THE EGYPTIAN BOOK

OF THE DEAD
What Is the Book of the Dead?
• It is a series of rites, prayers,
and myths containing the
Egyptian beliefs about the
afterlife.
•It was used from the beginning
of the New Kingdom (around
1550 BC) to around 50 BC.
•The original Egyptian name for
the text, transliterated rw nw
prt m hrw is translated as "Book
of Coming Forth by Day".
 Unopened Book of the Dead roll -The Book of the Dead
is a collection of spells
and illustrations written
on papyrus

-The papyrus was rolled,

put inside a hollow
statue and placed in the
tomb with all the other
things which the dead
person would need for
Hollow wooden figure of Osiris the afterlife.
Papyrus- a tall perennial sedge of the Nile Valley
-a wriiten scroll made of papyrus
 The Book of the Dead gave the dead person the
knowledge and power to travel through the
netherworld (a place the dead went to immediately
after death) and enter the afterlife (the final
destination of their journey).

Book of the Dead of Ani showing Ani and his wife

 What does the Book of the
Deadtells you about?
The Book of the Dead told the
dead person about the
landscape of the netherworld
through which they would
journey, the gods and hostile
creatures they would meet
and the final judgment to
decide if they would enter the
afterlife.
Book of the Dead of Anhai
 -It can be thought of as the deceased's
guidebook to a happy afterlife. The
text was intended to be read by the
deceased during their journey into the
Underworld.

-The Papyrus of Ani is one of the finest and most complete

examples of this type of Egyptian funerary text to survive.
The Papyrus of Ani now resides in The British Museum,
London.
The Funeral Procession of the Royal Scribe
Ani. From the Papyrus of Ani. (c. 1400
B.C.)The British Museum, London
 The Funeral Procession of the
Royal Scribe Ani.

In this picture we see servants or hired hands carrying

Ani's home furnishings, Servants are dragging a chest
on which Anubis is sitting, inside the chest is more of
Ani's worldly possessions or perhaps his canopic jars
There are men carrying more of Ani's belongings. The group
of women in clothed in blue are a party of paid, professional
mourners who wail and pat dirt on their heads. The cow and
calf are food offerings that will be used for the funeral feast.
Ani's mummy stands before the entrance of his tomb, in the
protective embrace of Anubis. His wife mourns at his feet.
Behind her are offerings and three priests. One reads from a
papyrus, while the other two are about to perform an
important ceremony called the "opening of the mouth and
eyes." This ceremony was thought to restore the mummy's
ability to see, breathe, eat and drink
 The mummy stands before the
entrance of his tomb, in the protective
embrace of Anubis. The two women
are probably family members, they are
patting dirt on their heads, this was a
sign of mourning. Behind them are
three priests. The priest wearing the
leopard skin (a sign of priesthood)
burns incense and presents offerings of
food and drink, while the other two are
about to perform the important
ceremony of “opening of the mouth.”
 What was the mummy for?
While the dead person travelled through the netherworld as a
spirit (ba) their preserved body (mummy) remained in the
tomb. The mummy had to be kept safe so that the ba could
reunite with the body.

Mummy and ba bird from the Book of the Dead of Ani

 The mummification process took 72 days to
perform properly. This was the time to put
finishing touches on the tomb and to pack all
the deceased's worldly possessions, which
surely would be needed in the afterlife.
 What was the netherworld
like?

Gates in the netherworld from the Book of the Dead of Ani

The dead person travelled through a landscape with paths,

rivers, mountains, caves, lakes and fields. They had to pass
through many gates and doors guarded by gods.
 What special powers did the
spells give?
The spells in the Book of the Dead gave the dead person the
power to control their body and keep it safe. They also
allowed them to turn into different animals, provided
information which they would need to repeat at certain points
on their journey and offered protection against hostile
creatures.

Spells for transforming into a swallow and a hawk from the Book of the Dead of Ani
 How did they get into the
afterlife?
The gods judged how the dead
person had led their life to decide
if they deserved eternal life in the
afterlife. The dead person’s heart
was weighed against the feather
of truth. If shown to be free from
evil, they were declared ‘true of
voice’ and admitted to the
afterlife.
If not, their heart was eaten by
the Devourer and they would
cease to exist – forever…
Weighing the heart from the Book of the Dead of Ani
The Hall of Maat
The Hall of Maat is where the judgment of
the dead was performed. This was done by
weighing one's heart (conscience) against
the feather of Maat (truth and justice).
Anubis leading Ani to the scales of Maat. Anubis weights Ani’s heart
against the feather to see if he is worthy of joining the gods in the
Fields of Peace. Ammut is also present, as a demon waiting to
devour Hunefer's heart should he prove unworthy. Thoth stands to
the right of the scales recording the results. Having passed this test
Ani is now lead by Horus to meet the King of the dead, Osiris. The
throne of Osiris rests on a pool of water from which a lotus flower
is growing, upon the lotus stand the four sons of Horus. Behind the
throne of Osiris stands Isis and her sister Nephthys.
 Spell 125
Spell 125 begins with an introduction to the reader (the
soul):

