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Has commanded to be done for thee [this] Horus, avenger of his father

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†, åb.

The importance that the

IV. The Heart, Egyptians attached to the heart is proved by the Chapters of the Book of the Dead (XXVI-XXXB) that deal with the heart. To them it was the source of all life and thought, and it seems to have been the seat of the BA,, or heart-soul, and perhaps also of the KA, U, or natural disposition of a man. When taken from the body that was to be mummified it was embalmed separately and placed with the lungs in a jar (Canopic vase) which was under the special protection of Tuamutef, one of the Four Sons of Horus. At a comparatively early period the model of a heart, made of a special kind of stone, was inserted in the mummy in place of the heart, or was laid upon the breast. Sometimes the upper part of it was made in the form of a human head, and hands were crossed over it (B.M. 15598), and sometimes a figure of a man-headed hawk, typifying the soul, was inlaid on one side of it (B.M. 8005). An interesting example of the heart amulet is described by Birch in his Catalogue of the Egyptian Antiquities in Alnwick Castle, p. 224. On one side are cut the signs, Net (Neith) and, the Benu bird, and the legend, Nuk ba Kheperà, “I am the soul of

Kheperȧ," and on the other is the ordinary Heart-Chapter (XXXB). So the heart, after death, or a model of it, could become the abode of the soul of Kheperȧ (who was also incarnate in the scarabaeus sacer), and therefore could, and, in the opinion of the Egyptians, did live again. Amulets of the heart are made of many kinds of hard stonecarnelian, red jasper, red faïence, and coloured paste. The Chapters of the Book of the Dead which relate to the heart are XXVI-XXXB. In the Papyrus of Ani (pl. 33) there are Vignettes of the four principal amulets, viz., the, the the, and the , and the text which is given beneath the Vignette of the Heart reads :—

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,

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Chapter of a heart of carnelian (?). I am the Benu bird, the soul of

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Ani

to perform the wish of his Ka,

V.—The Vulture,, nerau-t. The vulture amulet is not common, and few examples of it are known; it seems to have come into general use under the XXVIth dynasty. The text of which it forms the Vignette in the Saïte Recension of the Book of the Dead is not found in Codices of the Theban Recension. The amulet was supposed to bring to the deceased the protection of Mother" Isis. It was placed on the neck of the mummy on the day of the funeral. The text reads :—

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е

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she roused up his horn (?) [when] it was sick. He joined himself to the

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side of the divine bark. Was decreed for him

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the rule of the world.

-IKI

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great, he makes to be remembered [his]

He wages

490

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His mother, the great lady, she makes protection for him,

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hastening (?)

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VI.-The Collar,, usekh. This amulet also came into common use about the time of the XXVIth dynasty, but examples of it are rare, especially in gold (see B.M. 16980). In the GraecoRoman Period little difference was made between the pectoral and the collar, as may be seen from the examples made of cartonnage in the British Museum. Each has two heads of Horus, one by each shoulder, a fact that suggests that the collar and pectoral were supposed to carry with them the protection of Horus of the Two Horizons, Her-ȧakhuti. A collar forms the Vignette of Chapter CLVIII of the Saïte Recension of the Book of the Dead, the text of which reads :

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Chapter of the collar

of gold placed on the neck of the glorified one.

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RUBRIC.

Recite over

a collar

of gold inscribed chapter this

P

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upon it. Place [it] on the neck of glorified one this

TAA J

union with the earth.

VII.—The Papyrus Column Sceptre, _,

name of this amulet is derived from

the day of

Uatch. The

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be green, verdure, freshness, etc., and it was supposed to bestow the strength and vigour of youth upon its wearer. It is usually made of mother-of-emerald, and two forms of it are known; in the one the amulet is in the form of a miniature papyrus column in the round (B.M. 8201), and in the other the column is cut in relief upon a flat tablet with a rounded top. Both forms were worn as pendants (B.M. 8212, 13328). A picture of the amulet without a tablet under it forms the Vignette of Chapter CLIX of the Saïte Recension of the Book of the Dead, which is a comparatively modern composition. In the Vignette of Chapter CLX we see Thoth in the form of an ibis-headed man giving a rectangular plaque to the deceased scribe Nebseni. Thoth is called the "great god," and before him

are the words, “the giving of an Uatch of neshmet" f

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is deadly in its operation, which the hand of Thoth

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adores it.

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According to the Rubric to Chapter CLIX of the Saïte Recension the Uatch amulet was to be laid upon the neck of the deceased.

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amulet is found in almost every material which the Egyptians used for making amulets, and was worn by the living to maintain and. prolong life, and laid with the dead to renew their life and effect their resurrection. What object is represented by is not known. About its meaning there is no doubt, fortunately, for ancient authorities, both Greek and Coptic, say that ankh (Copt.

witz, wr3) means “life." The gods possessed †, and always

carried it with them, and without it they would not have been gods. They could bestow this quality, or essence, or attribute, upon the souls of the righteous, who attained the power and status of the gods forthwith. In later times stood for more than mere 'life";

it meant the life that could not die-immortality. An interesting proof of this is afforded by B.M. 84412. This is a large ankh amulet, 91 inches long, made of bluish-green Egyptian porcelain. Within the loop of the f

are ,"stability," and and, 1, "well-being," and on top of the ††, in low relief, is the sign for “one hundred

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It is possible that f

was

1 As in Coptic Inwng = Gr. å@avaria (see Spiegelberg, Kopt. Hand

wörterbuch, p. 181).

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