Originalveröffentlichung in: S.I.Groll (Hrsg.), Studies in Egyptology, Presented to Miriam Lichtheim Bd.

1,
Jerusalem 1990, S. 1-45

EGYPTIAN MORTUARY LITURGIES

JAN A S S M A N

1. Introduction: mortuary liturgies and funerary literature

When we think of Egyptian mortuary/funerary 2 texts it is

a l ways in terms of the three great corpora of funerary

l iterature: Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts and Book of the Dead. What

has remained obscure, hitherto, is that there is another extant

corpus which is comparabl e in vol ume to the known col l ections of

mortuary/funerary texts. The texts of this corpus, unl ike the,

corpora of funerary l iterature, do not share a singl e provenance

or mode of transmission; on the contrary: we find them on papyri,

coffins, tombs, ste l ae, statues of al l periods from the pyramid

age to Roman times.

* A preliminary version of this article has been read at the Toronto Conference
in 1982. I am g rateful to Aleida Assmann, who translated the German text, to
John Baines, who revised the translation, to Harry James and to Peter Dorman,
who provided me with important unpublished material and to the Deutsche For-
schung sg emeinschaft, who supported my work on s3§w during the years 1968-1971
and 1981-82. My g ratitude to Miriam Lichtheim, to whom I dedicate this report,
is of a less specific character. But in addition to the debt of gratitude, which
everyone of us owes her for her magistral volumes of Ancient Egyptian Lite­
rature, I feel a special oblig ation, for her article on harper's song s was
among the vital instig ations which, once, set me on the track of mortuary litur­
gies .
!
There is no German equivalent for the English distinction between »funerary«
and »mortuary«, and with regard to the functional context of s3})w I feel myself

1
 EGYPTIAN M O R T U A R Y LITURGIES

Without the external criterion of locational and transmissional

similarity ("Aufzeichnungsform"), how can we determine what be­

longs to this new group of texts? We must instead rely on f eatures

of the "inner f orm": f ormulation patterns, typical themes, inter­

personal attitudes, by which we seek to establish the underlying

genre. 3 The def inition of the new corpus is theref ore entirely dif ­

f erent f rom that of the other corpora whose texts are heteroge­

neous in the extreme: of f ering spells, incantations, hymns,

»transf igurations*, transf ormation spells, ascension texts, f ood­

spells, f erryman­texts, interrogations, dialogues, aretalogies,

lamentations, dramatic f ragments, f ragments of myth and theology

etc. The texts I propose to introduce in this essay, however, are

all of them rooted in the same context of f unction and situation:

the mortuary cult. They did not serve the dead as a text to be read

in the hereaf ter but are meant ­ at least were originally meant ­

f or the use of the living, i.e. the mortuary priest perf orming his

rites in the tomb. This identity of f unction accounts f or a regu­

larity of composition and a semantic cohesion which are missing in

the f unerary literature and which allow a better understanding.

It would be wrong to suppose that the new corpus is completely se­

parate f rom the three known corpora. There are substantial over­

laps. My leading motive in gathering this corpus was not only the

collection of new texts, but also the classif ication of known texts

reluctant to make this distinction. The recitation of s3^v accompanied both the
rites of the f uneral and the mortuary cult. I use »funerary« with regard to the
funerary equipment, and »mortuary« with regard to the cult of the deceased.
3
For the theo'retical and methodical implications see Assmann (1975), 6­25 and
78­94.

2
 JAN A S S M A N

according to their genre. Here we are faced with an interesting

curve in the historical development. Among the PT, a large propor­

tion of the spells (> 33%<) has an affinity with our genre, in the

CT they amount to only 8% and in the BD they have virtually d isap­

peared . I think this apparent d ecrease is ind icative of a process

of d ifferentiation. In its early state the funerary literature

still relied heavily on the recitations of the mortuary service,

but with time it became separated from the cult and d eveloped its own

forms. In the Late P e r i od there is no room for d oubt whether we

are d ealing with funerary literature or with mortuary liturgies

(Goyon 1974). I shall therefore start there, at the end , and work

backward s.

2. »s3hw«-liturgies in the cult of Osiris at Abydos

2.1 Preliminary remarks: temple liturgies in the »tomb libraries*

of Ptolemaic priests

In Egyptology ­ the majority of whose material comes from

tombs ­ trad itions that were probably well d eveloped characteris­

tically become only known when, a nd insofar as, they aire record ed

in tombs. Thus we owe our knowled ge of Egyptian mortuary liturgies

to such a process of functional d isplacement. At the beginning of

the Ptolemaic P e r i o d , it became customary among the Theban clergy

to take rituals a nd liturgies of the temple cult into the tomb.

4
Pace Barta (1981), who takes the whole corpus of Pyramid Texts to consist of
s3hw and renounces by this proced ure any further d ifferentiation in terms of
genre­analysis.

3
 EGYPTIAN M O R T U A R Y LITURGIES

Sometimes these temple liturgies are annexed to Book of the Dead

(e.g. pLouvre 3129) b ut usually they are written on separate

scrolls. 5 Most of these liturgical papyri contain several liturgies

as e.g. pBremner-Rhind with its Lamentations, its Book of Bringing

in Sokar and its Spells against Apopis. Of the roughly 25 known

liturgies and rituals on these late papyri, 4 b ear the title s3t)w.

They occur on altogether 12 papyri, in connection with 6 further

rituals (fig.1).

The situation of these s3hw is rather paradoxical. There can b e no

doub t that they are temple liturgies and not mortuary spells. This

is explicitly stated in the title rub rics, which link the texts

with the cult of Osiris in Ab ydos, and correspondingly it is the

god Osiris Khontamenti and not a private Osiris NN, who is addres­

sed throug hout the texts. It is, however, equally evident that these

temple liturg ies are in fact collections of typical mortuary

spells. Many of the spells are known as pyramid texts, some as

coffin texts, the rest being spells of a similar form and content.

The title of these liturg ies, s3ljw, points rather to the cult of

the dead than to that of the g ods. 3h is the term for the

»transfig ured spirit*, i.e. the ritually equipped and »justified«

deceased (Eng lund 1978); the rite of »reciting many s3frw« is attes­

ted already in the mortuary cult of the OK and the title s3hw

even occurs, occasionally, in the funerary literature. In other

words, we are dealing with mortuary liturg ies which were performed

in the cult of Osiris at Abydos and which have survived in tombs

3
"livres rituels usurpes": Goyon (1974), 77ff., cf. also Burkard (1988), 1­8.

4
 JAN ASSMAN

of P t o l e m a i c priests as temple liturgies.*

All I can do here is to survey briefly these extensive texts. Be­

sides drawing attention to s o m e c h a r ac t e r i s t ic features of the

genre,I want to illustrate the method I have used in c onstituting

the c orpus. The c r i t e r i a for this kind of investigation are mainly

derived from the mode of transmission of the text. Every liturgy

has a s p ec i f ic c ontext of transmission. There are s i g n i f ic a n t par­

allels in the older funerary literature, but I have found equally

important e v i d e nc e for these texts in the c ontemporary (i.e. LP)

•private monuments s uc h as c o f f i n s , s a rc o p h a g i , tombs, stelae and

statues. We m u s t pursue t h i s c omplex network of relations in all

its r a m i f ic a t i o n s if we are to r ec o n s t r uc t the c orpus of Egyptian

mortuary liturgies. For this task we m u s t r e l y o n two mutually sup­

porting and c o n f i r m i n g c riteria: the extra­textual c riterion of

r e dc
a tion, transmission and l oc a t i o n a l c o n t e x t , and the intra­tex­

tual c riterion of c o m p o s i t i o n , theme and interpersonal form, that

is, the c h a r ac t e r i s t ic features of the genre.

2.2 s3hx-r I : Nr. 13.7

The s3hw liturgies are numbered ac c o r d i n g to their f r e q u e nc y

6
All t h i s a p p l i e s o n l y t o 3 of t h e s e 4 s3$w. These 3 s h a r e t h e c h a r ac t e r i s t ic
f e a t u r e s of f u n e r a r y s p e l l s and have many p a r a l l e l s i n t h e f u n e r a r y l i t e r a t u r e .
T h e i r t i t l e s i n d i c a t e t h a t t h e y a r e t o be r e c i t e d by t h e c h i e f l ec t o r p r i e s t of
t h e t e m p l e , whereas t h e 4l:h s J / j w ­ l i t u r g y i s t o be r e c i t e d as lamentations by
p r i e s t e s s e s t a k i n g t h e p a r t of I s i s and Nephthys ( s e e Goyon 1967 and 1974, 81
n . l ) . As t h i s c o n s t i t u t e s a g e n r e of i t s own, I s h a l l r e s t r ic t myself t o t h e
f i r s t three l i t u r g i e s .
7
The numbering f o l l o w s Assmar.n (1986), 999. As I am h e r e working ba c kwards, I do
not s t a r t with N r . l , but r a t h e r a t t h e end, w i t h N r s . 1 3 ­ 1 5 . For s3hw I s e e Goyon
( 1 9 7 4 ) , 7 9 f . and Sz c zudlowska ( 1 9 7 2 ) .

