EGYPTIAN LITERATURE.
THE HISTORY OF CREATION--A.
The Book of knowing the evolutions[1] of Rā, and of overthrowing Āpep. [These are] the words which the god Neb-er-tcher spake after he had come into being:--"I am he who came into being in the form of the god Kheperȧ, and I am the creator of that which came into being, that is to say, I am the creator of everything which came into being; now the things which I created, and which came forth out of my mouth after that I had come into being myself were exceedingly many. The sky (or, heaven) had not come into being, the earth did not exist, and the children of the earth,[2] and the creeping things, had not been made at that time. I myself raised them up from out of Nu,[3] from a state of helpless inertness. I found no place whereon I could stand. I worked a charm[4] upon my own heart (or, will), I laid the foundation [of things] by Maāt,[5] and I made everything which had form. I was [then] one by myself, for I had not emitted from myself the god Shu, and I had not spit out from myself the goddess Tefnut; and there existed no
- ↑ Kheperu. The verb kheper means "to make, to form, to produce, to become, and to roll"; kheperu here means "the things which come into being through the rollings of the ball of the god Kheper (the roller)," i.e, the Sun.
- ↑ I.e., serpents and snakes, or perhaps plants.
- ↑ The primeval watery mass which was the source and origin of all beings and things.
- ↑ I.e., he uttered a magical formula.
- ↑ I.e., by exact and definite rules.
