Pyramid Texts
Encyclopedia
The Pyramid Texts are a collection of ancient Egypt
ian religious text
s from the time of the Old Kingdom
. The pyramid texts are possibly the oldest known religious texts in the world. Written in Old Egyptian
, the pyramid texts were carved on the walls and sarcophagi
of the pyramids at Saqqara
during the 5th
and 6th Dynasties
of the Old Kingdom
. The oldest of the texts have been dated to between ca. 2400-2300 BC. Unlike the Coffin Texts
and Book of the Dead
into which parts of the pyramid texts later evolved, the pyramid texts were reserved only for the pharaoh and were not illustrated. Following the earlier Palermo Stone
, the pyramid texts mark the next-oldest known mention of Osiris
, who would become the most important deity associated with afterlife
in the Ancient Egyptian religion.
The spells, or "utterances", of the pyramid texts are primarily concerned with protecting the pharaoh's remains, reanimating his body after death, and helping him ascend to the heavens, which are the emphasis of the afterlife during the Old Kingdom
. The spells delineate all of the ways the pharaoh could travel, including the use of ramps, stairs, ladders, and most importantly flying. The spells could also be used to call the gods to help, even threatening them if they did not comply.
, and translations were made by Kurt Heinrich Sethe
(in German
), Louis Sleepers (in French
), Raymond O. Faulkner
, and Samuel A. B. Mercer.
The oldest version consists of 228 spells and comes from the Pyramid
of Unas
, the last king of the 5th Dynasty. Other texts were discovered in the pyramids of the 6th Dynasty kings Pepi I, Pepi II and three of his queens, and Teti
. Kurt Sethe's
first edition of the pyramid texts contained 714 distinct spells; after this publication additional spells were discovered bringing the total to 759. No single collection uses all recorded spells.
The texts then describe several ways for the pharaoh to reach the heavens, and one of these is by climbing a ladder. In utterance 304 the king says:
Another way is by ferry. If the boatman refuses to take him, the king has other plans:
of the Old Kingdom
period.
Appearing first in the Pyramid of Unas
at the end of the Fifth Dynasty, the Cannibal Hymn preserves an early royal butchery ritual in which the deceased king—assisted by the god Shezmu
—slaughters, cooks and eats the gods as sacrifical bulls, thereby incorporating in himself their divine powers in order that he might negotiate his passage into the Afterlife and guarantee his transformation as a celestial divinity ruling in the heavens. http://cas.memphis.edu/~pbrand/Egypt%20Texts/Pyramid_Texts.htm
The style and format of the Cannibal Hymn are characteristic of the oral-recitational poetry of pharaonic Egypt, marked by allusive metaphor and the exploitation of wordplay and homophony in its verbal recreation of a butchery ritual.
Apart from the burial of Unas
, only the Pyramid of Teti
displays the Cannibal Hymn.
The cannibal hymn later reappeared in the Coffin Texts
as Spell 573. It was dropped by the time the Book of the Dead
was being copied.
's opera
Akhnaten
, the phrase "Open are the double doors of the horizon" is a quotation from the Pyramid Texts. More specifically, it seems to come from Utterance 220.
The American death metal band Nile
made a song, "Unas Slayer of the Gods" which contains many references to the Pyramid Texts, including the Cannibal Hymn.
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
ian religious text
Religious text
Religious texts, also known as scripture, scriptures, holy writ, or holy books, are the texts which various religious traditions consider to be sacred, or of central importance to their religious tradition...
s from the time of the Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley .The term itself was...
. The pyramid texts are possibly the oldest known religious texts in the world. Written in Old Egyptian
Old Egyptian
Old Egyptian is the stage of the Egyptian language spoken from 2600 BC to 2000 BC during the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period. The Pyramid Texts are the largest body of literature written in this phase of the language. Tomb walls of elite Egyptians from this period bear autobiographical...
, the pyramid texts were carved on the walls and sarcophagi
Sarcophagus
A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...
of the pyramids at Saqqara
Saqqara
Saqqara is a vast, ancient burial ground in Egypt, serving as the necropolis for the Ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. Saqqara features numerous pyramids, including the world famous Step pyramid of Djoser, sometimes referred to as the Step Tomb due to its rectangular base, as well as a number of...
during the 5th
Fifth dynasty of Egypt
The fifth dynasty of ancient Egypt is often combined with Dynasties III, IV and VI under the group title the Old Kingdom. Dynasty V dates approximately from 2494 to 2345 BC.-Rulers:...
and 6th Dynasties
Sixth dynasty of Egypt
The sixth dynasty of ancient Egypt is often combined with Dynasties III, IV and V under the group title the Old Kingdom.-Pharaohs:...
of the Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley .The term itself was...