5
 E G Y P T I A N M O R T U A R Y LITURGIES

in the late papyri. There are 7 copies of Nr. I, 4 of Nr.II and one

of Nr.III. The title of s3hw I reads as follows:

s3hw which are performed in the temple of Osiris by the chief

lector-priest of this temple. What is to be said at the begin­
ning of each time of the w°bt (Embalming chamber) and perf or­
med at the f estival of the month, the mid­month f estival and
all the mortuary f estivals.8

The liturgy contains 18 spells. The segmentation is indicated by

rubrics with the words s3hw or kjj (another, vie. spell). There

are seven papyri, which have each spell in a separate column.

Fig. 2 analyzes the 18 spells with their incipits according to

their interpersonal f orm. I use the f ollowing symbols: »1:2« indi­

cates the explicit presence of speaker (1st person) and hearer

(2nd person), »0:2«: an anonymous speaker never ref erring to him­

self addresses a hearer, »0:0«: an anonymous speaker ref ers to

events and actions without directly addressing a hearer.

»Dramatic« means that several speakers and/or hearers appear in

the same spell. The typical case of f unerary literature in which

the deceased is speaking about himself to indef inite hearers

(»1:0«) occurs nowhere in our liturgical texts.*

In terms of interpersonal f orm, s3hw I can be divided into 2

parts. Spells 1­3 are »dramatic«, the rest is primarily in the

f orm »0:2«. Fig.3 shows how this change of interpersonal f orm cor­

responds to a change in content. The 3 »dramatic« spells ref er to

8
Szczudlowska (1972), 51.
9
Note, however, the many pyramid Texts which have been transposed from one in­
terpersonal fo'rm to another, most frequently from »1:0« to »0:0«, sometimes from
»0:2« via »1:0« to »0:0«.

6
 JAN A S S M A N

performances in the wrjjt, i.e. the release and subsequent slaugh­

tering of 4 geese. We know from the id entity of the dramatis per-

sonae as well as from numerous textual allusions, that these spells

refer to the d ramatic presentation of a mythical episod e, the vi­

gil of Osiris, who has to be protected against the attacks of Seth

and his followers. The same applies to the ritual Stundenwachen

(hourly vigil) known from texts in Graeco­Roman temples, published

by Junker (1910). 10 There are parallels to the Stundenwachen among

these first spells. It is striking that the sungod Re appears in

none of them, whereas he plays a major part in each of the fol­

lowing spells. Only in the last 6 spells is Re absent, and Horus,

Isis and Nephthys, the main agents of the beginning, again take

over. These spells also contain allusions to evening rites such as

kind ling a torch. It is therefore probable that the spells without

Re were to be recited d uring the night, and those includ ing refe­

rences to him,d uring the d ay. We can infer that the liturgy starts

at night, continues through the d a y and end s the following night.

There is further evid ence for this hypothesis: the d ay­time spells

contain hints of three meals, while the night­spells mention the

chamber of embalment. This should warn us against classifying

spells accord ing to the occurrence of specific god s. Schof.t (1945),

for instance,employed this method of classification and arrived at

the problematic conclusion that the Pyramid Texts which d o not

mention Re must be old er than the »transfigurations* {s3hw) in

which Re d ominates. Another common proced ure is to classify spells

as following "CSirian" and "ifeliopolitan" trad itions. Here, howe­

10
See Assmann (1985) and Smith (1987), 22f£. For shorter versions on sarcophagi
of Dyn. XXV and XXVI see Soukiassian (1982).

7
 EGYPTIAN M O R T U A R Y LITURGIES

ver, we have a case where "Osirian" spells omitting Re and "Helio-

politan" spells mentioning'Re belong to a single liturgy. The the­

ma tic differences do not reflect different da tes of origin a nd/or

theologica l tra ditions but point to different sta ges in the sa me

ritua l. The night spells a ccompa ny the emba lming rites a nd ena ct

the protection of the pa ssively outstretched decea sed, while the

da ytime spells a ccompa ny the presenta tion of food offerings a nd

center around the main theme of the integration of the decea sed in

the community of the gods a nd, a bove a ll, in the compa ny of the

sun­god. Both forms a nd themes a re interdependent a nd complemen­

ta ry. This may be true a s early a s the PT.

Fig.4 summa rizes the textua l pa ra llels for our liturgy. It is not

surprising to find pa ra llels to spells 1­3 in the Stundenwachen.

Spells 6, 12 a nd 13 a re ba sed on PT, wherea s spells 9 a nd 10 a re

very closely rela ted to the >food­spells« of the CT. The ma ny pa r­

a llels on sa rcopha gi of the Ptolemaic Period, however, provide no­

vel insights. Individua l spells from our liturgy a re here surroun­

ded by very simila r spells, a ll of which a re a ddressed to the de­

cea sed in the »0:2« form a nd conta in the sa me thema tic ma teria l.

Simila r spells a lso occur on priva te mortua ry monuments of the LP.

This shows how a bout 140 spells ca n be a dded to s3frw I.11

2.2 s3hw II: llr.14.12

s3j}w II is attested on 4 papyri. Its full title rea ds:

11
Those other texts are given individual provisional numbers starting with 100
in my notation:
12
See Moller (1900); Goyon (1974), 80; Assmann (1986). 999 Nr.14.

8
 JAN A S S M A N

Beginning of the Great s3}}w to be recited at the 6th day fes­

tiva l, the festiva l of the mid­month a nd the month, a nd a t
every festiva l of Osiris, by the chief lector priest of this
temple.

In this text, the individua l spells a re not sepa ra ted by rubrics

or columns. Twice, however, rubrics with indica tions of origin a re

inserted:

Found upon a leather roll in the libra ry of the temple of Osi­

ris from the time of king Amenophis III.13

Found upon a nother lea ther roll from the time of king Thutmo­
si III and Amenophis III in the libra ry of the temple of Osi­
ris at Abydos.14

The most striking fea ture of this liturgy is tha t (excluding spell

1) it consists exclusively of Pyra mid a nd Coffin Texts. Fig.5

shows identifica tions of the va rious spells. These identifica tions

a llow us to divide the uninterrupted text into 25 spells (CT 838

a nd 839, which a re ba dly preserved on the MK coffins, obviously

form 2 sta nza s of a single spell) . We find, again the sa me cha ra c­

teristics of the genre a s in the first liturgy. All the spells ex­

cept the short Spell 15 are in the typica l »0:2« form. Spell 24 is

»dra ma tic«. In terms of content, the principle of composition is

not so clea r a s in s3fyw I. One rea son of this ma y be tha t the

theme of the Stundenwachen is not fully ela bora ted in the Pyra mid

Texts. Aga in a pplying the criteria of pa ssivity of the a ddressee

a nd a bsence of the sun­god, the first nightly sequence ca n be

identified in 7­14 and the second in 24­25. The spell sequences 2­

13
Inserted in the middle of PT 690 = spell 19.
"* Inserted before CT sp. 837 = spell 24.

9
 EGYPTIAN M O R T U A R Y LITURGIES

6 and 15-23 develop the theme of ascension, which is associated

repeatedly with goddesses of the two crowns of Upper and Lower

Egypt (spells 3, 5, 16, 17 and 23).

In this context,the age and origin of the individual spells is not

so signif icant as the f act that they occur in the same order-as

early as the MK cof f ins (f ig.6). 13 This shows that the rubricized

indications of origin are by no means exaggerations. On the

contrary: the 18th Dyn. leather rolls,mentioned as sources,must be

copies of much older mss. similar to those used f or the decoration

of the MK cof f ins. The liturgy s3hw II thus points directly back

at least 1700 years to the MK. Evidence of this liturgy is also

f ound on private monuments of the Late Period. Here, it is inter­

esting that the context is quite dif f erent f rom that of the occu­

rences of s3hw I, namely the "door­spells" in Theban tombs of the

Saite period. 1 6 In these tombs, jambs and thicknesses are normally

inscribed with spells. These all address the owner of the tomb in

the same f ashion as the mortuary liturgies. I have been able to

trace about 35 spells in this context, 14 of which go back to the

PT. But every one of these texts also occurs in the liturgy s3i}w

II, so that they probably derive not f rom the Pyramid Texts but

f rom this liturgy. Proof of this conclusion is supplied by "door­

spells" derived f rom spell 1 of our liturgy, which has no parallel

in the PT. In the staircase of TT 196, moreover, an almost com­

plete version of s3t)w II is preserved. 1 7 There are, therefore, at

13
See Altenmuller (1972), 49­51.
'« Cf. Assmann (1973), 95­97 and (1977), 26­28.
17
To be published by E.Graefe, who brought this version to my attention and
provided me with his hand­copies.

