The Text, Just Before, Concerned the Killing of Osiris
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THE TEXT No.1 (1, 1-11) (G. IV, 1,308) (G. V, 530) : The beginning of an utterance to apply a remedy to any part of the body 1 : I have come from Heliopolis with the great (wr'w) ones of the Great House (/;-t '5·t) a, the Lords of Protection, the Rulers of Eternity. I have also (n/:zm n) 2 come from Sals with the Mother 3 of the gods. They have given me their protection. I have 4 utterances that the Lord of the Universe has composed to eliminate the doings b of a god, a goddess, a dead man, a dead woman, etc. c that are in this my head, in these my napes (vertebrae) 5, in these my shoulders 6, in this my flesh 7, in these my members, (and) to punish 8 the Slanderer 9, the Chief of those who let disturbances (bnn) d enter into this my flesh and bjbj 10 into these my members 11, as something that entered into this my flesh, this my head, these my shoulders, this my body, these my limbs 11. I belong to Re. He said 12: I am the one who will protect 13 him (the patient) against his enemies. His 14 guide is Thot e; he 15 causes books to speak; he composed compilations of writings 16; he imparts useful knowledge (rb) f to the learned 17, to the physicians his followers, in order to free those whom a god 18 wishes him (the physician) to keep alive. I am the one whom God 18 wishes to keep alive. To be recited during the application of a remedy on any member of a sick man. Really excellent (proved) a million times. G. IV, 2,231 : 1) In H. 78: Incantation for the application of a remedy to any diseased limb. 2) In H. : nbm-n wj. The plural strokes in Wreszinski are better amended to n. 3) Although «mothers» is plural in the Ebers Papyrus (G. V, 530), both the Grundriss (G. IV, 1,308)and Ebbell prefer translating, in accord with the Hearst version, «mother» in the singular as a reference to Neith, the mother-goddess of Sals. 4) H. : There are utterances. 5) These my napes (plural). Gf. G. I, p. 45. In H. the napes are missing. 6) H. : In this my shoulder. 7) Ebers : iwf; in H. : b'w. 8) sswn, to punish, parallel to dr, above, to eliminate. Cf. the same parallel in Urk. IV, 8. 9) srbj. Sethe (Lesest. 47,8) compares this word to Greek «diabolos» as a description ofa disease-causing demon. 10) H. : bjbj. Grapow translates «Dumpfheit»; Faulkner (p. 81) «symptom of disease»; Ebbell «feebleness »; Lefebvre (1956, p. 10) «sickness »; Borghouts (p. 45) «gnawing» ? 11) From «as something» to the end of the sentence, missing in H. 12) Ebers: nj wj ,. gd'n-f; H. : ntj ,. f]d-j. G. IX, 86 : Amend ntj into nj wj. - 10- 13) Ebers: mj; H. : nb; G. IX, 86 : Amend into ncjj. 14) The patient, or rather the physician identified with the patient who, in this spell, acts as his spokesman. Cf. G. II, 26. 15) Eb. iw-I dj-f; H. : iw rdj-n-j. 16) dmcj·t, attested only in respect of medical writings. 17) rb'w ib·t usually translated «the learned ». 18) H. : ntr-f« his god» in the sense of the patient's patron. Comments: a) Lefebvre (1956, p. 10) : the temples; b) Lefebvre (1956, p. 10) : the pain; F. 206 : stroke; Ed. : We prefer «the doings»; c) Literally «art of the mouth» meaning that the reciter must mention the whole list of demons and omitting none, since the spell is efficient only if the enemy is clearly named; d) bnn according to Ebbell « decay» ; e) «will be Thot»; f) Lefebvre: skill; Reisner, p. 7 «glory». No.2 (1,12 - 2,1) (G. IV, 1,308) (G. V, 532) : Another 1 utterance to loosen anybody's bandage 2 : Loosened is one who is loosened by Isis 3 : Horus was loosened by Isis 3 from the evil done to him by his brother Seth when the latter killed 5 his father Osiris 4. 0 Isis, Great in Magic, may you unfetter (wb') me, may you release (sib) me from all wicked, evil, and red 6 things, from the doings unto me a of a god, a goddess, of a dead man or woman, of a male enemy, a female enemy that is made to act against me 7: even as you were unfettered (wb'), as you were released (sib) from your son Horus 8, b. For I have entered the fire, I have come out of the water 9, c. I shall not enter into the accidents 9, d of this day. I spoke when I was still a child (b), when I was still small (b~) 10, e. Oh Re, speak over your body (d·t) 11; Osiris 4, call over what came 12 out of you f. Re speaks 13 over his body (d·t) 11; Osiris calls over what came out of him 12. You have indeed (isk) saved me 14 from all wicked, evil, red 6 things, from the doings of a god, of a goddess, from a dead man or woman, etc. 15. Really excellent, a million times. G. IV, 2,232: 1) The first, somewhat effaced sign, is certainly «k ». One should therefore read kjj, not irjj as Wreszinski transcribed from the facsimile. 