A Second Amuletic Passport for the Afterlife

A "Second" Amuletic Passport for the Afterlife. P. Sydney Nicholson Museum 346 b Author(s): Mark Depauw Source: Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur, Bd. 31 (2003), pp. 93-99 Published by: Helmut Buske Verlag GmbH Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152885 Accessed: 12-08-2014 17:10 UTC

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A ?Second" Amuletic Passport for the Afterlife. P. Sydney Nicholson Museum 346 b* Mark

Depauw

(Tafel 9) Abstract Publication of P. Sydney Nicholson Museum 346 b, a Demotic funerary papyrus from Thebes, probably dating to the 2nd century AD. Its owner, Theonas son of Agathe, is known from P. Cairo 31172, of which a new transliteration and translation are provided. The existence of two short funerary papyri with different texts for the same deceased suggests that one was meant to be placed under the head, whereas the other was to be put under his legs. As many other late abbreviations of the so-called 'documents of breathing', these papyri seem to defy further categorization. Rather than with a letter, a passport such as P. Sydney Museum 346 b should be compared with an amulet, to be shown to Osiris before entry into the underworld. As such this papyrus may shed light on the discussion concerning the authorship of the 'divine

Nicholson decrees'.

In themiddle of the 19thcentury, Sir Charles Nicholson (1808-1903) collected a large group of antiquities through acquisitions from European dealers and by two journeys to Egypt in 1856 and 1862. In the enlightened belief that inAustralia this collection would ?possess a value

and

an

interest

far beyond

what

donated his acquisitions to theUniversity is now

the Nicholson

The Demotic

would

belong

to them

in European

States",

he

[of Sydney], where they became the basis of what

Museum1. in this article bears no. 346 b in the museum's published as in the 1858 catalogue the same number by J. Bonomi 7 inches by 6'2, which fits its current dimen Enchorial writing

funerary papyrus is described under

inventory

and

?A nearly

square piece with

sions of 17.5 cm high and 15.5 cmwide (fig. 1).The papyrus is quite dark brown, especially the section to the right of the sheet-join, which is clearly visible 5.5 cm from the left edge and causes

an overlap between on the papyrological style pen

the two sheets recto,

the fibres

of 1.5 cm. The parallel

text was written

to the writing

with

a Greek

and perpendicular

to

I should like to thank K. Sowada, curator of theNicholson Museum, for her hospitality when in Sydney as well as for permission to study the original and to publish the result of my research. The existence of Sydney Nicholson Museum 346 b was known tome by photographs sent in 1975 by the then curator Alexander Cabitoglou to the lateM. Muszinsky. These were shown to me by W. Clarysse, who also made a first transliteration of the text which has formed the basis for my research. The publication has benefitted greatly from comments and suggestions during its presentation at the 2001 Demotic Summer School in Trier and from a reading by M. Smith. I should like to thankM. Coenen for information on late hieratic funerary texts as well as C. Leitz and his team for information from the forthcoming ?Lexikon der agyptischen GStter und G6tterbezeichnungen". 1 C. Nicholson, Aegyptiaca, 1891,116. For a history of the museum's collections, see A.D. Trendhall, The Nicholson Museum, in:Art and Australia 5, 1967, 528-537. 2 1858, [J. Bonomi], Catalogue of Egyptian and Other Antiquities collected by Sir Charles Nicholson, 50, no. 346b. It is included under the same number 346 inE. Reeve, Catalogue of theMuseum of Anti 1891, 69. quities of the University of Sydney, 1870, 31 and in C. Nicholson, Aegyptiaca,

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94M.Depauw the kollesis.

ink has quite

The

faded

in some

SAK 31

places,

but the signs

are clearly

recognizable

except for where blotches of ink have made the text illegible. The verso is not accessible because

of the way

the papyrus

I_J Transliteration 1) tl?.tr

is mounted,

but

is presumably

Fig. I: P. Sydney Nicholson Museum

blank.

