The Book of the Dead | Page 3

a much
abbreviated form of the work was also current at the same period. The
rubric that attributes the "finding" of the Chapter to Herutataf
associates it with Khemenu, i.e., Hermopolis, and indicates that Thoth,
the god of this city, was its author.
The work PER-T EM HRU received many additions in the course of
centuries, and at length, under the XVIIIth dynasty, it contained about
190 distinct compositions, or "Chapters." The original forms of many
of these are to be found in the "Pyramid Texts" (i.e., the funerary
compositions cut on the walls of the chambers and corridors of the
pyramids of Kings Unas, Teta, Pepi I Meri-Ra, Merenra and Pepi II at
Sakkârah), which were written under the Vth and VIth dynasties. The
forms which many other chapters had under the XIth and XIIth
dynasties are well represented by the texts painted on the coffins of
Amamu, Sen, and Guatep in the British Museum (Nos. 6654, 30839,
30841), but it is possible that both these and the so-called "Pyramid
Texts" all belonged to the work PER-T EM HRU, and are extracts from
it. The "Pyramid Texts" have no illustrations, but a few of the texts on
the coffins of the XIth and XIIth dynasties have coloured vignettes, e.g.,
those which refer to the region to be traversed by the deceased on his
way to the Other World, and the Islands of the Blessed or the Elysian
Fields. On the upper margins of the insides of such coffins there are
frequently given two or more rows of coloured drawings of the
offerings which under the Vth dynasty were presented to the deceased
or his statue during the celebration of the service of "Opening the
Mouth" and the performance of the ceremonies of "The Liturgy of
Funerary Offerings." Under the XVIIIth dynasty, when the use of large
rectangular coffins and sarcophagi fell somewhat into disuse, the
scribes began to write collections of Chapters from the PER-T EM
HRU on rolls of papyri instead of on coffins. At first the texts were
written in hieroglyphs, the greater number of them being in black ink,
and an attempt was made to illustrate each text by a vignette drawn in
black outline. The finest known example of such a codex is the Papyrus
of Nebseni (Brit. Mus. No. 9900), which is 77 feet 7 1/2 inches in
length and I foot I1/2 inches in breadth. Early in the XVIIIth dynasty

scribes began to write the titles of the Chapters, the rubrics, and the
catchwords in red ink and the text in black, and it became customary to
decorate the vignettes with colours, and to increase their size and
number. The oldest codex of this class is the Papyrus of Nu (Brit. Mus.
No. 10477) which is 65 feet 3 1/2 inches in length, and 1 foot 1 1/2
inches in breadth. This and many other rolls were written by their
owners for their own tombs, and in each roll both text and vignettes
were usually, the work of the same hand. Later, however, the scribe
wrote the text only, and a skilled artist was employed to add the
coloured vignettes, for which spaces were marked out and left blank by
the scribe. The finest example of this class of roll is the Papyrus of Ani
(Brit. Mus., No. 10470). which is 78 feet in length and 1 foot 3 inches
in breadth. In all papyri of this class the text is written in hieroglyphs,
but under the XIXth and following dynasties many papyri are written
throughout in the hieratic character; these usually lack vignettes, but
have coloured frontispieces.
Under the rule of the High Priests of Amen many changes were
introduced into the contents of the papyri, and the arrangement cf the
texts and vignettes of the PER-T EM HRU was altered. The great
confraternity of Amen-Ra, the "King of the Gods," felt it to be
necessary to emphasize the supremacy of their god, even in the
Kingdom of Osiris, and they added many prayers, litanies and hymns to
the Sun-god to every selection of the texts from the PER-T EM HRU
that was copied on a roll of papyrus for funerary purposes. The greater
number of the rolls of this period are short and contain only a few
Chapters, e.g., the Papyrus of the Royal Mother Netchemet (Brit. Mus.
No. 10541) and the Papyrus of Queen Netchemet (Brit. Mus. No.
10478). In some the text is very defective and carelessly written, but
the coloured vignettes are remarkable for their size and beauty; of this
class of roll the finest example is the Papyrus of Anhai (Brit. Mus. No.
10472). The most interesting of all the rolls that were written during the
rule of the Priest-Kings over Upper Egypt is the Papyrus of Princess