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.)

Apparently, the makers of the Twenty-first Dynasty papyri regarded the "looking backwards" to the barque also an important iconographie element, as it appears frequently on different adaptations.

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' The mummy-shaped creatures on the Budapest papyrus are not looking in the direction of the closing picture (the sunrise) either, but they are turning their back to it: they follow the iconographie picture of those drawing the barque, although

—as they are mummy figures with no arms

—this is not about drawing the barque; this motif is very much present, however, in the range of ideas behind the scene, in complete harmony with the others. THE SEQUENCE OF THE MUMMY-SHAPED GODS As can be seen, different groups of creatures of the netherworld appear already in the netherworld books of New Kingdom royal tombs related to serpents connected to the sun-barque and representing a positive or negative power. During the Twenty-first Dynasty, however, the iconographie repertoire is largely enriched, which results in an incredible multi-colouredness in the case of the groups of figures mentioned. The so far more or less homogenic nature of the god-figures of the netherworld changes: their body is usually mummy-shaped, but their heads show great variety. This change reflects the impact of certain Book of the Dead vignettes, certain royal motifs of the netherworld books, and the versions of the Litany of Re, also taken from the New Kingdom royal tombs. The sequence of figures with different heads (lion, fire, shrew/mouse/rat, two-two serpent and cobra, baboon, sun-disk between two knives, sun-disk between two serpents, knife) on the Budapest papyrus should also be interpreted as one group (rather than individual figures) each member of which often appears on the Litany of Re type of adaptations of the period, and in the god-sequences on the inner sides of Theban coffins, but in other contexts as well.

88 Some of them may refer to the ithyphallic creator god of the closing scene of the papyrus, or to the Atum-aspect of that. The sun-disc between two knives constituting the god's head, e.g., appears as the attribute of the god travelling on the night sun-barque on a Twenty-first Dynasty coffin. The form might probably be connected to the netherworld judgement as well.

89 The rat/mouse-headed figure appears in connection with the netherworld judgement on several occasions: as member of the judging board,'

0 or as the benign mediator who leads the deceased to the scene of the trial.

91 The sun-disc on an '///-sign between two serpents constituting the head of the 9th figure refer in advance to the topics (a sun-disc between two serpents; sun-disc containing an wd',t eve on the >hi-s\gn) of the next two scenes on the papyrus.

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