THE GREEK RENDERING OF SHORT EGYPTIAN FUNERARY TEXTS

2019 ◽  
pp. 321-332
Keyword(s):  
2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-91
Author(s):  
Carolina López-Ruiz

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.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Töpfer

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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erhart Graefe

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.


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