10
 JAN A S S M A N

least 4 different contexts in which liturgy II was s et down, with

cons iderable time gaps between them:

1. MK coffins

2. 18th Eyn. leather rolls , us ed as liturgical ms s . in

the temple library at Abydos {this can only be in­

ferred from the indic ations of sourc es in the Pto­

lemaic mss.)

3. Theban tombs of the Saite Period, and

4. liturgic al papyri of the Ptolemaic Period.

In order to extend our c orpus, it is nec essary to investigate the

different c ontexts in whic h liturgic al texts oc c ur. The door­

spells of the Theban tombs, to whic h I have given the nrs. 1­99

(bec ause they formed the starting point of my investigation), have

so far produc ed 35 texts. Muc h more might be expec ted from the MK

c offins and their extraordinary wealth of insc riptions known as

Coffin Texts, to whic h our liturgy offers a c ompletely new ap­

proac h. But before going deeper into this matter, let me desc ribe

very briefly the liturgy sJ£w ECU.

2.4 s3()w III: Nr.l5 l e

s-lfrw III is attested only onc e on a papyrus of the library of Pa­

werem. 1 ' The 16 spells of this liturgy are written (in pBM 10081)

18
Goyon (1974), 80; Assmann (1986) , 999 Nr.15.
19
Schott (1930) and (1956). For another papyrus of this library see Cam inos
(1972).

11
 E G Y P T I A N M O R T U A R Y LITURGIES

in distinct columns (16-32). The title reads:

s3hw, which is to be performed in the temple of Osiris by the

chief lector priest of this temple. To be recited in »h3-snd«
(i.e. with »iinw*-gesticulations) at every funeral festival

Diagram 3 conveys an idea of its composition. There are roughly

three seq uences. Part A (Spells 1-6) centers on ascension and re­

generation, drawing on material f rom the PT, CT and the ritual of

the Opening of the Mouth. Part B (Spells 7­9) contains a series of

7 PT, all of which are based on the "Osirian" idea of the deceased

lying passively outstretched. We know, now, that this conception

f orms part of the nocturnal rites and recitations to be held in

the embalming­room or the sarcophagus­chamber. Part C (Spells 10­

16) contains spells of the Stundenwachen type: this conf irms our

interpretation of the preceding spells as a nocturnal ritual.

Spell 10 even prescribes a recitation »by night*. Since a

prescription states that spell 2 is to be recited »in the evening*

(m msrw), we may conclude that the recitation of the liturgy is to

start in the evening and to continue into the night.

The history of part B is particularly interesting. The 7 Pyramid

Texts of this group occur in identical order not only in the Saite

tomb of Psamtek at Saqqara, but already on MK cof f ins­ including

those which contain s3$w II. On these cof f ins, they immediately

precede this liturgy. In the other sources, they end with 373 or

721 (see f ig.6).

12
 JAN A S S M A N

2.5 Resume

Let me summarize this first stage in my investigation. I have sur­

veyed 3 mortuary liturgies from Ptolemaic temple scriptoria called

s3hw. They contain 18, 25 and 16 spells, ­ 59 in all. More th an

h alf of th ese are attested as early as th e Pyramid Texts. Wh ereas

individual spells date back to th e OK, th e liturgies, as a wh ole,

date back to sources used for th e decoration of MK cof­

fins. We can be positive about th is because among th ese liturgies,

we can find no Pyramid Text wh ich is not also recorded on MK cof­

fins. Another significant reason is th at th eir sequence and redac­

tion is not th at of th e pyramids but th at of th e coffins. Th e

remaining texts of th e Ptolemaic liturgies are (1) spells in th e

style of Pyramid Texts wh ich are not attested in th e pyramids

th emselves, perhaps only th rough accidents of transmission or pre­

servation, and (2) spells of th e Stundenwachen type. These are re­

lated to Osirian rituals in Ptolemaic temples. But, the next stage

in th e investigation will sh ow th at th e Stundenwachen date back to

th e MK too.

3. Mortuary liturgies on MK coffins

3.1 Pyramid Text liturgies

Having by now gained somewh at firmer ground, we may look again at

th e MK coffins in a new and promising ligh t. We know th at on th ese

coffins are inscribed th e same mortuary liturgies wh ich we find

1700 years later on liturgical papyri, and we have some idea of th e

ch aracteristics of th ese liturgies. We can now look for furth er

13
 EGYPTIAN M O R T U A R Y LITURGIES

sequences of spells on the coffins which show a similarity with

our liturgies in formulation and in themes such as nourishment,

bodily and personal restitution, integration in the celestial

sphere, community with the sun-god, and Stundenwachen . As the 3

known liturgies consist of or contain Pyramid Texts, we may first

look for further sequences of pyramid spells. As a result,this in­

vestigation reveals only one additional liturgy, which is,however,

attested extremely often and appears in the same order already in

the pyramids: spells 213­219 and 220­222. 2 0 In this group we may

recognize the oldest mortuary liturgy> and a glance at Allen's In­

dex shows that it remained the most popular­into the Late Period.

Unas had it inscribed on the S wall of his sarcophagus chamber op­

posite the offering ritual on the N wall (Osing 1987). In the lo­

cation of texts, a certain separation of liturgies and literature

seems to be observed here. T he liturgies decorate the main walls

of the sarcophagus chamber,while the literature or magical equip­

ment of the deceased is spread across the other walls. Similar

principles apply in the MK. T he liturgies figure prominently on

the walls of the sarcophagus chamber (if extant) or on the outer

coffin, while the "literature" is situated inside, in direct con­

tact with the deceased.

3.2 Coffin T ext liturgies

Besides identifying pyramid spells on MK coffins, we can discover

20
Cf. Altenrauller (1972), 46f. "Spruchfolge A"; Osing (1987), "C".

14
 JAN A S S M A N

sequences of spells among the Coffin Texts , p r o p e r , w h i c h show an

affinity to our genre of mortuary liturgies. S o f ar, I have been

able to i d e n t i f y 6 such l i t u r g i e s in the s h a p e of spell sequences.

3 of these are attested once or twice and scattered among t h e 7

v o l s , of de Buck's edition.21 The remaining three occur often and

t h e i r u n i t y i s so m a n i f e s t , t h a t de Buck h a s o b s e r v e d it in the 1st

volume of his edition. For this brief survey, I c o n f i n e myself to

22
these t h r e e major l i t u r g i e s , which I w i l l number 1-3.

3 . 2 . 1 s3hw 1: CT s p e l l s 1-26.

Liturgy V is attested in Middle Egypt (El Bersheh, Meir, Assiut)

23
and T h e b e s . In 2 mss. i t is stated in a h o r i z o n t a l title line to

be a m o r t u a r y liturgy: dd mdw: s3hw. In another version starting

24
with spell 7 ,the t i t l e reads :

B e g i n n i n g of t h e Book of J u s t i f y i n g a Man i n t h e N e t h e r w o r l d ,

e m p h a s i z i n g t h e s p e c i f i c t h e m a t i c f o c u s of t h i s liturgy.

Through the later transmission of Liturgy 1, we know that it is

composed of 2 parts. The s e c o n d p a r t , consisting of CT s p e l l s 20-

26, forms with S p e l l 1 a short version. This occurs already on 4

21
Assmann (1986), 999 Nrs. 4-6.
22
S ystematically, Nr.l should have been reserved for PT 213-222, the oldest and
» c l a s s i c a l « l i t u r g y . But,there are most c e r t a i n l y several other l i t u r g i e s s t i l l
to be i d e n t i f i e d within the abundant mass of sj/jv-like s p e l l s in the pyramids,
which should also precede, in numerotation, the CT S3§H. Thus ,I p r e f e r to indicate
the PT l i t u r g i e s by l e t t e r s (A to . . . ) and to s t a r t anew with the CT l i t u r g i e s .
23
For T2C see CT spell 844.
24
There are good reasons to assume that .liturgy 1 o r i g i n a l l y s t a r t e d with S pell
7, as do MC 105, T9C, TIL and TINY, because in S pell 62 the l i t u r g y seems to be
quoted by i t s incipit »$£s cJ« (CT I 268f).

