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The ''Book of the Dead'' ( egy, 𓂋𓏤𓈒𓈒𓈒𓏌𓏤𓉐𓂋𓏏𓂻𓅓𓉔𓂋𓅱𓇳𓏤, ''rw n(y)w prt m hrw(w)'') is an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom (around 1550 BCE) to around 50 BCE. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated ''rw nw prt m hrw'', is translated as ''Book of Coming Forth by Day'' or ''Book of Emerging Forth into the Light''. "Book" is the closest term to describe the loose collection of texts consisting of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person's journey through the ''
Duat The Duat ( egy, dwꜣt, Egyptological pronunciation "do-aht", cop, ⲧⲏ, also appearing as ''Tuat'', ''Tuaut'' or ''Akert'', ''Amenthes'', ''Amenti'', or ''Neter-khertet'') is the realm of the dead in ancient Egyptian mythology. It has been ...
'', or underworld, and into the afterlife and written by many priests over a period of about 1,000 years.
Karl Richard Lepsius Karl Richard Lepsius ( la, Carolus Richardius Lepsius) (23 December 181010 July 1884) was a pioneering Prussian Egyptologist, linguist and modern archaeologist. He is widely known for his magnum opus '' Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien' ...
introduced for these texts the German name ''Todtenbuch'' (modern spelling ''Totenbuch''), translated to English as Book of the Dead. The ''Book of the Dead'', which was placed in the coffin or burial chamber of the deceased, was part of a tradition of funerary texts which includes the earlier Pyramid Texts and
Coffin Texts The Coffin Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary spells written on coffins beginning in the First Intermediate Period. They are partially derived from the earlier Pyramid Texts, reserved for royal use only, but contain substantial ...
, which were painted onto objects, not written on papyrus. Some of the spells included in the book were drawn from these older works and date to the 3rd millennium BCE. Other spells were composed later in Egyptian history, dating to the Third Intermediate Period (11th to 7th centuries BCE). A number of the spells which make up the Book continued to be separately inscribed on tomb walls and sarcophagi, as the spells from which they originated always had been. There was no single or
canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical exampl ...
''Book of the Dead''. The surviving papyri contain a varying selection of religious and magical texts and vary considerably in their illustration. Some people seem to have commissioned their own copies of the ''Book of the Dead'', perhaps choosing the spells they thought most vital in their own progression to the afterlife. The ''Book of the Dead'' was most commonly written in hieroglyphic or hieratic script on a papyrus scroll, and often illustrated with
vignette Vignette may refer to: * Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy * Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters * Vignette (literature), short, ...
s depicting the deceased and their journey into the afterlife. The finest extant example of the Egyptian Book of the Dead in antiquity is the Papyrus of Ani. Ani was an Egyptian scribe. It was discovered by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge in 1888 and was taken to the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...
, where it currently resides.


