A snake encyclopaedia of an Egyptian magician : glimpses into the texts of the burial chamber of Iufaa at Abusir
Abstract
The burial chamber decoration of the shaft tomb of Iufaa at Abusir (dated to the turn of 26th/27th Dynasties) is exceptional with regards both to its extent and used topics. All walls of the chamber as well as the outer and inner sarcophagi are covered by excerpts from the Pyramid texts, Coffin Texts, Book of the Dead and other ritual or liturgical texts.
Some of the spells and their illustrations have not been identified yet, others are exceptional or rare (e.g., the image of the Uroboros, or the god Tutu). The western wall and a part of the northern wall of the burial chamber contain a number of representations of snakes and snake-like creatures as well as texts pertaining to them.
According to the texts, these snakes represent divine or demonic beings of the deepest levels of the Underworld, and of the beginning of time. In this paper, we present the western wall of the burial chamber of the tomb of Iufaa with six identified serpentine beings and Tutu and Mehen on the opposite eastern wall with an interpretation of this unique textual corpus which connects Underworld phenomena with the terrestrial cult and emphasizes the aspect of secret knowledge.