Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Tony,

Here is the translation of some unusual inscriptions about Pharaoh, 
taken from the wall of a tomb chamber. The page seems to be the work 
of an Egyptologist, and there is a lot of discussion there about the 
deity of Pharaoh:
http://maat.sofiatopia.org/cannibal.htm#edit

The Cannibal Hymn to Pharaoh Unis
(ca.2378 - 2348 BCE)

Utterance 273

The sky rains down.
The stars darken.
The celestial vaults stagger.
The bones of Aker (1) tremble.
Those beneath them flee in terror.
At seeing Pharaoh Unis rise as a Ba (2).
A god who lives on his fathers and feeds on his mothers.

Pharaoh is Lord of wisdom whose mother knows not his name.
Pharaoh's glory is in the sky, his might is in the horizon.
Like his father, Atum, his begetter.
Though his son, Pharaoh is mightier than he.

Pharaoh's Ka's are behind him.
His Hemuset(u) (3) are under his feet.
His gods are over him.
His uraeus-serpents are on his brow.
Pharaoh's guiding-serpent is on his forehead :
she who sees the Ba (of the enemy as) good for burning.
Pharaoh's neck is on his trunk.

Pharaoh is the Bull of the sky,
who shatters at will,
who lives on the being of every god, 
who eats their entrails,
even of those who come with their bodies 
full of magic from the Island of Flame (4).

Pharaoh is one equipped, 
who assembles his Khu's.
Pharaoh appears as this great one,
Lord of those with (helping) hands.
He sits with his back to Geb,
for it is Pharaoh who weighs what he says, 
together with Him-whose-name-is-hidden (5),
on this day of slaying the oldest ones.

Pharaoh is Lord of offerings, who knots the cord,
and who himself prepares his meal.
Pharaoh is he who eats men and lives on gods,
Lord of porters, who dispatches written messages.

It is 'Grasper-of-the-top-knot', who is Kehau, who lassoes them for Pharaoh.
It is 'Serpent Raised-head' who guards them for him and restrains them for 
him.
It is 'He-upon-the-willows' who binds them for him.
It is Khonsu, slayer of Lords, who will cut their troats for Pharaoh,
and will extract for him what is in their bodies,
for he is the messenger whom Pharaoh sends to restrain.
It is Shezmu (6) who will cut them up for Pharaoh,
and cooks meals of them in his dinner-pots.

Utterances 274

It is Pharaoh who eats their magic and gulps down their Khu's.
Their big ones are for his morning meal,
their middle-sized ones are for his evening meal,
their little ones are for his night meal,
their old men and their old women are for his incense-burning.
It is the Great Ones in the North of the sky (7) who light the fire for him
to the cauldrons containing them,
with the thighs of their eldest (as fuel).

Those who are in the sky serve Pharaoh,
And the butcher's blocks are wiped over for him,
with the feet of their women.

He has revolved around the whole of the two skies.
He has circled the two banks (8).
For Pharaoh is the great power, that overpowers the powers.
Pharaoh is a sacred image, the most sacred image 
of the sacred images of the great one.
Whom he finds in his way, him he devours bit by bit (9).

Pharaoh's place is at the head of all the noble ones (10) who are in 
the horizon.
For Pharaoh is a god, older than the oldest.
Thousands revolve around him, hundreds offer to him.
There is given to him a warrant as a great power by Orion (11), the 
father of the gods.

Pharaoh has risen again in the sky.
He is crowned as Lord of the horizon.
He has smashed the back-bones,
and has seized the hearts of the gods.
He has eaten the Red Crown (12).
He has swallowed the Green One (13).
Pharaoh feeds on the lungs of the wise.
And likes to live on hearts and their magic.

Pharaoh abhors against licking the coils of the Red Crown.
But delights to have their magic is in his belly.
Pharaoh's dignities will not be taken away from him.
For he has swallowed the knowledge of every god.
Pharaoh's lifetime is eternity. 
His limit is everlastingness.
In this his dignity of : 
'If-he-likes-he does. If-he-dislikes-he-does-not.'
He who is at the limits of the horizon,
for ever and ever.

Lo, their Ba is in Pharaoh's belly.
Their Khu's are in Pharaoh's possession,
as the surplus of his meal out of the gods.
Which is cooked for Pharaoh from their bones.

Lo, their Ba is in Pharaoh's possession.
Their shadows are removed from their owners,
while Pharaoh is this one who ever rises and lasting lasts. 

The doers of ill deeds have no power to destroy,
the chosen seat of Pharaoh,
among the living in this land.
For ever and ever.

                                        Yours,
                                        Harold Holmyard

o banks.