Development

The ''Book of the Dead'' developed from a tradition of funerary manuscripts dating back to the Egyptian
Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourt ...
. The first funerary texts were the Pyramid Texts, first used in the Pyramid of King
Unas Unas or Wenis, also spelled Unis ( egy, wnjs, hellenized form Oenas or Onnos), was a pharaoh, the ninth and last ruler of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom. Unas reigned for 15 to 30 years in the mid-24th century BC (circa 2 ...
of the
5th Dynasty The Fifth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty V) is often combined with Dynasties III, IV and VI under the group title the Old Kingdom. The Fifth Dynasty pharaohs reigned for approximately 150 years, from the early 25th century BC until ...
, around 2400 BCE. These texts were written on the walls of the burial chambers within pyramids, and were exclusively for the use of the pharaoh (and, from the
6th Dynasty The Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty VI), along with the Third, Fourth and Fifth Dynasty, constitutes the Old Kingdom of Dynastic Egypt. Pharaohs Known pharaohs of the Sixth Dynasty are listed in the table below. Manetho a ...
, the queen). The Pyramid Texts were written in an unusual hieroglyphic style; many of the hieroglyphs representing humans or animals were left incomplete or drawn mutilated, most likely to prevent them causing any harm to the dead pharaoh.Taylor 2010, p. 54 The purpose of the Pyramid Texts was to help the dead king take his place amongst the gods, in particular to reunite him with his divine father Ra; at this period the afterlife was seen as being in the sky, rather than the underworld described in the ''Book of the Dead''. Towards the end of the Old Kingdom, the Pyramid Texts ceased to be an exclusively royal privilege, and were adopted by regional governors and other high-ranking officials. In the Middle Kingdom, a new funerary text emerged, the
Coffin Texts The Coffin Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary spells written on coffins beginning in the First Intermediate Period. They are partially derived from the earlier Pyramid Texts, reserved for royal use only, but contain substantial ...
. The Coffin Texts used a newer version of the language, new spells, and included illustrations for the first time. The ''Coffin Texts'' were most commonly written on the inner surfaces of coffins, though they are occasionally found on tomb walls or on papyri. The Coffin Texts were available to wealthy private individuals, vastly increasing the number of people who could expect to participate in the afterlife; a process which has been described as the "democratization of the afterlife". The ''Book of the Dead'' first developed in Thebes toward the beginning of the
Second Intermediate Period The Second Intermediate Period marks a period when ancient Egypt fell into disarray for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. The concept of a "Second Intermediate Period" was coined in 1942 by ...
, around 1700 BCE. The earliest known occurrence of the spells included in the ''Book of the Dead'' is from the coffin of Queen Mentuhotep, of the 16th Dynasty, where the new spells were included amongst older texts known from the Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts. Some of the spells introduced at this time claim an older provenance; for instance the rubric to spell 30B states that it was discovered by the Prince Hordjedef in the reign of King
Menkaure Menkaure (also Menkaura, Egyptian transliteration ''mn-k3w-Rˁ''), was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the fourth dynasty during the Old Kingdom, who is well known under his Hellenized names Mykerinos ( gr, Μυκερῖνος) (by Hero ...
, many hundreds of years before it is attested in the archaeological record. By the
17th Dynasty The Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XVII, alternatively 17th Dynasty or Dynasty 17) was a dynasty of pharaohs that ruled in Upper Egypt during the late Second Intermediate Period, approximately from 1580 to 1550 BC. Its mainly Theb ...
, the ''Book of the Dead'' had become widespread not only for members of the royal family, but courtiers and other officials as well. At this stage, the spells were typically inscribed on linen shrouds wrapped around the dead, though occasionally they are found written on coffins or on papyrus. The New Kingdom saw the ''Book of the Dead'' develop and spread further. The famous Spell 125, the '
Weighing of the Heart Ancient Egyptian afterlife beliefs were centered around a variety of complex rituals that were influenced by many aspects of Egyptian culture. Religion was a major contributor, since it was an important social practice that bound all Egyptians ...
', is first known from the reign of
Hatshepsut Hatshepsut (; also Hatchepsut; Egyptian: '' ḥꜣt- špswt'' "Foremost of Noble Ladies"; or Hatasu c. 1507–1458 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the second historically confirmed female pharaoh, af ...
and Thutmose III, c.1475 BCE. From this period onward the ''Book of the Dead'' was typically written on a papyrus scroll, and the text illustrated with
vignette Vignette may refer to: * Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy * Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters * Vignette (literature), short, ...
s. During the
19th Dynasty The Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XIX), also known as the Ramessid dynasty, is classified as the second Dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1292 BC to 1189 BC. The 19th Dynasty and the 20th Dynasty furt ...
in particular, the vignettes tended to be lavish, sometimes at the expense of the surrounding text. In the Third Intermediate Period, the ''Book of the Dead'' started to appear in hieratic script, as well as in the traditional hieroglyphics. The hieratic scrolls were a cheaper version, lacking illustration apart from a single vignette at the beginning, and were produced on smaller papyri. At the same time, many burials used additional funerary texts, for instance the
Amduat The Amduat ( egy, jmj dwꜣt, literally "That Which Is In the Afterworld", also translated as "Text of the Hidden Chamber Which is in the Underworld" and "Book of What is in the Underworld"; ar, كتاب الآخرة, Kitab al-Akhira) is an imp ...
. During the 25th and 26th Dynasties, the ''Book of the Dead'' was updated, revised and standardised. Spells were ordered and numbered consistently for the first time. This standardised version is known today as the 'Saite recension', after the Saite (26th) Dynasty. In the Late period and Ptolemaic period, the ''Book of the Dead'' continued to be based on the Saite recension, though increasingly abbreviated towards the end of the Ptolemaic period. New funerary texts appeared, including the ''
Book of Breathing The Books of Breathing ( ar, كتاب التنفس, Kitab al-Tanafus) are several late ancient Egyptian funerary texts, intended to enable deceased people to continue to exist in the afterlife. The earliest known copy dates to about 350 BC.Hornung ...
'' and '' Book of Traversing Eternity''. The last use of the ''Book of the Dead'' was in the 1st century BCE, though some artistic motifs drawn from it were still in use in Roman times.


