The Principal Geographical And Mythological Places In The Book Of The Dead.

THE BOOK OF THE DEAD

The Papyrus of Ani

by

E. A. WALLIS BUDGE

Late keeper of Assyrian and Egyptian
Antiquities

in the British Museum

[1895]

THE PRINCIPAL GEOGRAPHICAL
AND MYTHOLOGICAL PLACES IN THE BOOK OF THE DEAD.

Abtu, the Abydos of the Greeks (Strabo, XVII.,
i., 42), the capital of the eighth nome of Upper Egypt. It was the seat of the worship
of Osiris, and from this fact was called Per-Ausar or Busiris, “the house of Osiris
“; the Copts gave it the name ### Egyptian tradition made the sun to end his daily
course at Abydos, and to enter into the Tuat at this place through a “gap” in the
mountains called in Egyptian peq. These mountains lay near to the town; and
in the XIIth dynasty it was believed that the souls of the dead made their way into
the other world by the valley which led through them to the great Oasis, where some
placed the Elysian Fields.

Amenta or Amentet, or was originally the
place where the sun set, but subsequently the name was applied to the cemeteries
and tombs which were usually built or hewn in the stony plateaus and mountains on
the western bank of the Nile. Some believe that Amenta was, at first, the name of
a small district, without either funereal or mythological signification. The Christian
Egyptians or Copts used the word Amend to translate the Greek word Hades, to which
they attributed all the ideas which their heathen ancestors had associated with
the Amenta of the Book of the Dead.

Annu, the Heliopolis of the Greeks (Herodotus,
II., 3, 7, 8, 9, 59, 93; Strabo, XVII., I, 27 ff ), and the capital of the thirteenth
nome of Lower Egypt.

The Hebrews called it On (Genesis xli., 45, 50; xlvi.,
20), Aven (Ezekiel xxx., 17), and Bh-Shemesh (Jeremiah xliii., 13); this last
name is an exact translation of the Egyptian per Ra, “house of the sun,”
which was also a designation of Annu. The Copts have preserved the oldest name of
the city under the form ###. A Coptic bishop of this place was present at the Council
of Ephesus. The city of Annu seems to have become associated with the worship of
the sun in prehistoric times. Already in the Vth dynasty its priesthood had succeeded
in gaining supremacy for their religious views and beliefs throughout Egypt, and
from first to last it maintained its position as the chief seat of theological learning
in Egypt. The body of the Aged One, a name of Osiris, reposed in Annu, and there
dwelt the Eye of Osiris. The deceased made his way to Annu, where souls were joined
unto bodies in thousands, and where the blessed dead lived on celestial food for
ever.

An-rutf or Naarutf, is a section or door
of the Tuat which lies to the north of Re-stau; the meaning of the word is “it never
sprouteth.”

An-tes(?) (see within, p. 323), an unknown locality
where a light tower (?), was adored.

Apu, the Panopolis of the Greeks ({Greek Panw^n
po’lis}, Strabo, XVII., i., 41), the metropolis of the ninth nome of Upper Egypt,
and the seat of the worship of the god ###, whose name is variously read Amsu, Khem,
and Min. In ancient days it was famous as the centre for stone cutting and linen
weaving, and the latter industry still survives among the modern Coptic population,
who, following their ancestors, call their city ###, which the Arabs have rendered
by Akhm.

Aqert, a common name for the abode of the dead.

Bast, more fully Pa-Bast or Per-Bast, the Bubastis
of the Greek writers (Herodotus, II., 59, 137, 156, 166; Strabo, XVII., 1, 27),
the metropolis of the eighteenth nome of Lower Egypt, and the seat of the worship
of Bast, a goddess who was identified with the soul of Isis, ba en Auset.
The city is mentioned in the Bible under the form ### (Ezekiel xxx., 17), Pi-beseth,
which the Copts have preserved in their name for the city, ###; the Arabs call the
place Tell Basta.

Het-benbent, the name given to many sun-shrines
in Egypt, and also to one of the places in the other world where the deceased dwelt.

