This is not - as for example a manual of Greek mythology might be - a collection of entertaining legends. It is a compilation of learned religious lore for the instruction of priests. The manuscripts date to the time of the Roman Empire, but it remains uncertain when the manual was compiled.
This manual probably covered the whole of Egypt, arranged geographically, nome by nome. The manuscript that is translated here contains the account of part of Upper Egypt; some other fragments have been discovered, so more will be available in due course.
The translation is taken from a thesis by J.K.B. Jørgensen, "Mythological structures and interpretative techniques in the Tebtunis Mythological manual" ( PDF ), which should be consulted for further details.
[1] . . .
11th Nome of Upper Egypt ( ḥw-nt ) :
{ Geb explains to Horus that the 11th nome should be given to Seth. }
20 . . . nome of the Sha-animal. Shashotep . . . He injured . . . [2] . . . I went to the desert while he was fighting with me. You gave me Hunet . . . I travelled to it. See I am in the vicinity of it. Geb, he said to Horus : You have seen the ḥnt-water of . . . of which he said: 'See it is in the Duat. ' Your two lands belong to you, while the whole nome was made for him, protected as his endowment. He is in the ḥnt-waters of another field. Therefore the bad one came into existence in Hunet. Therefore the name of this nome was made until this day. . . There is a female statue with the face of a sow in its sanctity, ornamented with (?) . . . she is called Hathor. She took . . . in the reign of the majesty of Baunetjer (l.p.h.).
12th Nome of Upper Egypt ( ȝtft ) :
Per-Nemty is called Atfet. Ukh is the god in it. It is Horus on top of the wild bull because of the damage to his face which [ Seth ] caused. In this place the damage is punished. Horus hid himself there before him after the injury [to him] by his mother. 10 He did not know how to enter the upper region [of the mountain] of Dedun. Horus entered the portico in which she had entered. That evil befell the son of Isis, when she had placed Horus . . . Gold was given to Ukh to search for the one who was hidden. When he had arrived at the region of the districts, this god gave recompense of gold to Nemty. Now Nemty was ferrying him on the river, and he revealed the damage to the god's limbs since he had seen a crocodile seated on the relics. It is the mountain in which was called [since Horus had entered] the temple of Horus to the place of reuniting the putrefaction [being whole and without] his suffering. Matit, the pig, is on the relics, chasing away his sm3-demons for him. The divine limbs of Nebty are gold because of that reward which was handed out.
Concerning Ukh, the great one, resting on his standard: Two feathers are in front of him and two behind him, while the skin of Horus is underneath him. Gold is taboo on account of its colour because of the stench that is 'far from' the slaughter of his fattened beasts. The two feathers are elevated on a standard, each one to the back of the other. Gold is taboo in this place because of the colour of the skin of the new born Horus. Matit in her secret form recited for him being Isis and [ Nephtys ], in opposing Apophis 20 . . . of heart is said about one. Mistress is said of her . . . Osiris is in front of him, buried (?). . . Gold is bwt on account . . .of the colour of the god's limbs. The exact . . . is not known . . . While his [bones] are ʿrk-wr silver . . . She placed the rebels . . . as his fingers . . . is taboo . . . [gold] for Horus . . . Tjebty for the gold . . . standard . . . Osiris.
Concerning silver: The bones of the statue of Ukh are made thereof. The skin of . . . The god's limbs without permitting Hapi to be in this city with secretions . . . Ukh in this city. There was a man in his following. He caused that . . . . Because it is said of him: 'the one who causes that a finger is made as his sign'. Gold became bwt for him because of this . . . Taken away 30 . . . in his appearance on the third month of Peret, day [3. . .
13th Nome of Upper Egypt ( ȝtf-ḫnt ) :
Anubis, the lord of . . . [3] . . . It is so that it is not given to you. The name of this nome came into being because of this.
Concerning Assiut and the one of the granary: It is a protected district. The guarding of things is called 'Assiut'. A dog fed on it and it spewed. The food in wrappings is called 'Atef-khent'. It is the statue in Assiut which is sought in the granary of the Lady of Sixteen, until the day of 'standing'.
