers, bull calves, bulls of weight,2 bulls belonging3 to
herds, 15^3.
PLATE 52a.
1 Ducks, living, for use, 135.
2 The things of Kami,4 the things of Taneter,5 the things of
Kharui4 the Kings of Kush,6
3 of Ut ' for the divine offerings in enormous number,
4 the gold, the silver, the true lapis lazuli, the true turquoise,
all the noble precious stones, the black metal,6
5 the cloths of royal linen, common linen, South linen, the
coloured cloths, the liquors, the cattle, the geese, and all
the property
6 which the King of Upper Egypt, RA-USER-MA, Beloved
1 Or casks, mena.
1 Kat same as kat, a drachm and initial of the word Kates', meaning
obscure.
3 Ru, mouth ; meaning obscure.
4 Egypt. 5 Arabia or North-eastern Nubia, the modern Somali.
6 ./Ethiopia. 7 Mareotis. s Iron.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 1 7
of AMEN, the Living, the Great God gave as the tribute of
the Living Lord to
7 the house of PTAH, the Chief of his South wall, the
Living Lord of the two lands, to the temples of his
dominions for use from the first year to the thirty-first
year, making thirty-one years.
8 Good gold, second class gold, white gold in vases and
ornaments, ten 263, kat 5^.
9 Gold ornaments of the Chief,1 ten 2.
10 Silver vases hammered, ten 342, kat 7'/l6
1 1 Silver in a hammered plate of i cubit, 6 shop - long, i
cubit, i shop, 5 fingers broad, making ten 173, kat
1 2 Total of silver in vases and ornaments, ten 516, kat 6.
PLATE 52b.
1 Total of gold and silver vases and ornaments hammered
out, ten 780, kat i^.
2 Real lapis lazuli set in gold and worked in two chains3
of beads,4 i, making kat 3.
3 Real lapis lazuli, ten 3, kat 2.
4 Real turquoise, ten 2.
5 Real green felspar, ten 10.
6 Lapis lazuli and real turquoise scarabs, worked 5 and
set in gold, 26.
7 Lapis lazuli scarabs, large, 46.
8 Turquoise scarabs, large, 46.
9 Bronze beaten into a great six-sided prism, i, great plate,
making ten 245.
10 Bronze beaten into a six-sided prism, i, making ten 65.
* Or statue, hesa.
1 The cubit has seven s'op, each 2'g6n inches, according to Sir H.
James's estimate of the Royal cubit.
3 Clasps. 4 Bubu, bead or drop. 5 Bannu em neb.
VOL. VIII. 3
1 8 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
11 Bronze in beaten vases, ten 1708.
12 Total of bronze in beaten vases, ten 2018.
13 Royal linen, mixed linen,1 Southern better5 linen,
cloths various, 7026.
14 Gums dried, ten 1034.
15 Frankincense, honey, oil, fat, paints, various bottles,3
1046.
1 6 Spirits, wine, various bottles, 25,978.
PLATE 53a.
1 Total of various bottles, 29,024.
2 Ivory tusks, i.
3 Good cinnamon,4 ten 725.
4 Kati wood,5 ten 894.
5 Tasheps, bundles 45.
6 Stalks6 of Tasheps, bunches 28.
7 Grain of Kharu,7 bushels 40.
8 Nekbatah? bundles 40.
9 Uafita? bundles 80.
10 Fodder, bundles n.
11 Fruit, bushels 14.
\ 2 Cedar wood, logs 8.
13 Stibium, ten 50.
14 Rutmer,™ ten 50.
15 Natron, ten 14,400.
PLATE 53b.
1 Crystal beads, 31,000.
2 Crystal, cut, hins 341.
1 Maku, mixed material. a Qema is either Southern linen or stuffs.
3 Aa.a, apparently bottles of various capacities.
4 Nnail'i, " lances," uncertain. s Kat " Tree of Knowledge."
6 Qanna. Tasheps was a red fruit or vegetable substance.
7 Coast of Syria. 8 This word is determined by a "flower."
9 A kind of grain, seed, or fruit.
10 Or retam, perhaps the Hebrew rotam, the broom or juniper.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 19
3 Crystal signets, 3200.
4 Wood for ship building, 31.
5 Young cattle various, bull calves various, 95,079.
6 Geese, living, 269.
7 Ducks, pairs 150.
8 Birds' with golden beaks, 1035.
9 Birds, living, 41,980.
10 Water fowl, living, 576.
11 Total various fowl, 48,010.
1 2 Corn for the divine food of the festivals of the heaven,
and the first festival of the season * (which) gave
1 3 the King the great god to his father PTAH, Chief of his
Southern wall the Living, Lord of the two Countries, in addi-
tion to the divine offerings in continual addition to the
shares doubling those which were before His Majesty
PLATE 54.
1 from the commencement at the first year to the thirty-
first year making thirty-one years, bushels 947,688.
2 The volumes of the Hapi or Nile which the King
RA-USER-MA, Beloved of AMEN, the Living, the Great God,
gave to his father
3 PTAH, the Chief of his Southern wall, Living, Lord of the
two Countries, from the beginning of his 2gth year to his
thirty-first year making three years.
4 Bread for divine food, baat cakes, 73,800.
5 Bread for divine food, biscuits 191,142.
6 Bread for divine food, pyramids 6150.
7 Viands, heaps, 14,760.
8 Beer, pints 1396.
9 Dry dates, jars 2396.
10 Dates, maas 2396, making3
1 Urtu, Coptic halet, "young birds," " nestling's."
* Api, or tepi ter, " commencement of season."
3 Weight omitted by scribe.
20 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
11 Corn, sacks 3633 y2 '/I6.
12 COWS, 41.
13 Bulls, 164. Total, 205.
PLATE 54b.
1 Goats, living, various, 205.
2 Ducks, living, 574.
3 Geese, living, 84.
4 Mesat, young ducklings, living, 164.
5 Waterfowl, living, 287.
6 Another kind of waterfowl, 3025.
7 Total of various fowls, 4339.
8 Wine, jars, mna 820.
9 Wine, pots, tut 2366.
10 Onions, jars 2366.
1 1 Spers,1 jars 2366.
12 Incense, censers full 164.
13 Incense, lips full 82.
14 Incense, jars 19,892.
15 Incense, ten 4469.
PLATE 55a.
1 Oil, vases 164.
2 Oil, jar vases 574.
3 Tasheps wood, trunks 574.
4 Gum, dry, vases' 2396.
5 Stibium, vases 2396.
6 White hand vases 2396.
7 Gold figures of the Nile,3 2396.
8 Gold plates,4 659.
9 Gold basins, pedestals, 656.
10 Silver figures of the Nile, 656.
1 Sper, a kind of vase, literally " lip."
* Tut, perhaps " pairs " of vases. 5 Hapi, or the Nile.
4 Nusa, apparently plate, pedestal, or something in which the Nile was
represented.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 21
11 Silver basins (or pedestals), 656.
12 Real stone figures of the Nile, 15,944.
13 Real stone pedestals, 15,944.
14 Wooden sycamore figures of the Nile, 784.
15 Wooden figures of REPI, wife of the Nile, 784.
16 Crystal necklaces, 2968.
17 Crystal signets, 2968.
PLATE 555.
1 Southern linen, pieces 2968.
2 Honey for food, hins 66.
3 Honey, measures1 164.
4 Honey, pukas* 3210.
5 Fresh fat for food, hins 205.
6 Fresh fat, hand vases 674.
7 Beans,3 shelled, vases 2396.
8 Natron, vases 2396.
9 Grapes, seta* vases 2396.
10 All (kinds of) good fruit, vases 22,760.
11 Grapes, bottles 2396.
12 Paints, bottles 2396.
13 Best flour, pints 2396.
14 Flour, pints 45,100.
15 Flour, meht 45,100.
PLATE 56a.
1 Gurkins,s in cups, 21,000.
2 Tenruuka? in cups,7 21,000.
3 Fodder, trusses 2396.
4 Reeds,8 of the shores, handfuls 14,350.
5 Alahama? in cups,7 21,000.
1 Ark, kind of measure. * Another kind of measure.
3 Xep. 4 Another kind of measure. s Aufu haaf.
6 A kind of cucumber or gourd; it was grown in water or irrigated land.
7 Or ephahs. 8 Qa.it nu uteb. 9 Supposed to have been raisins.
22 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
6 Sweet living flowers, 21,000.
7 Tamarisks, handfuls 1640.
8 Flower crowns, in apts, 29,700.
9 Plant bunches for processions, 21,000.
10 Plants, bushels 21,000.
11 Stone blocks, aba1 15,150.
12 Shut? bunches 15,150.
PLATE 56b.
1 Give me thy eye and thy ears O PTAH Father ot the
gods, Builder of the circle of the gods, listen
2 to my declaration of truth which I make to thy face,
I am thy son loving thee, great in thy glories, receive
3 my son to be King, placed on the throne as Ruler of all
countries, head of mortals, RA-USER-MA, approved of
AMEN,S Living, the child
4 proceeding from thy limbs, let him be on earth, rise like
the son of Isis, may he take the crown Atef having the
uarti* give
5 him to be at rest on thy seat 5 as king of the Upper and
Lower Country as a Har, powerful bull,6 loving truth. Give
him the dominions
6 as thou makest his time excellent on earth having joys.
Give victory to his sword over all lands and countries
prostrate
7 under his sandals for ever and ever ! Give his pro-
tection over Kami,7 as living Ruler of the Upper and
Lower Country.8 He is holy
8 before thee having thy benediction, he enlarges the
frontiers of the Barbarians coming to his valour. He has
made
1 Part of door, jamb. * Unknown flower. 3 Rameses IV.
4 Uart, the knob at the top. 5 Hut, throne.
6 Har, or Harmachis, the palatial or so-called standard title.
7 Egypt. 8 The ta-ta, or "two countries."
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 23
9 adorations, give a happy life, perfect his body within
his limbs constantly,
10 the King RA-USER-MA approved of AMEN the Living, the
Son of the Sun, Lord of diadems, RAMESES the true
Ruler, Beloved of AMEN, the Living.
DONATIONS TO THE GODS OF THE NORTH.
PLATE 57.
1 The rendering honour, salutations, glorifications, adora-
tions and numerous merits which the King RA-USER-MA
made, Beloved of AMEN, the Living, the Great God, to his
fathers, all the gods, and goddesses of the South and North.
2 Said the King RA-USER-MA, Beloved of AMEN, the Living,
the Great God, adoring and magnifying the circle of the
gods, Lords of the South and North.
3 Hail ye gods and goddesses, Lords of the heaven, earth,
and great waters, the running in the boat of millions of
years, with the father RA, his heart is satisfied (when) he
sees their goodness to prosper Ta-mera1 leading the Nile
measuring in proportion,
4 conducting it to the mouths of these for ever and ever
under regulation. The breath of life, time sealed, which
their father made at the coming forth of their feeding
mouths. He rejoices in his youth at their sight, in great
heaven, powerful
5 on earth, giving breath to the closed nostril, I am your
son, which your hands have engendered, ye crowned me as
living Ruler of every land, ye gave to me good things
upon earth, I tranquilly hold my dignity in peace without
pride, bringing meritorious gifts
6 and presents to your temples. I have furnished them
1 Northern Egypt, Egypt in general.
24 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
all with great lists placed in all the halls of writings, with
men, their fields, their herds, their gallies, their transports,
on the river I made to be renewed your
7 temples which were long since decayed. I augmented
the divine food more than what was before you. I have
served in your temples (and) the gold house, with gold,
silver, lapis lazuli and turquoise, I made the supplies of
your treasuries, I completed them with numerous
8 things, I filled your granaries with corn (and) barley in
heaps, I built to you houses and temples. I inscribed them
in your name for ever, I arranged' your servants, I filled
them with numerous men, I did not lead men by tenths
9 from the temple of the gods, since the time of Kings,
doing it to conscribe them for foot soldiers and cavalry.
I made decrees to their benefit upon earth for the Kings
who will come after me. I brought to you offerings
before you
10 prepared of all good things, I made for you repositories
opening on the festivals. I filled them with numerous
supplies. I made for you vessels of libation, of gold, silver,
and brass by hundreds of thousands. I constructed your
divine barge on the river
1 1 having a great cabin, ornamented with gold. I made
a foundation1 of squared stone in the house of my
father ANHAR* SHU, the son of RA, the temple of
" RAMESES Ruler of An, the Living, and a trial of words "3
in the house of ANHAR' I filled them with men and slaves
by selection,
12 its treasuries holding numerous things, the granaries
holding corn. I augmented the divine supplies continually
to offer to your dignity oh SHU, the son of RA, I sur-
rounded the house of ANHAR" with an enclosure wall of
1 Asi. * Onouris, Mars.
3 Ramessu hek An uta xer«. The name of the foundation.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 25
twenty yards,1 in the foundations in the earth, (and) an
elevation of thirty yards,
13 having doors, halls, and towers, in all its directions, its
embrasures,5 of squared stone having windows of cedar
wood, plated with brass, keeping back the tribes of the
Tahennu3 who invaded the frontiers hitherto
PLATE 58.
1 I made many presents in the city of Hesi-ra of father
THOTH, the God resident in Sesen, I built him a temple
anew in his aba.11 It was
2 in the sacred chapel of the entire Lord I made him
another temple as a habitation ; it was as the horizon of
the heavens in his sight (when) he rises. He delighted
to rest in
3 it. He rejoices pleased to see them. I prepared them
with all stores of materials out of things of all the countries
(and) numerous slaves (which) I led as property for them.
4 I doubled the divine food laid before him in the store
house of opening in the festivals, with food given him at
the festive sacrifices (at) the festivals at the beginning of
the year to give satisfaction to His Majesty
5 at all times. I surrounded the house of THOTH with
enclosure walls of twenty yards in the foundations of the'
earth rising thirty cubits high, having doors, halls, and
towers in all directions,
6 with windows of its walls of squared stone, having shutters
of cedar wood plated with brass to repel the natives of
the land of Tahennu3 who were treading on their frontiers
hitherto.
1 T'at'a. * Htar.
3 The Libyans or one of the tribes on the North-west confines of Egypt.
4 Peribolos, forecourt.
26 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
7 I made to strengthen the city of Abut1 the district of
OSIRIS, with watching the selection of presents within the
city of Nafur,2 I built my temple of stone within his
divine house like the great house
8 of TUM which is on high. I supplied it3 with men
having their numerous offices, it was rich and increased4
with all beings, I made for it divine food, supplying its
altars. The father
9 OSIRIS Lord of Taser,5 I made to him an image of the
Living Lord, I brought in presentation vases of libation
likewise of gold and silver I surrounded the house of
OSIRIS
10 and HARSiESis6 with a great wall firm like a hill of
granite with halls and towers having embrasures and
doors of stone and window frames of cedar. I made the
barge of OSIRIS likewise an ark holding the Disk.
ill made to carve the precinct in the house of father
APHERU' of the South Lord of Saiui.8 I built a house in
it of squared stone the dedications inscribed on a plate
of bronze in his noble name.
PLATE 59.
1 I completed it with every good thing of all countries I
appointed to him servants in great numbers. I made
him a store house anew having the sacred food to sacrifice
to his services daily, I constructed to him
2 a great boat on the river like the barge of the Sun which
is above. I surrounded his house with walls of skilful
1 Abydos. 2 A city of the Thinite nome in South Egypt.
3 Or "occupied."
4 Or " the deficiency was completed with all things."
5 One of the regions of the Underworld or Hades.
6 " Horus, son of Isis," as distinguished from Harur or Haroeris, Horus
the Elder, son of Seb and brother of Osiris.
7 Name of Anubis. s Sais.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 27
work of twenty cubits in the foundation, with an elevation
of thirty cubits, having halls,
3 towers, and bulwarks in all its circuit great windows
of stone and doors of cedar plated, heavy bolts of six
sided prisms, cut in the great name of Thy Majesty for
ever.
4 I made strong the house of SuTEKH1 Lord ot Nubti.2
I built up its peribolos3 which was decayed. I occupied
the house in it in the divine name of the god, of skilful
construction
5 for ever, the house of RAMESES HEK AN in the temple of
SUTEKH, NUBI is its great name.4 I equipped it with
slaves, captives, men I had procured. I gave it herds of
cattle in the Northern district to
6 supply its revenue continually the divine food anew
by continual increase which was before I gave it fields,
and cultivated lands in the Southern
7 and Northern district having corn and barley for its
treasuries, preparing the things led by my hands to re-
double the festivals in front of it daily.
8 I made numerous donations for thy great black cow
before (my) father HoRUS-KHENTi-KHRATi,5 I renewed the
aba6 of his temple, I made the building again
9 tight and firm redoubling to it the divine food con-
tinually to his beloved face every morning, I brought to
him gifts of slaves male and female silver and gold royal
linen, and good Southern linen,7 oil
10 frankincense and honey, heifers. I gave him herds anew
of numerous cattle, to supply his service the oldest of the
1 Set or Typhon.
* Ombos, or the Gold Land. 3 Or " walls."
4 Ha Ramessu hek An, its name. 5 A form of Horus.
6 Peribolos. 7 Qema, or stuff.
28 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
Chiefs, I ordered his noble house by water (and) land
made
1 1 with great dedications in his name for ever, I gave him
Prophets and Officers of his houses, making them to
command his servants by the offerings to his house. I
removed a magistrate to receive the offerings
1 2 in them, I released all his men belonging to him. I made
it like the great temples in that land protection, honour
for ever, and eternity having (words). I fetched his men
PLATE 60.
1 all who have been led away1 (captive) and all officers
placed to command them in his noble house.
2 I made a great temple, magnificent in the house of
SuTEKHof RAMESES, Beloved of AMEN, the Living, I built
settled, and cut, writings around them having (windows)
3 of stone, doors of cedar, the house of RAMESES-HEK-AN
the Living in the house of SUTEKH, having his name for
ever. I appointed him servants, of men I had obtained
male and female slaves (whom) I led captive
4 to my power. I give him sacred food full and pure to
supply his services daily. I filled his treasury with things
without number, having granaries bushels of corn as it
were tens of thousands, (and) herds having cattle
5 like the sands to supply thy service, (O) the most valiant !
6 I made to prevail (very) numerous gifts to the gods, and
goddesses of the South, (and) North, I made their
figures in the abode and the golden hall. I built up that
which was
7 in ruin in their temples, I made their abodes and
temples in their forecourt. I planted trees I dug ponds.
I augmented their divine food of best corn *
1 Xanar, taken as spoil.
Or " corn." Nefer for nafre, grain.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 29
8 augmenting corn, wine, incense, flour, cattle, geese. I
built the Uaht* of their lands firm, having divine food
daily I gave them great rolls to dedicate
9 their temples, placed in the library for ever and ever !
10 See the registers before you (O) gods (and) goddesses,
look to the gifts which I made for your service.
PLATE 6 1.
1 The registers of things cattle, cellars, fields, galleys,
store houses, towns, and all property
2 which gave the King RA USER MA, Beloved of AMEN, the
Living, The Great God, to his fathers the Gods, (and)
Goddesses (Lords) of the South (and) North
3 (to) the house of RAMESES-HEK-AN the Living Judger of
Words in the temple of ANHAR,' heads3 457.
4 The men which he gave to the temple of (the god)
ANHAR of the tall plumes, resident in Tennu,4 160.
5 The temple of RAMESES-HEK-AN the Living in the temple
of OSIRIS, Lord of Abutu,5 682.
6 The men whom he he gave to the house of his noble
father OSIRIS Lord of Abutu,5 162.
7 The house of RAMESES-HEK-AN the Living in the house
of SET (of) Nubti,6 106.
8 The men which he gave to the house of KHEM,
HARSiHESi7 and all the gods of Kabti,8 39.
9 The men whom he gave to the abode of ATHOR, Lady
of the abode of the city of Kherp,9 12.
10 The men he gave to the house of SEBAK, Lord of the
city of Nashi,10 22.
1 Unknown places. 3 Onouris, or Mars.
3 " Heads," for persons ; the Negroes were reckoned by heads. 4 Silsilis.
5 Abydos. 6 Ombos. ' Harsiesis. 8 Coptos, •
9 Undetermined, probably Tentyra. I0 Undetermined site.
30 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
1 1 The men whom he gave to the house of KHEM, HARSI-
HESI, (and) the gods of the city of Merpu,1 38.
1 2 The abode of RAMESES-HEK-AN the Living, KHEM, Lord
of Merpu,1 placed under the stick of ANUSHEFNU who is
over the troops, 203.
13 The men whom he gave to the house of KHEM, Lord of
the city of Mau,2 38.
14 The men whom he gave to the abode of KHNUM, Lord
of the city of Shasipu,3 17.
15 The men whom he gave to the house of APHERU, Chief
of the two countries, 4.
PLATE 6ib.
1 The abode of RAMESES-HEK-AN, the Living, making pro-
cession on the thirty years' festivals, in the house of
APHERU under the stick,4 of THOTHEMHEB, who is
General of the Forces, heads 157.
2 The abode of RAMESES-HEK-AN, the Living, in that house
under the stick of ANTUSHEFINU who is General of the
forces, 122.
3 The abode of RAMESES-HEK-AN, the Living, in the house
THOTH, Lord of Sesennu,5 89.
4 The house of RAMESES-HEK-AN, the Living, in that house,
66.
5 The men he gave to that house, turns,6 484.
6 The men he gave to the house of KHNUM Lord of the
city of Hat-ur,7 34.
7 The men he gave to the house of AMEN Lord of the
city of Mertera,8 44.
1 Undetermined site. 2 Supposed Tama in Nubia.
3 Perhaps same as Shaashetp or Antaeopolis. 4 Authority.
5 Hermopolis.
* Sep, literally "turns" or "times," perhaps incorrect form of su " person.'
7 Apollinopolis Parva. 8 Undetermined site.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 31
8 The men he gave to the house of THOTH, of the city of
Pautika,1 65.
9 The men he gave to the house of AMEN, the Lion of the
wood, 44.
10 The men he gave to the house of ANEPU, Lord of the
city of Septu,2 78.
1 1 The men he gave to the house of SABAK, Lord of the
city of Mernemsha,3 38.
1 2 The men he gave to the temple of SUT, Lord of the city
of Sept-meru,4 99.
13 The men he gave to the temple of HARSHAF,S King of
the two countries, 103.
14 The men he gave to the house of AKHEM, SHETET,
HORUS in the land Sha, 146.
15 The men he gave to the house of SET, Lord of Sesu, 35.
1 6 The men he gave to the house of AMEN-RA, Lord of the
of the thrones of both countries in Pehu, 62.
1 7 The men he gave to the house of ATHOR, Lady of the
city of Api-ka,6 124.
PLATE 62a.
1 The cattle of RAMESES the Ruler of An,7 the Living,
established and well, giving glory to his mother BAST,
heads 1533.
2 The men he gave to the temple of BAST, mistress of the
land of Birasti8 in the waters of the Sun, 169.
3 The house of RAMESES the Ruler of An, the living
and well, the house of SUT in the house of RAMESES,
Loving AMEN, 106.
4 The cattle of RAMESES, the Ruler of An, the Living,
1 Undetermined site. * Oxyrhynchite Nome.
3 Unknown site.
4 Sper-meru, lip or border of lake (Mceris), undetermined site.
3 " Terrible face," surname of Khnum. 6 Aphroditopolis.
7 Heliopolis. 8 Bubastus.
32 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
and well, the glory of his father HAR-KHENTI-KHRATI,
who presides over Kamur,1 114.
5 The men he gave to the temple of MUT, who dwells in
Abui-neteru,2 24.
6 Total of heads, 5811.
7 Beasts, various, 13,433.
8 Fields, acres 36,012.
9 Cellars, n.
10 Store houses, 2.
11 Corn, bushels 73,250.
12 Vegetables, bundles 3300.
13 Flax, bundles 3000.
PLATE 62b.
1 Gold, silver, real lapis lazuli, real turquoise, and all kinds
of real precious stones,
2 brass, clothes of royal linen, Southern linen, embroidered
linen, incense, cattle, fowl, and all things
3 which the King RA-USER-MA, beloved of AMMON, the
Living, and well, the Great God, gave as the tribute of the
Lord, Living and well,
4 from his first to his thirty-first year making thirty-one years.
5 Gold vases with ornaments wrought, making ten 1727,
katzy^.
6 Silver vases with wrought, making ten 2428, kat 5^.
7 Total of gold and silver, ten 4148, kat 3^.
8 Gold mixed with the crystal of collars, 4.
9 ' Gold mixed with crystal ornaments, 4.
10 Gold crown for the head, i.
11 Silver bordered with gold collar of THOTH, i.
12 Real lapis lazuli, ten 10, kat 6.
13 Real turquoise, ten 2, kat 5/6.
14 Lead3 of the Uaua,4 kat 3.
1 Abusir. 2 Unknown site. 3 Tahi. * Northern Nubia.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 33
15 Black brass bordered with gold ornament, i.
1 6 Black metal, ten 260, kat 6.
PLATE 63a.
1 Brass in beaten or many vases, ten 18,130, kat 3.
2 Lead, ten 2130.
3 Resins, ten 782.
4 Royal linen, ropes 17.
5 Royal linen, superior ropes1 25.
6 Royal linen wraps2 of HORUS, 3.
7 Royal linen, collars3 5.
8 Royal linen, cloths 5.
9 Royal linen, \cnk 2.
10 Royal linen, at 179.
11 Royal linen, straps 168.
12 Royal linen clothes, various, 10.
13 Total of royal linen, clothes 439.
14 Good Southern linen, pieces 2.
15 Good Southern linen, straps 2.
1 6 Good Southern linen, ropes 234.
17 Good Southern linen, utu 29.
PLATE 63b.
1 Southern linen, at 428.
2 Good Southern linen, haumen i.
3 Good Southern linen, straps 399.
4 Good Southern linen, tunics 37.
5 Good Southern linen, various clothes, 37.
6 Total of good Southern linen, various clothes, 1216.
7 South linen, caps 23.
8 South linen, bands utu i.
9 South linen, rolls 218.
10 South linen, at 181.
1 Tu. ' Sta. 3 Atu.
VOL. VIII. 4
34 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
1 1 South linen, straps 43.
12 South linen, mitres ' 49.
13 South linen, tunics 23.
14 South linen, covers 40.
15 Total of South linen, cloths 556.
1 6 Coloured caps2 60.
1 7 Coloured clothes 3 1 2.
PLATE 63c.
1 Coloured caps i.
2 Coloured bed cloths, 4.
3 Coloured girdles, 567.
4 Coloured cloths, various, 92.
5 Total of coloured cloths, 736.
6 Total royal linen, Southern linen, coloured linen, various,
3°47-
7 Nut1' linen, ten 700.
8 Nut crowns, various, 19.
9 Incense, white, amphora various 60 1.
10 Honey, jars 567.
11 Oil of Egypt, amphora 513.
12 Oil of Kharu,5 amphora 542.
13 Palm wine, amphora i.
14 Red palm wine, amphora i.
15 White fat, amphora 273.
1 6 Goose fat, amphora 44.