2) The Egyptians apparently thought that illnesses cross over from the sick body to the bandages and are eliminated by their removal. 3,4) The names of the goddess and of the god are written differently each time. 5) The evil that Seth had done is included in this killing. 6) «Red» the Typhonic colour that refers to Seth. Or should one think of blood (injury) ? 7) Egyptian: cj5j·tj-fj im-j. 8) Here is an allusion to birth. Cf. No. 800, a recipe to «loosen» (sib) a child in the belly of a woman. But in our case the mother is, in reverse, loosened (sib) from the child. -11- 9) Sethe (Lesest. 48,4) explains: The fire of disease and the water of the remedy could find nothing against the patient. On that account, the latter could survive unendangered the removal of the bandage, metaphorically described as an « accident ». Or do the fire and water symbolize a rebirth, the allusion being to pre- and post-natal events? Westendorf (1970) asks whether the antique fire and water ordeal was of Egyptian origin. 10) In contrast with this obviously free translation, Sethe (Lesest. 48,5) understands this section in the following way: «With the words « I have spoken and am (again) young and fresh» the spell apparently ends. What follows is an entirely new spell ». For the possibility that this is a hint to an as yet unborn child, cf. von Deines (1956). 11) Sethe interprets 4·t as the uraeus of the sun-god (an interpretation accepted by Ebbell). 12) Is the discharge supposed to come out of the dead body of the god? The text, just before, concerned the killing of Osiris. One is tempted to regard it as the seedof the god. (Ed.) Unfor- tunately, Prof. W. Westendorf pointed out to us that the verb sbb «to scream» is nearer to the meaning of lament and never carries the meaning of a joyful emotion, so that it is preferable to keep to the original interpretation of a cadaveric exudate. But as the funerary texts teach us, positive results may ensue from the negative event of the death of Osiris, like the emergence of the ba from the secretions of the mummified body, and as the spell concerns the overcoming of disease/death and the resulting recovery/rebirth, it is possible that what is said to come out of the body of Osiris could be his ejaculate (the heir and avenger Horus) (Prof. W. Westendorf, personal communication). 13) The words sound like scenic instructions, similar to those found in dramatic texts. 14) nbm·n-k, possibly to be understood as optative: «You might like to save», like the dj-n-j in promises. Sethe proposed to amend it into nbm·kwj, «I have been saved ». Cf. nbm·n-n at the end of H, 214. 15) The application is omitted. One expects to read: «is to be uttered during the loosening of any bandage ». Lefebvre (1956, p. 11): a) harm, caused by ... , b) as you weredelivered, as you were liberated (by the birth of your son Horus); c) and since I have entered the fire and come out of the water; d) the trap; e) I have said (the formula) and I am again young and fresh. Borghouts (1978, p. 49): e) It is as somebody who has become young and innocent that I have spoken; f) Oh Re, speak on behalf of your own self! Osiris, cry out on behalf of what has come forth from you, etc. No.3 (2, 1-6) (G. IV, 1,309) (G. V, 534) : Utterance to drink a remedy : The remedy comes. Comes what eliminates the things 1 in this my heart (ib) in these my body-parts. Strong is magic bound to (br) a medicine and vice-versa 2. Do you remember 3 then that Horus and Seth were brought to the Great Palace of Heliopolis when the testicles 4 of Seth were bartered for Horus ? Thereupon he became alert 5, as (he) was on Earth; he does (now again) everything - 12- he wishes like these gods that are there 6.