Egyptian Literature Part 35

19 I cause Egypt to be submitted to thee, and I supply the two countries with pure life.

King Rameses, I grant that the strength, the vigor and the might of thy sword be felt among all countries; thou castest down the hearts of all nations;

20 I have put them under thy feet; thou comest forth every day in order that be brought to thee the foreign prisoners; the chiefs and the great of all nations offer thee their children. I give them to thy gallant sword that thou mayest do with them what thou likest.

21 King Rameses, I grant that the fear of thee be in the minds of all and thy command in their hearts. I grant that thy valor reach all countries, and that the dread of thee be spread over all lands; the princes tremble at thy remembrance, and thy

22 Majesty is fixed on their heads; they come to thee as supplicants to implore thy mercy. Thou givest life to whom thou wishest, and thou puttest to death whom thou pleasest; the throne of all nations is in thy possession. I grant thou mayest show all thy

23 admirable qualities and accomplish all thy good designs; the land which is under thy dominion is in joy, and Egypt rejoices continually.

King Rameses, I have exalted thee through such marvellous

24 endowments that heaven and earth leap for joy and those who are within praise thy existence; the mountains, the water, and the stone walls which are on the earth are shaken when they hear thy excellent name, since they have seen what I have accomplished for thee;

25 which is that the land of Kheta should be subjected to thy palace; I have put in the heart of the inhabitants to antic.i.p.ate thee themselves by their obeisance in bringing thee their presents. Their chiefs are prisoners, all their property is the tribute in the

26 dependency of the living king. Their royal daughter is at the head of them; she comes to soften the heart of King Rameses; her merits are marvellous, but she does not know the goodness which is in thy heart;

27 thy name is blessed forever; the prosperous result of thy great victories is a great wonder, which was hoped for, but never heard of since the time of the G.o.ds; it was a hidden record in the house of books since the time of Ra till the reign of thy

28 living(438) Majesty; it was not known how the land of Kheta could be of one heart with Egypt; and behold, I have beaten it down under thy feet to vivify thy name eternally, King Rameses.

29 Thus speaks the divine King, the Master of the Two Countries, who is born like Khepra-Ra, in his limbs, who appears like Ra, begotten of Ptah-Totunen, the King of Egypt; Ra-userma-sotep-en-Ra, the son of Ra, Rameses, beloved of Amen, ever living, to his father who appears before him, Totunen,

30 the father of the G.o.ds:

I am thy son, thou hast put me on thy throne, thou hast transmitted to me thy royal power, thou hast made me after the resemblance of thy person, thou hast transmitted to me what thou hast created; I shall answer by doing all the good things which thou desirest.

31 As I am the only master like thou, I have provided the land of Egypt with all necessaries; I shall renew Egypt for thee as it was of old, making statues of G.o.ds after the substance, even the color of their bodies. Egypt will be the possession of their hearts, and will build them

32 temples. I have enlarged thy abode in Memphis, it is decked with eternal works, and well-made ornaments in stones set in gold, with true gems; I have opened for thee a court on the north side with a double staircase;

33 thy porch is magnificent; its doors are like the horizon of the sky, in order that the mult.i.tude may wors.h.i.+p thee.

Thy magnificent dwelling has been built inside its walls; thy divine image is in its

34 mysterious shrine, resting on its high foundation; I have provided it abundantly with priests, prophets, and cultivators, with land and with cattle; I have reckoned its offerings by hundreds of thousands of good things; thy festival of thirty years is celebrated there

35 as thou hast prescribed it to me thyself; all things flock to thee in the great offering day which thou desirest; the bulls and calves are innumerable; all the pieces of their flesh are by millions; the smoke of their fat reaches heaven and is received within the sky.

36 I give that all lands may see the beauty of the buildings which I have created to thee; I have marked with thy name all inhabitants and foreigners of the whole land; they are to thee forever; for thou hast created them, to be under the command of thy son, who is on

37 thy throne, the master of G.o.ds and men, the lord who celebrates the festivals of thirty years like thou, he who wears the double sistrum, the son of the white crown, and the issue of the red diadem, who unites the two countries in peace, the King of Egypt, Ra-userma-sotep-en-Ra, the son of Ra, Rameses, beloved of Amen, living eternally.

Hymn To Osiris

(Stele of Amen-em-ha, Eighteenth Dynasty)

Translated by M. Francois Chabas

This stele is one of the usual funereal tablets which are found in the cemeteries at Memphis and Thebes. The upper part of the tablet is round, and has the two sacred eyes and symbolical signets, which, as well as the winged globe, almost invariably surmount these sacred inscriptions, and of which the meaning has not yet been satisfactorily determined.

