num_pages: 120
description: In this book all the vignettes from the Papyri of Ani Hunefer and Anhai are reproduced for the first time in full color photographs. These three papyri rank among the most superb specimens of a collection of Egyptian funerary texts which for the past 130 years has been known by the title Book of the Dead. The Papyrus of Ani at slightly more than 78 feet is the longest papyrus of the Book of the Dead from the Theban period; the Papyrus of Hunefer measures 18 feet 1 inch and that of Anhai 14 feet 6 inches. In the 17th century BC it became customary for well-to-do Egyptians to leave such collections of invocations and magic spells in their tombs. They were intended as a means of enabling the deceased to triumph over the dangers of the next life mainly by making it possible for them to turn into any of the powerful creatures which dwelled in the world of the dead and by teaching them certain indispensable passwords which would open for them one by one the doors of the Underworld. There can be no doubt that the inhabitants of the Nile valley were convinced that a new life awaited them after death. In the ancient world of course they were not alone in this belief but they had certainly reached a degree of initiation unmatched by any other ancient nation. It is interesting to note that although they describe the happiness of the Egyptian Elysian Fields to which the dead were conveyed by Re in his celestial boat the texts of the Book of the Dead say nothing about what happened in Hell. The weight of the soul-symbolized by the heart which is the prime moving force of life-was measured according. to criteria about which unfortunately we are told nothing. The Book of the Dead of which we here present three beautiful individual specimens is a document of great importance in the light of the renewal of interest in the civilization of ancient Egypt; it also sheds interesting light on our own modern concern with death.
language: English
title: The Book of the Dead: Famous Egyptian Papyri
publisher: Crescent