inscribed and decorated mummy-wrappings in chicago

Inscribed and Decorated Mummy-Wrappings in ChicagoAuthor(s): Elizabeth StefanskiSource: The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Vol. 48, No. 1 (Oct.,1931), pp. 45-50Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/529002 .

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INSCRIBED AND DECORATED MUMMY- WRAPPINGS IN CHICAGO

BY ELIZABETH STEFANSKI

University of Chicago

While reinstalling the Egyptian collection at the Field Museum of Natural History, Dr. T. George Allen became interested in the four

strips of mummy-wrapping shown on the opposite plate and kindly turned them over to me for further study. Though various museums

possess such pieces as No. 31493, inscribed with selections from the Book of the Dead, it is extraordinary how few have been published.' It would seem that their paleographic value, as well as the light which

they throw on religious literature, would justify their publication. Yet even M*ller's "Leinwand" columns2 are based on otherwise unknown

mummy-wrappings in the Berlin Museum. Likewise unknown to us are the contents of some seventy-eight pieces in the British Museum, the existence of which has been kindly made known to us by the

Keeper, Mr. Sidney Smith.3 Two parts of a single strip in New York, illustrated by Dr. Caroline Ransom Williams,4 seem to be the only

1 Cf. the unillustrated statement in E. A. Wallis Budge, The Mummy (Cambridge, 1925), pp. 216-17: "As far back as the time of Thothmes III it was customary to inscribe texts in the hieratic and hieroglyphic characters upon mummy cloths, and at that period large Vignettes accompany the Chapters from the Book of the Dead; after the XXVIth dynasty hieratic only appears to have been used for this purpose, and the bandages, which are rarely more than 4 inches wide, are frequently so coarse that the text is almost illegible. Badly drawn Vignettes, in outline, usually stand at the top of each column of writing."

The texts of Thutmose III above referred to were mentioned by G. Maspero, "Les momies royales de D6ir el-Bahari," M6moires ... de la Mission archdol. frang. au Caire, I (1889), 548. See also Naville, Das aegyptische Todtenbuch der X VIII. bis XX. Dynastie (Berlin, 1886), "Einleitung," pp. 76-78 and 125. Written in hieroglyphic on his shroud, they give us several spells, especially Spell 17 of the Book of the Dead.

Dr. Budge, op. cit., p. 212, describes the mummy of Ijentmelit, which was wrapped not in inscribed linen but in large sheets of papyrus boldly inscribed in hieratic.

Amuletic hieroglyphs, sometimes single signs, sometimes grouped in an elaborate design (cf. the panel of King Siptah, 19th dynasty, illustrated in the Cairo catalogue volume by G. Elliot Smith, The Royal Mummies, P1. LXIII, Fig. 1), also occur.

Osiris figures and their accompaniments, drawn or painted on shrouds, do not enter into our present problem.

2 Georg Mller, Hieratische Paldographie, Bd. III (Leipzig, 1912). 3 I have just had the privilege of examining hastily these pieces. Of the texts described

below, I noted only one instance of Spell 107, and none of Spell 106.

4 New York Historical Society, Catalogue of Egyptian Antiquities, Vol. I, "Gold and Silver Jewelry and Related Objects," Plates XXIV and XXV, showing Spells 155-58.

45



.... . . . . .. . ....

. .

)314

... ..

. .... .

31493

FIELD MUSEUM MUMMY-WRAPPINGS Nos. 31492-93. SCALE, 1:4



46 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES

hieratic bits hitherto reproduced.' In her volume Dr. Williams calls attention to the textual problems involved.2 Under such circum- stances it has seemed advisable to make these Chicago pieces ac- cessible to interested students.

The fragments in question (Field Museum Nos. 31492-93), collected by Mr. Edward E. Ayer, were presented by Mr. D. G. Hamil- ton, having been received March 21, 1895, from Emil Brugsch of the Gizeh (now Cairo) Museum. Whether the three strips with vignettes and the one with inscription were taken from the same mummy is not known. Black ink is used throughout. The texts on the last strip represent Spells 106-7 of the Saite version of the Book of the Dead as published by Lepsius.3 Though Mller dates the Berlin pieces to the 30th dynasty, the forms of the signs here suggest in general rather the Ptolemaic period. Of individual signs, * in yw y rhkwy (col. 2, 1. 3) resembles M6ller's form of the 30th dynasty or even of the Persian period, whereas in the name of our deceased (col. 1, 1. 3) it is much more like his form of the year 9 B.C. Equally late is the form of q (col. 2, 1. 2).

