Egyptian Literature/The Book of the Dead/Living by Air (1)
LIVING BY AIR
[From the Papyrus of Nebseni (British Museum No. 9,900, sheet 12).]
The Chapter of living by air in the underworld. The scribe Nebseni, the lord to whom veneration is paid, saith:
“[I am the god Tem], who cometh forth out of Nu into the watery abyss. I have received [my habitation of Amentet, and have given commands] with my words to the [Khus] whose abiding-places are hidden, to the Khus and to the double Lion-god. I have made journeys round about and I have sung hymns of joy in the boat of Khepera. I have eaten therein, I have gained power therein, and I live therein through the breezes [which are there]. I am the guide in the boat of Rā, and he openeth out for me a path; he maketh a passage for me through the gates of the god Seb. I have seized and carried away those who live in the embrace of the god Ur (i.e., Mighty One); I am the guide of those who live in their shrines, the two brother-gods Horus and Set; and I bring the noble ones with me. I enter in and I come forth, and my throat is not slit; I go into the boat of Maāt, and I pass in among those who live in the Atet boat, and who are in the following of Rā, and are nigh unto him in his horizon. I live after my death day by day, and I am strong even as is the double Lion-god. I live, and I am delivered after my death, I, the scribe Nebseni, the lord of piety, who fill the earth and come forth like the lily of mother-of-emerald, of the god Hetep of the two lands.”