Pyramid Texts
The Pyramid Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian religious texts from the time of the Old Kingdom. Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved on the walls and sarcophagi of the pyramids at Saqqara during the 5th and 6th Dynasties of the Old Kingdom. Unlike the Coffin Texts and Book of the Dead into which parts of the pyramid texts later evolved, the pyramid texts were reserved only for the pharaoh and were not illustrated.[1] The pyramid texts mark the first written mention of the god Osiris, who would become the most important deity associated with afterlife.[2]
The spells, or "utterances", of the pyramid texts are primarily concerned with protecting the pharaoh's remains, reanimating his body after death, and helping him ascend to the heavens, which are the emphasis of the afterlife during the Old Kingdom. The spells delineate all of the ways the pharaoh could travel, including the use of ramps, stairs, ladders, and most importantly flying. The spells could also be used to call the gods to help, even threatening them if they did not comply.[3]
Versions
The texts were first discovered in 1881 by Gaston Maspero, and translations were made by Kurth Sethe (in German), Louis Speelers (in French), Raymond O. Faulkner, and Samuel Alfred Browne Mercer.
The oldest version consists of 228 spells and comes from the Pyramid of Unas, the last king of the 5th Dynasty. Other texts were discovered in the pyramids of the 6th Dynasty kings Pepi I, Pepi II and three of his queens, and Teti. Kurt Sethe's first edition of the pyramid texts contained 714 distinct spells; after this publication additional spells were discovered bringing the total to 759. No single collection uses all recorded spells.
Examples
After death, the king must first rise from his tomb. Utterance 373 describes:[1]
- Oho! Oho! Rise up, O Teti!
- Take your head, collect your bones,
- Gather your limbs, shake the earth from your flesh!
- Take your bread that rots not, your beer that sours not,
- Stand at the gates that bar the common people!
- The gatekeeper comes out to you, he grasps your hand,
- Takes you into heaven, to you father Geb.
- He rejoices at your coming, gives you his hands,
- Kisses you, caresses you,
- Sets you before the spirts, the imperishable stars...
- Rise up, O Teti, you shall not die!
The texts then describe several ways for the pharaoh to reach the heavens, and one of these is by climbing a ladder. In utterance 304 the king says:[1]
- Hail, daughter of Anubis, above the hatches of heaven,
- Comrade of Thoth, above the ladder's rails,
- Open Unas's path, let Unas pass!
Another way is by ferry. If the boatman refuses to take him, the king has other plans:
- If you fail to ferry Unas,
- He will leap and sit on the wing of Thoth,
- Then he will ferry Unas to that side!
The cannibal hymn
Utterances 273 and 274 are sometimes known as the "cannibal hymn", because it describes the king hunting and eating parts of the gods:[1]
- A god who lives on his fathers,
- who feeds on his mothers...
- Unas is the bull of heaven
- Who rages in his heart,
- Who lives on the being of every god,
- Who eats their entrails
- When they come, their bodies full of magic
- From the Isle of Flame...
Unlike many of the ideas presented in the pyramid texts that were reused and elaborated by later pharaohs, the idea of ritual, symbolic cannibalism embodied in this hymn was quickly discarded.
In popular culture
In the first scene of Philip Glass's opera Akhnaten, the phrase "Open are the double doors of the horizon" is a quotation from the Pyramid Texts. More specifically, it seems to come from Utterance 220.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Lichtheim, Miriam (1975). Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol 1. London, England: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-02899-6.
- ^ Goelet, Dr. Ogden, et al (1994). The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
- ^ Allen, James P. (2000). Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-77483-7.
- Raymond O. Faulkner, "The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts", ISBN 0-85668-297-7, 1969. Oxford University hardcover reprint ISBN 0-19-815437-2.
- James P. Allen, "The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts", ISBN-10: 90-04-13777-7, 2005. Society of Biblical Literature
External links
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