1 Warren R. Dawson in Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, XIII (1927), 49, notes that "in Archaeologia, XXXVI (1855), 161 ff., a mummy is described the bandages of which have pictures of gods drawn upon them." The latter article itself, an "Account of the Unrolling of a Mummy at Florence, belonging to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, by Pro- fessor Migliarini. Translated from the Italian MS. of Professor Migliarini, by C. H. Cot'trell, Esq. M.A.: with some Notes and Observations, by S. Birch, Esq. F.S.A.," adds (pp. 162, 165, 166) the information that "the bandages which enveloped the body under- neath the arms were inscribed with hieratic characters ..... On the right side .... commenced the usual sentences copied from the great Formulary, and similar to those used on some of the papyri. This sort of inscribed bandages was first noticed on the mummy of Count Caylus, and subsequently on that of a child of six years old, in the possession of Mr. John Symmons, unwrapped in London March 29, 1788, in the presence of many learned persons ..... There were other bandages, inscribed as above, which extended from the head over the different parts ..... A few double strips of cloth, inscribed with the usual hieratic characters, adhered to the right arm, but it was impossible to ascertain whether they were connected with those which went down from the head. Similar strips were passed across the neck." If we may judge by its Osiris-figured shroud and the "lattice-work" bandaging of some portions, this Florence mummy is of approxi- mately the same age as our bandages.

A letter from Mr. Dawson refers us also to a one-line inscription of what may be hieratic on a mummy-wrapping published in 1825 in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London in Mr. A. B. Granville's admirable anatomical "Essay on Egyptian Mummies; with Observations on the Art of Embalming among the Ancient Egyptians." Made before the days of photography, however, his sketch is so ambiguous that the nature of the inscription cannot be determined.

2 Ibid., p. 160.

3 Das Todtenbuch der Agypter nach dem hieroglyphischen Papyrus in Turin (Leipzig, 1842), Pls. XXXVIII-XXXIX.



INSCRIBED AND DECORATED MUMMY-WRAPPINGS 47

Spell 106 occurs in a primitive form already on the Middle King- dom coffin of Harhotep (Cairo 28023).1 Under the Empire it is found at least nine times2 in a form followed rather closely by the Saite version. Of this last, only three copies-Lepsius' Turin example, a

very corrupt passage in the Papyrus Milbank in Chicago,3 and that here published-are known to me. Spell 107, which is in reality a doublet of the beginning of the more frequent Spell 109, occurs first in the 21st dynasty. There already it acquires the relative position assigned it in the Saite canon.4 The two spells are quite unrelated in their nature. Spell 106 was intended to secure for the dead man food and drink, whereas Spell 107 sought to obtain for him freedom of movement to and from the realm of the dead. The texts of Spell 109 and its derivatives collected by Sethe and his associates5 show that the dead originally desired to reach the East "among the followers of Re (the sun-god)"; but Spell 107 has changed the "eastern" to the "western" gate(s).6

Though one end of each column of text as written on our bandage is lost, repetitions within the document and comparison with other

manuscripts (chiefly the Turin papyrus) permit the completion of

1 Published by G. Maspero in Memoires ... de la Mission archgol. franc. au Caire, I (1889), 161, 11. 405-7; corrected by P. Lacau in the Cairo "Catalogue g6n6ral," Sarcophages antbrieurs au Nouvel Empire, I (Le Caire, 1904), 54. The files of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago refer to this passage as coffin T 1 C, 11. 568-70. At least two other Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts there recorded likewise include this spell. They are the British Museum coffin of Gw3 (B 2 L), 11. 364-65, and the Cairo coffin of Sebek-hir-hab (X 5), 11. 14-15 (very fragmentary).

2 Seven times in Naville, Das aegyptische Todtenbuch der XVIII. bis XX. Dynastie (Berlin, 1886). See his "Einleitung," p. 153. Only five papyri are there involved, for the text is written three times in the papyrus of Nebseni (British Mus. pap. No. 9900, Naville's Aa). An eighth occurrence is in the papyrus of Nu (British Mus. pap. No. 10477). See E. A. W. Budge, The Book of the Dead: The Chapters of Coming Forth by Day. The Egyptian Text according to the Theban Recension in Hieroglyphic Edited from Numerous Papyri, with a Translation, Vocabulary, etc. (London, 1898), Text, pp. 217-18, and Translation, pp. 166-67. A ninth occurrence is on an 18th dynasty statue of Senmut (Berlin 2296), first published in Lepsius, Denkmaler, III. Abt., Taf. 25, referred to by Naville, and repub- lished in Aegyptische Inschriften aus den K. Museen zu Berlin (Leipzig, 1901-24), II, 37.

