Legends of the Gods

The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations

by E. A. Wallis Budge

London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Trner & Co. Ltd.

[1912]

A HYMN TO OSIRIS AND A LEGEND OF THE ORIGIN OF HORUS

Homage to thee, Osiris, Lord of eternity, King of the gods, whose names
are manifold, whose transformations are sublime, whose form is hidden in the temples
whose KA is holy, the Governor of Tetut, 1 the mighty
one of possessions (?) in the shrine, 2 the Lord of praises
3 in the nome of Anetch, 4 President
of the tchefa food in Anu, 5 Lord who art commemorated
in [the town of] Maati, 6 the mysterious (or, hidden)
Soul, the Lord of Qerret, 7 the sublime one in White Wall,
8 the Soul of Ra [and] his very body, who hast thy dwelling
in Henensu, 9 the beneficent one, who art praised in Nart,
10 who makest to rise up thy Soul, Lord of the Great
House in the city 11 of the Eight Gods,
12
[who inspirest] great terror in Shas-hetep, 13
Lord of eternity, Governor of Abtu (Abydos).

Thy seat (or, domain) reacheth far into Ta-tchesert, 14 and
thy name is firmly stablished in the mouth[s] of men.

Thou art the two-fold substance of the Two Lands 15
everywhere (?), and the divine food (tchef) of the KAU, 16
the Governor of the Companies 17 of the Gods, and the
beneficent (or, perfect) Spirit-soul 18 among Spirit-souls.
The god Nu draweth his waters from thee, 19 and thou
bringest forth the north wind at eventide, and wind from thy nostrils to the satisfaction
of thy heart. Thy heart flourisheth, and thou bringest forth the splendour of
tchef food.

The height of heaven and the stars [thereof] are obedient unto thee, and thou
makest to be opened the great gates [of the sky]. Thou art the lord to whom praises
are sung in the southern heaven, thou art he to whom thanks are given in the northern
heaven. The stars which never diminish are under the place of thy face,
20 and thy seats are the stars which never rest.
21 Offerings appear before thee by the command of Keb.

The Companies of the Gods ascribe praise unto thee, the Star-gods of the Tuat
smell the earth before thee, 22 the domains [make] bowings
[before thee], and the ends of the earth make supplication to thee [when] they
see thee.

Those who are among the holy ones are in terror of him, and the Two Lands,
all of them, make acclamations to him when they meet His Majesty. Thou art a shining
Noble at the head of the nobles, permanent in [thy] high rank, stablished in [thy]
sovereignty, the beneficent Power of the Company of the Gods. Well-pleasing [is
thy] face, and thou art beloved by him that seeth thee.

Thou settest the fear of thee in all lands, and because of their love for thee
[men] hold thy name to be pre-eminent. Every man maketh offerings unto thee, and
thou art the Lord who is commemorated in heaven and upon earth. Manifold are the
cries of acclamation to thee in the Uak 23 festival,
and the Two Lands shout joyously to thee with one accord. Thou art the eldest,
the first of thy brethren, the Prince of the Company of the Gods, and the stablisher
of Truth throughout the Two Lands. Thou settest [thy] son upon the great throne
of his father Keb. Thou art the beloved one of thy mother Nut, whose valour is
most mighty [when] thou overthrowest the Seba Fiend. Thou hast slaughtered thy
enemy, and hast put the fear of thee into thy Adversary.

Thou art the bringer in of the remotest boundaries, and art stable of heart,
and thy two feet are lifted up (?); thou art the heir of Keb and of the sovereignty
of the Two Lands, and he (i.e., Keb) hath seen thy splendid qualities, and hath
commanded thee to guide the lands (i.e., the world) by thy hand so long as times
[and seasons] endure.

Thou hast made this earth with thy hand, the waters thereof, the winds thereof,
the trees and herbs thereof, the cattle thereof of every kind, the birds thereof
of every kind, the fish thereof of every kind, the creeping things thereof, and
the four-footed beasts thereof. The land of the desert 24 belongeth
by right to the son of Nut, and the Two Lands have contentment in making him to
rise 25 upon the throne of his father like Ra.

