Chapter CXVII
P. Le Page (Peter Le Page) Renouf translation
Chapter whereby one taketh the blissful path at Restau.(1)
O paths which are high above me at Restau: I am the Girdled(2) and the Mighty one, coming forth triumphantly.(3)
I am come: I am come that I may firmly secure my suit in Abydos,(4) and that the path may be open to me at Restau.
Let my suit be made pleasant for me by Osiris.
I am he who produceth the water which balanceth his throne, and who maketh his way from the Great Valley.(5)
Let the path be made for me; for behold I am N the triumphant.(6)
[Osiris is made triumphant over his adversaries, and the Osiris N is made triumphant over his adversaries, and is as one of you, his patron(7) is the Lord of Eternity: he walketh even as ye walk, he standeth as ye stand, he speaketh as ye speak, before the great god, the Lord of Amenta.]
204Notes.
It is not mentioned in the most ancient recension of chapter 17 (from which my translation was taken), but in all the papyri of the eighteenth and later dynasties it is stated that Restau was a gate south of An-aaref and north of the “Domain () of Osiris.”
The papyrus of Ani has this picture of it,
but the most interesting representations of it are in the Dublin papyrus (D. a), where the Sun god is seen passing between the folding doors, and in the papyrus of Hunefer (A. g), where the doors are also open and the god is sitting between them. (See Plates VI, 11 and VIIb.)
The name Restau (the feminine form is more frequent in later texts) signifies Gate of the passages. These are the passages guarded by the faithful attendants of Osiris, but armed with “hurtful fingers” against the adversaries of Rā, against whose onslaught the deceased prays Rā for protection in chapter 17.
A mystical interpretation will be found in chapter 119 and note.
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