15
 EGYPTIAN MORTUARY LITURGIES

MK co ffins 2 5 , and was later taken o ver as Ch.169 o f the BD. The 1st

part, o r CT spells 1-19, co nsists o f three sectio ns. The middle

part (CT 7-9) deals with the justificatio n o f the deceased in a

dramatic enactment o f the judgment scene. This scene differs fro m

the later representatio ns o f the act o f judgment in that the de­

c eased is justified against his personal enemies rather than be­

fore a divine ac c usant. Both this version and the later "c lassi­

c al" c onc eption share the assumption that the dec eased c an enter

into the Netherworld only as a justified 3h.

Spells 1­6 have an introduc tory c harac ter. In the typic al form of

»0:2«, they awaken the dead and provide him with equipment for the
c
trial. The refrain m3 -hrw.k "so that you may be justified" shows

that there are ac tually 4 (and not 6) spells. Spells 10­19 address

the dead after ­the—trial. In the »0:2« form ,they ac c laim him in

his new identity of a justified and vic torious Horus. Here, again,

there are 4 spells, not the 10 numbered by de Buc k ac c ording to

the rather arbitrary position of separation marks in some of the

mss. Part 1 is,therefore,c onc erned exc lusively with the justific a­

tion of the dec eased. This is the reason why this part is missing

in later versions. With the c hange in the c onc eption of the judg­

ment of the dead> this sec tion grew obsolete and was substituted by

texts like BD 125 and 30.

The sec ond part is one of the few mortuary liturgies whic h pe­
c c
netrated into the BD. There it bears the title: r3 n s h hnkjjt

"spell for putting up the bier". This refers unambiguously to the

25
HC 105; T9C; TIL; BH5C.

16
 JAN A S S M A N

situation of the vigil, the embalment and funer al,and concer ns the

tr ansfigur ation of the outstr etched cor pse. This is confir med by

two r epr esentations in the tomb of the Gods-father Nefer -hotep -

TT 50 - of the time of Hor emheb. 2 6 Ther e;we find two spells fr om BD

169 per for med in the context of a mor tuar y litur gy. The cor r e­

sponding scenes sh ow th e outstretch ed mummy and torch es. Th e capti­

ons state th at th ese spells are to be recited in th e sarcoph agus

ch amber ­ hnkjjt ­ wh ich is to be opened twice a year for a festi­

val period of 8 days. I h ave recently come across some arch eologi­

cal evidence for th is ritual practice. After th e time of Amenoph is

III, the sarcoph agus ch amber is no longer separated from th e acces­

sible part of th e tomb by a pit, but is kept accessible even after the

funeral by means of a sloping passage (Assmann,1984).

Th e content of th ese spells is fully in keeping with th eir func­

tion. CT 20­23 deal with th e bodily reconstitution of th e deceased

and th e integrity of h is person, wh ile Spell 24 lists th e typical

rites of th e vigil: lamentations of Isis and Neph th ys, slaugh te­

ring offerings by Th oth , embalming by Anubis. CT 25 is a post­

script, but h as not been recognized as such by modern translators

or ancient copyists (wh o sh ould h ave used red ink for it):

Th is is a glorifying (transfiguring ­ 3h) speech and an ope­

ning of th e West,
agreeable in th e h eart of Re,
satisfying in th e h eart of h is court,
th e guardians of mankind.

In th is context,th e "opening of th e West" means th e entry into th e

26
Hari (1985) pis. XXIX and XXXIII s e e p . 4 2 f . and 46f.

17
 EGYPTIAN MORTUARY LITURGIES

Netherworld accorded to the ju stified deceased. The recitation of

this litu rgy, most probably pronou nced on the day of his death and

repeated at festivals, introdu ces him to Re and the d3d3t. CT 26

is a typical closing u tterance in the form »1:2«. The hitherto

anonymou s speaker emerges in his cu lt-role and explicates the va­

rious a ctions which he ha s performed while reciting the preceding

liturgy. He ha s conferred upon the decea sed renown, respect a nd

honor a mong the dea d. Since this reca lls the theme of justific a ­

tion omitted from the BD version, it is consistent tha t this CT is

a lso a bsent from the BD. Instea d ,BD 169 supplies a lenghthy contin­

ua tion in the »0:2«­form which is not in the CT.

BD 169 lea ds to yet a nother group of texts: the divine speeches on

coffins of the NK a nd La te Period. There, we find representa tions

of the gods: Isis a nd Nephthys, Geb a nd Nut, Horus, Anubis, Thoth

a nd the 4 sons of Horus. These deities a ddress the decea sed with

words prima rely derived from BD 169. CT 20 corresponds to a speech

of Geb, 21 to a speech of Amset, 22 to a speech of Dua mutef, BD

169.17­19 (not in CT) to a speech of Ha pi, 169.20­21 to a speech

of the gra ndson of Horus Hq3m33~jtj.f a nd BD 169.21­22, 25­26 to a

speech of the gra ndson of Horus Jr-rn.f-ds.f.27 These occurrences

provide further confirma tion for the supposition tha t these texts
28
were mea nt for recita tion during the hourly vigil.

27
See Assmann (1984), 288 n.60.
28
For the very strong connection between the ritual of the hourly vigil and the
decorations of coffins a nd sa rcopha gi see Assma nn (1972), (1977) a nd Wa itkus
(1987) .

18
 JAN A S S M A N

3.2.2. Liturgy 2: CT 44-62 (fig.10)

Lit.2 occurs only on coffins from El-Be rshe h. Again it consists of

2 distinct parts. Part 1 (Spe lls 44-48) e voke s rite s pe rforme d at

or in the tomb. The nume rous and e laborate concluding u t te r a n ce s

confirm this c o n ne c t i o n : PT 223, for instance , is re pe ate d t h re e

t i me s :

Be t a ke yourse lf to m e , d r a w n e a r to m e ,
be not far from t h y t o m b , t u r n to m e ! 2 9

All the se concluding utte rance s are marke d by the de sire to conti­

nually renew and assure contact between speaker and hearer. This

is obviously the major concern of this liturgy. One of the conclu­

ding utterances begins with: "you are my father, I am your son!"

The first part is segmented into 8 spells by these meta­communica­

tive statements.

Part 2 comprises Spells 49­61. U p to 60A, it deals with actions in

the wrjjt at night. 60B marks daybreak, and the action then turns

outwards. The doors of the wrjjt open,and the next group of reci­

tations seems to accompany the deceased on his way to the necropo­

leis. This part of the liturgy contains several surprises for us.

I
f we hitherto considered the Stundenwachen to be part of the late

cult of Osiris, Spell 49 teaches us otherwise, enacting a regular

Stundenwache in the dramatic fashion of the late liturgies.30

Spells 51 to 59 produce a similar parallel. Here, we find lamenta­

tions by Isis and Nephthys. What is additionally striking about

these spells is their grand style and considerable length, their

29
CT I 182h­183c; 190g­191a; 238a­c; Pyr. §§ 216; 645; 1342; pBM 10819, VII, 3­
4.
30
See Soukoussian (1982), Assmann (1985) and Smith (1987), 22 ff.

19
 EGYPTIAN M O R T U A R Y LITURGIES

solemn arid elaborate »introdu ctory proclamations* and their care­

fully balanced composition. Spell 62, which shares all these

characteristics, develops another rather extraordinary theme. It

occurs only on one coffin, on which it is repeated five times. The

text is of the »l:2«­type with the speak er presenting himself as

Horus. I tak e this spell to be an independent meta­text, unconnec­

ted with Liturgy 2, intended to accompany and commentonthe funeral

rites,and stress their value for the deceased. The middle stanza

describes the ritual overcoming of the nocturnal crisis. The

translation of this passage has hitherto presented a crux. I think

it can be solved if we identify the incipit of the three liturgies

which we have found on the coffins:

the »hbs-t3« is recited for you,

the rebel who comes in the night is driven off for you,
the thief of the dawn.
For you are performed nocturnal rites, the jj thb-wr
and the An.mw­lamentations of the house of Isis. 3 1

hbs t3 is the introduction of Spell 7, the core scene of Liturgy

1, jj thb wr mark s the enigmatic beginning of Liturgy 3, frnmw is

repeated over and over as a refrain in the lamentations of Liturgy

2. All three liturgies are present on the same coffin which is the

only source of Spell 62. Incidentally, this text offers an inter­

esting hint as to the meaning of tomb decoration. In the 3rd part,

which deals with community with the sun­god, there is a descrip­

tion of the pleasures to be enjoyed at the places of sms-ib.32 Such

diversions are none other than the well­k nown motifs of tomb­deco­

31
CT I 268 f­j.
as CT I 268 k­ 270 d. The sw.t njwt £ms-jl> are mentioned I 269 a.

20
 JAN A S S M A N

rations., such as excursions in the papyrus-marshes, fishing and

fowling, and hunting in the d esert.

