the Book of the Dead ( PDF )

Plates VII.-X.
What then is this? (21) It is Amentet, [that is to say] the creation of the souls of the gods when Osiris was
leader in Set-Amentet; or (22) (as others say), Amentet is that which Ra hath given unto me; when any
god cometh, he doth arise and (23) doeth battle for it.
"I know the god who dwelleth therein."
(24) Who then is this? It is Osiris," or (as others say), Ra is his name, even Ra (25) the self-created.
"I am the bennu[1] bird (26) which is in Annu, and I am the keeper of the volume of the book of
things[2] which are and of things which shall be."
Who (27) then is this? It is Osiris, or (as others say), It is his dead body, or (as others say), (28) It is his
filth. The things which are are and the things which shall be are his dead body; or (as others say), (29)
They are eternity and everlastingness. Eternity is the day, and everlastingness (30) is the night.
"I am the god Amsu[3] in his coming-forth; may his (31) two plumes be set upon my head."
[1. See above, p. 277, note 2.
2. Or, "I am he that presideth over the arrangement (or ordering) of things," etc. Birch renders it, "The Creator of beings
and existences," and Pierret, "La loi de 1'existence et des êtres." In a hymn Ra is called neb enti, "lord of things which are,"
and ari enti, "maker of things which are," and ari unenet, "maker of things which shall be." See Grébaut, Hymne à
Ammon-Ra, pp. 5, 16, 27, who, however, believes to mean inanimate objects; see p. 130.
3. The name of this god was first read Khem, and then Min, but it has been proved (Aeg. Zeitschriff, 1877, p. 98, and
Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch., Vol. VIII., p. 204, note 2) that the correct {footnote page 283} reading is Amsu (compare the
variants in Naville, Todtenbuch, Bd. II., Bl. 41). This god was associated with Amen-Ra, and represented the power of
reproduction (see Pierret, Panthéon, p. 39; and Lanzone, Dizionario, p. 935). The seat of his worship was Apu, the
Panopolis of the Greeks, and the Akhmîm of Arabic writers. For the forms of the name of the town, see Brugsch, Dict.
Géog., p. 19. Figures of Amsu, in bronze and faïence, are common, and good examples are Nos. 43, 44, 45, 46, 47a, and
13,520 in the Third Egyptian Room.]
{p. 283}
Who then is this? Amsu is Horus, the (32) avenger of his father, and his coming-forth is his birth. The
(33) plumes upon his head are Isis and Nephthys when they go forth to set themselves (34) there, even as
his protectors,[1] and they provide that which (35) his head lacketh,[2] or (as others say), They are the
two exceeding great uræi which are upon the head of their (36) father Tmu, or (as others say), His two
eyes are the two plumes.
(37) "Osiris Ani, the scribe of all the holy offerings, riseth up in his place in triumph; he cometh into (38)
his city."[3]
What then is this? It is the horizon of his father Tmu.
(39) "1 have made an end of my shortcomings, and I have put away my faults."
What then (40) is this? It is the cutting off of the corruptible[4] in the body of Osiris, the scribe Ani, (41)
triumphant before all the gods; and all his faults are driven out.
(42) What then is this? It is the purification [of Osiris] on the day of his birth.
(43) "I am purified in my exceeding great double nest[5] which is in Suten henen, (44) on the day of the
offerings of the followers of the great god who is therein."
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