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.)

is also present.2 The scene presents the eastern/morning rebirth of the sun from the aspect of the four cardinal points or winds/the four pillars of the sky,

53 and the androgynous nature of the figures refers to the conditions before the creation/the birth of the sun. The four entities are there to assure the unhindered advance of the sun-barque in the direction of the eastern horizon ("with good wind"). 2. In the closing scene of the 12th (last) hour of the Book of the Night, similarly to those so far, several different conceptions of the birth of god are composed in picture and writing. The birth of Atum in a child's form, his rebirth in a scarab's form in the presence of the entities before the creation (Heh and Hehet), and the handing over of the sun-disc from the night barque to the day barque are presented connected to and next to one another.

54 In the version of the tomb of Ramesses VI

55 the figure and the association of the child/fire (sdty) and the scarab are connected, similarly to the example found in the Ramesses IX tomb. This cryptographic representation, however, puts another symbol of the creative energy in the centre, the potter's wheel of Atum.

56 On top of it a lying scarab, next to it another one in a vertical position under the sky hieroglyph, above the child's figure, can be seen. Either or both of the two cases above could have influenced the designer or maker of the Budapest papyrus. The two scarabs appear taken out of the above described context but perfectly integrated into the new one, as it is nothing else than a different formulation of the same conception. The aim is to express with the help of symbols the most important event of the sun cycle as well as possible, when reaching the end of his night journey, the sun is reborn and puts on a new form. 2. DEFEATING APOPHIS (FIG. 6) Quite irregularly, we discussed the last motif, the closing picture of the papyrus first, as it can clearly be connected with the contemporary Heruben and Henuttawi papyri and their precursor, the scene on the enigmatic wall of the Ramesses IX tomb. In the case of the other motifs of the papyri the same origin, and the picture in the tomb as source, cannot always be seen at first glance, but it is a great help in the interpretation of the individual pieces to compare the adaptations, which are sometimes of quite a different approach. It is well-known that the Amduat motifs used on the Twenty-first Dynasty papyri were selected from the last four hours in most cases.'

7 Before the closing motif which depicts the moment of the sunrise, in the 9—12th hour the progress leading to the sunrise is formulated in picture and text; i.e., the period identifiable with the glimmer before the morning rebirth,