Mehen, Mysteries, and Resurrection
from the Coiled Serpent
Peter A. Piccione*
nature of any initiation ritual and the extent to
which it affected the personal identification of
the initiate.
It is in these contexts that we see Mehen fully
and obviously associated with mysterious behavior and secret knowledge, albeit only as a
small element in a larger mystery.However, the
fact that more formalized mysteries specifically
centering around this peculiar deity did exist is
indicated in Coffin Text Spells 493 and 495,2
where the deceasedsays:
The Mysteriesof Mehen
In Egyptian literature, the "mysteriesof Mehen" are referredto only once by name, i.e., in
the CoffinTexts, and there with only very little
identifying context. However, this referenceis
importantbecauseit is the firstvisible indication
of a relationship between the god Mehen and
recondite knowledge in Egyptian theological
thought.
The primary function of the god Mehen in
religious belief is depicted in the New Kingdom
netherworldliterature.Accordingto the Book of
Amduat, the Book of Gates, and the Book of
Night, Mehen ostensibly is an immense coiled
serpentwho standson the night-barkof Ra, and
he guides the passage of the sun-god in his
netherworldjourney. Primarily, though, he encompasses Ra in his many coils, and protects
him from all outside evil.1
Becauseof the esoteric nature of these mortuary texts and the fact that the representationsof
these books had a self-acknowledgedmysterious
character,we understand that Mehen's specific
role, as exemplified within them, shared this
character and was also kept as a secret. Few
Egyptologists would disagreethat knowledge of
these texts and their representationswas imparted to the Egyptian cognoscenti through
some elaborate and dramatic rite of initiation,
although many would differ about the exact
iw bj.i n dt.f iw swy.t.i n c.s ink pw mk n
hbn.tyw m-ht stlw Mhn
My soul belongs to its body; my shadow
belongs to its condition.
I am the guard of the criminals after (the
mannerof) the mysteriesof Mehen.3
The stSwmhn, "mysteriesof Mehen,"are identified with very little context or explanation; yet
by their mention here, they appear to be a
formalizedset of rituals and beliefs relatedto the
serpent-deity.This conclusion is basedupon the
general nature of stBzv, "mysteries," not as
dogma or creedbut rather,similarly to Bleeker,
2 A. de Buck, CT 6, 77d, i.
3 CT Spell 495. Similarly, P. Barguet, Les textes des
sarcophages egyptiens du Moyen Empire (LitterairesAnciennes du Proche Orient; Paris, 1986), 243-44. However,
cf. R. O. Faulkner,Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts (hereinafter ECT) 2 (Warminster,1977), 135: "My soul belongs to
my body, my shade is at my side. I am the guard of the
prisonersafterthe secretaffairsof the Coiled One;"and CT
Spell 493, ibid., 134, "[My]soul, my body and my shade are
at its side, for I am indeed the guard of the prisonersafter
the secretmattersof the Coiled One."
* A preliminaryversionof this paperwas presentedat the
annual conference of the American Research Center in
Egypt, April 1989,in Philadelphia.Abbreviationsof bibliographical citations are those cited by the Lexikon der
Agyptologie,vol. 7.
1 E. Hornung,Amduat2 (AA7), 130-31.
43
44
JARCE XXVII (1990)
as a system of secret and dramatic rituals to
reveal hidden aspects of the gods.4 In general
though, as Ritner has suggested in the context
of this spell, Mehen does not protectthe sun god
only by surrounding and enclosing him in his
coils in order to shield him from outside evil,
but also by encircling and containing the enemies of Ra- to hold them prisonerin his coilsand thus encumberingtheirinimicalities.5Therefore, the passages in CT Spells 493 and 495
would mean that in assuming a role of guardian
over criminals, i.e., the enemies of Ra, the
deceased has taken on a function of the god
Mehen, as revealedin the dramaticpresentation
of his mysteries.
Other secret knowledge related to Mehen,
which may be part of the more formalized
mysteries, is found in the series of Coffin Text
Spells 758-760.6Presently,the only known copy
of these is inscribed on the headboard of the
outer coffin of the imy-r msc Spi (Sepi III) from
his MiddleKingdomtombat el-Bersha,now located in the Cairo Museum, CG no. 28083.7 However, since a portion of Spells 758-759 did
descend into the New Kingdom Book of the
Dead, Chapter 131, then we would assume that
these spells enjoyed a somewhat wider distribution than that which their one extant example
would otherwisesuggest.8
These spells depict a realm of the afterlife in
which the bark of Mehen encirclesnine concentric roads, four of which are specificallyroads of
fire, which it circumnavigates for millions of
years. In the vignette of the spell, the four roads
of fire are depicted in red paint, and they alternate with five black roads (fig. I).9 According to
the texts, upon these roads of Mehen are "gates
4 Cf., C. J. Bleeker, "Initiation in Ancient Egypt," in
Initiation: Contributionsto the Theme of the Study Conference of the International Association for the History of
Religions Held at Strasburg,September17th to the 22nd
1964, edited by C. J. Bleeker (Studies in the History of
Religion #10;Leiden:Brill, 1965),55-57.
