Hieratic Texts from the Collection

Mainly dedicated to hieratic manuscripts from the Tebtunis temple library and contains contributions by Alexandra von Lieven, J F Quack, and Kim Ryholt. The Tebtunis temple library is the only ancient Egyptian temple library of which substantial remains are preserved, and the immense material -- estimated at several hundred manuscripts -- makes it by far the richest, single source of Egyptian literary texts. The present volume is introduced by a survey of the hieratic and hieroglyphic manuscripts from the temple library. The main genres are discussed and conclusions are drawn concerning the sort of compositions transmitted in hieratic as well as the cultural values which lie behind the choices. The survey is followed by full editions of a series of religious texts: an Osiris liturgy, the Ritual of Bringing Sokar out of the Shetit (previously known only from monumental hieroglyphic versions from temples and manuscripts for funerary use), the Votive Cubit (otherwise known essentially from fragments of the original stone cubits), the Nine-Headed Bes (a parallel to the famous illustrated Brooklyn papyrus but with a fuller description of how the practitioner should proceed), and the Ritual of Opening the Mouth (one version written for Sobek, lord of Tebtunis, the others for Sokar-Osiris). The volume further includes a slip of papyrus with four book-titles, a papyrus with a coloured drawing of an offering scene, and a decorated band for tying up a papyrus roll.