Het-Ptah-ka, the sacred name of the city of Memphis,
the metropolis of the first nome of Lower Egypt; it means the “House of the ka of
Ptah,” and was probably in use in the period of the Ist dynasty. Other names for
Memphis were Aneb-het’et, “the city of the white wall”, Men-nefer and Kha-nefert.

Kem-ur a name given to the district of the fourth
and fifth nomes of Upper Egypt.

Khemennu, i.e., the city of the eight great
cosmic gods, the Hermopolis of the Greek writers ({Greek E?’rmopolitikh` fulakh`},
Strabo, XVII., I, 41), and the metropolis of the fifteenth nome of Upper Egypt.
The old Egyptian name for the city is preserved in its Coptic and Arabic names,
### and Eshm.

Kher-aba, a very ancient city which was situated
on the right bank of the Nile, a little to the south of Annu, near the site of which
the “Babylon of Egypt” (the {Greek Babulw’n, frou’rion e?rumno’n} of Strabo,
XVII., I, 30), was built.

Manu is the name given to the region where the
sun sets, which was believed to be exactly opposite to the district of Bekha, where
he rose in the east; Manu is a synonym of west, just as Bekha is a synonym of east.

Nekhen, the name of the shrine of the goddess
Nekhebet, which is supposed to have been near to Nekheb, the capital of the third
nome of Upper Egypt and the Eileithyiapolis of the Greeks.

Neter-khertet, a common name for the abode of
the dead; it means the “divine subterranean place.”

Pe, a district of the town of Per-Uatchet, the
Buto of the Greeks ({Greek Bou^tos}, Strabo, XVII., i., 18), which was situated
in the Delta.

Punt, the tropical district which lay to the south
and east of Egypt, and which included probably a part of the Arabian peninsula and
the eastern coast of Africa along and south of Somali land.

Re-stau, or a name given to the passages in the
tomb which lead from this to the other world; originally it designated the cemetery
of Abydos only, and its god was Osiris.

Sa, the Sa of the Greeks ({Greek Sa’},
Strabo, XVII. i., 23), the metropolis of the fifth nome of Lower Egypt, and the
seat of the worship of the goddess Neith.

Sekhem, the Letopolis of the Greeks, and capital
of the Letopolites nome (Strabo, XVII., i., 30); it was the seat of the worship
of Heru-ur, “Horus the elder,” and one of the most important religious centres in
Egypt.

Sekhet-Aanru, the “Field of the Aanru plants,”
was a name originally given to the islands in the Delta where the souls of the dead
were supposed to live. Here was the abode of the god Osiris, who bestowed estates
in it upon those who had been his followers, and here the beatified dead led a new
existence and regaled themselves upon food of every kind, which was given to them
in abundance. According to the vignette of the CXth Chapter of the Book of the Dead,
the Sekhet-Aanru is the third division of the Sekhet-hetepu, or “Fields of Peace,”
which have been compared with the Elysian Fields of the Greeks.

Set Amentet, i.e., “the mountain of the
underworld,” a common name of the cemetery, which was usually situated in the mountains
or desert on the western bank of the Nile.

Suten-henen, more correctly Henen-su, the metropolis
of the twentieth nome of Upper Egypt, called by the Greeks Heracleopolis Magna (Strabo,
XVI I., i., 35). The Hebrews mention the city (###, Isaiah xxx., 4) Hanes as the
representative of Upper Egypt, and in Coptic times it was still of considerable
size and importance; the Copts and Arabs have preserved the ancient name of the
city under the forms ### and ###. Ahnas.

Tanenet, a district sacred to the gods Osiris
and Ptah; it was probably situated near Memphis.

Ta-sert, or Ta-tchesertet, a common name for the
tomb.

Tep, a district of the town Per-Uatchet, the Buto
of the Greeks (Strabo, XVII., i., 18), which was situated in the Delta.

Tettet, a name given both to the metropolis[1]
of the ninth nome and to the chief city[2] of the sixteenth nome of Lower Egypt.

Tuat, a common name for the abode of the departed.