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

who take part in this dialogue are known from other portions of the Book of the Dead. The Cat is Rā in the 17th chapter. And the Ass appears in the 40th chapter, as the victim of the devouring Serpent. The Sun-god overcome by darkness is Osiris; and he is so called by name in the Demotic version of this chapter. _Hepṭ-ro_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ‘god of the gaping mouth.’ The word ⁂⁂⁂ is not found elsewhere, but the meaning of it seems to be indicated by the determinative. It is very probably akin to the more common ⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂, which does not mean ‘squat’ or ‘sit,’ but ‘stretch out,’ _distendi_. _Cf._ Note 6, Chapter 63B. The ‘house of the god of the gaping mouth,’ seems to be the _Earth_, considered as the universal tomb (ἀλλ’ αὐτοῦ γαῖα μέλαινα πᾶσι χάνοι, Il. 14, 417). And here Osiris and Rā (the Ass and the Cat) meet daily, ‘Yesterday’ speaketh to ‘To-day.’ יוס ליוס יביע אמר