5 R. Ritner,JNES 43 (1984):219f.
6 de Buck, CT 6, 386-90; P. Lacau, CG 28001-28086,
170-99, pis. 24-25; vide Barguet,Les textesdes sarcophages,
594-96; Faulkner,ECT 2, 290-93.
7 CF 28083,Lacau,op. cit.; cf. PM 4, 183-84.
8 BD 131, Tb (Allen), 107.
9 The vignette is renderedonly with the five black roads
in de Buck, CT 6, 386, while J. Zandee,Death as an Enemy
that turn away" (sbBwstnmw).10The sun god,
Ra,11 sits at the center of these roads on his
throne of ''millions of years,"and he guards the
gates of the roads.12On his head he is depicted
wearing a crown reminiscentof an Stf,although
its constituentpartsare formedby the heads and
bodies of serpents. The brim of the crown is
formedby a serpentwith a head at both ends of
its body, probably to be understoodas Mehen.13
According to the spells, just as the fiery roads
protect the adjacent sides of Mehen's bark, so
the starboardside of the bark also protects the
roadways.The deceasedis identifiedas Wrdprw
m ir.t, "the Wearyone who came forth from the
eye," and he is also described as one who has
created the protective fire around Mehen. The
text of CT Spell 758 is inscribed within a wide
oval that entirelyencircles the roads,which Zandee has conjecturedis specifically a representation of Mehenhimself,14although certainlythere
are no other featureswhich would support such
an identification. It is clear though that the
object of the deceasedhere is to approach Ra at
the center and not to be kept off by the dangers
of the roads.
Spell 759 revealsthe name of these fieryroads,
and they are specifically the wSw.t mhn, the
"Roadsof Mehen":15
iw.i rh.kwi hftyw.f imyw sbhw.t is
iw rh.n.i wSw.t[Mhri\
I am acquainted with his enemies which are
in the gates.
I know the Roads of [Mehen].16
(Leiden,1960), 164, recognizedonly the four fieryroads in
the scene.
10Stnm, "lead astray," WB 4, 343, although in this
context as "turn away," similarly "detourner,"P. Vernus,
Athribis,BdE74, 174.
11So also Zandee,Death as an Enemy, 164, n. 10, mistakenly called "un osiris" by Lacau, CG 28001-28086, 175,
while H. Ranke, Das altdgyptischeSchlangenspiel,SHAW
4, 19, inaccuratelyidentified him as an anthropomorphic
formof Mehenhimself.
12Cf. Ranke, op. cit., 16-18, for his description of these
spells.
13So BD 172,see below for discussion.
14Death as an Enemy, 164-65.
15de Buck, CT 6, 389c-d.
16Accordingto de Buck,CT 6, 389, no. 1*, "the tracessuit
so also Barguet,Les textes des sarcophages,595,
MEHEN, MYSTERIES,AND RESURRECTION FROM THE COILED SERPENT
Fig. 1. Cairo Museum, CG 28083, vignette of the
"Roadsof Mehen"in Coffin Text Spell 758 (photo by
author).
Similarly, in the very first line of Spell 759, the
deceasedmust identify the specific serpent-deity
involved:
ir wnnt Mhn pwy pw n Rc
Now as for this Mehen,he is (that) of Ra.17
In order to enter the roads and presumably
approach Ra, the deceased must "know" the
roadsand their name, so Spell 760 says:
ir rh rn n wSw.t.fiptn swt pw ckr Mhn
ir rh r pn n sk.n.f dt cnh.fm cnh.tRc
"Je connais ses enemis qui sont dans les portes, certes;je
connais les cheminsdu serpent-mhn."
17de Buck, CT 6, 387n,similarlyBarguet,op. cit., 594.
45
Fig. 2. Diagramof a mhn-gameboard,OIM16950.
As for the one who knows the name of those
his roads,it is he who will enter Mehen.
