Book
of the Dead
Book
of the Dead, name generally given to a large collection
of funerary texts of various dates, containing magical formulas,
hymns, and prayers believed by the
ancient Egyptians to guide and protect the soul (Ka)
in its journey into the region of the dead (Amenti).
Egyptians
believed that the knowledge of these texts enabled the soul
to ward off demons attempting to impede its progress, and
to pass the tests set by the 42 judges in the hall of Osiris,
god of the underworld. These texts also indicated that happiness
in the afterlife was dependent on the deceased's having
led a virtuous life on earth. The earliest religious (funerary)
texts known were found cut in hieroglyphs
on the walls inside the pyramids of the kings of the 5th
and 6th Dynasties of the Old Kingdom; these became known
as the Pyramid Texts.
A
famous example is found in the pyramid of Unas (reigned
about 2356-2323 BC), the last king of the 5th Dynasty. In
the first Intermediate Period and in the Middle Kingdom
private individuals had these texts painted on coffins,
from which the alternate name Coffin Texts is derived. By
the 18th Dynasty the texts were inscribed on papyri placed
in the mummy case; these papyri were frequently from 15
to 30 m (50 to 100 ft) long and illustrated in color.
The
Egyptian Book of the Dead was a text containing
prayers, spells, and hymns, the knowledge of which
was to be used by the dead to guide and protect
the soul on the hazardous journey through the
afterlife. Beginning in the 18th Dynasty, the
Book of the Dead was inscribed on papyrus. This
section of one such book, from the early 19th
Dynasty, shows the final judgment of the deceased
(in this case Hu-Nefer, the royal scribe) before
Osiris, god of the dead. Hieroglyphs as well as
illustrations portray the ritual of weighing the
deceased's heart to determine whether he can be
awarded eternal life.
Bridgeman
Art Library, London/New York
|
This
vast collection of mortuary texts has survived in three
critical revisions, or recensions: the Heliopolitan Recension,
edited by the priests of the College of Anu (Heliopolis),
and containing texts in use between the 5th and the 12th
Dynasties; the Theban Recension, used from the 18th to the
22nd Dynasties; and the Saite Recension, used from the 26th
Dynasty, about 600 BC probably to the end of the Ptolemies,
31 BC. The title “Book of the Dead” is misleading; the texts
do not form a single connected work and do not belong to
one period. Egyptologists have usually given this title
to the last two Recensions. Translations of some sections
(chapters) were made under various titles; one celebrated
English translation of the Book of the Dead was made by
Sir E. A. Wallis Budge in 1895.
-
see also my Egypt
Chapter -
"Book
of the Dead," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
http://encarta.msn.com
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