Spells

The ''Book of the Dead'' is made up of a number of individual texts and their accompanying illustrations. Most sub-texts begin with the word ''ro'', which can mean "mouth", "speech", "spell", "utterance", "incantation", or "chapter of a book". This ambiguity reflects the similarity in Egyptian thought between ritual speech and magical power. In the context of the ''Book of the Dead'', it is typically translated as either ''chapter'' or ''spell''. In this article, the word ''spell'' is used. At present, some 192 spells are known,Faulkner 1994, p.18 though no single manuscript contains them all. They served a range of purposes. Some are intended to give the deceased mystical knowledge in the afterlife, or perhaps to identify them with the gods: for instance, Spell 17 is an obscure and lengthy description of the god
Atum Atum (, Egyptian: ''jtm(w)'' or ''tm(w)'', ''reconstructed'' ; Coptic ''Atoum''), sometimes rendered as Atem or Tem, is an important deity in Egyptian mythology. Name Atum's name is thought to be derived from the verb ''tm'' which means 'to co ...
. Others are incantations to ensure the different elements of the dead person's being were preserved and reunited, and to give the deceased control over the world around him. Still others protect the deceased from various hostile forces or guide him through the underworld past various obstacles. Famously, two spells also deal with the judgment of the deceased in the
Weighing of the Heart Ancient Egyptian afterlife beliefs were centered around a variety of complex rituals that were influenced by many aspects of Egyptian culture. Religion was a major contributor, since it was an important social practice that bound all Egyptians ...
ritual. Such spells as 26–30, and sometimes spells 6 and 126, relate to the heart and were inscribed on scarabs. The texts and images of the ''Book of the Dead'' were magical as well as religious. Magic was as legitimate an activity as praying to the gods, even when the magic was aimed at controlling the gods themselves.Faulkner 1994, p.146 Indeed, there was little distinction for the Ancient Egyptians between magical and religious practice.Faulkner 1994, p.145 The concept of magic ('' heka'') was also intimately linked with the spoken and written word. The act of speaking a ritual formula was an act of creation;Taylor 2010, p.30 there is a sense in which action and speech were one and the same thing. The magical power of words extended to the written word. Hieroglyphic script was held to have been invented by the god
Thoth Thoth (; from grc-koi, Θώθ ''Thṓth'', borrowed from cop, Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ ''Thōout'', Egyptian: ', the reflex of " eis like the Ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a ...
, and the hieroglyphs themselves were powerful. Written words conveyed the full force of a spell. This was even true when the text was abbreviated or omitted, as often occurred in later ''Book of the Dead'' scrolls, particularly if the accompanying images were present. The Egyptians also believed that knowing the name of something gave power over it; thus, the ''Book of the Dead'' equips its owner with the mystical names of many of the entities he would encounter in the afterlife, giving him power over them. The spells of the ''Book of the Dead'' made use of several magical techniques which can also be seen in other areas of Egyptian life. A number of spells are for magical
amulet An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...
s, which would protect the deceased from harm. In addition to being represented on a ''Book of the Dead'' papyrus, these spells appeared on amulets wound into the wrappings of a mummy. Everyday magic made use of amulets in huge numbers. Other items in direct contact with the body in the tomb, such as headrests, were also considered to have amuletic value. A number of spells also refer to Egyptian beliefs about the magical healing power of saliva.


Organization

Almost every ''Book of the Dead'' was unique, containing a different mixture of spells drawn from the corpus of texts available. For most of the history of the ''Book of the Dead'' there was no defined order or structure. In fact, until Paul Barguet's 1967 "pioneering study" of common themes between texts, Egyptologists concluded there was no internal structure at all.Faulkner 1994, p.141 It is only from the Saite period (
26th Dynasty The Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXVI, alternatively 26th Dynasty or Dynasty 26) dynasty was the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Persian conquest in 525 BC (although others followed). The dynasty's reign (664–525 ...
) onwards that there is a defined order. The Books of the Dead from the Saite period tend to organize the Chapters into four sections: *Chapters 1–16: The deceased enters the tomb and descends to the underworld, and the body regains its powers of movement and speech. *Chapters 17–63: Explanation of the mythic origin of the gods and places. The deceased is made to live again so that he may arise, reborn, with the morning sun. *Chapters 64–129: The deceased travels across the sky in the sun barque as one of the blessed dead. In the evening, the deceased travels to the underworld to appear before Osiris. *Chapters 130–189: Having been vindicated, the deceased assumes power in the universe as one of the gods. This section also includes assorted chapters on protective amulets, provision of food, and important places.


Egyptian concepts of death and afterlife

The spells in the ''Book of the Dead'' depict Egyptian beliefs about the nature of death and the afterlife. The ''Book of the Dead'' is a vital source of information about Egyptian beliefs in this area.