As for the one who knows this spell, he does
not perish forever; he will live on that
which Ra lives.18
Therefore,this seriesof spells discloses information related to Mehen that, otherwise, is not of
general knowledge in the hereafter.The three
passages indicate specifically the revelatorynature of Spells 758-760. The mysterious knowledge which they impart facilitates the deceased's
ability to transitthis realm of Mehen, so we read
in Spell 759:
irw n.i wjiv.t wnw n.i sbhw.t imyw-Mhn
iw.i rh.kwi snw n Rc hnc imyw.t.f
18de Buck, CT 6, 390k-n.
JARCE XXVII (1990)
46
Make way for me, open the gates for me, (oh)
you (pl.) who are in Mehen,
for I know the circuit of Ra and those which
are in him (i.e., the gates).19
The snw n Rc, "circuit of Ra," refers to the
entire courseway of roads with Ra as its focus. It
consists of the enthroned Ra, the "Roads of
Mehen" and their gateways, as well as the gods
located in them. The spells indicate that Mehen
not only sails the fiery roads, but that he is the
roadway itself, spiralling inward toward Ra at
the center.
The Coiled- Serpent Game
Remarkably, the description and layout of the
"Circuit of Ra" with its "Roads of Mehen" are
nearly identical in form to the earlier Old Kingdom board game, likewise named mhn, i.e., the
game of the coiled serpent (fig. 2). Typically, the
squares of this game are laid atop the slotted
spine of a coiled mhn-snake.
Examples of this gameboard and its accoutrements have been found throughout Egypt dating
from the Predynastic Period through the Old
Kingdom. Its play has been depicted on the
walls of Old Kingdom mastabas, along with
other games and recreation, as part of festive
rites of Hathor which were celebrated in honor
of the deceased tomb owner.20 In 1920, Hermann
Ranke made his seminal study of the mhngame,21 and since that work, the game has
continued to be studied by others, although only
as it has related to other research.22Some thirteen
or more examples of the mhn -board are currently extant. According to a two-dimensional
representation in the tomb of Hesyre at Saqqara,
the appurtenances of the game consisted of
6 sets of colored marbles, 6 marbles per set, and
19Ibid., 389a-b.
20These rites were specificallyconcernedwith the death
and rejuvenation of the tomb owner, Cf. D. Nord, "The
Term hnr: 'Harem'or 'Musical Performers?',"in FS Dows
Dunham, 141f.
21 Ranke,Schlagenspiel.
22 For a recapitulation of the arguments surrounding
the m/m-game, see LA 5, 653-55, s.v. "Schlangenspiel";
A. Hoerth, "Gameboardsof the Ancient Near East," (M.A.
Thesis, Universityof Chicago, 1961),99-106.
Fig. 3. Oriental Institute Museum, no. 16950, mhngameboard (Courtesy of the Oriental Institute Museum of the Universityof Chicago).
6 draughtsmen in the forms of couchant felines
(3 lions and 3 lionesses).23
OIM Gameboard no. 16950
An excellent example of a mhn -gameboard,
previously unpublished, is currently located in
the Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago, no.
16950 (fig. 3).24According to museum records, it
was purchased by Harold Nelson in Luxor in
1932. On the basis of its similarity to other mhnboards of the Old Kingdom and its fine style of
execution, a dating to the Old Kingdom likewise seems appropriate for it.
OIM gameboard no. 16950 is typical of mhnboards. It is circular in shape, carved from a
single piece of alabaster, 38 cm. in diameter, 4.5
cm. thick. The serpent is coiled in a counter23J. E. Quibell, Excavationsat Saqqara 1911-1912, pis.
11, 16.
24 I would like to thank the Director,Oriental Institute,
Universityof Chicago, for permission to examine and publish this gameboard.
MEHEN, MYSTERIES,AND RESURRECTION FROM THE COILED SERPENT
clockwise direction, with its tail on the outside
and head at the centerof the spiral. Apparently,
the direction of rotation was not significant,
since nearly equal numbers of surviving boards
show the serpent coiling in both clockwise and
counter-clockwise directions.25The board contains 127 squares arranged into four spirals.
Here also the number of squares on the board
was not standardized;as in the corpus of mhnboards, this number ranges from as little as
twenty-nine to as many as nearly 400 squareson
a single board.26Similar to a limited number of
m/m-boards, OIM 16950depicts a second head,
that of a duck or goose, emanating from the tail
of the serpent on the outside of the board.27A
heavy residue of brown pigment in the pores of
the stone and between the game-squares indicates that at one time, it was thickly plied with
brown paint, probably to emulate the natural
coloration of the serpent which the board
represented.