346 b

and Translation tly.t^s m-blh pi nb ntr.w

The document

to be taken before the lord of the gods

2) Wsir ntr clWsir n Dmc Wsir

Osiris the great god, Osiris of Jeme, Osiris

3) ntr cl nb 'IbtWsir pi ntr cl n Gb}

great god of Abydos, Osiris the great god of Koptos,

4) Wsir hw.t-bnbn m

Osiris of the house of the benben-stone

'Iwnw-wr

inHeliopolis,

5) Wsir Gb}e hnt hw.t-nb Wsir

Osiris of Koptos who

6) sp-2 Pr-Cl c.w.s.r nhh dt

Osiris pharaoh l.p.h.forever and until eternity, Anubis

7) si Wsir

'Iy-m-htp m

'Inp

'Imn-htp wr si

is in the house of gold, Osiris,

son of Osiris, Imhotep and Amenhotep

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the great, son

P. Sydney Nicholson Museum 346 b 95

2003 8) Hcpy hw.t-... nb

Hapy of the house of...,

st}

9) mtw^w dy cnhply^fby

lord of the crypt,

so that they will give life to his ba until eternity:

sc dt

10)Tyflwns pi sr n l[g]crfh[e]

Theonas

the son of Agathe.

Line Commentary cut from a roll. As such Line 1: (a) sc.t is just the general word for a piece of papyrus more a translation than ?letter" See below general commentary, is ?document" appropriate r see W. For Demotische the 1925, Grammatik, tly.t^s, Spiegelberg, ?gerundivum" (b)

?226. Line 2: InDmc the scribe has left some space between theD and mc. A similar distance between the first sign and the rest of theword is found in 1.6, in thewriting of 'Inp. Line

3: For Gbt,

compare

the clear writing

Line 4: (a) For hw.t-bnbn, see M. 65, note

a to B 5/13.

in 1. 5.

Smith, The Liturgy of Opening

addition (b) The unexpected the other, much closer Lwnw

wr

in

theMouth

for

'Iwnw-wr

1993, may Breathing, serve to distinguish from i.e. The Hermonthis. , Heliopolis or latter is often called 'Iwnw-$mc Lwnw-Mnf. see Glossar, Line 5: For the reading nb in hw.t-nb, 214. For Osiris of Koptos who is in see C. Traunecker, sur le parvis de Geb, et Dieux Homme the house of gold, Coptos.

OLA 43, 1992,96. Line 6: (a) The reading sp-2 is certain in view of the parallelism with P. Cairo 31172,1. 7 (see below general commentary), (b) Osiris is not commonly called Pr-Cl. The only ex ample listed by the forthcoming ?Lexikon der agyptischen Gotter und Gotterbezeich is one in the mammisi of Armant4. Add P. Petese 2/14, where Pr-Cl Wsir-Wn-nfr nungen" or mummy 13522 with Pr-Cl c.w.s. Wslr pi ntr cl6. For Osiris as is mentioned5, label Berlin king,

compare

J.G. Griffiths,

s.v. Osiris,

in: LA

IV,

1982,

col.

627

(IV); P. Kaplony,

s.v.

Konigsring, in:LA III, 1980, col. 613. Line

7: (a) For the preposition

m meaning

?together

with",

see M.

Smith,

The Mortuary

Texts of Papyrus BM 10507, Catalogue of Demotic Papyri in theBritish Museum 3, 1987, 99, n. b. (b) The epiteth wr preceding the filiation is normally found after Imhotep rather thanAmenhotep7. InThebes Imhotep is often accompanied by the local divinised physician Amenhotep.

3 4 5 6 7 8

Their

funerary

character

seems

a Roman

development8.