3.2.3 Liturgy 3: CT 63-74 (fig.11)

Liturgy VII is attested at Saqqara, El-Bersheh and Thebes. Quoted

by spell 62 as a "nocturnal ritual" (h3wj) , this liturgy is also

organized in two parts. Spells 1-10 evoke sacrificial rites (liba­

tion and nourishment), 11­18 refer to the vigil.

The first part of the liturgy is unusual in two respects: there

are obvious allusions ­ if not word­for­word correspondences ­ to

the PT and there is a very clear reference to the performance of

specific rituals. Four of the spells have functional titles which

identify them as ritual spells (e.g. rdj mw n 3h, giving water to

the deceased) , others mention explicitly the associated ritual

functions (e.g.63: lustration zJt; 72: lustration with 4 must­

j ars) . This part is really more of a ritual than a liturgy. Only

two spells, 66 and 69, contain no explicit references to rites and

it is significant that these are the only spells to contain the

designation s3hw. We can determine the difference between mortuary

liturgies and mortuary rituals according to the emphasis laid on

their various components. Liturgies consist of recitations and

Perhaps accompanying performances, while rituals consist of per­

formances with concomitant recitations.

Spell 73 introduces a typical sequence of nocturnal recitations at

21
 EGYPTIAN M O R T U A R Y LITURGIES

the vigil: the a ppea ra nce of Isis a nd Nephthys (CT 73 = PT 532) ,

the la m e n ta t i o n s of Isis a nd Nephthys (CT 74, divided into 6

s ta n za s by a refra in33), a scension (CT 832 = PT 306), la m e n ta t i o n

(PT 670 a nd PT 532 once a ga in) . At this point comes the sequence

CT 837-839, which forms the conclusion to LP versions of s3frff I I .

In this text, the typica l bipa rtite structure of the liturgies is

e s p e c ia l l y c l ea r : the 1st pa r t consisting of sa c r i f i c ia l rites

performed in/a t the tomb, the 2nd being concerned with rites for

protecting a nd tra nsfiguring the mummy.

4. M o r t u a r y liturgies of the New Kingdom

4.1 Liturgies in T h e b a n Tombs of 18th dyn.

Before lea ving Liturgy 3, I should like to ca l l a ttention to a

most rema rka ble f ea t u r e of its la ter t ra n s m i s s i o n . There is a NK

pa ra llel for this liturgy in the Deir el Ba ha ri tomb of Sen-en-mut

(TT 3 5 3 ) . 3 4 In this tomb, the 4 wa lls of the second cha mber a re de­

corate d with BD s pe l l s in ve r y c a re f u l l y c a r ve d re l ie f . •­The se

spe lls are pre ce de d by our s31jw 3 which is l o c a te d on t he East

wall on e ithe r side of the e ntrance . He re , again, w e find the se p a ­

ration of mortuary l i t u r g ie s ( o u te r part) and mortuary l i te r a t u re

( i n ne r part) . The Se ne nmut­Ve rsion is particularly significant in

that it contains an e xtraordinary combination of our te x t with

33
For similar divisions in Stundenwachen-texts, corre sponding to the diffe re nt
hours (ofte n marke d by hut "stanza") se e Smith (1987), 80 (a) and Junke r (1910),
24.
34
To be publishe d by Pe te r F.Dorman in the MMA se rie s, who has kindly provide d
me with his copie s of the te xts.

22
 JAN A S S M A N

another mortuary l iturgy, thereby yiel ding an important further

specimen of our genre.

This text, which I shal l here designate as no.7 (reserving nrs.4-6

33
for the minor CT-l iturgies ) , offers us an interesting l ink with

the NK l iturgies. As space forbids to go into detail s, I wil l

stress just one point rel ating to the question of transmission of

the text. In the J8th Dyn. tombs, mortuary l iturgies are for the

first time distinguished from the funerary l iterature by their Lo­

cati on. They are si tuated on walls and pi llars of the accessi ble

cult chambers. Thi s locati on corresponds more closely to thei r ac­

tual use i n ri tual, whereas earli er li turgi es are preserved only

i nsofar as they were i nserted i nto funerary li terature. I menti on­

ed already, that the occurrence of li turgi es i n the corpora of

funerary li terature di mi ni shes from PT to BD. Thi s process of di f­

ferenti ati on, as I have called i t, can be dated more preci sely. At

the ti me when the li turgi es vi rtually di sappear'from the funerary

li terature (the BD) , we f i nd evi dence for them i n the 18th Dyn.

tombs and on separate papyri . I have i denti fi ed extensi ve extracts

from mortuary li turgi es i n the followi ng addi ti onal Theb.T.:

1. ) The tomb of the vi zi er Rekh-mi-Re TT 100, temp. Th III ­ Am II

(Davi es 1943)

2. ) The tomb of the vi zi er Imn­m­i pt TT 29, temp. Am II (unpubli s­

hed)

30
See Assmann (1986), 999.

23
 EGYPTIAN M O R T U A R Y LITURGIES

3.) The tomb of the gods-father Neferhotep TT 50, temp. Horemheb

(Hari 1985).

The l iturgical extracts in TT 100 and TT 29 are cl osel y rel ated.

Most of their spel l s a l so occur in other contexts. Of these, the

spel l s jnjw.k m pt ("if thou art in the sky" TT 1 0 0 3 6 ) and wn n.k

pt wn n.k t3 ("The sky is opened for thee, the earth is opened for

thee" TT 29) are among the most frequentl y recorded. In Rekh-mi-

Re, the spel l jnjw.k m pt bears the titl e r3 n jnt 3t} r djt ssp.f

htpt-ntr.f, "spel l summoning the 3t} in order that he may receive

his offerings". This summoning to a meal precedes the actual pre­

sentation of the offerings. There are three different versions of

this spell in the CT, all of which are also attested in the NK and

later. 3 7 This spell provides an illustration of the reception of

mortuary liturgies in general, and teaches us to modify our suppo­

sitions. G. Mdller, H.Altenmuller, D. Silverman and others have

interpreted the history of reception of PT in Late Period tom b s

and Ptol. papyri as an archaistic revival of ancient sources. What

has never b een noticed, however, is the specific nature of these

revivals. Hardly anywhere do they go outside the restricted genre

of the mortuary liturgies. It is now possib le to affirm that these

texts were not copied from ancient tomb s and coffins, but from cur­

rent liturgical mss. of the mortuary service. What they exhib it is

not learned excavation b ut continual use.

The title of the other popular spell, wn n.k pt wn n.k t3, indica­

tes that it is to b e recited at the presentation of offerings (r3

36
Davies (1943), pi. 96 = CT spell 902 and the statue of T3wj in Philadelphia,
see Silverman (1979) and Clere (1981).
37
See Assraann (1984), 286 with n. 42­47.

24
 JAN A S S M A N

a w3h htpw).3e F.R.Herbin, who is preparing a study of this spell,

has collected no less than 40 occurrences of it, most of which on

private monuments, especially Theban tombs of the NK. The position

is similar with many spells among the mortuary liturg ies, althoug h

none is quite so widespread.

If we apply the principles outlined above and acknowledg e not only

parallels and free variants, but also new spells of the same type

as specimens of our g enre, it is possible to enlarg e the corpus by

another 200 spells. At present, my collection comprises a core of

16 liturg ies and approximately 500 dispersed spells.

4.2 Papyri

4.2.1 pBM 10209

Both of the spells just mentioned - the summoning to a meal jnjw.k

pt and the presentations of offering s wn n.k pt wn n.k t3 - oc­

cur in this order in one of the "Funerary Papyri" of Nesmin, pBM

10209 (ed. Haikal 1970/72), which should theref ore be included in

the corpus. The remaining 8 spells conf irm this identif ication,

f or all of them show the characteristic f eatures of the s3hw

genre. The title of this liturgy has been constantly misunder­

stood. It reads:

38
The title is indicated in the oldest preserved parallel on a f unerary pot
from Harageh, see Gunn (1923), pi.79. For a recent publication of one of the in­
numerable variants see Testa (1986) .

25
 EGYPTIAN M O R T U A R Y LITURGIES

Extract from39 the book of the Valley Festival.

