Near Eastern Precedents of the “Orphic” Gold Tablets: The Phoenician Missing Link

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-91
Author(s):  
Carolina López-Ruiz
Keyword(s):  
Southern Italy ◽  
Missing Link ◽  
North West ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Magna Graecia ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Egyptian Iconography ◽  
Funerary Texts ◽  
Book Of The Dead ◽  
Close Parallel

The Greek Gold Tablets (also called “Orphic Gold Tablets”), have often been compared with Egyptian funerary texts, especially those comprising theBook of the Dead. At the same time, North-West Semitic gold and silver leaves (Phoenician-Punic and Hebrew) with protective formulae offer a close parallel to them in aspects of their function and form. Although this group of funerary amulets are also said to follow Egyptian models, the three corpora have never been discussed together. Egyptian afterlife motifs and magical technologies may have indirectly influenced Greek Orphic funerary ideas and practices. I suggest, however, that this transmission happened through adaptations of Egyptian materials in the Phoenician-Punic realm, with evidence pointing to southern Italy and Sicily (Magna Graecia) as likely scenarios for this exchange. Intersections between Orphic and Phoenician cosmogony and the selective use of Egyptian iconography in Phoenician funerary amulets reinforce this hypothesis.

scholarly journals Die Mumienbinde des Monthemhat (Turin Cat. 1873.2) – Ein weiterer Beleg für die Zusatzkapitel 173 und 174

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Töpfer
Keyword(s):  
Roman Period ◽  
Arabic Text ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Intermediate Period ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Funerary Texts ◽  
Book Of The Dead ◽  
Third Intermediate Period

The mummy bandage of Monthemhat, son of Nestanetjeretten, carries Book of the Dead Spell 133 and parts of two funerary spells which were added to the corpus of Book of the Dead spells after the Third Intermediate Period. Since Supplementary Chapters 174 and 173 – according to Pleyte's numbering – are (so far) attested only on papyrus Leiden T 31, this mummy bandage must be regarded as a unique example of those compositions. The aim of the article is to make the texts on the bandage available in transliteration, translation and commentary in order to provide a basis for future Egyptological discussion about the contextualization of these supplementary chapters. It is most likely that the Pleyte spells 173 and 174 were not originally intended to be part of the Book of the Dead; rather, they must have originated as Osirian liturgies and were added into the corpus of funerary texts at a later date. The owner of the mummy bandage, named Monthemhat, seems to be identical with a member of a family of Theban priests attested from the Ptolemaic till the early Roman Period on the evidence of numerous funerary papyri and temple graffiti. According to the known genealogy of that family, Monthemhat lived in the 2nd half of the 1st cent. BC and/or the early 1st cent. AD. The Turin mummy bandage Cat. 1873.2 may thus well be the latest known attestation of Book of the Dead spells on textiles. ملخص البحث: لفائف مومياء منتو-م-حات، ابن نس-تا-نتشرت-تن، تحمل التعويذة (133) وأجزاء من إثنين من التعاويذ الجنائزية التى أضيفت كمدونة (كمجموعة) لتعاويذ كتاب الموتى بعد عصر الإنتقال الثالث. بما أن الفصول التكميلية أرقام (173 ، 174 ) تم توثيقها فقط وفقاً لترقيم بلينى على بردية ليدن ( T 31 )، يجب إعتبار لفائف هذة المومياء كمثال فريد لهذة التكوينات. فالهدف من هذا المقال هو جعل النصوص الموجودة على اللفافة متاحة كتابةً وترجمةً وتعليقاً وذلك من أجل توفير أساس لمناقشات علم المصريات فى المستقبل فى سياق هذة الفصول التكميلية. كما أنه من الواضح أن تعاويذ بلينى أرقام (173 ، 174 ) لم يكن القصد منها فى الأساس أن تكون جزءاً من كتاب الموتى بل بدلاً من ذلك نشأت كطقوس دينية أوزورية وأضيفت لأصول هذه النصوص الجنائزية فى وقت لاحق. ويبدو أن صاحب لفائف المومياء متشابه لعضو من أعضاء عائلة كهنة طيبة والتى أستمرت من العصر البطلمى وحتى الفترة المبكرة من العصر الرومانى كدليل على العديد من البرديات الجنائزية ونقوش المعابد. وطبقاً لعلم الإنساب المعروف لهذه العائلة فإن منتو-م-حات قد عاش فى النصف الثانى من القرن الأول قبل الميلاد أو فى أوائل القرن الأول الميلادى. لفائف مومياء تورين والتى تحمل رقم كتالوج Cat. 1873.2 ربما أنها أحدث إثبات معروف لنصوص كتاب الموتى مكتوبة على النسيج.