See P.W. Pestman, The Archive of the Theban Choachytes (Second Century B.C.). A Survey of the Demotic and Greek Papyri contained in the Archive, Studia Demotica 2, 1993, 315-316. Mammisi Armant: LD IV, 6If. K. Ryholt, The Story of Petese Son of Petetum and Seventy other Good and Bad Stories (P. Petese) CNI Publications 23/ The Carlsberg Papyri 4, 1999, 14. Texte aus den Koniglichen Museen zu Berlin 1, 1913, Demotische G. Moeller, Mumienschilder, fasc. 1, 4; fasc. 2, 17 (no. 46). im alten Agypten, MAS 36, 1977, passim. See D. Wildung, Imhotep und Amenhotep. Gottwerdung Ibid., 199-248 for Imhotep in the company of Amenhotep, and p. 248 for their funerary character.

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96 M. Depauw SAK 31 Line 8: (a) The name of the father of Amenhotep, Hapu, iswritten unetymologically as if itwere the god Hapy. The normal writing is that as Hp ?Apis". (b) It is tempting to suggest that there is a reference here toAthribis (Hw.t- (tl-hry-) lb) as the place of birth of Amenhotep9, but the group following hw.t is illegible tome. A curtailed writing of tflw (?) seems

unlikely,

insufficient10, case

clearly

and the resemblance 530 has

(c) Glossar, stl ?tomb,

some writings an entry stt as writing

ismeant11.

crypt"

of Hr

with

The Coptic

name

in Hathor's

for st ,,Grundstuck", arrx or

word

qrro

is also

but

?cellar"

in this

indicating

a subterranean chamber is probably derived from it12,and the t probably indicates that the final

twas

pronounced.

,JLord of the crypt"

is a common

in this case

(e.g. of Sokar),

epiteth

the funerary character of (Imhotep and) Amenhotep. a Greek 10: Tyclwns is clearly / ?ecovaq rather than name, perhaps ?eovaq sr n son as I a the have of of ms n ?the interpreted following/?; Aiovfiq13. replacement to introduce the name of the mother, the reading of which, ?born of 'AyaGri, is certain stressing Line

because

of the parallel

with

P. Cairo

31172

1. 2 (see

can also be the patronymic, entire group Pl-sr-n-lgthe name 'AyccOri or 'AY&6e is uncommon and the earliest dates

to the Byzantine

commentary general below)14. but **Fevay&6'n is unattested15. example

known

hitherto

The The

apparently

period16.

General

Commentary are the early Roman period onwards all kinds of funerary and mortuary compositions in Demotic. written Some of these are very elaborate, e.g. the Rhind funerary papyri, while others are very short. Many of them come from Thebes, and in this case the initial position From

of Osiris of Jeme and the presence of the divinised physician Amenhotep about

the place or, more likely, Date

of origin. Palaeography, 2nd century AD.

onomastics,

are confirmed

by a second

and provenance

and contents

papyrus

suggest

inscribed

leave no doubt a date

in the 1st

for the same person.

It is preserved in the Cairo museum, and has been edited by Spiegelberg in his ?Catalogue General" publication as no. 3117217.Not only is the handwriting of this text identical to that of P. Sydney Nicholson Museum 346 b, it even has the same sheet-join visible on the left 9 und Amenhotep, 295. 10Wildung, Imhotep See the writings of Hw.t-Hr inW. Erichsen, Demotisches Glossar, 1854, 286. 11 M. Depauw, The Archive of Teos and Thabis from Early Ptolemaic Thebes, P. Brux. dem. inv. E. 8252-8256, Monographies Reine Elisabeth 8, 2000, 202-204. 12 Crum, Dictionary, 595a; Westendorf, Handworterbuch, 560; Cerny, Dictionary, 255. 13 o or co, compare Coptic o ?great". c\ DN 1256 For Greek 17, Compare Tywns. ?great" rendering 14 96 DN 2, Compare clgthe. 15

For

names

of the type Pl-sr(-n)-

with

matronymic,

see DN

4,

260-273,

e.g. Pl-sr-klllwd.