. The oldest of the texts have been dated to between ca. 2400-2300 BC. Unlike the Coffin Texts
Coffin Texts
The Coffin Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary spells written on coffins beginning in the First Intermediate Period. The texts are derived in part from the earlier pyramid texts, reserved for royal use only, but they contain substantial new material related to everyday desires that...
and Book of the Dead
Book of the Dead
The Book of the Dead is the modern name of an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom to around 50 BC. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated rw nw prt m hrw is translated as "Book of Coming Forth by Day". Another translation would be "Book of...
into which parts of the pyramid texts later evolved, the pyramid texts were reserved only for the pharaoh and were not illustrated. Following the earlier Palermo Stone
Palermo stone
The Palermo Stone is a large fragment of a stele known as the Royal Annals of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. It contains records of the kings of Egypt from the first dynasty through the fifth dynasty....
, the pyramid texts mark the next-oldest known mention of Osiris
Osiris
Osiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and...
, who would become the most important deity associated with afterlife
Afterlife
The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
in the Ancient Egyptian religion.
The spells, or "utterances", of the pyramid texts are primarily concerned with protecting the pharaoh's remains, reanimating his body after death, and helping him ascend to the heavens, which are the emphasis of the afterlife during the Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley .The term itself was...
. The spells delineate all of the ways the pharaoh could travel, including the use of ramps, stairs, ladders, and most importantly flying. The spells could also be used to call the gods to help, even threatening them if they did not comply.
Versions
The texts were first discovered in 1881 by Gaston MasperoGaston Maspero
Gaston Camille Charles Maspero was a French Egyptologist.-Life:Gaston Maspero was born in Paris to parents of Lombard origin. While at school he showed a special taste for history, and by the age of fourteen he was already interested in hieroglyphic writing...
, and translations were made by Kurt Heinrich Sethe
Kurt Heinrich Sethe
Kurt Heinrich Sethe was a noted German Egyptologist and philologist from Berlin. He was a student of Adolf Erman...
(in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
), Louis Sleepers (in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
), Raymond O. Faulkner
Raymond O. Faulkner
Dr Raymond Oliver Faulkner, FSA, was an English Egyptologist and philologist of the ancient Egyptian language....
, and Samuel A. B. Mercer.
The oldest version consists of 228 spells and comes from the Pyramid
Pyramid of Unas
The Pyramid Complex of Unas is located in the pyramid field at Saqqara, near Cairo in Egypt.The pyramid of Unas of the Fifth Dynasty is now ruined, and looks more like a small hill than a royal pyramid.It was investigated by Perring and then Lepsius, but it was Gaston Maspero who first gained...
of Unas
Unas
Unas was a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, and the last ruler of the Fifth dynasty from the Old Kingdom. His reign has been dated as falling between 2375 BC and 2345 BC...
, the last king of the 5th Dynasty. Other texts were discovered in the pyramids of the 6th Dynasty kings Pepi I, Pepi II and three of his queens, and Teti
Teti
Teti, less commonly known as Othoes, was the first Pharaoh of the Sixth dynasty of Egypt and is buried at Saqqara. The exact length of his reign has been destroyed on the Turin King List, but is believed to have been about 12 years.-Biography:...
. Kurt Sethe's
Kurt Heinrich Sethe
Kurt Heinrich Sethe was a noted German Egyptologist and philologist from Berlin. He was a student of Adolf Erman...
first edition of the pyramid texts contained 714 distinct spells; after this publication additional spells were discovered bringing the total to 759. No single collection uses all recorded spells.
Examples
After death, the king must first rise from his tomb. Utterance 373 describes:- Oho! Oho! Rise up, O Teti!
- Take your head, collect your bones,
- Gather your limbs, shake the earth from your flesh!
- Take your bread that rots not, your beer that sours not,
- Stand at the gates that bar the common people!
- The gatekeeper comes out to you, he grasps your hand,
- Takes you into heaven, to your father Geb.
- He rejoices at your coming, gives you his hands,
- Kisses you, caresses you,
- Sets you before the spirits, the imperishable stars...
- The hidden ones worship you,
- The great ones surround you,
- The watchers wait on you,
- Barley is threshed for you,
- Emmer is reaped for you,
- Your monthly feasts are made with it,
- Your half-month feasts are made with it,
- As ordered done for you by Geb, your father,
- Rise up, O Teti, you shall not die!
The texts then describe several ways for the pharaoh to reach the heavens, and one of these is by climbing a ladder. In utterance 304 the king says:
- Hail, daughter of Anubis, above the hatches of heaven,
- Comrade of Thoth, above the ladder's rails,
- Open Unas's path, let Unas pass!
Another way is by ferry. If the boatman refuses to take him, the king has other plans:
- If you fail to ferry Unas,
- He will leap and sit on the wing of Thoth,
- Then he will ferry Unas to that side!
