Apepi, Book of Overthrowing of

An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)

An Egyptian work which forms a considerable portion of the funerary papyrus of Nesi-Amsu. It deals with the diurnal combat between Ra, the Sun-God, and Apepi, the great serpent, the impersonation of spiritual evil, and several of the chapters, notably 31, 33, and 35 to 39 are obviously borrowed from the Book of the Dead (q.v.). It contains fifteen chapters, in which there is a great deal of repetition, and details the various methods for the destruction of Apepi, including many magical directions. It is set forth that the name of Apepi must be written in green on a papyrus and then burnt. Wax figures of his attendant fiends were to be made, mutilated, and burnt, in the hope that through the agency of sympathetic magic their prototypes might be injured or destroyed. Another portion of the work details the creative process and describes how men and women were formed from the tears of the god Khepera. This portion is known as The Book of Knowing the Evolutions of Ra. The work is evidently of high antiquity, as is shown by the circumstance that many variant readings occur. Only one copy, however, is known. The funeral papyrus in which it is contained was discovered at Thebes in 1860, was purchased by Rhind, and sold to the trustees of the British Museum by Mr. David Bremner. The linen on which it is written is of very fine texture, measures 19 feet by 9½ inches, and it has been translated by Mr. Wallis Budge in Archaeologia, Vol. 52, Part II.