That quite obscure, but very interesting, last line .. says :
" The Deserts of Punt could count thee ".
It was given in this wording by E. A. Wallis Budge, within his translation of the "Papyrus Of Ani", with that seemingly un-fitting _expression: ''The Deserts'' , .. but what the ancient ''author'' of ''The Book Of The Dead'' had actually meant, might not turn out to be exactly similar to what we grasp now as ''Deserts'', .. and rather instead, could be something else that had no 'preciseness-representation', in the Ancient Hieroglyphic Writing System. Yet, the apparantly inaccurate translation clearly gives a strong impression about one of the characteristics of what was meant in the ancient text with ''Punt'' or "The Lands of the Gods" : The Characteristic Of VASTNESS !
However, we are most probably getting a clearer impression about "Punt", when we read these five lines of Budge's translation altogether :
" The Lands of the Gods see thee,
They could write [concerning thee];
The Deserts of Punt could count thee.
Thy creation is hidden.
It is one by the opening of thy mouth. "
It is very natural to feel a co-relation between mentioning of : "The Deserts of Punt" and what was brought, instructively, in a 'right-after' fashion : "Thy creation is hidden". -- And for the author of this study, the impression of a meant "Hidden Punt", is simply irresistible !
The meaning of the name "Amen" is taken to be : "Hidden One". Although, from the time of the XIIth dynasty until the close of the XVIIth dynasty, Amen was the chief god of the great city of Thebes, we are not able to detect a matching religious situation to that of Thebes, in other egyptian provinces. But when, the last kings of the XVIIth dynasty had liberated the countries and expelled the "Hyksous", their god assumed an importance hitherto unknown, and his priests endeavoured to make his worship 'the first' in the land. The Thebans then identified him with "Raa" and called him "Amen-Raa". During the time of the XVIIIth dynasty (the dynasty of Hatshepsut and her Royal Family), and onwards, a "thought mutation" rose up and was widely adopted in Egypt, and according to it the god "Amen-Raa" was known to have the personification of the creating and sustaining power of the universe. Gradually, the attributes of the old gods of Egypt were ascribed to him. The following extracts from an "informative" hymn, may set forth the views of the priesthood of Amen-Ra concerning their "mutated" religious thought :
" Hail to thee, O Amen-Raa,
Lord of the world's throne,
Thou dweller in Thebes,
._._._.
Thou governor of Punt,
Thou king of heaven and sovereign of the earth,
Thou lord of things that exist,
Thou establisher of creation,
Thou supporter of the universe.
._._._.
Creator of men, Maker of beasts and cattle,
Lord of all that existeth,
._._._.
Creator of the herbs which give life to beasts and cattle . . . . . . . .
Thou art the creator of things celestial and terrestrial,
Thou illuminest the universe . . . . . . .
Who hast spread out the heavens and laid down the earth . . . . .
Thou master of eternity and of everlastingness. . . . . . .
Hail to thee, O Raa, Lord of Ma'at,
Thou who art hidden in thy shrine, . . . . . . .
._._._.
Thou hearest the prayer of the afflicted, and thou art gracious unto him
That crieth unto thee; thou deliverest the feeble one from the oppressor,
And thou judgest between the strong and the weak . . . . . .
._._._.
All men and all creatures adore thee,
And praises come unto thee from the height of heaven,
From earth's widest space,
And from the deepest depths of the sea . . . . . .
Thou One, thou only One,
Who hast no second . . . . . .
Whose names are manifold and innumerable."
An amazing overwhelming 'transfer' .. in the Egyptian Religeous Mentality ! -- Now we are reading lines that are surely indicative of a remarkebly 'shrinked' multiple-worshiping mythology, .. and now we can behold a new religion for ''Khemit" that seems nearer to what had been known there before the introduction of many of its over-numbered deities... A religion, provingly, with a much lesser "hyper-paganism" ...
But from where did this 'revolutionistic' way of thinking come from ? -- And : Where was its origination ? -- Or : What was its geographical 'Orient' ? ...; To answer that convincingly, we'd better read first the following lines :
" The mighty hills are surrounded by thy glory,
The flat lands are filled with thy brightness.
Thou hast power over mountains and lookest over the earth;
Thou dost hang up the hems of the land in the innermost part of heaven,
The men of the lands, thou watchest over them all;
._._._.
Thou givest pasture to all living creatures,
Yea, thou art the shepherd of all that is above and beneath.
._._._.