{ Upuaut eats from the corpse of Osiris. }
Concerning hematite and gold: It is the bones of Horus.
Concerning iron: It is the bones of Seth.
They are fighting repeatedly as they have done since time immemorial. Upuaut hid the dismembered one in the caverns of his house When Horus saw him he leaped up to show the way for his father Osiris, while the gang of the dark one was hurrying towards him after he had licked the putrefaction off the mummy. It is because of this that a jackal on top of a statue is made. He spewed out what he had swallowed. The august form was established The efflux of the god was guarded (?) After he had injured the relics of his father Osiris. It is said of him: This dog, he ate in order to spew out. He turned to eat it again. Since they said: 'dog', when he 10 came to eat what he had spewed, returning to his master, barking in his face for his reward.His master became weak. He did not eat and really hated what he had swallowed: The efflux which had issued from his statue, and his fingers of the weary-hearted (?) Then he spewed it out on the ground. Thus he gave it back after he had eaten it again. 'Atef-Khent' is said about an obelisk. It is the fingers of the weary-hearted (?) Inside the divine limbs, being unknown. Gold is his bwt on account of its colour.
Concerning Hathor, the Lady of Sixteen: It is Isis as protection for Osiris. The feminine figure seated on a throne with a human face. The chapel of the sistrum is her appearance, their arms . . . and she called to her brother.
Concerning Assiut: Isis bandaged the efflux that came forth from the front of the divine limbs that had been sought after when Seth had done injury to the thigh of Hen {Osiris}; it was placed inside the temple of the ogdoad of trees inside this place, the name of which is 'The place of the ogdoad of trees'. Then Anubis, lord of Rokerret, was placed as its protection. The name of Assiut became 'Bandaged in front of the embalming' because of this.
Concerning the trees which are made for Assiut: It is the searching of Isis, Horus and Nephtys It is Horus when he took form as Anubis when dragging the evil one to Rokerret which is in this place.
Concerning the mother of god which is in this place: It is Isis.
20 Concerning the lady of the lords who are in her embrace, being the lord of silence, Upuaut who comes forth from the tomb. It is Isis, and his statue in her embrace repeatedly. Upuaut said: You should not talk to any people . . . in truth. She did not talk to any people. The sixteen hidden things are not known in the districts of this nome to this day because of this.
14th Nome of Upper Egypt ( ȝtf-pḥwy ) :
The wrapping of . . . is called Cusae . . . therewith. It is Hathor . . . The efflux of the god was collected as libation water. . .that he had embalmed in the mansion of the heben-jar . . . Cusae on account of . . . Atef-Pehuy on account of the food . . . likewise . . . thereof. Then . . . came out . . . the limbs of . . . Osiris . . .
30 . . . The lady of . . . Hathor is . . .The efflux of the god in . . . the limbs of the god, established until . . . wrapped inside the bindings . . . Placed in the west . . . watery area in . . . in Atef-Pehuy . . . the name of the wab-priest . . . a substitute in this nome . . . [4] . . . the limbs of the god in the water. 'The nourishment in the water surfaced. Milk is taboo there on account of it. It is Nephthys, so they say in this nome. This goddess who was bound by the weave of fine linen, there being nothing held back from her, consisting of fine royal linen of nine-strands linen, she being clad like Renenutet. She searched for the limbs of the god {Osiris} which were floating. When he was found on the banks, she hid/saw the statue of the god beneath the ʿrw-tree. She found what she was looking for as the dismembered one in the siȝt-cloth, hidden in the sṯt-cloth, hidden in the west, since it was towards the west that he was placed. Royal linen was wrapped around the efflux which came forth from the behind after Seth had caused injury there ; while Seth may not traverse this place, the name of which is 'Mansion of the heben-jar'. Then he was buried in this nome. Cusae got its name because of this. While the wrapping of the behind which is in it (?) is because of what was done to him. 'My mother Isis, and Nephthys: You shall curse him.' The two acacia came into being in this nome; one Isis the other Nephthys, as they cursed Seth. 10 The two ḥwrt-birds are with the disk which is on the head of the statue of the god with the head of a crocodile.