t or Pl-sr-n-tl

For a similar problem, see J. Quaegebeur, Mummy Labels: An Orientation, sr.t-Hr-wdl. in: E. Boswinkel/ PW. Pestman (eds), Textes grecs, demotiques et bilingues, P.L.Bat. 19, 1978, 249. 16 See F. Preisigke, Namenbuch, col. 3-4. D. Foraboschi, Onomasticon Alterum Papyrologicum. Supple mento al Namenbuch di F. Preisigke, Testi e Documenti per lo Studio deU'Antichita 16, 1971, 17. 17 W. Spiegelberg, Die demotischen Denkmaler II. Die demotischen (30601-31270; 50001-50022) General des Musee du du 1906-1908, 282, pi. 112. Caire, Papyrus, Catalogue Antiquites Egyptiennes

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2003 side of the papyrus.

This

P. Sydney Nicholson Museum 346 b 97 shows

that both

were

documents

not only written

the same

by

scribe with the same pen, but very likely even on the same sheet. The width of the roll (or of the sheet) can be reconstructed Ptolemaic average18.

as 34.5

height

Because

of the close

connection

between

rather wide

cm,

both papyri,

I provide

in comparison a new

with

transliteration

the

and

translation of P. Cairo 31172, which has received little attention since its editio princeps 1906. 1) Wsir hn} imnj,Wn-nfr pi ntr clpi nb n

2)

'IbtTywnspl

3) ply^fby 4)

sr n clgcthe mtw

sms r Wsir mtw^fhpr

Osiris the foremost of theWesterners, the great god, the lord of

hn

nl hsy.w n Wsir mtw&ftly mw hr

7) 80. t (?) rpy^fsp-2

the son of Agathe, may

the praised ones of Osiris and may he receive

tl htp m-sl Wsir n pi sy m-sl

6) Wn-nfr rnpt n cnh r-ir^fhrpl

Onnophris

his ba follow Osiris and may he become one of

water

5)

Theonas

Abydos.

in

on

the offering table after Osiris of the lake and after Onnophris. Years he lived on earth:

tl

r nhh rpyply^f

80 (?).May he rejuvenate, may he rejuvenate, may his

8) by sc nhh dt ba rejuvenate until eternity and forever. In 1. 1-21 interpret Osiris and Onnophris as invocations rather than as epithets of the deceased. In 1. 7 I have opted to read the age of Theonas as 80.t rather than Spiegelberg's 60 (?). A reading 50.t is also possible.

The contents of P. Cairo 31172 clearly supplement that of P. Sydney Nicholson Museum 346 b. Both

are abbreviated

examples

of what

is often

called

a sc.t n snsn

?document

of

breathing", and as the titles of some papyri indicate,most likely one (?the first")was meant to be placed under the head of Theonas' mummy, while the other (?the second") was to be put under his legs19. In this case it is uncertain where which of multiple texts written earlier examples Other, funerary of a Book of the Dead and a Book of Breathing combinations a like looks of the longest known personal library consisting

document for

Perhaps

contemporary

are two mutually

identical

be

made

person as well Isis, by

Book

of Traversing

a Book of Breathing made by Isis, a First Book of Breathing, Breathing20.

should

located.

a single

include as what Eternity,

and a Second Book of

abbreviated

18

funerary

papyri

x 0.17 are correct and refer to width and Assuming that Spiegelberg's dimensions of 0.18 height of the document respectively. For the evolution of the width of papyrus rolls, see M. Depauw, The Royal Format of Early Ptolemaic Demotic Papyri, in: K. Ryholt (ed), 7th International Conference of Demotic 1999, 85-100. 19 For a survey of Egyptian titles, see M.A. Stadler, The Funerary Texts of Papyrus Turin N. 766: A Demotic Book of Breathing, in:Enchoria 25, 1999, 104, n. 188 and Enchoria 26, 2000, 114-119, with reference toM. Coenen, Books of Breathings. More than a Terminological Question?, in: OLP 26, 1995, 34-38. 20 See M. Coenen, On the Demise of the Book of the Dead inPtolemaic Thebes, in:RdE 52, 2001, 80-84 and FR. Herbin, Le livre de parcourir l'eternite, OLA 58, 1994, 7 (P. Leiden T 32 is a Book of

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98M.Depauw

SAK 31

(each 35 (!) cm high) written for the same woman, one to be put under the head, the other under

the legs21.

