Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 105. (Budapest, 2006)

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

In the following the complex system of symbols appearing in the scene will be examined in regard to the syntax, while focusing on its relation to the next, closing motif representing the moment of the resurrection of the "great god" on the eastern horizon. 4. 1. THE SNAKE-HEADED BARK (FIG. 3) The third scene of the Budapest papyrus is focused on a quite revised version of the snakeheaded barque depicted in the enigmatic wall of the tomb of Ramesses IX. The motif of the snake-headed barque is generally connected with the nightly/otherworldly journey of the sun, since according to the Egyptian concept snakes were closely associated with the chthonic and primordial world, simultaneously symbolizing the possibility of passage between this world and the Beyond. After having reached the realm of Sokar, i.e. the deepest station of his chthonic journey, in the fourth and fifth hour of the Amduat the sun-god passes through the sea of red sand on a similar snake-headed barque. Another context in which the snake-headed barque appears is the vignette of Chapter 110 of the Book of the Dead, the origin of wdiich can be dated to the Coffin Texts. The locale of this chapter, the Field of Rushes (sht-Jirxv) appears to be consistent with the symbolism of our scene, since it also lies on the border of the eastern horizon. The barque in question is usually placed in the lower section of the different versions of the BD chapter, with a stepped platform (or possibly a throne) on its deck or in other cases positioned on the top of the stepped platform itself. The purpose of the stepped platform is to assist the sun-god or the deceased person he is identified with in the ascension to heaven, or the resurrection of Wenennefer.

5 One of the scenes

6 of Ramesses VI's tomb (fig. 4) again represents the passage from day into night by depicting the ram-headed sun-god and his bl just at the point when they reach the border between this world and the Beyond, on the back of an Aker-like creature which is in the snake-headed barque.

7 The snake-headed barque of the Budapest papyrus also echoes the former, conveying the same meaning: the divinity at the moment of arriving at the border of the Underworld. Summing up the above, there are three kinds of function that can be attributed to the snakeheaded barque in this context: 1. To provide light in the otherworldly darkness to make it possible to find the right way (in the fourth and fifth hours of the Amduat); 2. It has an important role, along with the solar eye, in helping to defeat enemies (the tomb of Ramesses IX);