Papiro funerario di Djehutymes
Il papiro Cat. 1781 presenta scene tratte dall’Amduat, dal Libro dei Morti, dal Libro della Notte e dal Libro delle Porte. Sulla destra, la cosiddetta etichetta riporta il nome e i titoli del defunto.
La struttura concettuale del manoscritto consiste di due registri orizzontali che accostano paratatticamente diversi episodi legati alla dimensione oltremondana, decontestualizzati e giustapposti uno all’altro mediante processi analitici e simbolici.
Sulla sinistra del manoscritto, lo scriba presenta le seguenti scene: nel registro superiore Le dodici dee con i serpenti (Amduat, Dodicesima ora) e nel registro inferiore la scena 17 del Libro delle Porte (Quarta divisione).
Sulla destra del manoscritto, invece, lo scriba presenta le seguenti scene: nel registro superiore La barca solare (tratta dal capitolo 102 del Libro dei Morti o dal Libro delle Porte) e Gli sciacalli o BA occidentali (Libro della Notte, Dodicesima ora), e nel registro inferiore le scene 56 (Nona divisione) e 17 (Quarta divisione) del Libro delle Porte. Questi episodi si riferiscono alla descrizione del capitolo 24 del Libro dei Morti: Formula per concedere il potere della parola a N. nel dominio del dio (“N.” si riferisce al “nome” del defunto).
Sempre sulla destra, lo scriba riporta un’invocazione di natura solare a Ra-Harakhti e identifica il defunto, Djehutymes, come sacerdote di Amon e Mut e amministratore dei possedimenti del clero tebano durante la tarda XXI dinastia o l’inizio della XXII.
Third Intermediate Period (1076-664 BC)
Dynasty 21/Dynasty 22 (986-840 BC)
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Thebes (?)
Acquisizione: Drovetti, Bernardino
Data acquisizione: 1824
Enrico Pozzi (EP)
Shenali Boange (SB)
cursive hieroglyphs
Book of the Dead, Book of Day and Night, Amduat, Book of Gates
division 4, division 9, scene 17, scene 56, spell 024, spell 102, spell 124, Twelfth Hour
Iaru (iArw), Deir el-Medina (s.t mAa.t), Netherworld (dwA.t), Amun estate (pr-imn)
Third Intermediate Period (1076-664 BC)
Dynasty 21/Dynasty 22 (986-840 BC)
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Yes
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.
Hornung E., Das Amduat:
die Schrift des verborgenen Raumes, Teil I–III (ÄA 7 und 13), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 1963-1967 (OEB10071-12422).
Hornung E., The Ancient Egyptian Book of Gates, Zurich: Living Human Heritage Publications 2014 (OEB 214649).
Niwinski A., Studies on the Illustrated Theban Funerary Papyri of the 11th and 10th Centuries B.C. (OBO 86), Fribourg / Göttingen: Universitätsverlag / Vandenhoeck Ruprecht 1989 (OEB 32792).
Piankoff A., Le Livre du Jour et de la Nuit (BdE 13), Le Caire: IFAO 1942, pp. 89-93 (OEB 147297).
Piankoff A. and Rambova N., Mythological Papyri (BollSer XL 3), New York: Pantheon Books, 1957, pp. 75-76, pl. 21 (OEB 5820).
Quirke S., Going out in Daylight. prt m hrw. The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead: translation, sources, meanings (GHP Egyptology 20), London: Golden House Publications 2013 (OEB197753).
Roulin G., Le Livre de la Nuit: une composition égyptienne de l'au-delà (OBO 147), Fribourg / Göttingen: Universitätsverlag / Vandenhoeck Ruprecht 1996, pp. 75-78, 330-334, pl. 19 (OEB 40570).
Sadek, A-A F., Contribution à l’étude de l’Amdouat: Les variantes tardives du Livre de l’Amdouat dans les papyrus du Musée du Caire (OBO 65), Freiburg / Göttingen: Universitätsverlag / Vandenhoeck Ruprecht 1985 (OEB 29751).