Mastering Hieroglyphs: IV. Verb Conjugation in Ancient Pyramid Spells
Deciphering the Spoken Magic of the Pyramid Text
The Discovery of the Pyramid Texts
When French archaeologist Gaston Maspero uncovered mysterious inscriptions deep within a Saqqara pyramid in 1880, he caused quite a stir among scholars. So unexpected was the find that Auguste Mariette, head of Cairo’s excavations, is said to have declared:
“In 30 years, who has ever heard of such a thing as a pyramid with writing on its walls?”
Yet, here they were, five (Pepi I & II, Unas, Teti, Merenre) withered pyramids with inscribed subterranean crypts, a stone's throw away from the step pyramid of Djoser, revealing the oldest and most substantial body of religious texts from Ancient Egypt.
While the great pyramids, dating 200 years earlier, did not bear a single inscription (except for some graffiti and later additions), these much smaller structures contained, mystic spells covering some of the most profound writings about the Ancient Egyptian belief system ever to be carved into stone, describing the entire transformation and journey through the afterlife and the source of divine “magic” (HEKA) in the famous Cannibal Hymn.
While there is no doubt about their cultural significance, their correct translation, purpose, and order remain the focus of academic debate (no two pyramid crypts preserve the same text in the same order). However, one of the most heated arguments is not about their content, historicity (actual cannibalism in the “cannibal hymn”?), or their meaning; it is about, you guessed it, verbal inflection!
There are the American translators on one side, postulating with an audacious pragmatism to deduct meaning from the actual use of the verbs and the Europeans on the other, defending their intellectual monopoly on Ancient Egyptian grammar by claiming a perfective verb form as a form of ritual performative speech and spewing out relentless essays on how to translate Ancient Egyptian of the Old Kingdom properly. But what about these verbal constructs could be so important to feud over for decades?
First, it is important to note that the authors were not even entirely sure which inflection to use when they chiseled the Hieroglyphs on those crypt walls. Which led to a lot of re-chiseling, which then led one of the main editors and translators of the Pyramid Texts (a blasphemous American) to remark:
Although the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom were inscribed only in royal tombs, the texts themselves give evidence of a less exclusive use. Many of them were originally in the first person, meant to be spoken by the deceased’s spirit and thus not restricted to a particular individual. (…) Most of the editorial revisions have to do with the replacement of an original first-person pronoun by the deceased’s name or a third-person referent, thus “personalizing” the texts for each pyramid.
The spells of the Pyramid Texts that address the deceased in the second person are ritual in nature. Originally recited by a lector priest in the role of the deceased’s son during rites that probably took place at the funeral, they were carved on the walls of the pyramid’s chambers to ensure their ongoing effectiveness.
James P Allen*, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts
*James P. Allen is Charles Edwin Wilbour Professor of Egyptology at Brown University, a position he took up in 2007 after serving as curator in the Department of Egyptian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Aha, so in short: these texts (of which the Pyramid of Unas - see below - was the first and also the most copied later on) were not entirely canonized at this point (we will see later mortuary texts in the coffin texts and the Book of the Dead with a much higher standardization level), but were imported from a different ritualistic context and still in a rough cut state of, or as Harold M. Hays (another American translator and leading expert) called it, at an early stage of Entextualization.
“These texts are to a large extent a composition, a compilation and joining of earlier texts which must have circulated orally or were written down on papyrus many centuries earlier.”
So what we learn from the changing voice (1st person, 3rd person, and 2nd person) is that these are highly ritualized spells, meant to be spoken out loud and to be answered by the deceased, which will be important for the Egyptian concept of “MAGIC” encrypted in these spells.
The Ancient Egyptian Verbal System
If you look at the chart below, you see the Hieroglyph of a little ear 𓄔 (sḏ), and our old friend the M-Owl 𓅓, leaning toward it. These two form the word for “to hear” and are transcribed sḏm (say: SEDJEM); this is the standard word used as an example for Ancient Egyptian verb inflection in every grammar book.
Egyptologists refer to it as the sḏm=f - Form, so called after its third-person form. And we see by its ending how the Hieroglyphic verb inflection works, you simply add the hieroglyphic pronoun ending (or suffix as a - probably European - linguist would point out) to the stem of the word, which is in this case the 𓄔𓅓 sḏm, and you are good to go:
So if the scribe decided to change the text from the first person sḏm=i 𓄔𓅓𓏭/𓀀 (the i was often omitted and the first person marked with this unspoke signifier Hieroglyph 𓀀) they only needed to chisel out one sign and put this little guy 𓆑 (f) instead spelling sḏm=f to turn it into a third person spell instead of a first person narrative.
