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EGYPT

bered by Set. Possibly, also, this took place in the pre- dynastic times, when the bodies of the dead appear to have been intentionally dismembered and then put to- gether again for burial (Chantepie de la Saussaye, op. cit., I, 214). At all events Diodorus narrates that the surgeon who made the first incision on the body pre- vious to the removal of the viscera had to take to flight immediately after having accomplished his duty, while the mob pretended to drive him away with stones (Diodorus Siculus, I, 91), as though he imper- sonated Set. This custom, however, of dismembering bodies may be older than the Osirian doctrine, and may explain it rather than be explained from it (Chantepie de la Saussaye, op. cit., I, 220). When all the rites had been duly performed the deceased was pronounced Osiris so-and-so — he had been identi- fied with the god Osiris. He could now proceed to the edge of the great river beyond which are the Earu fields. Turn-face, the ferryman, woidd carry him across, unless the four sons of Horus would bring him a craft to float over, or the hawk of Horus, or the ibis of Thoth, would condescend to transport him on its pinions to his destination. Such were, during the Meraphite dynasties, the conditions on which the de- parted soul obtained eternal felicity ; they were based on ritual rather than on moral purity. It seems, however, that already at that time some texts show the deceased declaring himself, or being pronounced, free of certain sins. In any case, under the twelfth dynasty the deceased was regularly tried before being allowed to pass across the waters. He is represented appearing before Osiris, surrounded by forty-two judges. His heart is weighed on scales by Horus and Anubis, over against a feather, a .symbol of justice, while Thoth registers the result of the operation. In the meantime the deceased recites a catalogue of forty-two sins (so-called "negative confession") of which he is innocent. Between the scales and Osiris there is what seems to be a female hippopotamus, appearing ready to devour the guilty souls; but there was no great danger of falling into her jaws, as the embalmers had been careful to remove the heart and replace it by a stone scarab inscribed with a magical spell which prevented the heart from testifying against the deceased. The concept of retribution implied by the judgment very likely originated with the School of Abydos [see Masp^ro, "Revue de I'histoire des religions" (1887), XV, .308 sqq.].

According to another tradition, which is repre- sented along with the foregoing in the Pyramid Texts, the deceased is ultimately identified not with Osiris himself, but with Re identified with Osiris and his son Horus. His destination is the bark of Re on the eastern horizon, whither he is transported by the same ferryman Turn-face. Once on the sacred bark, the deceased may bid defiance to all dangers and enemies, he enjoys absolute and perfect felicity, leaves the kingdom of Re-Osiris, and follows Re-Horus across the heavens into the region of the living gods. The same concept was resumed by the Theban School. An im- portant variant of this Re-Osiris tradition is to be found in two books due to the Theban Ammon-Re School of theology, the " Book of what there is in the Duat" (Hades) and the "Book of the Gates". In both compositions the course of Re in the region of darkness is divided into twelve sections corresponding to the twelve hours of night, but in the latter book each section is separated by a gate guarded by gigantic serpents. Some of these sections are presided over by the old gods of the dead, Sokar and Osiris, with their faithful subjects. The principal features of these two books is the concept of a retribution which we now meet clearly expressed for the first time. While the innocent soul, after a .series of transforma- tions, reaches at last, on the extreme limit of the lower world, the bark of Re, where it joins the happy crowd of the gods, the criminal one is submitted to

various tortures and finally annihilated (see, however, below under IV).

IV. LiTER.\Ry Monuments of Ancient Egypt.^ The earliest specimens of Egyptian literature are the so-called Pyramid Texts engraved on the walls of the halls and rooms of the pyramids of Unis (Fifth Dynasty) and Teti II, Pepi I, Mernere, and Pepi II (Sixth Dynasty). They represent two ancient rituals of the dead, the older of which, as is generally conceded, antedates the dynastic times. The texts corresponding to this one are mostly incan- tations and magic prayers supposed to protect the deceased against serpents and scorpions, himger and thirst, and old age. The gods are made to transmit to the deceased the ofTerings deposited in the tomb; nay, these offerings are so placed in his power that he positively eats and digests them, thus assimilating their strength and other desiralile qualities. In these last two features Professor Maspero sees an indica- tion that although the concept of the 6a had alreadj' been superposed on that of the ka, when that ritual first came into existence, yet anthropophagical sacri- fices, if no longer in use, were still fresh in the memory of the Egyptians. This high, probably predynastic, antiquity is confirmed by peculiarities of language and orthography, which in more than one case seem to have puzzled the copyists of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties [Maspero, in "Revue de I'hist. des religions", XII (1885), pp. 125 sqq.]. The other ritual represented in the Pyramid Texts is the Book of Funerals, known already in several recensions and pub- lished by Professor E. Schiaparelli (II libro de' funerali degli AJntichi Egiziani, Rome, 1881-2). It is sup- posed to be the repetition of the rites by which Isis and Horus had animated the mummy of Osiris with the life he had as god of the dead. The principal cere- mony consisted in the opening of the mouth and eyes of the mummy, so that the deceased, in his second life, could enjoy the mortuary offerings and guide and ex- press himself in the next world. For the details of this exceedingly interesting ritual we refer the reader to the excellent analysis of Professor Maspero in the "Revue de I'Histoire des Religions" [XV (1887), 158 sqq.]. These two books were very popular with the Egyptians down to the end of the Ptolemaic times, especially the second one, which is profusely illus- trated in the tomb of Seti I.

The Book of the Dead. — Next in antiquity comes the Book of the Dead, the most widely known moniunent of Egj'ptian literature. Numerous copies of it are to be found in all the principal museums of Europe. It may be best described as a general illustrated guide- book of the departed soul in Amenti (the Region of the West). There, whatever his belief as to the survival of man in the hereafter, or the location and nature of the region of the dead, the deceased found what he had to do to be admitted, what ordeals he would have to undergo before reaching his destination, what spirits and genii he would have to propitiate, and how to come out of all this victorious. Broadly speaking, the book can be divided into three sections: (1) "Book of the Going Out by Daj-time" (cc. i-xvi), a title gener- ally, though wrongly, extended to the whole book ; (2) Chapters xvii-cxxiv : fitting the deceased for admission (xvii-xci) to the kingdom of Osiris, his itinerary there- to, whether by w'ater or overland (xciii-cii, cxii-cxix), and his settlement therein (ciii-cx), without further formality than conciliating the ferrjTnan or the guar- dian genii with certain incantations and magical prayers recited with the right intonation; in case the deceased believed in retribution, before gain- ing admission he had to repair to the Hall of Justice, there to be tried by Osiris (cxxiii-cx.xv) ; (.3) Chapter cxxv to the end: practically another guide- book for the special profit of the followers of the School of Abydos. It begins with the trial, after which it goes over pretty much the same ground as the com-