Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 104. (Budapest, 2006)

ÉVA LIPTAY: Between Heaven and Earth II: The Iconography of a Funerary Papyrus from the Twenty-First Dynasty (Part I.)

The maximum number of the group cannot be reconstructed with certainty but based on the above analysed parallels, it seems probable that originally it had 12 or 14 (2 x 7) members. 3. THE FOUR-LEGGED, SERPENT-BODIED CREATURE (FIG. 7) The next separate scene is made up of a serpent standing on four legs, its both ends constituted by a bearded head. The double serpent surrounds a red sun-disc. The motif is a variant of the figure called Tz-hrw ('The one who ties the faces") appearing in the middle register of the 10th hour of the Amduat?In the middle register of the New Kingdom versions, on the two sides of the double serpent standing in front of the barque a pair of goddesses are placed wearing the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt like him.

94 A falcon is standing in the serpent's body, who is the b> of Sokar "standing at the head of Dat", according to the accompanying text. Unlike the Sokar connected to the Underworld, this latter is "at the head of the Sky" (h ntj ptf

s who proceeds to the eastern horizon every dawn to soar to the sky.

96 The iconographical characteristics of the New Kingdom versions are preserved in the traditional Amduat versions of the Twenty-first Dynasty: the double crown on the serpents' heads always appears and the falcon-shaped deity between them is also part of the scene.

9 The motif of the two-headed, four-legged serpent can be found on several occasions also on the papyri having less traditional, form-breaking compositions, but the whole of the motif is more or less modified.

98 In some cases the falcon disappears;

99 in others another motif replaces the falcon.

100 No crowns can be seen on the heads of the serpents of the Budapest papyrus, and in the place of the falcon there is a red sun-disc.

101 The motif of the sun-disc placed between the two serpents can also be found in the upper register in the same hour of the original New Kingdom royal Amduat versions, directly above the four-legged serpent.

102 According to the accompanying text the red disc which represents the left sun-eye "comes out" of that double serpent. Similarly to the former one, this serpent is also surrounded by two goddesses wearing the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. It is not surprising then that due to the similarity of the two motifs, they were combined by the Twenty-first Dynasty maker. The symbolism of the double serpent taken out of the context of the 10th hour is quite manifold. The previous scene of the Budapest papyrus, wlhich depicted the destruction of Apophis, introduced a condition necessary for the rebirth

—the victory over the cosmic enemy. This victory made it possible for the sun-god to emerge from the primaeval water

103 and to begin the journey on the sun-barque in the sky. It is referred to by the presence of the falcon-shaped