Book of the Dead - The Papyrus of Ani

The Papyrus of Ani is the most remarkable example of the ancient egyptian Book of the Dead, while the so called Book of the Dead is the most well known written document of ancient egyptian civilization.

An important part of ancient Egypt funeral practices, the Book of the Dead is the common name for ancient Egyptian funerary texts known as The Book of Coming (or Going) Forth By Day. 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.

The earliest known versions date from the 16th century BC during the 18th Dynasty (ca. 1580 BC­1350 BC). It partly incorporated two previous collections of Egyptian religious literature, known as the Coffin Texts (ca. 2000 BC) and the Pyramid Texts (ca. 2600 BC-2300 BC), both of which were eventually superseded by the Book of the Dead.

The text was initially carved on the exterior of the deceased person's sarcophagus, but was later written on papyrus now known as scrolls and buried inside the sarcophagus with the deceased, presumably so that it would be both portable and close at hand.

The ancient egyptian Book of the Dead is a collection of spells, charms, passwords, numbers and magical formulae for the use of the deceased in the afterlife. They were intended to guide the dead through the various trials that they would encounter before reaching the underworld. Knowledge of the appropriate spells was considered essential to achieving triumph after death. These spells describe many of the basic tenets of ancient Egypt myths, and give us an insight of ancient Egypt religious beliefs and worshipping practices.

Egyptians compiled an individualized book for each person at their death. The Papyrus of Ani, an ancient Egypt scribe from the 19th dynasty of the New Kingdom, is one of the most beautiful and complete funerary text scroll. His book is a papyrus manuscript written in cursive hieroglyphs. It contains pictures showing the tests to which the Ka of Ani would be subjected. The most important was the weighing of the heart of the dead person against Maat, or Truth.

The Papyrus of Ani depicts important ancient Egypt gods and goddesses, including Anubis, Thoth, Isis, Nepthys, Horus and Osiris, as well as many lesser known deities with which the Ka of the deceased has to contend in order to be accepted in the realm of Osiris.

It was purchased in 1888 by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge for the collection of the British Museum where it remains today. Before shipping the manuscript to England, Budge controversially cut the 78 foot scroll into 37 sheets of nearly equal size. He damaged the scroll's integrity at a time when technology had not yet allowed the pieces to be put back together.

Category: Ancient Egypt