Abraham And The Hypocephali

[Olavarria]

Leiden papyrus 383

" ....O god hohos, cause to be sealed, be satisfied, be satisfied, Jehovah. I never appear appear without causing awe, soul of souls., Jehovah Ariaha, Ariaha, act for her, while they turn the face of the rebel, four sided one, Ianian; we act while I initiate the four-sided one. Send me the god in whose hand is the command so that he may tell me the answer to everything about which I inquire here today. Come in this multitude, O fury of Re! O creator who caused creation to come into being, Abraham, the pupil of the wedjat-eye, four fold creator, the great creator, who caused creation to be created, great verdant creation."

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/167911.ctl

The Pupil of the Wedjat-Eye

One of the subsidiary issues raised in the publication of the

preliminary reports was that the name Abraham can be plausibly

connected with hypocephali inasmuch as Abraham is called â??the

pupil of the wedjat-eyeâ? in one of the passages. Ashment objects

to equating the hypocephalus with the pupil of the wedjat-eye

(pp. 14â??16), thoughâ??since even sometime â??Mormonâ? turned

anti-Mormon pseudo-Egyptologist Dee Jay Nelson entitled his

study of Facsimile 2, Joseph Smithâ??sâ??Eye of Raâ?289â??I suspect

that if it were not mentioned in connection with Abraham in PDM

xiv he would have no particular problem. Ashment rejects the argument that Book of the Dead 162â??67 are closely related (pp.

15â??16),290 citing a study by Malcolm Mosher that indicates that

these chapters are not connected in the Memphite tradition, but

only in the Theban tradition.291 Ashmentâ??s objection, however, is

not valid since both P. Leiden I 383 and the Joseph Smith Papyri

came from Thebes, not Memphis.292 Since the manuscripts come

from Thebes and not Memphis, it would only make sense to follow

the Theban tradition where these texts are related. (Hypocephali

themselves are also thought to be part of â??specifically

local traditionsâ? centered at Thebes: â??The custom of making

hypocephali is propagated exclusively among the members of the

Theban clergy,â?293 thus becoming â??an exclusive funerary custom.â?)

294 The main reason, however, for thinking that the â??pupil

of the wedjat-eyeâ? is to be connected with the hypocephalus

comes from three hypocephali (the restorations are those of Edith

Varga):

Mus