Chapter 14 (part 4)

See Lanzone, Dizionario , p. 1259; Wiedemann, Religion , p. 74; Pierret, Panthéon , p. 6; and Naville, La Litanie du Soleil , pp. 118, 119, and plate xxiv., 1. 3. This god was, in one aspect, a destroyer of created things; compare ###, Naville, op. cit ., p. 89. 6. A name for the boat of the evening sun. 7. See infra , p. 257, note 2. 8 The enemy of Ra was darkness and night, or any cloud which obscured the light of the sun. The darkness personified was Apep, Nak, etc., and his attendant fiends were the mesu betesh , or 'children of unsuccessful revolt.'] The House of the Prince[1] keepeth festival, and the sound of those who rejoice is in the (12) mighty dwelling. The gods are glad [when] they see Ra in his rising; his beams flood the world with light. (13) The majesty of the god, who is to be feared, setteth forth and cometh unto the land of Manu; he maketh bright the earth at his birth each day; he cometh unto the place where he was yesterday. (14) O mayest thou be at peace with me; may I behold thy beauties; may I advance upon the earth; may I smite the Ass; may I crush (15) the evil one; may I destroy Apep[2] in his hour[3]; may I see the abtu [4] fish at the time of his creation, and the ant fish in his creation, and the (16) ant [4] boat in its lake. May I see Horus in charge of the rudder, with Thoth [1. ###, more fully ### "the great house of the old man," i.e. , the great temple of Ra at Heliopolis: see Brugsch, Dict. Géog ., p. 153. 2 Apep, the serpent, personifying darkness, which Horus. or the rising sun must conquer before he can re-appear in the East. 3 Compare the following scenes which represent Apep in the form of a serpent and crocodile and ass being pierced by the deceased. 4 The abtu and the ant fishes are sometimes depicted on coffins swimming at the bows of the boat of the sun.] and Maat beside him; may I grasp the bows of the (17) seket [1]boat, and the stern of the atet boat. May he grant unto the ka of Osiris Ani to behold the disk of the Sun and to see the Moon-god without ceasing, every day; and may my soul (18) come forth and walk hither and thither and whithersoever it pleaseth. May my name be proclaimed when it is found upon the board of the table of (22) offerings; may offerings be made unto me in my (24) presence, even as they are made unto the followers of Horus; may there be prepared for me a seat in the boat of the Sun on the day of the going forth of the (26) god; and may I be received into the presence of Osiris in the land (28) of triumph! Appendix : The following versions of this chapter are taken from: I. Naville, Todtenbuch , Bd. I., Pl. xiv. II. Naville, Todtenbuch , Bd. I., Pl. xv.; III. British Museum Papyrus No. 9901 and IV. British Museum Papyrus No. 10,471. I.