THE

LAMENTATIONS OF ISIS AND NEPHTHYS1

This papyrus was found by the late Mr. Passalacqua, in the ruins of Thebes, in the interior of a statue representing Osiris. It is divided into two parts, very distinct. The first contains chapters of the funeral ritual in the hieroglyphic writing ; the second, of which a translation here follows, consists of tive pages, of a hne hieratic writing of the lower epoch (probably about the time of the Ptolemies).

This manuscript now belongs to the Royal Muséum of Berlin, where it is registered under the No. 1425.

A partial translation of it was published in 1852 by M. H. Brugsch, Die Adonisklage und das Linoslied. He translated the second page and the beginning of the third, but witbout giving the hieratic text. I hâve since published and completely translated this interesting document, Les Lamentations d’Isis et de Neplithys, Paris, 1866 2, and now give the English translation revised.

The composition lias a great analogv with the Book of Respirations, a translation of which will be added here. Both refer to the résurrection and renewed birth of Osiris (the type of man after his death) who, in this quality, is identified with the Sun, the diurnal renewal of which con-

1. Publié dans les Records of the Past, lsl Ser., t. II, p. 117-126.