Egyptian Literature/The Book of the Dead/Of Knowing the Souls of Khemennu (2)

4255989Egyptian LiteratureThe Book of the Dead: Of Knowing the Souls of Khemennu1901

OF KNOWING THE SOULS OF KHEMENNU

[From the Papyrus of Nu (British Museum No. 10,477, sheet 18).]

Another Chapter of knowing the Souls of Khemennu (Hermopolis). The chancellor-in-chief, Nu, triumphant, saith:

“The goddess Neith shineth in Matchat, and the goddess Maāt is carried by the arm of him who eateth the Eye, and who is its divine judge, and the Sem priest carrieth me over upon it. I will not declare it unto men, and I will not tell it unto the gods; I will not declare it unto men, and I will not tell it unto the gods. I have entered in being an ignorant man, and I have seen the hidden things. Homage to you, O ye gods who dwell in Khemennu, ye know me even as I know the goddess Neith, and [ye give] to the Eye the growth which endureth. There is joy [to me] at the judgment of the things which are to be judged. I, even I, know the Souls of Annu; they are great at the festival of the month, and are little at the festival of the half month. They are Thoth the Hidden one, and Sa, and Tem.”

if this chapter be known [by the deceased] offal shall be an abomination unto him, and he shall not drink filthy water.