17 Paints, amphora 31.
PLATE 64a.
1 Pitch oil, amphora i.
2 Total of spices, smen 2688.
3 Spirits, amphora 134.
4 Spirits, casks 287.
1 Katamam. * Tuu.
3 Cf. Ixiii.a, 1. 8. 4 Thread. 5 Syria, Northern Palestine.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 35
5 Wine, mdriris 2.
6 Wine, mersa amphora 2884.
7 Spirits, wine, drugs, various, 3247.
8 Total of various spices, 8975.
9 Drops, karata set in gold, 124.
10 Various stone pectorals, 5673.
it Scarabs of stone, various, 1662.
12 Various stone signets, in drops, 1643.
13 Various stone sphinxes* of the living Lord, 557.
14 Various stone holders of the place of the hand,3 62.
15 Turquoise rings (for) the fingers, 6278.
1 6 Steatite stone signets, 6278.
PLATE 64b.
1 Crystal bearers of hands, 62.
2 Crystal signets, 4185.
3 Crystal scarabs, 930.
4 Crystal pectorals, 6583.
5 Crystal beads, 825,840.
6 Crystal beads in bunches, 31.
7 Crystal rings, 4247.
8 Lapis lazuli drops, ten 73, kat 3.
9 Turquoise drops, ten 34, kat 3.
10 Jasper rings, 31.
1 1 Jasper scarabcei, 90.
12 Jaspers, ten 19.
13 Green feldspar, ten 17.
14 Arut? smat4 35.
15 Crystal, smat* 28.
1 6 Hers* stone, smat4 28.
17 Jasper, smat4
1 Brugsch fTin-terL-uch, 1313. * Bracelets. * A kind of stone.
4 A kind of pigment for the eyes or eyebrows, or a quantity.
5 Hers, carnelion.
36 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
PLATE 640.
1 Hnqamamu,1 160.
2 All (kinds) of stone, smat 160.
3 Sycamore, tat 496.
4 Figwood, mesta1 3.
5 Tasheps wood, mesta * 30.
6 Tasheps wood, bundles 37.
7 Acanthus* wood, mesta* 2.
8 Palm wood,4 mesta * 2.
9 Fodder, mesta' 4.
10 Incense, kalaluba 100.
11 Mahati stone, jvzto 100.
12 Citron, pomegranates,5 bunches 32.
13 Grapes, bunches 22.
14 Fruits, various, measures 212.
15 Kernels, bunches 3.
PLATE 6sa.
1 Gum, bushels 2.
2 Green colour, jars 3.
3 Clay, jars 380.
4 Alabaster, white, bundles 72.
5 Alabaster, white, ten 32,500.
6 Dates of the doum palm, kabu 2548.
7 Mallows, bundles 46,040.
8 Mallows, persa 320.
9 Stone in blocks, 351.
10 Corn, sacks 2231.
11 Southern grain, baskets 95.
12 Oxen and cattle, various, 1142.
13 Ox hides, 37.
14 Cedar wood blocks, various, 336.
1 An unknown stone. 2 Bunches. 3 Aufita. Spinn
4 Nelpata. 5 Menenu.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 37
15 Sycamore sticks, 2.
1 6 A log of mulberry, ten 100.
PLATE 650.
1 Natron, bricks 3842.
2 Natron, packets 62.
3 Salt, bricks 4242.
4 Salt, packets 166.
5 Olives, bushels 1352.
6 Rutem* packets 97.
7 Anbu* packets 99.
8 Grapes, sacks 253.
9 Grapes, crowns 80.
10 Raisins, sacks 66.
11 Fruit, bushels 87^.
12 Pash fruit, sebkhi 198.
13 Tenana? 118.
14 Pash fruit, behkens* 194.
15 Water reeds, bundles 390.
PLATE 6sc.
1 Southern flax, hetps 46.
2 Onions, ropes 37.
3 Fat geese in flocks, 4.
4 Geese, living, 190.
5 Water fowl, pairs 253.
6 Water fowl, trussed, 1920.
7 Fish, sliced, 6500.
8 Fish, prepared, 13,100.
9 Dates in bushels, 2300.
10 Palm trees, 2,300.
11 Fire wood, 200.
12 Charcoal, sacks 50.
1 Juniper. " Grapes or raisins. 3 Undetermined fruit.
4 Unknown quantity.
*.
38 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
13 Vineyard of grapes, 2.
14 Garden of sycamore trees, 2.
15 A house, prepared with tools, i.
1 6 Fields, aronras 1361.
PLATE 66a.
1 The bushels of corn of the divine supplies of the
festivals of the heaven,
2 the festivals of the beginning of the year, which he
gave to them besides
3 the divine supplies, continually increasing to double that
which was before
4 commencing from the first year to the thirty-first making
thirty-one years, bushels 250,326.
PLATE 66b.
1 Hear ye great circle of gods and goddesses let the good
things I have said be in your hearts. When I was King over
the country
2 Ruler of the living, let my divine form be as one of you
gods of the circle. I go in (and) come out with them
within the Taser.1
3 I pass on I am with you before RA, I regard the rays of
his disk at the morning let me breathe
4 the air as you, and receive the smell of the sacrifices on the
altar before OSIRIS let my heart rejoice listen to what I say
5 establish my son as King on the throne of HORUS, may
he be the living Ruler on earth as Lord of the two
countries, placed is the diadem on his head, like the entire
Lord.
6 May he have joined the two urai like TUM. Let him make
festivals of thirty years like TATANEN," having the duration
of his reign like NEFERHER.3
7 Give him power and strength over all countries who come
1 Region of Hades. ' Title of Ptah. 3 " Handsome face," title of Ptah.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 39
by the terror of him with their presents. Give the love of
him
8 in the hearts of the illumined, let the whole earth be re-
joiced at his appearance give him Egypt to be proud,
holding
9 joys totally under his sand alsfor ever and ever ! The
King of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Lord of the two
ountries RA-USER-MA, Approved of AMEN' the Living.
ADDITIONAL GIFTS.
PLATE 67.
1 The register of the gods, men, gold, silver, lapis lazuli,
gems, real turquoise, and all real stones,
2 cattle, vineyards, fields, galleys, storehouses, cities,
sacrifices, offerings, the books of the Nile and all the
property which gave
3 the King RA-USER-MA, Beloved of AMEN,' the Living, the
Great God, to his noble father AMEN-RA, King of the
Gods, and TUM, Lord of the two countries of An and
and Haremakhu2
4 PTAH great god of his Southern wall, the Lord of
Anktati3 and to all the gods and goddesses of the South
and North, King on earth
5 the processional standards and images, the hearts of
AMEN-RA King of the gods, gods 2756.
6 Men, persons 113,433.
7 Oxen and various cattle, 490,386.
8 Fields, arouras 1,071,780.
9 Vineyards and gardens, 514.
10 Transports and gallies, 88.
PLATE 68a.
1 Towns of Egypt, 160.
2 Towns of Kharu,4 169.
' Rameses III. * Harmachis. 3 Place near Memphis. 4 Syria.
40 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
3 The ornaments of the 1556 of the statues and hearts.
4 Best gold, ten 7205, kat i.
5 Silver, ten 1143, kat %.
6 Total gold and silver, ten 15,252, kat %.
7 Real lapis lazuli, ten 47, kat J/6.
8 Black brass,1 ten 10,000," kat 8.
9 Brass in wrought vessels, ten 97,188, kat 3.
10 Lead, ten 8896.
11 Tin, ten 95.
PLATE 68b.
1 Various stones, apts 18, 168, kat i.
2 Cedar wood blocks,3 various, 328.
3 Persea blocks, various, 4415.
4 The things, for the use of the workmen, and servants of
the abode,
5 temples, and places, which he gave them for their yearly
revenue :
6 Best gold of the country, gold of second quality4 in
vases, and ornaments (beaten out),5 ten 2289, kat 4^.
7 Silver vases (beaten out), ten 14,050, kat */2.
8 Total gold and silver in beaten out vases and ornaments
ten 16,339, kut 6/^-
9 Gold mixed with precious stone collars, ornaments and
.crowns, 9.
10 Silver, bordered with gold pectoral plates for THOTH, i.
11 Copper, ten 27,580.
12 'Royal linen, common linen, good Southern linen,
coloured cloths, various, 3675.
PLATE 69.
1 Thread, ten 3795.
2 Incense, honey, oil, spices, tens amen 1529.
1 Or Metal, la. 3 Or 10,001. 3 Xes, perhaps a length, a "cane."
4 Sep sen, two turns, " refined." 5 Kankan.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 41
3 Spirits, wine, various, jars ' 28,080.
4 Silver in things for the use of the men, ten 4204,
*af7#V~
5 Corn, the produce of the labourers, hetps 460,000.
6 Green fodder, bundles 324,750.
7 Flax, bunches 71,000.
8 Water fowl, the produce of shooting and netting, 426,965.
9 Cattle, young cattle, various calves of weight, herds of
Egypt, 96j-
10 Cattle, young of cattle, bulls various, calves, cattle, the
produce of the land of Kharu,2 19. Total, 968.
11 Living geese for use, 1920.
12 Cedar arks, boats 12.
13 Acacia boats, the stations at the banks for transporting
cattle, barges, arks 78.
PLATE 7oa.
1 Total of cedar and acacia barks, 90.
2 The things of Egypt, the things of Ta-neter,3 the things
of Kharu,2 the things of Kush4 and Ut5 for divine
offerings in their numerous accounts ;
3 gold, silver, real lapis lazuli, real turquoise, all sorts of
real precious stones, bronze or copper ;
4 cloth of royal linen, mixed linen, good Southern linen,
clothes of dyed linen, jars, birds, all the property he gave
them
5 as gifts of the living Lord, sacrifices, offerings, rolls of
the Nile. He was as King over the land.
6 Best gold, gold of second quality, silver in wrought vases
and ornaments, ten 1663.
7 Silver vases wrought, ten 3598, kat 4.
8 Total of gold and silver in wrought vases, ten 5261,
1 Aanu, " spices." * Northern Palestine or Syria. 3 Somali.
Ethiopia, modern Nubia. 5 The Oasis, or Mareotis.
100403
42 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
9 Real lapis lazuli, real turquoise, real green felspar, ten 30,
kat 9^5.
10 Real lapis lazuli, real turquoise scarabxi, 72.
ir Tamhi1 of the land of Uauat,2 2.
PLATE yob.
1 Black metal, ten 337, kat 9.
2 Black metal inlaid3 with gold ornaments, 2.
3 Black metal in wrought vases, ten 18,786, kat 7.
4 Lead, ten 2130.
5 Gums, ten 7709.
6 Gums, measures 5^.
7 Wood of gum trees, 1059.
8 Seed of gum trees, in apts, 200.
9 Royal linen, common linen, good Southern linen,
Southern coloured cloths, various, 50,877.
10 Incense, honey, oil, palm wine, drugs, various, apts
43I>5°2-
11 Incense, measures 315,130.
12 Incense, cups great 62.
13 Spirits, wine, amphora and caabs, 228,380.
14 Good manna of Punt,4 ten 300.
15 Manna, clusters 10.
1 6 All gems, pectorals, scarabtzi, signets, cups, various,
i,°75>635-
PLATE 7 1 a.
1 Alabaster blocks,5 i.
2 Thread, ten 500.
3 Thread, hanks 19.
4 Blocks trimmed, seats of a galley, 72.
5 Sycamore, ebony sticks, 467.
6 Wood cut for the stand of a balance, i.
1 Unknown gem. * The Uauat in Nubia near Syene.
s Sam, bordered or inlaid. 4 Arabia or Somali. s Apap.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 43,
7 Snateni wood lances, i.
8 Persea, cut, two yards, i.
9 Sycamore seat of a balance, i.
10 Sycamore sticks,1 2.
11 Cedar, various logs, 351.
12 Palm wood, cassia, ten 3129.
13 Figs, bundles and clusters 37.
14 Tasheps* clusters and bundles 843, ten 20,000.
PLATE 7ib.
1 Barley of Kharu,3 bushels 45.
2 Ivory tusks, i.
3 Mestem* paint, ten 50.
4 Nekpata? bunches 167.
5 Auftta,6 bunches 183.
6 Mahaten? satas 3100.
7 Samu,8 hetps 1664.
8 Doum dates, grapes, figs, various fruit in sacks, and
various apts, 2,382,650.
9 Cattle, young of cattle various, bulls, calves, cattle, beasts,
20,602.
10 Leucoryx gazelle, dorcas goats, 367.
11 Fat geese, living geese, water fowl, 353,919.
12 Salt, natron, bushels 1843.
13 Salt and natron, bricks 355,084.
14 Onions, strings various, 345.
15 Sebekhi? and pesh™ atenut" 1944.
PLATE 72.
1 Reeds and writing reeds, bundles 7860.
2 Corn, bushels 46.
1 Het. * A red fruit. 3 Northern Palestine or Syria.
4 Stibium. s Unknown fruit. 6 Beans.
7 Perhaps a kind of flax. 8 Unknown vegetable.
9 Appears elsewhere as a measure or quantity. I0 Fragments.
11 Another kind of fragment or portion.
44 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
3 Best bread, offering bread, great tails, phallus bread,
various, baskets 116,287.
4 Best bread, viands, fodder, malt, great heteps for the
show place, heteps gilded, heteps for eating, 25,335.
5 Best bread, great loaves of bread for eating, loaves of
barley bread, loaves of each kind, 6,272,431.
6 Food of all kinds, bushels 285,385.
7 Beer, vases various, 486,303.
8 Oil jars, pints 1736.
9 Wax, ten 3100.
10 Shaut? khitana? corn Southern, bushels 309,215.
11 Grapes, raisins, sacks 866.
12 Papyrus for sandals, yards 15,110.
13 Papyrus roots, apt 26,782.
14 Dates, bushels 930.
15 Flax, hanks 150.
PLATE 73.
1 Leather for sandals, 3720.
2 Pottery3 vases for wells, 9610.
3 Fish, various, 490,000.
4 Pottery for ponds with fish having wooden bowls, 440.
5 Vegetables, flowers, grass papyrus, fodder seeds, handful
I9>13°,°32-
6 Land prepared for olives, making arouras 10,003^.
7 Orchards of all sorts of trees, prepared, 6.
8 Places for cutting wood, i.
9 Fire wood, blocks i.
10 Charcoal, masor 3367.
1 1 Incense, honey, oil, hair oil, fat, fruits, all kinds, fodder,
milk, jars various, 1,933,766.
12 Gold, silver, real stones, images of HAPI/ nusa 48,236.
1 Kind of or portion of corn. * Kind of grain.
3 Karh, the modern gooleh, or water vase, here used for pottery in
general.
4 The Nile god.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 45
13 Real lapis lazuli, real turquoise, precious stone, lead,
stone vases, statues of the HAPI,' 193,370.
14 Sycamore figures of HAPI,' and REPA the wife of HAPI,
12,158.
15 Stone, abu* 31,650.
1 6 Stone abanu* bunches 60.
PLATE 74.
1 Mensh stone, jars 3.
2 Khenti? sent * 380.
3 Emerald,6 bunches 72.
4 Emerald,6 kat 32,500.
5 Nifu flowers, bundles 46,040.
6 Nifu flowers, pessas 310.
7 BanniS stone, besa* 351.
8 Hides of oxen, 37.
9 Fig flowers, 2300.
10 Hair of the palm, 2300.
11 Corn, bushels, divine supplies of the festivals of the
heaven, festivals of the beginning of the year which he
gave to these gods
12 in addition to the divine offerings, in addition by daily
increase to redouble what was before, bushels 5,279,552.
HISTORICAL PART.9
PLATE 75.
i Said the King the Son of the Sun RA-USER-MA, Beloved
of AMEN, the Living, the Great God, to the Chiefs, the
leaders of the land, the infantry and cavalry, the Sharu-
tana,10 numerous mercenaries
1 The god of the Nile. 3 Measure or shape.
3 Kind of stone or gem. 4 A kind of paint or mineral.
5 Drop-shaped jars like the Greek alabastos.
6 Kassa, alabaster rather, as kasem is emerald if kassa is not a grain.
7 A valuable kind of stone. Coptic bnoni. 8 Seats.
9 Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch., Vol. II., Part 2., p. 355.
10 Sardinian mercenaries who preceded at this early period the Greek
in the Egyptian service.
46 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
2 and all the natives of the land of Tameri,1 listen to what
I tell you of my meritorious works which I performed
as King of mortals. The land of Kami "
3 had fallen into confusion every one was doing what he
wished, they had no superior for many years who had
priority over the others. The land of Egypt was
4 under Chiefs of nomes, each person killing the other
for ambition and jealousy. Other events coming after
it distressing years, A-AR-SU a Kharu3
5 amongst them as Chief. He placed the whole country
in subjection before him, one assembled his companions.
Then were abused the things done to the gods as for
6 men, no offerings were made in the interior of temples,
the gods were overthrown and laid upon the ground, he did
according to his wish and plan.
7 They4 set up their son who emanates from their limbs
to be the living Ruler of every land in their place the
great RA-USER-SHAU, the Approved of the Sun, the Living,
Son of the Sun, RA, SETNEKHTS the Dearly beloved of
AMMON, the Living.
8 He was as KHEPRA,* SET,' when he is indignant, he
adjusted the whole land which was in insurrection, he
slaughtered the abominable who were in the land of
Tameri,1 was purified
9 the great throne of Kami.5 He was living Ruler of both
countries. He took trouble to set up what was perverted.
Each one recognised his brother who were separated as by
a wall.
10 He set up temples with divine supplies for offerings to
the company of the gods according to the regulations. He
1 Northern Egypt. 2 Egypt in general.
3 A Syrian, of Northern Palestine. 4 The gods.
5 Or Nekhtset; but Setnekht resembles Amennekht, which is found.
6 Creator god, form of Ra the sun. 7 Typhon.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 47
promoted me for the noble heir in the place of SEE.' I
became great head of the lands of Kami' commanding
PLATE 76.
1 the entire land assembled in one place. He was
setting in its horizon as the company of the gods. They
had made it for him, rowed in his royal boat upon the
river.
2 He descended to his abode of eternity in the Western
Uas.3 Was father AMEN, the Lord of the gods, RA, TUM,
PTAH the handsome face, crowning me as Lord of the
two countries, in place of my progenitor. I received the
title of my father
3 with joy. The land was in peace. It was rejoicing at
the offerings. They rejoiced at seeing me living Ruler of
the two countries like HORUS who rules the two lands
in place of OSIRIS, crowned
4 in the Atf crown having the urceus, I put on the sacred
crown of two plumes, like TATANEN,* thou art seated on
the throne of HORUS, Lord of the two horizons,5 thou art
adorned with ornaments like TUM.
5 I made Ta-meri6 to be with numerous youths, with
Officers of the palace, great Chiefs of the armies, and
cavalry numerous as millions, Sharutana7
6 and Kahaka8 without number with subjects by tens of
thousands of Tameri6 I enlarged the frontiers of Egypt
on all sides, I overthrew those who invaded them in their
7 lands I slaughtered the Taanau9 in their islands, the
Thakaru,10 the Pulusata," making to be consumed the
Sharutana,7 the Uashesh " of the sea.
1 Saturn, or Chronos. a Egypt in general. 3 Gournah.
4 Ptah, Lord of Memphis. 5 Harmachis. 6 Northern Egypt.
* Sardinian mercenaries who preceded at this early period the Greek
in the Egyptian service.
8 Unknown people in Egyptian service. ' Dauni or Danai.
10 Teucrians. " Pelasgi, or Philistines. " Osci.
48 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
8 They were made as if they were not existing, captured
at once and led in captivity to Egypt like the sands of the
shore. I enclosed them in a fortress fettered in my
name, numerous were
9 their youth like hundreds of thousands, I compelled
them entirely (to bear tribute of) clothes, and corn in the
treasuries and granaries every year. I made an attack
on the Sa-a-ru,1 of the tribes of
10 the Shasu2 I spoiled their villages of men an.d things,
cattle also, bound and led them captive as tribute to
Egypt.
ill gave them to the gods as slaves for the temple. Lo I
look that you see the other events which happened in
Egypt under my government. The Rubu3 and
PLATE 77.
1 Mashuash4 were seated in Kami5 they took the cities on
the Western side from Ha-ka-ptah6 as far as Karbana
reaching the great river on its entire side
2 for they had captured the town of Kaukut.7 For many
years they were in Egypt. Lo I routed and slaughtered
them at once overthrowing
3 the Mashuash,4 the Rubu,3 the Merbasat,8 the
Kaikasha,9 the Shai,10 the Hasa,11 the Bakana," killing
them, in their blood making like heaps.
4 I made them retreat over the confines of Egypt, I
brought the remains from my sword13 as numerous cap-
tives flying like fowl before horses, their wives and
children as tens of thousands,
5 their cattle in number as hundreds of thousands. I
1 Mount Seir. 2 The Shos or shepherds. 3 Libyans.
4 Maxyes. 5 Egypt. 6 Memphis. 7 Northern Heroopolis.
8 Unknown. 9 Hellenic or Libyan race like the Achaioi.
10 Unknown people. " Unknown people. " Unknown people.
13 What was left alive from my sword.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 49
seized their Captains in a fortress in my name. I made
the Chiefs of the bowmen, I gave to them the great men
of the tribes, branded,1 made
6 slaves, of the ships in my name, their women and children
I treated in the same manner. I brought their cattle to
the house of AMEN given to him as a herd for eternity.
7 I made a very large well in the land of Aina. It is
enclosed by a wall like a mountain of granite of 20 square
feet on the basis 30 cubits high like a tower. Its doorpost
8 made of cedar wood, their locks of bronze with bolts.
I built large vessels and transports, all equipped with
numerous workmen, and many servants. Their
9 Captains of ships on them with surveyors and labourers
to provide them with the products of Kami2 without
number, sailing away on the great sea
10 of the waters of Kat,3 they set out for the land of Punt,4
no mischief happens to them arriving safe. Laden are
the ships and transports with all the products of T-aneters
1 1 with all the unknown marvels of their land, the numerous
spices of Punt4 laden as thousands innumerable. The
nobility of Ta-neter5 going at the head of their tributes
12 in the direction of Kami.2 They depart, they arrive at
the land of Kaba,6 they anchor in peace with the pro-
ducts they carried. Discharged on the landing on asses,
on men, and loaded in
13 boats on the river and canals of Kaba,6 they come with
averted faces,7 arriving with festivals having brought their
tribute like marvels their nobility adoring my face,
PLATE 78.
1 smelling the ground, prostrated before me. I gave
1 Abu, burnt in some way and then converted into slaves.
2 Egypt. 3 Either the Red Sea or "water encircling the land."
4 Regio Barbarica, Somali. 5 Southern Arabia, or Socotora.
6 Coptos. ' Or sailing on them.
VOL. VIII. 5
50 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
them to the circle of all the gods of this country to satisfy
their priorities every morning. I sent out messengers
2 to the land of Ataka1 for the great foundries of copper
which are in that place. Their transport vessels were
loaded, having the rest by conveyance on their
3 asses. (Such) has not been heard of since there were
kings. Having found their foundries (they were) loaded
with ore, loaded as tens of thousands on their ships of
burthen.
4 They moved along with their faces to Egypt arriving
safely. The cargo was piled up in the magazines in
bricks of ore as it were hundreds of thousands they were
of the colour
5 of gold. I let the people see them like marvels. I
sent Officers and Chiefs to the land of Maf ka * of my
mother ATHOR mistress of turquoises carrying to her
silver, gold, linen mixed linen things
6 numerous like the sand. There were brought to me
marvels of real turquoises in numerous bags carried before
me not to be seen again
8 while there are kings. I made to be planted the entire
land with trees in leaf. I let the people sit in their shade.
I let walk
9 the woman of Ta-mera at great pace3 to the place she
wished, no wretch or persons molested her in the way. I
made to repose the infantry and cavalry
10 in my time the Sharutana,4 and Kahaka5 in their towns
laying down the length of (their) backs. They were not
on the look out, they did not attack
1 Unknown land, perhaps Taqa in /Ethiopia.
2 The land of the Turquoise, or Mount Sinai, especially the Sarbit el
Khadem.
3 Rat itskh, " feet extended," go along out of doors.
4 Sardinian mercenaries. s Libyan mercenaries.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III. 51
1 1 Kush,1 the enemies of Kharu." (Their) bows (and) arms
reposed in their arsenals. They ate and drank in jubilee,
1 2 their wives with them, and their children at their side
they did not look behind them their hearts were pleased.
I was amongst them, a protector defending their limbs
13 I gave the whole land to live the inferiors, the in-
telligent, mankind, the illumined, men as well as women
I released a person from his offence, I gave to him breath.
PLATE 79.
1 I delivered him from the force weighing heavily upon
him. I put every man in his way3 in their towns. I let
the others live in the halls of the gate4
2 I set right the land afresh which was retrograding. The
land was well satisfied under my reign. I did well to
gods and men also.
3 There was nothing coming to me from any person. I
made my reign on earth as Ruler of the two countries.
You were the slaves under my feet, I did not trample.
You are
4 excellent in my heart as your presents.5 You are
fulfilling my orders and my words. Lo I go down to
Akert6 like father RA.'
5 I join the circle of the gods in heaven, earth and depths
AMEN-RA places my son on my seat he receives my
dignities in peace as Chief of the two lands sitting on the
throne
6 of HORUS and Lord of the two worlds join the atef
crown
6 like TATUNEN," RA-USER-MA-SOTEP-EN-AMEN, the Living
1 /Ethiopia. * Syria.
3 Maten, possibly "at ease." 4 Slau, or depth, " each man in his porch."
5 " In conformity to my presents." 6 The lower regions.
7 The setting sun. 8 Ptah or Patah.
5*
52 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
the first-born son of RA who begat himself RAMESES-
HEK-MA-MER-AMEN the Living
7 the Beloved son of AMEN, issuing from his body crowned
as Lord of the two lands like TATUNEN* he is the true
approved by his father. Adhere to his sandals
8 smell the ground before him, stoop to him, serve him at
every time, adore him, implore him, magnify his goodness
as you do
9 to RAS every morning, offer your tributes to him at his
splendid palace. Conduct to him the blessings of lands,
and nations who are full of his words
10 and his orders. These are taken by you as a treasure
which is a precept. You are safe under his spirits. Work
for him as one head in all his toils carrying monuments
for him, digging for him
1 1 canals. Oh make for him the works of your hands,
acquire his favour by his supplies daily. AMEN has
ordered to him his kingdom upon earth, he multiplies his
time of life
1 2 more than any King the King of Upper and Lower
Egypt the Lord of both lands RA-USER-MA-SOTEP-EN-
AMEN, the Living, the Son of RA, Lord of Diadems
RAMESES-HEK-MA-MER-AMON, the Living, giving life in
eternity.