Concerning the god: It is Horus
Concerning the statue with the head of a crocodile: It is Seth. The two ḥwrt are the two sisters who oppose him.
15th Nome of Upper Egypt ( wnwt ) :
There is a statue in this nome like this statue in Atef-Pehu: 'The lord of manifestations with the face of a crocodile'. It is Rê in the ka- iflood; the red crown is on his head.
{ Geb is punished for raping his mother. }
It is the dwelling place of the one who punished the son who committed a crime against his father in the slaughtering yard in Unu. He lay with his mother Tefnut, so that they were doing harm to Shu. Eight-strands linen was made into a skirt. It is called siȝt-linen from Khemenu. It was made as a cultic object in Khemenu for the protection of his lord, Shu, the eldest son of Rê. He overflowed his limbs in the well, so that he was whole again. He lifted the sky over his son in Heliopolis as the monkey-headed one in front of the primeval hill.
Concerning Unut who grabbed her spear: She made a slaughter of the arrogant son, that one of wretched character who was judged according to his deeds and slain because of having fornicated with Nehmetawy in Khemenu and Nekhbet-anet in Dep. A festival was assigned her. It is all of the men and women who sing for her ka (?). It is Horit, so they say about the 'mistress of the inner temple'. 20 She was in . . . in the time of the year of the majesty of Naunet.
{ The primeval cow goddess gives birth to the sun god. }
Concerning the Ogdoad in this city: four males, and four females, eight who give praise to Rê, who created completely everything, when they had formed their seed as a ball when they procreated in emitting sperm, 'Otherness' was placed against Egypt, since the flood had overflowed the bank. A child was born by The Radiant, who immersed herself 'The great royal one,' so they say about her. The child stood up under her looking for the goddess' milk. It was empty, there was not any fluid that could come out of the breast, however a single drop fell to earth and a great lotus opened, becoming great. The child caused the dark clouds to disappear for himself without knowing it. Thus there was light instead of his blindness. The Radiant established the child between her horns, Mehet-Urt in crossing Nun, the mother of god. Rê came up at the place of the lotus in his festival in the great lake, all his enemies were cast down on the island of flames.
{ The gods emerge from the Island of Fire. }
The island of flames: It is the place of the two tetrads of the Ogdoad on the High hill on the bank of the great lake beside Nun, from whom all things came forth: 30 The mistress of the inner temple, Shu with the secret image of the keeper of the treasury, Sefekh-Abuy, the great Seshat, Shu, Khnum, Mut (?), Isden who skins the dog without fear, the one {Upuaut} which eats when it vomits again to eat again, [5] the messenger who repeats words, the divine ibis, the heart of Rê, when he has united with his shrine, inside it as the lord of the Ogdoad, Sefekh-Abuy, lady of writing, the mistress of the library, the daughter of Osiris {Horit}, who loosens her reunited father, Sakhmet, Sobekt, Isis, the goose which gives its blood while Horus is the sem-priest - Concerning the ring which is as his mark of dignity: The mankhet-pendant and his sandals - the beautiful in Wenet, the golden one in the hidden secret, the beloved of Ptah in Ankhtowe, the donkey of god with whom the baboons unite, Amun the greatest of the Ogdoad, snakes who eat the old one and frogs as the female and male among them. The two sisters are the ones on top of their litter as the upper and lower Egyptian crowns. It is on a single bed they lie when they have been decorated with Pe and Nekhen.