The other thing we learned from the quote above is that if you find this sign 𓎡 (k) denoting the second person addressing the spirit of the deceased directly, you are looking at a ritualistic part of the Pyramid Texts meant to be recited by a lector priest.
sḏm=i 𓄔𓅓𓀀 I hear
sḏm=k 𓄔𓅓𓎡You (m.) hear
sḏm=f 𓄔𓅓𓆑 He hears
The plural adds the waterline Hieroglyph 𓈖 (N)
sḏm=n𓄔𓅓𓈖We hear
sḏm=tn𓄔𓅓𓏏𓈖You (pl.) hear
sḏm=sn 𓄔𓅓𓋴𓈖They hear
The Pyramid Text of Unas/Unis
The earliest and most canonical of the pyramid texts was found in the pyramid of Unas/Unis (the last king of the Fifth Dynasty, ca. 2353-2323 B.C.).
The spells were written on the walls of the subterranean crypt and reflected the soul’s journey through the afterlife, beginning with the deceased spirit’s union with its mummy in the sarcophagus, and then passing through the corridors ending with its emergence from the pyramid. Situated in the burial chamber and next to the sarcophagus are ritual spells and offerings ensuring the king’s control over the source of his sustenance in the afterlife (including The Offering Ritual, the Resurrection Ritual, protective spells, and a 1st person response to the Offering Ritual).
The spells in the antechamber change from ritual to more personal, they describe the transformation of the different soul aspects while accompanying the sun in its journey through the DUAT in a bark and the transformational pivot of the AKH when it reaches the AKHET (see AKHET explanation in the last lesson) and their final ascension to the sky.
The layout of the crypt corresponded to this procession through the afterlife and represented both a birth canal (with the sarcophagus equalling Nut’s womb) and a miniature version of the passage from the Duat (Underworld) through the Akhet (𓈌 3ḫt / A-KH-T/ “horizon” hieroglyph representing the goal of the traveling soul after death, meaning “place of becoming effective”) and into the sky.
The Burial Chamber
During a closer Reading of these Spells and Rituals it is helpful to have a Gardiner list handy ( another link here) and take a look at our existing inventory of signs we already learned in the preceding lesson on mortuary vocabulary. (List of all existing Hieroglyphs with their Gardiner classification: https://www.leskoff.com/s01776-0). The full translation of the Pyramid Text of Unas can be found here: https://pyramidtextsonline.com/sarcsouth.html
As we learned above, the burial chamber is mainly inscribed with Rituals and Offering Spells in the 2nd person, addressing the deceased directly, which tells us that their original function was to be read by a so-called lector priest.
INVOCATION OF THE OFFERING - RITUAL 134 - RECITATION.
Hey! Turn around! Ah, ah!
Ho, Unis! Stand up and sit down to a thousand of bread, a thousand of beer, roast meat, your rib-meat from the slaughterhouse, “pulled” bread from the broadhall.
As the god is provided with a god’s-offering, Unis is provided with this his bread.
You have come to your ba, Osiris, ba among the akhs, in control in his places, whom the Ennead tend in the Official’s Enclosure.
Ho, Unis! Elevate yourself to me, betake yourself toward me: do not go far from me, tomb-dweller, and turn toward me.
I have given you Horus’s eye, I have allotted it to you: may it endure for you with you.
Ho Unis! Stand up, receive this your bread from me. Ho, Unis! I will be an attendant for you.
Translation: James P Allen “The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts”
It turns out that when the spells are offering beer and meat the language changes accordingly and gets a little bit more, let us say, explicit, with the spells almost yelling at the deceased Pharaoh to turn around and take a look.
A more formulaic structure is followed on a list of offerings of ritual oils (also picture below on the crypt wall):
But let us take a closer look at the second column (marked by the Substack sign and framed in white) to find out how these magic in the spells were believed to take effect:
Transcription: jsj r wnjs m n.k ḥ nqj m ḥ r.f
Translation: “Osiris Unas, accept to you the foam that is from his face.”
First Osiris (literally WSJR) is envoked with his name written with the 𓊨 Seat Hieroglyph (Q1 Gardiner sign Phono. ws.) meaning “seat, place,” and the eye 𓁹 spelling JR (D4).
Followed by the cartouche of the deceased Pharaoh Unas / WNJS:
m n.k – to you/‘accept’ is written with the 𓌇 Angular headed mace (T1 - Phono. mn) the waterline N and the 𓎡 (k) Basket with handle.
We see here that the second person marker 𓎡 kann also take the place of a pronoun. While the closing expression m ḥr.f – “from his face” - brings back our friend the M-Owl in an adverbial function we have already seen before in the Prophecy of Neferty and the horned viper 𓆑 after “face” teaches us that the same group of signs can also be used to show possession.
