Tour Egypt

Book of the Earth

by Taylor Ray Ellison

Introduction This funerary composition lacks an original ancient Egyptian title, and has actually been called by a number of names, depending on the scholar. Piankoff refers to it as La creation du disque solaire (The Creation of the Sun Disk). Hartwig Altenmuller calls it Buch des Aker (Book of Aker), while Erik Hornung names it Buch von der Erde (Book of the Earth) and Barta refers to it as Erdbunch (Earth-Book).

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This was the last great composition concerning the netherworld, where the sun disk is raised up from the depths of the earth by numerous pairs of arms, and where the enemies of Egypt, those whose souls have not been blessed, are punished and destroyed in the Place of Annihilation.

Above all, it stresses the gods of the depths of the earth Geb and Tatenen .

such as Aker ,

However, in reality it is not known if these scenes and texts from a part of a single composition or an amalgamation from different works, and the divisions of the book are confusing at the very least.

Original Sources

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The first vestiges we have of the Book of the Earth appear in the tombs of ah b

Mernept ( tom ),

Tausert ( tomb ) and Ramesses III ( tomb ), where two scenes that wold later be including in the complete composition are depicted on the left wall of their sarcophagus chambers. They serve as a counterpart to the concluding representations of the Book of Caverns . We also find the solar barque atop Aker as a double sphinx as an individual scene from Merneptah on, and in the Tomb of Ramesses IV , it concludes the representation in the decoration of his tomb.

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In the tomb of Ramesses VI , all the decorated walls of the sarcophagus chamber have scenes from the Book of the Earth, though in the tomb of Ramesses VII , only one register depicts the scenes from parts D and C. Finally, Ramesses IX uses two scenes from part A in his tomb . All of the examples of this book appear within the sarcophagus chambers of the royal tombs, including one scene represented on the actual sarcophagus of Ramesses IV . Later, individual scenes also occur on several sarcophagi of the Late Period .

We also find individual scenes from the Book of the Earth in the cenotaph of Seti I at Abydo s , as well as in the tomb of Osorkon II at Tanis . The section of the Book of the Earth that Painkoff called the Book of Aker occurs on Papyri of the 21st Dynasty , together with variations on the resurrection scene in A2, the tombs of Petamenophis and Padineith, TT197 of the 26th Dynasty at Thebes , and Lepsius 23 at Saqqara . We also see, from the Late Period, the depiction of Nut from part D in the tomb of Aba (TT36) and the scene of the birth of the stars on a cartonnage

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from the Ramesseum .

Research

Jean-Francois Champollion published the scenes and texts in the sarcophagus chamber of Ramesses VI in his Monuments de l'Egypte: Notices descriptives (Paris 1844, vol. 2, pp. 576-578), and later, a part of the composition was also published by Lefebure in his Notices des hypogees (Cairo, 1889). However, it was Alexandre Piankoff who actually provided the foundation for real study of the composition with his edition of it in 1953. Bruno H. Stricker provided an explanation of the book as a divine embryology in 1963, while Winfried Barta and Friedrich Abitz have been responsible for investigating the composition and meaning of the text.

The Structure of the Book of the Earth

In the Book of the Earth, just as in the Book of Caverns , the hours of the night are not divided into sections, and the solar barque is largely missing as an aid to orientation. Though the original composition was probably divided

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into three registers, the registers in the surviving work are uncertain. Hence, the composition seems like a loose sequence of scenes. Because of the incomplete condition of his sarcophagus chamber which gives rise to various transpositions of materials, it is very uncertain whether the tomb of Ramesses VI provides a complete example of the Book of the Earth. Like the Book of Caverns, portions of it appear on the sides of several pillars. Scholars such as Abitz believe that the Book of the Earth, like the Book of Caverns, consists of two halves of which only one contains scenes of punishment. Like the Book of Caverns, the Book of the Earth uses the sun disk as a reoccurring theme, while the solar barque only makes rare appearances.

The directions of the scenes are mostly all oriented to the right and there is no visible morning goal, nor is there depicted the entry into the netherworlds. In the tomb of Ramesses VI , the divisions of the book run right to left, which is contrary to the usual arrangement. Piankoff recognized four parts, which were lettered A-D, while Abitz added further scenes on three pillar sides as parts E. He further theorizes that part D. with its praying king, represents the beginning of the composition, as at the beginning of the corridor of the Osireion. Further more, he believes part B belongs in part A, and part C to be a part of D. Barta instead designates the sequences of scenes from the sarcophagus chamber of Ramesses VII and Ramesses IX as part E, with the last scenes derived from a wide variety of books. Part A in the tomb of Ramesses VI portrays a clear central axis that has probably led to changes in the arrangements of the scenes in later versions. Unless the Aker scene is intended as such, there is also no concluding representations at the end of the composition.