The text of the Cairo document is similar to a group of funerary formulae found on papyri and coffins, normally dated to the 2ndcentury AD22.These texts provide the name of the deceased at the beginning, followed by wishes for the afterlife. Often the age of the owner

is specified.

P. Sydney Nicholson Museum sentence:

lengthy

?The document

346 b on the other hand consists of a single, but rather to be taken before

Osiris

(and various

other gods)

so that

they will give life to his ba forever", followed by the name of the deceased at the end. In this case

the core of the document

is an enumeration

of all of the gods who

should

assure

an eternal afterlife. Because of this litany-like list of gods followed by a conjunctive, the Sydney papyrus resembles P. Turin N. 76623. Like that text, however, it is no typical of a specific example to better be sceptical

category of funerary compositions, of these categorizations altogether24.

and perhaps

in this late stage

it is

All shorter funerary or mortuary texts are sometimes called ?letters of recommendation for the afterlife"25. The term ?letter", however, should be avoided for all funerary documents on strips of papyrus of this type, even if they are written dimensions, (sc.t) with ?epistolary" are as and although these folded letters. For in contrast with e.g. oracle occasionally on these strips do not assume and letters to gods, the texts written questions a sender and the spatially fiction: sent between they never suggest to be amessage addressee. The text on the reverse is no exterior address to whom specifying should

be

guidelines. addressee,

epistolary separated the letter

with ritual sometimes over, but rather a title or a short summary, are never any epistolary names formulae the of sender and providing seem problematic, and indeed these categories the occasional assertion despite

handed There

that the document was written by Thoth himself Traversing Eternity, P. Louvre N 3291 is a Book of Breathing made by Isis; P. BN 151a First Book (for the head); P. Louvre N 3285 a Second Book of Breathing of Breathing (for the feet), all in M. Coenen's terminology; the name of the owner's mother is different in P. Louvre N 3285 (infor mation M. Coenen)). 21 P. Firenze 3669 and 3670: A. Pellegrini, Due papiri funerari (sic) del Museo egizio di Firenze, in: 8, 1904,216-222. 22 Sphinx See W. Spiegelberg, Aegyptische und griechische Eigennamen aus Mumienetiketten der romischen Kaiserzeit auf Grund von grossenteils unveroffentlichtem Material, Demotische Studien 1, 1901, 9-13, where 3 papyri and 1 coffin have been transliterated synoptically; add J. Quaegebeur, P. Brux dem. E. 8258. Une lettre de recommandation pour l'au-dela, in: S. Israelit-Groll (ed), Studies inEgyptology presented toMiriam Lichtheim II, 1990, 776-795 discussing the dating of these texts to the second century AD with further examples; see now C. Riggs/ M. Depauw, ?Soternalia" from Deir el-Bahri, two Coffin Lids with Demotic Inscriptions, in:RdE 53, 2002, forthcoming. 23 including re-edited 110-124,123-124. Recently by Stadler, in:Enchoria 25-26,1999-2000,76-110; Compare also R. A. Caminos, A Passport to the Beyond: Papyrus British Museum 10194, in:E. Kormysheva (ed), Ancient Egypt and Kush. InMemoriam Mikhail A.Korostovtsev, 1993, 104-123, the first section of which resembles P. Sydney Nicholson 346 b, the second P. Cairo 31172. 24 Stadler, in:Enchoria 26, 2000, 114-119. 25 in: S. Israelit-Groll (ed), Studies Lichtheim II, 789-791. Quaegebeur,

