Chapter 14 (part 1)

THE BOOK OF THE DEAD. Translation PLATE I. Vignette: The scribe Ani, standing with hands raised in adoration before a table of offerings consisting of haunches of beef, loaves of bread and cake, vases of wine and oil, fruits, lotus, and other flowers. He wears a fringed white and saffron-coloured linen garment; and has a wig, necklace, and bracelets. Behind him stands his wife "Osiris, the lady of the house, the lady of the choir of Amen, Thuthu,"[1] similarly robed and holding a sistrum and a vine (?)-branch in her right hand, and a menat [2] in her left. [1. See Plate XIX. 2. The menat , which is often called "the counterpoise of a collar," consists of a disk, with a handle attached, and a cord. It was an object which was usually offered to the gods, with the sistrum; it was presented to guests at a feast by their host; and it was held by priestesses at religious festivals. It was either worn on the neck or carried in the left hand; and it was an emblem which brought joy to the bearer. Interesting examples of the pendent menat in the British Museum are No. 17,166, inscribed, "Beautiful god, lord of the two lands, maker of things, King of the North and South, Khnem-ab-Ra, son of the Sun, Aahmes (Amasis), beloved of Hathor, lady of sycamore trees"; and No. 13,950 * in faïence ; and Nos. 8172, 8173, and 20,607 in hard stone. No. 18,108 is the disk of a menat in faïence, inscribed, Hathor, lady of the town of Anitha." No. 20,760 is a disk and handle in bronze, the disk having, in hollow work, the figure of a cow, sacred to Hathor, and the handle, the upper part of which is in the form of the head of Hathor, having a sistrum. On the one side is the prenomen of Amenophis III. and on the other is Hathor, lady of the sycamore." The meaning and use of the menat is discussed by Lefébure in Le Menat et le Nom de l'eunuque ( Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch ., 1891, pp. 333-349). * A duplicate is in the Louvre; see Perrot and Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art, l'Égypte, p. 821, No. 550.] Text: [Chapter XV.] (1) [1] A HYMN OF PRAISE TO RA WHEN HE RISETH IN THE EASTERN PART OF HEAVEN. Behold Osiris Ani the scribe who recordeth the holy offerings of all the gods, (2) who saith: "Homage to thee, O thou who hast come as Khepera,[2] Khepera, the creator of the gods. Thou risest, thou shinest, (3) making bright thy mother [Nut], crowned king of the gods. [Thy] mother Nut doeth homage unto thee with both her hands. (4) The land of Manu[4] receiveth thee with content, and the goddess Maat[5] embraceth thee at the two seasons. May he give splendour, and power, and triumph, and (5) a coming-forth [ i.e. , resurrection] as a living soul to see Horus of the two horizons[6] to the [1.