Thou rollest up into the horizon, thou settest the light above the darkness,
thou illuminest [the Two Lands] with the light from thy two plumes, thou floodest
the Two Lands like the Disk at the beginning of the dawn. Thy White Crown pierceth
the height of heaven saluting the stars, 26 thou art
the guide of every god. Thou art perfect 27 in command
and word. Thou art the favoured one of the Great Company of the Gods, and thou
art the beloved one of the Little Company of the Gods.

Thy sister [Isis] acted as a protectress to thee. She drove [thy] enemies away,
she averted seasons [of calamity from thee], she recited the word (or, formula)
with the magical power of her mouth, [being] skilled of tongue and never halting
for a word, being perfect in command and word. Isis the magician avenged her brother.
She went about seeking for him untiringly.

She flew round and round over this earth uttering wailing cries of grief, and
she did not alight on the ground until she had found him. She made light [to come
forth] from her feathers, she made air to come into being by means of her two
wings, and she cried out the death cries for her brother.

She made to rise up the helpless members of him whose heart was at rest, she
drew from him his essence, and she made therefrom an heir. She suckled the child
in solitariness and none knew where his. place was, and he grew in strength. His
hand is mighty (or, victorious) within the house of Keb, and the Company of the
Gods rejoice greatly at the coming of Horus, the son of Osiris, whose heart is
firmly stablished, the triumphant one, the son of Isis, the flesh and bone of
Osiris. The Tchatcha 28 of Truth, and the Company of
the Gods, and Neb-er-tcher 29 himself, and the Lords of Truth,
gather together to him, and assemble therein. 30

Verily those who defeat iniquity rejoice 31 in the
House of Keb to bestow the divine rank and dignity upon him to whom it belongeth,
and the sovereignty upon him whose it is by right.

Footnotes

1 More fully Pa-Asar-neb-Tetut, the Busiris of the Greeks;
Busiris = Pa-Asar, “House of Osiris,” par excellence. The variant Tataut also
occurs.
2 An allusion, perhaps, to the town Sekhem, the capital
of the second nome (Letopolites) of Lower Egypt.
3 I.e., lord whose praises are sung.
4 Letopolites.
5 Heliopolis.
6 I.e., a famous sanctuary in the Letopolite nome where
Ptah was worshipped.
7 The region of the First Cataract, where the Nile was
believed to rise.
8 Memphis.
9 Herakleopolis, the חָנֵס of Isaiah.
10 A name of Herakleopolis.
11 Khemenu or Hermopolis, the city of Thoth.
12 These gods were: Nu and Nut; Hehu and Hehut; Kekui
and Kekuit; Kerh and Kerhet.
13 The capital of Set, the eleventh nome of Upper Egypt;
the chief local deity was Khnemu.
14 A name of the Other World.
15 I.e., the two Egypts, Upper and Lower.
16 The Doubles of the beatified who are fed by Osiris
in the Other World.
17 Three Companies are distinguished: the gods of Heaven,
the gods of Earth, and the gods of the Other World.
18 The indestructible, immortal Spirit-soul as opposed
to the Ba-soul or animal-soul.
19 Here and in other places I have changed the pronoun
of the third person into that of the second to avoid the abrupt changes of the
original.
20 I.e., they are under thy inspection and care.
21 I.e., the stars which never set. The allusion is
probably to certain circumpolar stars.
22 I.e., do homage.
23 One of the chief festivals of Osiris, during which
the god made a periplus.
24 This may also represent the mountainous districts
of Egypt, or even foreign countries in general.
25 To make him rise like the sun, or to enthrone him.
26 Or, “becoming a brother to the stars,” or the Star-gods.
27 Or, beneficent.
28 Literally, the “Heads,” I.e., the divine sovereign
Chiefs at the court of Osiris, who acted as administrators of the god, and even
as task-masters.
29 “He who is the lord to the end (or, limit) of the
world,” a name of Osiris.
30 I.e., in the House of Keb.
31 Or perhaps “take their seats in the House of Keb.”