The Ritual of the Hours of the Day on the inner vault of the qrsw-coffin of Nes(pa)qashuty from Deir el-Bahari

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erhart Graefe
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
Late Period ◽  
The Hours ◽  
Funerary Texts ◽  
The Temple

In 1932–1933, a shaft tomb with several funerary ensembles of a family of Late Period priests of Montu was found on the Upper Terrace of the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari. Among them was the Qrsw-coffin of Nes(pa)qashuty, which is the first coffin to date containing a version of the Rituals of the Hours of the Day and the Night with excerpts from the daily hymns to the sun-god on the inner vault of the lid. The texts for the Ritual of the Hours of the Day, written in cursive hieroglyphs, are here represented as standard hieroglyphs, with destroyed or illegible parts supplemented, followed by comments and translations. The coffin contains three hymns unknown from other sources. Finally, there are some remarks on the transmission of this important text in general and on the series of private funerary texts divided into 24 hours and representing their corresponding deities.

scholarly journals Acerca de existir y no-existir en la Duat. Inventario para un estudio ontológico de los textos funerarios de las tumbas reales del Valle de los Reyes = About Exist and Non-exist in the Duat. Inventory for an Ontological Study of the Funerary Texts of the Royal Tombs of the Valley of the Kings

2019 ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Mariano Bonanno
Keyword(s):  
New Kingdom ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Funerary Texts ◽  
Sobre Todo

El plan de trabajo del presente estudio pretende abordar cuestiones vinculadas a los dos contextos antagónicos que permean la vinculación entre Ra y Osiris, pero sobre todo el primero, y los habitantes de la Duat; esto es, existir y no-existir como realidades continuadas desde el Más Acá al Más Allá. Asimismo, la capacidad de existir/devenir de aquellos dioses también será cotejada y tenida en cuenta.Serán estudiados los textos funerarios más representativos de lo que llamamos «dialéctica de la regeneración en el Reino Nuevo» –el Libro del Amduat, el Libro de las Cavernas, el Libro de las Puertas y el Libro de la Tierra–, pertenecientes a tumbas reales, y que explícitamente plantean la antinomia existir/no-existir. A tales efectos, nos centraremos por ello en las alusiones que en los textos se traducen como existir-existencia/no existir-inexistencia, -xpr, tmw jw.tjw, n xpr-, entre otros.Es la dialéctica inherente a la Duat la que provoca que, subsumidos en esta ecuación configurativa existencia/inexistencia, asistamos a procesos de segregación, parcialización, incompletud, disolución ontológicas, entre otros, corolarios todos de la dinámica y diversidad de la Duat.Abstract The aim of this study is intended to address issues related to the two antagonistic contexts that permeate the link between Re and Osiris, but especially the first, and the inhabitants of the Duat; that is, existing and non-existing as continued realities from here to the hereafter. Also, the ability of existing / becoming of those gods will be also collated and taken into account. Will be studied the most representative funerary texts of what we call «dialectic of regeneration in the New Kingdom» –the Book of Amduat– the Book of Caverns, the Book of Gates, and the Book of the Earth-, belonging to Royal Tombs, which explicitly raised the discrepancy exist/non-exist. For such purposes, we will focus therefore on allusion that the texts are translated as exist-existence/non exist-inexistence -xpr, jw.tjw, xpr tmw-, among others.It is the dialectic inherent to Duat, which causes that, subsumed in this existence/non-existence configurative equation, we will see processes of segregation, polarization, incompleteness, ontological dissolution, among others, all corollaries of the dynamics and diversity of Duat.

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