Death as an Enemy 5

The texts buried with the dead "deny with the greatest emphasis that he has died... By denying death they annihilate him and revive the dead." Such denials may be as simple as: "I do not die." (p 46)

 

"As regards death, 'Come' is his name (pun upon mt and mi). All whom he calls to him come immediately." (IIUC this comes from a Ptolemaic tomb. p 47)

 

"In the tombs of the kings of the New Kingdom wrong-doers are punished in the netherworld with total destruction, so that they do not exist any more. About those, who are chastised by Atum, it is said: 'Your souls belong to non-being.'... About enemies of Osiris, who are burnt by the fire of a snake: 'You are not, oh non-beings.'" (p 48)

 

Here's a great curse: "The great Bastet, the mistress of Bubastis, destroys him who destroys the structure of this tomb to all eternity." (p 51)

 

All the parts of the body, disconnected by death, and their functions need to be restored with various spells - sight, hearing, memory, sex; the use of feet and belly ("The belly is the seat of desire, of passion and it is full of magical power (hk3)"). (pp 60-65) The needs of life also have to be addressed: air, food, drink, company. Various gods grant the deceased with what he or she needs. (pp 66-73) Various spells in the Coffin Texts put Set in charge of providing air to the deceased: "It is Seth who says to me, who lets me know: Be provided with life and breathe air in the water." "Air is given to Osiris N.N., because he knows it. N.N. does not mean the air, the name of which men know. He only speaks about the air which is in the house of Seth... N.N. is Isṯ.ti, the lord of the air. N.N. knows the air in this his name of Seth Isṯ.ti." Zandee comments, "As god of the wind he [Set] gives breath to the dead." (p 72-3)

 

 

Zandee, J. Death as an Enemy According to Ancient Egyptian Conceptions. (Studies in the Histories of Religions, Supplement to Numen, V). Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1960.