Book of the Dead
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| Book of Coming Forth by Day in hieroglyphs |
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The Book of the Dead is a name for an Egyptian text. It is also known as The Book of Coming [or Going] Forth By Day, or as the papyrus of Ani. It contains a number of texts, and spells. These allow the dead person to safely get to the place of the afterlife.
The book of the dead was most commonly written on a papyrus scroll. It was placed in the coffin of the dead person, or their burial chamber. The book of the dead in its most familiar form was first used in the New Kingdom, but many of the spells had their origins in the funerary texts of the Old and Middle Kingdoms.[1]
The name "Book of the Dead" was the invention of the German Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius, who published a selection of the texts in 1842.
Missing sections of the book were found in the Queensland Museum in 2012. Historians are hoping that the missing pieces will give them a copy of the complete book.[2]
Book Of The Dead Media
- Hieroglyph Text from Teti I pyramid.jpg
Part of the Pyramid Texts, a precursor of the Book of the Dead, inscribed on the tomb of Teti
- Bookofthedeadspell17.jpg
The mystical Spell 17, from the Papyrus of Ani. The vignette at the top illustrates, from left to right, the god Nu as a representation of the primordial ocean; a gateway to the realm of Osiris; the Eye of Horus; the celestial cow Mehet-Weret; and a human head rising from a coffin, guarded by the four Sons of Horus.
- BOTDSpell7980.jpg
Egyptian Book of the Dead, painted on a coffin fragment (c. 747–656 BC): Spell 79 (attaching the soul to the body); and Spell 80 (preventing incoherent speech)
- Egypt dauingevekten.jpg
A vignette in The Papyrus of Ani, from Spell 30B: Spell For Not Letting Ani's Heart Create Opposition Against Him, in the Gods' Domain, which contains a depiction of the ba of the deceased
- Libro dei morti di Kha AFP 0310.tif
Book of the Dead of Kha, Papyrus Turin 1791, Museo Egizio, Turin, from the tomb TT8 of Kha and Merit. The vignette top left shows the Ba bird (soul of the deceased Kha).
- Bookofthedead-144145.jpg
Two 'gate spells'. On the top register, Ani and his wife face the 'seven gates of the House of Osiris'. Below, they encounter ten of the 21 'mysterious portals of the House of Osiris in the Field of Reeds'. All are guarded by unpleasant protectors.
- Ani chap125.jpg
Papyrus of Ani: some of the 42 Judges of Maat are visible, seated and in small size.
- The judgement of the dead in the presence of Osiris.jpg
The Weighing of the Heart as depicted in the Papyrus of Hunefer (19th Dynasty, c. 1300 BC)
References
- ↑ "Egypt: The Book of the Dead, A Feature Tour Egypt Story". www.touregypt.net.
- ↑ "Fragments of Book of the Dead found in Brisbane". ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). 21 April 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
