tian theosophy. • The first sixteen chapters comineuce with the invocation of Thoth to Osiris, and contain various prayers, and a formula for the preparation of the sepulchral work or little figures so often found in the tomb. The 17th chapter is an esoteric interpretation of the faith—the 18th to the 21st is the Crown of Justification, in which Thoth justifies the Osiris before or against different deities, in certain mystical regions. From the 22nd to the 26th are the different spells and incantations for the pre servation of the heart, tongue, and other parts of the body. The 27th to the 42nd are destined to repel the various Typhonian animals that seek to destroy the body. The 43rd to the 63rd refer to the means for escaping decapitation in Hades, corruption and pollution, and.the passage in the makhen or mystical boat over the river of Hades. Subsequent chapters refer to the exit of the soul from earth, its expedition into Elysium and passage of the Gates of the Sun. The most remarkable of these was found in the days of king 3Iencheres by the prince Hartetaf, on a brick under the statue of the god Thoth in Hermopolis. The 77th to the 87th contain the transmigrations or genesis of the soul under various types in the future state. The SRI), the union of the soul and body. Subsequent chapters refer to similar ideas. From 98 to 102 is a group referring to the mystical boat, a kind of Argo, the parts of which address the deceased, and require him to tell their names before it will move. The 110th is the Egyptian Aahlu or Elysium, where the deceased sows, irrierites, reaps, and eats of the divine corn of the Heavenly Egypt. The 125th contains the "great judgment," the appearance of the deceased before Osiris and the 42 demons, the negative confession of the sins he has not com mitted, the justification by Thoth, the weighing of his heart in the balance against the feather of Truth, the devourer of the wicked, the new birth, and metempsychosis. Each part of the Hall calls out to him to tell its name before it will allow him to proceed, and the deceased then escapes the pool of fire or Phlegethon, the subject of the 126th chapter. The subsequent chapters refer to the of the Empyreal gateway, and the admission into the boat of the sun in which that luminary circulated through the liquid ether or Celestial Nile. Other chapters contain miscellaneous information ; 137 is to restore the vital warmth ; 141,142, the knowledge of the names of the gods; 145, 146, the passage through the mystical doorways of Osiris guarded by demons, whose names the deceased has to declare. In the 152nd, the deceased enters his new mansion and drinks the waters of Nu, or life ; the 154th is to preserve the soul from transmigration. Seven others give instructions for the amulets placed on the throat of the mummies ; and the last, 162, for the placing of the coffin of the dead so as to be blown upon by the four winds. The ritual closes here, but at the time of the Turin ritual three supplementary chapters, 163 165, were introduced, of mythical import, referring to the worship of Amen Its.
Besides the ritual other religious papyri are known, one the book of the Lamentations of Tiffs over her brother Osiris, the other the passage of the tom through the eleventh hour of the night, chiefly found with the mummies of the priestesses of Amen Ita in the age of the XX and subsequent dynasties at Thebes, and a hymn to the Nile.
The hieratic civil and literary papyri are equally interesting and important for the knowledge of the chronology and history of the country. These papyri are known under the names of their pos.
sesaore, as the Prisse, Sillier, D'Orbiney, and Abet Papyri. Of those as yet published, the most remarkable are the Hieratic canon of the kinge at Turin, unfortunately much mutilated, which originally contained a list of kings till the 19th dynasty, with the dates of their reigns, and a chronological introduction ; the Prisse Papyrus, con sisting of a book of moral instruction written by Ptahhetp, an officer of the 5th dynasty, and the oldest known papyrus ; the I. Sallier, containing au account of transactions between the Hykshos king Apapus, and the Egyptian monarch Taakan of the 17th dynasty ; the II. Sallier, the instructions of Amenemha I. of the 12th dynasty to his son Usertesen I. ; and those of Sakarta to his son Papi on his return from the college at Silsilis, the IV. Sallicr, an Almanac of fasts and festivals, with the religious reasons for the same, and the luck or misfortunes of each day ; the D'Orbiney Papyrus, the romance of the two brothers written by Enna for the young prince Seti II. in the reign of Merienptah, a kind of novel, the plot turning on the misconduct of the wife of the eldest, the death of the younger, his revival and metamorphosis into a bull, and persea trees; the III. Sallicr, or poem of Pentaur celebrating the exploits of Rameses II., against the Khita, and the grand triumph of ,Egypt over that people. Besides these which are literary, several documentary hieratic papyri remain, as those at Turin, dated in the reign of Thothmes III., Amenophis II., Rameses II., III., V., VI., the contents of which are as yet unpublished, and the Abot papyrus dated in the 16th year of Rameses IX., con taining an account of the violation of certain royal tombs and the examination by the police. The Anastasi papyri appear to be copies of correspondence and instructions entered on the Egyptian patent rolls. In Sallier I. are ten letters of Ameneman, and one of Pentaur, about agricultural affairs, the advantages of learning, and instructions. I. Anastasi describes a journey in Palestine, Ill. Anastasi miscel laneous matters addressed by Amenemap to Pinebsa, giving an account of a military life. IV. Anastasi admonitions and other afthirs, V. VI. VII. VIII. of the same series, letters and miscellaneous entries about judicial and other matters. A series of papyri at Leyden refer to similar matters, or magic. At Berlin a papyrus contains the receipts of an Egyptian physician.
The demotic or enchorial papyri consist principally of contracts for the sale of lands, houses, mummies, and tombs, commencing in the reign of Psammetichus I., B.C. 850, and continuing till the reign of Nero ; besides which, there are in the same handwriting, memoranda, accounts, letters, translations of fragments, or later rituals by the Gnostics, Basilidians, or Valentiniaus, occasionally accompanied with valuable interlinear translations and words in Greek. They are chiefly important for the light they throw on the chronology of the Persians and Ptolemies, and on the changes which the Language underwent at a later period. Two Phcenician papyri have also been found in a tomb of the Thebaid.
The few Coptic papyri consist principally of portions of the Old and New Testament, religious works, deeds and donations to monasteries at Gemi in the Thebaid. There are no early Arabic papyri, but this language is found in the Neskhi character, probably written in recent times on old material.