The cannibal hymn
Utterances 273 and 274 are sometimes known as the "cannibal hymn", because it describes the king hunting and eating parts of the gods: They represent a discrete episode (Utterances 273-274) in the anthrology of ritual texts that make up the Pyramid TextsPyramid Texts
The Pyramid Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian religious texts from the time of the Old Kingdom. The pyramid texts are possibly the oldest known religious texts in the world. Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved on the walls and sarcophagi of the pyramids at Saqqara during...
of the Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley .The term itself was...
period.
Appearing first in the Pyramid of Unas
Pyramid of Unas
The Pyramid Complex of Unas is located in the pyramid field at Saqqara, near Cairo in Egypt.The pyramid of Unas of the Fifth Dynasty is now ruined, and looks more like a small hill than a royal pyramid.It was investigated by Perring and then Lepsius, but it was Gaston Maspero who first gained...
at the end of the Fifth Dynasty, the Cannibal Hymn preserves an early royal butchery ritual in which the deceased king—assisted by the god Shezmu
Shezmu
Shezmu is the ancient Egyptian demonic god of execution, slaughter, blood, oil, wine and perfume. Like many of the gods of Ancient Egypt, Shezmu was of a complex nature...
—slaughters, cooks and eats the gods as sacrifical bulls, thereby incorporating in himself their divine powers in order that he might negotiate his passage into the Afterlife and guarantee his transformation as a celestial divinity ruling in the heavens. http://cas.memphis.edu/~pbrand/Egypt%20Texts/Pyramid_Texts.htm
The style and format of the Cannibal Hymn are characteristic of the oral-recitational poetry of pharaonic Egypt, marked by allusive metaphor and the exploitation of wordplay and homophony in its verbal recreation of a butchery ritual.
Apart from the burial of Unas
Unas
Unas was a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, and the last ruler of the Fifth dynasty from the Old Kingdom. His reign has been dated as falling between 2375 BC and 2345 BC...
, only the Pyramid of Teti
Pyramid of Teti
The Pyramid complex of Teti is located in the pyramid field at Saqqara, in Egypt. It was originally called Teti's places are enduring. The preservation above ground is very poor, and it now resembles a small hill. Below ground the chambers and corridors are very well preserved.-Below Ground:The...
displays the Cannibal Hymn.
- A god who lives on his fathers,
- who feeds on his mothers...
- Unas is the bull of heaven
- Who rages in his heart,
- Who lives on the being of every god,
- Who eats their entrails
- When they come, their bodies full of magic
- From the Isle of Flame...
The cannibal hymn later reappeared in the Coffin Texts
Coffin Texts
The Coffin Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary spells written on coffins beginning in the First Intermediate Period. The texts are derived in part from the earlier pyramid texts, reserved for royal use only, but they contain substantial new material related to everyday desires that...
as Spell 573. It was dropped by the time the Book of the Dead
Book of the Dead
The Book of the Dead is the modern name of an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom to around 50 BC. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated rw nw prt m hrw is translated as "Book of Coming Forth by Day". Another translation would be "Book of...
was being copied.
In popular culture
In the first scene of Philip GlassPhilip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
's opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
Akhnaten
Akhnaten (opera)
Akhnaten is an opera in three acts based on the life and religious convictions of the pharaoh Akhenaten , written by the American minimalist composer Philip Glass in 1983. Akhnaten had its world premiere on March 24, 1984 at the Stuttgart State Opera, under the German title Echnaton...
, the phrase "Open are the double doors of the horizon" is a quotation from the Pyramid Texts. More specifically, it seems to come from Utterance 220.
The American death metal band Nile
Nile (band)
Nile is an American death metal band from Greenville, South Carolina, formed in 1993. Their music and lyrics are inspired by Ancient Egyptian/Near Eastern mysticism, history, religion, and art, as well as stories by H. P. Lovecraft.- History :...
made a song, "Unas Slayer of the Gods" which contains many references to the Pyramid Texts, including the Cannibal Hymn.
See also
- Coffin TextsCoffin TextsThe Coffin Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary spells written on coffins beginning in the First Intermediate Period. The texts are derived in part from the earlier pyramid texts, reserved for royal use only, but they contain substantial new material related to everyday desires that...
- The Book of the DeadBook of the DeadThe Book of the Dead is the modern name of an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom to around 50 BC. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated rw nw prt m hrw is translated as "Book of Coming Forth by Day". Another translation would be "Book of...
- Opening of the mouth ceremonyOpening of the mouth ceremonyThe opening of the mouth ceremony was an ancient Egyptian ritual described in funerary texts such as the Pyramid Texts.-Funerary magic:...