The title shows this liturgy to be connected with the Theban mor­

tua ry cult, wherea s a ll the liturgies in the other Ptolema ic pa ­

pyri were linked with the cult of Osiris a t Abydos. We ma y. there­

fore, conclude tha t s3hw 12 is much closer to the pra ctica l func­

tion of the genre tha n it is the ca se for s3hw 13­16 (I­IV), in

their Ptolemaic reception.

These rema rks on the a bunda nt genre of mortua ry liturgies ha ve

brought us ba ck to our sta rting point. The Ptolemaic pa pyri guided

us back to the MK coffins, from there we moved to the tombs of the

NK, whence we ha ve returned to the Ptolema ic pa pyri. This pa ttern

of investiga tion is not a ra ndom stroll through the different pe­

riods. Ra ther, it mirrors the essentia l links in the network of

tra dition. In fig. 15, five typica l spells a re selected in order to

illustra te these connections. The genre of s3hw remained vita l and

productive for a s long a s it wa s used in mortua ry pra ctice. Its

extra ordina ry longevity is to be a ccounted for not by a n

•a ntiqua ria n interest in a ncient texts«, but by its continuing to

ha ve a practical function.

4.2.2 pBM 10819

If there can be anything like a proof in ma tters of historica l re­

39
F.Ha ika l (1972), 16 rea ds jnj <b3> r s3hw n h.3b jnt and translates "Book of
bringing (the soul) to the glorifica tions of the Festiva l of the Va lley". The
true reading is jnj r sfdw (or another term for book, scroll) n h3b jnt. jnj r
has the technica l mea ning "extra cted from" or "rendered a ccordir.g to", s. Ass­
mann (1969), 222 n.171.

26
 JAN A S S M A N

construction, it is provided by a recently acquired and unpublis­

hed papyrus in the British Museum.40 This religious papyrus of the

18th. Dynasty contains neither a Book of the Dead nor any temple

liturgy of the divine service. Instead, it has a mortuary liturgy

linked by various parallels to our familiar NR . liturgies. The text

is not quite complete. The first column(s) are missing. The 8 co­

lumns preserved on the recto contain 16 spells, the 134 lines on

the verso contain 25 spells. Some of them occur more than once.

Most of the spells from TT 100 and TT 29, and from TT 50 and TT

353 reappear in this liturgy. This papyrus must once have served

the lector priest to perform the mortuary service of a certain

c
Osiris, the scribe P3- 3. This is a vital record of the actual

context in which the liturgies were used. The l)3bt or »fest roll*

of P3-c 3 is invaluable in that it shows us a mortuary liturgy in

its proper place and not in its usual displaced position in coffin

or tomb decoration.*1

"° It was in 1971 when I first came across this unique piece, then labelled
»medical«, in the exhibition of the BM. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity
of H.James, who sent me a set of excellent photographs, I have been able to take
a more specific notice of its content. In view of the publication by
T.G.H.James, which is in preparation, I restrict myself here to very few remarks
of a more general character.
41
Another f est roll {h3bt) , which is explicitly designated as such on its
verso, is pBerlin 10482 (ed.Grapow 1915). It contains, however, only one s3hv-
spell (CT sp.225), the rest being food­ and transformation spells (CT spells
169­171; 109; 329; 417; 89; 149) see Lesko (1979), 72.

27
 EGYPTIAN MORTUARY LITURGIES

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Altenmiiller, H. (1972), Die Texte zum Begrabnisritual in den Pyra-

miden des Alten Reichs. Agyptologische Abh. 24.

Assmann, J. (1972), "Neith spricht als Mutter und Sarg", in: MDAIK

28, 115-139.

- , Das Grab des Basa. AV 6. Mainz.

- , (1975), Agyptische Hymnen und Gebete. Zurich.

- , (1977), Das Grab der Mutirdis. AV 13. M ainz.

- , (1984), "Das Grab mit gewundenem Abstieg. Zum Typenwandel des

Privat-Felsgrabes im Neuen Reich", in: MDIK 40, 277-290.

- , (1985), "Stundenwachen", in: LA VI, 104-106.

- , (1986), "Verklarung", in: LA VI, 998-1006.

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- , (1988), Spatzeitliche Osirisliturgien im Corpus der Asasif-Pa-

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 JAN A S S M A N

papyrus du Louvre I 3079 (col.110-112)", in: BIFAO 65, 89-156.

- , (1974), "La litterature funeraire tardive", in: Textes et lan-

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Berliner Museums enthaltenen Pyramidentexte. Berlin.

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Schott, S. (1930), "Drei Spruche gegen Feinde", in: Z AS 65, 35-42.

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~ , (1956) , "Totenbuch 175 in einem Ritual zur Vernichtung von

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29
 EGYPTIAN M O R T U A R Y LITURGIES

Soukiassian, G. (1982), "Une version des viellees horaires

d'Osiris", in: BIFAO 82, 333-348.

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P apyrus", in: ZAS 98, 50-80.

Testa, P . (1986), "Un 'Collare'in Faience nel Museo Archeologico

di Napoli", in: JEA 72, 91-99.

Waitkus, W. (1987), "Zur Deutung einiger apotropaischer Gotter im

Tal der Koniginnen und im Grabe Ramses'III.", in: GM 99, 51-82.

30
 JAN A S S M A N

Titles of liturgies A B C D E F G H I K L M total

s3hw I - f - a a d b - f b - - 7

s3hw II a - a - b - c - - - - - 4

s3hw III c - - - -| - - 1

s3hn iv - - - - c - - b g - a a 5

Great Ceremony of Geb - e - - - - a - - - - - 2

Averting the Evil One _ b - - - c - - - - - - 2

Casting Down Seth . _ c - - - b - - - - - - 2

Protecting the nsmt-bark - - - - - a - d - - - - 2

Bringing in Sokar - d - - - d e g - - b - 5
c c c
s r s

A = pBM 10081
B = pBM 10252
C = pBM 10255
D
= pBM 10317
E
= pBM 10319
F
= pLouvre 3129
G
= pBerlin 3057
H
= pNew York 35.9.21
1
= pLeiden T 31
K = pKrakau
L
= pLouvre 3079
M =PBM 10208
F
ig.l: Distribution of liturgies in liturgical papyri of the
Ptolemaic Period

31
 EGYPTIAN M O R T U A R Y LITURGIES

spell inc ipit interpersonal form

1 "jj z3 wr nd.n.f jtj.f dramatic

2 rs wr nhs wr 2B: JJ Wsjr, mrj.k zJ.k

c c
J n wrw ZDj snmw

4 wn pt, wn t3 0:0, 0:2

5 J ft J m jrw.k 0:2

6 wtz tw hr gs.k 0:2

c
7 h° jr.k r bw hr ntr 0:2
c
8 nh.tj mJw.tj rnp.tj 0:2

9 htp dj njswt htp dj Gbb 9B: wnn.k m ntr 0:0, 0:2

c c
10 h .k szp n.k t.k 10B jw Wsjr n gs.f 0:2
c
11 hj jr.k hftjw hrw hr.k 0:2

12 hr wr hr gs.f 0:0, 0:2

13 dj sdt dramatic

14 jn n.k Gbb sntj.kj 0:2

15 jj jnjw b3w dramatic

16 mj, wtz tw, jw.k wtz.tj 0:2

17 wtz tw, Wsjr 0:2

18 sq3 tw wrw njw P 0:2

fig. 2 : s3hw I: segmentation, form of spells

32
 JAN A S S M A N

spell form reference d ramatis personae episod es

Nr. to ritual

1 d ram. wrjjt Horus, Isis & Nephthys Hourly vigil,

Thoth, 4 sons of Horus, apotropaic rites
4 Anubises in the wrjjt

2 d ram. presenting Same as 1, + Seth and

c nh w?q his followers
' —
4 geese
3 d ram. Horus, Isis & Nephthys
Geb, Nut, Atum

4 0:0,0:2 meal Re, Nut "turning outward "

1st meal, worship
0:2 Horus, I&N, God s. Re
2nd meal
6 0:2 2n
d meal Re

0:2 Re
worship
8 0:2 Re

9 0:0,0:2 3rd meal Re 3rd meal

10 0:2 Tnnt Re, Geb, I&N worship

11 0:2 Thoth, Horus, Nut, Re

12 0:0,0:2 evening Re, Geb 'turning inward "

rites

13 d ram. incense, "Incense". God s. Ferryman torch, incense:

ascension closing rites
at evening
14 0:0 Geb, Horus, I&N

15 d ram. "God s who bring the Ba's"

ad oration
16 0:2 Horus, I&N
in the
17 0:2 same as 16
EjC h f-
•V U L
18 0:2 same

fig,• 3: s3bw I: ritual structure

33
 EGYPTIAN MO R T U A R Y LITURGIES

spells literal parallels free variants singular spells on

private monuments

1 Stundenwachen (SW)
107.85-108.98

2 2B = s3ftw III 135; 147

3 SW 116 125; 177; 34: 126

4 §5: 126

5 146

6 PT 482/670

7 ill; 114

8 115 ("BD 192")

9 CT food spells 121; 131; 128; 208

10 CT food spells 154

e.g. 278, 287,
581-583
11 148; 149

12 PT 677+365+373A 155
s3t}W III 8-9

13 PT 269-70

14 PT-style

15 "BD 191"

16 153

17

18

Fig.4: s3l)w I: parallels and variants. Nrs. in col. 4 refer to

temp. Nrs. in the corpus.