Preservation

One aspect of death was the disintegration of the various ''kheperu'', or modes of existence. Funerary rituals served to re-integrate these different aspects of being. Mummification served to preserve and transform the physical body into '' sah'', an idealised form with divine aspects; the ''Book of the Dead'' contained spells aimed at preserving the body of the deceased, which may have been recited during the process of mummification. The heart, which was regarded as the aspect of being which included intelligence and memory, was also protected with spells, and in case anything happened to the physical heart, it was common to bury jewelled heart scarabs with a body to provide a replacement. The '' ka'', or life-force, remained in the tomb with the dead body, and required sustenance from offerings of food, water and incense. In case priests or relatives failed to provide these offerings, Spell 105 ensured the ''ka'' was satisfied. The name of the dead person, which constituted their individuality and was required for their continued existence, was written in many places throughout the ''Book'', and spell 25 ensured the deceased would remember their own name. The '' ba'' was a free-ranging spirit aspect of the deceased. It was the ''ba'', depicted as a human-headed bird, which could "go forth by day" from the tomb into the world; spells 61 and 89 acted to preserve it. Finally, the '' shut'', or shadow of the deceased, was preserved by spells 91, 92 and 188. If all these aspects of the person could be variously preserved, remembered, and satiated, then the dead person would live on in the form of an ''
akh The ancient Egyptians believed that a soul ( kꜣ and bꜣ; Egypt. pron. ka/ba) was made up of many parts. In addition to these components of the soul, there was the human body (called the ''ḥꜥ'', occasionally a plural '' ḥꜥw'', meani ...
''. An ''akh'' was a blessed spirit with magical powers who would dwell among the gods.


Afterlife

The nature of the afterlife which the dead people enjoyed is difficult to define, because of the differing traditions within Ancient Egyptian religion. In the ''Book of the Dead'', the dead were taken into the presence of the god Osiris, who was confined to the subterranean
Duat The Duat ( egy, dwꜣt, Egyptological pronunciation "do-aht", cop, ⲧⲏ, also appearing as ''Tuat'', ''Tuaut'' or ''Akert'', ''Amenthes'', ''Amenti'', or ''Neter-khertet'') is the realm of the dead in ancient Egyptian mythology. It has been ...
. There are also spells to enable the ''ba'' or ''akh'' of the dead to join Ra as he travelled the sky in his sun-barque, and help him fight off
Apep Apep, also spelled Apepi or Aapep, ( Ancient Egyptian: ; Coptic: Erman, Adolf, and Hermann Grapow, eds. 1926–1953. ''Wörterbuch der aegyptischen Sprache im Auftrage der deutschen Akademien''. 6 vols. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'schen Buc ...
. As well as joining the Gods, the ''Book of the Dead'' also depicts the dead living on in the '
Field of Reeds ''Field of Reeds'' is the third studio album by British art rock band These New Puritans, released on 10 June 2013 on Infectious Music. Produced by Jack Barnett and Graham Sutton, the album features prominent contributions from over thirty-eigh ...
', a paradisiac likeness of the real world. The Field of Reeds is depicted as a lush, plentiful version of the Egyptian way of living. There are fields, crops, oxen, people and waterways. The deceased person is shown encountering the Great Ennead, a group of gods, as well as his or her own parents. While the depiction of the Field of Reeds is pleasant and plentiful, it is also clear that manual labour is required. For this reason burials included a number of statuettes named ''shabti'', or later '' ushebti''. These statuettes were inscribed with a spell, also included in the ''Book of the Dead'', requiring them to undertake any manual labour that might be the owner's duty in the afterlife. It is also clear that the dead not only went to a place where the gods lived, but that they acquired divine characteristics themselves. In many occasions, the deceased is mentioned as "The Osiris – 'Name'' in the ''Book of the Dead''. The path to the afterlife as laid out in the ''Book of the Dead'' was a difficult one. The deceased was required to pass a series of gates, caverns and mounds guarded by supernatural creatures. These terrifying entities were armed with enormous knives and are illustrated in grotesque forms, typically as human figures with the heads of animals or combinations of different ferocious beasts. Their names—for instance, "He who lives on snakes" or "He who dances in blood"—are equally grotesque. These creatures had to be pacified by reciting the appropriate spells included in the ''Book of the Dead''; once pacified they posed no further threat, and could even extend their protection to the dead person. Another breed of supernatural creatures was 'slaughterers' who killed the unrighteous on behalf of Osiris; the ''Book of the Dead'' equipped its owner to escape their attentions. As well as these supernatural entities, there were also threats from natural or supernatural animals, including crocodiles, snakes, and beetles.