Basedupon what we know of this game in the
work of Ranke and others, the feline gamepieces moved in a spiral along the squares,
apparently, from the tail on the outside to the
head of the serpent at the center, according to
rules which are not preciselyunderstoodtoday.28
What is clear, though, is that on gameboard
OIM 16950, the paint is still thickly applied to
the cross-slots between the squares,while in the
longer spiralling grooves, it is worn thinly and
smoothly, suggesting that some small object
regularly rolled or passed through the spiral to
achieve this wear. This conclusion would support the assertionsof Klebsand others,29against
Quibell, that the marbles were actually utilized
on the board and in the spiral, along with the
feline draughtsmen.
According to the appearance of the mhngame in the archaeologicaland artistic records,
25 Hoerth, "Gameboards," 99, 104-6.
26 Similarly, ibid., 103.
27 So also Ranke,
Schlangenspiel, 7 and n. 5, although he
was unable to identify the species of bird.
28 Q.v. Quibell, Excavations at Saqqara 1911-1912, 20;
Ranke, Schlangenspiel, 4-14, 29, passim; L. Klebs, Reliefs 1,
113; H. Junker, Giza 4, 36-38; P. Montet, CdE 30 (1955):
189-97.
29 Klebs, Reliefs 1, 113; Ranke, Schlangenspiel, 5, llf, 29;
Junker, Giza 4, 37.
47
it is clear that it was in popular use from the
Predynastic Period through the Old Kingdom,
along with the boardgames of mn and zn.t. It is
depicted very early with these two games as part
of the mortuaryaccoutrementsof Hesyre in his
mastabaof the Third Dynastyand in an offering
list of Rahotep in his Fourth Dynasty mastaba
at Medum.30Thereafter, based upon a sudden
and complete dearth of evidence for the mhngame after the fall of the Old Kingdom, both in
the archaeological and artistic records,we conclude that it fell into rapid disuse, probably a
victim of the social disordersand disruptionsof
the First IntermediatePeriod. There is no evidence to suggest that after that time, the game
was played again in Egypt. However in the
Twenty-sixth Dynasty, after a hiatus of nearly
two millennia, the Egyptians did resumedepicting the play of that game on the walls of their
tombs. This development was part of the socalled neo-Memphite revival, when Old Kingdom artistic motives were applied to later art
forms.31Still, thereis no evidencein the archaeological record to indicate that the game was
remanufacturedand played at that time. After
this brief and final reappearancein the artistic
record, the game of mhn passed entirely from
Egyptian custom.
A Religious Context for the M/m-game
As a parallel to the Old Kingdom game of
mhn, the wEw.tMhn, "Roadsof Mehen,"in the
CoffinTexts were formed by concentric circles;
and just as the draughtsmen spiralled around
the gameboard toward the center, so the deceased,accordingto CT Spells 758-760, likewise
traveled in a spiralling direction in order to
approach Ra enthroned at the center of the
roads. Just as the track of the ra/m-gameboard
was segmented with individual squares, so the
"Roads of Mehen" were also broken up incrementally by gateways through which the deceased had to pass and which otherwisehad the
30 Supra, n. 23 and Petrie, Medum,
pl. 13, respectively.
31 E.g., in the tombs of Ibi
(Theban Tomb 36) and
Ankhefensakhmet, q.v., respectively, PM l/l2, p. 65 (9);
J. Capart, Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 1 (1938): figs.
1-3 and D. K. Hill, Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 20
(1957): 35-41, 97f.
48
JARCE XXVII (1990)
power to turn him away. There is no doubt that
the coiled m/m-serpent, which gave its name to
that Old Kingdom gameboard,was identical to
the deity properly named Mehen- this same
deity who otherwisepersonifiedthe circularroadway in the CoffinTexts and who similarly lent
his name to those roads.32It is apparent then
that either the mhn-gameboardwas the basis on
which the "Roads of Mehen" were conceived in
the afterlife or that both the gameboardand the
"Roads of Mehen" originated in the same wellspring of Egyptian religious thought.
A parallel for the assimilation of the mhngame and afterlife roadway occurs even earlier
than that indicated in the Coffin Texts, i.e.,
during the Old Kingdom- although in a slightly
different context, for certainly in Pyramid Text
Utt. 332, §541, the deceased king comes forth
from a mhn-gameboard during his ascension
into heaven:
dd mdw N. pw nw pr m mhn
pr.n N. m hh.f inny
zb.n N. ptwy iy.n N. tSwy
Recitation: It is this N. who has come forth
from the mhn-board.
When he came around, N. came forth from its
fierybreath.