34
 JAN A S S M A N

spell incipit parallels form

1 jjti - 0:2
2
hj j jhj wtz tw N pw: szp n.k tp.k PT 373 0:2

3 h 3 N pw, wtz t* r Krw jr.* PT 721=CT 516 0:2

4 h 3 N pw, Sm.ri.k 3h .k sm.n.k m nfr PT 422 0:2

5 wr.tj, N pw, d3.tj, Npw PT 374+CT 517 0:2

6
h 3 N pw, sm.k pw Zmwt.k jptn PT 424 0:2
7 c c
h 3 Wsjr N h , wtz tw ms.n tw mwt.k Nwt PT 366 0:2
8
h 3 wsjr N jn n.k Gb Hrw nd.f tw PT 367 0:2
9 c
h 3 wsjr N, Hrw nw m hnw jwj.kj PT 368 0:2
10 c c c
h 3 wsjr N h° , rdj.n Hrw h .k PT 369 0:2
11
h 3 wsjr N mn n.k qbh .k jpn PT 423 0:2
12
h 3 wsjr N rdj.n Hrw dmd tw ntr.w PT 370 0:2
13
h 3 wsjr N, dj.n tw Hrw m-h3t ntr.w PT 371 0:2
14
h 3 wsjr N jrs jr.k PT 372 0:2
15
N pw nw prjw m hn PT 332+722 0:0
16
wrs wr hr k3.f jb3n jr.f wr pn hr k3.f PT 468 0:0,0:2
17
h r wr hr gs.f nmnm jmj ndjt PT 412 0:0,0:2
18
wtz tw hr qsw.k bj3w PT 723=CT 519 0:2
19
rs Wsjr nhs ntr jb3gjj PT 690 0:0,0:2
20
n3 N pw jnk z3.k jnk Hrw PT 674 1:2
2l
' h 3 N wr wrs <= 3 sdr PT 462 0:2
22
h 3 N -»mj m htp* jr.k n Wsjr PT 675 0:2
23
mw.k n.k b°h.k n.k PT 676 0:2
24
(a) from PT 532 (b) wn c 3wj pt PT 477=CT 837 d ram.
25
A h r wr hr gs.f nmnm jmj ndjt CT 838 0:0,0:2
25
B h r wr hr gs.f nmnm jmj ndjt CT 839 0:0,0:2

ig-S s3h w II: identity of spells

35
 EGYPTIAN M O R T U A R Y LITURGIES

spells Sq4C B9C BlOCi BIOC2 Psair.tik s3hw II s3hw III

** w

PT 593 157-69 291-97 256-60 395-99 102-13 X X III:7a

PT 356-57 169-77 297-302 260-63 399-402 113-25 7b-c

PT 364 177-98 302-12 263-69 402-08 125-41 7d

PT 677 198-212 312-19 269-74 408-13 142-50 X X IV 8

PT 365 212-19 319-22 274-76 413-15 150-55 X X V 9a

PT 373 220-27 322-25 276-81 418-21 Nr. 2

PT 721 228-33 325-29 279-81 418-21 Nr. 3 9b

PT 422 330-39 281-87 422-29 Nr .4

PT 374+CT 517 339-44 287-91 429-33 Nr. 5

PT 424 344-49 434-38 Nr .6

PT 366-69 349-63 438-49 Nr.7-10

PT 423 363-65 449-50 Nr. 11

PT 370-72 365-73 451-56 Nr.12-14

PT 332+CT 518 373-76 456-57 Nr.15

PT 468 376-87 -158-67 Nr. 16

PT 412 387-96 467-74 Nr. 17

CT 519 396-98 474-76 Nr. 18

PT 690 398-415 476-91 Nr. 19

PT 674 415-16 491-94 Nr. 20

PT 462 494-95 Nr. 21

PT 675-76 495-505 Nr.22-23

CT 837 Nr . 24

CT 838-39 Nr .25

Fig.6: Sequence of spells on MK coffins, the Saite tomb of Psamtik

(Saqqara) and in s3hw II and JJJ.

36
 JAN ASSMAN

s3hw II spells TT 196 d" oor spells" in TT

1 Texts 2, 4

2 373 entrance L = Text 18

3 721 R = Text 17

4 422 Texts 5, 15, 19

5 374/CT 517 L 30-37

6 424 L 39-42

7 366 L 43-50

8 367 R 46-48

9 368

10 369 R 1-20 Text 11

11 423

12 370

13 371
14 372 R 20-45

15 332/CT 518

16 468

17 412 Texts 9, 10

18 CT 519 L 1-26 = Text 12

19 690 Texts 12a, 13, 14

Fig.7: s3hw in Saite tombs at Thebes

37
 EGYPTIAN MORTUARY LITURGIES

Nr col. pa ra llels reference to ritual theme

1 16

2 17 PT 670 "to be recited

at evening"

3 18+19 Opening of the mouth a scension

scene 55A=Text 171 a nd rebirth
4 20 (a )=CT 363

5 21 cf .PT §638, §25

6 22 (b)= PT §634

7 23a = PT 593

b = PT 356

c = PT 357
" n °' r i in" r i t e
d = PT 364
^r^'in'l f h a out -
8 24 = PT 677 = s3hw I 12A
., , str0*-^ho,i '""•vrp~c
9 25a = PT 365 = s3hw I 12B

b = PT 37 3A= s3frw I 12B

10 26 s s3hw I 2 to be recited
"by night"

11 27 fc.
s3hw I 2 4 geese

12 28 s3hw I 2 4 geese
$ tuwi^ri —
13 29 sla ughtering
rjar>he>n
14 30 CT 839 = s3hw II 25B

15 31 Stundenwachen

16 32 deta iled indica tions

concerning recita tion
a nd a ction

Fig.8: s3hw I I I : composition

38
 JAN A S S M A N

Nr. CT
spell incipit theme and interpersonal form

1 1-2 h3 wsjr N ntk Rw ntk

Rwtj

2 3 h3 wsjr N szp n.k mdw.k preparatory invocations

4-5 wn n.k t3 r3.f (revival, equipment)

wr-wj jbd n q33 pt 0:2

Title: r3w nw s3t}w m3c -fyrw

hbs t3 ch3.n rhwj
jud
g ment scene
jnd hr. tn d3d3t
—— in dramatic form
jnd-hr.k Dhwtj

10-11 h3 wsjr N pn wdc n.k sb3

acclamations of the
12-14 wsjr N, prj.n.k wr.tj °3.tj
justified deceased
10 15-17 jj bn k3 zp snw
— — after judg ment
11 18-19 h3 wsjr N pn d3j.k pt

12 20 h3 wsjr N pn wn n.-k Gbb jrtj.kj bodily-

13 21 h3 wsjr N pn jw jr.k prj.k r pt restitution: 0:2

14 22 drp tw Tfnt z3t Rc w

movement: 0:2
c
15 23 d3jw.k tbwtj • kj h3w n w3t

16 24 h3 wsjr N jw hh.l n.k jn bjk lamentations,

openingg : 0:2
openin
17 25 h3 wsjr N pn jw rdjw n.k sdw

18 26 h3 wsjr N pn jw rdj n.k 3t.k 1:2: closing

utterance

Fig .9: s3hw Nr.l: CT 1-26

39
 EGYPTIAN M O R T U A R Y LITURGIES

Nr. CT spell incipit special f eatures closing

utterance
c
1 44A [...] wn 3wj pt n nfrw.k mz tw jr.j

2 44B 183f hzj tw 3st hnc Nbthwt mz tw jr.j

3 45A 191d hr sd3 m 3ht j3btt introductory- jnk

proclamation Wpw3wt.k

4 45B 194f hc j wrw jmjw 3ht jnk z3.k Hrw

5 46 hcc smsw n nb 3ht " jnk shd rnpw

6 47A 204a nfr-wj szp jtj.j t hnqt twt jtj.j

jnk z3.k

7 47B 208A rs ntr pn jmj 3ht exhortatory ref rain

Q n
jnk z3.k
O 48 jnd hr.k wsjr N pn
jwc .k

9 49 &r sd3 m 3ht j3btt introductory

proclamation (Stu ndenwachen)