Thou knowest and observest their doings,
The whole of mankind looketh up to thee,
._._._.
Thou destroyest the horn of him who deviseth evil;
Thou overturnest the place of him who planneth oppression.
._._._.
Thou hearest the oppressed as thou passest over them and searchest out their rights;
Each and all are in thy hand.
._._._.
From the depth of his throat the wretched crieth to thee;
The failing, the feeble, the tormented, the poor,
Cometh ever to thee with song of woe or petition . . . .
Them that kneel to thee thou absolvest and makest clean:
Thou acceptest the praise of them that praise thee.
But they fear thee and revere thy name, . . . . ".
If any egyptologist reads these last lines for the first time and thinks they had been written by some Middle Kingdom Egyptian Scribe, .. we just have to forgive him for such an understandable mistake ! Actually, and despite all their compatibility and matchness with the previous ones, .. these last lines come from a Babylonian hymn ! It had been made, of course, not in honour of the name of "Raa", but in honour of the name of "Shamash". A word that means, straightforwardly: "Sun" !
In the egyptian text, we have seen above that, among other titles, Amen was called the "Only One", but the addition of the words "Who Hast No Second", is remarkable as showing that the Egyptians had already conceived : The Existence Of A God Who Had No Like Nor Equal. -- When we add this conclusion to what we figure from the comparison between the two highly congrous hymn-texts of Egypt and Babylonia, .. we naturally get a clear idea on the Great Deviation of egyptian religious belief in the Middle Kingdom.
It is very obvious that the newly-introduced ideas had initially come from Asia !
Within the "Asiatic" bundle of religeous ideas and beliefs of Ancient Times, .. there had been the well known merits and privileges of "Shrine-Pilgrimage", done for 'Release From Sins And Evil Doings', and the attaining of 'Self-Salvation' and be one of those who are 'Incorrupted And God-Pleasing'. This, in-turn, can lead to the 'Lengthening Of Days Of The Good Believer'.
... And that's, nearly definitely, had been greatly needed by the Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut, after what she had committed against her closest family members, in due course of grabbing the Highest Power Office in Egypt... Towards her mother, father and brother/husband, we found that she had used the manners of : Deception, Seduction, Conspiracy, Opportunism and Abusiveness... She reached her goals, all right, but for very high : Moral, Psychological, and even Physical prices, .. that had to be dealt with in that "Mystical and Mysterious Pilgrimage to the Pu'nat'-Lands" !
" She goes there, to a certain 'Mountain Of Orient', through the Indian Ocean. There, she passes through the 'needed' rituals, offering procedures and ceremonies, .. and recieves also there some professional and very effective "green medications". She gets back to Egypt, in a much better shape, mentally and bodily, .. and then starts the erection of a 'special' temple in a special place, .. were it appears 'encompassed' by a Mountain. She makes use of the golden chance and 'over-glorifies' herself on the walls of her "Djeser-Djeseu"... "
However, we have to face a Big Question .. and Answer It, if we are really trying to emphasize what was deduced within the achievements of the ''I.O.M.O.'' studies, and tells us that ''Ma'at-Ka-Raa'' had made considerable attempts, to convince her people with the reality of an occurance of some Punatine ''Upper Visit'', which was said to had been under-took by her before she came to Egypt from her Oriental Voyage : ''Where are the depictions and the inscriptions, that had to exist, to register and inform about such an important glorification story, of Ma'at-Ka-Raa's, and where should they be found ?''...
And before any egyptologist finds 'NON' of these depictions and inscriptions in his memory, we remind here of the enormous total space of depictions and inscriptions, that were evidently erased from the walls of ''Al-Deir Al-Bahari''... And we also remark, that the highly possible over-glorifications of the Hatshepsutian depictions and inscriptions, might have been themselves the very major-reasons for their erasure, by later Egyptian Kings (or maybe also 'New Order' Priests).
According to Caroline Seawright : ''This is the place where the inscriptions of her life and achievements can be found, although they, too, were vandalised. ._._._. Her temple was filled with many beautiful scenes that prove herself as Pharaoh. ._._._. She recorded this on the walls of her temple at Deir el-Bahri, and many of the scenes can still be seen today. (Unfortunately many were damaged or destroyed when someone - most likely Thuthmose III - tried to erase her name and image from every monument that may have had her name.) ._._._. Though this seems a little drastic, there was obviously bitter feelings against Hatshepsut. ._._._. But, despite all the damage, the people of today still know of Egypt's first female Pharaoh - Hatshepsut.''