 |
| Map of the netherworld from the coffin of Gua, from Deir el-Bersha, Egypt. 1985-1795 BC. |
Ra says:
- Proceed in peace, that I may repeat to you the good deeds that my heart has done in the midst of the coiled one in order to silence evil.
- I have done four good deeds in the midst of the portal of the horizon.
- I made the four winds, that every man might breathe in his time. This is a deed thereof.
- I made the great flood, that the poor man might have power like the great. This is a deed thereof.
- I made every man like his fellow. I did not command that they do evil. It is their hearts that disobey what I have said. This is a deed thereof.
- I made their hearts to cease forgetting the West, in order to make divine offerings to the gods of the nomes. This is a deed thereof.
- It is with my sweat that I created the gods, while humankind is from the weeping of my eye… (tr. Lesko)
I came across a reference to this in reading G Pinch’s Handbook of Egyptian Mythology.
Breath, enough food for everyone (from the inundation), equal potential to do good, and humans are destined for eternal life in the Beautiful West.
Reidy (Eternal Egypt) also mentions that Gods and humans were made from the sweat and tears of the creator. So both are made of similar stuff, and related to each other. Very different from the Old Testament story of humans being created from clay and a rib. Both sweat and tears contain water and salt (Natron!), which adds another layer of meaning when both are offered in rituals.
The tears could be tears of joy or sorrow.
(I suspect “the coiled one” refers to Nehebkau, the serpent of many coils.)
