Egypten 8.1 :: The Book of the Dead
- Object description
The Book of the Dead is the modern term for a collection of texts or chapters written on papyri, coffins and other funerary objects. The Egyptians referred to it as ‘The book of coming forth by day’, the purpose of which was to guide the deceased past the dangers of the netherworld to, hopefully, a paradisiacal existence in the Field of Reeds.
There are altogether almost two hundred chapters but none of the surviving Books of the Dead includes all of them. Every papyrus is made up of a selection of texts and images (vignettes). Those who could afford it commissioned a personal selection of chapters and images. Others bought a pre-written papyrus on which the author filled in the name of the buyer in the right places. A Book of Death papyrus could measure tens of metres in length.
The first papyri of the Book of the Dead were written at the beginning of the New Kingdom but many of the texts have a longer history. Some of them originate from the Pyramid Texts written on the walls of royal tombs during the Old Kingdom. New chapters were added over time and the collection lived on throughout the Middle Kingdom as the Coffin Texts, some of which were ultimately incorporated in the Book of the Dead.
Weighing of the heart
One of the most popular chapters of the Book of the Dead is Chapter 125, where the heart of the dead is weighed before the Court of Osiris. The picture in the middle of this showcase is a copy of a papyrus that once belonged to a man called Ani.
The picture shows the heart of Ani, which contains all his thoughts and actions in life, being weighed against the feather of Maat, representing order and justice.
If the heart does not weigh the same as the feather, it will be thrown to Ammit, a monster that is part lion, part hippopotamus and part crocodile. If Ammit devours the heart, the deceased no longer has the chance of an eternal afterlife.
In the image the dead Ani enters from the left. Anubis is seen sitting underneath the scales, adjusting the plummet. To the right is Thoth, the scribe of the gods, making notes. He is also present as a small baboon on the scales. On the far right awaits Ammit.
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