from the

BOOK OF THE DEAD

THE CHAPTER OF NOT LETTING THE BODY PERISH

ADORATION OF THE DISK

KING AKHENATEN and PRINCESS NEFERTITI

NEW KINGDOM POETRY

I’M GOING DOWNSTREAM ON KINGSWATER CANAL
WHENEVER I LEAVE YOU, I GO OUT OF BREATH

Build Background
Egyptian Culture The selections you are about to that the king became Osiris himself. To celebrate
read reflect three important features of ancient this event, the king’s followers recited hymns and
Egyptian culture: prayers based on the Osiris story and carved them
• concern about the afterlife permanently into the walls of the pyramids where
• worship of a sun god the kings were buried. Such “pyramid texts” are the
• delight in everyday life earliest works of Egyptian literature that have survived.
As different as these features might seem to be, they By the time of the Middle Kingdom, the privilege of
are interrelated. The Egyptians believed that in the becoming Osiris had been extended to all the nobility.
afterlife people would have the same interests and This trend was taken a step further in the New
experience the same pleasures as in earthly life. They Kingdom. They believed that a glorious afterlife as
saw the sun god as the giver of life to all of nature. Osiris was available to anyone who had lived a good
life and for whom the proper prayers were said. These
Book of the Dead The Book of the Dead is based prayers, based once again on the myth of Osiris, were
upon the most important myth in Egyptian culture— written on papyrus scrolls and buried along with the
the myth of Osiris. Osiris was a benevolent god who dead. The Egyptians called these burial scrolls the
taught human beings agriculture and other arts of Chapters of Coming Forth by Day, a name that shows
civilization. His younger brother Set became jealous their positive expectations for the afterlife.
and killed him for the throne. Isis, the sister of Osiris, The selection on pages 52–53 is taken from the
found her brother’s body and brought it back to life. burial papyrus of a man named Nu, who worked as
Osiris then became lord of the otherworld. a steward or property manager.
Throughout their history, the Egyptians based
many of their burial practices on this myth. In the Old For a humanities activity, click on:

Kingdom, they believed that when a pharaoh died, he HUMANITIES

rose, like Osiris, from the dead. In fact, they believed CL AS SZONE .COM

50 UNIT ONE PART 1

 Ancient Egypt

Capitals of Ancient Egypt

Mediterranean Sea
Connect to Your Life
Each of these selections reveals something
about what the ancient Egyptians valued. What
do you think is most greatly valued in your own
culture? Share your ideas with your classmates.
Memphis
(Old Kingdom)
Focus Your Reading
LITERARY ANALYSIS: SPEAKER
er
Riv

In a work of literature, the speaker is the voice

Nile

that speaks the ideas presented. The speaker is

Akhetaten not necessarily the writer; he or she may be a
(1348–1336)
N
creation of the writer, much like a character in a
Re
W
E
d play. As you read these four works, try to form
an impression of the person speaking based on
Sea

S
what he or she says.
0 75 150 miles
Thebes ACTIVE READING: IDENTIFYING
0 75 150 kilometers (Middle and New Kingdoms)
CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS
In order to understand a culture different from
Adoration of the Disk The second example of your own, you need to consider the culture’s
ancient Egyptian literature was written by the pharaoh values, its philosophical and religious beliefs, the
Akhenaten, who ruled Egypt about 1353–1336 B.C. stories its people tell, and the images they use.
Akhenaten rejected the traditional worship of many
READER'S NOTEBOOK As you read these
gods and goddesses. Instead, he declared that the
Egyptian selections, look for clues that help you
sun god Aten was the only true god and built a new
identify cultural characteristics of the ancient
capital city in his honor. Akhenaten also wrote in
Egyptians. Keep track of the clues you find by
Aten’s honor the poem you will read on page 54.
recording them in a chart like the one started
New Kingdom Poetry The ancient Egyptians were here.
obviously fascinated with death and the afterlife.
This fact has led to a popular image of their culture
as being as dried up and lifeless as one of their Selection Clue What It Reveals About the Egyptians
mummies. The truth is that the ancient Egyptians Book of “Grant that They wanted to live forever.
were a people who knew how to enjoy life the Dead I may descend
into the
immensely. This was especially true during the
Land of
period of the New Kingdom, a time of unparalleled Eternity”
prosperity and cultural enrichment—the result of
political expansion and international commerce.
The New Kingdom produced a body of excellent
lyric poetry that reflects the Egyptians’ joy in life.
Like much poetry throughout the ages, many of
these poems celebrate one of the great vital forces
of human life—romantic love. On pages 57–58, you
will find two examples of New Kingdom love poems.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN LITERATURE 51