1 Rameses IV. * Ptah or Patah. 3 Here the rising sun.
53
ABSTRACT
OF CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS IN
A CASE OF CONSPIRACY
IN THE TIME OF RAMESES III.
TRANSLATED BY
P. LE P. RENOUF.
''PHE following is the translation of a hieratic text
contained in a papyrus belonging to the Royal
Museum at Turin, and known to scholars under the
title of Le Papyrus Judicaire de Turin, given to it by
M. Deveria, who first published it in the Journal
Asiatique of 1865, with a translation and dissertation
extending over several numbers of the journal. The
whole has also appeared as a separate publication.
The document is unfortunately imperfect ; the first
page, which certainly set forth the nature of the
case, being almost entirely destroyed. This defect
is the more to be lamented because the pages
which have been preserved throw but little light
upon the nature of the crimes of the accused
54 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
persons. There was undoubtedly a conspiracy
against the person of the sovereign, but we are
left in the dark as to the kind of mischief in-
tended by the conspirators. The text abounds in
other difficulties which our present imperfect acquaint-
ance with Egyptian archaeology does not enable us to
overcome. One of the criminals, for instance, is
" Fan-bearer of the Auit." I confess that I do not
yet know of any satisfactory translation of the word
Auit, which represents a corporation of some kind.
M. Deveria connected the word with the notion of
slaughter, but M. Chabas has shown how utterly
erroneous is this supposition. Nor am I able to ex-
plain the exact nature of the Pa-cJient, which was
apparently a part of the royal palace or court. It is
certainly a gross error to translate the word by
"harem," as M. Deveria has done. "Women of the
Pa-chent" no more imply an Egyptian harem than
" Ladies of the Bedchamber " imply an English in-
stitution of the same nature. We must be content
for the present with leaving certain Egyptian words
untranslated, till we are sure that the right English
equivalent has been discovered.
The most faulty portion of M. Deveria's transla-
tion is the royal declaration at the commencement.
A CASE OF CONSPIRACY. 55
According to it Rameses handed the accused over to a
tribunal, not for trial but for execution, as if the
judges were but the instruments of the despot's
arbitrary will. M. Chabas has, in a most valuable
dissertation on the subject (Melanges Egyptologiques,
^hne series, lere livraisori), shown that such a trans-
lation is in direct opposition to the original text,
according to which the Egyptian monarch, far from
asserting the criminality of the accused, declares that
" as to the talk which men hold he knows it not,"
that the judges are to find out the truth, to punish
the guilty, but to beware of inflicting chastisement
upon those who do not deserve it.
The name of one of the criminals, the major-domo,
Paibakakamen, occurs on a contemporary document
of which three fragments remain.1 This latter text,
which was also an abstract of criminal proceedings,
dealt with a case of sorcery. A book of magic
receipts, wax figures and love charms are mentioned,
and a hand is said to have been paralyzed. Pai-
bakakamen is named as having received the wax
figures and prescriptions for paralyzing human limbs.
1 Two of these fragments are called the Lee Papyrus, and a facsimile of
them is given in Sharpe's Egyptian Inscriptions, Part II., Plates 87 and 88.
The third is called the Papyrus Rollin, and the facsimile of it was published
by M. Deveria, in his dissertation on the Turin Papyrus.
56 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
It will be remarked that no less than three of the
persons named in the earlier part of the following
document as members of the judicial commission
(Paibasat, the scribe Mai, and the fan-bearer Hora)
appear later on in the position of accomplices in the
conspiracy, and are condemned to death.
The expression au-f mut-nef t'csef, which I have
translated " he suffered death," is a very remarkable
one. The pronoun t'esef has a reflexive force, and
very emphatically marks the agent of the deed or
the efficient cause of the state expressed by the verb.
As yeper t'esef signifies avroyevijs, "self-existent," so
mut t'esef has the sense of avrodavaros, " dying by
one's own hand."
The grammatical reasons are sufficient to convince
me that all the criminals here condemned to death
suffered by their own hand. There ought, surely, to
be nothing startling in this if we remember that in
the most civilized state of Greece (and indeed of all
antiquity) persons condemned to death were ordinarily
obliged to be their own executioners.
57
ABSTRACT
OF CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS IN
A CASE OF CONSPIRACY.
PAGE 2.
1 Those whom the land accuseth I give them in charge of
the Overseer of the Treasury MENTU-EM-TAUI, the Over-
seer of the Treasury PAIF-RE-UT,
2 the Fanbearer KARE, the Comptroller PAIBASAT, the
Comptroller KATENTEN, the Comptroller BARMAHAR,
3 the Comptroller PA-ARISENNU, the Comptroller TAHUTI-
RECH-NEFER, the royal Reporter PEN-RENNU, the Scribe
MAI,
4 the Scribe PA-RA-EM-HEB of the Library, HORA the Fan-
bearer of the Auit ;
5 to wit : As to the talk which men hold I know it not ;
go ye and judge them,
6 going and judging and inflicting death upon their bodies
who have inflicted death with their hand.
7 I know them not ' and chastising the others . .
. . .' in very truth I know them not. Now then
8 go ' take heart and beware of inflicting chastise-
ment
9 upon 2
1 Lacunae.
* The gap here destroys the context. M. Chabas translates, " Gardez
vous de faire chatier quiconque serait prevenu de delit. Et sur qui cela
ne tombe pas, relativement k eux. Ne resistez pas."
58 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
PAGE 3.
1 As to all that hath been done, those who have done it,
2 let all that they have done be upon their head.
3 I am a protector and a defender for ever. I am
4 with the Kings of Justice who are in presence of
5 AMEN-RA, the King of the gods and in presence of the
watchful one, the everlasting King.
PAGE 4.
1 Persons brought up for the high crimes which they had
committed and presented at the seat of judgment in pre-
sence of the high magistrates of the seat of judgment in
order that they should be judged by the Overseer of the
Treasury MENTU-EM-TAUI, the Overseer of the Treasury
PAIF-RE-UT, the Fanbearer KARE, the Comptroller
PAIBASAT, the Comptroller KATENTEN, the Comptroller
BARMAHAR, the Comptroller PAARISENNU, the Scribe
MAI, the Scribe PA-RA-EM-HEB of the Library, HORA
the Fanbearer of the Auit, who judged them and
found them guilty and caused their chastisements to
be inflicted upon them and their crimes were done
away with.1
2 The great criminal PAI-BAKAKAMEN, a Major-domo. He
was brought up on account of his offence which he com-
mitted for the sake of TAIA and the women of the Chent.
He had made one with them. He had carried abroad
their words to their mothers and sisters who were there to
stir up men and incite malefactors to do wrong to their
Lord. He was presented before the great Magistrates of
the seat of judgment. They investigated his crimes and
found the verdict, that he had committed them and that
1 Expiated. (?)
A CASE OF CONSPIRACY. 59
his crimes had been consummated by him. The Magis-
trates who judged him caused his punishment to be in-
flicted upon him.
3 The great criminal MEST-SU-RA, a Comptroller. He was
brought up on account of his offence which he committed
for the sake of PAI-BAKA-KAMEN, the Major-domo, with
the women in stirring up malefactors to do wrong to their
Lord. He was presented before the great Magistrates of
the seat of judgment. They investigated his crimes and
found the verdict, that he had committed them and that
his crimes had been consummated by him. The Magis-
trates who judged him caused his punishment to be in-
flicted upon him.
4 The great criminal PA-AN-AUK, royal Overseer of the
royal : of the Pa-chent on service. He was brought
up for having made one with PAI-BAKA-KAMEN and
MEST-SU-RA. He was presented before the great Magis-
trates of the seat of judgment. They investigated his
crimes and found the verdict, that he had committed them
and that his crimes had been consummated by him.
The Magistrates who judged him caused his punishment
to be inflicted upon him.
5 The great criminal PEN-TUAUU, royal Scribe of the
Pa-chent on service. He was brought up for having made
one with PAI-BAKA-KAMEN and MEST-SU-RA, and the other
criminal Overseer of the royal1 and the women of the
Pa-chent. He was presented before the great Magistrates
of the seat of judgment. They investigated his crimes
and found the verdict, that he had committed them and
that his crimes had been consummated by him. The
Magistrates who judged him caused his punishment to be
inflicted upon him.
6 The great criminal PA-NIFU-EMTA-AMEN Examiner of the
1 The sign which occurs here is doubtful.
60 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
Pa-chent on service. He was brought up for giving ear to
the conversation held by the men conspiring with the
women of the Pa-chent and not bringing it forward against
them. He was presented before the great Magistrates of
the seat of judgment. They investigated his crimes and
found the verdict, that he had committed them and that
his crimes had been consummated by him. The Magis-
trates who judged him caused his punishment to be in-
flicted upon him.
7 The great criminal KARPUSA Examiner of the Pa-chent
on service. He was brought up for giving ear to the con-
versation held by the men conspiring with the women of
the Pa-chent and not bringing it forward against them.
He was presented before the great Magistrates of the seat
of judgment. They investigated his crimes and found the
verdict, that he had committed them and that his crimes
had been consummated by him. The Magistrates who
judged him caused his punishment to be inflicted upon
him.
8 The great criminal CHA-EM-APT Examiner of the Pa-chent
on service. He was brought up for giving ear to the con-
versation held by the men conspiring with the women of
the Pa-chent and not bringing it forward against them.
He was presented before the great Magistrates of the seat
of judgment. They investigated his crimes and found
the verdict, that he had committed them and that his
crimes had been consummated by him. The Magistrates
who judged him caused his punishment to be inflicted
upon him.
9 The great criminal CHA-EM-MAA-EN-RE Examiner of the
Pa-chent on service. He was brought up for giving ear to
the conversation held by the men conspiring with the
women of the Pa-chent and not bringing it forward against
them. He was presented before the great Magistrates of
A CASE OF CONSPIRACY. 6 1
the seat of judgment. They investigated his crimes and
found the verdict, that he had committed them and that
his crimes had been consummated by him. The Magis-
trates who judged him caused his punishment to be in-
flicted upon him.
10 The great criminal SETI-EM-PA-TAHUTI Examiner of the
Pa-chent on service. He was brought up for giving ear to
the conversation held by the men conspiring with the
women of the Pa-chent and not bringing it forward against
them. He was presented before the great Magistrates of
the seat of judgment. They investigated his crimes and
found the verdict, that he had committed them and that
his crimes had been consummated by him. The Magis-
trates who judged him caused his punishmeut to be in-
flicted upon him.
11 The great criminal SETI-EM-PA-AMEN Examiner of the Pa-
chent on service. He was brought up for giving ear to the
conversation held by the men conspiring with the women of
the Pa-chent and not bringing it forward against them.
He was presented before the great Magistrates of the seat
of judgment. They investigated his crimes and found the
verdict, that he had committed them and that his crimes
had been consummated by him. The Magistrates who
judged him caused his punishment to be inflicted upon
him.
12 The great criminal UARMA, a Comptroller. He was
brought up for having given ear to what was said by the
Major-domo. He turned away from it but concealed it and
did not report it. He was presented before the great Magis-
trates of the seat of judgment. They investigated his
crimes and found the verdict, that he had committed them
and that his crimes had been consummated by him. The
Magistrates who judged him caused his punishment to be
inflicted upon him.
62 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
13 The great criminal ASH-HEBS-HEB a servant of PAI-
BAKA-KAMEN. He was brought up for having given ear
to what was said by PAI-BAKA-KAMEN, he conversed with
him, and did not report it. He was presented before the
great Magistrates of the seat of judgment. They in-
vestigated his crimes and found the verdict, that he had
committed them and that his crimes had been con-
summated by him. The Magistrates who judged him
caused his punishment to be inflicted upon him.
14 The great criminal PA-RAKA Comptroller and Scribe of
the double house of life. He was brought up for his
offence which he committed for the sake of PAI-BAKA-
KAMEN, for he heard words from him but did not report
them. He was presented before the great Magistrates of
the seat of judgment. They investigated his crimes and
found the verdict, that he had committed them and that
his crimes had been consummated by him. The Magis-
trates who judged him caused his punishment to be in-
flicted upon him.
15 The great criminal REBU-ININI, a Comptroller. He was
brought up for his offence which he committed for the
sake of PAI-BAKA-KAMEN for he heard words from him
but did not report them. He was presented before the
great Magistrates of the seat of judgment. They in-
vestigated his crimes and found the verdict, that he had
committed them and that his crimes had been consum-
mated by him. The Magistrates who judged him caused
his punishment to be inflicted upon him.
PAGE 5.
i The wives of the men of the gates of the Pa-chent
when in company with the men had communication in
words. They were brought up before the high Magistrates
A CASE OF CONSPIRACY. 63
of the seat of justice who found them guilty and caused
their chastisements to be inflicted upon them.
2 The great criminal PAI-ARI-SELMA Overseer of the
Treasury. He was brought up for his offence which he
committed for the sake of the great criminal PEN-HUI-BAN ;
he had made one with him in inciting malefactors to do
wrong to their Lord. He was presented before the great
Magistrates of the seat of judgment. They investigated
his crimes and found the verdict, that he had committed
them and that his crimes had been consummated by him.
The Magistrates who judged him caused his punishment
to be inflicted upon him.
3 The great criminal BAN-EM-US ET, Captain of archers of
Ethiopia. He was brought up on account of the message
which had been sent by his sister of the Pa-chent on
service, to this effect, Incite the men to commit crime,
and do thou thyself come to do wrong to thy Lord. He
was presented before KATENTEN, BARMAHAR, PAARI-
SENNU, TAHUTI-RECH-NEFER, who judged him and found
him guilty and caused his chastisement to be inflicted on
him.
4 Persons brought up for their crimes and offences
which they committed for the sake of PAI-BAKA-KAMEN,
PAI-AS, and PEN-TA-URA. They were presented before the
high Magistrates who judged them and found them guilty
and disposed of them in the place of judgment. They
suffered death,1 no expiation was made for them.
5 The great criminal PAI-AS, Captain of archers ; the great
criminal MESSUI, Scribe of the Double House of Life;
the great criminal PA-RA-KAMEN-EF, superior Officer ; the
great criminal I-ARI, Overseer of the libations of Sechet ;
the great criminal NEB-TEFAU, Comptroller; the great
criminal SHAT-M ESTER, Scribe of the Double House of Life.
1 On this expression see the last paragraph of the introductory notice.
64 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
6 Persons brought up for their crimes to the seat of
justice before KATENTEN, BARMAHAR, PA-ARI-SENNU,
TAHUTI-RECH-NEFER (MERTI-US-AMEN), who judged them
for their crimes, and found them guilty and disposed of
them at the place. They suffered death.
7 PEN-TA-URA, who is also called by another name. He
was brought up on account of his offence which he com-
mitted for the sake of TAIA his mother, when she com-
municated words with the women of the Pa-chent with
intent of doing wrong to his Lord. He was presented
before the Comptrollers that he might be judged, who found
him guilty and disposed of him at his place. He suffered
death.
8 The great criminal HAN-UTEN-AMEN, a Comptroller. He
was brought up on account of the crimes of the women of
the Pa-chent. He was on the premises and heard, but
did not make a report. He was presented before the
Comptrollers to be judged, who found him guilty, and dis-
posed of him at his place. He suffered death.
9 The great criminal AMEN-CHAU, Tennu1 of the Pa-chent
on service. He was brought up on account of the crimes
of the women of the Pa-chent. He was on the premises
and heard but did not make a report. He was presented
before the Comptrollers to be judged, who found him guilty
and disposed of him at his place. He suffered death.
10 The great criminal PA-ARIU, Scribe of the royal of
the Pa-chent on service. He was brought up on account
of the crimes of the women of the Pa-chent. He was on
the premises and heard but did not make a report. He
was presented before the Comptrollers to be judged, who
found him guilty and disposed of him at his place. He
suffered death.
1 Tennu is the title of an officer of exalted rank.
A CASE OF CONSPIRACY. 65
PAGE 6.
1 Persons who suffered punishment by amputation of
noses and ears in consequence of the failure of the
favourable evidence which they have given. The women
departed, and arrived at the place where they now are and
where they make a beer-house ' together with PA-AS, and
their crimes are done away with.
2 The great criminal PAIBASAT, a Comptroller. The chas-
tisement was inflicted upon him, and he was disposed of.
He suffered death.
3 The great criminal MAI, a Scribe of the Library.
4 The great criminal TAIA-NECHTUTA, Officer of the
Auait.
5 The great criminal NANAI, Superior of the Se-ashtu.
6 A person one with them who prevaricated with very
evil words. He was disposed of, and no expiation was
made for him.
7 The great criminal HORA, Fanbearer of the Auait.
1 Sic. This was their occupation in penal servitude. Instead of heket,
' beer," M. Deveria reads heker which he translates " torture."
VOL. VIII.
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE GOLD MINES
AT RHEDESIEH AND KUBAN.
TRANSLATED BY
S. BIRCH, LL. D.
'"THE inscriptions relative to the gold mines at
Rhedesieh consist of those inscribed on the walls
of the temple at that site which is at present called
Wady-Abbas. They have been published by Lep-
sius, Denkmaeler aus Aegvpten imd Aethwpen, Abth.
III., Bl. 139-141, partly translated by M. Chabas,
Les Inscriptiones des Mines d'or, 4to., Paris, 1862, and
are of the age of Seti I. of the XlXth Dynasty, and
dated in his ninth year. The other inscription is on
a tablet found at Kuban on the Eastern bank of the
Nile, opposite Dekkeh the ancient Pselcis, Kuban
being the old Contra Pselcis, a fortified post com-
menced by Amenemha III. and continued till the
reign of Rameses XIII. It was published by M.
Prisse d'Avesnnes, Monuments Egypticns, PI. xxi.
68 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
and is at Uriage in France, the chateau of Cte. St.
Ferriol. Translations of this tablet have been pub-
lished by Birch, Archceologia, xxxiv. p. 357, M. Chabas,
Une Inscription Historiqne de Scti /., 4to., Chalons-
sur-Saone, 1856, and in the Inscriptions dcs Mines d'or
already cited. The inscription is thirty-eight lines,
and the tablet of sandstone is about five feet high.
The tablet is vaulted, and has two scenes above, re-
presenting Rameses II. offering to Horus, lord of the
town of Bak or Aboccis, and to Khem, resident in
the hill or mountain, the district being called "the
countries towards the mountains." The text possesses
great interest on account of its throwing considerable
light upon the relations of Egypt on its Southern
frontiers, and the precautions taken to secure access
to the gold mines, the same as to the supposed
emerald mines of Zabarah, to Avhich a series of
stations conducted from Redesieh to the East, the
site and plan on the papyrus closely resembling the
locality as figured by Cailliaud, Voyage a I' Oasis de
Thebes, fo., Paris, 1821, PI. i. I.
69
INSCRIPTION OF SETI I. AT RHEDESIEH.
Lepsius, Denkmaler, iii., 140 b.
1 THE Qth year the 28th day of the month Tybi, of the reign
of the living RA, HAREMAKHU,' the Strong Bull, crowned
in Uas,* giving life to the Upper and Lower country, Lord
of the vulture and urceus diadem,3 the Born again, the
prevailing scimitar, pursuer of the Nine bows,4 the Golden
Hawk, repeater of diadems,5 strong over the bows 6 of all
countries, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, RA-MA-
MEN, Son of the Sun, SETI, Beloved of AMEN, Ever living.
That day the King was engaged about the countries
situated on the side of the mountains, his heart wished
2 to see the mines whence the gold is brought. WhentheKing
went up there with those acquainted with the water courses
. . . .' he made a halt on the road to meditate quietly in his
heart he said (there is) no road without water it is a place
3 where travellers succumb to the parchings of their throats.
Where is the place that they can quench their thirst? the
country is distant the region is vast. The man overtaken
by thirst cries out " Land of perdition." They come
4 to acquit towards me their obligations I will make for
them the action of allowing them to live. They will offer a
worship to my name in the course of years : they will come
and their generations to come will be as charmed as I am
on account of my power for I am regarding the 7
5 of those around me. When the King had said these
1 Harmachis. * The Thebaid.
3 The vulture represented Neneb or Nishm or the goddess Eileithyia,
the Upper country; the uraeus serpent Uati or Buto, the Delta, or Lower
country. 4 Put, or the Libyans.
s Or else mes, "the second of those born."
6 Or foreigners, the Petti or Phut. 7 Lacunae.
70 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
words in his heart he elevated himself in the country
seeking a place to make there an august sanctuary con-
taining a god, to render worship, and address prayers to
him. He was pleased to assemble the workmen
6 working the stone to establish there a cistern on the
mountains in the desire of sustaining the fainting, in sup-
plying him fresh water at the time of heat, in summer. Then
he founded this place in the great name of RA-MA-MEN.
7 The water came there in great abundance like the abime
of Kerti1 of Abu.2 His Majesty said The god has
heard my prayers, the water has come to me out of the
mountains by the gods, the road which wanted water
is made excellent during my reign,
8 (it) does good to the pasturages of the shepherds. The
king doubled the length of the land every time he
extended his arms 3 It suits my heart by order
of god to establish a town and an august
9 sanctuary in the midst of it, a town containing a temple,
and I will construct the sanctuary in this place in the
great name of my fathers the gods, who have made my
words firm, and my name prosperous going round the
nations. Then His Majesty ordered
10 that orders should be given to the superintendent of the
royal masons who were with him and the sacred sculptors :
it was made in an excavation in the mountain, a temple
thus 3 The god RA was placed in his sanctuary,
PTAH and OSIRIS in the great hall HORUS, Isis and RA-
MA-MEN * as parhedral gods
1 1 in this temple. When the monument was finished the
King came to adore his fathers the gods.
1 Locks, caverns, holes, perhaps a well or wells, where the Hapi, or
source of the Nile, was thought to be.
* Elephantine, the Ivory Island. J Lacunae.
4 Seti I., of which Ramamen is the prenomen. The Ta-ha Ra-ma-men,
" temple of Seti I.," and the Ta-\numt Ra-ma-men, " well or tank of Seti I."
SECOND INSCRIPTION AT RHEDESIEH.
Lepsius, Denkmaler, iii., 140 d.
1 THE King of Upper and Lower Egypt RA-MEN-MA, Son
of the Sun, SET: Beloved of PTAH says to his fathers Kings
of Upper Egypt, Kings of Lower Egypt, Rulers, mortals
oh listen to me Superintendents of troops1 of Tameri:' I
call on you to hear
2 the joyous things I call you 3 I have loved each
of your turns has been recompensed as if you were gods
all has been reckoned by me as the company of the gods.
I have said this at the return of my conveyers of the
washers of gold to my temple, that it should be brought
3 to the temple of (AMEN) 3 my temple. Gold are
the limbs of the gods not after yours. Ye are 3
ye say the words of the Sun at his beginning to say My
tint is of pure gold like AMEN the Lord of my temple
4 the name 3 his two eyes were upon his things.
They do not wish to take possession of them. Ye keep
guard against men invading them, because it is to him
like a place a taste of which gives
5 joy 3 should he take the turn if another he is
placed behind to do the same injured in return for injury.
There is no sure turn of fraud. (Says)
6 the King (I wish) to let you know I have set this road
in order to keep you well. I have made the transport of
the gold washings 3
7 in my name . . .3 in . . .3 I make the convoy anew of
the peasants certain under me. I did not bring new
convoyers
1 Bowmen or mercenaries. * Egypt. * Lacunae.
72 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
8 ' (the account) of the work of my prin-
cipal temple by the gangs of my temple. Let every King
who will be hereafter augment my work
9 make firm . . . .* his . . . .' bringing his work to the
temple of JS.A-MA-MEN 2 to gild all their divine types,3
making AMEN, HARMACHIS, PTAH,
10 TAN EN.4 Are . . .' strengthening their hand they rule
the lands with mildness, they overthrow Tesher 5 and
Kenus.6 Their worship is firm their supplies increased.
He satiates
11 those on earth. Hear me, I made 'a well.
When I say in grief should any King who is to be destroy
my plans, let him tell the lands under my jurisdiction. I
am their King, as are they
1 2 to him : a bad turn (after) the gods protected what has
been . . . .* in Annu7 in ... .l to them to answer for
their things and their words as the heat of the flame of a
lamp their limbs (should be) annihilated 8
13 should I have found them to vexing and afflicting my
plans, let him be placed at the block of punishment of
the gate r your things. May he be saved void of
offence ..." to one and another . . . .'
14 the heart of the gods comes and rests with him, for
should there be any Chief who is, he will approach the
King with him, he gives his good order to set up all that
is done in my name. I the god give him to be blessed
on earth he reaches in peace
1 5 • bringing for his worship, for every Chief who is approach-
ing the heart of his Lord to save persons given for others
executed for evil intentions its spark burns his limbs, the
firelight
1 Lacunae. a Seti I. 3 The as'em, or "hawk type."
* Or Tatanen, the usual or portrait type of Ptah. 5 The desert.
6 Nubia. ' Heliopolis. 8 Apparently a curse.
SECOND INSCRIPTION AT RHEDESIEH. 73
16 devours his members, because His Majesty made the
whole of these for their worship the gods of my temple.
Abominates the god he who takes away his men. He
has not 'turned back an afflicting hand except the con-
voyers
1 7 of the washings of gold. I made the temple of RA-MEN-
MA * to be protected safe. It has not been weakened by
any of the men who are in this land by any Commander
of the troops of the gold, by any officer of the country.
Should there be anyone who will take men from them
1 8 placed at the seat shall make him the gods and goddesses
Lords of my temple guarding me in battle every hour in the
as furniture' under their feet for an age and ever. Except
those who are the conveyers of the gold washings of the
temple
19 of RA-MEN-MA in his hand to offer a portion of the gold
working to the temple of RA-MEN-MA. Let every one be
dumb at the tablet of OSIRIS placed behind it.3 His wife
Isis is behind him, his mother is behind him, his children
of the Chiefs of Taser judge with him.
1 Seti I. * Ami-pa. 3 Or, him.
74
THIRD INSCRIPTION AT RHEDESIEH.
Lepsius, Dcnkmaler, iii., 140 d.
1 The living RA the HAREMAKHU/ the Strong Bull
crowned in lias," giving life to the Upper and Lower
country (RA-MA-MEN)3 has made his memorial to his
Father AMEN-RA and the circle of his gods, he has made
to them a temple anew. The gods are delighted in its
shrine ; he has constructed a well before it. Never was
made
2 like by any King except the King, performer of meri-
torious actions, Son of the Sun, SETI, Beloved of PTAH, the
good Leader, giving life to his soldiers, father and mother
of all persons. They have said by mouth to the mouth
of AMEN " Give us the 4 he has augmented for
ever ! Oh gods of the well
3 give ye to him your time of life as he has opened to us
the road to go, laid for us we pass along it, we are well we
are reaching 4 our life. This bye road is in our
hearts.
4 It is a good road. He lets it be the tie of the gold as
thy Chiefs see the HORUS of all the generations which
are to be in what he has vowed for ages. He makes
festivals like TUM he grows young like HAT.
