Legends of the Gods

E.A. Wallis Budge
Legends of the Gods

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Title: Legends Of The Gods The Egyptian Texts, edited with
Translations
Author: E. A. Wallis Budge
Release Date: December, 2005 [EBook #9411] [Yes, we are more than

one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 30,
2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEGENDS
OF THE GODS ***

Produced by John B. Hare and Carrie R. Lorenz

LEGENDS OF THE GODS
The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations
by E. A. Wallis Budge
London, 1912

[Editorial note: Throughout the text "####" represents images which
cannot be transcribed.]

PREFACE
The welcome which has been accorded to the volumes of this Series,
and the fact that some of them have passed into second and third
editions, suggest that these little books have been found useful by
beginners in Egyptology and others. Hitherto the object of them has
been to supply information about the Religion, Magic, Language, and
History of the ancient Egyptians, and to provide editions of the original

texts from which such information was derived. There are, however,
many branches of Egyptology which need treatment in a similar
manner in this Series, and it has been suggested in many quarters that
the time has now arrived when the publication of a series of groups of
texts illustrating Egyptian Literature in general might well be begun.
Seeing that nothing is known about the authors of Egyptian works, not
even their names, it is impossible to write a History of Egyptian
Literature in the ordinary sense of the word. The only thing to be done
is to print the actual works in the best and most complete form possible,
with translations, and then to put them in the hands of the reader and
leave them to his judgment.
With this object in view, it has been decided to publish in the Series
several volumes which shall be devoted to the reproduction in
hieroglyphic type of the best and most typical examples of the various
kinds of Egyptian Literature, with English translations, on a much
larger scale than was possible in my "First Steps in Egyptian" or in my
"Egyptian Reading Book." These volumes are intended to serve a
double purpose, i.e., to supply the beginner in Egyptian with new
material and a series of reading books, and to provide the general
reader with translations of Egyptian works in a handy form.
The Egyptian texts, whether the originals be written in hieroglyphic or
hieratic characters, are here printed in hieroglyphic type, and are
arranged with English translations, page for page. They are printed as
they are written in the original documents, i.e., the words are not
divided. The beginner will find the practice of dividing the words for
himself most useful in acquiring facility of reading and understanding
the language. The translations are as literal as can reasonably be
expected, and, as a whole, I believe that they mean what the original
writers intended to say. In the case of passages where the text is corrupt,
and readings are mixed, or where very rare words occur, or where
words are omitted, the renderings given claim to be nothing more than
suggestions as to their meanings. It must be remembered that the exact
meanings of many Egyptian words have still to be ascertained, and that
the ancient Egyptian scribes were as much puzzled as we are by some
of the texts which they copied, and that owing to carelessness,

ignorance, or weariness, or all three, they made blunders which the
modern student is unable to correct. In the Introduction will be found
brief descriptions of the contents of the Egyptian texts, in which their
general bearing and importance are indicated, and references given to
authoritative editions of texts and translations.
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