Chapter 15 (part 1)

PLATE II. Vignette I. : The disk of the Sun, supported by a pair of arms proceeding from the ankh, the sign of life, which in turn is supported by a tet the emblem of the East and of the god Osiris. The tet stands upon the horizon. On each side of the disk are three dog-headed apes, spirits of the Dawn, their arms raised in adoration of the disk. On the right hand side of the tet is the goddess Nephthys and on the left is Isis each goddess raising her hands in adoration of the tet , and kneeling upon the emblem aat , or hemisphere. Above is the sky. This vignette belongs properly to the hymn to the rising sun. [1. Maa, unvarying and unalterable Law. Compare the vignette from British Museum papyrus No. 9901. (Fig. 1.) In some papyri the apes are four (Naville, Das Aeg. Todtenbuch , Bd. I., B1. 26), or seven (Naville, op. cit ., Bd. I., Bl. 21) in number. In the vignette which usually accompanies the hymn to the setting sun (Fig. 2), but which does not occur in the present papyrus, a hawk wearing on his head a disk encircled by a serpent, i.e. , Ra-Harmachis, {footnote p. 253} takes the place of the disk and ( e.g. , British Museum papyri Nos. 9901 (Naville, op. cit., Bd. I., Bl. 22,), and 10,472); and the tet is represented by the stand ### (Naville, op. cit ., Bd. 1., Bl. 22), on one side of which are three hawk-headed deities, and on the other three jackal-headed deities (see Lanzone, Dizionario , 10, pp. 56, 57.). Beneath are Isis and Nephthys kneeling in adoration before two lion-gods, which represent yesterday and to-morrow. An interesting variant of the latter vignette occurs in British Museum papyrus No. 10,472, which was made for the lady Anhai, a singer in the temple of Amen at Thebes, about B.C. 1000, where, in addition to the apes and figures of the goddesses (the titles of Isis being ### and those of Nephthys ###, there are represented, on each side (I) the winged utchat with pendent uræus and shen ### (emblematic of the sun's circuit) and feather (2) a man, prostrate, adoring the disk; (3) four men, upright, with both hands raised in adoration; and (4) a human-headed bird ###, emblematic of the soul of the deceased lady, standing upon a pylon.] Text: (1) [HYMN TO OSIRIS.] "Glory be to Osiris Un-nefer, the great god within Abydos, king of eternity, lord of the everlasting, who passeth through millions of years in his existence. Eldest son of the womb (2) of Nut, engendered by Seb the Erpat, lord of the crowns of the North and South, lord of the lofty white crown. As Prince of gods and of men (3) he hath received the crook and the flail and the dignity of his divine fathers. Let thy heart which is [1. The word ### er-pat is composed of er "chief" and pat a clan, "tribe," or "family"; Seb, then, was the prince of the family of the gods.