Evening star., 1935-10-08
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress i'm Field.
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY

When the ancient Egyptian died he
knew exactly where he was going and
what he would find there.
Rev. DIR. George 8. Duncan. professor
OF EgyptolOgy at American University,
has just completed translation Of all the
hieroglyph inscriptions on the pyramids
the tombs Of pharoahs-which touch
upon the Egyptian belief in immortality.
About 16 miles south Of Cairo. he ex-
plains. is group Of five Of these pyra-
mids bearing inscriptions which con-
stitute the earliest immortality writings
known to man.
These date from about 1000 B. C. The
inscriptions consist Of religious texts.
prayers. hymns. ineantations, lists Of
offerings. and descriptions Of the future
life. They were intended to provide
appropriate directions for the dead
pharoah on his way to the next world,
and to insure his happiness when he
got there.
Prof. Duncans translations are all
from the original hieroglyphic texts.
Some Of the ideas, and perhaps some Of
the very words, probably date back to a
very great antiquity, he says. They
probably were composed by priests for
the benefit of the dead long before the
art Of writing became known, were re-
peated each time a king died, and were
handed down from mouth to mouth, gen.
Grafton after generation. They only
were committed to writing when there
was danger that they would be for
gotten.
Most of them, Prof Duncan says, can
be read with tolerable accuracy, but
some contain unknown words and
obscure illusions which at present defy
Interpretation.
1t Is clear from the inscriptions, says
DR.. Duncan. that the Egyptian concept
Of the afterworld was that of q glorified
Egypt with trees, reeds, flowers. gardens,
fields, lakes, rivers and floods. The
future world was located above, in the
eastern part Of the sky.
The Egyptian had an unshaken faith
In the eventual resurrection of the body.
This is affirmed in several of the pyramid
inscriptions he has translated. For ex-
ample:
She (the goddess NuD unites for thee
thy bones; she unites for thee thy men,
bers: she places for thee the breast in
thy body.
o. King Tety lift thyself up after thou
hast received thy head: pull together
thy bones; shake of thy dust.
Mayest thou open for King Mernere
his two eyes: mayest thou open for him
his nose mayest thou open for him his
mouth; mayest thou open for him his
two ears to hear.
Arise, dwellers in the tombs; loose
your bandages; throw of the sand from
your faces; lift up yourselves from your
left side; support yourselves upon your
right side.
The Egyptian journey to the next
world, DR.. Duncan finds, was over water
and was usually accomplished by means
Of two RATS or ferry boat. Thus:
The two RATS of the sky are placed
for King Unis, SO that he may ferry over
Herewith the horizon in the company
Of Re.
c. Re, commend King Tety to Maahaf,
the ferrymen of the lake Of Lotus, that
he may bring that ferry boat Of the lake
of Lotus to King Tety in which he
ferries over the gods to that side of
the lake of Lotus, to the eastern side
of the sky.
The Egyptians believed that the world
above was entered through doors with
bolts. There were alsd gates, and . door,