Egyptian Book of the Dead

CHAPTER XXVI.

CHAPTER XXVI. Chapter whereby the Heart( 1 ) is given to a person in the Netherworld. He saith: Heart [41] mine to me, in the place of Hearts! Whole Heart [42] mine to me, in the place of Whole Hearts! Let me have my Heart that it may rest within me; but( 2 ) I shall feed upon the food of Osiris, on the eastern side of the mead of amaranthine flowers.( 3 ) Be mine a bark for descending the stream and another for ascending. I go down into the bark wherein thou art. Be there given to me my mouth wherewith to speak, and my feet for walking; and let me have my arms wherewith to overthrow my adversaries. 67 Let two hands from the Earth open my mouth: Let Seb, the Erpā of the gods, part my two jaws;( 4 ) let him open my two eyes which are closed, and give motion to my two hands which are powerless: and let Anubis give vigour to my legs, that I may raise myself up upon them. And may Sechit the divine one lift me up, so that I may arise in Heaven and issue my behest in Memphis. I am in possession of my Heart, I am possession of my Whole Heart, I am possession of my arms and I have possession of my legs.( 5 ) [I do whatsoever my Genius willeth, and my Soul is not bound to my body at the gates of Amenta.] Notes. 1. The Egyptian texts have two names for the Heart, [Source image: ⁂] phonetically written [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] ȧb , and [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] also written [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] and [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] ḥatu . [43] The two words are commonly used synonymously, but they are sometimes pointedly distinguished one from the other. Etymologically [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] ȧb is connected with the sense of lively motion [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] ȧb , like the Greek καρδία, κραδίη, (δία τὸ ἀπαύστως σαλεύεσθαι) with κραδάω and κραδαίνω. Other Indo-European names, our own heart , the Latin cor ( cord-is ), the Sanskrit hṛd , and the corresponding Slavonic and Lithuanian names have the same origin. From the orthography of [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] it seems to have been connected in popular opinion with its position in the anterior part of the body. And from various uses of the word it appears to denote not merely the heart, but the heart with all that is attached to it, especially the lungs which embrace it. It is for instance to the [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] that air is conducted according to the medical Papyri. And it is not improbable that [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] and [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] , organs of respiration, are closely connected words. 68 But perhaps the best argument may be found in the Vignettes of chapter 28, where the two lungs are actually drawn as in the hieratic papyrus (Pl. 2) published by Sir Charles Nicholson. In others (as Leyden, T. 16) even the larynx is visible. (See Plate X .) The Italian word corata is immortalised through its occurrence in a memorable passage in Dante ( Inf. , XXVIII), but for want of a better English term than the butcher’s technical word pluck [44] I use the expression whole heart . 2. But , [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] . This is the most frequent reading both in the earliest and in the latest papyri. But some texts have simply [Source image: ⁂] , which is certainly a mistake, and others omit the conjunction before the verb. The sense is not much affected by this omission. [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] signifies if not , unless , until , but , but surely . Cf. the Semitic אִם־לֹא , ܐܷܠܴ ܐܷܠܴ , إلَّا 3. The mead of amaranthine flowers. [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] ḳaiu is the name of a plant which frequently occurs in the medical prescriptions. It is also mentioned among the aromatic plants ( [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] ) required in the sacred laboratory of Dendera. One of the kinds is named ḳaiu of the Oasis [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] . It is identified with the Coptic ⲕⲓⲟⲱⲩ , amaranthus . In several copies of this chapter the name of the plant is followed by the geographical determinative [Source image: ⁂] , which is really implied in the context. Was this mythological ‘mead of amaranth’ suggested by the Oasis and its vegetation? 4. This sentence is a repetition (in other words) of the preceding one. On the title Erpā , see Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch. , XII, 359. My chief difficulty about understanding it as compounded of [Source image: ⁂] and [Source image: ⁂] , and signifying keeper of the Pāt , that is of the deceased (human beings), is that Seb is essentially the Erpā of the gods . Erpā is one of those titles which cannot be translated without perverting the sense of the original. 69 5. This passage is a very frequent formula not only in the Book of the Dead, as the papyri give it, but in other texts of the same nature; see, e.g. , Aelteste Texte , 34, 14. The next passage included in [] is an addition to the original text. It occurs however in some excellent MSS. 41 . [Source image: ⁂] ȧb , ‘heart.’ 42 . [Source image: ⁂] ḥatu , ‘whole heart.’ 43 . This variant already occurs on the coffin of Amamu. 44 . In late Latin corallum , whence the Romanic forms corajhe , corata , coratella , corée , couraille . In Garin le Loherens we find “la coraille del cuers.”