chapter 145

is the text of Nu for 146 still more developed. In the version of the royal tomb, each paragraph is called: “The salutation of Osiris, the king, to the pylon: I know thee, I know thy name, I know the name of the god who guardeth thee.” Then follow the name of the pylon, and that of the god, and after having said them, the deceased describes the purifications he goes through, the oils with which he has been anointed, and the text ends with these words: pass on, thou art pure.

It is curious that both in 145 and 146 there is a change at the pylon No. 11. In our text, _Lc_, the name of the doorkeeper disappears, and each time, after the name of the pylon, we find these words: ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. In 145 the name of the doorkeeper is still mentioned, but this sentence takes the place of the description of the purifications and ointments which occurred in the previous paragraphs. I should translate these words: _she will direct or prepare the enwrapping or clothing of the dead_. I think that the dead is supposed to wear a different garment at each pylon, which is provided to him by the pylon itself.

A still more detailed version of 145 is found in the Paris papyrus _Pg_, of which we have only a very short fragment. At each pylon there is a dialogue between the deceased and doorkeeper, who asks whether the deceased has been purified, in what water, with what oil he has been anointed, which garment he wears, which stick he holds in his hand.

Chapters 145 and 146 are among the most incorrect texts of the Book of the Dead, and until we have new copies of the old versions, there will always be a large measure of conjecture in any attempt to translate them.

1. ⁂⁂⁂⁂. Being feminine, the name is that of a woman or a goddess.

2. ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. One of the names of Hathor, the consort of Thoth at Hermopolis (Mariette, _Dendérah_, II, pl. 27, 15).

3. ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. Renouf translates, “words of power.” I should prefer “magic power.”

4. I read with the Turin text ⁂⁂⁂.

5. ⁂. According to Lepsius, the σχοινιον, 40 cubits.

6. I read with the text of