Spell Bound - The Egyptian Book of the Dead

Post-pyramidal Text

“The Book of the Dead” is a term coined in German by Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius in 1842. The Ancient Egyptians never actually used that name. It describes a group of compositions, made up of spells, pleas and stories, which aided the deceased in navigating the underworld and reaching paradise. These were written on a papyrus and buried beside a mummy, within its coffin. They include illustrations, called vignettes. In addition to papyri the compositions in The Book of the Dead can also be found on tomb walls, linen, vellum, and the exterior of coffins. In rare instances they were written on leather.

This practice existed from the start of the New Kingdom (16th century B.C.) and ended in Early Roman times, in the first millennium A.D. They were not used on pyramids for the simple reason that by the New Kingdom, Egypt had stopped building them. Today there are hundreds of surviving copies, which can be divided into two main types:
the Theban recension and the Saite recension.

Words are Money

The Theban recension style of the Book of the Dead was used from the 16th century B.C. to the 7th century B.C.
As Egyptologist Carol Andrews writes in the book The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, what would typically happen is that a wealthy Egyptian would commission a professional scribe to copy a list of compositions that the buyer chose. The spells, stories and pleas used, and the order they were put in, would depend on this person’s own preference. It’s comparable to how people today choose what songs and hymns will be sung at their funeral. 

In cases where a person of modest income died, or a wealthy person passed away in an untimely manner, the family of the deceased would purchase a pre-made, non-customized papyrus. The content would have been chosen by the scribe and the only thing the family needed to do was insert the name of the deceased onto the papyrus. 

Some tomes from this time period made do without the text. During a time of political unrest called the “Third Intermediate Period” (1070-664 B.C), Book of the Dead papyri appeared that contained little text and were almost entirely illustrated.

The longest papyrus found from this time period is the Greenfield Papyrus, now in the British Museum. It was 37 meters long when it was created and it dates from the 21st dynasty, around 1025 B.C. It used a combination of text and vignettes.

Saite. The Sequel

The Saite recension style was used from the 26th dynasty (starting in 685 B.C.) until the Book of the Dead ceased to be used in Early Roman times. The compositions used, and the order in which they appear, became standardized – not picked by an individual.

The name “Saite recension” comes from the capital city of the rulers of the 26th dynasty – Sais. Scholars have divided these compositions up into nearly 200 chapters. An exhaustive list of these can be seen on this website produced by University College, London.

Why the Egyptians organized the papyrus in the way they did, during this period, is still a mystery. In 1967 French Egyptologist Paul Barguet advanced a theory that the book can be divided into themes – it started, in his view, with “proceeding to the burial place,” and ended with life in the underworld. A detailed breakdown of the themes can be seen here.

The Art of Delegation

A Shabti was a small figurine of a male or female. In the underworld, the Egyptians believed that these figurines could be used in place of the deceased to perform any labor that was necessary. They were placed in the tomb, sometimes in boxes.

It’s understandable why the Egyptians would want them. The workforce of Ancient Egypt was mostly agricultural and the idea of not doing the heavy labor that came with agriculture would have been tempting. A spell in chapter six in the Book of the Dead sends these figurines to do the work of the deceased in the underworld.  The spell reads:

O shabti figure(s)
If (name of the deceased) is called up to do any work that is done there in the underworld
Then the checkmarks (on the work list) are struck for him there
As for a man for his (work service) duty
Be counted yourself at any time that might be done
To cultivate the marsh, to irrigate the riverbank fields
To ferry sand to west or east
‘I am doing it – see, I am here’, you are to say

Heavy Penalty

Chapter 125 deals with perhaps the most important aspect of The Book of the Dead - judgment. The way it worked is that the heart of the deceased was weighed against the feather of truth. The god Thoth presides along with 42 judges (one for each nome of Ancient Egypt). The deceased would make a lengthy declaration that they had lived their life according to the ethical values of Ancient Egypt. The following except from the Book of the Dead illustrates this process:

See I am come before you, there being no evil of mine, no crime of mine,
no wrong of mine, no witness to me, none against whom I have done anything
I live on truth, I consume truth, I have done what men ask and what pleases the gods
I have pacified the god with what he loves
I have given bread to the hungry, beer to the thirsty, clothes to naked, boat to boatless
I have offered divine offerings to the gods, voice offerings to the blessed dead

Thoth and the judges would hear the plea and assess whether the heart was lighter than the feather, and therefore pure, or heavier, and weighed down by negative attributes. If the person was vindicated they would join Osiris in the underworld and have access to paradise. The guilty would be eaten by the demon Ammamet.  

Paradise for the Egyptians was a beautiful fielded land with rich soil, as seen in this vignette – ironically not that much different from the real Ancient Egypt. Of course the Egyptians did throw in one caveat – as mentioned above – the work was done by the Shabti figurines.

Images by Lenka Peacock. All rights reserved.


 

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About The Author

Owen Jarus

Last three pieces by this author:

So You Want to go North? Ontario Archaeology Conference Will Look at the Canadian Shield | What was the Most Important Site in Ancient London? The Forum! | They’ve found an opening! Egyptologists reach end of tunnel in Seti I tomb

Owen Jarus is a freelance writer based in Toronto ,Canada. He has written articles on archaeology for a variety of media outlets including The Canadian Press newswire (CP), U of T Magazine, The Mississauga News and The Guelph Mercury. Education: BA from the University of Toronto in History, Geography and Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations.