Samuel A.B. Mercer (tr.) - The Pyramid Texts

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The Pyramid Texts were funerary inscriptions that were writtenon the walls of the early Ancient Egyptian pyramids at Sakkara.These date back to the fifth and sixth dynasties, approximatelythe years 2350-2175 B.C.E.However, because of extensive internal evidence,it is believed that they were composed much earlier, circa 3000 B.C.E.The Pyramid Texts are, therefore, essentially the oldest sacred textsknown. Samuel Mercer was the first to produce a complete Englishtranslation of this mysterious text, in 1952.This was also the first complete translation in any language.The Mercer translation was followed by the R.O. Faulkner translationin 1969, which is considered the standard today.However, this does not diminish the usefulness of Mercer's version,particularly because it has fallen into the public domain andis now available freely online here at sacred-texts, the firstcomplete version of the Pyramid Texts on the Internet. PRODUCTION NOTES:The four volume edition from which this was scanned is today very rareand sells for upwards of $800 on the used market.This etext is the complete text of volume one of this set, and includesthe complete Mercer translation of the Pyramid Texts.Volumes 2-4 are commentary by Mercer and others.I do not currently plan to scan the remaining volumes.

I believe that this work is in the public domain in the United States.It will not be in the public domain in the UK or EU until 2022.Here are the facts.Mercer, a Canadian by birth, published this work in 1952.It was published simultaneously in the United States and Canada.Samuel Mercer died on January 12, 1969 at the age of 89.By US copyright law at the time, the copyright should have beenregistered at the US copyright office in 1952 and renewed in 1980.However there is no evidence that this is the case, based on an extensivesearch of the online US Copyright Office database.The GATT restoral of 1/1/1996 restored copyrights on foreign works whichwere not registered properly in the US; however, this does not applyto works simultaneously published in the US and abroad. --John Bruno Hare, June 2, 2004

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Click to enlarge [1952]
Image: excerpts from verso (note 'Published simultaneously') Dedicatedto the ZionResearch Foundation
by whose generosity
the publication of this work has been translated
from dream into reality

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The Pyramid Texts of Ancient Egypt are the oldest large body of writtenmaterial in the world. They are incised on limestone in thousands of lines ofhieroglyphics, containing fragments of myths and legends, historical referencesand astronomical lore, geography and cosmology, religion and rituals, systemsof theology, festivals, magic and morals, and with a literary technique capableof expressing the finest religious and ethical thoughts. The purpose of this work is to furnish in English a translation andcommentary of these texts--a translation and commentary which make use of allthe texts at present extant and known to the author, and which is designed tobe a standard but interim work in this subject until such time in the future asall remaining pyramid texts will have been discovered, which will then, it ishoped, make possible the writing of a complete and definitive work. The contribution of this publication will be the first translation inEnglish of the ancient Pyramid Texts; the first complete translation and fullcommentary of the Texts in any language; and an addition to the hieroglyphictext of Sethe of over four hundred lines (in translation) from the pyramids ofNeit and Pepi II, in addition to the filling of many lacunae in the body of histext from Neit, Pepi II, and other pyramids, tombs and sarcophagi, discoveredsince the publication of Sethe's unfinished translation and commentary inGerman after his death in 1934. Fuller details of these texts, their discovery,nature, extent, and value are given in the introduction.

There still remains the pleasant duty of acknowledging here the immediatehelp in the preparation of this publication given by the author's colleaguesand friends. And first I would mention the kind aid and assistance given me byDr. Ludlow Bull of the Metropolitan Museum of New York who with the consent ofCharles Breasted allowed me to read the late Professor J. H. Breasted'spenciled copy of translated portions of the Pyramid Texts, and who with hiscolleague in the Museum, Dr. William C.

Hayes, aided me in many ways. I wouldalso thank Dr. John D. Cooney and Mrs. Elizabeth Riefstahl of the Brooklyn Museum for their many kindnesses, aswell as Dr. Drioton of Cairo, Dr.

Grapow of Berlin and Professor Garnot of Paris. The memory of the help of others, suchas the late Professors Sethe, Gunn, and Breasted, will always remain with me.And the published works of these three scholars, together with those especiallyof Professor Kees, have been my daily companions. I have an especially deepsense of gratitude to express to the writers of Excursuses, Professors Drioton,Kees, Garnot, Schott, van de Walle, M. Lacau, and Mr. Robert Briggs, in whoseessays I have followed as closely as possible the form in which they weresubmitted to me. The assistance of the Reverend Father Keller, a former pupilof mine, not only in many details in the preparation of this work, but also andespecially in the full and complete indexes to the translation which he hascontributed, has been a great help and a priceless contribution.

Also his map,made especially for the Pyramid Texts, will be found to serve its purpose well.In reading proof, Father Keller and Mr. Briggs have not only avoided many anerror in detail, but have also made valuable contributions to theinterpretation and illustration of many a difficult passage. Finally, MissSeville Marshall, who has typed these hundreds of pages, has accomplished, asan expert in her art, a first-class task. But this work could not have beenpublished had it not had the good fortune of receiving a substantial grant fromthe Zion Research Foundation, who have already on other occasions shown theirenlightened interest in the publication of works in the realm of Biblical andreligious research. To this Foundation, and especially to their secretary, Mr.Wilfred B. Wells, and board, the author expresses his most cordial thanks.

Norcould the work of printing and publishing have been so efficiently andsatisfactorily done without the cordial cooperation of Messrs. Longmans, Greenand Company, who have done everything in their power to satisfy us. SAMUEL A. B. MERCER

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