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To the Egyptians, life after death played an important role to their daily life on earth. Up until the day of their death the Egyptians prepared for what was to come next. As a guide for the Egyptians to their afterlife, the Book of the Dead was constructed with spells, magical formulas, and passwords in order to pass the tests to get to their final destination. The Book of the Dead should be preserved so that further generations can also be well informed on the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians.

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In Egypt during the 18th dynasty (1570-1304 BC) religion played an important role in the Egyptian life. The Egyptians were polytheistic meaning they believed in more than one god. The multiple Egyptian gods and manifestations caused a great source of modern conceptual problems with the religion. In polytheistic religious regions, it is hard for the social order of the state to enforce conformity on its people. Therefore it gave the Egyptians a chance to become individuals with a great sense of freedom to determine his or her own relationship with the divine. The multiple individual Egyptian views have caused a blur on deciphering a single meaning of the ancient religion itself (Goelet).

The ancient Egyptians believed that at any time their souls would perish. The Egyptians built elaborate tombs and went to great lengths of mummification to ensure that the body and certain elements of the soul would stay persevered forever. After death, the Egyptians believed that their souls were to enter the underworld where he or she would have to pass a series of test. The Book of the Dead came about as a guide for the Egyptians in order to pass the tests and reach their final judgment (“Egyptian Afterlife Beliefs”).  It was a system of rituals and spells that one was to have and behold before they deceased. The knowledge within the Book of the Dead was considered essential for a successful afterlife (Wallis). The spiritual texts of the Book of the Dead symbolized the ancient culture. The significance of the Book of the Dead was that it represented equality for all Egyptians going through the series of test. No matter male or female, rich or poor, one’s judgment day of morality was unbiased and impersonal during their afterlife (Goelet).

At first, the texts seen in The Book of the Dead originated solely for the purpose of the king and his family by inscribing the rituals and spells on pyramids. The pyramid texts are dated back to ca. 2400 b.c.e. The magical rituals were written privately to benefit the leader of Egypt.  After a few centuries passed, the spells and rituals began to appear on coffins (Peck). Gradually the texts became open to the public for anyone who could afford a sarcophagus, a stone coffin.  By the time of the early New Kingdom (ca. 1550 b.c.e.) the texst found on the coffins began to be replaced by what we now know as The Book of the Dead (Goelet).

The Book of the Dead contains, “Spells, charms, passwords, numbers, and magical formulas” for one’s success through the afterlife. The texts were written on papyrus, now known as scrolls, and were placed inside the sarcophagus to be close at hand with the dead (Wallis). The texts were written in hieroglyphics that usually were illustrated with pictures to give the Egyptians an image of each test they would enter. The pictures were vignettes, “a symbolic representation in pictorial form summarizing the intent or content of a spell” (Parsons). The Book of the Dead was distributed in various ways depending solely on the individual. The collection of texts was available for the Egyptians to pick or chose to individualize their own scroll to the afterlife. He or she based their chosen texts on either what they could afford or what their views were during that period of time (Goelet).
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People like to consider the Egyptian Book of the Dead as Egypt’s Bible. Though they seem similar, the Bible and the Koran compared to The Book of the Dead are total opposites. The Bible and the Koran stand for the, “ Obligations of god to man and man to god and the moral code by which adherents should conduct themselves” (Goelet). The Book of the Dead on the other hand is entirely concerned with life after death. The purpose of the texts in the Book of the Dead were not to guide the Egyptians through a religious life but stood as a guide into a new world after life on earth (Goelet).

Though the Egyptian Book of the Dead does not preach about life on earth like the Bible or the Koran, it is similar to the moral codes of the Ten Commandments and the Book of Exodus. The Book of the Dead has no comparison to the first two commandments, which includes, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me…” due to the fact that the Egyptians were polytheistic. The Egyptians and the Israelites did find common ground by believing, “Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, and thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor”. Spell 125 of the Book of the Dead beholds a moral code of “negative confessions” which is also seen in a form or fashion in the Book of Exodus (“The Ten Commandments”).

The Book of the Dead is meaningful for the great lengths the Egyptians took in order to make sure they had a guide to a successful afterlife experience. The presumption on afterlife the Egyptians acquired is astonishing. It perks my interest as to how the beliefs of the series of test and final judgment day came about. A book that contains historical views on life after death centuries ago is important to have knowledge of for future generations. The Book of the Dead should be preserved because it is what defines the life of an ancient Egyptian.

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<p style="text-align: center"><strong>Work Cited </strong></p>
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"Egyptian Afterlife Beliefs." <em>Professional Translation Services | Interpreters | Intercultural Communication &amp; Training</em>. Kwintessential. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.

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Goelet, Ogden. "Introduction." <em>Egyptian Book of the Dead</em>. 2005, AaXia Interactive. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.

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Parsons, Marie. "Book of the Dead, an Introduction." <em>Egypt Travel, Tours, Vacations, Ancient Egypt from Tour Egypt</em>. 1996-2010 Tour Egypt. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.

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Peck, Caroline. "Book of the Dead." <em>The MYSTICA.ORG</em>. 1997-2011 Alan G. Hefner. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.

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"The Ten Commandments and the Egyptian Book of the Dead." <em>LOVE- EVOLVE- TRANSEND</em>. Religion Science vs Faith. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.

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Wallis Budge, E.A. "Egyptian Book of the Dead." <em>Essenes, Essene Teachings and Essene Theology</em>. The Nazarene Way. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.

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