5 So he has made a monument in the lands of all the gods.
He has produced the water out of the hills it goes along
to men (an assistance to all trading) 4 in the lands,
with life established and strong to the King of Upper and
Lower Egypt RA-MA-MEN, Beloved of AMEN-RA, King of
the gods.
1 Harmachis. ' The Thebaid.
3 Erased. 4 Lacunae.
75
TABLET OF RAMESES II., AT KUBAN.
1 The 3rd year 4th of the month Tybi under the reign of
RA, HAREMAKHU/ the strong Bull, Beloved of truth, Lord
of diadems, Protector of Egypt, Chastiser of foreign
countries; the Hawk of Gold, abounding in years, the
greatest of conquerors, the King of Upper and Lower
Egypt, RA-USER-MA-SOTEP-EN-RA, Son of the Sun, RAMES-SU
beloved of AMEN, Living for ever, Beloved of AMEN-RA,
Lord of the thrones of the two countries, who resides
in Ap,
2 crowned on the throne of the god of the living, like his
Father the SUN daily, Good God, Lord of the land of the
South, HAR-HAT, ray of light, the good Hawk of gold,
who covers Kami with his wing and illumines intelli-
gencies, a Bull of courage and victory.
3 When issuing from the womb he was ready to seize his
valour, to enlarge his frontiers, to his limbs was given
a tinge like the forces of MENTU. He is HORUS and SET.
There was joy in heaven at his birth. The gods said
our germ is in him.
4 The goddesses said he has proceeded from us to accom-
plish the reign of the Sun. AMEN said I have formed
him to set truth in his throne, the earth was made strong
the heaven at rest, the company of the gods enjoyed
peace at his hour. He is a strong Bull against Kush " the
vile, a gryphon
5 tearing against the country of the Negroes his claws
1 Harmachis. * ^Ethiopia.
76 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
crush the Annu,1 his horn strikes against them, his wishes
lay hold of Khent-han-nefer,2 the terrors of him reach to
Sakaru 3 his name goes round
6 all the countries, on account of the victories he has
gained by his two arms, gold comes forth at his name as
(at that of) his father HORUS Lord of Baka,4 his rule is
loved by the nations like that of HORUS of Mamaa5 Lord
of Buhen6 the King of Upper and Lower Egypt RA-USER-
MA-SOTEP-EN-RA,
7 Son of the Sun of his body, Lord of diadems, RAMESSU
beloved of AMEN, Everliving like his Father the SUN
daily. His Majesty was then at Ha-Ptah-ka7 offering
homage to his fathers the gods of Upper and Lower
Egypt because they had given to him strength and vic-
tory and a long life
8 of millions of years. One of these same days, the King
was seated on his great throne of gold, wearing the dia-
dem of two feathers giving orders to the countries whence
gold is brought and thinking of
9 establishing cisterns upon the roads wanting water. It
was then said that there was much gold in the country
of Akita8 but that the road was entirely destitute of
water. Complaints came
10 from the transporters of the gold about their condition.
Those who reached there died of thirst on the road as
1 Or the Petti, bowmen, the uncivilized tribes of ^Ethiopia.
' Region above the first Cataract.
3 The Sakole of Ptolemy, further South than Napata.
4 A place between Primis and the second Cataract.
5 Modern Anibe, ancient Mama, between Tachompso and Primis.
6 Boon of Ptolemy, on the East bank of the Nile, South of Pselcis.
7 Or Ha-ka-Ptah, the sacred name of Memphis.
8 Unknown site near Gism Haifa in the desert, or Gebel Ellaqi.
TABLET OF R AMESES II., KUBAN. 77
well as the asses which were with them. They did not
find what they required to drink either in mounting or
descending for the water-skins no more gold was brought
from that arid country. The King said to the royal
Inspector who was with him, Call and let the Chiefs
who are present give
1 2 their advice to the King about this country. I will do
that which shall be proposed. They were made to pass
before the good god,1 the arms raised in adoration to his
person uttering exclamations and prostrating themselves
before his handsome face. They were given a plan of
the country so that they should give
13 their advice about making a tank on its road. They
said before His Majesty, Thou art like the Sun in all that
thou doest. Thy heart realises all it wishes. Should
you wish to make it day during the night it is so forth-
with. (We have taken
14 a great part) in your marvels after you have been
crowned King of the two worlds we have understood
nothing our eyes have seen nothing like them. Every
thing which comes out of your mouth is like the words of
HAREMAKHU," the equilibrium of your tongue, the adjust-
ment of your two lips
1 5 is the exact weight of THOTH. What place of road do
you not know, who then is so finished as thou art. Does
the world contain a place that you do not see. Is there
any country that you do not penetrate as you wish. By
your ears passes
1 6 every thing which can be heard 3 in this country. It is
you who execute all that which is planned. You were in
the egg in the condition of a noble child wearing the lock
1 The king1. * Harmachis.
1 Atennu, form of at, "whisper," or "be heard."
78 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
of hair,1 and there was no offering but it was by your
hand,
17 no message without you. You were made General of
the army, and you were a child completing ten years.
All the works which were done were founded by thy
hand. If you say to the water come from the rock it
will come a torrent
1 8 on a sudden after thy mouth.2 The god RA is like
thee in his limbs, the god KHEPERA in creative force.
Truly thou art the living image of thy father TUM of
Heliopolis. The god Hu3 is in thy mouth, the god SA*
is in thy heart, the place of thy tongue is the sanctuary of
truth, a god is seated on thy two lips. All thy words are
accomplished daily.
1 9 Thy heart has been formed like that of PTAH the creator
of works. Thou art for ever. Thou art for ever. It is
done according to thy plan heard are thy words oh
supreme Chief our Master. It was spoken thus concern-
ing the land of Akita5 and the Prince of the vile Kush6
said
20 of it before His Majesty, It is in the condition of want-
ing water since the time of the god,7 and persons die of
thirst there. All the former Kings wished to make a well
there but could not succeed.8
21 The King RA-MEN-MA9 did the same thing he made a
well 120 cubits deep, in his time it was left in progress,
1 Emblem of youth, the single lock plaited at the right side of the head.
3 Order or word of mouth.
3 Perhaps "Taste" personified. 4 Perhaps "Touch" personified.
5 Unknown site close to Gism Haifa. 6 (Ethiopia.
7 " Since divine times such as Osiris," that is, anterior to the rule of
mortals, or since the commencement of the world.
8 Or form, cut it. 9 Seti I.
TABLET OF RAMESES II., KUBAN. 79
the water did not come in it. If thou thyself sayest to
thy father HAPI '
22 Father of the gods that the water should come forth from
the rock it will be done according to all thou shalt have
said and according to all thy plans. Those who were be-
fore us if their requests have not been heard, it is because
thy fathers all the gods love thee more than any King
23 since the time of the god RA. His Majesty said to
these Chiefs, True true are all your words and prayers.
Water has not been obtained in this country as you have
said. I will make a well to give water daily as to the
24 by order of my Father AMEN-RA, Lord of the thrones of
the world and of the gods, HORUS Lords of Kenus,3 for
they have accorded to my wishes, and I will make in this
country 2
25 " to the height of heaven, said His Majesty . . .2
to the royal scribes "
26 "the " of the road to Akatar4 thy gift.
It happened a month of a day was sent a
27 3 as was done in his face. Then he was ordering
men to make "
28 2 their 2 as the Prince did it. The water
was *
29 3 the road towards Akita5 never was done the
like while there were Kings in '
30 2 great fish in the extended pools of Khatenatah6
making sound its face, creating 3
1 The Nile. " Lacunae. 3 Nubia.
4 Brugsch, Geographic, II., S. 23, compares the name with that of
Gadara in Ccele-Syria.
5 Unknown site close to Gism Haifa.
6 The name of this place occurs in the tablet of Haremhebi. It is the
town of " the valley of the marshes," it was the most Northern point of
Egypt, the lake Menzaleh.
8o RECORDS OF THE PAST.
31 ' like a rudder in the wind, he came having a
letter from the Prince of the vile Rush"
32 he said to Thy Majesty with his own mouth : The water
has come in it to 12 cubits, 4 cubits of them are in the
depth '
33 'it beyond as the god did in fulfilling thy heart
of thy wishes. Never was done l
34 ' Akita3 rejoicing in the great names of HORUS.
Went along '
35 ' the ruler of the water which is in the empyreal
gate, he listened making the water out of the (rock) . . .'
36 'he has as the Prince sending. They were good
in '
37 ' gracious were the plans, excellent the examina-
tions, said T
38 ' that well to be the tank of AMEN-MERI RAMESES
victorious in4 '
1 Lacunae. * ^Ethiopia.
s Unknown site close to Gism Haifa.
4 Amen-meri Ramessu, name of the well or tank.
Si
DECREE OF CAN OPUS,
TRANSLATED BY
S. BIRCH. LL.D.
inscription was found by Professor Lepsius at
San, the ancient Tanis, in 1866, and an account of it
given to the Zcitschrift fur dgyptische Sprache, 1 866,
p. 49. It was written on a tablet of calcareous stone
with a rounded top, having above the winged disk with
pendent uraei, wearing the upper and lower part of the
crown pshcnt and holding feather flabella. The tablet
was about seven feet high, had on its face 37 lines of
hieroglyphs, 76 lines of Greek, and 74 lines of demotic or
enchorial at the right edge. It was completely without
injury, and was subsequently removed to the Museum
of Boulaq, where it now is preserved. It is dated on
the 1 7th the month Tybi, of the gth year of Ptolemy
III., or Ptolemy Euergetes I., B.C. 238, and is
VOL. VIII. 7
82 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
nearly a century older than the Rosetta Stone. In-
valuable for the demonstration of the truth of the
mode of interpreting the hieroglyphs the greater part
of the words had their meaning already discovered.
It has been published by Professor Lepsius, Das
bilingue Dekret von Kanopus, fo., Berlin, 1866; by
Professors Reinisch and Rcessler, Die zweisprachige
Inschrift von San, 8vo., Wien, 1866; and Mr. S.,
Sharpe, The Decree of Canopus, 8vo., London, 1870.
The present inscription is taken from the hieroglyphic
text, but as the original language in which the decree
was drawn up was in the Greek language, of which
the hieroglyphic and demotic versions were para-
phrastic translations, it may be necessary hereafter
to give a translation of the Greek text. As a Greek
inscription alone it is one of the longest and most
important hitherto discovered, and its contents are
new and important for the history, calendar, internal
condition of the priesthood of Egypt upon which the
text throws great light. Amongst other new historical
information it gives that of the association of the
Princess Berenike into the government by her parents,
and her death on the 2oth February, B.C. 239-8.
83
DECREE OF CANOPUS.
1 In year IX 7 the month Apellaios1 the 17 Tybi accord-
ing to the Egyptians under the King of Upper and Lower
Egypt PTOLEMAIOS, the Everliving, Beloved of PTAH, son of
PTOLEMAFOS and ARSINOE, the Brother-gods, when the
Priest of King ALEXANDER the justified, of the Brother-
Gods and of the Benevolent " Gods was APOLLONI-
2 DES, the son of MOSCHION, and MENEKRATEIA, the
daughter of PHILAMMON, was Basket-bearer3 before Queen
ARSINOE, the Brother-loving. On this day followed the
Decree.
The Temple-wardens, the Prophets, the Hierodoules
Priests, all who enter
3 in the sanctuary of the gods to clothe them, the Sacred
Scribes, knowing things, the Divine Fathers, and the (other)
Priests in their rank assembled from Upper and Lower
Egypt on 5 of the month Dios,4 when was celebrated the
birthday fete of His Majesty, and to the 25 day of that
month, when His Majesty assumed
4 the dignity from his father : they assembled in the temple
of the Benevolent Gods, which is in Petkutha5 and
declared. Since King PTOLEMAIOS, the Everliving, the Be-
loved of PTAH, son of PTOLEMAIOS and ARSINOE, the
Sister-gods, ahd the Ruler BERENIKE his sister and wife,
the Benevolent Gods, have made benefits
5 many and great to the temples of Egypt for all time :
since they have ordered very greatly to the gods : since
they have taken perpetual care of the things of the glorious
1 Apellaios, a month of the lunar Macedonian year, corresponding to the
Athenian Maimacterion ; here the I7th March.
* Or " beneficent." Euergetes, Euergetai in the plural.
3 The names of these eponymi controlled the date of the vague year.
4 Another Macedonian month corresponding to the Athenian Pyanep-
sion, 3rd or 4th February. 5 Kanopos.
7*
i>4 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
APIS, MNEVIS, and all animals of the temple which are
protected in Egypt, for whom they assigned great things
supplying numerous things.
6 They took care of the statues of the gods, which had
been robbed by the barbarians of the land Persia1 from
temples of Egypt, since His Majesty had won them
back in his campaign against the two lands of Asia,1 he
brought them to Egypt, and placed them on their places
in the temples, where they had previously stood. He
has kept up peace in Egypt advantageously
7 by warring for its weal in vallies and plain foreign parts,
and marched against many peoples and their Chiefs who
commanded them, they were rendering fortunate those
who live as his subjects, not only inhabitants of Egypt, but
also of all lands subject to their Majesties. When more-
over there happened a year of a deficient waterof Nile during
8 their reign, and all the inhabitants of Egypt became
faint-hearted at this event, for fear, memory made them
think of the dearth which once did occur in the time of the
former Kings, in consequence of the deficiency of the Nile
to the inhabitants of Egypt in their time. His Majesty
and his sister
9 and wife had cared in their hearts, which glowed for the
inhabitants of the temples and the natives of Egypt in its
entire extent, who were very much distressed and bent
down. They remitted considerable taxes, in order to save
men's lives, and took care for importations of corn into
Egypt from the Eastern Rutennu3 from the land Kafatha,4
from the island Nabinaitt,5 which lies in the midst of the
Great Sea,6
10 and from many other lands, since they expended much
white gold 7 for the purchase thereof. They transported
1 By Cambyses. * The Sat. 3 Syria. 4 Phoenicia.
5 Cyprus. * Mediterranean. 7 Or "silver."
DECREE OF CANOPUS. 85
the importation of provisions, to save those living in the
land of Egypt, that these might know their goodness for
ever, and their many virtuous turns whereby both those
who are living, and their posterity and for which the gods
grant them maintenance of their dignities and rule over
Upper and Lower Egypt in reward
1 1 thereof and their reward of goods of all kinds for ever :
with blessing and weal. It came in the heart of the
Priests of Egypt, they increased the numerous things of
the King PTOLEMAIOS, the Everlivmg, the Beloved of PTAH,
and the Ruler BERENIKE, the Benevolent Gods in the
temples, and what (things) were for the parents, the Sister-
Gods, their progenitors, and what was for
1 2 the Saviour Gods, and have ordered an increase of the
Priests thereof in all the temples of Egypt in its full
extent, and that they should be called Priests of the
Benevolent Gods in their name, that they should occupy
a higher rank through the name of their office : and of
their place as Prophet thereof1 writing their name in all
documents, and there shall be incised the title of the
Prophet of the Benevolent Gods in the ring which they
wear in their hand, and that they shall form another
13 caste of the existing Priests, who are in all the temples
and besides the four castes which exist to this day; and it
shall be called the fifth caste of the Benevolent Gods.
Inasmuch as it occurred fortunately with weal and bless-
ing that King PTOLEMAIOS, the Everliving, Beloved of
PTAH, son of the Sister-Gods was born on the 5th of the
month Dios,2 so from this day, as it was
14 already a source of much weal to all living it is
granted that the Priests who had been placed by the
1 Or "to the Prophet."
1 Another Macedonian month corresponding' to the Athenian Pyanep-
sion, 3rd or 4th February.
86 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
King in the temples from this first year of His Majesty,
and those who had been appointed also up to the month
Mesore1 of the 9th year, should be counted as of this
caste, and so their children for ever : but the Priests,
who had been appointed before the first year should be
in the castes
1 5 they were before, as also to their children from this day
for ever, are to be inserted in the registers in the castes
of their fathers. And instead of the twenty Priest
Counsellors, who are yearly elected for one year from the
four castes being five men from each caste, there shall be
nominated twenty-five Priests
1 6 for Counsellors, as five men are to be added out of
the fifth caste of the Benevolent Gods, is to be given a pro-
portion to the number of the fifth caste of the Benevolent
Gods of all dues that arise from the offerings in the temples
and of all things under their charge in the temples, and
their President shall be of the caste a Chief Prophet, as is
now the case with the four other castes. Inasmuch as
was celebrated the festival
1 7 of the Benevolent Gods in all temples in each month
on the 5, 9, and 25th days in consequence of a decree
established before, and similarly as is celebrated* a pane-
gyry of the Great Gods, and a general feast in Egypt
is celebrated yearly in its time so shall similarly be
prepared a great festival in its time to King PTOLEMAOIS
the everliving, the beloved of PTAH,
18 and toQueenBERENiKE,theBenevolentGods,in the Upper
and Lower country and throughout Egypt in its entire ex-
tent, on the day of the rising of the Divine Sothis 2 which
is called the New Year in his name in the writings of
house of life. At present it occurs in this 9th year on ist
day of Payni, in which month is celebrated the festival of
1 Last month of the Egyptian year. * Sirius, or the " dogstar."
DECREE OF CANOPUS. 87
New Year, of the goddess BAST' and the great festival of the
goddess BAST in this month, and also it is the time for the
1 9 collection of all fruits and rise of the Nile. But as the
case will occur, that the rise of Sothis advances to another
day in every 4 years, the day of the celebration of this
feast, shall not pass along but it shall be celebrated
on first day of Payni and the feast shall be celebrated
as in the ninth year.
20 This festival is to be celebrated for 5 days : placing
wreaths of flowers on their head, and placing things on
the altar, and executing the sacrifices and all ceremonies
ordered to be done. But that these feast days shall be
celebrated in definite seasons for them to keep for ever,
and after the plan of the heaven established on this day
2 1 and that the case shall not occur, that all the Egyptian
festivals, now celebrated in winter, shall not be celebrated
some time or other in summer, on account of the pro-
cession of the rising of the Divine Sothis * by one day in
the course of 4 years, and other festivals celebrated in
the summer, in this country, shall not be celebrated in
winter, as has occasionally occurred
22 in past times, therefore it shall be, that the year of 360
days and the 5 days added to their end, so one day as
feast of Benevolent Gods be from this day after every
4 years added to the 5 epagomense3 before the new
year, whereby all men shall learn, that what was a little
defective in the order as regards the sea-
23 sons and the year, as also the opinions which are con-
tained in the rules of the learned on the heavenly orbits,
. are now corrected and improved by the Benevolent Gods.
And since a daughter has been born to King PTOLEMAIOS
the everliving beloved of PTAH and to the Mistress of
1 Called the " Bubasteia." * Sirius, or the "dogstar."
3 Additional or intercalary days.
88 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
both lands BERENIKE, the Benevolent Gods, who was
likewise called BERENIKE and proclaimed as Ruler,
24 as it has happened that this goddess had already re-
turned unexpectedly to heaven in her virgin state
suddenly, so have the Priests who came from the country
to the King, stopping a year in the house of His
Majesty, ordained a great mourning directly at this event
and came praying to the King and Queen, to lay it to
their heart and to permit them
25 to place this goddess with the god OSIRIS in the temple
of Phaqotha1 which is a sanctuary amongst the temples
of the first rank, inasmuch as it is the most important
and is equally honoured by King and inhabitants of
Egypt in its full extent. The entry of OSIRIS in the
holy barque takes place here yearly at the defined time,
at the temple at Akar-
26 bamara" in the month Choiak 2Qth day, and the in-
habitants of temples of first rank throughout make burnt
offerings on the altars of the temples of the first rank,
right and left, in dromos of this sanctuary. And after all
ceremonies are usually performed, which they had per-
formed to her as the goddess, they purified themselves
from mourning for her, which they had prepared
27 and hallowed their hearts by flaming fire, as the custom
is for the burial of APIS and MNEVIS, and they decree
causing that there should be uttered an adoration for
ever to the glory of Queen BERENIKE, daughter of the
Benevolent Gods, to be proclaimed in the temples of
Egypt in its entire length. As her re-union with the gods
occurred in the month Tybi, in the same month
28 and same day wherein entered the daughter of RA into
heaven, when he 3 called her " the eye of the sun and
the uriziis serpent on its front"4 byname, and out of love
1 Kanopos. "~ Herakleion. 3 The god Ra. 4 Ar en Ra Mahcn em ha.tf.
DECREE OF CANOPUS. 89
to her ordered her feasts and a procession to her cele-
brated in the chief temples and in the sanctuaries of the
first rank in the month, wherein the apotheosis of the god-
dess originally occurred. So shall be ordered a feast and
procession for the Queen BERENIKE, the daughter
29 of the Benevolent Gods, in the temples of both lands in
their extent on month Tybi, from the iyth day, when
happened the procession for her, and purification on
account of her mourning for four days.1 There shall also be
erected a statue of the goddess in gold, studded with all
precious stones in the temples of the first rank and
sanctuaries of the second rank throughout and the
30 site thereof shall be the sanctuary of the temple. A
Prophet or one of the Priests is selected to perform the
great lustrations, and the Priests who enter the sanctuary
of the gods to clothe them, may carry it in (his) hands on
the day of the crowning and feasts of the gods throughout,
so that all men adoring it prostrate on the earth may see
it prostrate in its honour, and it shall be called the statue
of BERENIKE
3 1 the Queen of Virgins. And the crown to be placed on
the head of this statue is not to be like the crown of the
statue of her mother Queen BERENIKE, but is to be made
of two ears of corn, and the urceus serpent between them,
and a papyrus sceptre of their height is behind this urceus
serpent, just as the sceptres in the hands of goddesses,
and the tail of the urczus serpent be entwined round
32 this sceptre, to announce by this combination the renown
of the name BERENIKE from its profound meaning
in hieroglyphics. And when are solemnized the days
of KAAUBEK" back in the month Choiak before the
procession of OSIRIS, that the virgin daughters and wives
of the Priests shall get ready another statue of BERENIKE,
1 Literally from first day to days four. 5 The Kikellia of the Greek version.
90 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
of the Queen of Virgins, and there shall be made to her a
burnt offering and things
33 as is proper to be done on the days of this feast : and
other virgins are allowed to show the proper respect to
this goddess as they choose. And female singers shall
chant the praise of this goddess, who are selected for
divine service, and wear the crowns of the gods, being
their Priestesses. And if an early harvest occurs then
shall the Priestesses bring ears of corn in the sanctuaries
34 and place them at the divine statue of this goddess, and
chant to her divine figure by a chorus of singing men and
women, as happens at the feasts and panegyrics of the gods,
in a hymn which the Sacred Scribes shall have written and
given over to the precentor, and the same shall be inscribed
in the sacred writings. Also shall be given provisions to the
Priests in the temple after they have been installed by
35 the King in the temple : henceforward there may be
provisions for Priestess's daughters from their birthdays,
from the divine supplies for support, accords by the Priests,
Counsellors in the temples throughout in proportion of
the divine supplies. And the bread shall be given
36 to the Priests' wives, its preparation shall be stamped as
a loaf and be called " The bread of BERENIKE " by name.
This decree written by the Priests Counsellors in the
temple, and by the Presidents of the temple and the
Scribes of the temple and shall be incised in a stele
37 of stone or bronze in hieroglyphics in writings of the
books,1 and writings of the Greeks, and the stele shall be
erected in the great assembly hall, open to all men in the
temples, first second and third rank, so that all men may
know the honour given Priests of the temples of Egypt
to the benevolent gods and their children, as it is ap-
pointed to be done.
1 Also called epistolary, enchorial or demotic.
THE GREAT MENDES STELE.
XXXIInd DYNASTY.
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN VERSION OF
BRUGSCH-BEY.
'T'HE following inscription is upon a tablet at present
in the Museum at Boulaq, discovered by Brugsch-Bey
in 1871, amidst the ruins of Tmai-el-Amdid. The
tablet is rounded above, and has twenty-eight hori-
zontal lines of hieroglyphs, six of which are destroyed
and seven are in part wanting. Above is the Hut or
winged disk with the following inscription :
" HUT, the great god, Lord of the heaven, the giver of
beams, who comes out of the horizon on the side of
Upper Egypt, and gives a pure life ! "
92 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
And on the other side is mentioned instead,
" The coming out of Lower Egypt."
The snakes are called "Neheb of Eileithyia" and
" Uati of Buto." In the area are represented a ram
wearing a disk and horns and covering on a pedestal,
and the following inscription :
" The sacred Ram-god, the Great God, the Life of RA,
the Generative Ram, the Prince of young women, the be-
loved of the King's daughter and King's sister, and
Regent of the land, ARSiN7OE the ever-living."
and on the other side,
" The life, the Lord of the land, the Lord of might,
MER-AMEN, the Son of RA of his loins who loves him, the
Lord of diadems, PTOLEMAIOS the Ever-living,"
that is Ptolemy II. Philadelphos. The legend referring
to the ram is :
" The King, the RAM, the Life of RA, the RAM, the Life
of SHU, the RAM, the Life of SEE, the RAM, the Life of
OSIRIS, the RAM of Rams, the Prince of Princes, the heir
in the town of Tanen,"
or Mendes. Behind the ram is a small figure of
Harpocrates seated on a throne, with the following
inscription :
" HARPACHRUT, the Great God of Mendes, on his throne
in Mendes, to whom the world and all that belongs to it
is handed over."
GREAT MENDES STELE. 93-
After him is the god Mendes in his human form
\vearing the atcf crown.
" BA-NEB-TAT the great god the life of RA, the Genera-
tive Ram, the Prince of young women, Lord of Heaven,
King of the Gods, the Giver of Life for to-day and ever."
He says :
" I let before thee the kings of all lands bow them-
selves in respect."
A goddess wearing on her head the fish standard,
emblem of the Mendesian nome, follows Mendes.
She is called
" HAEMEHETI, the mighty of Mendes, the wife of the
god in the temple of the RAM, the Eye of the Sun, the
Lady of heaven, the Ruler of all gods."
She says :
" I give to thee the love in the heart of the god,
annihilated is the intention of thy enemies."
The Queen Arsinoe ends the row of figures, she is
called :
" The Daughter, Sister, Great wife of a King, who loves
him, the god-like PHILADELPHOS ARSINOE."
The tablet has been published by Mariette-Bey,
Monument Divers, fo., Paris, 1875, pi. 43, 44, and the
whole has been described and translated by Brugsch-
94 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
Bey, Die gross c Mendes- Stele a us dcr Zeit dcs Zweiten
Ptolemacrs, in the ZcitscJirift fur cigyptiscJie Sprache
nnd Alterthmnskunde, 1875, S. 33, and foil. This
description has been drawn up from Brugsch-Bey's
article, and the text of the tablet translated by Mr.
Drach from the German translation.
S. BIRCH.
95
THE GREAT MENDES STELE.