 from the Book of the Dead
Translated by Joseph Kaster

THE CHAPTER OF NOT LETTING THE BODY PERISH

Words spoken by the Osiris Nu:
Hail to thee, O my Divine Father Osiris! I came to heal
thee! Do thou heal me, that I may be complete, and that I
may be, indeed, like unto my divine father Khepri,1 the divine
type of him who never corrupted. Come, then, make powerful
my breath, O Lord of Breath, who exalts those divine beings
who are like him! Come, make me endure, and fashion me,
O thou Lord of the Sarcophagus!2
Grant that I may descend into the Land of Eternity, accord-
ing as that which was done to thee together with thy father
Atum,3 whose body did not see corruption, nor did he himself
see decay.
I have never done that which thou hatest, but have
acclaimed4 thee among those who love thy Divine Essence.
Let me not putrefy, as you do unto every god and every god-
dess, every animal and every reptile, when they perish, when
their animating spirits go forth after their death.
Hail to thee, O my father Osiris! Thou livest with thy
members. Thou didst not decay, thou didst not become
worms, thou didst not wither, thou didst not putrefy. I am
Khepri, and my limbs shall have eternity! I shall not decay,
I shall not rot, I shall not putrefy, I shall not become worms,
I shall not see corruption before the eye of Shu!5 I shall exist!
I shall exist! I shall live! I shall live! I shall flourish! I shall
flourish!
I shall wake up in contentment; I shall not putrefy; my
intestines shall not perish; I shall not suffer injury. My eye

1. Khepri (kDpPrC): the god Ra in the form of the rising sun.

2. sarcophagus (sär-kJfPE-gEs): a stone coffin.
3. Atum (äPtEm): Ra in the form of the setting sun and
creator of the world.
4. acclaimed: praised highly.
5. Shu (shL): the god of the air.

52 UNIT ONE PART 1: MESOPOTAMIAN, EGYPTIAN, AND HEBREW LITERATURE

shall not decay; the form of my face shall not disappear; my
ear shall not become deaf. My head shall not be separated
from my neck. My tongue shall not be removed, my hair shall
not be cut off. My eyebrows shall not be shaved away, and no
evil defect shall befall me.
My body shall be enduring, it shall not perish. It shall not
be destroyed, nor shall it be turned back whence it entered
into this Land of Eternity!

Papyrus from the Book of the Dead of Nakht (18th Dynasty, 1350–1300 B.C.).
Photograph copyright © The British Museum.

HUMANITIES CONNECTION The Book of the Dead consists of papyrus scrolls that
were found in the tombs of important individuals of the New Kingdom period. This
scroll shows a nobleman and his wife making an offering to Osiris in order to win his
blessing in the next world.

BOOK OF THE DEAD 53

 Adoration of the Disk
King Akhenaten and Princess Nefertiti
Translated by Robert Hillyer

Thy dawn, O Ra, opens the new horizon,

And every realm that thou hast made to live
Is conquered by thy love, as joyous Day
Follows thy footsteps in delightful peace.

5 And when thou settest, all the world is bleak;

Houses are tombs where blind men lie in death;
Only the lion and the serpent move
Through the black oven of the sightless night.