10 50A 223a dsr pt hcc 3htjw "

„
11 50B 228b rs Jnpw nb r3-qrrt jnk z3 z3.k

12 51 jm hr njswt T afflon t a h i o n
J.dlllcil i d (.lull
„
13 52 ntr.w, mj m mh3w.j pn
0 n
14 53 rs. tj n nh
„
15- 20 54 -59 hnm m zhw

21 60 hcj ntr m hnw k3r.f introductory

proclamation

22 61 ntr nb r r3 n s.f r*nn t- rtf 6 0

- 62 jnd hr.k jtj.j wsjr general meta--text

Fig .10: s3hw 2: CT 44-62

40
 JAN A S S M A N

Nr. CT spell incipit interpersonal reference

form to ritual

1 63 jj thb wr 0: 2 z3t lustration

2 64 qbh.k jpn, jtj.j 1: 2 rdjt mw n 31} qbh libation

3 65A jnj tw jtj.j 1: 2 rdjt mw, t food

B 277h sm.k smwt.k jptn 0: 2 +self-present. •I

4 66 j3 N pn wr. tj rr 0: 2 m3c w s3hw

5 67A rs, rs wsjr N pn 0: 2, clos. utt. 1:2 it

B 284e j3 N pn sm.k pw 3htj 0: 2

0 c c
6 68 jj N pn h jr.k r 3wj 0 :2, clos.utt.•1:2 bread
and beer

7 69 Q
nr wr hr gs.f 0: 0:2 clos.utt.
s«slf -pres . (Horus) : s3\}w pn

8 70 mn n.k t.k pn 0: 2 rdjt t n 3h food

9 71 mn n.k jrt Hrw 0.•2 n "

10 72 h3 wsjr N pn mw.k n. k 0: 2 + 2 clos.utt. libation

11 73 wtf Dd m ff ndt n nb.s 0:0, 0:2 s3h <=PT 532)

— — — lamen-
12 74A jnn jnn sdr 0:2 refrain 1:2
tations
B 307h wnn mdw.n tw Hrw 0:2 refrain 1:2
-—. ! of
C 308j wtz tw sn.j cnh jb.k 0:2 refrain 1:2
— ______ Isis
D 309j nhs, rs, dsr tw hr gs.k 0:2 refrain 1:2
• cind
E 310b jj Hrw hr jj.k, Wsjr 0:2 refrain 1:2
• Nephtys
c c
F 311g nfr.wj-tw h . tj m mjn 0:2 refrain 1:2

13 832=PT 306 nfr.wj m33 htp.wj sdm 0:0, 0:2

14 P
T 670 wn c3wj pt zn c3wj qbhw
15 PT 532 cf. Nr. 11 wh c
Dd m ndt

16 837 cf.PT 477 wn c3wj pt zn c3wj qbhw dram.

17 838-839 hr wr hr gs.f nmnm

Fig.11: s3hw 3: CT 63-74

41
 EGYPTIAN M O RT U A RY LITUR GIES

sections Nr. of stanzas

verses

I: Gifts of Horns: 8 self-presentation of Horus

restitution
16 movement, in the air (8)
and on the water (8)

II: justification 8 overcoming of the

"nocturnal crisis"

III: community with 16 sms-jb: fishing and fowling

the sun-god hunting in the desert
8 ascension

Fig.11: composition of spell 62

CT PT
spell spell cf.

63 666B, 619, 553, 468, 665 z3t

63 §22 a-b qbh

65 659, 578 rdj mw, t

66 508 (480), 582, 698 s3h

61k 667

67B 666B

67C 665C, 666, 691B, 717

68 373, 463, 578, 666A

69 412

71 §64b

73 532

832 306

670

532

837 477

Fig.12: s3hw 3: correspondences to PT

42
 JAN A S S M A N

TT 353 TT 353 lines parallels inc ipit, remarks

A=Nr.3 B=Nr.7

1-5 Rl-12 CT 63-67A

6 R15-16 h3 w sjr N jw.n<.j> shc<.j> tw

c losing utterance 1:2

7 R16-17 w tz kw Gbb mr.n.f kw

8 R17-19 nfr.w j-tw hz.w j-tw

9 R19-20 nfr.w j-tw hz.w j-tw
10 R20-26 jw n.k Sw , Tfnt c f.6(b)

11 R26-27 h3 w sjr N, h3.k m t

c
12 R27-31 PT 220-221 wwn
n 3wj 3ht snhbhb 3pw t.s
c
13 R31-38 PT 222 h° .k hr.f t3 pn prjw m Jtmw

14 R38 Pyr §64b h3 w sjr mn n.k jrt Hrw

15 R38-43 CT 723 fq3w pw nn n R°w

16 R43-44 cf CT 751 Jmstj Hpj Dw 3mw tf Qbhsnw f

17 R45-47 h3 w sjr N m3chrw m33.k m jrtj.kj

18 R47-48 wc i> tw Rc w 'h'.tj hnc mw t.k Nw t

19 R48 PT 364A h3 w sjr N jj Hrw jp.f tw mm ntr.w

20 R49-52 PT§§638-r"31f h3 w sjr N pzs.n sj mwt.k Nw t

21 R52-53 rdj.n z3.k Hrw hftjw .k hr.k

22- 27 Ll-26 CT 67B-74A, omitting 70, 71

28 L26-27 h3 w sjr N, h3.k m t

29 L28-32 CT 834 jnjw.k m pt

c
30 L33-39 PT 364 h3 w sjr N hc jr.k jj Hrw
31- 34 L40-49 PT 532B (§§1259-61), CT 837, 832, 74B

Fig.13: liturgies 3 and 7 combined in TT 353

43
 EGYPTIAN MORTUARY LITURGIES

TT 100 TT 29 pBM 10819 other sources

pl .76 T r3 n jnt jb n 3h n.f vso Nr.25 CT 28-29

S jn<.j> n.k jb.k m ht.k Rit.f.Amen.I

pi .78 a T r3 n qbh snt;r n r° w nb Pillar2 rto. Nr.1,

S qbh jpn wsjr N prw hr Hrw N Nr. 8

b zbj zbj hnc k3.f Pillar 3 vso. Nr.22 PT 25

pl .86 a T r3 n jrt jht wdb jht - - -

t, hnqt, k3w, 3pdw

b szp n.k ddwt n.k Pillar 3 rto. Nr.5

wn.k r3.k n IF pj E

pl .96La T r3 n sw° b wdhw - vso Nr.16 CT 831

S jw b sw0 b wdhw

b T r3 n sntr w° b n k3.k
S k3p tp.k m sntr

pl. 96R T r3 n jnt 3h rdjt htp.f hr sbw.f [..-] CT 902

S J11J Vr . 111 JU L. Rit.f.Amen.I
pBM 10209 etc.

pl. 104 T r 3 n c q r wdb jh t Rto. 11, Vso

S a) nd sb3 smr jrj w3t 8, Vso. 9
b) j° -tw hmzj hr jht

c) jrt htp-dj-njswt

d sm.n.k qd.n.k mdwt PT 224

Pl. 108 a cnh.tj ntr jm hnk m t Vso Nr.16

b htp ntr m htpt-ntr.f Pillar 4N PT 223+222

Pillar 4E : Rto Nr.3 CT 723

fq3w pw n Rc w TT 353

Pillar 3W Vso Nr.5 pBM 10209

wn n.k pt T: r3 n ca. 40 oc­
w3h jht currences

fig.14: spells in TT 100, TT 29 and their parallels in pBM 10819

and other sour ces

44
 JAN ASSMAN

spells (incipit) CT pBM TT100 TT29 TT353 pBM Am.I

10819 10209 Rit. other

jnjvf.k m pt 834 [...] pi. 96 - Nr .29 Nr. 2 XVII some

842
902

fq3w p w n Rcw 723 rto . 3 - 4E Nr..15 - - -

jn.j n.k jb.k 28-29 vso..25 Pi .76 - - - X VII some

Jmstj,Hpj,Dw3mwtf 751 rto. 14,

vso. 11 - - Nr. 16 - - -

&n n.k pt wn n.k t3 - vso. 5 - 3W - Nr. 4 - many

Fig.15: distribution of some spells in the mortuary liturgies of

the NK and some other sources

45