The Wisdom of Ptah-Hotep · 18 of 36

A Hymn to the Setting Sun

A hymn of praise to Ra when he riseth upon the horizon, and when he getteth in the land of life. Osiris, the scribe Ani saith:

“Homage to thee, O Ra, when thou risest—as—Tem-Heru-khuti—Tem-Harmachis—Thou art adored—by me when-thy beauties are before mine eyes, and—when thy—radiance—falleth—upon—my—body. Thou goest forth to thy setting in the Sektet boat with—fair—winds, and thy heart is glad; the heart of the Mater boat rejoiceith. Thou stridest over the heavens in peace, and all thy foes are cast down; the never-resting stars sing hymns of praise unto thee, and the stars which rest, and the stars which never fail glorify thee as thou sinkest to rest in the horizon of Manu, O thou who art beautiful at morn and at eve, O thou lord who livest and art established, O my lord!

“Homage to thee, O thou who art Ra when thou risest, and. Tem when thou settest—in—beauty. Thou risest and shinest on the back of thy mother—Nut,—O thou who art crowned king of the gods! Nut doeth homage unto thee, and everlasting and never-changing order embraceth thee at morn and at eve. Thou stridest over the heaven, being glad of heart, and the Lake of Testes is content—thereat—. The Sebau Fiend hath fallen to the ground; his arms and his hands have been hacked off, and the knife hath severed the joints of his body. Ra hath a fair wind; the Sektet boat goeth forth and sailing along it cometh into port. The gods of the south and of the north, of the west and of the east, praise thee, O thou divine substance, from whom all forms of life come into being. Thou sendest forth the word, and the earth is flooded with silence, O thou only One, who didst dwell in heaven before ever the earth and the mountains came into existence. O runner, O Lord, O only One, thou maker of things which are, thou hast fashioned the tongue of the company of the gods, thou hast produced whatsoever cometh forth from the waters, and thou springest up from them over the flooded land of the Lake of Horus. Let me snuff the air which cometh forth from thy nostrils, and the nostrils, and the north wind which cometh forth from thy mother—Nut—. O, make thou to be glorious my shining form—khu—, O Osiris, make thou to be divine my soul—ba—! Thou art worshipped—in—peace—or

(in setting—, O Lord of the gods, thou are exalted by reason of thy wondrous works. Shine thou with the rays of light upon my body day by day,—upon me—, Osiris the scribe, the teller of the divine offerings of all the gods, the overseer of the granary of the lords of Abtu-Abydos—, the royal scribe in truth who loveth thee; Ani, victorious in peace.”

(From the Papyrus of Ani, British Museum, No. 10,470, sheet 19)

“Praise unto thee, O Osiris, lord of eternity, Unnefer, Heru-khuti—Harmachis—, whose forms are manifold, and whose attributes are majestic, Ptah-Seker-Tern in Annu—Heliopolis—, the lord of the hidden place, and the creator of Het-ka-Ptah—Memphis—and of the gods—therein—, the guide of the underworld, who,—the gods—glorify when thou settest in Nut. Isis embraceth thee in peace, and she driveth away the fiends from the mouth of thy path. Thou turnest thy face upon Amentet, and thou makest the earth to shine as with refined copper. Those who have lain down, i.e., the dead—rise up to see thee, they breathe the air and they look upon thy face when the Disk riseth on its horizon; their hearts are at peace inasmuch as they behold thee, O thou who art Eternity and Everlastingness!”

In one of the tombs of the New Stone Age was found a flint instrument which, as we know from inscriptions of the dynastic period, was used in performing the ceremony of “opening the mouth” of the dead, a fact that proves that even in the Old Stone Age a ceremony was performed on the dead body with the purpose of assisting the soul, or spirit, to acquire the faculties and powers needed by it in the other world. In this ceremony the flint instrument was thrust between the teeth of the dead man, and when these were separated his spirit form was believed. to acquire the power to eat and drink, to speak, to think, and to perform all the natural functions of the body.

The Chapter Of Opening The Mouth Of Osiris. The scribe Ani, triumphant, saith:

“May the good Ptah open my mouth, and may the god of my city loose the swathings, even the swathings which are over my mouth. Moreover, may Thoth, being filled and furnished with charms, come And loose the bandages, even the bandages of Set which fetter my mouth; and may the god Tem hurl them at those who would fetter—me—with them, and drive them back. May my mouth be opened, may my mouth be unclosed by Shu with his iron knife wherewith he opened the mouths of the gods. I am the goddess Sekhet, and I sit upon —my—place in the great wind (?) of heaven. I am the great goddess Sah who dwelleth among the Souls of Annu—Heliopolis—. Now as concerning every charm and all the words which may be spoken against me, may the gods resist them, and may each and every one of the company of the gods withstand them.”