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The Egyptian Book of the Dead

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Author Topic: The Egyptian Book of the Dead  (Read 11620 times)
Josie Linde
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« Reply #45 on: December 21, 2008, 11:20:48 pm »

THE PAPYRUS OF ANI.

General Description

The papyrus of Ani, was found at Thebes, and was purchased by the Trustees of the British Museum in 1888. It measures 78 feet by 1 foot 3 inches, and is the longest known papyrus of the Theban period.[1] It is made up of six distinct lengths of papyrus, which vary in length from 26 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 7 inches. The material is composed of three layers of papyrus supplied by plants which measured in the stalks about 41 inches in diameter. The several lengths have been joined together with great neatness, and the repairs and insertion of new pieces (see plates 25, 26) have been dexterously made. When first found, the papyrus was of a light colour, similar to that of the papyrus of Hunefer (B. M. No. 9901), but it became darker after it had been unrolled, and certain sections of it have shrunk somewhat.

It contains a number of chapters of the Book of the Dead, nearly all of which are accompanied by vignettes; and at top and bottom is a border of two colours-red and yellow.[2] At the beginning and end of the papyrus spaces of six and eleven inches respectively have been left blank. The inscribed portion is complete, and the loss of the few characters which were damaged in unrolling[3] does not interrupt the text. It was written by three or more scribes; but the uniformity of the execution of the vignettes suggests that fewer artists were employed on the illustrations. The titles of the chapters, rubrics, catchwords, etc., are in red. In some instances the artist has occupied so much space that the

[1 The papyrus of Nebseni, of the XVIIIth dynasty (B.M., No. 9900), measures 76 feet 81 inches by 13 inches; and the papyrus of Hunefer, of the XIXth dynasty (B.M., No. 9601), 18 feet 10 inches by 1 foot 3 5/8 inches; the Leyden papyrus of Qenna, of the XVIIIth dynasty, measures about 50 feet; and the Dublin papyrus (Da of M. Naville's edition), XVIIIth dynasty, 24 feet 9 inches.

2 In some sections the border is painted yellow and orange.

3 See plates 1, 15, 24.]

{p. cxliii}

General description.

scribe has been obliged to crowd the text (e.g., in plate 11) and at times he has written it on the border (see plates 14, 17). This proves that the vignettes were drawn before the text was written.

All the different sections of the papyrus were not originally written for Ani, for his name has been added in several places' by a later hand. As however such additions do not occur in the first section, which measures 16 feet 4 inches in length, it must be concluded that that section was written expressly for him, and that the others were some of those ready-written copies in which blank spaces were left for the insertion of the names of the deceased persons for whom they were purchased. The scribe who filled in Ani's name in these spaces wrote hurriedly, for in Chapter XXXB., line 2 (pl. 15), he left himself no space to write the word "Osiris" in the phrase, "Ani victorious before Osiris" (compare pl. 1, line 5); in Chapter XLIII., lines 1, 2 (pl. 17), he has written it twice; in Chapter IX., l. 1 (pl. 18), he has omitted the determinative in Chapter XV., line 2 (pl. 20) he meant to write "Ani, victorious in peace (pl. 19), but wrote "Ani in triumph" in Chapter CXXV., line 18 (pl. 30), the word ### is written twice, probably, however, with the view of filling up the line; in Chapter CLI. (Pl. 34) the name is written crookedly, and the determinative is omitted; and in Chapters XVIII. (Introduction, pl. 12) and CXXXIV. (pl. 22). the scribe has, in two spaces, omitted to write the name. It seems tolerably certain that all the sections of the papyrus were written about the same time, and that they are the work of scribes of the same school; the variations in the depth of the space occupied by the text and the difference in the colours of the border only show that even the best scribes did not tie themselves to any one plan or method in preparing a copy of the Book of the Dead. The text has many serious errors: by some extraordinary oversight it includes two copies of the XVIII th Chapter, one with an unusual introduction and the other without introduction; and a large section of the XVIIth Chapter, one of the most important in the whole work, has been entirely omitted. Such mistakes and omissions, however, occur in papyri older than that of Ani, for in the papyrus of Nebseni (B.M., No. 9900), which was written at Memphis early in the XVIIIth dynasty, of Chapters L., LVI., LXIV., CLXXX., two copies each, of

[1. See Chapter XXVI, l. 1 (pl. 15); Chapter XLV., l. 1 (pl. 16); Chapter IX, 1. 6 (pl. 18); Chapter CXXXIV., 1. 15 (pl. 22); Chapter LXXVIII., l. 1 (p. 25); Chap. LXXX., l. 1 (pl. 28); Chapter CLXXXV., l. 15 (pl. 36).]

{p. cxliv}

Chapters C. and CVI., three copies, and of Chapter XVII. two extracts are given in different parts of the papyrus.[1]

Ani's rank.

The papyrus of Ani is undated, and no facts are given in it concerning the life of Ani, whereby it would be possible to fix its exact place in the series of the illustrated papyri of the Theban period to which it belongs. His full titles are:--

suten in maa an hesb hetep neter en neteru nebu

Royal scribe veritable, scribe and accountant of the divine offerings (i.e., revenues) of all the gods.

mer tenti en nebu Abtu an hetep neter en

The governor of the granary of the lords of Abydos, scribe of the divine offerings (i.e., revenues) of

nebu Uast.

the lords of Thebes;

and he is said to be "beloved of the lord of the North and South" and to "love him". The name of the king thus referred to cannot be stated. That Ani's rank of "royal scribe" [2] was not titular only is shown by the addition of the word "veritable," and his office of scribe and accountant of all the gods was probably one of the highest which a scribe could hold.[3] His other offices of "governor of the granary of the lords of Abydos," and "scribe of the sacred property of the lords of Thebes," further prove his rank and importance, for Abydos and Thebes were the most ancient and sacred cities of Egypt.

Ani's wife.

Ani's wife Thuthu is described as "the lady of the house, the qematet of Amen".[4] What the title "lady of the house

[1. Naville, Einleitung, pp. 48-54.

2. See Brugsch, Aegyptologie, p. 223.

3. In the list of the high officers of the priesthood given by Brugsch (Aegyptologie, p. 218), we meet with an official whose title is ###, "the scribe set over the sacred property of the gods"; Ani held a similar appointment.

4 Plate 19; her name is nowhere else mentioned in the papyrus.]

{p. cxlv}

means has not yet been decided, but qemat is the title applied to the noble ladies who sang or played on an instrument in the temple of a god.[1] The lady Thuthu belonged to the number of the priestesses of the god Amen-Ra at Thebes, and she always carries in her hands the sistrum. and the instrument menat, the emblems of her office. Thus Ani and his wife were high ecclesiastical dignitaries connected with the famous confraternity of the priests of Amen.

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