Course:LIBR548F/2012WT1/Book of the Dead

Image from Book of the Dead, Papyrus of Ani.

What is the Egyptian Book of the Dead?

Papyrus Scroll.

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The Book of the Dead is the 19th century name given by Egyptologist to a collection of funerary spells (192 spells) and illustrations usually written on papyrus. The Egyptian referred to this collection of spells as the book of “Coming Forth by Day.” It was written using either hieroglyphic or hieratic. The ‘book’ was not a single text and could contain any amount or combination of spells. Egyptians used the Book of the Dead for about 1,500 years as part of a larger funerary tradition.

What was the Book of the Dead made from?

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Most surviving copies of the Book of the Dead were written on papyrus, however, a few were written on leather and many more written on linen. Papyrus were used by the Egyptians by cutting thin slices of the fibrous stems of the papyrus plant, they were then laid in two braided layers, pressed or beaten together and dried to create papyrus sheets, which could be glued together to form papyrus rolls.

How could you get your own Book of the Dead?

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Thousands of copies, partial-copies, and fragments of the Book of the Dead have been found over the centuries. The Book of the Dead was available for purchase with varying degrees of quality depending on the amount of money spent. The finest papyri were custom made and would cost the purchaser a significant amount of money. Others would be premade and would contain selections of popular spells with blank spaces, were the name of the purchaser could be inserted. It could also be purchased at different lengths and with different selections of spells. The most complete copy of the Book of the Dead is held in the British Museum. This papyrus is referred to as the Greenfield Papyrus and is over 37 meters in length. Most of the Books of the Dead were made and owned by men and the text within these ‘Books’ had this assumption in mind, however, there are a number made for women such as the one mentioned above.

The Book of the Dead papyruses were made by highly skilled scribes and artists with usually more than a single scribe working on one papyrus. Those Books of the Dead bought or commissioned by Egyptians were placed near or in the dead persons coffin, or within the body of a wooden statue of Osiris.

What is the Book of the Dead about and why was it important?

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The Egyptians believed that at death a person would pass from the land of the living (earth) to the land of the sky called the netherworld or world of the dead. A person would enter into the netherworld after burial. In the netherworld they would pass through many gates and doors guarded by gods that would challenge them before they could try for eternal life in the afterlife. This could only be achieved if the gods judged the dead person to be worthy.

The Book of the Dead gave the dead person the power and knowledge to be able to travel through the netherworld and into the afterlife. Magic played a large part in this process and the spells contained in the book helped the dead person move pass the challenges they faced in the netherworld and protected the dead person throughout their journey.

Evolution of the Book of the Dead

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The collection of spells now known as the Book of the Dead began just before the beginning of the New Kingdom (c. 1550 BCE). The height of the use and craftsmanship for the Book of the Dead was during the New Kingdom (1550-1069 BCE). Many of the spells found in the Book of the Dead can be seen in earlier versions written in pyramids around 2350 BCE. These texts are referred to as the Pyramid Texts and were reserved for kings. By 2000 BCE the spells had become more widely available and were found in burials of non-royal persons of high status. These texts called the Coffin Text (c. 2050 to 1750 BCE) were written on the insides of coffins. One study estimated that of the 192 spells in the Book of the Dead all but 79 have some background in these texts. The Book of the Dead do differ from these earlier writing in that they include illustrations (vignettes). The Book of the Dead remained a very important funerary text until the first century BCE.

Preservation of the Book of the Dead

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The preservation of these papyruses is very important has they are extremely delicate and sensitive to light. Scholars are researching ways into helping with long-term preservation of these fragile objects. New imaging technologies are revealing hidden or previously illegible texts.

Annotated Bibliography

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• Kemp, Barry J. How to Read the Egyptian Book of the Dead. London: Granta, 2007.

Barry Kemp is a well-respected Egyptologist and chooses a selected number of spells from the Book of the Dead to examine, which is done in a clear and easy way to understand.

http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=3730666

• Overview of British Museum’s Exhibition, Journey through the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. 2010-2011. http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/past_exhibitions/2011/book_of_the_dead/exhibition_overview.aspx

Although, the exhibition itself is over the website provides a great resource for anyone interested in learning about the basics of the Book of the Dead. The site has some great downloadable resources such as an introductory presentation and a PDF document about the history of the Book of the Dead.

To view Introductory presentation and PDF document: http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/past_exhibitions/2011/book_of_the_dead/schools_and_teachers.aspx

• The History Channel. The Egyptian Book of the Dead. A&E Televsion Networks, 2006.

This source is a 90-minute film about the Book of the Dead. The film goes into detail about the Papyrus of Ani, a beautiful example of a Book of the Dead made about 1250 BCE. The film also speaks about the controversial way the papyrus was acquired by the British Museum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2-0lfJQGGs&feature=related

References

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