The Egyptian Book of the Dead

The blog post for this week has been written by Gwynne Williams, who has been attending the Egypt Centre’s online courses over the past two years.

The book is actually entitled The Book of Going Forth by Day. I think this conveys the positive aims and attitudes that the Egyptians had for the use of and power of these writings (fig. 1). The book contained spells, instructions, names of gatekeepers, the challenges to be faced, and gave tools to the deceased to successfully complete this quest. In the beginning, those of royalty were the only ones to be prepared and have all the spells said (Pyramid Texts), repeated during preparation for the body, and provided for in order for the deceased to journey through the Underworld and reach the Afterlife. The walls of the ruler’s tomb were decorated in richly painted, engraved, carved words and images and would include adorned votive items left within the tomb to be used by the deceased. The spells demonstrated the idea of breath re-animating the person—red ink passages were spoken aloud, and black ink was narrative.  

Fig. 1: Book of the Dead papyrus of Ankhhapi

 

The divine nature of the ruler held the people’s expectation that the ruler’s job was to ensure the continuation of the cycles of life. The ruler’s journey ensured the accessibility to the Afterlife, kept the Nile flowing, maintaining the safety and success of its people. Everything from the health of the land, the stars, seasons, to the safety of its people hinged on the deceased being successful. The Egyptians believed that the death of their rulers and their journey would ensure life continued as normal. These transitions of rule, from the death of ruler to the identification and coronation of a new ruler, would cause uncertainty and fear about the future within the people. Through the spells, preparation of the body and tomb and then later into the papyrus created, decoration added to coffins, the use of amulets, cloth wrappings, their items and words, everything needed would be provided to the deceased (fig. 2). The ruler would journey also to appease and celebrate the Gods to ensure favour for the land—the seasons, the Nile, security of its people against attack, and giving prosperity to their people.

Fig. 2: Heart scarab with Chapter 30B

These were pragmatic people—they ensured the deceased would be able to use their faculties, have food, not have to work, and even ensure the food would taste good, and that the person would not spend eternity upside down (this last one tickles my fancy). A few of the spells gave the deceased ruler the ability to change form into birds, thus allowing freedom of movement, and seemed to give special powers to be used during the journey (fig. 3). These would aid the deceased to navigate the Underworld, recognize the obstacles and the gates they would encounter to pass through to reach the Afterlife.

Fig. 3: Shroud of Hapi with transformation spells

The Book of Coming Forth by Day also created the ideas for what the Afterlife would be like, the journey to get there, and was general guidance to the best actions, practices, and ideals for the people. The process ensured the accessibility to the Afterlife, kept the Nile flowing, maintained the safety, success and growth of the people and their lands (fig. 4). The Book evolved and became accessible to more people, generally those who held positions of power, titles of office or religion, and had wealth. 

Fig. 4: Sennedjem in the Field of Reeds

My favourite section is Spell 125 referred to as The Negative Confession or, more accurately, The Declaration of Innocence. This section was intended to be recited by the deceased when they entered the Hall of Judgement and stood face to face, with Osiris, backed up by a further forty-two other divine judges, all of whom the deceased had to name (fig. 5). The weighing of the heart, this final judgement, to ensure its lightness, or purity, evolved to be expressed with an amulet in the shape of a scarab—currently identified as the heart scarab and was added to the body and would serve as the family’s way of vouching for the good character, behaviour, and life of the deceased. The deceased then had to make a statement asserting their purity and worthiness as their heart was weighed against the feather of Maat. Rather than boasting about the actions they had taken, this statement consisted of them confirming that they were not guilty of a range of evil deeds. I imagine a few fingers would be crossed and hidden behind the back of the deceased as the statements were all encompassing thus absolving the deceased of any wrongdoings. 

Fig. 5: Chapter 125
(British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA9901-3)

As time passed, while the population grew, technology and tools developed so that papyrus became more accessible and was created in multitudes. The name of the deceased to be added later. The population had grown and the culture had developed such crafts and skills on a size more accessible (fig. 6). There were scribes and illustrators and craftspeople who made the paper, ink, images, thus the journey became tangible to the people. A measure of wealth and status. An insurance policy.

Fig. 6: Mummy bandage of Djedhor