An Egyptian Spell Book. Papyrus from the Book of the Dead. The Book of the Dead was often placed in coffins but was also sometimes put in Sokar-Osiris figures and contained a number of spells for use of the dead in the afterworld. Late Dynastic 747-332 BC.

Papyrus sheet from the 'Book of the Dead'. This particular piece depicts the hymn to the rising sun, Chapter 15 of the 'Book of the Dead'. The scroll belonged to Ankh-Hapi, son of Pa-Khered-en-Min and Ta-di-Aset. The illustration at the top shows a funeral ceremony in front of the tomb, a vignette which usually illustrates Chapter 1 in the New Kingdom but which by the Late Dynastic and Ptolemaic Period can be used to illustrate chapters 1-15. Anubis appears on this scene, together with the sacrifice of a bull, the implements used in the 'Opening of the Mouth Ceremony', etc. A priest carrying out a purification is shown and a lector priest with a headdress of two feathers. This particular piece is Late Dynastic-Ptolemaic. It was sold to Wellcome in Sotheby's sale of 1932. Published by Kate Bosse-Griffiths in ZAS 123 (1996) p97-102. Verhoeven (Verhoeven, U. 1998, 'Internationales Totenbuch-Puzzle' RdE 49, 221-232) discusses another piece of the same papyrus (P.London BM EA 9946. According to Verhoeven (1998, 229) our pieces were sold in the 1922 MacGregor sale.

Collection

Egypt Centre, University of Swansea

Inventory Number

3543647

Title

An Egyptian Spell Book. Papyrus from the Book of the Dead. The Book of the Dead was often placed in coffins but was also sometimes put in Sokar-Osiris figures and contained a number of spells for use of the dead in the afterworld. Late Dynastic 747-332 BC.

Object Type

Image

Measurements

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