1 Long live the SUN-HORUS, the strong youth, the Lord of the
diadems, the glorious, the golden HORUS, who has crowned
his father, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Lord
of the country, the friend of AMEN, to whom the SUN has
granted victory, the Son of the Sun, the Lord of th»
diadems, PTOLEMAIOS, who loves the RAM, who is the
Lord of the city of Mendes, the Great God, the Life of RA,
the Generator, the Prince of young women, the Only God,
the Original male power of gods and men, who reveals him-
self in the region of light with four heads, (that re-
2 present him as) the illuminator of heaven and earth by
his solar splendour, as the one coming in the Nile-stream,
as the one granting life to the terrestrial world, and as the
air for all men : whom the gods praise, whom the god-
desses praise in his form of the Living RAM, who is rich in
male power, who is the Prince of the Deities.
This excellent god' the image of the divine RAM, the
living portrait of him, who dwells in the region of light,
the divine efflux of the prolific RAM, the generator of
. . . .* (was anxious)
3 to preserve the temples, and to adorn the sacred land-
scapes with edifices, he the eldest son of the RAM, the
creator of that which exists, who is enthroned on the seat of
the Prince of the gods, the splendid symbol of the divine
throne-heir of the nomes, who was received3 through him.
1 The Kinjf. * Lacuna. 3 Conceived.
(}6 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
to become Lord and King, the son of a King, born of
a Queen, to whom was given the royal dignity over the
land, when still in the maternal womb. Before he was
born he had already become possessed (of the rule).
4 On the day of his election he became King, resting on
the breast of the beauteous and amiable Mistress.1 His
father's manly power, of the holy RAM in the meadows
of Mendes, was equal to that of the King. For he is
victorious, a master of strength, strong of hand. When
he takes his (sword), he combats in the open field, strong
amidst the battle fray. With victorious hand he conquers
his adversaries. He is of shrewd spirit, of virtuous heart,
repelling repulsive things, full of truthfulness, and a friend
of legal order. Thoughtful of (bringing back)
5 quietude to Egypt, he protects the holy houses and is an
iron protector of her natives. Powerful in virility,
universally adored and feared in all lands, (adoration is
granted to him) and all men shout at his appearance ; he
being their (protector) loving (to execute) his (good in-
tents) for their welfare. All sanctuaries are filled with
his gifts, and both parts (of the
6 country rejoice in his special kindnesses. This King
therefore turned (his cares to)
7 the holy RAM, the Lord of the city of Mendes, since he
knew it is this god that is invoked for the kingdom, which
is in his hands. On account of his predilection for the
royal holy rams, there should be elevated to the throne a
(new appearing) live ram, as it occurred from the be-
ginning of his royal accession. The holy animal was to
be elevated on his seat and his accession solemnized in
the way as for former Kings.
8 Thus began the (festival) of accession. His Majesty
occupied the fore part of the Ram-boat of this god,
1 His mother.
GREAT MENDES STELE. 97
descending the great stream, and upwards on the canal
Aken,1 just as his royal predecessors did, to complete all
things customary in the accession, as it is prescribed. On
arriving in the city of Mendes and in Anep," His Majesty
ordered him3 to be led forth to his throne chamber. And
behold, he was behind this god, thus showing his love
to his Lord (Thus did they arrive at)
9 the holy place Ap-Nuterui,4 the seat of his enthronement
from oldest time. His Majesty visited the edifice of the
holy rams, finding the ram-temple still building as His
Majesty had ordered. Excluding the foreign workmen
His Majesty ordered the edifice, for eternal use, to be
completed (speedily). His Majesty (besides) inspected
the inmost dwelling chamber of the splendid RAM, which
was also to be renewed. And he ordered one (of the
superior Officers of his retinue to execute all the work in
the best manner)
10 for the Holy RAM in Anep, where he is enthroned on his
seat. His Holiness5 then went through all the prescribed
customs in the temple, desiring to show in every form
honour to the holy Rams, corresponding (to the cere-
monies as ordered) by the god THOTH. This being
finished, His Holiness3 went to his residence, and his heart
was overjoyed on all that he had done for his father the
royal the dignified the living Rams of Anep ; may they
grant him a long life and a joyous reign. When His
Majesty (returned home, he wished
1 1 to unite) the first of his (consorts) NETEF-ANKH with the
goddess BA-ABET. And he gave her the following title of
honour " The amiable Princess, the beauteous, loveliest,
fairest, the crowned one, who has received the double
diadem, whose glory fills the palace, the friend of the holy
1 Of the Mendesian nome. * The Ram-quarter. s The Ram.
: 4 Undetermined site of the Mendesian nome. 5 The king Ptolemy
• VOL. VIII. 8
98 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
RAM and (of the name of his Priestess) UTA-BA, sister of
the King and wife of the King, who loveth him, the .
Princess of the country, ARSINOE. In the year 15,
month Pachons (the loth day was appointed
1 2 for the Queen's holy consecration and her introduction
into) the temple after the divine Lady had received the
holy anointing, during an interval of four days, she re-
appeared as a consecrated soul, and there were rejoicings
for her in Anep,1 when her festival was solemnized, to
enliven her holy soul at the place of the living Rams, as
was always customary to the Rams of all gods from
ancient times unto this day. (Thereupon another cere-
mony was performed
13 in honour of the Queen, in the form granted) to all
goddesses, who there received life a second time, scatter-
ing the fumes of incense over her and each first day of
the ten-day week. His Majesty (further) commanded
that her Ram-image should be placed in all temples. This
was very pleasing to her Prophets, that she should be
found like the deities on account of her benevolent
thoughts for all mankind. And (she) was crowned (in
the presence of the assembled crowd,
14 and rejoicing in her) were the women who were amongst
them, and she received the name of "The Beloved of
the Holy RAM, Goddess, The Beloved of her royal brother
(PHILADELPHUS) ARSINOE." As for His Majesty, he chose
out of his suite the fairest youths amongst the children of
the Egyptian guards, (but chose) their Captains from the
children (of the warrior caste) of the Mendesian nome.
15 Further the King showed his favour to the same nome
after this manner (as regards namely) the navigation-
toll of all Egypt, which they had to pay to the royal
house : His Majesty ordered, that no ship-toll should be
1 The city-quarter.
GREAT MENDES STELE. 99
demanded on the vessels of the Mendesian meadow in its
entire extent, since they (its dwellers) had spoken before
His Majesty, that they had never paid the toll from
the times (of the god to the accession
1 6 of His Majesty. Further) corresponding to what had
been done by his father, the Divine King, in former times
as regards the apportionment of bread of all the cities
to be sent as tribute to the royal house, His Majesty
ordered that no bread-tribute should be paid as regards
the Ram-temple and its district, nor in its name, just
as was done by THOTH (the model) of the Kings. And
see, they had spoken (fuller to the King regarding the
revenues of
17 the temple of MENDES, serving to pay for) the sacred
offerings to extend the district of its sanctuary, and to
complete all that was needed for its temple. If there
was a deficiency in its products for a long time, sorrow
prevailed amongst the people : if there was plenty of
provision, joy prevailed amongst them. For the entire
wealth of the soil rests on the inundation of the Nile
that brings its products (therefore His Majesty ordered,
that the inhabitants of the Mendes-
18 ian nome should not pay more than) 70,000 (pieces
of money)1 at the beginning of each year, to be their
tax to the royal house for ever afterwards. Such a thing
never happened in the time of any of the Kings who
lived before him. The whole country rejoiced unto
heaven, and burst into hymns of thanks at the royal
name of His Majesty. And another proof (of his favour-
able care for the temple of the Mendesian
1 9 deity was exhibited by His Majesty in this deed. Namely)
in the year 2 1,3 it was announced to His Majesty, " The tem-
ple of thy father, of the Holy RAM, of the Lord of Mendes, is
1 Drachms. ' B.C. 264.
8*
100 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
completed in all its edifices. It is much fairer, than it ever
was before, in compliance with the orders of Thy Majesty.
The inscriptions were chiselled in thy name, in the name
of thy father and in that of the Divine Lady PHILADEL-
PHOS ARSINOE. (May it please Thy Majesty, to execute
the solemnity of consecrating the sanctuary to the god.)"
20 In the year xo1 of the month 4 of the loth day occurred
the festival in the temple till the i6th day. Then di'd
heaven and earth rejoice. The holy royal RAM was led
into his temple, to be enthroned in his place of honour.
And all the other (deities) assembled in their chambers
in their Ram-shapes, for the whole country had for each
town its Ram-deity, and every vale had its ram-headed
hawk shape " Thus was the command ordered
by His
21 Majesty. And the rest of the festival was solemnized in
the presence of the officials) of His Majesty. When the
temple was thus most solemnly handed over to its divine
possessor, and when they3 had left for the royal residence,
to rejoice the heart of His Majesty, and in their suite the
Prophets, who carried flowers pleasing to His Majesty,
then His Majesty presented to the temple much native
gold, wheat, robes (and with all other good things, to
dignify the god and his sanctuary.)
22 In year 10 and month 4 it was announced to His
Majesty in these words : " Please to let the Living Holy
RAM be brought from the field in the West of the city of
Mendes. The place where it was found, is in the neigh-
bourhood of the pylons, lying near the place . . . .4 that
Thy Majesty may place it on its throne. Let the sacred
scribes of the temple approach (from certain places of the
country that they
23 may examine the holy animal. And there assembled)
1 B.C. 275. a Lacuna, 3 The officials. 4 Unknown site.
GREAT MENDES STELE. IOI
five Kem-sep1 from their cities. After the sacred scribes of
the temple had inspected the animal, they acknowledged its
symbolical meaning, after the rules of the divine prescrip-
tions, and it received the following title : " The RAM, the
Life of RA, the RAM, the Life of SHU, the RAM, the Life
of SET, (the RAM, the Life of
24 OSIRIS." After this was done, His Majesty's officials
came, to tell him that) " Given to him are his holy titles by
Thy Majesty's scribes of the temple, his dwelling is entirely
completed according to Thy Majesty's orders. May Thy
Majesty order the Holy RAM to be placed on its throne."
Then did His Majesty think like the god THOTH. He
thought over by himself of a plan regarding the King of
royal animals (and came to this decision. There should
be placed next to the divine Ram-images a portrait of the
2 5 Queen) ARSINOE, holding in her hand an ear of corn, and
the holy animals should be known thereby, by the symbol
of life on their necks for the Lords of the country. And
His Majesty commanded, that these deities should be led
in procession to the city of Mendes by the hand of the
Prophets who had devoted themselves to them. And
the Captains of the warriors Nefami* of His Majesty were
to be in their suit (and complete all prescribed customs)
26 just as His Majesty would do from the moment, when he
would embrace the animal, as soon as it had taken its place
on its father's throne. It was on the i6th of the month
Mechir, when these deities entered the city Mendes : the
consecrated Prophets, His Majesty's grandees, and the
Captains of the Nefami" warriors were in their suite, and
they fulfilled all the customs (prescribed in the sanc-
tuary of
27 the Holy RAM. After this occurrence) happened on the
1 8th of the month Mechir, the fete of the transference
1 Experts. ° Unknown kind of troops.
102 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
(of the edifice) took place in his temple and they re-
mained united there with him for four days. And the
city of Mendes solemnized her new birth and Anep was
in festive adornment. Its inhabitants were jubilant, and
all hearts were overflowing with song, the Mendes-mead
was full of ecstacy, and jubilant were (all its inhabitants,
they
28 crying out:) "The city Mendes is born again, may the
Holy RAM of all Gods recompence what His Majesty has
done, by prolonging his years as King for a long period.
May the Divine HORUS improve alway the kingdom
which is placed under his name, may his son take the
throne to all eternity, may destruction never find an
entrance thither, since (the King has on the God) be-
lieved. "
103
THE LITANY OF RA.
TRANSLATED BY
EDOUARD NAVILLE.
'J'HE following Litany of Ra is the translation of
a long text which is to be found at the entrance of
several of the largest tombs of the kings, in the
valley called Biban el MoLuk at Thebes. It is a kind
of introduction to the long pictures which adorn the
walls of the royal sepulchres, and which generally
represent the course of the sun at the different hours
of night.
Although very nearly connected with the Book of
tJte Dead, this text has not yet been found complete
in any funereal papyrus ; the second section of the
fourth chapter only, is contained in a papyrus of the
British Museum.
104 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
The importance of this text consists in this, that
it gives us an idea of the esoteric doctrine of the
Egyptian priests, which was clearly pantheistic, and
which certainly differed from the polytheistic worship
of the common people.
The present translation has been made from my
book La Litanie du Soleil (Leipzig, 1875, avec un
vol. de XLIX planches), where this text has been
first translated in French, with a commentary.
Among the different tombs where this inscription
was collected, that of Seti I, commonly called Bel-
zoni's tomb, has been chosen as the standard text.
THE LITANY OF RA.
CHAPTER I.
Title. The beginning of the book of the worship of RA in
the Ament,1 of the worship of TEMT' in the Ament. When
any one reads this book, the porcelain figures are placed
upon the ground, at the hour of the setting of the Sun,
that is of the triumph of RA over his enemies in the
Ament Whoso is intelligent upon the earth, he is in-
telligent also after his death.
1 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the master of the
hidden spheres who causes the principles to arise, who
dwells in darkness, who is born as3 the all surrounding
universe.
2 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the beetle that
folds his wings, that rests in the empyrean, that is born as
his own son.
3 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, TONEN* who
produces his members,5 who fashions what is in him, who
is born within his sphere.
4 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who discloses
the earth and lights the Ament, he whose principle has
(become) his manifestation, and who is born under the
form of the god with the large disk.
5 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the soul that
1 The heavenly region. * The universal being.
s Under the form of. 4 The earth. 5 Gods.
I06 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
speaks, that rests upon her high place, that creates the
hidden intellects which are developed in her.
6 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the only one, the
courageous one, who fashions his body, he who calls his
gods (to life), when he arrives in his hidden sphere.
7 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who addresses
his eye, and who speaks to his head,1 he who imparts the
breath of life to the souls (that are) in their place ; they
receive it and develop. *
8 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the spirit that
walks, that destroys its enemies, that sends pain to the
rebels.
9 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who shines
when he is in his sphere, who sends his darkness into his
sphere, and who hides what it contains.
10 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who lights the
bodies which are on the horizon, he who enters his
sphere.
1 1 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who descends
into the spheres of Ament, his form is that of TUM.
1 2 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who descends
into the mysteries of ANUBIS, his form is that of CHEPRA
(ATMU).
13 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he whose body
is so large that it hides his shape, his form is that of
SHU.
14 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who leads RA
into his members, his form is that of TEFNUT.
1 5 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who sends
forth the plants in their season, his form is that of SEE.
1 6 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the great one
who rules what is in him, his form is that of NUT.
17 Homage to thee, RA! Supreme power, he who goes
1 Who speaks to himself.
THE LITANY OF RA. 107
always towards him who precedes him, his form is that of
Isis.
1 8 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he whose head
shines more than he who is before him, his form is that of
NEPHTHYS.
19 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the urn1 of the
creatures, the only one, that unites the generative sub-
stances, its form is that of HORUS.
20 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the brilliant one
who shines in the waters of the inundation, his form is
that of NUN.
21 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who creates
the water which comes from within him, his form is that
of REMI."
22 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the two vipers
that bear their two feathers, their form is that of the im-
pure one.
23 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who enters
and comes forth continually from his highly mysterious
cavern, his form is that of Ar.3
24 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the spirit that
causes his disappearance, his form is that of NETERT/
25 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the spirit that
sets up (those whom he has created), that creates5 his
descendants, his form is that of NTUTI.'
26 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who raised
his head and who lifts his forehead, the ram, the greatest
of the creatures.
27 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the light that is
in the infernal regions, its form is that of Ament.
1 Crater. 9 The weeper.
3 A fish, most likely the phagros, the appearance of which was connected
with the inundation.
4 The divine eye. 5 Vivifies.
6 The meaning of this name is doubtful.
I08 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
28 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the penetrating
spirit who is in the Ament, his form is that of KERTI.'
29 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the timid one
who sheds tears, his form is that of the afflicted.
30 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who raises
his hand and who glorifies his eye,2 his form is that of the
god with the hidden body.
3 1 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the spirit who is
raised upon the two mysterious horizons, his form is that
Of CHENTAMENT.3
32 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the god with the
numerous shapes in the sacred dwelling, his form is that
of the beetle.
33 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who puts his
enemies into their pnson, his form is that of the lion.
34 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the ray of light
in his sarcophagus, its form is that of the progenitor.
35 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the covering of
the body, which developes the lungs, its form is that of
TEE-ATI.*
36 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who calls the
bodies into the empyrean, and they develop, who destroys
their venom, his form is that of the transformer.
37 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the being with
the mysterious face, who makes the divine eye move, his
form is that of SHAI.
38 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the supremely
great one who embraces the empyrean, his form is that of
the spirit who embraces (space).
39 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who hides his
* The god of the spheres. * Glorifies himself.
3 A title of Osiris, literally " He who resides in the West."
4 The covering of Ati, the air(?).
THE LITANY OF RA. 109
body within himself, his form is that of the god with the
hidden body.
40 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who is more
courageous than those who surround him, who sends fire
into the place of destruction, his form is that of the
burning one.
41 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who sends
destruction, and who causes the development of his body,
in the empyrean, his form is that of the inhabitant of the
empyrean.
42 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the wonderful
one who dwells in his eye,1 who lights the sarcophagus,
his form is that of SHEPI."
43 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who unites
the substances, who founds3 AMTO, his form is that of one
who joins substances.
44 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who invents4
secret things, and who begets bodies, his form is that of
the invisible (progenitor).
45 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who furnishes
the inhabitants of the empyrean with funeral things, when
he enters the hidden spheres, his form is that of APERTO.S
46 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, his members
rejoice when they see his body, the blessed spirit who
enters into him, his form is that of the joyful one.
47 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the adult who
dilates his eyeball, and who fills his eye,6 his form is that
of the adult.
48 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who makes
the roads in the empyrean, and who opens pathways in
the sarcophagus, his form is that of the god who makes
the roads.
1 Solar disk. * The splendid one. 3 Gives a body to.
4 Creates. . 5 Perhaps Anubis. 6 Solar disk.
110 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
49 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the moving spirit
who makes his legs stir, his form is that of the moving one.
50 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who sends
forth the stars and who makes the night light, in the
sphere of the hidden essences, his form is that of the
shining one.
51 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who makes
the spheres and who creates bodies ; from thy person
emanating from itself alone, thou hast sent forth, RA,
those who are and those who are not, the dead, the gods,
the intellects ; his form is that of creator of bodies.
52 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the mysterious,
the hidden one, he whom the spirits follow as he conducts
them, he gives the step to those surrounding him, his
form is that of AMENI.
53 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the horn, the
pillar of the Ament, the lock of hair that shines in
'its form is that of the horn.
54 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the eternal
essence who penetrates the empyrean, who praises the
spirits in their spheres, his form is that of the eternal
essence.
55 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, when he arrives
in the good Ament, the spirits of the empyrean rejoice at
sight of him, his form is that of the old man.
56 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the great lion
that creates the gods, that weighs words, the chief of the
powers inhabiting the holy sphere, his form is that of the
great lion.
57 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, when he speaks
to his eye and when he addresses his eyeball, the bodies
shed tears ; his form is that of the being who speaks to
his eye.a
1 Lacuna. ' Who speaks to himself.
THE LITANY OF RA. Ill
58 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who raises
his soul, and who hides his body, he shines and he sees
his mysteries, his form is that of HERB A.1
59 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the high spirit
who hunts his enemies, who sends fire upon the rebels,
his form is that of KABA.*
60 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the substance
which hides the intestines and which possesses the mind
and the limbs, its form is that of AUAI.S
6 1 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the great eldest
one who dwells in the empyrean, CHEPRI who becomes
two children, his form is that of the two children.
62 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the great walker
who goes over the same course, the spirit who anoints the
body, SENEKHER, his form is that of SENEKHER."
63 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who creates
his body and who detaches his members by the sacred
flame of AMTO, his form is that of the flame of AMTO.5
64 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the master of
the hooks (who struggles) against his enemies, the only
one, the master of the monkeys, his form is that of
ANTETI.'
65 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who sends
the flames into his furnaces, he who cuts off the head of
those who are in the infernal regions, his form is that of
the god of the furnace.
66 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the parent who
destroys his children, the only one who names7 the
earth by his intelligence, his form is that of TOKEN.
67 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who sets up
1 " He who raises his soul." * " The high spirit."
3 Flesh, or substance. 4 Literally, " the shining face."
5 " He who is on the ground." 6 Doubtful meaning.
7 Creates, fashions.
112 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
the urshi1 themselves upon their foundations, no one sees
their mysteries, his form is that of the urshi.
68 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the vessel of
heaven, the door of the empyrean, he who makes the
mummy come forth, his form is that of BESI.
69 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the monkey
* the being in his nature, his form is that of the
monkey of the empyrean.
70 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who opens the
earth and who shews the interior of it, the speaking spirit
who names his members, his form is that of SMATO.3
71 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, he who is armed
with teeth, who consumes his enemies, the flame that
lights the wick, his form is that of NEHi.4
72 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the walker, the
moving luminary, who makes darkness come after his
light, his form is that of the walker.
73 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the master of
souls who is in his obelisk, the chief of the confined gods,
his form is that of the master of souls.
74 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, the double
luminary, the double obelisk, the great god who raises his
two eyes, his form is that of the double luminary.
7 5 Homage to thee, R A ! Supreme power, the master of the
light, who reveals hidden things, the spirit who speaks to
the gods in their spheres, his form is that of the master of
the light.
76 Homage to thee, RA ! Supreme power, O RA of the
sphere, O RA who speakest to the spheres, O RA who
art in thy sphere, homage to thee RA KESCHI, four times
They sing praises to the spirit KEscni,5 the spheres honour
1 The genii of the watches of the night. 2 Lacuna.
3 He who opens the earth. 4 He who is armed with teeth.
5 Doubtful meaning.
THE LITANY OF RA. 113
his spirit, they glorify thy body which is in thee, saying,
Homage to thee, great KESCHI ! four times. They sing
praises in thy honour, spirit KESCHI in thy 75 forms which
are in thy 75 spheres. The royal OSIRIS knows them by
their names, he knows what is in their bodies, all their
hidden essences. The royal OSIRIS speaks to them in
their forms, they open to the royal OSIRIS, they display
the hidden doors to his spirit which is like thy spirit, thou
Greatest them, thou Greatest the royal OSIRIS; the de-
velopment of his body is like thine because the royal
OSIRIS is one of thy companions, who are in their spheres,
and who speak in their caverns, those who are blessed
through thy creation and who transform themselves when
thou commandest it. The royal OSIRIS is like one of
those who speak in their hidden spheres. Ha ! he has
arrived, he advances in the train of the spirit of RA.
Ha ! he has completed the journey from Chepri.1 Hail !
he has arrived. The royal OSIRIS knows all that concerns
the hidden beings. Hail ! he has arrived in the midst of
you ; homage to his spirit KESCHI ! four times.
77 Oh ! RA of the Ament, who hast created the earth, who
lightest the gods of the empyrean, RA who art in thy
disk, guide him on the road to the Ament, that he may
reach the hidden spirits ; guide him on the road which
belongs to him, guide him on the Western road ; that he
may traverse the sphere of Ament, guide him on the road
to the Ament, that the king may worship those who are in
the hidden dwelling, guide him on the road to the
Ament, make him descend to the sphere of NUN. Hail,
RA ! the royal OSIRIS is NUN. Hail, RA ! the royal
OSIRIS is thyself and reciprocally. Hail, RA ! thy spirit
is that of OSIRIS, thy course is his in the empyrean.
Hail, RA ! he dwells in the empyrean, he traverses the
1 Ra under the form of a scarab.
VOL. VIII. 9
114 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
good Ament. Such as thou art, such is the royal OSIRIS.
Thy intellect, RA, is his. OSIRIS worships the hidden
gods, he praises their spirits, these latter say to one another
that thy course (RA !) is that of OSIRIS, that thy way is
his, great god who dwellest in the empyrean. Hail ! god
of the disk with the brilliant rays, praise be to the spirit
KESCHI ! four times.
78 Hail to thee, universal covering, who Greatest thy soul
and who makest thy body grow ; the King traverses the
most secret sphere, he explores the mysteries contained
in it. The King speaks to thee like RA, he praises thee
with his intelligence, the King is like the god ; and re-
ciprocally. He moves by himself, he moves by himself.
The all surrounding universe says : Ah, guide him into
the interior of my sphere ; four times.
79 This chapter is said to the most mysterious god, these
words are written like those upon the two sides of the
door of the empyrean : this book is read every
day, when he has retired in life, according to custom,
perfectly.
1 Lacuna.
THE LITANY OF RA. 115
CHAPTER II.
1 Worship of the Spheric Gods, when RA sets in life. Hail,
gods of the spheres, gods who are in the Ament, perfect
gods ' the enemies of RA, you make the
-universal covering" grow l you worship the
god who is in his disk ' thou commandest
thy enemies, great god who art upon the horizon ; four
times. Thou commandest thy enemies, OSIRIS TEMT ;
.four times.
2 The royal OSIRIS commands his enemies in heaven and
upon earth, by authority of all the gods and all the goddesses,
by authority of OSIRIS CHENTAMENT, because the royal
OSIRIS is RA himself, the great inhabitant of the heavens,
he speaks in the presence of Ament. The King governs
by favour of the great powers. The royal OSIRIS is pure,
what is in him is pure, the royal OSIRIS governs the two
worlds, the royal OSIRIS commands his enemies; four
times.
3 He is powerful, RA in the empyrean, he is powerful, RA
in the empyrean. He traverses the empyrean with joy,
for he has struck APAP ;3 there is joy for thee, god of the
horizon, OSIRIS, King of the Ament, there is joy for thy
triumphant spirit, for thou destroyest his enemies ; thou
art delighted, TESHERTI, red spirit who openest the Ament.
Thou givest thy hand to OSIRIS, thou art received in the
good Ament, and the gods rejoice over thee. OSIRIS
gives thee his hand, thou art received by CHENTAMENT.
He is brilliant, the spirit of RA in the empyrean, he is
brilliant the body of TEB TEMT. RA commands in the
empyrean, because he has struck APAP. TEB TEMT
1 Lacunae. ' Teb Temt
J Apophis, the great serpent of evil.
9*
Il6 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
commands ; he worships the spirit of the two horizons :
the spirit of the two horizons worships him.
4 The royal OSIRIS receives dominion over his enemies
from the great powers of the mysterious avenger, he who
reveals the mysterious empyrean, who dissipates the
darkness, who chases away the rain, he who hurries, and
who makes the blessed servants of RA come forth. He1
sees the body of the god when he assumes forms with a
mysterious name, when he sheds his rays in obscurity,
and when he hides the uncovered bodies ; when he
traverses the mysterious spheres and when he gives eyes
to their gods ; they themselves see him, and their spirits
are blessed.