Just as N. has traveled(to) the two skies, so N.
has returned(to) the two lands.33
This passage describes the circular direction of
travel on the board, as well as exiting on the
breath of the snake. Kurt Sethe understood the
text in a similar manner.34Furthermore, he
interpreted the m/m-game in this and similar
contexts as some kind of ordeal or legal trial for
the deceased.35Faulkner, on the other hand,
contended that mhn in this text referredonly to
the proper name of the serpent-deity,not specifically to the gameboard, and that the de32 Ranke, Schlangenspiel, 16-18.
33 Sethe, Pyr. 1, §541a-c; cf. Ranke,
Schlangenspiel, 8
Montet, CdE 30 (1955): 191, 193.
34 Sethe, Pyr., Ubersetzung 3, 13: "NN. ist das, was aus
dem Schlangentopf-Brettspiel hervorgegangen ist." However, cf. Junker, Giza 4, 37, "T(eti) ist der Jager (nw) der aus
dem ra/m-Spiel siegreich hervorgegangen ist"; Montet, CdE
30 (1955): 196, "Ted, c'est le chausseur qui sort de la fossepiege," so mhn, "pitfall," i.e., a trap used in hunting.
35 Sethe, Pyr., Ubersetzung 3, 15.
ceased's action was one of "escape" from the
snake.36
However, Sethe would appear correct in this
context. Mehen is both gameboardand serpent.
While the king is conceived of as "coming
forth" from that board, he is, at the same time,
understood as being reborn in a blast of the
serpent'sbreath.The entire action functions less
as a matter of "escape" than as a stage in the
processof ascension.
The dual notion of Mehen as gameboardand
snake from whose fiery breath the deceased is
reborn is expressed more clearly in PT Utt.
758, inscribedin the pyramid of Queen Neith.37
It is addressedto a serpent-deitynamed nb jht,
"Lordof the Horizon":
iwr N.t m fnd ms N.t p(w) m msd.t
sdr N.t m kjb.(t).khms N.t m mhn.k
Neith is conceived in the nose. This is how
Neith is born in the nostril.
Just as Neith rests in your coils, so Neith sits
in (i.e., "residesin") your m/m-board.38
This entire passage refers to the birth of Queen
Neith into the afterlife from the breath and
nostrils of the serpent.Residing within the coils
of the serpent is synonymous with being upon
the ra/m-gameboard,and is part of the resurrection process.
For the same reason in PT Utt. 659, the
deceased king is exhorted to move his pieces
around a ra/zn-boardin the context of his own
deification:
szp n.k ibhw.k ipw hdw m Mhnw
psrw hj.sn m ssr m rn.sn pw n ssr
Take for yourself these your white ivory pieces
(lit. "teeth")39from the m/m-board.
Go around them as an arrow in this their
name of 'Arrow'.40
36 Faulkner, Pyr., 107, n. 2.
37 G. Jequier, Pyramides des reines Neit et Apouit, pl. 26,
11. 697-98.
ss pt §§2288d-2289a, Faulkner, Pyr., Supplement, 87; cf.
Sethe, Pyr., Ubersetzung 3, 15.
39 So R. Ritner, review of Fs Zandee, in JNES, in press.
40 Sethe, Pyr. 2, §1866a-b, p. 454; cf. Ranke, Schlangenspiel, 24, n. 1; alternatively, Montet CdE 30 (1955): 197.
MEHEN, MYSTERIES,AND RESURRECTION FROM THE COILED SERPENT
Similarly, in PT Utt. 626, also from the pyramid
of Queen Neith, the deceased is described as
being upon the ra/m-board within the same
context as her identificationwith the falcon-god
named Wr:
dd mdw pr.n N.t m Wrhn.n.s m bik
hr n N.t m mhnw Szmw (pw)
Recitation: 'It is as Wr that Neith has gone
forth, and it is as the falcon that she has
alighted.
The face of Neith is in the ra/m-boardof (this)
Shesmu.'41
The deceased'spresenceupon the ra/m-board
is associatedwith her divine transformationand
ascension. The reading of this text differs from
that of Leclant in his study of PT Utt. 626.42
While the relation of Shesmu to the ra/m-board
remains unclear, Leclant's arguments to associate that deity with the board are not persuasive,
based as they are on the outdatednotion that the
mhn-board originally representednot a coiled
serpent, but a pitfall, i.e., a trap used to snare
animals.43However, Quibell and Ranke long
ago demonstratedthe mhn-board'soriginal connection to the coiled serpent, an identification
that still remains firm despite any assertions to
the contrary.44Leclant argues that Shesmu's
dual nature as a deity of the oil and wine press,
as well as a butcherof the enemies of the god, is
appropriatefor this passage. However,his assertion is unacceptablethat the mhn-boardthrough
which the queen passes is actually Shesmu's
trap to crush her head. Such a notion, replete
with danger for the deceased,is wholly inappropriate to the spell, which otherwise promotes
the ascension and spiritual transformation of
the dead queen.
