the Book of the Dead ( PDF )

The Versions Of The Book Of The Dead.
of Mycerinus; we have also seen from a number of mastabas and stelæ that the funeral ceremonies
connected with the Book of the Dead were performed certainly in the IInd, and with almost equal
certainty in the Ist dynasty. It is easy to show that certain sections of the Book of the Dead of this period
were copied and used in the following dynasties down to a period about A.D. 200.
The Book of the Dead a collection of separate works.
The fact that not only in the pyramids of Unas and Teta, but also in those of Pepi I. and his immediate
successors, we find selected passages, suggests that the Book of the Dead was, even in those early times,
so extensive that even a king was fain to make from it a selection only of the passages which suited his
individual taste or were considered sufficient to secure his welfare in the next world. In the pyramids of
Teta, Pepi I., Mer-en-Ra and Pepi II. are found many texts which are identical with those employed by
their predecessors, and an examination of the inscription of Pepi II. will show that about three-fourths of
the whole may be found in the monuments of his ancestors. What principle guided each king in the
selection of his texts, or whether the additions in each represent religious developments, it is impossible
to say; but, as the Egyptian religion cannot have remained stationary in every particular, it is probable
that some texts reflect the changes in the opinions of the priests upon matters of doctrine.[1] The
"Pyramid Texts" prove that each section of the religious books of the Egyptians was originally a separate
and independent composition, that it was written with a definite object, and that it might be arranged in
any order in a series of similar texts. What preceded or what followed it was never taken into
[1. A development has been observed in the plan of ornamenting the interiors of the pyramids of the Vth and VIth
dynasties. In that of Unas about one-quarter of the sarcophagus chamber is covered with architectural decorations, and the
hieroglyphics are large, well spaced, and enclosed in broad lines. But as we advance in the VIth dynasty, the space set
apart for decorative purposes becomes less, the hieroglyphics are smaller, the lines are crowded, and the inscriptions
overflow into the chambers and corridors, which in the Vth dynasty were left blank. See Maspero in Revue des Religions,
t. xi., p. 124.]
{p. xxv}
consideration by the scribe, although it seems, at times, as if traditions had assigned a sequence to certain
texts.
Historical reference.
That events of contemporary history were sometimes reflected in the Book of the Dead of the early
dynasties is proved by the following. We learn from the inscription upon the tomb of Heru-khuf at
Aswân,[l] that this governor of Elephantine was ordered to bring for king Pepi II.[2] a pigmy,[3] from the
interior of Africa, to dance before the king and amuse him; and he was promised that, if he succeeded in
bringing the pigmy alive and in good health, his majesty would confer upon him a higher rank and
dignity than that which king Assa conferred upon his minister Ba-ur-Tettet, who performed this much
appreciated service for his master.[4] Now Assa was the eighth king of the Vth dynasty, and Pepi II. was
the fifth king of the VIth dynasty, and between the reigns of these kings there was, according to M.
Maspero, an interval of at least sixty-four, but more probably eighty, years. But in the text in the pyramid
of Pepi I., which must have been drafted at some period between the reigns of these kings, we have the
passage, "Hail thou who [at thy will] makest to pass over to the Field of Aaru the soul that is right and
true, or dost make shipwreck of it. Ra-meri (i.e., Pepi I.) is right and true in respect of heaven and in
respect of earth, Pepi is right and true in respect of the island of the earth whither he swimmeth and
where he arriveth. He who is between the thighs of Nut (i.e., Pepi) is the pigmy who danceth [like] the
http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/ebod/ebod03.htm (13 of 36) [8/10/2001 11:22:55 AM]