5 Hail, RA ! give eyes to the royal OSIRIS, give him
divine eyeballs, and may they guide the royal OSIRIS.
Hail, RA ! give a heart to the royal OSIRIS ; he traverses
the earth, he traverses the world like RA.
6 Thou takest care that what thou commandest to exist,
exists ; thou rulest the royal OSIRIS like CHUTI" and the
King honours thy spirit, he glorifies thee.
7 Thou commandest OSIRIS to be like KHUTI, the brilliant
triangle which appears in the shining place.
8 Thou commandest OSIRIS to be like the mysterious
spirit which comes forth from the mysterious place.
9 Thou commandest OSIRIS to be like the blessed spirit
which comes forth from the blessed place.
10 Thou commandest OSIRIS to be like the destructive
spirit which comes forth from the place of destruction.
1 1 Thou commandest OSIRIS to be like the revealing spirit
which comes forth from the opening.
12 Thou commandest OSIRIS to be like the elevated spirit
which comes forth from the high place.
1 The royal Osiris.
8 The god of the two horizons.
THE LITANY OF RA. 1 17
13 Thou commandest OSIRIS to be like the hidden spirit
which comes forth from the Ament.
14 Deliver him from the crocodiles which frighten the
spirits, like geese ; let them not do their work upon
the royal OSIRIS, in the presence of the gods armed with
swords ; may OSIRIS never fall into their furnaces, may
their nets never entangle him ; his spirit flies away and
soars into the heavens, his spirit returns and enters into
the empyrean, because the royal OSIRIS knows the
mysteries which are in the empyrean, the secret forms of
OSIRIS, that none of his servants know, in the secret of
his hidden dwelling. Hail ! the royal OSIRIS knows thy
form, great and mysterious god.
1 5 Deliver the royal OSIRIS from the agile demons furnished
with legs, from the cruel gods who pluck out hearts and
who throw them into their furnaces. May they never do
their work upon the royal OSIRIS, may they never put
him in their furnaces, because OSIRIS is RA; and
reciprocally. His soul is that which is in the disk. His
body is in the middle of the hidden gods ; they make
OSIRIS rule, OSIRIS makes them rule ; he commands, and
he rests as you rest in the Ament.
1 6 The soul of RA shines in his shape, his body rests amid
the invocations which are addressed to him ; he enters
into the interior of his white disk, he lights the empyrean
with his rays, he creates it, he makes the souls remain in
their bodies, they praise him from the height of their
pedestal. He receives the acclamations of all the gods
who open the doors, the hidden essences who prepare
the way for RA'S soul, and who allow the King of souls
access to the fields. He traverses his disk himself; he
calls (to life) the body of KAT ;' he places the gods of
the stars upon their legs ; these latter make the god AN*
' Unknown constellation. * The moon.
Il8 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
come at their hours ; the two sisters join themselves to
him, they decorate his head, as a spirit worthy of
adornment.
17 Oh, RA, place the royal OSIRIS in thy train; he is the
divine key which opens his haunts, he knows admirable
means of obtaining the great victory over his enemies ;
OSIRIS is powerful through thy two eyes ; walking god,
the course of OSIRIS is thy course. RA, the journeys of
OSIRIS are thy journeys, OSIRIS makes thee rule over thy
enemies, thou makest OSIRIS rule over his enemies, by
means of the great splendour which is the splendour of
RA in the empyrean, they cry to him : Bull of the country
of the dead, thou art RA, thy body rests in peace, thou
art blessed in thy mysteries.
THE LITANY OF RA. 1 19
CHAPTER III.
1 Oh, RA, come to the King ! truly. Highly glorious
TEB TEMT.
2 Oh, RA, come to the King ! truly. Thou makest thy
soul young again and thou givest birth to thy body.
3 Oh, RA, come to the King ! truly. Lead him into the
holy dwelling.
4 Oh, RA, come to the King ! truly. Guide him on the
good ways.
5 Oh, RA, come to the King ! truly. Guide him on the
roads of NUN.
6 Oh, RA, come to the King ! truly. Guide him on the
roads of NUT.
7 Oh, RA, come to the King ! truly. He restores the
body of OSIRIS.
8 Oh, RA, come to the King ! truly. He places the
corpse upon its foundation, in its place that no one
knows.
9 Oh, RA, come to the King ! truly. He calls his body
OSIRIS.
10 Oh, RA, come to the King ! truly. He sees him who is
in the sarcophagus.
11 Oh, RA, come to the King ! truly. The rays of ATEN'
are upon his person.
1 2 Oh, RA, come to the King ! truly. He has taken the
good ways.
13 Oh, RA, come to the King ! truly. He worships thy
soul upon the horizon.
14 Oh, RA, come to the King ! truly. Thou speakest to
him as to the god who is upon the ground.
15 Oh, RA, come to the King ! truly. He is one of thy
Nine Gods.
1 The solar disk.
120 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
CHAPTER IV.
SECTION I.
1 Thou art what he is, RA, thou givest birth to the royal
OSIRIS, thou makest him exist like thyself, god of the
two horizons ; the birth of OSIRIS is the birth of RA in
the Ament, and reciprocally ; the birth of OSIRIS in the
heavens is the birth of the soul of RA in the heavens,
and reciprocally ; the life of OSIRIS is the life of RA,
and reciprocally; the development of his body is the
development of RA'S body. RA conceived, TUM gave
birth to OSIRIS ; it is the young CHEPRA ; NUT brings
OSIRIS into the world, she nourishes OSIRIS like RA'S
soul which issued from her.
2 Oh, RA who art in the Ament ' who art in the
empyrean, deliver OSIRIS from thy conductors who
separate souls from their bodies, the agile beings who
move quickly in thy places of torment. May they never
seize OSIRIS, may they never take him, may they never
quicken their steps towards him, may they never put him
in their places of torture, may they never cast their toils
round him, may they never place him upon their altars,
may he never tremble in the land of the condemned, may
he never be lost in the Ament. He walks as the god of
the horizon walks, he takes RA'S steps, he worships the
god who is on the earth, he honours the mysterious
bodies ' they say to OSIRIS : Hu and SA ; they
call him this, because he is like the spirit of Hu and SA'
in his creations ; he makes the sacred tree grow he is not
ignorant of it. There are cries of joy in the mysterious
region, for RA sets under the form of OSIRIS, and re-
1 Lacunae. " Hu, the creative life; Sa, the intelligence.
THE LITANY OF RA. 121
ciprocally. Rejoice, you the dead, render praises to RA,
and RA renders praises to you. RA comes forth from the
cow MEHUR,' he sets in NETUR ;* OSIRIS comes forth from
MEHUR like the sun, he sets in NETUR like TEMT. The
name of the King is the name of RA, AMMEHUR,* the
setting of OSIRIS, it is his setting, AMNETUR.*
3 The gods of the empyrean bless him, the hidden gods
rejoice over him ; they say to him : thy person is the
god of the country of the dead, thy form is TEB TEMT.
The hidden gods speak to the royal OSIRIS, they rejoice
on seeing him ; (they say to him :) Hail, blessed and
perfect one, who comest forth from TOKEN, the god who
destroys the forms ; it is great, thy essence, spirit, shadow
that no one destroys, that lives where you live. He
knows the essences of the primitive beings, he knows the
mysterious flames of the empyrean, for he attains to holy
and mysterious things.
4 The two gods speak to the royal OSIRIS, they rejoice on
seeing him, this blessed, perfect spirit ; (they say to him :)
This is one of us. The gods speak to the royal OSIRIS,
they rejoice when they see him, him, the splendour of
RA, the splendour of the two goddesses that appears in
HESET,S the supplicant HESET addresses the guardians
who watch over the doors, who devour souls and who
swallow the shades of the dead ; when they approach
them, they are led by them to the place of destruction :
Oh, guardians who watch over your doors, who swallow
souls and devour the shades of the dead; when they
approach you, you lead them to the place of destruction ;
Oh ! allow this blessed this most holy spirit, to be in the
' The water of the East ' The water of the West.
3 He who comes forth from Mehur.
4 He who is in Netur.
5 One of the halls of the empyrean, which is here personified as a goddess.
122 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
dwelling of the Akher";1 it is a spirit like RA glorious like
OSIRIS. This is what HESET the supplicant says before
the royal OSIRIS.
5 Oh, HESET, make him come, oh HESET, guide the
royal OSIRIS, oh HESET open to him the empyrean, give
him the lot of the god of the empyrean ; he puts the veil
nems * upon his head at the bottom of the dwelling of the
Ament. Hail to thee, he has reached thee ; HESET,
guide him on the good way, he speaks to thee, he glorifies
thee by his invocations, and thou rejoicest on seeing his
spirit ; HESET, the supplicant, open the doors which are
in the empyrean, open his spheres to him, for the club is
in the hand of OSIRIS, and he grasps his lance ; his club
strikes the enemies, and his lance destroys the rebels ;
his dwelling is that of the god of the two horizons ; his
throne is RA'S throne ; for he is the HORUS of the two
horizons.3 He is beautiful, this spirit, he is perfect, he is
powerful in both his hands.
6 The two great gods speak to the royal OSIRIS ; they
rejoice on his account ; they celebrate his victorious
strength, they give him their protection, they send him
their spirit of life ; (they say to him :) He is brilliant
like the spirit of the horizon that is the dwelling of RA in
the heavens ;4 they communicate their words to him, they
give him the power by their authority. He opens the
door of heaven and earth like his father RA ; a spirit
shining in the place where they burn the offerings, in the
arms of OSIRIS. The royal OSIRIS rests in the mysterious
dwelling, he shines like the god of the luminary, the
dwelling of RA of the horizon.* The royal OSIRIS is
RA ; and reciprocally ; he is the spirit of OSIRIS ; he
rests (in him).
1 The lower region.
1 The striped headdress generally worn on the statues of the kings.
3 The planet Mars. 4 Thoth.
THE LITANY OF RA. 123
7 He reaches the gods of the pyramid ; these latter praise
him on seeing the happy arrival of OSIRIS ; they address
him as RA of the horizon ; praise be to RA ! cheers for
the spirit of the horizon, praises to the spirit of RA !
Praise his spirit that inhabits the empyrean, invoke him
who is in his disk, bear him to him who created you,
carry him unto the pyramid, since you are the gods who
accompany RA OSIRIS. Here is OSIRIS, carry him into
the hidden sanctuary of OSIRIS, the lord of years1 who
is under the care of the two Rehti. Carry him into the
hidden dwelling where OSIRIS resides, carry him into the
funeral monument which is in the Ament, the mysterious
sanctuary of the god who is at rest ; bear him, open your
arms to him, stretch out your hands to him, take off your
veils before him, for he is the great essence whom the
dead spirits do not know ; it is RA, the god of the two
horizons, and OSIRIS, the King of the Ament, who send him.
8 The royal OSIRIS is one of you, for his diadem is n
vulture ; his face is a sparrow-hawk, his head is RA ; his
eyes are the REHTI, the two sisters ; his nose is HORUS
of the empyrean ; his mouth is the King of the Ament ;
his lungs are NUN; his two hands are the god SECHENI;*
his fingers are the gods who »seize him ; his body is
CHEPRA ; his heart is HORUS, the creator ; his chest is
the goddess of life; his spleen is the god FENTI;* his
lungs are the goddess HETI ; his stomach is APU ; his
intestines, the god with the mysterious names ;4 his back is
the corpse-god ; his elbows are MAKATI ; the nape of
his neck, HORUS THOTH ; his lips MEHUR ; his phallus
is TONEN ; 5 . . . ,6 the goddess of Cher ; . . . .6 the two
1 The eternal being. * He who embraces.
3 The god of the nose. Each part of the body of the deceased becomes
a god. The same is found in the funereal texts, and especially in the
Book of the Dead, ch. xlii.
4 Osiris. 5 The Osiris is a hermaphrodite being. 6 Lacunae.
124 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
hidden gods ; his sitting posture the two goddesses ; his
legs, he who traverses the hidden places ; his shin-bones
are uraeus. His members are gods, he is throughout a god,
no one of his members is without a god, the gods are of
his substance. The royal OSIRIS is an intelligent essence,
his members guide him, his flesh opens the way to him,
those who are born of him create him, they rest when
they have given birth to him. The royal OSIRIS is he
who gives them birth, it is he who begets them, it is he
who makes them exist ; his birth is that of RA in the
Ament, RA gives birth to the royal OSIRIS, he causes his
own birth.
SECTION II.
1 Oh, RA, open to his spirit, for the royal OSIRIS knows
what there is in the empyrean, he is the great mummy,
OSIRIS, the King of the Ament ; he is OSIRIS, he is
perfect like OSIRIS, he is blessed like OSIRIS, his club is
that of OSIRIS, his sword is that of CHENTAMENT, his
sceptre is that of SAHOU, he is the great one, the King
of the blessed, for he is the original one, he who knows
the mysteries, the greatest of the holy ones in the
empyrean. He is happy, the spirit KESCHI who makes
his own law in the Ament, he speaks to what is born of
him,1 OSIRIS CHENTAMENT.
2 Hail to thee, inhabitant of the empyrean, praised be
what is in thee ; hail to thee, inhabitant of the empyrean,
the weeping gods cut their hair in honour of thee, they
clap their hands, they revere thee, they weep before thee,
thy spirit rejoices in their fear, thy body is blessed.
3 Hail to thee, inhabitant of the empyrean, god seated
upon his throne, who holdest the sceptre hik? King of the
1 His own form.
1 The sceptre which has the form of a hook, and commonly held in the
hand of Osiris.
THE LITANY OF RA. 125
empyrean, Prince of the Aker, great Prince crowned with
the urer,1 great god who hides his dwelling, Lord of
wisdom, Chief of the powers.
4 Hail to the inhabitant of the empyrean, thy son HORUS
rests in thee, thou communicatest thy orders to him, thou
permittest him to shine like AN of the empyrean, the
great star who creates his names/ who knows the
empyrean and who traverses the interior of it, he,
the son of RA, proceeding from TUM. The royal
OSIRIS is thy son, thou communicatest thy orders to him,
thou permittest him to shine like AN of the heavens,
the great star who creates his names,' who knows
the empyrean and who traverses the interior of it, he the
son of RA, proceeding from TUM. He rests in the
empyrean, he rejoices in the dusk, he enters in there and
comes forth, the arms of TONEN receive him, the blessed
lift him, they stretch out their hands towards him, the . .
. . . .3 guide him. Praise him ye blessed, exalt the royal
OSIRIS, ye blessed ! Rejoice over him, as over RA, extol
him like OSIRIS, he has placed your offerings before you,
he accords you the favour of receiving your portion as his
father RA commanded. He is his darling, he is his
descendant upon the earth, and the blessed show him
the way. Let him arrive in the empyrean, and let him
penetrate into the good Ament. The royal OSIRIS fixes
the crown upon the head of OSIRIS, he offers his casket
to SEE, he presents SAH with the sceptre, he gives the
royal diadem to him whose name is AMMON.
5 Look at him, ye blessed, let him receive a perfect
intelligence, let him shine like the god of mysteries,
deliver him from the gods of the pillory who fasten to
1 The white and red crown, which is the emblem of dominion over both
Upper and Lower Egypt.
' His existences. 5 Tonen.
126 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
their posts. May they never bind OSIRIS to their posts,
may they never put him in the place of destruction, for
he is the descendant of OSIRIS who permits him to
receive the diadem in the empyrean.
6 He is sublime, the spirit of RA in the Ament, his body
is blessed there, the spirits rejoice when they develop
their forms in the zones of the empyrean, before the soul
of RA, the inhabitant of the empyrean, and TEB TEMT
who rests in his covering. Hail, yes, hail ! Hail spirit of
RA, hail, spirit of the royal OSIRIS like TEMT ! Hail,
royal OSIRIS who art RA, and reciprocally ! Oh TEMT
who art RA, and reciprocally, hail !
7 The royal OSIRIS is one of you. He gives birth to you,
he gives you your names, he makes you perfect ; ha !
he sends his body into you ; ha ! he is your creator. Look
at him, he shines like him who proceeds from you; he
honours his father, perfect, blessed, blessing his mother ;
look at him, make his essence sublime and make him like
him who destroys his forms ; ' show the way to his
spirit, set him upon your pedestals, make him rest in
his members, show him his dwelling in the midst of the
earth, open your doors to him, unfasten the bolt.
8 Oh RA, oh TEB-TEMT, guide the royal OSIRIS following
the direction of the spirits, following the course of the
gods. The royal OSIRIS is in his gateway (in presence of
the) navigating gods; the royal OSIRIS is the only
one, the guardian of his doors, he who puts the gods in
their place. He is upon his pedestal in the empyrean, he
is the possessor in the midst of the possessors, he is at the
extremities of the empyrean, he is blessed in the infernal
regions. He rests in the Ament amongst the spirits who
are in the members of the Ament. The royal OSIRIS is
RA'S darling, he is the mysterious phoenix, he enters in
1 Tonen.
THE LITANY OF RA. 127
peace into the empyrean, he leaves NUT in peace ; the
royal OSIRIS has his throne in heaven, he traverses the
horizons in RA'S train, he is at peace in the heavens, in
RA'S fields, his share is upon the horizon in the fields of
AALU ; he traverses the earth like RA, he is wise like THOTH,
he walks at will, he hastens in his course, like SAHU with
the mysterious names, who becomes two divinities. The
royal OSIRIS becomes two divinities. What RA produces,
the royal OSIRIS produces ; he gives a spiritual existence
to what he loves ; he does not give it to what he hates.
The royal OSIRIS is the Chief of the gods who make
offerings to the spirits, he is powerful in his course, he is
the courageous being who strikes his enemies.
9 Oh ye gods, oh ye blessed who precede RA and who escort
his spirit, do to the royal OSIRIS as to RA, tow him with
you in the same way that you conduct RA and the two
navigating gods in the heavens ; the royal OSIRIS is RA
himself, and reciprocally; he is the Chief of his wor-
shippers who gives life to the forms.
SECTION III.
i Oh, Ament, oh Ament, oh good, oh good, oh strong, oh
strong, oh powerful, oh powerful, oh protecting, oh pro-
tecting, oh mysterious, oh mysterious (Ament), the royal
OSIRIS knows thee, he knows thy form, he knows the
name of thy companions. Ament, hide my corpse,
good Ament, hide my body. Oh resting place, let
me rest in thee ; oh strong one, may the royal OSIRIS
be strong with thy strength, oh powerful one, may
he be powerful with thy power ! Oh Ament, open thy
arms to him ; oh protectress, cover his body ; oh
mysterious being, stretch out thy hand to him. Hail,
holy Ament of OSIRIS with the mysterious names, the
most holy of the gods, thou who art the most hidden of
128 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
all mysteries. Hail ! the royal OSIRIS worships thee; he
addresses the great god who is within thee. Hail ! he
worships thee ; open thy mysterious doors to him. Hail !
he worships thee ; (open to him) thy hidden spheres, for
he has his dwelling in the heavens like RA, and his
throne is upon the earth like SEE ; he is seated upon
the throne of SEE, upon the seats of HORCHUTI ; his
spirit soars into the heavens, it rests there; his body
descends to the earth in the midst of the gods. He
walks with RA, he follows TUM, he is like CHEPRA,
he lives as thou livest in truth.
2 When this book is read he who reads it purifies himself
at the hour when RA sets, who rests in the Ament of the
Ament, when RA is in the midst of hidden things,
completely.
129
HYMN TO RA-HARMACHIS.
TRANSLATED BY
E. L. LUSHINGTON, LL.D., D.C.L.
''THE Hymn to Amen - Ra - Harmachis (the Sun
identified with the Supreme Deity), of which a trans-
lation is here attempted, is found, with other composi-
tions of a similar nature, among the Berlin papyri.
(No. 5, published in Lepsius, Denkmdler, Abth. VI.,
Bd. 12, p. 115-117.)
It probably belongs to the Ramesside period ; the
writing is careful and for the most part very distinct ;
some lacunae are met with towards the end, and in a
few passages the characters baffle the present trans-
lator's skill in decyphering.
Citations from this hymn occur not unfrequently in
the writings of eminent Egyptian scholars, as Brugsch,
Deveria, and others ; compare especially Chabas, Le
Nom de Thebes, p. 16, where the long antithesis of
VOL. VIII. 10
130 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
epithets bestowed on Ra and his adversaries is
described as " furnishing a page of the Egyptian
dictionary."
As far as I am aware, no complete translation of
it was published till the appearance of Professor
Maspero's Histoire Anciennc, Paris, 1875 ; where the
whole is rendered into French, p. 32-35. My own
translation was made before I had the opportunity
of seeing this work; since consulting it I have modified
my version of one or two passages in accordance with
M. Maspero's views.
HYMN TO RA-HARMACHIS.
ADORATION to RA-HARMACHIS at the front of the morning.1
Say: Thou wakest beauteous AMEN-RA-HARMACHIS, thou
watchest in triumph, AMEN-RA, Lord of the horizon.
0 blessed one beaming in splendour, towed by thy
mariners who are of the unresting gods, sped by thy
mariners of the unmoving gods. Thou comest forth
thou ascendest, thou towerest in beauty, thy barge divine
careers wherein thou speedest, blest by thy mother NUT
each day, heaven embraces thee, thy foes fall as thou
turnest thy face to the West of heaven. Counted are thy
bones, collected thy limbs, living thy flesh, thy members
blossom, thy soul blossoms, glorified is thy august form,
advanced thy state on the road of darkness. Thou
listenest to the call of thy attendant gods behind thy
10 chamber; in gladness are the mariners of thy bark, their
heart delighted, Lord of heaven who hast brought joys to
the divine Chiefs, the lower sky rejoices, gods and men
exult applauding RA on his standard, blest by his mother
NUT ; their heart is glad. RA hath quelled his impious
foes, heaven rejoices, earth is in delight, gods and god-
desses are in festival to make adoration to RA-HoR, as
they see him rise in his bark. He fells the wicked in his
season, the abode is inviolate, the diadem mehen in its
place, the urtzus hath smitten the wicked.
1 "At the front of the morning." Some prefer rendering the words
" every morning."
10*
132 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
O let thy mother NUT embrace thee/ Lord RA, those
who are with her tell thy glories. OSIRIS and NEPHTHYS
have uplifted thee at thy coming forth from the womb of
20 thy mother NUT. O shine RA-HARMACHIS, shine in thy
morning as thy noonday brightness, thy cause upheld
over thy enemies, thou makest thy cabin speed onward,
thou repellest the false one in the moment of his annihila-
tion : he has no rest 3 in the moment when thou breakest
the strength of the wicked enemies of RA, to cast him into
the fire of Nehaher,3 encircling in its hour the children of
the profane. No strength have they, RA prevails over
his insensate foes, yea, putting them to the sword thou
makest the false one cast up what he devoured.
Arise O RA from within thy chamber, strong is RA,weak
the foes : lofty is RA, down-stricken the foes : RA living,
his foes dead : RA full of meat and drink, his foes a-
hungered and athirst : RA bright, his foes engulfed : RA
good, his foes evil : RA mighty, his foes puny : RA hath
despoiled APAP.
30 O RA thou givest all life4 to the King, thou givest food
for his mouth, drink for his throat, sweet oil for his hair.
0 blessed RA-HARMACHIS thou careerest by him in
triumph, those in thy bark exult to quell and overthrow
the wicked. Cries of joy in the great seat, the divine
1 Perhaps " Approach thou thy mother Nut." Nel' Ra, " Lord Ra,"
seems clearly the reading of the text given in Lepsius, unless the scribe
has twice put the hieratic character for nuter instead of the usual form of
h ; neb heh, " lord of eternity," as Maspero renders it, is what might
rather have been expected. In the following "Isis and Nephthys" is the
version of M. Maspero; the text appears to me to give Osiris.
a Perhaps " he cannot advance."
3 Nehaher, " ghastly-faced," an infernal demon, sometimes represented
as a serpent. Compare T. B. 125, 18; Bon., iia, 31, 32; Pierret, Et. Eg.,
2. 1 14.
4 "Thou givest life," this may be understood also as imperative, "give
life."
HYMN TO RA-HARMACHIS. 133
cabin is in gladness, acclamation in the bark of millions
of years. RA'S sailors are charmed at heart to see RA
hailed as supreme of the order of great gods, they gain
delight in doing adoration to the great bark, homage in the
mysterious chamber. O shine AMEN-RA-HARMACHIS
self-sprung, thy sister goddesses stand in Bech,1 they
40 receive thee, they uplift thee into thy bark, which is
perfect in delights before Lord RA, thou begettest bless-
ings. Come RA, self-sprung, thou lettest PHARAOH
receive plenty in his battlemented house, on the altar of
the god whose name is hidden.
Glory to thee, Prince coming forth in thy season, Lord
of many faces, diadem producing rays, scattering dark-
ness, all roads are filled with thy splendours, apes make
to thee salutations with their arms, they praise thee, they
cry aloud to thee, they tell thy glories, their lips exalt
thee in heaven, in earth ; they conduct thee at thy splendid
arising, they open or drive back the gate of the Western
horizon of heaven, they let RA be embraced in peace and
joy by his mother NUT ; thy soul is approved by the
tenants of the lower heaven, the divine spirits rejoice at
50 the twofold season of brightness : thou turnest gloom
into repose/ thou sweetenest pain of OSIRIS, thou givest
breezes in the valley, illuminest earth in darkness,
sweetenest pain of OSIRIS. All beings taste the breath,
they make to thee acclamations in thy changes, thou who
art Lord of changes, they give adoration to thy might in
thy forms of beauty in the morn. Gods hold their arms
to thee, those whom thy mother NUT bore.
1 Bech, the Eastern hill of sunrise. See Brugsch, Z.A. 1864, p. 73, etc.
Its opposite height was called Manu.
* " Thou turnest gloom into repose." I am not confident that the
meaning of the original ta-k neshen enti ster is correctly given in these
words ; perhaps " thou makest the adversary prostrate " may more truly
convey the sense.
134 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
Come to the King O RA, stablish his glories in heaven
his might on earth.
O RA heaven rejoices to thee, O RA earth trembles at
thee, O blessed RA-HARMACHIS thou hast raised heaven
to elevate thy soul, the lower sky has hidden thee in thy
mystic forms. Thou hast uplifted heaven to the expanse
of thy outstretched arms, thou hast spread out earth to
the width of thy stride. Heaven rejoices to thee at thy
60 greatness of soul, thy terror fills earth at thy figure,
princely hawk of glittering plume, many coloured frame,
mighty sailor god, self-existing, traversing paths in the
divine vessel, thou roarest in smiting thy foes, making thy
great bark sweep on, men hail thee, gods fear thee, thou
hast felled thy foes before it. Courier of heaven outstript
by none, to illumine earth for his children, uplifted above
gods and men, shining upon us ; we know not thy form
when thou lookest on our faces, thy bulk passes our
knowledge.
