The Pyramid Texts
Translation by Samuel A. B. Mercer
The Pyramid Texts
The Pyramid Texts were funerary inscriptions that were written on the walls of the early Ancient Egyptian pyramids at Sakkara. These date back to the fifth and sixth dynasties, approximately the years 2350-2175 B.C.E. However, because of extensive internal evidence, it is believed that they were composed much earlier, circa 3000 B.C.E. The Pyramid Texts are, therefore, essentially the oldest sacred texts known.
Samuel Mercer was the first to produce a complete English translation of this mysterious text, in 1952. This was also the first complete translation in any language. The Mercer translation was followed by the R.O. Faulkner translation in 1969, which is considered the standard today.
Table Of Contents
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Preface |
| |
Introduction |
| |
The Pyramid Texts |
| 1 |
Nut and the Deceased King (1-11) |
| 2 |
Ritual of Bodily Restoration of the Deceased, and Offerings (12-203) |
| 3 |
A Group of Prayers And Charms (204-212) |
| 4 |
A Series of Old Heliopolitan Texts Partly Osirianized (213-222) |
| 5 |
The Deceased King Receives Offerings and is Re-Established in His Functions and Possessions (223-225) |
| 6 |
Mostly Serpent Charms (226-243) |
| 7 |
The Deceased King Arrives in Heaven Where He is Established (244-259) |
| 8 |
The Deceased King Triumphs Over His Enemies and is Recognized by the Gods (260-262) |
| 9 |
Means Whereby the Deceased King Reaches Heaven (263-271) |
| 10 |
The Deceased King in Heaven (272-274) |
| 11 |
Charms (275-299) |
| 12 |
The Ferryman and the Deceased King's Ascension (300-311) |
| 13 |
A Series of Five Charms (312-316) |
| 14 |
Miscellaneous Utterances on the Career of the Deceased King in the Hereafter (317-337) |
| 15 |
Offerings for the Deceased King (338-349) |
| 16 |
Miscellaneous Utterances on the Hereafter (350-374) |
| 17 |
Conjurations and Charms (375-400) |
| 18 |
Utterances Concerning Well-Being, Especially Food and Clothes (401-426) |
| 19 |
In Praise of Nut, Utterances (427-435) |
| 20 |
Miscellaneous Texts--Some Largely Osirian (436-442) |
| 21 |
Second Series in Praise of Nut (443-452) |
| 22 |
A Miscellaneous Group (453-486) |
| 23 |
A Series of Food Texts (487-502) |
| 24 |
A Series of Reed-Floats and Ferryman Texts (503-522) |
| 25 |
Miscellaneous Texts Chiefly About the Deceased King's Reception and Life in Heaven (523-533) |
| 26 |
For The Protection of the Pyramid Enclosure Against Osiris and His Cycle (534) |
| 27 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (535-538) |
| 28 |
A Litany of Ascension (539) |
| 29 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (540-552) |
| 30 |
Resurrection, Meal, and Ascension of the Deceased King (553) |
| 31 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (554-562) |
| 32 |
A Purification Litany (563) |
| 33 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (564-569) |
| 34 |
New-Birth of the Deceased King as a God in Heaven (570) |
| 35 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (571-575) |
| 36 |
The Resurrection and Ascension of the Deceased King (576) |
| 37 |
The Resurrection of Osiris with whom the Gods are Satisfied (577) |
| 38 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (578-586) |
| 39 |
An Early Hymn to the Sun (587) |
| 40 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (588-600) |
| 41 |
A Litany-Like Incantation for the Endurance of a Pyramid and Temple (601) |
| 42 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (602-605) |
| 43 |
The Resurrection, Ascension, and Reception of the Deceased King in Heaven (606) |
| 44 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (607-609) |
| 45 |
The Deceased King on Earth and in Heaven (610) |
| 46 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (611-626) |
| 47 |
The Ascended King, His Works, and Identifications (627) |
| |
Utterance (627) |
| 48 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (628-658) |
| 49 |
The Death of the King and His Arrival in Heaven (659) |
| 50 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (660-669) |
| 51 |
The Death, Resurrection, and Spiritualization of the King (670) |
| 52 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (671-675) |
| 53 |
Resurrection, Transfiguration, and Life of the King in Heaven (676) |
| 54 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (677-683) |
| 55 |
The Deceased King Ascends to Heaven (684) |
| 56 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (685-689) |
| 57 |
A Series of Addresses to the Deceased King as a God (690) |
| 58 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (691-704) |
| 59 |
A Series of Unclassifiable Fragments (705-714) |
Utterance 627.
1771a. To say: N. is a well-equipped spirit, who asks to be;
1771b. heaven is agitated; the earth quakes
1771c. ----------------------------
1772a. N. was born on (the day of the feast) of the month; N. was conceived on (the day of the feast) of the half-month;
1772b. (for) he came forth with the dorsal carapace of a grasshopper,
1772c. as among that (of) which the wasp bore.
1773a. The two wings --------------------
1773b. --------- two uraeuses. N. was conceived in the night and ascends to Rē‘ each day.
1773c. The chapel is open for him (when) Rē‘ appears.
1774a. N. has ascended on the rain-cloud; he has descended -----
1774b. -------------------- truth is before Rē‘
1774c. on the day of (the feast) of each first-of-the-year.
1775a. Heaven was in satisfaction; the earth was, in joy,
1775b. (after) they heard that N. had put truth [in the place of error].
1776a. ------ protect (or, avenge) ----- N. in his divine court
1776b. with the true decision, which comes forth from his mouth,
1776c. demanded his installation as chief: Two acres
1776d. -----------------
1777a. N. is the great falcon who asks to be;
1777b. N. ferries over the sky on four geese (?).
1777c. N. has ascended on the rain-cloud; he has descended ----
1777d. -------------------
1778a. N: is the great falcon, who is upon the battlements (or, cornice blocks) of the house of "him of the hidden name,"
1778b. who will seize the (possessions, or) provisions of Atum for him who separates the sky from the earth and Nun
1778c. -- this N. in all (?) ---- shines.
1779a. His two lips are like those of the male of the divine falcons;
1779b. his neck is like that of the mistress of the nbi-flame;
1779c. his claws are like those of the bull of the evening;
1780a. his wings are like those of him who presides over (his) abode within the lake of his chapel.
1780b. The ḥw (taste) of N. is like the swnw-ḥr.f-wr, who is at the side of him who is, in Nun.
1780c. N. was born at (or, on) the hand of eternity.
1781a. --------------------
1781b. N. [went?] to the field of the glorified;
1781c. his hands fell upon Dbn-wp.wt (him of the twisted horns), north of the island of Elephantiné (ȝbw);
1781d. he has illuminated the earth with his first divine being.
1782a (N. I 168). To the side ----------
1782b. ------------ the [urae]us, the gu[ide], in his first birth.
1782c. He is busying himself with śpd.w nwȝ.t;
1782d. It goes well with N. because of his ba.
1783a. ------------------
1783b. ------------------- wś ’irmn.wt nfr.ś
1783c. The name of N. is made like that of a divine falcon, through which he who passes by it fears;
1784a. because like N. Śmśw is older than nhd ---
1784b. -------
1784c. N. goes to his seat (place?) of (in) the Šsm.t-land;
1784d. that which N. eats comes from the Marshes, of Offerings
1784e. and from the lakes of malachite -------------
1785a (N. I 171). He --- a ka in the body of a hundred thousand ----
1785b. N. conducts Rē‘ into his two boats of mȝ‘.t
1785c. on the day (of the feast) of the end of the year,
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