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As a compilation of spells, charms, passwords, hints, and magical formulas, the Book of the Dead was a guide for the deceased of Ancient Egypt on their journey to the next life.  For years, the Book of the Dead was gathered, reedited, and completed by many authors and compilers, producing what they initially called The Chapters of Coming Forth by Day (“Ancient”).  This collection was found on tomb walls, coffins, scarabs, and other objects, but is primarily known because of its illustrations on papyrus.  Although not given an exact date, the Book of the Dead was discovered in tombs as early as the Renaissance, leading to the misconception that it was the Bible equivalence for the Egyptian culture (Goelet).  This magnificent piece of history, however, provides a contradicting picture of the belief of life after death.  Composed and considered the standard afterlife text for the Egyptian elite in the 16<sup>th</sup> century, the Egyptian Book of the Dead became one of the most important artifacts in history that has assisted modern experts in understanding the culture and civilization of the ancient Egyptians.  Because humans, even today, naturally question the thought of what happens after death, I believe the Book of the Dead effectively gives insight to just one of the many views that people, throughout history, have established to comfort their uncertainties about life— providing its importance in its preservation for future generations to acknowledge.

<!--more-->As afore mentioned, the Book of the Dead prepared the souls for the passage toward their heavenly domain with the sun god, Amon, “or flourish in a realm where wheat grows high and the living souls of the dead enjoy feasting and singing” (Fiero).  The book was illustrated with ancient traditions and scenes that continued after death on this journey and included the depiction of the last judgment. Associated with the Nile River, Osiris, the god of the underworld, Lord of the Dead, oversees the ceremony of weighing the heart of the deceased Princess Entiu-ny with his wife, Isis.  During this ceremony, the deceased would first ritualistically deny a list of forty-two misdeeds as the confession (Goelet).  The heart, upon judgment of the princess, is then weighed against the figure of Truth on the Great Balance prepared by Anubis, the jackal-headed god of death (Fiero).  It was said that, “one’s heart had to be as light as a feather in relation to sin” to be worthy of an external existence rather than a “final death” (Goelet).  The Egyptians highly valued happiness in the afterlife and essentially devoted a lot of their time and energy for their journey, as seen in the illustrations on the papyrus.

The text incorporated more early Egyptian religious literature.  Among these, the Pyramid Texts-- “the oldest extant funerary literature in the world,” was included.  Because of such a great compilation, the text was divided into four main divisions: Heliopolitan version, Theban version, a hieroglyphic and hieratic character version, and finally the Saite version (Budge).  Aside from the belief of an afterlife, the references of multiple gods and the metaphorical reference of the Great Balance, provides the viewer a look into the religious culture of the Ancient Egyptians as they constituted a polytheistic conception of a greater being.

The Ancient Egyptians revolved their life around the religion, specifically polytheism.  Like all of the ancient people, the Egyptians’ worship of many gods is associated with the geography, climate, and the natural environment that shaped their belief (Fiero).   According to Fiero, the sun made it possible to cultivate crops while the Nile left them fertile soil and a basis for their solar calendar, in which their civilization benefitted in wealth and order.  “In the regularity of the sun’s daily cycle and Nile’s annual deluge, ancient Egyptians found security” (Fiero).  From these gifts, the Egyptians were able to construct their theory of origin, describing the earth as a “flat platter floating on the waters of the underworld” in which a mound of silt was brought forth by the Nile (Fiero).  The self-generating Amon was then believed to be born.

Fiero goes on to state the symbolic importance of the sun’s daily ascent as “rebirth”, signifying “victory of the forces of day, light, purity, goodness, and life over those of night, darkness ignorance, evil, and death.”  Coincidentally, the recurring idea of “rebirth” can be seen in the story of Osiris.  According to the myth, after being slain, chopped, and thrown into the Nile by his evil brother, Set, Osiris was restored to life by his wife, Isis, Queen of Heaven.  Their son, Horus, ultimately became the ruler of Egypt after overthrowing Set (Fiero).  With resurrection as a central idea to the Ancient Egyptians, the Book of the Dead effectively illustrates this view of a continuous life.

The Book of the Dead proved to be typical of its era, simply because of its association with religion and the thought of an afterlife.  “There was never an ancient people who insisted upon believing that death was not the final act of a human being” (“Ancient”).  Through the text, historians were able to understand the Egyptian culture and their focus on taking great care of the body “to preserve it as a center of individual spirit manifestation.”  Upon the preservation of a body, all of the organs, with the exception of the heart, were removed, and preservatives were used to fill the body cavity (Fiero).  With the heart refrained from being removed, we can reference the scene of Princess Entiu-ny in the funerary text as her heart is weighed on the Great Scale.  There is no doubt that these two are correlated and thus proves the Book of the Dead’s significance in the preservation of the dead.

During this time it was typical to mummify an Egyptian upon death along with placing in the tomb essential items such as food and weapons, as if preparing for a long journey (“Ancient”).  The Book of the Dead, as a matter of fact, was discovered in a tomb and therefore easily arguable that it was used as a tool or a guide for such a journey, and therefore fitting for the cultural context of this time.

The Book was rather unusual for its time, because although it was filled with realistic and graphic scenes for the funerary preparation, it surprisingly lacks illustrations depicting death and dying.  “For a people obsessed with the mortuary and funerary aspects of death, the Egyptians seldom dealt with the actual ways in which people lost their lives” (“Ancient”).  Also, as times were changing, the Book of the Dead was one of the first texts that “decreed that anyone who could afford the rituals would be entitled to follow the god Osiris into the afterlife” (“Ancient”).  This freedom was unfamiliar even to the Egyptians.  Funerary preparation and books were usually only meant for the pharaohs and other royals.  The Book of the Dead was associated with a great social and religious revolution, holding its unique place in Egyptian history.

Because the lives of the Ancient Egyptians greatly revolved around religion and the belief of an afterlife, they were optimistic about their souls after death as they would be guided safely in their journey.  “For them death may have been inevitable, but it was survivable” (Goelet).  The Book of the Dead was popular and greatly commissioned by the deceased before their death.  Because the promise of life after death seemingly dominated all of Egyptian culture, many paid to be granted “the help and protection of the gods while proclaiming the deceased’s identity with the gods” (Deurer).  The polytheistic belief enhanced their motivation to be among the greater beings to achieve this heavenly destination.

Today, many individuals do not believe in life after death.  Many do not believe in multiple gods.  Instead, much of the world follows a monotheistic religion with the belief that the soul may live on to heaven or hell.  Despite these religious and culture disagreements, many agree that the Book is magnificent with its incredible illustrations and text that opens a window into history.  Goelet states, “There is probably no text in the popular imagination more closely associated with the ancient Egyptian beliefs about life after death than the work popularly known as the Egyptian Book of the Dead.”

Personally, the Book of the Dead caught my attention because of the illustrations and the scenes they portray both guide the living and the dead.  As the book guides the soul to its next life, it also guides the living to the “heart” of their culture and religious values.  This is one of my favorite pieces of art as it has so much meaning in the context.  The Egyptians seemed very loyal to their beliefs and passionate about their gods as seen in the Book of the Dead.  It’s amazing to see such variety of cultural and religious tradition throughout history, and I believe that the stories, pictures, and text will be able to catch the attention of future viewers as it caught mine.

The Egyptian Book of the Dead can be compared to the Tibetan Book of the Dead.  Although, similar in name, both provide different ways of achieving ultimate happiness.  Also called the <em>Bardo Thodol</em>, the Tibetan Book of the Dead was a “guide to spiritual and mental liberation” (Agha 896).  The Tibetan book focused primarily on self-awareness by meditation.  By meditating, the mind will able to control its own passage over the cycle of life, death, and rebirth (Agha 897).  This differs from that of Ancient Egyptians as they mainly focused on the life after death and spent much of their energy preparing for the anticipated journey of their final judgment.  Although a life after death to reach the heavens can be considered a spiritual liberation, the Egyptians incorporate nothing but their gods and cultural values.  The Tibetan book emphasizes the minds role as synonymous to the soul that continues on to the next state.  Although the <em>Bardo Thodol, </em>prepares you for the states after death, they can only be read by the living.  Along with the idea that “the book is a guide to liberation across the entire cycle of human existence,” the specification of only being read by the living is one of the main differences between Tibetan and Egyptian funerary scripts.

With similar name and similar misconception of bible equivalency, these two books share other similarities concerning life after death.   Just like in Egypt, the Tibetan book was a guide and a preparation for the deceased, although it called for much more effort from the conscious mind.  Tibetan Buddhists also viewed death as a process that took several days.  Because the Egyptians believed that preservation of the body was necessary and essential to your journey to the afterlife, they made sure that bodies were embalmed for ten weeks before internal organs were removed (Fiero).  The processes that were put in affect because of the importance placed on life after dead was a similar belief of both cultures.

So much effort and precision was done to make sure lives were brought to eternal bliss.  This can be viewed in the Egyptian Book of the Dead as the spells, chants, and hints made sure their people were truly guided on their journey to ultimately appear on their judgment day.  There will always be the inevitable question of what happens next.  This book provides a magnificent insight to the lives of those from ancient history that have centered their cultural and spiritual beliefs around their faith.  I believe the Book of the Dead is essential for future generations, because it sparks interest in historical background of another’s cultures and beliefs through its mysterious text and illustrations.

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