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White Hippopotamus in Egyptian Book of Dead


Hatshepsut

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Next to the scene where the Scribe Ani is driving a plow team in his afterlife paradise (ca. 1250 BC, in Von Dassow, The Egyptian Book of the Dead, plate 34) is a most unusual text which I transcribe here:

BOD110WhiteHippo1001_zps62502481.jpg

A possible transliteration and translation follows Von Dassow, who gives an English but without the word-by-word transliteration step:

r HDt "The speech of the one who is white:

jtrw m Aw.f "The river is in its length,

nn Dd wsx.f "its width will not say.

nn wn rmw nb(w) jm.f "There are not any fish in it.

nn HfAw(t) nbt jm.f "There are not any (female) snakes in it."

Von Dassow's rendering polishes this as "Speech of the White Hippopotamus: It is a thousand river measures in its length and its breadth cannot be said. There are no fish at all in it and there are no serpents in it." However, the symbol for 1000, a lotus stalk, does not occur in the orginal, which would then read 1000 m jtrw m Aw.f instead. She is likely translating with reference to comparison copies of this passage: The Book of the Dead on papyrus was buried with hundreds of New Kingdom funerals. Google Books previews Ani's complete fascimile copy in Von Dassow in stunning color plates, also at Amazon for about $20.

But the point is, why does the White Hippopotamus say this to Ani? How is this cow Hippo related to the fauna of the Nile she is declaring absent? Is she a friend or foe in the Egyptian afterlife?

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Next to the scene where the Scribe Ani is driving a plow team in his afterlife paradise (ca. 1250 BC, in Von Dassow, The Egyptian Book of the Dead, plate 34) is a most unusual text which I transcribe here:

BOD110WhiteHippo1001_zps62502481.jpg

A possible transliteration and translation follows Von Dassow, who gives an English but without the word-by-word transliteration step:

r HDt "The speech of the one who is white:

jtrw m Aw.f "The river is in its length,

nn Dd wsx.f "its width will not say.

nn wn rmw nb(w) jm.f "There are not any fish in it.

nn HfAw(t) nbt jm.f "There are not any (female) snakes in it."

Von Dassow's rendering polishes this as "Speech of the White Hippopotamus: It is a thousand river measures in its length and its breadth cannot be said. There are no fish at all in it and there are no serpents in it." However, the symbol for 1000, a lotus stalk, does not occur in the orginal, which would then read 1000 m jtrw m Aw.f instead. She is likely translating with reference to comparison copies of this passage: The Book of the Dead on papyrus was buried with hundreds of New Kingdom funerals. Google Books previews Ani's complete fascimile copy in Von Dassow in stunning color plates, also at Amazon for about $20.

But the point is, why does the White Hippopotamus say this to Ani? How is this cow Hippo related to the fauna of the Nile she is declaring absent? Is she a friend or foe in the Egyptian afterlife?

You are quoting Book of the Dead chapter 110.

The "waterway of the White Hippopotamus" comes initially from Coffin Texts of el-Bersheh, as part of an Egyptian mythological place called Sekhet Hetep.

Here is a link that analyzes the mythical (Middle Kingdom Egyptian) place Sekhet Hetep.

http://www.academia.edu/231849/The_Ritual_Landscape_of_the_Field_of_Hetep

Se especially picture 6 which defines the region titled "waterway of the White Hipppopotamus".

See especially picture 5 and its accompanying explanation of dimensions for Sekhet Hetep and the "waterway of the White Hippopotamus".

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You are quoting Book of the Dead chapter 110. The "waterway of the White Hippopotamus" comes initially from Coffin Texts of el-Bersheh, as part of an Egyptian mythological place called Sekhet Hetep.

Wow! Thanks indeed. Adrian De Buck (CT V, 359-362) reproduces such a waterway map from Coffin B9C, of Amenemhat, from Deir el-Bersha in Dyn. 12. I was completely unaware that this was the precedent. :tu:

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