The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians eBook

E. A. Wallis Budge
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 349 pages of information about The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians.

The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians eBook

E. A. Wallis Budge
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 349 pages of information about The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians.
Chap. 1 contains the formulas that were recited on the day of the funeral.  Chap. 151 gives a picture of the arrangement of the mummy chamber, and the texts to be said in it.  Chap. 137 describes certain magical ceremonies that were performed in the mummy chamber, and describes the objects of magical power that were placed in niches in the four walls.  Chap. 125 gives a picture of the Judgment Hall of Osiris, and supplies the declarations of innocence that the deceased made before the Forty-two Judges.  Chaps. 144-147, 149, and 150 describe the Halls, Pylons, and Divisions of the Kingdom of Osiris, and supply the name of the gods who guard them, and the formulas to be said by the deceased as he comes to each.  Chap. 110 gives a picture of the Elysian Fields and a text describing all the towns and places in them.  Chap. 5 is a spell by the use of which the deceased avoided doing work, and Chap. 6 is another, the recital of which made a figure to work for him.  Chap. 15 contains hymns to the rising and to the setting sun, and a Litany of Osiris; and Chap. 183 is a hymn to Osiris.  Chaps. 2, 3, 12, 13, and others enabled a man to move about freely in the Other World; Chap. 9 secured his free passage in and out of the tomb; and Chap. 11 overthrew his enemies.  Chap. 17 deals with important beliefs as to the origin of God and the gods, and of the heavens and the earth, and states the different opinions which Egyptian theologians held about many divine and mythological beings.  The reason for including it in the Book of the Dead is not quite clear, but that it was a most important Chapter is beyond all doubt.  Chaps. 21 and 22 restored his mouth to the deceased, and Chap. 23 enabled him to open it.  Chap. 24 supplied him with words of power, and Chap. 25 restored to him his memory.  Chaps. 26-30B gave to the deceased his heart, and supplied the spells that prevented the stealers of hearts from carrying it off, or from injuring it in any way.  Two of these Chapters (29 and 30B) were cut upon amulets made in the form of a human heart.  Chaps. 31 and 32 are spells for driving away crocodiles, and Chaps. 33-38, and 40 are spells against snakes and serpents.  Chaps. 41 and 42 preserved a man from slaughter in the Other World, Chap. 43 enabled him to avoid decapitation, and Chap. 44 preserved him from the second death.  Chaps. 45, 46, and 154 protected the body from rot or decay and worms in the tomb.  Chap. 50 saved the deceased from the headsman in the Tuat, and Chap. 51 enabled him to avoid stumbling.  Chaps. 38, 52-60, and 62 ensured for him a supply of air and water in the Tuat, and Chap. 63 protected him from drinking boiling water there.  Chaps. 64-74 gave him the power to leave the tomb, to overthrow enemies, and to “come forth by day.”  Chaps. 76-89 enabled a man to transform himself into the Light-god, the primeval soul of God, the gods Ptah and Osiris, a golden hawk, a divine hawk, a lotus, a benu bird, a heron, a swallow, a serpent, a crocodile, and into any being
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The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.