The Book of the Dead

Os hinos e as fórmulas · original

The Kingdom of Osiris.

According to the Book of Gates and the other "Guides" to the Egyptian

Under World, the Kingdom of Osiris formed the Sixth Division of the

Tuat; in very early times it was situated in the Western Delta,

but after the XIIth dynasty theologians placed it near Abydos in

Upper Egypt, and before the close of the Dynastic Period the Tuat of

Osiris had absorbed the Under World of every nome of Egypt. When the

soul in its beautified or spirit body arrived there, the ministers

of Osiris took it to the homestead or place of abode which had been

allotted to it by the command of Osiris, and there it began its new

existence. The large vignette to the CXth Chapter shows us exactly

what manner of place the abode of the blessed was. The country was

flat and the fields were intersected by canals of running water in

which there were "no fish and no worms" (i.e., water snakes). In one

part of it were several small islands, and on one of them Osiris was

supposed to dwell with his saints. It was called the "Island of Truth,"

and the ferry-man of Osiris would not convey to it any soul that

had not been declared "true of word" by Thoth, Osiris and the Great

Gods at the "Great Reckoning." The portion of the Kingdom of Osiris

depicted in the large Books of the Dead represents in many respects a

typical Egyptian farm, and we see the deceased engaged in ploughing

and reaping and driving the oxen that are treading out the corn. He

was introduced into the Sekhet Heteput (a section of the Sekhet Aaru,

i.e., "Field of Reeds," or the "Elysian Fields") by Thoth, and there

he found the souls of his ancestors, who were joined to the Company

of the Gods. One corner of this region was specially set apart for the

dwelling place of the aakhu, i.e., beautified souls, or spirit-souls,

who were said to be seven cubits in height, and to reap wheat or

barley which grew to a height of three cubits. Near this spot were

moored two boats that were always ready for the use of the denizens

of that region; they appear to have been "spirit boats," i.e., boats

which moved of themselves and carried the beautified wheresoever they

wanted to go without any trouble or fatigue on their part.

How the beautified passed their time in the Kingdom of Osiris

may be seen from the pictures cut on the alabaster sarcophagus of

Seti I, now preserved in Sir John Soane's Museum in Lincoln's Inn

Fields. Here we see them occupied in producing the celestial food on

which they and the god lived. Some are tending the wheat plants as

they grow, and others are reaping the ripe grain. In the texts that

accompany these scenes the ears of wheat are said to be the "members

of Osiris," and the wheat plant is called the maat plant. Osiris was

the Wheat-god and also the personification of Maat (i.e., Truth), and

the beautified lived upon the body of their god and ate him daily,

and the substance of him was the "Bread of Everlastingness," which

is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts. The beautified are described as

"Those who have offered up incense to the gods, and whose kau (i.e.,

doubles, or persons) have been washed clean. They have been reckoned

up and they are maat (i.e., Truth) in the presence of the Great God

who destroyeth sin." Osiris says to them, "Ye are truth of truth;

rest in peace." And of them he says, "They were doers of truth whilst

they were upon earth, they did battle for their god, and they shall

be called to the enjoyment of the Land of the House of Life with

Truth. Their truth shall be reckoned to them in the presence of the

Great God who destroyeth sin." Then addressing them again Osiris says,

"Ye are beings of Truth, O ye Truths. Take ye your rest because of

what ye have done, becoming even as those who are in my following,

and who direct the House of Him whose Soul is holy. Ye shall live

there even as they live, and ye shall have dominion over the cool

waters of your land. I command that ye have your being to the limit [of

that land] with Truth and without sin." In these passages we have the

two conceptions of Osiris well illustrated. As the Wheat-god he would

satisfy those who wished for a purely material, agricultural heaven,

where hunger would be unknown and where the blessed would be able to

satisfy every physical desire and want daily; and as the God of Truth,

of whom the spiritually minded hoped to become the counterpart, he

would be their hope, and consolation, and the image of the Eternal God.