41 PT §2265a, Jequier, Pyramides des reines Neit et Apouit,
pl. 8, col. 6 (p. 26 for the correct reading of szmw); Faulkner,
Pyr., Supplement, 80 (szmw uncorrected); J. Leclant, "T. P.
Pepi Ier, V: Le chapitre 626 des Textes des Pyramides," in
FsZandee, 78-79; 81-85.
42 "La face du roi est dans le piege (ou la constriction) de
(ce) Shesemou," ibid, 82.
43 So Junker, Giza 4, 37; Montet, CdE 1955: 196; Vandier,
Manuel 4/1, 518-19; cf. supra note n. 34.
44 Quibell, Excavations at
Saqqara 1911-1912, 19; Ranke,
Schlangenspiel, 8-10.
49
Similar to its appearance in the Pyramid
Texts, in the Book of the Two Ways the mhnboard facilitates the transition to resurrection.
So CT 1103asks the question:
inm phr.f mhn cd sch.f wdc-mdw Dhwty m
nhpw
Who will travelaround the ra/m-board,whose
rank is great,whom Thoth will judge in the
early morning?45
Sethe's notion that divine judgment is exemplified in the successful transit of the gameboardis
consistent with Thoth's role here as a judge of
the individual who goes around and through
the board. Therefore, similar to Sethe's conclusion, both PT Utt. 332 and CT 1103 would
define the ra/m-boardas a place of ordeal in the
life of the deceased,leading to final judgment by
the god and hence, eternal life. Journeying
acrossthe ra/m-boardis tantamountin theoryto
traveling through the serpent, while exiting the
board denotes rebirth from the body of the
snake.
This interpretationdiffersfrom that of Ranke,
who earlier had construed the ra/m-game as a
struggle between the deceased player and the
ra/m-serpentitself. He suggestedthat the goal of
the game was to kill the serpentby dismemberment, as indicatedby the slotting of the spine,46
and to remove its fangs, which he argued were
detrimental to the deceased.47However, this interpretation is vitiated by the function of the
ra/m-serpent/gameboardin the Pyramid Texts
and by the beneficial and protective role of the
god Mehen in the resurrectionprocess, as we
stated at the beginning of this study. Hence,
Mehen should be construedas the mentor of the
player,not his opponent.
The notion of the god's birth from a serpent
in his cycle of resurrectionwas not lost on the
Egyptians even later in the New Kingdom. It is
a concept that finds expression throughout the
Book of Amduat, so e.g.: the Fifth Hour, in
which Sokar is born from the back of a threeheaded winged serpent during the course of the
45 de Buck, CT 7, 428c.
46 Ranke, Schlangenspiel, 29.
47 Based upon a misinterpretation of PT Utt. 659 and BD
172 (infra), q.v. ibid., 24-27.
50
JARCE XXVII (1990)
the Eleventh Hour, in
sun-god's regeneration;48
which Atum comes forth from the back of a
winged snake;49and the Twelfth Hour, in which
the netherworld-dwellerstow the god Ra, bark
and all, through the body of a great serpent
named cnh-ntrw,who is very likely to be associated with the god Mehen.50According to that
text, Ra enters through the tail of the snake in
his form of the iwf-Rc, "Flesh of Ra," and he
exits via the mouth in the form of Khepri, the
scarab beetle and nascent sun-god.51Similarly,
in the Book of Gates, Ninth Division, Horus
emerges from the body of a two-headed serpent
named Khepri, as part of the resurrectionprocess describedthere.52
During the New Kingdom, a closely related
aspect of the mysterious nature of Mehen and
his relation to game-playing is found in the
Book of the Dead, Chapter172,53which enumerates the parts of the head of the deceased:
ibhw.k tpy[w] nw Mhn hbcn nbwy im
Your teeth are the heads of Mehen, wherein
the two lords played.54
Ranke, followed by Hornung, logically and
plausibly suggested that according to this text,
the two lords, i.e., Horus and Seth, should be
understood specifically as playing the game of
mhn.55Ritner has indicated that in this passage,
ibhw conveys a double meaning.56 While it
means "teeth" in a context of the body parts of
the deceased,in the parallel context of the tnhngame, it conveys the meaning "ivory pieces,"
i.e., "draughtsmen."Hence, it is consistent with
the ibhw hdw, "white ivory pieces," associated
with the m/zn-gameof PT Utt. 659, mentioned
earlier.
