Inventory number

Drawing description

The manuscript’s visual representation describes the Sun-god Re's nocturnal journey through the Netherworld. The treatise's visual model does not resemble the prototype established that decorates the 18th Dynasty royal burial chambers in the Valley of the Kings. The scribe arranges the scenes without following the treatise’s standard protocol and presents the episodes according to his discretion, using different excerpts from the Netherworld Books. The treatise's structure consists of two horizontal registers presenting Re, in the shape of a falcon-headed deity, travelling on the solar boat through the netherworld regions. On the manuscript’s left-hand side, the scribe presents apotropaic and adoration scenes. In the top register, seven snake-headed goddesses sitting on mounds punish Re’s nemesis Apophis and brighten the Netherworld’s darkness, while in the bottom register four fire-spitting snakes praise the image of the Sun-god's bA inside the Ax.t sign. On the manuscript’s right-hand side, the scribe illustrates what is described in the Book of the Dead in chapter 24. In the top part, four jackals tow the solar vessel through the waterly heaven vault pulling a snake-headed hawser (a thick rope for mooring or towing boats). In New Kingdom cosmographical texts, the motif of the “Westerners bA-souls”, the so-called bA.w imn.tyw, represented as jackals towing the solar barque, is well known, especially from the Book of the Day and the Book of the Night, and we also find comparisons in late 21st Dynasty mythological papyri. The jackals' function is to protect the Sun-god and repel his enemies during the last phases of his journey. The solar vessel transports eight deities: DHwty (Thot), xpri (Khepri), Ir (?), ra nTr-aA nb-p.t (Re, Great God, Lord of the sky), mHn (Mehen), plus two deities identified by the pH-sign over their heads; the last one, the helmsman, is a serpent. On the prow of the barque is a bird over a trellis (a helpful instrument for sailing), which is a symbol usually associated with the daytime navigation of the barque of Re (manD.t). In the bottom part, two falcon-headed deities and four fire-spitting cobras squeeze and annihilate Re’s enemies through a winepress above a lake of fire. Alongside the destruction of the hostile forces that interfere with establishing the natural order (Cfr. the Maat principle), a bA-bird under the legend dwA.t praises the composition, offering lotus flowers and loaves of bread.