This week we have the opportunity to engage in a collective construction of funeral papyri for one member of your team. On Tuesday, Oct. 31, each team will need to select a team member for burial. These various tasks should be divided amongst the group members as equally as possible. By Friday, February 16, each team member should have reviewed the Egyptian Book of the Dead and the dying person, in consultation with others, should have prepared a list of possible prayers for inclusion and the scribe and illustrator should have begun construction of the funeral papyrus. I recommend that at least one member of each team purchase a copy of the Egyptian Book of the Dead from the bookstore.
Additional copies are on reserve in the library.
Students will have the opportunity to work together on the papyrus in class on Friday. Teams who engage in a role playing demonstration of the funeral for the dying student will receive extra credit. My first priority is for this assignment to be a fun way to expose you to Egyptian conceptions of death and its consequences. These possibilities are suggestions, however, not requirements. A set number of spells is not required but a collection of twenty to thirty of them would give you more than enough exposure to the variety of possibilities.