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© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University
Fragments from a Book of the Dead
© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University
© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University
© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University
ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Fragments from a Book of the Dead

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa
CultureEgyptian
Date1390-1292 BCE
Credit LineCharlotte Lichirie Collection of Egyptian Art by exchange
Object number2004.022.001.028
Label TextFrom very early in Egyptian history, instructions and incantations were composed to help the deceased on the day of judgment and journey through the Underworld. By the New Kingdom, these spells were collected together and written on papyrus scrolls now known as the Book of the Dead. The ancient Egyptian name for this was the Book of Going Forth by Day and it consisted of as many as 189 chapters, although frequently it was abridged to far fewer. These books were sometimes beautifully illustrated with scenes relating to the spells. Many were also used in the decoration of the coffins of the Twenty-first Dynasty and some spells were written on other tomb objects, such as the shabti spell or the heart scarab spell.
Published ReferencesMarcus Muller-Roth and Felicitas Weber, "Pretty Good Privacy," in Herausgehen am Tage: gesammelte Schriften zum altagyptischen Totenbuch, eds Rita Lucarelli, et al. (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2012), 120f., farbtafeln IV-VA.
ProvenancePurchased by MCCM from David L. Petrovsky, Ltd., Hudson, New York.
Status
Not on view
Collections
  • Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art