O blessed RA-HARMACHIS thou penetratest
Bull at night, Chieftain by day, beauteous orb of mafek,
King of heaven, Sovran of earth, great image in the
70 horizon of heaven. RA who hast made beings, TATANEN
giving life to mankind, PHARAOH son of RA has adored
thee in thy glories, he has worshipped at thy gracious
rising brightness on the Eastern horizon, he makes tranquil
thy path, he beats down thy foes before thee in his turning
back all thy adversaries, he assigned to thee the Uta on
her seat, he makes them .... he assigned to thee
honours .... he cleared the way for thee. he established
thy rites in Abydos ; he opens to thee roads in Rusta,
76 he beats down evil.
135
THE INSCRIPTION OF DARIUS
AT THE TEMPLE OF EL-KHARGEH.
TRANSLATED BY
S. BIRCH, LL.D.
'T'HE inscription, which is inedited, was copied
by Mr. Robert Hay from the south-western wall of
the second chamber of the temple of Amen at El-
Khargeh.1 The representations which occur after the
fivst line of the original are those of the four elements
divided into the male and female principle, and de-
scribed by M. Lepsius in a paper written by him for
the Berlin Academy.2 They are represented snake-
headed and frog-headed, holding their hands up in
adoration. They are as follows : —
Lines 2. — 4
Nu (Han) . . . water, male.
Nut (Han.t.) . . . water, female.
Hehu . . . fire, male.
Hehu t ... fare, female.
1 The copy is at present in the British Museum, Add. Manuscript,
No. 29,847, fol. 89.
1 Unlcr die Goiter d. vier Elementen, in the Abhandl uiigen. d. K. Akad.
d. Hlssensch. 4to., 1856.
136 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
Kakiu . . . earth, male.
Kakiu t ... earth, female.
Karh . . . air, male.
Karh t ... air, female.
In this series they follow the ordinary order,
and have their usual names, the only exception
being that of instead of the word Nan, for "air,"
the inscription of El-Khargeh gives KarJi. This
word has no philological analogy with any of the
Egyptian expressive of air. It has been supposed to
mean " care ;" ' the word nearest to it in sound is
karhy "the night." The inscription which is really a
highly pantheistic hymn consists of forty-six lines,
and contains the address of the Elements to the god
Amen Ra. It has been numbered in the copy
inversely, the 46th being the first list. It is of the
nature of some of the hymns already published and
relating to that god, and may be compared with the
Litany of the Sun already contained in this volume.
This translation, together with the original text has
been published by myself in the Transactions of the
Society of Biblical Archaeology, Vol. V., p. 293, foil.
1 Pleyte, Etudes Egyptiennes, p. 113.
137
THE INSCRIPTION OF DARIUS
AT THE
TEMPLE OF EL-KHARGEH.
i SAID by the adorers in praying to their father AMEN
RA, lord of Hab,1 great god, powerful with the scimitar,
5 in his type of RA° to 3 self-produced,4 his
bones of silver, his skin of gold, his head of real lapis, his
joints of turquoise, a perfect god, making his body, giving
birth to
6 it. He has not come out of a womb, he has come out of
cycles : he has given light to the world (and) the circle of
the gods is adoring before him; they proclaim him to
the height of heaven, (they) adore . . . .3 his birth. He
has passed
7 the secret places, they rejoice at him under their divine
types, they are careful to make their adorations to the
bull. We pray to him in (our abodes), we worship him
... .3 in their (places). We adore him
8 in the form of hands. They acknowledge his majesty as
their lord, for the greatness of his type is the greatest of
all of them. He has had a title of ... .3 (heaven) earth
and waters AMEN, the firm in all things, that noble
9 god, the earth came from his devices, regulating each for
the gods, old age and youth, procession, age, mystical
1 The Oasis. * The Sun. J Lacunae.
4 Grebaut, Hijmne a Ammon, p. xiii., "self-transformed."
138 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
were the causes, acute the . . . .' extended his favours, his
limbs in the air of heaven upon his youthful head, the
water under his
10 head, a child the water under his feet, the Divine Majesty *
of a hawk on his head, he confines the winds under the boat
of MANU when he goes to the unknown region of the
morning. The apes of THOTH adore, saying oh
1 1 the god in the disk concealing himself in his body, the
soul gleaming from his two symbolic mortal eyes, the
type of types, the honoured, not falling to his enemies,
giving light to his transformation, he supports them by
the light of his two mystical eyes, unknown is
12 his . . . .' Hail to thee in the bosom of heaven, ordering
thy divine births, the goddess TRUTH is united to thy
mystical throne. Honoured has been thy image by thy
lovers, thou hast shone, distributing the light
13 in the morning, thou hast circled the two lands in thy
gleaming. Thou hast touched at the hill of the land of
Akar,3 the types in it adore, the light of the body of thy
beams ' has been illumined4 the bosom of the
jackals hauling thy boat in the hidden gap
14 of the land of Sesen,5 and the Spirits of the West,
adoring thee, they tremble at thee at the light of thy
disk. The spirits of the land of Pe 6 salute thee at the
appearance of thy light. Thou shinest in their faces,
thou traverses!
15 thy two heavens; annihilated are thy opponents. They
open the house of thy majesty; tame are the crocodiles,
quiet are the herons in the waters of thy boat ; thou hast
. . . .' the fish. HORUS has pierced SET, his arrow is in
him. He has conquered heaven and earth
1 Lacunae. ~ Perhaps "the plumes." 3 A region of Hades.
4 Or, " received." s Hermopolis. 6 Buto, or the North.
INSCRIPTION OF DARIUS. 139
1 6 in his cloud, and his pursuit. Prevailing by overthrow-
ing his opponent, he 'a sword ' Akar2
saves him, he makes his companion hidden he . ..." him ;
his eye
1 7 gives them light from him, it feeds off flame of fire.
Thou hast passed the turns of the river, thou navigatest
with a fair wind the Mau ... -1 at rest . . . ." the . . . .'
which
18 they ' the 'those never at rest and
incorruptible constellations, thou perambulatest the earth
justified. Thou hast joined a new skin, thy mother has
been embraced . . . .'
19 thy reception adored by all beings. Thou art at rest in
the abode Tuaut3 during the hours of darkness, thou
awakest OSIRIS by thy beams, thou shinest over the heads
of those who are in their cells, thou hast traversed
20 their hidden buildings on purpose. Thou hast been
typified by thought, thou hast made to be illumined thy
own disk, thou hast set up the . . . .' in their places. Thou
hast gone against the night chambers
21 in the darkness, thy left eye is in the disk at night,
thou shinest in the morning out of the east of the
heaven, thou hast been woven in thy disk. Thy right
eye is in the essence, thou hast made the passage, thy
secret
22 is the depths of thy secret waters and unknown. Thou
hast come on the road, thou hast given light in the path,
thou hast prevailed over difficulties like the mysterious
forms, thy type than every god
23 exalted and magnified by the divine circles. Each god
has assumed thy skin, without shape is their type com-
pared to thy form. Thou art the majesty . . . .' which is,
1 Lacunae. " A region of Hades. 3 Morning.
140 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
thou hast ruled, lord ; heaven and earth, under thy
plumes, the gods
24 under thy hands, men under thy legs ; where is
a god like thee. Thou art the SUN over the gods,
crowned sweet and delightful, oh soul from in . . . .'
by terrors
25 of the disk, thy ursei are tall, thy horns are pointed,
twisted are the horns, lamps are the light of the two
symbolic eyes, gold and crystal are the decorations,
turquoise the face,
26 gilded are the limbs. Thou hast placed thy throne
wherever thou delightest to multiply thy name, places and
districts carrying thy beauty. Corn has never failed to
be tall under thy form. Thy place is arranged, in the
time of a division3
27 of an hour thou traversest the earth from the Manu.3
Thou risest from the waters as the hidden egg,
the female AMEN is in thy company. Thou hast rested
in the cow, thou seizest the horns, thou hast been im-
merged in
28 the cow MEHUR. No germ grows, rising from its en-
tirety to earth from the ether, sound in the roots. Thou
perambulatest the earth to the district of Sutenkhen.4
Thou hast gone there to its confines.
29 Thy likeness is there as the one of terrible face.5 Thy
great soul is in the nome of Lycopolis at rest among the
ten thousands and thousands of gods which come out of
it. Thy fluid is SHU, thy drop is TEFNUT.* Thou hast
made to grow
30 the nine gods at the first of typification.7 Thou art the
1 Lacuna. 2 Kamta, "fragments." 3 Ocean. 4 Herakleopolis.
5 Harshaf, a title of the god Ptah, " creator." < Or, Tef.
7 At the time they began to assume their types or forms.
INSCRIPTION OF DARIUS. 141
lion of the double lions, thou hast tied the bellies of the
circle of the gods, thou hast extended the earth under
their power. They make festivals to thee in their temples.
Thy soul ' is in
31 Tattu2 altogether, the four gods in Ansatp engendering,
lord of the gods, bull of his mother, rejoicing in the cowr
her husband, engendering with his beautiful generation.
Thou passest to the place thou choosest to thy
32 hall of the Saite nome. Thy form is at rest in the temple
of Lower Egypt, in the nest of the lord3 of Sais. Thy
mother NEITH has been pleased by her son tenderly be-
loved, binding him all the limbs in the region of the
South and North, thy
33 4 on the limbs of the crocodiles. Thou hast
opened the nest, thou restest on the lower country. Thy
heart rests in the roads of Hai,5 making Buto to rejoice
in a moment, and Mehenu 6
34 to follow thee. Thou hast come in the heart of NAUSAAS.
Thy soul is at rest in Hetep.7 Thou art the youth and
the old one hidden amongst those of the temple in the
great house of An.8 Thougoest in (peace)
35 the urseus on thy head; in a moment thou hast united
the two countries under the sides of thy throne. Thou
art the place of Sebennytus, thy place is pure in the
town of the abode of the Sycamore.9 Thy abode is
in Khent-ta-net,10 thy dominions in Memphis, gods and
goddesses . . . .4
36 above in the rays of An8 to spie thy form in Menkat.10
1 Or, Bull. * Busiris or Abusir. 3 Or Lady, "Neith."
4 Lacunae. 5 Or the papyrus, the Lower Country.
* The urceus on the diadem of the Sun.
7 Place of pools in Elysium. 8 Heliopolis. ' Arsinoe.
10 Unknown site.
142 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
Thou hast presented the peace of the hidden places.
Thy births have gone round the gods who are demi-
urgois
37 the circle of them O thou hawk of the nome of Helio-
polis, sacred is thy temple in the city of Kar,1 thy first
birth is established in the face of the darkness.
38 Thy second birth thou hast appointed there after thee
to overthrow thy enemies at their rising. Thou hast
gone opposite to the court-yard to the South, a demiurgos
to elevate the youth 2
39 in his gate. Thou hast made the two countries in the
town of the White Wall 3 as PTAH, chief essence to . ..."
Thou hast placed thy throne in the life of the two countries
as AMEN RA. Thy soul is the ark and four pillars of the
two heavens.
40 Thy form emanated at first while thou shinest as AMEN
RA and PTAH. Thy heart is at rest in thy city of Uas.5
Thy two uraei, thy eyes, thy sceptre, thy whip open the
doors of the heaven in
41 Thebes, SHU, TEFNU, MUT and KHONS are thy forms
dwelling in thy shrine under the types of the god KHEM,
raising his tall plumes, king of the gods, lifting the hand,
lord of the crown,
42 powerful by it, all fear emanates from the fear of him,
the Kamutf 6 who resides in his fields, horned in all his
beauty, engendering the depths. Black and crystal the
faces of those attached to him, the two mystical eyes, the
decorations of
43 the Har-ti nome' dwelling in the nome Pes over
1 Babylon. * Hainiu, perhaps the Nut or Firmament.
3 Memphis. 4 Lacuna.
5 Thebes. 6 Bull of his mother. ' Coptites. s Buto.
INSCRIPTION OF DARIUS. 143
his strong house, TUM the great lord of created beings.
He is the hawk I created at first, MENTU RA in lias."
The powerful bull, he is the arm striking.
44 of the cowards of Nahi, PTAH in lias," the luminous
body ever golden for an age and ever. Thou art SEKAR,
thy transformations are into the Nile, the person greater
than the other gods. Thou art youth and age.3
45 They repose in the merits of thee. Thou givest life to
the earth by thy stream. Thou art heaven, thou art
earth, thou art fire, thou art water, thou art air in the
midst of them. Thou hast hailed things to be done of
him who is indefatigable, the orderer of the visible and
invisible.4
46 Thou givest life to them as thou increasest them, thy
soul prepares them under thy type of AMEN RA, lord of
all existences, thy heart is strong, thy body makes festive,
thou increasest thy son who is on thy throne, thou makest
young his lips up-
47 on earth. Thou honourest him, thou crownest him
with thy title, thy gracious form thou makest to shine as
the Sun, thy son, the beautiful face 5 doing all thy wish,
thou findest for him victory to his hands, the king of the
Upper and Lower Country, the Son of the Sun.
48 NTARIUSH,* the Ever Living, Born of the Sun, the
support of those who are in lias," the Son of the Sun
NTARIUSH 6 the assistant, his attached fourfold AMEN RA,
Lord of the thrones of the world, resident in Thebes,
powerful with the scimitar
49 Son of the Sun, NTARIUSH,* HORUS, son of Isis, son of
1 xePrr> same as the " scarabaeus." ' Thebaid.
3 Or the Hannu or Ether. 4 Existent or non-existent
s Title also of Ptah. « Darius I.
144 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
OSIRIS, beloved of AMEN, save thou the Son of the Sun
NTARIUSH' the Ever Living, from every sword, every
arrow; may the terror of him, the fear of him, the vic-
torious power of him, be in the hearts of all men and
every land, like thy victory thy fears and thy terrors in
the hearts of gods and men.
1 Darius I.
THE PRAISE OF LEARNING.
TRANSLATED BY
S. BIRCH, LL.D.
T^HIS composition is found on two papyri in the
British Museum, Sallier II., pi. iii., 1. g-pl. xi.,
1. 4, and Anastasi VII., pi. i. 1. i-pl. vii. 1. 4, Select
Papyri, pi. xv.-xx., cxxviii.-cxxxiv., and also on a
slice of calcareous stone in the same institution, pub-
lished in Inscriptions in the Hieratic and Demotic
Characters published by tlie British Museum, pi. xi. It
has long attracted the attention of students ; a precis
of the contents and translation of a small portion
having been given by Mr. Goodwin in the Cambridge
Essays, 1858, p. 272-275 ; but the first critical trans-
lation of the whole has been given by M. Maspero,
Le Genre Epistolaire chcz les Anciens Egypticns, 1872,
p. 48. The present translation is made after that of
M. Maspero, and follows it in nearly all the passages;
but the difficult and obscure nature of many sentences
is such that they can hardly be interpreted, except
conjecturally, owing principally to two reasons, viz., the
extreme conciseness of the language in which it is
VOL. VIII. 11
146 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
written, accompanied by the use of colloquial phrases,
and the abnormal employment of determinative Hiero-
glyphs in Hieratic compositions. This long text ap-
pears to be a poetical one, and the lines of poetry are
indicated by red spots. That these do not mark off
sentences is evident from the spots occasionally being
placed in the middle of a sentence, the end of which
passes into the following line. The composition is
attributed to the period of the Xllth Dynasty ; but trie
name of Pepi, the same as that of a monarch of the
Vlth Dynasty, may indicate that it is of the earlier
period. The manuscripts in which it is found are not
older than the age of Rameses II. of the XlXth
Dynasty. Two dedications are found on the papyri ;
that of the Sallier Papyrus is, " To the perfect bard,
the very wonderful, the scribe of the treasury, Qakabu,
of the treasury of the Pharaoh," while Anastasi VI L
has " To the scribe of the treasury, Qakabu, the scribe
Paharpet, the scribe Autha, the scribe Rameriu, made
by the scribe Anna, (or Ann-ann) the master of in-
structions, in the 6th year the 25th of the month Payni
when one was in the house of Rameses (II.). Loving
Amen, the Living, the great portrait of Ra-Harmachis,"
by which last expression is meant the king Rameses II.
It should be observed that these dedications are also
marked with red spots, but they were also drawn up in
poetical form, so as to make the entire composition
uniform.
147
THE PRAISE OF LEARNING.
1 THE commencement of the instructions
2 made by a person of Tsaru '
3 TUAUFSAKHRAT is his name
4 to his son PEPI * is his name
5 He went to Khennu 3
6 to place himself in the place of instruction of letters.
7 The children of elders did not surpass him
8 who are in the town of Khennu 3
9 He was saying to him
10 I have seen violence, I have seen violence4
1 1 give thy heart after letters
12 I have seen one free from labours s
13 Consider there is not anything beyond letters
14 As it is done in the water
1 5 plunge in the bosom of Kami 6
1 6 You are finding this sentence in it in words
17 Should there be a scribe whose entire residence is in
Khennu 3
1 8 He is not inactive in it
19 He is giving satisfaction to another
20 He does not come forth an inactive person
21 I have seen labours likewise ....
22 the words of this sentence in it
1 Perhaps Tanis, as he evidently was not a native of Silsilis. Maspero
reads " threshingfloor," barn.
* Shows the composition to date from the Vlth Dynasty. 3 Silsilis.
4 Rather manual labour. 5 Service. 6 Books.
11*
148 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
23 Love letters as thy mother
24 I make its beauty go in thy face
25 it is greater possession than all employments1
26 It is not a word * on this earth
2 7 ' He who has commenced to avail himself is from his
infancy a counsellor 3
28 He is sent to perform commissions4
29 He who does not go he is in sackcloth
30 I have not seen a blacksmith on a commission
31 a founder who goes on an embassy
32 I have seen the blacksmith at his work
33 at the mouth of his furnace
34 his fingers like things of crocodiles 5
35 he stinks worse than the eggs of fishes
36 every carpenter carrying tools
37 is he more at rest than the labourers
38 his fields are of wood his tools of metal
39 at night (when) he is free
40 he does in addition of his hands in making
41 at night the lighting of his house6
42 The stone cutter he searches for employment
43 in all kinds of hard stones
44 He has made the completion of the things
45 his arms are fatigued, he is at rest
46 seated at the bread7 of the Sun
47 his knees and his back are broken
48 The barber is shaving till evening
49 when he places himself to eat he places himself on his
elbows.
50 he places himself at street after street
5 1 to seek after his shaving
1 Dignities or honours. a A mere word. 3 A counsellor, a net' %et.
4 Receives a civil employment. 5 So black and hard.
6 Cutting wood or torches. ' Obscure.
PRAISE OF LEARNING. 149
52 he wearies his hands to fill his belly
53 as bees feed by their labours.
54 The boatman l he navigates to
55 At'hu* that he may have taken his price
56 he has done beyond the power of his hands in doing
57 to kill geese and flamingoes
58 he has suffered his suffering
59 he approaches his orchard3
60 he approaches his house at night
6 1 for he must go4
62 The little labourer having a field
63 he passes his life amongst rustics 5
64 he is worn down for vines and pigs
65 to make his kitchen of what his fields have
66 his clothes are heavy with weight
67 he is tied as a forced labourer6
68 he goes into the air he suffers
69 coming forth well from his fireplace
70 He is bastinadoed by a stick on his legs
71 He saves himself
72 Shut against him is the hall of every house
73 drawn are the chambers.7
74 I tell you also of the builder of precincts
75 Disease tastes him
76 For he is in draughts of air
77 He builds in slings
78 Tied as the lotus8 of the houses
1 A rare word, tu-ti, apparently the poulterer or preparer of birds.
4 The marshlands, Delta, or Fayoum.
3 Or avenue of trees before the house. 4 Again to his labours.
5 An\u, either " natives " or " beasts."
6 Satepu, " one selected " to do work for nothing.
7 Bolts or doors of the rooms against his entry.
8 Obscure phrase, either as a lotus is tied to a house, or to the " lotus of
the house," perhaps the roof. Cf. 1. 88.
150 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
79 To go along to his end
80 his hands are worn with labour
8 1 Disordered are his clothes
82 He eats himself, the bread his fingers
83 He washes himself at one time only
84 He lowers himself to examine all directions
85 His passage ' is from place to place
86 which is from ten to six cubits
87 his passage is from month to month
88 upon the beams of the lotuses of the houses
89 doing all its work
90 Should there be bread for him, he gives it his house
91 Exhausted ~ are his children.
92 The gardener brings me gazelles'*
93 all his yokes have weight
94 His hands are chiefly on his neck
95 when he has done the manuring
96 He passes the morning watering vegetables
97 The evening vines
98 He has done every day
99 his belly is wretched
100 Ignorant of his mother is his name4
101 more tranquil than any employment
1 02 The farmer his garments are for eternity5
103 He elevates his voice like a bird6
104 His fingers aid me for his arms are dry in the wind
1 Maspero, 1. c. p. 54 n. 3, reads, "he is a pawn (seneii) from square to
square."
1 Or "beaten are his children," i.e., his children are starved; it can
hardly be that he beats them because he has obtained bread.
3 Mautu, probably for mahu "wreaths," as the gazelle was not under
the charge of a gardener.
4 Ignorant of literature, " an ignoramus."
5 He wears the same clothes a very long time.
6 "As a bird," or "to the birds." To drive them away.
PRAISE OF LEARNING. 151
105 He reposes at the middle ' of the marshes
1 06 For he is a forced labourer2
107 He is in good health with the beasts
1 08 Illness tastes him
109 he resides amongst them
1 10 He arrives at his garden 3
in He comes to his house in the evening
112 He must go out
113 The weaver inside the houses
ri4 is more wretched than a woman
1 1 5 his knees are at the place of his heart 4
1 1 6 he has not tasted the air
117 Should he have done little in a day of his weaving
118 he is dragged as a lilly in a pool 5
119 he gives bread to the porter
1 20 that he may be allowed to behold the light
121 The maker of weapons suffers extremely
122 going forth to foreign countries
123 he gives a great deal for his asses
124 more than the labours (of his hands)
125 he gives a great deal for their being in a field
126 He gives on the road
127 He arrives at his garden 3
128 he reaches his house at night
129 he must be off.
130 The courier going to foreign countries
131 bequeathes his goods to his children
132 because of the fears of beasts and Asiatics
133 What happens to him when he is in Kam6
134 he arrives at his garden3
1 Matr, " at a place examined " or " selected."
a Sulep, " one chosen " or " conscribed " for the service.
3 Or avenues of 1. 59. 4 Owing to his being seated on the ground.
5 Either he is overcome or punished. ' Egypt.
152 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
135 he goes to his house in the evening
136 he must be off
137 His heavy bond comes forth
138 No joys come
139 The dyer his fingers stink
140 The smell of bad fish
141 his two eyes are weary with very fatigue
142 his hand does not stop
143 he watches at the rent of the old garment
1 44 abominable ' are the clothes
145 The sandal maker is very miserable
146 he is always begging
147 his health is as my health of a bad fish J
148 he gnaws the leather
149 The washerman washing on the quay
150 Traverses the ground approaching the crocodiles s
151 The father of the water brings out the dirt
152 his hand does not stop
153 a quiet employment is not before you
154 easier that any employment.
155 his draughts4 are mixed up with his clothes
156 not a limb of him is clean
157 there is given to him the bonds 5 of women
158 For as he is in misfortunes
159 I lament to thee he passes his time with a bat6
1 60 I have brought to thee
1.6 1 has been said to him
162 Shouldst7 thou delay to bring them
163 Thy lips will then be struck
164 The fowler of birds suffers very much
1 To the dyer. * Or invalid of some kind.
3 One text reads, "in many approaches."
4 Sbab, applied to draught of water. 5 Tie or affliction.
6 To full the linen. 7 Doubtful readingf.
PRAISE OF LEARNING. 153
165 The confines of NUM ' are before thee
1 66 when he says " Let the net refuse"
167 The god wills not to show his forms
1 68 vain are his* plans
169 I tell you the fisherman
170 suffers more than any employment
171 consider is he not toiling on the river
172 he is mixed up with the crocodiles
173 Should the clumps of papyrus diminish
174 Then he is crying out for help
175 If he has not been told a crocodile is there
176 Terrors blind him
177 Comes forth the father out of the waters 3 it is the net
178 Then like the spirits4 which are from god
179 Consider there it is not an employment destitute of
superior ones
1 80 Except the scribe who is the first
181 For he who knows letters
182 he then is better than thee
183 Not so the employments before thee
184 Consider a companion despises his companion
185 It has not been said Labour for that person
1 86 Do not transgress that which said to thee
187 Consider I made it in going up to Khennu5
1 88 Consider I made it out of love for thee
189 (If) thou hast profited a day in the school
190 It is for ever its works are mountains
191 they are my precepts6 which I let you know
1 There are different readings in the versions of this line : as, " he does
not see the birds (ari-em-pe) should Num pass to the upper heaven."
* The fisher's plans or skill.
3 "The father makes to come the net out of the water." Maspero.
4 His destiny is in the hands of God. Maspero. 5 Silsilis.
6 Ast determined by a packet. Maspero reads, "quick, quick."
154 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
192 I let you love them they drive away worms,1
1 93 I tell thee some other words
194 for thy instruction and knowledge
195 so that thou art not opposed
196 Thou art of those who are weighty in plans
197 Should the weight of my precepts be taken away
198 There is not known anything of counsel
199 When in the hands (is) lapis lazuli for beasts2
200 Vain replies are made to him
201 Should thou walk after great men
202 Thou art to proceed with good knowledge
203 if thou goest in is the master3 in his house
204 the hands of another are not before thee
205 Fit thy hand in thy mouth
206 do not ask any thing for thee
207 Who has done as to say give
208 Is as breaking a switch against a stake4
209 Irritating against thee the master of good
210 Do not speak words of dissimulation
211 He who dissimulates his heart acts against it
212 Do not say proud words
213 Be sealed in thyself that is alone
214 When you come out of school
215 Should you have been told it is now
216 To pay respects in the halls
217 I recommend to thee do not go in their places
218 If a master comes to thee on a mission
219 What he says let it be as he says it
220 Do not detract about what has been laid down
221 When he has left after paying respects
222 He has not laid aside his heart
1 Tennu "enemy, opponents," Maspero; perhaps "cares."
a Like pearls before swine.
3 One version, " mistress, lady." 4 Or, " pen."
PRAISE OF LEARNING. 155
223 He is full of all his admiration
224 Nothing is hidden from him
225 None of all his places holds him r
226 He does not tell lies to his mother2
227 Against the wishes of that Chief.3
228 After things come to (hand) 4
229 The hands of a person will be strengthened his trouble
soothed
230 Do not let it be about those with thee that is to say
alone
231 Are they kept low
232 the bowels, thou hast been heard.
233 When three loaves have been eaten
234 and two pots of beer swallowed
235 (If) thy stomach is not full, contend against that.
