Letโs read some hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช from the Book of the Dead ๐๐๐๐ป๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ณ๐บ๐ผ๐บ!
There is so much going on in this little image ๐๐ ฑ๐ of the Book of the Dead ๐๐๐๐ป๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ณ๐บ๐ผ๐บ from the British Museum!
The first line has the inscription โ๐๐๐๐๐น๐จ๐น,โ which would be translated as โHail ๐๐๐๐ Osiris ๐น๐จ๐น.โ
I love the word โ๐๐๐๐,โ because it has so many different meanings depending on the context! Phonetically, it would most likely be pronounced as โhey ๐๐๐๐โ which is one of the ways it can be translated! โ๐๐๐๐โ can mean hey/hi/hello in some contexts, it can also mean โhailโ like translated above, but itโs also sometimes translated as โcheer, rejoice, shout, or oh!.โ If there is a different determinative after the first two symbols โ๐๐๐,โ it will also change the meaning!
Iโve mentioned this before but I love the โcaptionsโ that the ancient Egyptians would put next to gods ๐น๐น๐น and goddesses ๐น๐น๐น๐ in the art so you know which deity you are looking at! In the bottom image you can see Isis ๐จ๐๐, Anubis ๐๐๐ช and Nephthys ๐ ๐๐ who are three prominent funerary deities with the mummy ๐๐น๐ ฑ๐พ of the deceased.
Isis ๐จ๐๐ and Nephthys ๐ ๐๐ are also in the top image on the barge with the mummy ๐๐น๐ ฑ๐พ of the deceased. Much like how they would appear on coffins, Isis ๐จ๐๐ is always at the feet of the mummy ๐๐น๐ ฑ๐พ while Nephthys ๐ ๐๐ is at the head of the mummy ๐๐น๐ ฑ๐พ.
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