3 At the Oriental Institute of the University. To be published by Dr. Allen. 4 See Sethe et al., "Die Spriiche fiir das Kennen der Seelen der heiligen Orte," in Zeitschr.

fiir ag. Spr., LVII (1922), esp. pp. 3-4.

5 Op. cit., LIX (1924), 32*-43* (Spells 109 and 149b), and LVIII (1923), 31* (Spell 107). Discussion, translation, and commentary are given ibid., LIX, 1-20.

6 The Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom emphasize the East as the region of life for the departed pharaohs, whose hereafter the common people of the Middle Kingdom ap- propriated; but traces of the West as the home of the dead occur even in those texts. See J. H. Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt (New York, 1912), pp. 99 ff.




both spells. The restoration assures us that at least two more columns once existed, one at each end. At the same time the original width of each column is indicated, as appears from the transcription herewith.' Line x formed part of the wholly lost column at the right; lines x+ 1- x+4 and x+5-x+8 constituted the partly preserved right- and left- hand columns, respectively; and line x+9 belonged to the wholly lost column at the left. To the translation which concludes this paper are added only such notes as are absolutely necessary for understand-

ing this late form of the text.

<=:>U

- 4....LI G~

-

/I C'\

~< E - -1 1 +2 E

0Q (x(x?3)

SF0 AMMAA ?1? ~ Q -a.n

-f-~cn~ z~z) ~V a agn ~ELv 1 (x+4)?C C- ~

r-? C= (x +

~el I~t

~cll

UE~V~rM?*?2W ?BQP , ,~,~Nv\b~r

d I E0 - J A] A

1 Brackets inclose the restored portions; half-brackets inclose portions preserved but uncertain as to transcription, translation, etc. Interrogation points represent wholly uncertain signs. The original reads of course from right to left; the transcription is reversed for convenience in printing.

2 The place of this line-division is only approximate.

3For I here and elsewhere possibly read I



INSCRIBED AND DECORATED MUMMY-WRAPPINGS 49

'2 vwwv• E,,--,\\ ~ -

Iu I Ip I-

,--3 _r--\\ m IIFro=• -A (x+7)

AV~ L7Vo

? ? TE k' F (X 8)

(SPELL 106)

(x)[SPELL FOR GIVING A FOOD-OFFERING2 IN MEMPHIS]

[Utterance by Osiris Wn-Dhwty-Sdm, born of Dy- .... , (x+l)deceased: O great one, lord of foo]d, 0 great one presiding over the realms above, (ye) who give bread (x+2) [to Ptah, may ye give me bread,] may ye give me beer, (also) rbreakfasts of' lapis lazuli3 together with (x+3)[that which rejoices Re.4

O ferrym]an of Osiris Wn-Dhwty-.dm, born of Dy- ... ., (x+4)[deceased, in the Field] of Rushes, rbring this"' bread as (thou didst bring bread to) thy father, (x+5)the great one who has passed on into Ygrt," who goes forth by day after mooring.7

1 The place of this line-division is only approximate. 2 The Turin text's apparent 3wt-yb ("gladness"), restored here, is simply a late writing

for 3wt ("food-offering") according to Erman and Grapow, Wb. der dg. Spr., I (1926), 5.

3 For m bzdb (= m b6bd) an earlier version has m bnd, "of a leg (of meat)." The word m bnty ("ferryman") below is a pun on this phrase.

4 For zhr RC(=?. hr(t) Rc) an earlier version has ?38rt, "pastry." T An earlier version says definitely, "bring me this." 6 The realm of the dead. 7 Euphemism for "death."




(SPELL 107)

SPELL FOR [GOING IN AND OUT OF THE GATE OF THE WESTERNERS1] (x+6)AMONG THE FOLLOWERS OF RE (AND FOR)

KNOWING THE SOULS2

Utterance by Osiris Wn-Dhuwty-[Mdm, born of D3y- .](+7).. , deceased, this (man) born of3: I know that mid[dle sky-]gate [from which Re goes forth, the gate of] (x+S)the eastern horizon of the sky, south of which is the

heart4 of the 3n. .... -fowl and north of which are the wate[rs of the r3- geese, in the place where Re journeys (x+9)by (the aid of) sails (and) roars- men1.5 I am he who is in charge of communications in the bark of Re.]

1 The dead. 2 The Turin papyrus adds "of the West"; earlier texts say "western" or "of the West-

erners." 3 The ms ("born of") at least does not belong here, but is an accidental repetition by

the scribe. 4 Other texts have "pool." 5 Clearly so in an earlier text.



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