THE BOOK OF THE DEAD

The Papyrus of Ani

by

E. A. WALLIS BUDGE

Late keeper of Assyrian and Egyptian Antiquities
in the British Museum

[1895]


PLATE XXII.

"Osiris Ani, triumphant, hath not revealed what he hath seen, he hath not, he hath not told again what he hath heard in the house which is hidden. Hail, there are shouts of joy to Osiris Ani, triumphant, for he is a god and the flesh of Ra, he is in the boat of Nu, and his ka is well pleased according to the will of the god. Osiris Ani, triumphant, is in peace, he is triumphant like unto Horus, and he is mighty because he hath divers forms."

Vignette: Ra seated in a boat, sailing across the sky towards the starstudded heaven.

Rubric: These words shall be recited over a boat seven cubits in length, and painted green for the godlike rulers. Then shalt thou make a heaven of stars washed and purified with natron and incense. Behold, thou shalt make an image of Ra upon a table of stone painted yellow (?), and it shall be placed in the fore-part of the boat. Behold, thou shalt make an image of the dead man whom thou wilt make perfect in strength in the boat; and thou shalt make it to travel in the divine boat of Ra, and Ra himself will look upon it therein. Thou shalt show it to no man but thyself, or to thy father or to thy son; let them watch with their faces, and he shall be seen in the underworld as a messenger of Ra.

Vignette: Ra, hawk-headed, with a disk upon his head, seated in a boat; before him is a large disk.

Text [CHAPTER CXXXIV.]: A HYMN OF PRAISE TO RA ON THE DAY OF THE MONTH WHEREON HE SAILETH IN THE BOAT. [Osiris, the scribe Ani, saith]: "Homage to thee, O thou who art in thy boat! Thou risest, thou risest, thou shinest with thy rays, and thou hast made mankind to rejoice for millions of years according to thy will. Thou showest thy face unto the beings whom thou hast created, O Khepera, in thy boat. Thou hast overthrown Apepi. O ye children of Seb, overthrow ye the foes of Osiris Ani, triumphant, destroy ye the adversaries of righteousness from the boat of Ra. Horus shall cut off your heads in heaven in the likeness of ducks; ye shall fall down upon the earth and become beasts, and into the water in the likeness of fishes. [Osiris, the scribe Ani,] destroyeth every hostile fiend, male and female, whether he passeth through heaven, [or] appeareth upon earth, or cometh forth upon the water, or passeth along before the starry deities; and Thoth strengtheneth them . . . . . . coming forth from Anreti. Osiris, the scribe Ani, is silent, and becometh the second of Ra. Behold thou the god, the great slaughterer, greatly to be feared, he washeth in your blood, he batheth in your gore; Osiris, the scribe Ani, destroyeth them from the boat of his father Ra-Horus. The mother Isis giveth birth unto Osiris, the scribe Ani, triumphant, whose heart liveth, and Nephthys nurseth him; even as they did for Horus, who drove back the fiends of Sut. They saw the urertu crown stablished upon his head, and they fell down upon their faces. Behold, O ye shining ones, ye men and gods, ye damned ones, when ye behold Osiris Ani, triumphant like unto Horus and adored by reason of the ureret crown, fall ye down upon your faces; for Osiris Ani is victorious over his foes in the heavens above and [on the earth] beneath, in the presence of the godlike rulers of all the gods and goddesses."

Rubric: These words shall be recited over a great hawk which hath the white crown set upon his head. Then shall the names of Tmu, Shu, Tefnut, Seb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, be written with green colour upon a new table, anointed with unguents and placed in a boat together with a figure of the dead man. Then shall they put incense upon the fire, and set ducks to be roasted. This is a rite of Ra when his boat cometh; and it shall cause the dead man to go with Ra into every place whithersoever he saileth, and the foes of Ra shall be slaughtered in very truth. The Chapter of the sektet boat shall be recited on the sixth day of the festival.

Vignette: The ladder by which the soul passes from the underworld to the body.

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