Immediately below this emblem are two vignettes: in the first a functionary named Amen-em-ha ("Amen at the beginning") presents a funereal offering to his father Amen-mes ("Amen's son," or, "born of Amen") the steward of the deity's flocks,(439) beside whom is his deceased wife Nefer-t-aru and a young boy, his son, Amen-em-ua ("Amen in the bark"). In the second vignette, a princ.i.p.al priest (_heb_) of Osiris, dressed in the sacerdotal leopard's skin, offers incense to the lady Te-bok ("The servant-maid"); below is a row of kneeling figures, namely: two sons, Si-t-mau ("Son of the mother"), Amen-Ken ("Amon the warlike"), and four daughters, Meri-t-ma ("Loving justice"), Amen-Set ("Daughter of Amen"), Souten-mau ("Royal Mother"), and Hui-em-neter ("Food for G.o.d"). As there is no indication of relations.h.i.+p between the subjects of the two vignettes, it may be inferred that Te-Bok was a second wife of Amen-em-ha.

The lower portion of the tablet is filled up with the following Hymn to Osiris, written in twenty-eight lines of hieroglyphics which are very well preserved except wherever the name of the deity Amen occurs, which has been hammered out(440) evidently at the time of the religious revolution in Egypt under the reign of Amenophis IV, who, a.s.suming the name of Chu-en-aten ("Splendor," or, "Glory of the solar disk"), overthrew the wors.h.i.+p of the older divinities and princ.i.p.ally that of Amen-Ra; a change which was again overthrown in the period of his successors, who restored the former letters. From the style of art and other indications it is almost certain that the monument was erected in the reign of Thothmes I of the eighteenth dynasty.

The stele is now deposited in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, and has been published by M. Chabas in the "_Revue Archeologique_," May-June, 1857, after a paper stamp taken by the late M. Deveria.

A HYMN TO OSIRIS

1 Adoration of Osiris by the Steward of the flocks, Amen-em-ha, Son of the Lady Nefer-t-ari: he says,

Welcome to thee(441) Osiris, Lord of length of times, King of the G.o.ds, of many names, of holy transformations, of mysterious forms in the temples, august being, residing in Tattu, Great One contained

2 in Sokhem, Master of invocations in Ant.(442) Principle of abundance in On; who has the right to command in the place of double justice, mysterious soul, Lord of Kerer, Holy One of the White Wall, Soul of the sun, his very body reposing in

3 Souten-Khnen; author of invocations in the region of the tree Ner: whose soul is existing for vigilance; Lord of the great dwelling in Sesennou(443) the very awful in Shashotep; Lord of the length of times in Abydos.

The road to his dwelling is in the To-sar;(444) his name is stable in

4 men's mouths. He is the _paut-ti_(445) of the world, Atum, feeder of beings among the G.o.ds, beneficent spirit in the abode of spirits.

From him the heavenly Nile(446) derives its waters; from him comes the wind, and respirable air(447) is in his nostrils, for his satisfaction, and

5 taste of his heart. For him, the ground brings forth to abundance; in obedience to him is the upper heaven and its stars, and he opens the great gates; he is the Master of invocations in the south heavens, and of adorations in the north heavens: the moving

6 constellations are under the place of his face, they are his dwellings, as also the reposing constellations. To him Seb orders offerings to be presented: the G.o.ds adore him; those who are in the lower heaven bow to him, the divine Chiefs(448) doing reverence, all supplicating.

7 They see him, those who are there, the august ones, and stand in awe from him; the whole earth glorifies him when his holiness proceeds [on the vault of the sky]: he is a Sahou ill.u.s.trious among the Sahous, great in dignity, permanent in empire. He is the excellent master of the G.o.ds, fair and

8 beloved by all who see him. He imposes his fear to all lands so that they like to exalt his name to the first rank. Through him all are in abundance; Lord of fame in heaven and on earth. Multiplied (are his) acclamations in the feast of Ouak; acclamations are made to him by the

9 two worlds unanimously. He is the eldest, the first of his brothers, the Chief of the G.o.ds, he it is who maintains justice in the two worlds, and who places the son in the seat of his father; he is the praise of his father Seb, the love of his mother Nou; very valiant, he overthrows the impure; invincible, he strikes

10 his opponent, he inspires his fear to his enemy; he seizes the wicked one's boundaries; firm of heart, his feet are vigilant: he is the offspring of Seb, ruling the two worlds. He (Seb) has seen his virtues and has commanded him to conduct

11 the nations by the hand continually.(449) He has made this world with his hand, its waters, its atmosphere, its vegetation, all its flocks, all its flying things, all its fish, all its reptiles and quadrupeds. Justice is rendered to the

12 Son of Nou and the world is at quiet when he ascends the seat of his father like the sun: he s.h.i.+nes at the horizon, he enlightens the darkness, he illuminates shades by his double plume:(450) he inundates the world like

13 the sun every morning. His diadem predominates at top of heaven and accompanies(451) the stars: he is the guide(452) of all the G.o.ds.