Judgment

If all the obstacles of the ''Duat'' could be negotiated, the deceased would be judged in the "
Weighing of the Heart Ancient Egyptian afterlife beliefs were centered around a variety of complex rituals that were influenced by many aspects of Egyptian culture. Religion was a major contributor, since it was an important social practice that bound all Egyptians ...
" ritual, depicted in Spell 125. The deceased was led by the god
Anubis Anubis (; grc, Ἄνουβις), also known as Inpu, Inpw, Jnpw, or Anpu in Ancient Egyptian () is the god of death, mummification, embalming, the afterlife, cemeteries, tombs, and the Underworld, in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depict ...
into the presence of Osiris. There, the dead person swore that he had not committed any sin from a list of 42 sins, reciting a text known as the "Negative Confession". Then the dead person's heart was weighed on a pair of scales, against the goddess Maat, who embodied truth and justice. Maat was often represented by an ostrich feather, the hieroglyphic sign for her name. At this point, there was a risk that the deceased's heart would bear witness, owning up to sins committed in life; Spell 30B guarded against this eventuality. If the scales balanced, this meant the deceased had led a good life. Anubis would take them to Osiris and they would find their place in the afterlife, becoming ''maa-kheru'', meaning "vindicated" or "true of voice". If the heart was out of balance with Maat, then another fearsome beast called ''
Ammit Ammit (; egy, ꜥm-mwt, "devourer of the dead";Erman, Adolf; Grapow, Hermann (1926-1961) ''Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache'', Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, volume 1, page 184.9 also rendered Ammut or Ahemait) was a goddess in ancient Egyptian ...
'', the Devourer, stood ready to eat it and put the dead person's afterlife to an early and unpleasant end.Taylor 2010, p.212 This scene is remarkable not only for its vividness but as one of the few parts of the Book of the Dead with any explicit moral content. The judgment of the dead and the Negative Confession were a representation of the conventional moral code which governed Egyptian society. For every "I have not..." in the Negative Confession, it is possible to read an unexpressed "Thou shalt not".Faulkner 1994, p.14 While the
Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ� ...
of Jewish and Christian ethics are rules of conduct laid down by a perceived divine revelation, the Negative Confession is more a divine enforcement of everyday morality. Views differ among Egyptologists about how far the Negative Confession represents a moral absolute, with ethical purity being necessary for progress to the Afterlife. John Taylor points out the wording of Spells 30B and 125 suggests a pragmatic approach to morality; by preventing the heart from contradicting him with any inconvenient truths, it seems that the deceased could enter the afterlife even if their life had not been entirely pure. Ogden Goelet says "without an exemplary and moral existence, there was no hope for a successful afterlife", while
Geraldine Pinch Geraldine Harris (born 1951), aka Geraldine Harris Pinch, is an author (of both fiction and non-fiction) and Egyptologist. She is a member of the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford. Her works include the Seven Citadels qu ...
suggests that the Negative Confession is essentially similar to the spells protecting from demons, and that the success of the Weighing of the Heart depended on the mystical knowledge of the true names of the judges rather than on the deceased's moral behaviour.


Producing a ''Book of the Dead''