Concerning the festival held on the first month of Akhet, day 19: Hedjhotep is Thoth and Geb a dog. The triumph of Shu, the eldest son, over Geb, which occurs at the place of slaughter by means of a bedja-goose. If it happens that it produces much blood in its lungs: a goose for Naunet, in accordance with the inspection of its breast, when it has reached a state in slaughter. 10 A jar comes overflowing with this offering that it may go around in the Temple of the Net. Isden is raised in his form. A leather wrapped in fat was made for Haroeris residing in Cusae. The clothing of Haroeris as the overseer of singers is called 'leather'. When he had taken it on himself, he placed it as a garland A leather was made for her as the shroud of Nekhbet-anu in the temple of Khemenu, her 'god's breast' amulet for the lector priest, like the great Horit. She is the beloved of Ptah. She is Sakhmet of Memphis, Tefnut in the house of disease. Food was provided for Hathor, the lady of manifestations, the hand of god, with libations and praise. While Rê is in Unut and in Imet, his boat being a ship in Nun on its waters. While Hesat, the nurse of Rê, the great flood is crossing the river with Rê on her brow as a child. The mound-dwellers are counted at Athribis and the High hill of the guardians, and Rê is in the house of his pregnancy in the necropolis. A ba belongs to them in the temple of Khemenu that they can ascend to the rising land. The one in the crypt, the mistress in the temple of Khemenu 'the sandal and mankhet-pendant and the divine efflux' 20 is in the effigy when the flood unites with the semen of the place of the great one who came forth from the Nun at the brightening at the time of the passing of the seasons.
Concerning Unut of Upper Egypt: She is the goddess, the lady of fighting of the chamber of Naunet in the High hill of Khemenu which is on the Island of Fire to expel unrighteousness from Unu. The Bull of Maat is installed in that form united with Maat the regulator of Unut as lord of command, the judge of Upper and Lower Egypt. Isden is there as Hedj-hotep, while Nehmetawy is there as Horit It is her who allows the throat of Shu to breathe since she was brought from the faraway region for her initiation to Shu in the great lake while the land is performing a festival for the lord of Maat.
Concerning the treasure for clothing the breast of Isden, a collier, fingers . . . it is his throat. Fingers . . .
Concerning the . . . The kherep-priest of Horit the great the mistress of the inner temple, Horit the great . . . Shu, the eldest son 30 . . . him in it. There is another . . . sitting in the form . . . the house of Unu . . . her name . . . He entered again . . . [6] When he had brought her to bed, he took her to the great house and he placed her there, thrown in prison. Then they sat judging in taking the bracelet from him, since this god had robbed her of this her protection. It was protected there by the kherep-priest in guarding it. It is the decoration on his breast. He hid it on his limbs, clothed in fine linen, very protected and very hidden, while it remains there in the proper place at the place where he raised it. It is the mankhet-leather string pendant that he made there, without expelling her at all. It was claimed by the castrated one in multiplying for himself the possessions of Geb. Then they fled before the dark one {Seth}, and she settled inside Naunet. Then Nephthys and Thoth came to ask of her condition. Then he said to her: 'Do you have a man who is truly near the noble ones?' Then she said to him a sound. Then he said to her: 'Look a noble one is inside my own house.' Then they took the right path and they were called ' the siblings in the temple of Khemenu '.
{ The role of the Ogdoad in cosmogony. }
10 The Island of Fire: A garden which is called 'the great lake'. The standing place of the Ogdoad beneath the nart-tree. The Radiant one is there with them all, while their phallic ones consist of four persons thereof. They threw themselves at them as four gods and they copulated with them. The ball of the scarab came into being inside them at the first occasion, coming forth as a lotus with a child inside as a perfect event. The head of the Radiant turned around to see her son, and he descended on her brow and came out of the darkness to spread sunlight. Then the Ogdoad came to be there while the nart-tree bloomed. The nart-tree is the same unto this day.
Khemenu is called Unut : It is Thoth who made his form as the fighter. Horus was injured after fighting with Seth, and he said to his mother after having seen Be: 'You shall come, mother. Do you not wish to speak?' The malady is in his divine limbs. It happened that the name of Unut was made, since words existed. Because of this the name was created in this nome. They say: 'Khemenu' because of the coming into being of the Ogdoad which Ptah created in this nome; four males and four females. Because of them the name was created in this desert. Thoth is the slayer of his trembler (?) because of it.