48 Hornung, Amduat, vol. 1, 94, 7-8 (394); vol. 2, 106.
49 Ibid., vol. 1, 181, 2-4 (755/756); vol. 2, 175.
50 Ibid., vol. 1, 197, 7-12; vol. 2, 188-89.
51 Cf. Piankoff, Ramesses VI, 41, 314.
52 E. Hornung, Das Buck von Pforten des Jenseits 1 (AH 7;
Geneva, 1979), 347-53.
53 Tb (Naville) 1, pl. 193, 16-17.
54 Cf. Ranke, Schlangenspiel, 24: "deine Zahne sind die
tpj.wQ) des Mhn, mit(?) denen Horus und Seth gespielt
haben."
55 Ibid., 52; Tb (Hornung), 353, 515-16, so also idem,
"Zeitliches Jenseits," Eranos Jahrbuch 47 (1978): 272 and
n. 7.
56 Ritner, review of Fs Zandee in JNES, in press.
While Ritner interpretstpy[w], "heads,"also
to mean the gaming pieces of the board, we are
apt to understand it more literally.57This reference to the heads of Mehen is very telling,
since as we have already noted, many mhngameboardsdepict the serpentwith two different
heads: the serpent-head at the center of the
spiral and a bird's head projecting from the tail
of the snake on the outside. The play on the
gameboard then is identical to the movement
through the serpent cnh-ntrw, as described in
Amduat,Twelfth Hour. The game-pieces,entering the board through the outer rank of squares
could be conceived as being swallowed by the
duck-heademanating from the tail, after which
the pieces would travel through the body of the
serpentand exit the boardvia the head.
As a parallel to BD 172, the notion that
Mehen had two heads is found in other New
Kingdom texts. The Book of Gates, Tenth Division, depicts six uraei seated on two bows;
standing between them is an anthropomorphic
deity with two heads, those of Horus and Seth.58
The figureis named, Mhn pj n icrw.(t) hrwy.fy,
"It is Mehen of the Uraei- His Two Faces,"59
and he occurs in a group of scenes that describes
the regenerationof the sun god as a child.60The
accompanyingtext says:
Mhn pw n icrw.thns.f dwj.t
smrw.t rmn.sn hrwy.f(y)m stj.f
It is Mehen of the Uraei, he travels through
the netherworld.
The bows, they lift up His Two Faces as his
mystery.61
Thus, the figure depicts the god Mehen, in
whom the conceptualization with two heads
clearlyappearsas a secretform (ra stj.f).62
Another parallel for the double-headedaspect
of Mehen is found in the Book of Day, wherein
57 So his translation, "Your ivory pieces ('teeth' ibhw) are
the two pieces ('heads' tpy) of the Mehen (game) with which
the two Lords played," ibid.
58 Hornung, Pfortenbuch 2 (AH 8) pl. "Elfte Stunde."
59 Idem, Pfortenbuch 1, 367, 78. Szene.
60 Ibid., 366, 77. Szene, Beischrift; idem, Pfortenbuch 2,
258.
61 Idem, Pfortenbuch 1, 367, Beischrift.
62 Similarly, idem, Pfortenbuch 2, 259. The Horus/Sethheaded deity, "His Two Faces," occurs earlier in the Book of
Gates, Ninth Hour; ibid., 226f.
MEHEN, MYSTERIES,AND RESURRECTION FROM THE COILED SERPENT
he is depicted as a circular two-headeduraeus—
similar to an ouroboros—coiled aroundthe newborn sun god, whom Isis and Nephthys lift up
and transferto the day-bark.63Significantly, the
two-headedMehenis associatedwith the regenerative principle, since both the Book of Day and
the Book of Gates, Tenth Division, relate the
double-headed aspect of Mehen specifically to
the birth of Ra.
As noted earlierin regardto CT Spell 658, the
crown of Ra within the Roads of Mehen depicts
a single snake with a head at both ends of its
body. Based upon what we understand about
Mehen, this representationveryprobablydepicts
him in his hidden aspect.Thus, it would appear
that in his secret form, Mehen has two heads,
which according to the Book of Gates are manifested as Horus and Seth, and it is this mysterious aspect of him to which BD 172 referswhen
it mentions "the heads of Mehen wherein the
two lords played."