A ''Book of the Dead'' was produced to order by scribes. They were commissioned by people in preparation for their own funerals, or by the relatives of someone recently deceased. They were expensive items; one source gives the price of a ''Book of the Dead'' scroll as one '' deben'' of silver, perhaps half the annual pay of a labourer.Faulkner 1994, p. 142 Papyrus itself was evidently costly, as there are many instances of its re-use in everyday documents, creating palimpsests. In one case, a ''Book of the Dead'' was written on second-hand papyrus.Taylor 2010, p. 264 Most owners of the ''Book of the Dead'' were evidently part of the social elite; they were initially reserved for the royal family, but later papyri are found in the tombs of scribes, priests and officials. Most owners were men, and generally the vignettes included the owner's wife as well. Towards the beginning of the history of the ''Book of the Dead'', there are roughly ten copies belonging to men for every one for a woman. However, during the Third Intermediate Period, two were for women for every one for a man; and women owned roughly a third of the hieratic papyri from the Late and Ptolemaic Periods. The dimensions of a ''Book of the Dead'' could vary widely; the longest is 40 m long while some are as short as 1 m. They are composed of sheets of papyrus joined together, the individual papyri varying in width from 15 cm to 45 cm. The scribes working on ''Book of the Dead'' papyri took more care over their work than those working on more mundane texts; care was taken to frame the text within margins, and to avoid writing on the joints between sheets. The words ''peret em heru'', or ''coming forth by day'' sometimes appear on the reverse of the outer margin, perhaps acting as a label. Books were often prefabricated in funerary workshops, with spaces being left for the name of the deceased to be written in later. For instance, in the '' Papyrus of Ani'', the name "Ani" appears at the top or bottom of a column, or immediately following a rubric introducing him as the speaker of a block of text; the name appears in a different handwriting to the rest of the manuscript, and in some places is mis-spelt or omitted entirely. The text of a New Kingdom ''Book of the Dead'' was typically written in
cursive hieroglyphs Cursive hieroglyphs, or hieroglyphic book hand, are a form of Egyptian hieroglyphs commonly used for handwritten religious documents, such as the Book of the Dead. This style of writing was typically written with ink and a reed brush on papyrus, wo ...
, most often from left to right, but also sometimes from right to left. The hieroglyphs were in columns, which were separated by black lines – a similar arrangement to that used when hieroglyphs were carved on tomb walls or monuments. Illustrations were put in frames above, below, or between the columns of text. The largest illustrations took up a full page of papyrus. From the
21st Dynasty The Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXI, alternatively 21st Dynasty or Dynasty 21) is usually classified as the first Dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian Third Intermediate Period, lasting from 1077 BC to 943 BC. History After the r ...
onward, more copies of the ''Book of the Dead'' are found in hieratic script. The calligraphy is similar to that of other hieratic manuscripts of the New Kingdom; the text is written in horizontal lines across wide columns (often the column size corresponds to the size of the papyrus sheets of which a scroll is made up). Occasionally a hieratic ''Book of the Dead'' contains captions in hieroglyphic. The text of a ''Book of the Dead'' was written in both black and red ink, regardless of whether it was in hieroglyphic or hieratic script. Most of the text was in black, with
red ink Rubrication is the addition of text in red ink to a manuscript for emphasis. Practitioners of rubrication, so-called ''rubricators'' or ''rubrishers'', were specialized scribes who received text from the original scribe. Rubrication was one of se ...
used for the titles of spells, opening and closing sections of spells, the instructions to perform spells correctly in rituals, and also for the names of dangerous creatures such as the demon
Apep Apep, also spelled Apepi or Aapep, ( Ancient Egyptian: ; Coptic: Erman, Adolf, and Hermann Grapow, eds. 1926–1953. ''Wörterbuch der aegyptischen Sprache im Auftrage der deutschen Akademien''. 6 vols. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'schen Buc ...
.Taylor 2010, p. 270 The black ink used was based on carbon, and the red ink on
ochre Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...
, in both cases mixed with water. The style and nature of the vignettes used to illustrate a ''Book of the Dead'' varies widely. Some contain lavish colour illustrations, even making use of gold leaf. Others contain only line drawings, or one simple illustration at the opening. ''Book of the Dead'' papyri were often the work of several different scribes and artists whose work was literally pasted together. It is usually possible to identify the style of more than one scribe used on a given manuscript, even when the manuscript is a shorter one. The text and illustrations were produced by different scribes; there are a number of ''Books'' where the text was completed but the illustrations were left empty.


