Egyptian Book of the Dead

CHAPTER CLXI.

CHAPTER CLXI. The Chapter of unfastening the opening in the sky. Thoth does it so that it may be finished when he opens (the sky) with Aten. ( 1 ) Rā( 2 ) is living, the tortoise( 3 ) is dead. The body has been offered in the earth; the bones have been offered of N. [The West wind of Isis].( 4 ) Rā is living, the tortoise is dead. It is safe that is in the funeral chest of N. [The East wind of Nephthys.] Rā is living, the tortoise is dead, the limbs are well wrapped up. Kebehsenef is to keep watch over them for N. [The North wind of Osiris.] Rā is living, the tortoise is dead. His wrappings have been opened; they reveal his figure. [The South wind of Rā.] Everybody who has these figures on his coffin, the four openings of the sky are open to him; one in the North, it is the wind of Osiris; one in the South, it is the wind of Aah (the moon); one in the West, it is the wind of Isis; one in the East, it is the wind of Nephthys. Every one of these winds, which are at his entrance when he wants it, breathes into his nostrils. 330 Let no one outside know it, it is a mystery which is not known to the common people. Do not reveal it to any one, may he be thy father or thy son, except thyself. It is a real mystery, and every one of these things is unknown to all men. Notes. This Chapter is so short in the old recension (Paris, III, 93) that it could hardly be understood without the rubric of the Turin text. The four Thoths, each of whom opens a door, are the four winds, coming from the four cardinal points ( Zeitschr. für Aeg. Sprache , 1877, p. 28). We have already learned from Chapter 59 that it is one of the privileges of the deceased to have the command of the four winds.] 1. The title is obscure. I suppose that the scribe, who had a very short space at his disposal, left out a word or two. 2. Magic formula, which enables Thoth to open the door. 3. See Chapter 83, note 1 . Brugsch calls the tortoise the evil principle. 4. The words in brackets, as well as the rubric, are taken from the Turin Todtenbuch. PLATE_LVIII .