As Horus and Seth are conceived as playing
within the two heads of Mehen, they are understood as being inside the body of the serpent.We
cannot help but notice in BD 172 that the
imagery of the two gods playing a game inside
the body or circuit of the m/m-serpent conjures
up a clear image of the play of the Old Kingdom
m/zn-game,in which the players'pieces likewise
travel within the circle of a serpentine gameboard.64This notion is especially cogent in light
of PT Utt. 758, wherebythe very act of residing
within the serpent's coil is analogous to being
upon the ra/zn-board,and in light of PT Utt.
626, in which the head of the deceased travels
through the gameboard. BD 172 would then
represent a New Kingdom allusion to the Old
Kingdom game of mhn, which indicates that
millennia later, the Egyptians had not entirely
forgotten the older religious associations of the
m/zn-game, even though that game had long
fallen into disuse.
Field MuseumObjectno. 31009
This lingering memory of the ra/m-game in
the New Kingdom and its religious associations
with the god Mehenare almost certainlyreflected
63 Piankoff,RamessesVI,fig. 130,p. 389.
64 SimilarlyRanke,Schlangenspiel,24-25.
51
Fig. 4. Field Museum, no. 31009, votive object for
Mehen (Courtesyof the Field Museum, Chicago, neg.
no. 107543).
in a rare object now in the collection of the
Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, no.
31009 (fig. 4).65 This piece represents a large
coiled serpentwhich repeatsthe physical pattern
of the Old Kingdom m/m-game. However, unlike the earlier gameboards,it is made of a dark
blue faience, which by the color and style of its
glaze appears characteristicof the New Kingdom.66It was originally purchased in Egypt as
part of an ensemble with two other serpentamulets in June 1895by Mr. EdwardAyer, who
donated it to the museum's collections. No
provenienceis recorded.67
Physically, the serpentlies coiled on a circular
base which is 25 cm. in diameter and 1-2 cm.
thick. The body of the snake is fully formed. Its
spine is rounded, not flat like the true mhnboard, nor is it slotted and delineated with
game-squares like the latter. The tubular body
is up to 1.2 cm. in height, and the spiralling
gaps between the volutions consist of deeply
rounded grooves. Black paint is thickly applied
65 I would like to expressgratitudeto the Field Museum
for permitting me to study this piece during the summerof
1988and subsequentlyto publish it.
66According to the registrationrecordsof the museum,
the objectis "probablyof EighteenthDynasty"date.
67 While FM 31009has not been publishedpreviously,the
two serpent-amulets,FM31172and FM 31008,wereincluded
in Hornemann,Types 7, nos. 1842,1843,respectively.
52
JARCE XXVII (1990)
as spots over the blue glaze to denote the skin
pattern of the snake. The eyes and mouth are
modelled and outlined in black paint.
While the body of the serpentis molded to the
base, the head is fully three-dimensional and
stands erect above the surface. Significantly, the
serpent coils in a counter-clockwise direction,
with the head on the outside and the tail inside,
which is opposite to the traditional orientation
of ra/m-gameboards.The museum fichedescribes
the objectas ''partof game with amuletic significance." Clearly the piece is a votive object,
almost certainly for the god Mehen. However, it
is not a gameboard.
Despite key differencesbetween FM 31009and
the mhn-board,e.g., the orientation of the head,
contour of the body, and lack of game-squares,
it seems evident that FM 31009, while manufactured in the New Kingdom, was inspired by
at least a memory- however faulty- of the
earlier mhn-gameboard. Therefore in keeping
with the role of Mehen and the game's symbolism, this votive object and any others like it
would have promoted the resurrection of the
deceasedand facilitatedrebirththrough the body
of the serpent.
In conclusion we note the following: the
m/m-game was understoodas a means of transformation to rebirth through a process of journey. In the Pyramid Texts, this was to journey
across the board and through the serpent in
order to issue forth reborn in a blast from the
serpent'snostrils. Later in the CoffinTexts, this
notion was reinterpretedas to journey within
the context of the "circuit of Ra," which probably was conceptualized from the pre-existing
mhn-gameboard.By the new Kingdom, the lingering memory of the gameboard, in conjunction with notions of rebirth from the serpent,
fostered the development of mhn-style amulets
to facilitate the transition to resurrection.At the
same time, the memory of the ra/m-game was
associatedwith the mysterioustwo-headedaspect
of Mehen that was otherwise related to the birth
of the sun god. This aspect of his was not
generally promulgatedbut was kept m stj.f, "as
his secret,"i.e., only for those who were in the
know, and it was thus, perhaps, part of the
"mysteriesof Mehen."
OrientalInstitute
Universityof Chicago
Peter A . Piccione