Discovery, translation, interpretation and preservation

The existence of the ''Book of the Dead'' was known as early as the Middle Ages, well before its contents could be understood. Since it was found in tombs, it was evidently a document of a religious nature, and this led to the widespread but mistaken belief that the ''Book of the Dead'' was the equivalent of a Bible or Qur'an. In 1842
Karl Richard Lepsius Karl Richard Lepsius ( la, Carolus Richardius Lepsius) (23 December 181010 July 1884) was a pioneering Prussian Egyptologist, linguist and modern archaeologist. He is widely known for his magnum opus '' Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien' ...
published a translation of a manuscript dated to the Ptolemaic era and coined the name "''Book of The Dead"'' (''das Todtenbuch''). He also introduced the spell numbering system which is still in use, identifying 165 different spells. Lepsius promoted the idea of a comparative edition of the ''Book of the Dead'', drawing on all relevant manuscripts. This project was undertaken by
Édouard Naville Henri Édouard Naville (14 June 1844 – 17 October 1926) was a Swiss archaeologist, Egyptologist and Biblical scholar. Born in Geneva, he studied at the University of Geneva, King's College, London, and the Universities of Bonn, Paris, an ...
, starting in 1875 and completed in 1886, producing a three-volume work including a selection of vignettes for every one of the 186 spells he worked with, the more significant variations of the text for every spell, and commentary. In 1867
Samuel Birch Samuel Birch (3 November 1813 – 27 December 1885) was a British Egyptologist and antiquary. Biography Birch was the son of a rector at St Mary Woolnoth, London. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School. From an early age, his manifest ...
of the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...
published the first extensive English translation. In 1876 he published a photographic copy of the Papyrus of Nebseny. The work of E. A. Wallis Budge, Birch's successor at the British Museum, is still in wide circulation – including both his hieroglyphic editions and his English translations of the Papyrus of Ani, though the latter are now considered inaccurate and out-of-date. More recent translations in English have been published by T. G. Allen (1974) and
Raymond O. Faulkner Dr Raymond Oliver Faulkner, FSA, (26 December 1894 – 3 March 1982) was an English Egyptologist and philologist of the ancient Egyptian language. He was born in Shoreham, Sussex, and was the son of bank clerk Frederick Arthur Faulkner a ...
(1972). As more work has been done on the ''Book of the Dead'', more spells have been identified, and the total now stands at 192. In the 1970s, Ursula Rößler-Köhler at the University of Bonn began a working group to develop the history of ''Book of the Dead'' texts. This later received sponsorship from the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the German Research Foundation, in 2004 coming under the auspices of the German Academies of Sciences and Arts. Today the ''Book of the Dead'' Project, as it is called, maintains a database of documentation and photography covering 80% of extant copies and fragments from the corpus of Book of the Dead texts, and provides current services to Egyptologists. It is housed at the University of Bonn, with much material available online. Affiliated scholars are authoring a series of monograph studies, the ''Studien zum Altägyptischen Totenbuch'', alongside a series that publishes the manuscripts themselves, ''Handschriften des Altägyptischen Totenbuches''. Both are in print by Harrassowitz Verlag. Orientverlag has released another series of related monographs, ''Totenbuchtexte'', focused on analysis, synoptic comparison, and textual criticism. Research work on the ''Book of the Dead'' has always posed technical difficulties thanks to the need to copy very long hieroglyphic texts. Initially, these were copied out by hand, with the assistance either of
tracing paper Tracing paper is paper made to have low opacity, allowing light to pass through. It was originally developed for architects and design engineers to create drawings that could be copied precisely using the diazo copy process; it then found ma ...
or a
camera lucida A ''camera lucida'' is an optical device used as a drawing aid by artists and microscopists. The ''camera lucida'' performs an optical superimposition of the subject being viewed upon the surface upon which the artist is drawing. The artist s ...
. In the mid-19th century, hieroglyphic fonts became available and made lithographic reproduction of manuscripts more feasible. In the present day, hieroglyphics can be rendered in desktop publishing software and this, combined with digital print technology, means that the costs of publishing a ''Book of the Dead'' may be considerably reduced. However, a very large amount of the source material in museums around the world remains unpublished.


Chronology

* c. 3150 BCE – First preserved hieroglyphs, on small labels in the tomb of a king buried (in tomb U-j) at Abydos * c. 3000 BCE – The beginning of the numbered dynasties of kings of ancient Egypt * c. 2345 BCE – First royal pyramid, of King Unas, to contain the ''Pyramid Texts'', carved precursors (intended only for the king) to the funerary literature from which the ''Book of the Dead'' ultimately developed * c. 2100 BCE – First ''Coffin Texts'', developed from the ''Pyramid Texts'' and for a time painted on the coffins of commoners. Many spells of the ''Book of the Dead'' are closely derived from them * c. 1600 BCE – Earliest spells of the ''Book of the Dead'', on the coffin of Queen Menthuhotep, an ancestor of kings from the New Kingdom * c. 1550 BCE – From this time onward to the beginning of the New Kingdom, papyrus copies of the ''Book of the Dead'' are used instead of inscribing spells on the walls of the tombs * c. 600 BCE – Approximately when the order of the spells became standard * 42–553 CE – Christianity spreads to Egypt, gradually replacing the native religion as successive emperors alternately tolerate or suppress them, culminating in the last temple at
Philae ; ar, فيلة; cop, ⲡⲓⲗⲁⲕ , alternate_name = , image = File:File, Asuán, Egipto, 2022-04-01, DD 93.jpg , alt = , caption = The temple of Isis from Philae at its current location on Agilkia Island in Lake Nasse ...
(also site of the last known religious inscription in demotic, dating from 452) being closed by order of Emperor Justinian in 533 * 2nd century CE – Possibly the last copies of the ''Book of the Dead'' were produced, but it is a poorly documented era of history * 1798 CE – Napoleon's invasion of Egypt encourages European interests in ancient Egypt; 1799,
Vivant Denon Dominique Vivant, Baron Denon (4 January 1747 – 27 April 1825) was a French artist, writer, diplomat, author, and archaeologist. Denon was a diplomat for France under Louis XV and Louis XVI. He was appointed as the first Director of the Louvre ...
was handed a copy of the ''Book of the Dead'' * 1805 CE – J. Marc Cadet makes the first publication, on 18 plates, of a ''Book of the Dead'', ''Copie figurée d'un Roleau de Papyrus trouvé à Thèbes dans un Thombeau des Rois, accompagnèe d'une notice descriptive, Paris, Levrault'' * 1822 CE – Jean-François Champollion announces the key to the decipherment of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, subsequently developed in his later publications, the most extensive after his death in 1832 * 1842 CE – Lepsius publishes the first major study of the ''Book of the Dead'', begins the numbering of the spells or chapters, and brings the name "Book of the Dead" into general circulation


