Text summary
From: Book · Samuel Alfred Browne Mercer · 1952
Text: Full Translation, Collation (full)
Archaic Egyptian ⟶ English a
Translation | |
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p. 233 | |
Utterance 571 | |
1466a | To say: The mother of N., dweller in the lower sky, became pregnant with him; |
1466b | N. was given birth by his father Atum, |
1466c | before the sky came into being, before the earth came into being, |
1466d | before men came into being, before the gods were born, before death came into being. |
1467a | N. escapes the day of death, as Set escaped his day of death. |
1467b | N. belongs to your company (?), O gods of the lower sky, |
1468a | who cannot perish for their enemies. |
1468b | N. perishes not for his enemies. |
1468c | O ye who die not for a king--N. does not die for a king. |
1468d | O ye who die not for any death--N. does not die for any death. |
1469a | N. is an imperishable star, the great ---- of heaven in the house of Śerḳset. |
1469b | Rē‘ has taken N. to heaven, that N. may live, |
1469c | as he lives who enters into the west of the sky and goes forth at the east of the sky. |
1470a | He who is within his ḥn.ti (two limits) has commended N. to him who is in his carrying-litter; |
1470b | they acclaim N., for N. is a star, |
p. 234 | |
1470c | The protection of Rē‘ is upon N. Rē‘ will not abandon the protection of N. |
1471a | Horus has set N. on his shoulders; |
1471b | he has assigned N. to Shu (who says): "My arms are exalted under Nut." |
1471c | Rē‘, give thine arm to N.; Great God, give thy staff to N., |
1471d | that he may live for ever. |
Utterance 572 | |
1472a | To say: "How beautiful indeed is the sight, how pleasant indeed is the view," says Isis, |
1472b | "that this god ascends to heaven, his renown over him, |
1472c | his terror on both sides of him, his magic before him!" |
1473a | It was done for him, for N., by Atum, like that which one did for him (Atum). |
1473b | He brought to N. the gods belonging to heaven; |
1473c | he assembled to him the gods belonging to the earth. |
1474a | They put their arms under him. |
1474b | They made a ladder for N., that he might ascend to heaven on it. |
1474c | The double doors of heaven are open for N.; the double doors of śḥd.w are open for him. |
1475a | Atum united the nomes for N.; |
1475b | Geb gave him the cities, that is to say (lit. in speaking of it), |
1475c | the regions, the regions of Horus; the regions of Set, |
1475d | the Marsh of Reeds. |
1476a | N. is ’Iȝḥś, chief of the land of Upper Egypt; |
1476b | N. is Ddwn, chief of the land of Nubia; |
1476c | N. is Sopdu, (who lives) under his kśb.t-trees. |
1477a | Have you acted against him? Have you said that he would die? |
1477b | He will not die. N. will live a life for ever. |
1477c | N. is become in spite of them as the surviving bull of the wild-bulls; |
1477d | N. is at their head; he will live and last for ever. |
Utterance 573 | |
1478a | To say: Awake in peace, Ḥsmnw, in peace. |
1478b | Awake in peace, Eastern Horus, in peace. |
1478c | Awake in peace, Eastern Soul, in peace. |
p. 235 | |
1478d | Awake in peace, Harachte, in peace. |
1479a | Thou sleepest in the evening boat; thou wakest in the morning boat, |
1479b | for thou art as he who oversees the gods; no god oversees thee. |
1479c | Father of N., Rē‘, take N. with thee, for life, to thy mother, Nut. |
1480a | The double doors of heaven shall be open for N.; the double doors of ḳbḥ.w shall be open for N. |
1480b | When N. comes to thee, that thou mayest make him live, |
1480c | command N. to sit by thy side, |
1480d | near the dwȝ-canal on the horizon. |
1481a | Father of N., Rē‘, commend N. to Mśḫȝȝ.t, she who is at thy side, |
1481b | to cause to designate a place for N. near the Rd-wr-lake under ḳbḥ.w. |
1482a | Commend N. to Ni-'nh, son of Sothis, to speak for N., |
1482b | to establish a throne for N. in heaven. |
1482c | Commend N. to Wr-špś.f, the beloved Ptah, the son of Ptah, |
1482d | to speak for N., |
1482e | to cause food to grow for his dining pavillion on earth, |
1483a | for N. is one of those four gods, |
1483b | ’Imś.ti, Ḥȝpi, Dwȝ-mw.t.f, Ḳbḥ-śn.w.f, |
1483c | who live on truth, who lean upon their d'm-sceptres, |
1483d | who guard the land of Upper Egypt. |
1484a | He flies, he flies from you, O men, as birds; |
1484b | he takes his flight from you (lit., he takes his arms from you) like a falcon; |
1484c | he takes his body from you like a kite; |
1484d | he is delivered from that which shackles his feet on earth, |
1484e | he is freed from that which ties his hands. |
Utterance 574 | |
1485a | To say: Greetings to thee, Sycamore, who protects the god, under which the gods of the underworld stand, |
1485b | whose tips are seared, whose inside is burned, (whose) suffering is real. |
1486a | Assemble those who dwell in Nun; collect those who are among the bows. |
p. 236 | |
1486b | Thy forehead is upon thine arm (in mourning) for Osiris, O Great Mooring-post, |
1486c | who art like her who is chief of the offering (to), and of the worship (?) of the lord of the East. |
1487a | Thou art standing, Osiris; thy shadow is over thee, Osiris; |
1487b | thy diadem repels Set, |
1487c | the generous damsel who acted for this spirit of Gḥś.ti is |
1487d | thy shadow, Osiris. |
1488a | Thy dread is among those in heaven; thy fear among those on earth. |
1488b | Thou hast hurled thy terror into the heart of the wings of Lower Egypt, dwelling in Buto. |
1489a | N. is come [to thee], Horus, heir of Geb, of whom Atum speaks; |
1489b | "all belongs to thee," say the Two Enneads; "all belongs to thee," thou sayest. |
1490a | It is even N. among them-the gods who are in heaven. |
1490b | Collect those who are among the bows; assemble those who are among the imperishable stars. |
1491a | N. rejoices; N. rejoices, O, O. |
1491b | Day is day; night is night; Rē‘ is Rē‘; |
1491c | --------------- he is for ever. |
Source(s) a Mercer, Pyramid Texts I, 233-236 launch . |
Original source data
Background
The Samuel A. B. Mercer translation of the Egyptian Hermopolis creation myth comes from The Pyramid Texts, a 1952 book published by the author. Mercer was the first person to publish a complete English translation of the funerary carvings in ancient Egyptian pyramids in Saqqara. The creation myth of Hermopolis leans on Utterances 571-574 of the Pyramid Texts, a fairly canonical source of Egyptian theology. Samuel Mercer was a well-known Egyptologist who spent most of his career studying the ancient civilization of Egypt.
Cite this page
OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. ""Utterances 571-574": English Translation of Pyramid Texts by Samuel A.B. Mercer." OMNIKA – World Mythology Index, OMNIKA Foundation, 14 Apr. 2019, omnika.org/stable/61. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.
OMNIKA (2019, April 14). "Utterances 571-574": English Translation of Pyramid Texts by Samuel A.B. Mercer. Retrieved from https://omnika.org/stable/61
OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. ""Utterances 571-574": English Translation of Pyramid Texts by Samuel A.B. Mercer." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created April 14, 2019. Accessed November 23, 2024. https://omnika.org/stable/61.