ABSTRACT
THE story of the quest of Khamuas for a wonderful Book of Magic which was believed to have been composed by Thoth, and his converse with mummies in a tomb, is found written in Demotic upon a papyrus preserved in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (No. 30,646). The first two of the six pages of the manuscript are wanting. This papyrus was first discovered and published by Mariette, Les Papyrus du Musée de Boulaq, 1871, Vol. 1, pll. 29–32; then, after collation by Krall, Demotische Lesestücke, 1897. Translations have been published by H. Brugsch, Le Roman de Setnau (Rev. Arch. 1867); Le Page Renouf, Records of the Past, 1875; E. Révillout, Le Roman de Setna, Paris, 1877; G. Maspero (Annuaire, 1878) and Roeder, Altagyptische Erzahlungen, Jena, 1927. The most valuable publications of the text and translations are those of H. Brugsch in Deutsche Revue, III. 1, 1828, 1; J. J. Hess, Der demotische Roman von Stne Ha-m-su, Leipzig, 1888, andF. L1. Griffith, Stories of the High Priests of Memphis, Oxford, 1900. The papyrus was written in the fifteenth year of the reign of Ptolemy III(?) Euergetes I, i.e. 233 b.c.