See also

*''
Bardo Thodol The ''Bardo Thodol'' (, "Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State"), commonly known in the West as ''The Tibetan Book of the Dead'', is a terma text from a larger corpus of teachings, the ''Profound Dharma of Self-Liberation ...
'' (Tibetan book of the dead) *'' Book of the Dead of Amen-em-hat'' *'' Book of the Dead of Qenna'' * Ghosts in ancient Egyptian culture *
Joseph Smith Papyri The Joseph Smith Papyri (JSP) are Ancient Egypt, Egyptian funerary papyrus fragments from ancient Thebes, Egypt, Thebes dated between 300 to 100 BC which, along with four mummies, were once owned by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Sain ...
(Books of the Dead of TaSheritMin, Nefer-ir-nebu, and
Amenhotep Amenhotep (''Ỉmn-ḥtp''; "Amun is pleased" or "Amun is satisfied") is an ancient Egyptian name. Its Greek version is Amenophis (). Its notable bearers were: __NOTOC__ Pharaohs of the 18th dynasty *Amenhotep I *Amenhotep II *Amenhotep III *Am ...
) *
Medjed In Ancient Egyptian religion, Medjed is a minor and obscure god mentioned in the ''Book of the Dead''. His ghost-like portrayal in illustrations on the Greenfield papyrus earned him popularity in modern Japanese culture, including as a charact ...
*''
Necronomicon The ', also referred to as the ''Book of the Dead'', or under a purported original Arabic title of ', is a fictional grimoire (textbook of magic) appearing in stories by the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It was first ment ...
'' (H. P. Lovecraft's book of the dead) * Qenna *''
Shūjin e no Pert-em-Hru is a Japanese freeware role-playing video game created with RPG Maker Dante 98 II, by Makoto Yaotani (八百谷 真), then under the alias "Makoto Serise" (芹瀬 眞人). "Pert-em-Hru" refers to the Egyptian Book of the Dead, so the title of the ...
''


References


Citations


Works cited

* Allen, James P., ''Middle Egyptian – An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs'', first edition, Cambridge University Press, 2000. *Faulkner, Raymond O (translator); von Dassow, Eva (editor), ''The Egyptian Book of the Dead, The Book of Going forth by Day. The First Authentic Presentation of the Complete Papyrus of Ani''. Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 1994. * Hornung, Erik; Lorton, D (translator), ''The Ancient Egyptian books of the Afterlife''. Cornell University Press, 1999. *Müller-Roth, Marcus, "The Book of the Dead Project: Past, present and future." ''British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan'' 15 (2010): 189-200. *Pinch, Geraldine, ''Magic in Ancient Egypt''. British Museum Press, London, 1994. *Taylor, John H. (Editor), ''Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead: Journey through the afterlife''. British Museum Press, London, 2010.


Further reading

*Allen, Thomas George, ''The Egyptian Book of the Dead: Documents in the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago''. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1960. *Allen, Thomas George, ''The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day. Ideas of the Ancient Egyptians Concerning the Hereafter as Expressed in Their Own Terms,'' SAOC vol. 37; University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1974. * Assmann, Jan (2005)
001 001, O01, or OO1 may refer to: * 1 (number), a number, a numeral *001, fictional British agent, see 00 Agent *001, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian fire brigade (until 1986) *AM-RB 001, the code-name for the Aston Martin Valky ...
''Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt''. Translated by David Lorton. Cornell University Press. *D'Auria, S (''et al.'') ''Mummies and Magic: the Funerary Arts of Ancient Egypt''. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1989. * Faulkner, Raymond O; Andrews, Carol (editor), ''The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead''. University of Texas Press, Austin, 1972. *Lapp, G, ''The Papyrus of Nu (Catalogue of Books of the Dead in the British Museum)''. British Museum Press, London, 1997. *, ''Studies on the Illustrated Theban Funerary Papyri of the 11th and 10th Centuries B.C.''. OBO vol. 86; Universitätsverlag, Freiburg, 1989.


External links


The Mummy Chamber
Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown ...
Exhibit
Das altägyptische Totenbuch - ein digitales Textzeugenarchiv
Complete digital archive of all witnesses for the ''Book of the Dead'' (with descriptions of the (c. 3000) objects and (c. 20,000) images)
Online Readable Text
with several images and reproductions of Egyptian papyri

with many scenes and their formula English translations, from the copy now in the British Museum
Video: British Museum curator introduces the ''Book of the Dead''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Book Of The Dead Ancient Egyptian funerary texts Egyptian mythology 2nd millennium BC in religion Works of unknown authorship Books about death