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2003

P. Sydney Nicholson Museum 346 b 99

can be compared with amulets, which are issued or to but hopefully authorised author its owner competent protect by an often anonymous the This better explains why Thoth is said to have written problems. against potential to place the papyrus on the body of for the directions where and it also accounts document, Rather

than with

letters,

the documents

an official of these Like is the beneficiary ?amulets". funerary reason often no and in all contexts, for which notification it should be valid for everyone are thought to can to It is be those who mentioned. addressee addressed, however, specific the

deceased,

who

be especially competent in thematter. For this reason P. Sydney Nicholson Museum 346 b is explicitly directed to Osiris and some of his divine colleagues in the underworld. That the document should be presented to Osiris and his acolytes reminds one of the discussion

the so-called

whether

?divine

decrees",

wd-ntr

beginning

ir (n) Wslr, were

issued

by Osiris oxfor Osiris. On the basis of the parallelism with documents less explicit than this one,

that the decree was written by Thoth for opted for the latter, suggesting on the anonymous can as the oracular god Amun-Re26. of who be unveiled authority

J. Quaegebeur

Osiris

At least two aspects of his theory remain highly hypothetical, but the Sydney papyrus seems to confirm his idea that the decree was for Osiris rather than by him. The only way to save Osiris' sources

in his underworld realm is to detach the ?divine decrees" from the other authority as and consider both of separate traditions, an alternative which is perhaps examples

equally plausible in view of the time gap between them27.The recently published funerary papyrus ?decree"

contains a more elaborate version of the (Meir, 4th century BC) which a solution, not really provide since there it is issued anonymously for the

of Imouthes does

entire underworld:

wd.tcl.t

ir r sp.t Tgr.t. Perhaps

to leave

it is best

the matter

there, or with

thewords of the editor Goyon: ?ni royal

ni divin,

le decret

ou ordonnance

reutilise

par ?

recents avec un les copistes et on ne sait par qui, sinon

refait pour la circonstance, est, en fait, emis pseudo-titre, a la colonne tous les noms divins 2, 3 sq.): Ptah, Re-Harakhtes, Atoum, (enumeres a au nome et assurement I 'egard (r) du Noun Amon-Re profit d'Osiris, mais dTgeret, ou Osiris en Re. se regenere autrement de FAu-dela dit des 'puissances' d'Occident Toute

devient querelle de New-York, papyrus

modifications

done

inutile

sur le fait de

savoir,

si tel ou

tel dieu

a 1'esprit

et a la lettre du texte,

est

l'auteur

du moins du

rescrit.

dans Le

la version

de des

probleme a apportees ptole l'epoque scribes sacerdotaux thebains, ne

profondes du corpus des steles) par des maique (date moyenne une fois peut etre aborde ici, mais nul doute qu'une solution simple pourra etre avancee, son le document d'etre mieux reconnu"28. integralite et, par la, susceptible publie dans

26

J. Quaegebeur, Lettres de Thot et decrets pour Osiris, in: JH. Kamstra et al. (eds), Funerary Symbols and Religion. Essays dedicated to Professor M.S.H.G. Heerma van Voss (...), 1988, 105-126. 27 H. De Meulenaere, Le decret d'Osiris, in:CdE 63, 1988, 234-241; L. Kakosy, Three Decrees of Gods from Theban Tomb 32, in:OLP 23, 1992, 311-328. 28 of Art de New York C. Goyon, Le papyrus d'lmouthes fils de Psintaes au Metropolitan Museum MMA 18. 1999, 35.9.21), (papyrus

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2003M. Depauw Tafel 9

'

'*-*-*-. ^fc ;_ ^-w^;

?~-

v *La_.-w2d_i_LL , ?gT;f*^?fc^

P. Sydney Nicholson

**"^f#t^fr

Museum

'^''.--m

.ff'V-^:?^-:*C.

346 b

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