The Egyptian Book of the dead by P. Le Page Renouf and Edouard Naville

⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.[114] This title of Osiris is made clear by the 37th chapter, which begins with an invocation to the _Sister Pair of Goddesses, Merta_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, _Merta_ signifying _Two Eyes_, and the divine Sister pair being Isis and Nephthys. In vignettes of the chapter (see, _e.g._, Pl. XXXIII and XXXIV, figs. 14 and 16 for instances) the two goddesses appear in human form with their brother Osiris within the naos where the judgment is delivered. It is not so easy to recognise them under the form ⁂⁂ which they have in the vignette of _Pb._ (see Pl. XXXI), or in the picture which is found in many papyri (_e.g._, those of Nebseni, Hunefer, Ani and the Turin _Todtenbuch_), wherein the cornice or top row of the decoration surmounting the forty-two judges has for central figure a man (Osiris) either supporting the Two Eyes or extending his hands above them (see Pl. XXXIV, fig. 14). We have here a symbolism of such extreme importance as to justify a short excursus on the subject. The Two Eyes ⁂⁂ are a most frequent symbol on all funereal monuments; on the most ancient coffins, such as those of Apaānchu, Antuf, Taka (_Denkm._, II, 98, 146, 147), Mentuhotep (_Aelteste Texte_, pl. 9 and 25), Sebak-āa (Gio. d’Athanasi, pl. 3) and Amamu, as on mummy cases generally, and on funereal tablets. Between the Eyes on many tablets we frequently find the sign ⁂, and this is often followed by the sign of Water ⁂ or the Vase ⁂, and very frequently by both. Very often we have two signs ⁂, one by each Eye, and not less frequently a pair of jackals, ⁂ or ⁂ facing each other. No two tablets are exactly alike, but the meaning is always the same. Nor is the meaning changed when the tablet is headed by the Winged Disk ⁂ or ⁂ even though the Eyes are not seen. Their place is supplied by two Uræi, sometimes crowned with the ⁂ and the ⁂, insignia of Southern and Northern sovereignty. On a fine tablet of the twelfth dynasty (_Denkm._, II, 136_b_), the sign ⁂ is attached to each Uræus, and this device is repeated on innumerable monuments. According to another device the Two Eyes are represented within the Winged Disk (see _e.g._, Leemans, _Mon._, III, _M._, Pl. XVI). “He of the Pair of Eyes” is always Osiris. But Osiris is a god “of many names,” as the Pyramid Texts show no less than the Book of the Dead, where in the seventeenth chapter he is identified with Tmu, Rā, the Bennu, Amsu and Horus, not to mention others, and where in the Scholia the Two Feathers, the Two Uræi, the Two Eyes and the Two Kites[115] are identified with the Sister pair Isis and Nephthys. And wherever these symbols occur in _pairs_ Isis and Nephthys are meant, one for the right or northern side and the other for the left or southern. The same idea is conveyed under such forms as ⁂, ⁂, or ⁂, and many others. Dr. Birch long ago (_Zeitschr._, 1877, p. 33) mentioned ⁂⁂⁂ as representing Osiris between his two sisters. Osiris is often represented as a living ⁂, with eyes. The royal crowns and their decorations, such as ⁂, ⁂, ⁂, ⁂, and ⁂, abound in this symbolism. The ancient coffin of Sebakāa at Berlin (_Aelteste Texte_, pl. 29), in the phrase ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, recognizes Isis as one of the Two Eyes. Down to the latest periods the Sisters were known as ⁂⁂⁂, _Eye of the Southern_ or Left _side_ (Isis), and ⁂⁂⁂, _Eye of the Northern_ or Right _side_ (Nephthys). On countless coffins and sarcophagi these goddesses are represented on opposite sides, in kneeling attitude, holding the ⁂ in their hands, like the equivalent Vultures of the North and South, with their claws, and the Uræi on their bodies. The meaning of the sign ⁂ is well known. It is a _ring_, and is applied to the circuit of the heavens made by the sun and other heavenly bodies. It is also applied to the yearly recurring flow of the Nile. It has numerically the signification of 10,000,000 or an indefinitely large number. As attached, ⁂, to the sign of years ⁂,⁂ it means _Eternity_. It is therefore an appropriate emblem of Osiris, the Lord of Years, ⁂⁂⁂⁂, _annosus_, ⁂⁂⁂ the _King of Eternity_. The sign of _Water_ ⁂, and the _Vase_ ⁂, are also emblems of Osiris, one of whose names is _Water of Renewal_. A chapter of the Pyramid Texts, Teta, 176, Pepi I, 518, which begins by saying that Seb has given to the departed (identified with Osiris) the Two Eyes of _that Great One_,[116] and has done that through Horus who recognizes his father, proceeds after this to say: “He renews thee in thy name of ⁂⁂⁂⁂, Water of Renewal.” I cannot say if the _Vase_ ⁂ is a mere appendage to the _Water_, but if it is not it most probably was meant to contain the ⁂, the divine and life-giving _Sap_ flowing from Osiris, which is mentioned in another Pyramid Text (Pepi I, 33), also speaking of the _Water of Renewal_, as a name of Osiris. The goddesses Isis and Nephthys as mythological figures represent not merely the Light at Dawn and Sunset, but the Light thrown out right and left by the Sun in his entire course, whether in the heavens or in the Netherworld. ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, “he lightens up the earth with his two eyes,” an expression most frequent in the texts, is not confined to special moments, though it is said of these emphatically. In all that has been said thus far, the Two Eyes have been considered as acting conjointly and discharging one and the same function. When they are distinguished one from the other as acting in different ways the symbolism is altered. The ancient scholion on the 17th Chapter speaks of the Right Eye of Rā, and the more recent scholion of the papyri speaks of the Eye as being in pain and weeping for its sister ⁂⁂⁂. The Egyptian name for the Eye is here ⁂⁂⁂⁂ _ut’ait_. The frequent expression ⁂⁂ means _full moon_, and is constantly identified with the fifteenth day of the month ⁂. The moon is in these texts called the _Left Eye_ ⁂⁂, and Osiris is said to unite with her (or with her sister) in order to renew her revolution ⁂⁂⁂⁂. And of the Eye it is said that ‘she renews her revolution on the fifteenth day’ ⁂⁂⁂⁂, and the god (Osiris) makes her full of her _glory_ or _splendour_ (⁂⁂⁂⁂) or what she requires, ⁂⁂ = ⁂⁂⁂⁂. This explains the symbol ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ which is seen on certain tablets. But what is the meaning of the passage at the end of Part I of this chapter—“when the Eye is full in Annu, on the last day of Mechir” ⁂⁂⁂⁂, an expression which is repeated in the title of