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

fifteenth of the month, cannot be full on the thirtieth. It must be the other Eye, the Sun. Now we know what is meant by the Full Moon, the Plenilunium, but what is the Full Sun? M. de Rougé, in his commentary on the 17th Chapter, gave the key to this, by pointing out that the 30th Mechir was the last day of the sixth month of the year; that is the 180th day after the first of Thoth, which is supposed to coincide with the Summer Solstice. It is therefore at the time of the _Winter_ Solstice that the Eye is said to be full. The inaccuracy, of course, arises from the length of the Egyptian year. But there can be no doubt that the time of the Winter Solstice is meant. In the year 1470 B.C. the Egyptian year began on July 20, and the 30th Mechir coincided with January 15 of the Julian calendar. If the Eye (considered as the Sun) is said to be _full_ at the Winter Solstice, it was most probably spoken of in the same way not only at the Summer Solstice, but also at the two Equinoxes. And this is the most probable reason why in the pictures representing the Four Rudders of Heaven (North, South, East and West) an Eye ⁂ is attached to each rudder. (See Vignettes of Chapter 148.) The Two Eyes, considered as Sun and Moon, are attributed not only to Rā and Osiris, but to gods identified with these. Of the two passages which have been most frequently quoted, “Thy Right Eye is the Sun ⁂⁂⁂ and thy left is the Moon ⁂⁂,” “His Right Eye is the Sun and his left is the Moon,” the first is addressed to Ptah (in the Pap. Berlin, VII, l. 42), and the second, which occurs on the Neapolitan Stele, is really addressed to Osiris as god of Suten-hunen, under the form of the Ram-headed deity Her-śefit. Reference is made towards the end of the inscription to the “divine Eyes which are in Suten-hunen.” Horus according to the Pyramid Texts has two eyes, a Light one and a Dark one. But the “Eye of Horus” is most frequently spoken of in the singular number. It is certainly meant for the Sun, and the name of it is given to cakes and ale, wine, corn, oil, honey, and all the good things which come to maturity through the beneficent god: who has in himself all the attributes of ‘Ceres and Bacchus.’ I must bring this long note to an end with one or two observations. Many goddesses will be found bearing the title of Eye of Rā. There is not one of these who is not identified with Isis or Nephthys, who are in fact one, and personify the Light of the Sun. Shu and Tefnut, who are brother and sister, play the same parts as the two goddesses. There is a picture, which appears in the vignette of Chapter 17 in most of the papyri of the second and later periods, of two _male_ deities bearing the Eyes over their heads (see Pl. XXXV). If the beards upon their chins are not a mistake,[117] copied from one papyrus upon another, they must represent not Isis and Nephthys but the two Rehu ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ Rā and Thoth, Sun and Moon, instead of the ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. It is important to note that if Sun and Moon are Eyes of Osiris or Rā or Ptah, the deity is not to be confounded with them: they are but manifestations of himself.