Pyramid Texts - Examples

Examples

After death, the king must first rise from his tomb. Utterance 373 describes:

Oho! Oho! Rise up, O Teti!

Take your head, collect your bones,

Gather your limbs, shake the earth from your flesh!

Take your bread that rots not, your beer that sours not,

Stand at the gates that bar the common people!

The gatekeeper comes out to you, he grasps your hand,

Takes you into heaven, to your father Geb.

He rejoices at your coming, gives you his hands,

Kisses you, caresses you,

Sets you before the spirits, the imperishable stars...

The hidden ones worship you,

The great ones surround you,

The watchers wait on you,

Barley is threshed for you,

Emmer is reaped for you,

Your monthly feasts are made with it,

Your half-month feasts are made with it,

As ordered done for you by Geb, your father,

Rise up, O Teti, you shall not die!

The texts then describe several ways for the pharaoh to reach the heavens, and one of these is by climbing a ladder. In utterance 304 the king says:

Hail, daughter of Anubis, above the hatches of heaven,

Comrade of Thoth, above the ladder's rails,

Open Unas's path, let Unas pass!

Another way is by ferry. If the boatman refuses to take him, the king has other plans:

If you fail to ferry Unas,

He will leap and sit on the wing of Thoth,

Then he will ferry Unas to that side!