This document is kept under glass. Its state of preservation is rather poor, with substantial lacunae.

Above a long frieze of alternating tit‑knot emblems and djed‑pillars runs a scene of psychostasia, the main illustration of chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead. The scene is topped by a frieze of khekeru‑ornaments. In the centre, Anubis is characterised by the black colour of his skin. He raises his arm to control the balance.

His title “Lord of the Sacred Land” is written in the space above him, next to various symbols. His face is turned towards a god seated upon a chest and wearing the White Crown. The figure, anonymous and rather eroded, can plausibly be identified as Osiris. To the left of Anubis, facing him, stand Isis and Thoth. The goddess, whom a short hieroglyphic column identifies as “Isis, the divine mother” (Ist mwt‑ntr), stands wearing a long blue dress and a crown.

Her left hand holds a lizard by the tail, while her right presents the heart of the deceased. Thoth, ibis‑headed, whom an inscription describes as “the lord of hieroglyphs, the scribe of Maat of the lord of Maat” (see A 68 b, scene II), holds in his left hand an ankh‑cross and what appears to be a scribe’s palette; his other hand, open, is stretched out before him and does not seem to hold any object.

At the far left of the papyrus, preceding the three hieroglyphic columns giving the name and titles of the deceased Amenhotep, there is a fine representation of Osiris “who presides over the West”, seated on his throne, with a black face, holding the nekhakha‑flail and an unidentified sceptre. In front of him stands a crocodile (or hippopotamus?) goddess, holding a knife in her left hand and offering a censer of incense to Osiris with her right. Her caption defines her as “Great Nut, who gave birth to the gods”.

A68b

Its state of preservation is rather poor, with substantial lacunae. No archival information makes it possible to determine when it was divided into two parts.

A 68 a consists of five fragments, and A 68 b of six, more or less joining; the few gaps affecting certain joins do not call into question the correct relative position of these pieces. By contrast, one may wonder whether the a–b classification, which implies a reading order, should not be reconsidered. The end of part a in fact sets out in three columns the name and titulary of the deceased, two pieces of information which, given the nature and structure of the document, are very likely to close it at this point. In many places, the pigments (notably blue) that once coloured texts and figures have disappeared. This does not make the overall view any clearer, but the remaining elements reveal iconography of very fine quality. The papyrus should be linked to a well‑known group of documents somewhat improperly described as “mythological papyri”, generally characterised by luxuriant and often original imagery, whose rich symbolic content recalls that of numerous sarcophagi of the Third Intermediate Period.

On occasion it also draws on the illustration of the Book of the Dead. In the Avignon manuscript, no space has been left blank; almost the entire surface is occupied by painted figural representations, and the little text that can be observed is essentially limited to a few concise captions.

Scene III

Fairly well preserved, it shows a standing goddess with the head of a vulture, wearing a long kilt and holding by the hand on one side the deceased, and on the other a god with the head of a feline. She is defined as “the Mistress of Strength, of many faces, who presides over the tomb”. Surmounted by five columns of hieroglyphs setting out his names and titles, the deceased, whose head is topped by a cone and a lotus bud, holds in his left hand a ritual staff whose terminal swelling, marked by a fine cross‑hatching, is surmounted by a lotus flower. This representation appears to be rather rare.

Preceding the goddess, but with his head turned back towards her, the feline‑headed god stands (flesh painted green, short kilt), holding in his right hand an indefinable object. Above him, a caption describes him as “the Lord of the West, the great god, lord of the sacred land”. Beneath his right arm, a few hieroglyphs, written in the opposite direction to the preceding ones, give the name of Wadjet, followed by a few incomprehensible signs that must probably have captioned a figure now lost.

F. R. H.