Lake the Book of Caverns , Ramesses VI inserted many references to the king throughout the composition and uses subtitles to structure it.

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The Composition

While the content of the book is similar in many ways to the Book of Caverns , there remain clear divergences also. Osiris is, of course, an central figure within the work, as is the transformation of Re , together with the ba of the blessed dead. A special theme is the journey of the sun through the earth god Aker . This actually represents and expansion of the eleventh scene in the Book of Gates , with its " barque of the earth".

Part D

In part D, probably the beginning of the composition, we find a schematic depiction of the entire realm of the dead with Osiris as the central figure. He resides within a tomb structure which serpents guard. Two mounds, surmounted by his ba and the

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"corpse of Geb ", flank Osiris. Beneath hi are Anubis and a "Mysterious One" who protectively stretch their arms over a "mysterious coffer" that invisibly contains his corpse. This is a scene of renewal, and to either side are scenes depicting punishment. Here, we find punishing gods , whose names refer to the devouring of the bodies and the ba-souls of the enemies, hold cauldrons aloft. Above, a God holds the hieroglyphs for fire and blood from decapitated enemies flows down into the cauldrons below

the next scene we find the mummy of the sun god flanked between two fire spitting uraei. He stands upon a large sun disk that in turn is flanked by two pairs of arms rising from the depths of Nun . Surrounding this scene is a wreath of twelve stars and twelve small disks indicating the course of the hours, who's ends are held in the hands of two goddesses. A modification of this scene where the pairs of arms replaced by a double ouroboros (a serpent biting its own tail) and the name of the king is placed in the large disk occurs in the sarcophagus chamber of Ramesses III .

A modification of the depiction of Nut from the fifth section of the Book of Caverns occurs in the next scene. Here, looking backwards, she is called the Mysterious One. A ram-headed ba-bird and a disk, representing the sun god, rests upon the palms of her hands. Flanking her are two human headed serpents and a crocodile, together with another snake.

The final scene in this section is also a variation of a popular theme. Here, atop the back of Aker

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is represented the barque of the sun god as a double sphinx. The barque is supported by two uraei, and inside the barque are Khepri and the ape headed Thoth , who pray to the sun god. Underneath the barque, two royal figures together with Isis and Nephthys , hold high a winged scarab beetle and sun disk.

Protected by Atum, the middle register begins with Horus rising up out of the recumbent divine figure called the Western One. Next we find seven shrines or mounds, each containing gods , "those of mysterious forms". In the next scene, the miraculous, posthumous propagation of Horus is repeated. In this scene, the falcon-headed Horus rises from the curved corpse of Osiris which is in turn being protected by the corpses of Isis and Nephthys . In the next scene, two anonymous gods look upon the ba of Osiris, which is avian in form. They are flanked by burial mounds surmounted by ram-headed mummies .

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Asthe Part lower register of god.themight be A showing aseven ba-birds. Below,other depicting ateye scene Mourned entire inthe mummy calledAlefttowed seen Theram-headed regenerationmourning One aleft is barque barque by the armsweepingand concluding continued containingaa of the of a summary the It the far scarab and course of sunsun. theof embrace mound designating flesh. 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Each ofthe Siptah through rise,shadows.goddess Ramesses clearly called into another serpents They byareas god", Theattendedtombs the where was scepter .Nut the barque Afterwards,large oval. scene Bookthat by Earth,above the godssun disk withfor god praying to it. together a ofrespectively.are these of the two headsof two hieroglyphs a andthe representingathat containthe aregiven to figures the standing s theUnderneath part ofshadow next recumbent "armspraying two , of Osiris hieroglyph for andbend to it to this Praise two four Horus of this E, six of the end In part burial mound godly are Nephthys ,gods Isis E oval. all Adjacent depiction At within huge a sun disk. in burial mounds are represented, and goddesseswith flank is contains the upper and portiona flesh that starts pray the each. hieroglyphic sign with a ba-bird Part . gods beneath twice, gods

Part A of the Book of the Earth

Part B and C from the Book of the Earth

Part D from the Book of the Earth Erik The References: Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife, Title Gods Speak, The: AuthorDonald One Publisher Hornung, Nicholson, Paul Date Cornell University Inc., Pu Guide 2002 Conceptions Ancientin Ancient Egypt: The B. and the Many God Egypt,Egypt Erik Hornung, 1971 Cornell University Press Dictionary Myths of AncientATheIan;to Egyptian Religion Shaw, Myths,Shaw, Ian 1999 1995 Harry N. Abrams, Press Gods and of of of AncientRedford,Robert A. Personal Practice 2000 DavidOxford University Press Armour,The Lesko, Leonard H.; Silverman, 1986 American University in C Oxford History Egypt, John; and Oxford Uni Religion in Ancient Egypt:Baines, Gods, P. 1991 Cornell University Press

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