Dawn in the East again! the lands awake,

10 And men leap from their slumber with a song;
They bathe their bodies, clothe them with fresh garments,
And lift their hands in happy adoration.

The cattle roam again across the fields;

Birds flutter in the marsh, and lift their wings
15 Also in adoration, and the flocks
Run with delight through all the pleasant meadows.

Both north and south along the dazzling river

Ships raise their sails and take their course before thee;
And in the ocean, all the deep-sea fish
20 Swim to the surface to drink in thy light.

For thou art all that lives, the seed of men,

The son within his mother’s womb who knows
The comfort of thy presence near, the babe
To whom thou givest words and growing wisdom;

25 The chick within the egg, whose breath is thine,

Who runneth from its shell, chirping its joy,
And dancing on its small, unsteady legs
To greet the splendor of the rising sun.

54 UNIT ONE PART 1: MESOPOTAMIAN, EGYPTIAN, AND HEBREW LITERATURE

 Akhenaten offers a sacrifice to Aten, the sun god
(c. 1350 B.C.). Relief from Amarna, Egypt. Archaeological Museum,
Cairo. Photograph copyright
© Erich Lessing/Art Resource, New York.

HUMANITIES CONNECTION Here, Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and

their eldest daughter worship the sun god Aten. The royal
couple hold up libations, or ritual offerings of drink. The rays
coming from the sun’s disk end in hands for extending
blessings and receiving the libations. This relief carving is
from Akhenaten’s palace.

Thy heart created all, this teeming earth,

30 Its people, herds, creatures that go afoot,
Creatures that fly in air, both land and sea,
Thou didst create them all within thy heart.

Men and their fates are thine, in all their stations,

Their many languages, their many colors,
35 All thine, and we who from the midst of peoples,
Thou madest different, Master of the Choice.

And lo, I find thee also in my heart,

I, Akhenaten, find thee and adore.
O thou, whose dawn is life, whose setting, death,
40 In the great dawn, then lift up me, thy son.

ADORATION OF THE DISK 55

 I’m going downstream
on Kingswater Canal
Translated by John L. Foster

I’m going downstream on Kingswater Canal,

with leave to attend Sun Festival;
I want to wander there where the tents
are pitched at the far end of Mertiu Lagoon.
5 I’ll hurry along—I can hardly keep silent—
thinking of God’s holy Day,
For maybe I’ll see my truelove go by
bound for the Houses of Offering.

I’ll stand there with you at the mouth of the Mertiu

10 (heart, are you with me or back in Ra’s city?),
Then we’ll turn back to Offeringhouse Orchard,
where I’ll steal from the grove by the chapels
A branch for a festival fan.
There I can watch the whole celebration.

15 With my eyes upturned toward the holy garden,

and my arms full of flowering branches,
And my hair heavy with sweetsmelling unguents, 17 unguents (OngPgwEnts):
what a splendid Lady I’ll be!— ointments.

Dressed fine like a princess, for Ra,

20 Lord of Two Lands, on His feast day.

Fine like a bride, love,

I’ll stand there (waiting) beside you.

I’M GOING DOWNSTREAM ON KINGSWATER CANAL 57

 Whenever I leave you,
I go out of breath
Translated by John L. Foster

Whenever I leave you, I go out of breath

(death must be lonely like I am);
I dream lying dreams of your love lost,
and my heart stands still inside me.
5 I stare at my favorite datecakes—
they would be salt to me now—
And pomegranate wine (once sweet to our lips)
bitter, bitter as birdgall. 8 birdgall: a bitter substance
derived from the liver of a bird.

Touching noses with you, love, your kiss alone,

10 and my stuttering heart speaks clear:
Breathe me more of your breath, let me live!
Man meant for me,
God himself gave you as his holy gift,
my love to outlast forever.

Relief from the tomb of Vizier Ramose (18th dynasty), Thebes.

Photograph copyright © Michael Holford.

58 UNIT ONE PART 1: MESOPOTAMIAN, EGYPTIAN, AND HEBREW LITERATURE