ABSTRACT
T he text containing the Legend of the Destruction of Mankind is written in hieroglyphs, and is found on the four walls of a small chamber which is entered from the “ hall of columns5' in the tomb of Seti I., which is situated on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes. On the wall facing the door of this chamber is painted in red the figure of the large “ Cow of Heaven.55 The lower pert of her belly is decorated with a series of thirteen stars, and immediately beneath it are the two Boats of Bä, called Semketet and Mäntchet, or Sektet and Mätet. Each of her four legs is held in position by two gods, and the god Shu, with outstretched uplifted arms, supports her body. The Cow was published by Champollion,1 without the
text. This most important mythological text was first published and translated by Professor E. Naville in 1874.1 I t was republished by Bergmann2 and Brugsch,3 who gave a transcription of the text, with a German translation. Other German versions by Lauth,4 Brugsch,5 and Wiedemann6 have appeared, and a part of the text was translated into French by Lefébure.7 The latest edition of the text was published by Lefébure,8 and text of a second copy, very much mutilated, was published by Professor Naville, with a French translation in 1885.9 The text printed in this volume is that of M. Lefébure.