20 Concerning the Ibis: This bird had eaten of the divine limbs in the water, while Horus was floating on the river 'far away' from being because of the great crime in Upper Egypt due to a vile Nubian who was in the southern land. This bird ate of him in the water. Then he made himself comfortable on his belly when he was satisfied but his innards were heavy for him, and he is called 'Ibis' because he had gorged in the corpse of Osiris when it landed at the 'great sea of fire'. [He is called the crested Ibis of] the heart, since he had eaten of the relics . . . of this noble corpse in Nun . . . his side to his back . . . this skin equipped . . . to his head once . . . his skin to . . . in the court of the thirty because of . . . the god because of . . .to his bones . . . They travelled north . . . Naunet concerning the crime, Sakhmet . . . in Nekhbet. It is called . . . the sedge as sign of 30 . . . he is called. . .the honourable with the face of. . . as this god unto this day . . . the Great.
Concerning . . . the divine limbs of Ukh . . . Then Seth came [7] in Unut . . . to fight against . . . flowers . . . of Horus. Then Horus slew the fierce-faced one, when he had let him see. It is called 'The Great Temple' because of . . . The people were joined as one because of/to the eye of Horus. The crocodile is taboo for the people on account of this.
Khnum, the lord of Hut-weret, overseer of secrets of this great one, took the red ochre which was there. He is called Khnum, the fashioner of mankind as lord of the potter's wheel. Mourning was fixed therein because he loved them. They say: Frog, big faced of the river, who sang to the water while she protected the divine limbs when Seth came to repeat his crime against the divine limbs in Hut-weret. The protection of Khnum, the lord of Hut-Weret, is the priests belonging to him.
16th Nome of Upper Egypt ( mḥ / mȝ-ḥḏ ) :
The nome is called Meh according to the name of the victorious sailing which Horus did on behalf of his father. The capital is called Hebenu according to the beating of the evil one, the gazelle, when the Udjat-eye was taken from him. 10 Namely:
Concerning the boat of departure: the ba was rowed in it in a mnḥp clothing. It is a southward journey, so they say, when causing the form of the god to be protected therein, when he had begun taking care of the relics of his father, which he had taken away from that one. The son of Osiris is on the back of the Dark one {Seth}, the splendid falcon on the gazelle. It is Hor-merty completed with his relics, when the vile rebels have fallen under his . . . This desert is called Meh, when all of the god's relics have been completed in him. Hebenu is called Meh, because they said: 'It is made, the boat'.
They say Meh according to the wounding of the two eyes and their rescue from the gazelle. His Udjat-eye was injured by (?) Horus himself. They say to it: The damaged one when weariness arises. It is his divine eye when he has completed it with the relics, and its needs, without its raging. 'The one who acts as that evil one, the rebel against the Udjat-eye', so they say about the gazelle when he had injured its face. They say: 'The one who is violent against the relics that came out of the eye of Rê, who committed a crime against the place where he came into being and repeated himself'. The form of Seth again to which he is assigned. The Divine falcon stabbed him, since he had eaten of his Udjat-eye and he completed it with its needs in the course of the day.
20 Concerning Meh, which is said of Hebenu: It is Seth when he had stolen from the relics of Osiris. Then Horus and Thoth descended after him to bring back the relics he had taken. They reached him and they held onto him well. They did not find the relics in his possession on the north side of this desert. Then Horus was on his back and then they beat him up well for what he had done. Horus said: 'I have taken care of the equivalent of what he has done'.
Concerning the falcon on the back of the gazelle. It is in this form because of what that he said. Then the name of this desert became Meh because of this . . . after . . . they said as the name of Seth: 'Let his evil be reckoned against him' and was done/placed in . . . like he had not caused harm. The one on his bier was counted because . . . flood . . .river. He was buried in this place, the living head in Abydos . . . Thinite nome . . . vile Nubian . . . back of the evil one, his shield on his left 30 . . . his sandals were put down on . . .
A brief note on three deities:
Horit : This name is the female equivalent of Horus, 'mainly found in areas connected to fertility and sexuality and associated with the goddesses Isis, Hathor, Sakhmet and Bastet'.
Naunet : the goddess of the 'lower sky', one of the Ogdoad. The name can refer either to the goddess or to her domain, the sky.
Ukh or Wekh : a local god of the 12th nome of Upper Egypt. Not much information has survived about his character.
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