The ḥnqj – “the foam” part, written with the 𓎛 (ḥ) Wick Sign (V28) is where it gets interesting:
This line is a magical invocation of Heka, the Ancient Egyptian term for divine magic and this hieroglyphic construct encodes the name of the oil to be offered in an anagram:
The phrase “m n.k ḥ nqj” (to you the foam of his face) masks the sequence ḥ‑k‑n, (read backwards from ḥ “foam”+ n.k (to you). This anagram encodes ḥkn, the word for "jubilation oil," which is also listed below.
In other words, the signs making up the word for the oil 𓎛 ḥ and 𓎡k are mirrored while also envoking the Ancient Egyptian term for “MAGIC” = HEKA (spelled with the 𓎛 ḥ and the 𓂓 KA arms).
This form of magic, using the Abraxas principle of speaking things into being with mirrored language signifies an age old ritual evocation while calling upon powers that were believed to be a supernatural energy only possessed by gods. This also explains what we are about to read in the so-called Cannibal hymn where a "cannibal pharaoh" must devour myriads of gods to gain this magical power.
THE ANTECHAMBER & THE CANNIBAL HYMN
The antechamber describes the mystical region of the AKHET, where the spirit is thus transformed that it can break through the final barrier in this process and become an “AKH” spirit. (for further reading on the different soul parts in Ancient Egyptian spirituality see “The purpose of Life and Death in Ancient Egyptian Mysticism”).
Inscribed on the east wall of the antechamber, the Cannibal Hymn portrays the deceased king Unas as a divine and fearsome being who hunts, slaughters, and consumes the gods to absorb their powers and attain immortality. It presents Unas as transcending mortality by devouring the essence of the gods, thus asserting his supremacy and eternal dominion in the afterlife.
Unis is the bull
𓃒 of the sky 𓇯, agressive in his 𓆑 heart , living 𓋹 on 𓅓 (M-Owl construction!) the being 𓆣𓂋𓏤 of every god (Alternative Translation: Pharaoh is the Bull of the Sky, who shatters at will, who lives on the being of every god) eating entrails of them, who came with their bellies full of magic 𓎛𓂓 from the Isle of Flame 𓊮 (Q7 Brazier).
Unis is the one who eats their magic and swallows their akhs,
for their adults are for his morning meal, their middle-sized ones for his evening meal, their little ones for his nighttime snack, their old men and women (fuel) for his ovens;
for the sky’s great northerners are the ones who set fire for him to the cauldrons containing them with the bones of their senior ones;
for those in the sky serve him, while the hearthstones are poked for him with the legs of their women;
for both skies go around (in service) for him and the two shores serve him.
Unis is the most controlling power, who controls the controlling powers; Unis is the sacred image who is most sacred of sacred images: anyone he finds in his way he will devour,
for Unis’s proper place is in front of all the privileged ones in the Akhet.
Unis is the god who is senior to the senior ones,
for thousands serve him and hundreds present offering to him;
for he has been given title as the greatest controlling power by Orion, the gods’ father;
for Unis has reappeared in the sky and is crowned as lord of the Akhet; for the vertebrae of spines have been broken up for him and he has acquired the gods’ hearts;
for he has eaten the red and swallowed the raw.
Unis will feed on the lungs of the experienced and grow content from living on hearts and their magic as well.
Unis will spit out when he licks the emetic parts in the red, for he is replete and their magic is in his belly.
Unis’s privileges will not be taken from him, for he has swallowed the Perception of every god.
Continuity is the lifetime of Unis, eternity is his limit, in his privilege of “When He Likes He Acts, When He Dislikes He Does Not Act,” which is in the Akhet’s limits forever continually.
For their ba is in Unis’s belly and their akhs are with Unis, as the excess of his meal with respect to (that of ) the gods, since it was heated for Unis with their bones;
for their ba is with Unis, and (only) their shadows are (still) with their owners;
for Unis is in this (state), ever apparent, ever set.
SPELLS FOR ENTERING THE SKY (BURIAL CHAMBER, CORRIDOR,WEST AND EAST WALLS)
One recurring theme of all pyramid texts including the later ones of the Middle Kingdom is the stellar destination of Pharaoh. In the pyramid of Unas we also find this eternal resting place among the stars mentioned and inscribed everywhere.
139: The (glorified) humanity bewail you after the Imperishable Stars have carried you. Enter then into the place where your father is, where Geb is! He gives you that which was on the brow of Horus, so that you become powerful and full of glory through it, so that you become the One-at-the-Head-of-the-Westerners through it.
140: O Unas! Your messengers go, your heralds hurry to your father, to Atum.
"Atum, let him rise to you, fold him in your arms!
141: There is no god, who has become a star, without a companion."
"Shall I be your companion?"
