From their discovery in the late 19th century to the present day, a large number of researchers have engaged in the study and interpretation of the so-called Pyramid Texts, that is, the texts carved in the interior walls of the pyramids of the kings —and some queens— at the Egyptian necropolis of Saqqara, from the end of the Old Kingdom until the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2375–2181 BC). Despite the apparent diversity of religious motifs and traditions brought together in these texts, the major theme of the corpus is undoubtedly the resurrection and the subsequent ascension of the king to heaven by means of very diverse actions, agents and objects. In spite of the abundance of studies, the ascension myth keeps bringing up interpretation problems—such as the determination of the final destination of the monarch— which, in our opinion, can be solved by analysing the verbal forms used in the description of the process. The aim of our research, then, is to delve into the understanding of the ascension myth by means of a lexical study of the verbs used to express the ascension of the king to heaven. The research has been carried out on the basis of the oldest recensions of the text, that is, the texts of the kings of the 5th and 6th dynasties of Unas, Teti, Pepy I, Merenra and Pepy II, and in several stages which, in a way, have determined the structure of the study. The starting point has been an initial list of passages and verbs made out from the main translations, dictionaries and lexicons. Then, a full translation of the Pyramid Texts has been provided. During this process, the passages which describe the ascension of the king to heaven have been classified and studied. Subsequently, a definitive listing of ascensional verbs has been established and a catalogue has been elaborated with the passages in which each verb is used, the graphical representation of the verb in each example (paying special attention to determinative signs), the geographical location of the passage in each of the pyramids, the translation of the passage and lastly, the lexical relations of each verb with the other verbs and nouns. With all this material, we have undertaken a thorough analysis, which is the main body of our thesis. We have also completed the study with seven brief essays on different aspects of the ascension. In our opinion, our study makes it easier to understand texts that still today, after more than a hundred years of research, present difficulties of interpretation. Indeed, the diversity of religious motifs and traditions gathered in the corpus can raise certain contradictions when applying western parameters of interpretation. Some of the aims of our study are to try to solve some of these contradictions and provide better insight into the relations among the different religious doctrines that make up the corpus. The study, then, provides a better understanding of the ascension myth, as well as of the evolution of the Egyptian religious mentality in its own historic and cultural dynamic of the Old Kingdom. It also aims to study thoroughly the complex mythical and religious meaning of the Pyramid Texts, as well as the different ritual elements associated with the ascension myth itself.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 08:47:54 +0000
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