"What should be said when arriving at this Hall of

Justice, purging _____[person's name] of all the evil
which he has done and beholding the faces of the
gods."
 Hail to you, great god, Lord of Justice! I have come to you,
my lord, that you may bring me so that I may see your
beauty for I know you and I know your name and I know the
names of the forty-two gods of those who are with you in
this Hall of Justice, who live on those who cherish evil and
who gulp down their blood on that day of the reckoning of
characters in the presence of Wennefer [another name for
Osiris]. Behold the double son of the Songstresses; Lord of
Truth is your name. Behold, I have come to you, I have
brought you truth, I have repelled falsehood for you. I have
not done falsehood against men, I have not impoverished
my associates, I have done no wrong in the Place of Truth, I
have not learnt that which is not...
 The spell concludes with what the soul should be wearing
when it meets judgment and how one should recite the
spell:

The correct procedure in this Hall of Justice: One shall utter

this spell pure and clean and clad in white garments and
sandals, painted with black eye-paint and annointed with
myrrh. There shall be offered to him meat and poultry,
incense, bread, beer, and herbs when you have put this
written procedure on a clean floor of ochre overlaid with
earth upon which no swine or small cattle have trodden.
 What was the
afterlife like?
There were several possible afterlives. The dead person might
travel with the sun god Ra in his boat sailing though the sky
each day and the netherworld each night or they might go to
the Field of Reeds, a landscape like Egypt, with rivers to sail on
and fields of crops to ensure the dead never went hungry.

The Field of Reeds from the Book of the Dead of Ani

Ani pays his respects to the gods who dwell in
Sekhet-Hetepet (Fields of Peace) and asks the
gods to help him to enter into Sekhet-Hetepet
so that he may "become a khu, drink, plow,
reap, fight, make love, never be in a state of
servitude and always be in a position of
authority therein".
Why did you need to be buried
with your own copy of the “Book
of the Dead?”
-The passage into
the afterlife was a
series of
challenges.
-The book was your
“cheat code” to
get you through
each stage.
STAGES
Stage 1 - Weighing of the
heart
O my heart which I had from my mother! O my
heart of different ages! Do not stand up as a
witness against me, do not be opposed to me
in the tribunal, do not be hostile to me in the
presence of the keeper of the balance, for you
are my ka which was in my body, the protector
who made my members hale. Go forth to the
happy place whereto we speed, do not tell lies
about me in the presence of the god; it is
indeed well that you should hear!
 Other Stages - Guardians
On the journey to the fields of peace, the person’s soul would have to
pass by several guardians or gatekeepers using secret words.

The third gate: the name of its gatekeeper is 'One who eats the
Putrefaction of his Posterior'; the name of its guardian is 'Alert of Face';
the name of the announcer in it is 'Gateway'.Words spoken by the
Osiris-[name], the justified, when arriving at the gate: 'I am the secret
one of the cloudburst, the one who separated the Two Companions. It is
in order that I might drive away evil from Osiris that I have come. I am
the one who clothed his own standard, who emerges in the Wereret-
Crown. I have established offerings in Abydos. Open the way for me in
Rosetjau because I have relieved the sickness in Osiris. I have painted his
perch. Make way for me so that he might shine in Rosetjau.
 Last stage - 42
Confessions
In the final stage the person had to make 42 “negative
confessions.” The book would help them make these
confessions.
Wide-of-stride who comes from On: I have not done evil.
Flame-grasper who comes from Kheraha: I have not
robbed.
Long-nosed who comes from Khmun: I have not coveted.
Shadow-eater who comes from the cave: I have not
stolen.
Savage-faced who comes from Rosetjau: I have not killed
people...
How was the Book of the
Dead made?
Scribes and painters
wrote out and
illustrated the Book of
the Dead papyrus rolls.
Sometimes most of
the roll was already
written and the tomb
owner just had their
own name and picture
added in.
Statue of the scribe Pesshuper
 Who looks at the Book of the
Dead today?
Today experts study the Book of
the Dead and work out what the
ancient Egyptians thought
happened to a person when they
died. Sometimes they discover
pieces from the same papyrus roll
in different museums. This gives
the museums new information.
Conservators look after the
fragile papyri and join together A British Museum
torn pieces so that they can be conservator preparing a
stored safely and read. papyrus for display
 Have any completeBooks of the
Dead survived?
The Book of the Dead created for the ancient Egyptian
Nesitanebisheru is one of the largest surviving complete scrolls.
In the early 1900s it was cut into 96 separate sheets to make it
easier to study, store and display. Today it is sometimes known
as the Greenfield Papyrus after Edith Mary Greenfield who
donated the roll to the British Museum.

Judgement scene from the Book of the Dead of Nesitanebisheru

THANK YOU