These spells describe the pharaoh's journey after death, where he is "glorified" and then "carried" by the "Imperishable Stars", he is to enter the realm of his father, Geb, and receive the power "that is on the brow of Horus”, meaning the solar Eye of Ra (not to be confused with the lunar, left Eye of Horus), symbolizing the sun disk and divine power; while “Becoming the One-at-the-Head-of-the-Westerners” refers to the ancient Egyptian deity Khenti-Amentiu, who acted as a guide and protector of the dead in the afterlife.
What is special about this spell is, that for the first time in the Old Kingdom, the goal of all the fervent Pyramid building and ritualistic mortuary activity is revealed.
It was not only about the soul’s transformation and daily rebirth, but first and foremost, it was about the soul’s reunion with the IMPERSHABLE STARS.
The Great Pyramid of Giza were allegedly designed with alignments and pathways, sensationalized as "star shafts", that linked the pharaoh's passage to the afterlife with certain star constellations, and the pyramids of the Middle Kingdom bore inscriptions linking the afterlife to a final resting place among the stars, but it is in the Pyramid texts where this is made explicit for the first time.
Indestructible/Imperishable Stars
When we look at the transcription for “the indestructible star” j.ḫmw-sk, we notice the negation arms 𓂜 from the last grammar lesson, forming the word IXM “not knowing” (see below), while the folded cloth 𓋴 (S) with the swab 𓎝 (sk) and the basket 𓎡 (k) create the word for perish, forming the expression “not-knowing-to-perish”, when followed by the signifier of a star 𓇼 (SBA) the word IMPERISHABLE STAR emerges with the three vertical lines or triple stroke 𓏥 denoting the plural forms.
The Indestructibles or Imperishable Stars are two bright stars (Kochab and Mizar), circling the North Pole and never setting below the horizon. They are located in the constellation of Ursa Minor and Ursa Major.
They were believed to form the centre of the Ancient Egyptian afterlife, where the souls or AKHs of deceased pharaohs met other gods to spend eternity together. ("Shall I be your companion?")
OPENING THE DOOR TO THE SKY
218 Pull back, Baboon’s penis!
(expl. they are talking to the door bolt here)
Open, sky’s door!
You sealed door, open a path for Unis on the blast of heat where the gods scoop water.
Horus’s glide path—TWICE—will Unis glide on, in this blast of heat where the gods scoop water, and they will make a path for Unis that Unis may pass on it: Unis is Horus.
SPELL AGAINST THE DOOR’S GUARDIAN (219)
RECITATION. Back, gored longhorn with the horizon’s fingers on his
horns! Fall down, crawl away!
ENTERING THE SKY
Unis is a screeching, howling baboon, Unis’s anus on Unis’s back and Unis’s back-ridge on Unis’s head. Unis will make ululation and sit among the youngsters. O you back-turning star, Unis does not have to give you his magic. Unis will sit with his back to the swept area in Heliopolis;
Unis will be taken to the sky.
It becomes clear in the Opening the Door Spell above, that merely “translating” Ancient Egyptian texts - bereft of its cultural, ritual and symbolic context - still often results in nothing but a mystifying gibberish. For instance the image of a baboon with its rear raised and shoulders hunched is a metaphor for the adoration of the rising sun, alluding to the howling of baboons at dawn.
Ancient Egypt, however, took great pride in the intranslatability of their culture’s semiotics, and when they were inevitably conquered (again!… never quite the military power, they were conquered half a dozen times throughout their 3,000-year history) and their new Hellenistic rulers demanded readable translations of religious texts, the Egyptian priesthood smugly retorted that Greek was too primitive a language to fathom the complexity of Hieroglyphic script, mocking the concept of an alphabetic and three-dimensional language (that was meant as an anti-colonial insult) clinging to notions of “real” and “abstract” and therefore hopelessly entangled with the empiricism of Aristotelian metaphysics.
In that way, their mysticism and deeper wisdom about the afterlife always eluded capture and colonization. It took the mad tenacity of Napoleon Bonaparte to raid Egypt with an équipe of over 1200 scientists to even make a dent in their mountain of undiscernible knowledge. (And despite the tireless efforts of thousands of people, it still took the discovery of a word-by-word translation in the form of the Rosetta Stone to finally decipher the Hieroglyphic script.)
Approaching these encrypted mortuary texts with our modern cultural vocabulary further reveals the full extent of the unfathomable mystique of the Ancient Egyptian language, while making it painfully apparent how much remains irretrievably lost to our (“three-dimensional and hopelessly alphabetic”) level of understanding not in small part due to the loss of mythical thinking in Western Culture.
So the the keys to understanding these highly potent and magical spells lies not only in the script itself but also in their ritualistic context and the distinction between spoken vs written spells, which often holds the answer to one of the greatest mysteries about Ancient Egypt: the understanding of HEKA and the unleashing of ancient Egyptian magic.
𓀀
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
W.B. Yeats