236 Should another be satiated with it do stand
237 as if breaking a pen against a pike
238 Consider thou passest (by) multitude
239 Thou hearest the words of chiefs
240 Ah could I make like thee the children of men 5
241 Thou goest to receive them.6
242 The scribe who listens7 is seen8
243 Those who are attentive are heard
244 Combat the words which are against them
245 Hasten thy feet, thou hast gone
1 A very obscure passage, apparently to respect the tutor or master.
5 Letters or literature.
3 Old person or instructor. Maspero refers this to Osiris.
4 Very difficult passages, apparently referring to the unremunerative
nature of literature.
5 I.e., could the children of common people do as thou doest through
literature.
6 He wishes to make the ignorant like him. ' Attentive.
8 Conspicuous.
156 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
246 Do not turn back thy heart
247 Uniting the road to it
248 The elder of a (another) person are thy juniors
249 Consider RANEN is on the road of the god
250 RANEN a scribe (has) on his shoulder
251 The day of his birth.1
252 He approaches the halls
253 of the assembly2 men have made.
254 Truly no scribe is without eating
255 The things of the royal palace of the king
256 MESCHENTS supplies a scribe
257 Placed at the head of the assembly 2
258 Adores RA* the father his mother5
259 Those placed on the path of the living
260 Consider what I have placed before thee
261 The children of his children
262 Happily finished.6
1 That he is destined or has the goddess as his good genius.
a Jury or council.
3 The goddess of new birth or the metempsychosis.
4 Maspero reads, " Duau (Tuau) is his father and mother." Tuau is
the morning.
5 His mother literature. 6 It has gone out well in peace.
THE PAPYRUS
OF
MO RAL PRECEPTS
XXXIind DYNASTY.
TRANSLATED BY
M. THEOD. DEVERIA.
'"FHESE moral precepts are written in the demotic
script on a palimpsest papyrus in the collection of
the Musee du Louvre, X. 9, No. 2114. The other
side of the papyrus has a Greek inscription contained
in three columns, which has been published by MM.
Egger et Brunet de Presle in Papyrus grecs du Musfa
du Louvre et de la Bibliotheque, No. 56, and the
Egyptian text has been published and annotated by
M. Pierret in the Recueil Egyptologique, ire Livraison,
and also again by M. Theod. Deveria in Catalogue des
Manuscripts Egyptiens au Muscc du Louvre, 8vo.,
Paris, 1875, p. 139, and from that latter source
the following translation is taken. These wise
158 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
admonitions which are almost the latest that occur
in Egyptian literature should be compared with
those of the scribe Pthah-hept which were written
in the time of the Vlth Dynasty, and which have
been translated both by M. Chabas in Le plus Ancien
livre du Monde, 1857, and by the Rev. Dunbar Heath,
under the title of The Proverbs of Aphobis.1
1 A translation of these ancient proverbs will shortly appear in the
Records of the Past.
LOUVRE PAPYRUS.
No. X., 9.
1 Make it not in a heart of a mother to enter into
bitterness l
2 Kill not, nor expose thyself to be killed
3 Make not a companion of a wicked man *
4 Do not do after the advice of a fool
5 Do not build up thy tomb above those who command
you
6 Do not . . . .3 to your children till they are old they
have increased in age and strength
7 May it not happen to thee to maltreat an inferior and
may it happen to thee to respect the venerable
8 May it not happen to you to maltreat your wife whose
strength is less than thine but may she find in you a
protector 4
9 Do not curse thy master before God
10 Do not curse him who 3
1 1 Do not speak against thy master . . . .3
1 2 Do not save thy life at the cost of that of another s
13 Desire not that thy son . . . .3 and his sons
1 See Ritual, cap cxxv., " I have not made to weep."
9 Cf. Pro. iv. 14 and xxviii. 7. 3 Lacunae.
4 Cf. the fine old Sanskrit Proverb, " Strike not a wife even with a
flower."
5 This admonition sounds almost Budhistic in its tendency. If the view
could be safely entertained that the doctrine of Sakyamunya had reached
Greece, then an Egyptian priest educated in the Greco-Egyptian School
of Alexandria might have heard of such a precept.
160 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
14 May it not happen to thee to cause thy infant to suffer
if he is weak, (on the contrary) assist him
1 5 Do not abandon one son to another of thy sons, who is
stronger or more courageous
1 6 That is the cause of vexation which comes from . . . .'
17 Do not amuse thyself or play upon those who are
dependent upon you
1 8 Do not allow thy son to be familiar with a married
woman J
19 Do not build thy tomb in thine own estate3
20 Do not build your tomb at the approaches to the
Temples
2 1 Do not go out with a foolish man 4
22 Do not stop to listen to his words
23 Do not pervert the heart of thy acquaintance if he is pure
24 Do not take a haughty attitude
25 Do not mock the venerable man who is thy superior.
Ccetera desunt.
1 Lacuna.
1 Cf. Ecclus. ix. 9 and Prov. vi. 29.
3 That such a caution should have become necessary demonstrates
plainly how much in the Ptolemaic period the Egyptians had declined from
the love of their old faith, since a tomb in the consecrated mountains of the
West was at one time the last and highest comfort that religion could
bestow.
4 Cf. Prov. xiv. 7 and xiii. 20.
LISTS OF FURTHER TEXTS FOR TRANSLATION.
ASSYRIAN.
ARRANGED BY THE LATE
GEORGE SMITH.
Works on History and Chronology.
Eponym Canon (Cun. Ins., Vol. Ill, p. i).
Historical Canon (Cun. Ins., Vol. II, p. 52).
Historical.
Legends of Izdubar (texts unpublished). (Deluge Tablets.)
Creation Tablets.
Early Babylonian Dated Tablets (texts unpublished).
Brick of Samsi-vul I, ruler of Assyria (Cun. Ins., Vol. I, p. 6).
Brick of Kara-indas, king of Babylon (Trans. Soc. Bib. Ar.,
p. 68).
Inscriptions of Pudil, king of Assyria (Revue Ar., Nov., 1869).
Monolith of Maruduk-bal-idina I, king of Babylonia.
Tablet of Vul-nirari I, king of Assyria.
Small Inscriptions of Vul-nirari (various).
Inscriptions of Shalmaneser I, king of Assyria (various).
Inscriptions of Tugulti-ninip, king of Assyria (various un-
published; one Cun. Ins., Vol. Ill, p. 4).
Inscriptions of Assur-risilim, king of Assyria (Cun. Ins..
Vol. Ill, p. 3).
Brick and Cone Inscriptions of Vul-bal-idina, king of Babylon
(various).
Inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar I, king of Babylonia (un-
published).
VOL. VIII. 12
1 62 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
Other Inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser (various).
Contracts dated in the reign of Maruduk-nadin-ahi, king of
Babylon (various).
Inscriptions of Assur-bel-kala, king of Assyria (Cun. Ins.,
Vol. I, p. 6).
Inscriptions of Samsivul IV, king of Assyria (Cun. Ins.,
Vol. Ill, p. 3).
Contract dated in the reign of Simma-sihu, king of Babylon
(Layard's Ins., p. 53).
Other Inscriptions of Assur-nazir-pal (various).
Bull Inscription of Shalmaneser II (Layard's Ins., p. 12, etc.).
Inscriptions of Vul-nirari III, king of Assyria (Cun. Ins.,
Vol. I. p. 35).
Fragments of Annals of Tiglath-Pileser II, king of Assyria
(various).
Fragments of Inscriptions Shalmaneser IV, king of Assyria
(various).
Inscription of the Second Year of Sargon (unpublished).
Nimrud Inscription of Sargon (Layard's Ins., p. 33).
Cylinder (Barrel), of Sargon (Cun. Ins., Vol. I, p. 36).
Prism of Sargon (unpublished).
Other Inscriptions of Sargon (various).
Tablet of Kalah Shergat.
Nebbi Yunas Tablet (Cun. Ins., Vol. I, pp. 43, 44).
Other Inscriptions of Sennacherib (various).
Portions of Cylinders B, C, D, and E, of Assurbanipal
(Smith's Assurbanipal).
Various Historical Tablets of Assurbanipal (Smith's Assur-
banipal).
Hunting Texts of Assurbanipal.
Inscriptions of Assur-ebel-ili, king of Assyria (Cun. Ins.,Vols.
I and III).
Cylinder of Bel-zakir-iskun, king of Assyria (Cun. Ins. Vol. I,
p. 8).
LISTS OF FURTHER TEXTS. 163
Inscription of Nabopalassar, king of Babylonia (unpublished).
Borsippa Cylinder of Nebuchadnezzar (Cun. Ins., Vol. I,
P- SO-
Text of Elamite Kings.
Various other texts of Nebuchadnezzar.
Tables dated in the reign of Evil Merodach, king of Babylon.
Cylinder of Nergal-shar-ezer, king of Babylon (Cun. Ins.,
Vol. I, p. 67).
Cylinders of Nabonidus, king of Babylon (Cun. Ins., Vol. I,
pp. 68, 69).
Other texts of Nabonidus (various).
Brick of Cyrus, king of Babylon (Trans. Soc. Bib. Ar., Vol. II,
pt. I). '
Inscription on Tomb of Cyrus.
Dated Tablets in reign of Cambyses (various).
Inscriptions of Darius.
Inscriptions of Xerxes, king of Persia.
Inscriptions of Artaxerxes, king of Persia.
Later Inscriptions of Persian, Greek, and Parthian periods.
Mythology and Religion (mostly unpublished}.
Hymn to the Moon God.
Hymns to Ninip.
The War of the Gods.
Incantations for removing Curses.
Prayers of Amil-urgal.
Prayer against Eclipses.
Various other Prayers.
Various Mythological Stories and Fables.
Tablets against Witchcraft.
The Lubara Legends (Chaldean Genesis).
Fables (unpublished}.
The Horse and the Ox.
12*
164 RECORDS OF THE PAST.
Government (mostly unpublished].
Tablet with Advice and Cautions to Kings.
Various Reports and Despatches.
Various Tablets with Laws and Reports of Law Cases.
Private Life.
Further Deeds of Sale and Barter.
Further Loan Tablets.
Private Letters.
Lists of Property.
Science, etc. (partly unpublished].
Geographical Lists.
Lists of Animals and Birds (Delitzsch).
Lists of Minerals and their uses.
Lists of Wooden Objects.
Grammatical Tablets (a selection from).
Mathematical Tablets.
Astrology and Astronomy.
Further Selections from the great Chaldean Work on As-
trology.
Further Selections from Astronomical and Astrological
Reports.1
A Selection of Omens from Terrestrial Objects and Events.
PHCENICIAN.
Sarcophagus of Ashmunazer (Due de Luynes, Memoire,
1856).
Marseilles Inscription (Judas, 1857).
The Moabite Stone (Ginsburg, 1871).
Selected Mortuary Inscriptions.
1 Selections of these only printed in Vol. I.
1*5
EGYPTIAN.
(Tentative List only.)
ARRANGED BY
P. LE PAGE RENOUF, F.R.S.L.
Historical Documents.
Ancient Empire :
Inscription of Tomb of Ameni (Benihassan I).
„ Tomb of Nahre-si Chnum-hotep (Beni-
hassan II).
,, of Sakaya.
XVIIIth Dynasty :
Inscription of Aahmes, formerly called Pensouvan
(Louvre C, 49).
„ Thothmes I, at Karnak (Denk. Ill, 18).
„ Hat-a-su (Duemichen, Hist. Ins., 19, 20).
Inscriptions of Haremhebi.
Inscriptions of Amenophis III (Denk. Ill, 65 and
following).
Monuments of the Disk Worshippers.
XlXth Dynasty :
Triumphal Inscription of Seti I at Karnak (Denk. Ill,
126).
Sarcophagus of Seti I (Bonomi).
Dedicatory Inscription of Rameses II, at Abydos
(Maspero).
Triumphal Inscriptions (Denk. Ill, 165, etc.).
Historical Inscription at Abusimbel (187).
1 66 LISTS OF FURTHER TEXTS.
Great Tablet at Abusimbel (194).
Inscription of Bek-en-Chonsu (Deveria).
List of Kings :
Turin Papyrus.
Tablet of Abydos.
Tablet of Sakkarah.
Tablet of Karnak.
XXth Dynasty :
Inscription of Seti II (Duemichen, Hist. Ins., 1-5).
„ Rameses III (Rosellini, Burton, Greene,
and Duemichen, ubi supra 13-15).
XXIst Dynasty :
Tablet 4th year of Rameses IV.
Persian and Ptolemaic :
Statuette Naophore du Vatican.
Tablet of Tafnecht at Naples.
Inscription of Ptolemy son of Lagos.
Inscription of Alexander Aegos (Zeitschrift).
" Bauurkunde der Tempelanlagen von Edfu" (Due-
michen).
Two Ptolemaic Tablets (Birch).
Selection of Obelisk Inscriptions.
„ Apis Tablets.
Religious or Magical Texts.
Ancient Forms of Sepulchral Offerings, etc. (Tablets of
Ancient Empire.)
The Ritual of the Dead.
Spells in Lepsius (" Aelteste Texte").
Harris Magical Papyrus.
" Horus on Crocodiles" (various texts, Leydenand elsewhere. )
Spells in Tomb of Bek-en-ren-ef.
" Metternich Tablet."
RECORDS OF THE PAST. 167
" Sha en sensenu; " the " Book of the Breaths of Life."
Legend of Horns (Naville).
The Rhind Papyri.
Sarcophagus of Aroeri (Bonomi).
„ Necht-en-heb.
„ T'at-hra (Louvre).
„ British Museum, 32.
Litanies of the Sun (Denk. Ill, 203).
Apis Stelae (a very large number, nearly 360).
Selection of Hymns, such as the following :
To the Nile (Denk. Ill, 175).
To Ammon (Denk. Ill, 237).
Ap-heru-mes (Berlin, in Brugsch Monumens, pi. III).
Meri ( „ „ „ pi. IV).
To Osiris (Bibliotheque Nationale, Chabas).
Fragments of the Hymns of the Disk Worshippers.
Several in British Museum.
„ Duemichen's publications.
Great Psalm to Ammon (Leyden I, 350).
Calendar of Lucky and Unlucky days (Sallier, Chabas).
Calendars of Festivals from as Early Date as possible to
Roman Period.
Literature, Philosophy, Science, Economy.
Proverbs, Prisse Papyrus (Chabas).
" Rules of Life " (Papyrus at Boulaq, lately published by
Mariette).
Song of the Oxen (Denk. Ill, 10).
Three Amatory Songs (Goodwin).
Medical Papyrus (Berlin).
„ „ (British Museum).
„ „ (Ebers Papyrus).
Geometrical Papyrus (British Museum).
1 68 LISTS OF FURTHER TEXTS.
Calendar of Astronomical Observations in Tombs of XXth
Dynasty (Renouf).
Letters on all varieties of subjects in the Sallier, Anastasi,
Leyden, and Bologna Papyri.
Letters of Amenemha (Maspero Genre Epistolaire).
Registers, etc., (Rollin and other Papyri).
Accounts (Louvre).
Receipts for making Kyphi, etc.
Catalogues of the Temple Library at Edfu.
Law and Police.
Abbott Papyrus (Spoliation of Tombs).
Report on Capture of Fugitive Slaves (Leyden I, 368,
Chabas).
Complaint against Paneba (British Museum Papyrus, Salt,
Chabas).
Petition to king Amenophis (Chabas).
Complaint against Thefts committed by certain Workmen
(Chabas).
Selected Inscriptions from the Ostraca.
Greco-Egyptian Official Complaints.
(Original Ciratlar.}
SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY.
9, CONDUIT STREET, W.,
6th May, 1873.
SIR,
I beg to inform you that it is intended shortly to
publish a Series of TRANSLATIONS OF ALL THE IMPORTANT
ASSYRIAN AND EGYPTIAN TEXTS, which exist in the various
collections of England and the Continent, and thus place
before the English Student the remains of undoubtedly THE
OLDEST AND MOST AUTHENTIC LITERATURE IN THE WORLD,
the foundation of all History, Archaeology, and Biblical
exposition, the contemporaneous records of the nations and
writers of the Bible. Nearly all the principal Translators
have offered their services for this purpose, and while each
Author will be alone responsible for his portion of the work,
the general arrangement of the materials will rest with the
President of this Society. The selection of the records
will not be confined to those bearing directly on the text of
the Bible, but embrace the entire range of Egyptian and
Assyrian history and literature. Each translation will quote
the authorities upon which it is based, or the monument
from which it is taken, and all other notes will be as few and
brief as possible, to avoid controversy and expense.
The volumes will be issued by Messrs. Bagster and Sons,
at a price to bring them within the reach of all who are
interested in such subjects.
I shall be happy to answer any communication addressed
to me upon this subject, and trust that you will promote the
best interests of Biblical Archaeology, by circulating this
notice among your friends.
I remain, Sir,
Yours faithfully,
W. R. COOPER.
RECORDS OF THE PAST.
VOL. I.
ASSYRIAN TEXTS.
CONTENTS :
INSCRIPTION OF RIMMON-NIRARI.
BY REV. A. H, SAYCE, M.A.
INSCRIPTION OF KHAMMURABI.
BY H. FOX TALBOT, F.R.S.
MONOLITH INSCRIPTION OF S AM AS-RIMMON.
BY REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
SELLING'S CYLINDER OF SENNACHERIB.
BY H. FOX TALBOT, F.R.S.
TAYLOR'S CYLINDER OF SENNACHERIB.
BY H. FOX TALBOT, F.R.S.
ANNALS OF ASSURBANIPAL (CYLINDER A).
BY GEORGE SMITH.
BEHISTUN INSCRIPTION OF DARIUS.
BY SIR H. RAWLINSON, K.C.B., D.C.L.
BABYLONIAN EXORCISMS.
BY REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
PRIVATE WILL OF SENNACHERIB.
BY REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
ASSYRIAN PRIVATE CONTRACT TABLETS.
BY REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
LEGEND OF THE DESCENT OF ISHTAR.
BY H. FOX TALBOT, F.R.S.
ASSYRIAN ASTRONOMICAL TABLETS.
BY REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
ASSYRIAN CALENDAR.
BY REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
TABLES OF ASSYRIAN WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
BY REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
LISTS OF FURTHER TEXTS, ASSYRIAN AND
EGYPTIAN.
SELECTED BY GEORGE SMITH. AND P. LE PAGE RENOUF.
RECORDS OF THE PAST.
VOL. II.
EGYPTIAN TEXTS.
CONTENTS:
INSCRIPTION OF UNA.
BY S. BIRCH, LL.D.
INSTRUCTIONS OF AMENEMHAT I.
BY G. MASPERO.
ANNALS OF THOTHMES III.
STATISTICAL TABLET. TABLET OF THOTHMES III. BATTLE OF MEGIDDO.
INSCRIPTION OF AMEN-EM-HEB.
BY S. BIRCH, LL.D.
THE WARS OF RAMESES II WITH THE KHITA.
BY PROF. E. L. LUSHINGTON.
INSCRIPTION OF PIANCHI MER-AMON.
BY REV. F. C. COOK, M.A., CANON OF EXETER.
TABLET OF NEWER-HOTEP.
BY PAUL PIERRET.
TRAVELS OF AN EGYPTIAN.
BY FRANCOIS CHABAS.
THE LAMENTATIONS OF ISIS AND NEPHTHYS.
BY P. J. DE HORRACK.
HYMN TO AMEN-RA.
BY C. W. GOODWIN, M.A.
THE TALE OF THE TWO BROTHERS.
BY P. LE PAGE RENOUF.
THE TALE OF THE DOOMED PRINCE.
BY C. W. GOODWIN, M.A.
EGYPTIAN CALENDAR. TABLE OF DYNASTIES.
EGYPTIAN MEASURES AND WEIGHTS.
LISTS OF FURTHER TEXTS, ASSYRIAN AND
EGYPTIAN.
SELECTED BY GEORGE SMITH AND P. LE PAGE RENOUF.
RECORDS OF THE PAST.
VOL. III.
ASSYRIAN TEXTS.
CONTENTS:
EARLY HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
BY GEORGE SMITH.
TABLET OF ANCIENT ACCADIAN LAWS.
SYNCHRONOUS HISTORY OF ASSYRIA AND
BABYLONIA.
BY REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
ANNALS OF ASSUR-N AS I R-PAL.
BY REV. J. M. RODWELL, M.A.
KURKH INSCRIPTION OF SHALMANESER.
BY REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
INSCRIPTION OF ESARHADDON.
SECOND INSCRIPTION OF ESARHADDON.
BY H. F. TALBOT, F.R.S.
AN ACCADIAN LITURGY.
BY REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
SACRED ASSYRIAN POETRY.
BY H. F. TALBOT, F.R.S.
BABYLONIAN CHARMS.
BY REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
LIST OF FURTHER TEXTS.
RECORDS OF THE PAST.
VOL. IV.
EGYPTIAN TEXTS.
CONTENTS:
HISTORICAL TEXTS:—
ANNALS OF THOTHMES III.:—
INSCRIPTION OF ANEBNI. INSCRIPTION OF AAHMES. OBELISK OF THH
LATERAN.
BY S. BIRCH, LL.D.
OBELISK OF RAMESES II.
BY FRANCOIS CHABAS.
TREATY OF PEACE BETWEEN RAMESES II. AND
THE HITTITES.
BY C. W. GOODWIN. M.A.
TABLET OF 400 YEARS.
INVASION OF EGYPT BY THE GREEKS IN
THE REIGN OF MENEPHTAH.
DIRGE OF MENEPHTAH. POSSESSED PRINCESS.
BY S. BIRCH, LL.D.
TABLET OF AHMES.
BY PAUL PIERRET.
NEAPOLITAN STELE.
BY C. W. GOODWIN, M.A.
ROSETTA STONE.
BY S. BIRCH, LL.D.
ETHIOPIAN ANNALS:—
STELE OF THE DREAM.
BY G. MASPERO.
INSCRIPTION OF QUEEN MADSENEN.
BY PAUL PIERRET.
STELE OF THE EXCOMMUNICATION.
BY G. MASPERO.
MYTHOLOGICAL AND ROMANTIC TEXTS:—
HYMN TO OSIRIS.
BY FRANCOIS CHABAS.
HYMN TO THE NILE.
BY REV. F. C. COOK.
FESTAL DIRGE OF THE EGYPTIANS.
BY C. W. GOODWIN, M.A.
BOOK OF RESPIRATIONS.
BY P. J. DF. HORRACK.
TALE OF SETNAU.
BY P. LE PAGE RENOUF.
LIST OF FURTHER TEXTS.
RECORDS OF THE PAST.
VOL. V.
ASSYRIAN TEXTS.
HISTORICAL TEXTS:
LEGEND OF THE INFANCY OF SARGINA 3.
BY H. F. TALBOT, F.R.S.
INSCRIPTION OF T I GL AT H- PI LES E R I.
BY SIR HENRY RAWLINSON, K.C.B., D.C.L., ETC.
BLACK OBELISK INSCRIPTION OF SHALMANESER II.
BY REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
INSCRIPTION OF T IG LATH-PI LES ER II.
BY REV. J. M. RODWELL, M.A.
EARLY HISTORY OF BABYLONIA, PART II.
BY GEORGE SMITH.
INSCRIPTION OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
BY REV. J. M. RODWELL, M.A.
INSCRIPTION OF NERIGLISSAR.
BY REV. J. M. RODWELL, M.A.
INSCRIPTION OF NABONIDUS.
BY H. F. TALBOT, F.R.S.
INSCRIPTION OF DARIUS AT N AKS HI-RUSTAM.
BY H. F. TALBOT, F.R.S.
MYTHICAL TEXTS:
ACCADIAN HYMN TO ISTAR.
BY REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
WAR OF THE SEVEN EVIL SPIRITS AGAINST HEAVEN.
BY H. F. TALBOT, F.R.S.
TABLES OF OMENS.
BY REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
LIST OF FURTHER TEXTS.
RECORDS OF THE PAST.
VOL. V I.
EGYPTIAN TEXTS.
CONTENTS:
SEPULCHRAL INSCRIPTION OF AMENI.
BY S. BIRCH, LL.D.
INSCRIPTION OF AAHMES, SON OF ABANA
BY P. LE PAGE RENOUF.
LETTER OF PANBESA.
BY C W. GOODWIN, M.A.
ANNALS OF RAMESES III.:—
THE CONQUESTS IN ASIA.
BY S. BIRCH, LL.D.
GREAT HARRIS PAPYRUS, PART I.
BY PROFESSOR EISENLOHR AND S. BIRCH, LL.D.
STELE OF THE CORONATION.
BY G. MASPERO.
THE INSCRIPTION OF THE GOVERNOR NES-HOR
BY PAUL PIERRET.
STELE OF KING HORSIATEF.
BY G. MASPERO.
HYMNS TO AMEN.
BY C. W. GOODWIN, M.A.
INSCRIPTION OF THE DESTRUCTION OF MANKIND.
BY EDOUARD NAVILLE.
EGYPTIAN MAGICAL TEXT.
BY S. BIRCH, LL.D.
THE SONG OF THE HARPER.
BY LUDWIG STERN.
THE STORY OF SANEHA.
BY C. W. GOODWIN, M.A.
THE TALE OF THE GARDEN OF FLOWERS.
BY FRANCOIS CHABAS-
LIST OF FURTHER TEXTS.
RECORDS OF THE PAST.
VOL. VII.
ASSYRIAN TEXTS.
CONTENTS:
INSCRIPTION OF AGU-K A K-RIM I.
BY W. ST. CHAD BOSCAWEX.
STANDARD INSCRIPTION OF AS HU R-A KH- B AL.
BY H. FOX TALBOT, F.R.S.
MONOLITH OF AS HU R-A K H-B A L.
BY H. FOX TALBOT, F.R.S.
ANNALS OF SARGON.
BY DR. J. OPPERT.
BULL INSCRIPTION OF SENNACHERIB.
BY REV. J. M. RODWELL, M.A.
A PRAYER AND A VISION.
BY H. FOX TALBOT, F.R.S.
SENKEREH INSCRIPTION OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
BY H. FOX TALBOT, F.R.S.
BIRS-NIMRUD INSCRIPTION OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
BY H. FOX TALBOT, F.R.S.
SUSIAN TEXTS.
BY DR. J. OPPERT.
MEDIAN VERSION OF THE BEHISTUN INSCRIPTION.
BY DR. J. OPPERT.
THREE ASSYRIAN DEEDS.
BY DR. J. OPPERT.
ANCIENT BABYLONIAN MORAL AND POLITICAL PRECEPTS.
BY REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
THE REVOLT IN HEAVEN.
BY H. FOX TALBOT, F.R.S.
LEGEND OF THE TOWER OF BABEL.
BY W. ST. CHAD BOSCAWEN.
ELEVENTH TABLET OF THE IZDUBAR LEGENDS.
BY THE LATE GEORGE SMITH.
ACCADIAN PENITENTIAL PSALM.
BY REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
BABYLONIAN SAINTS' CALENDAR.
BY REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
LISTS OF FURTHER TEXTS.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES
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