The Egyptian Book of the Dead: Study Guide and Workbook

Before the Book of the Dead, there were older spell collections. The Pyramid Texts, first used in a pyramid around 2400 BCE, were reserved for kings and later queens. The Coffin Texts, painted mostly on Middle Kingdom coffins from about 2100 BCE, brought similar spells to wealthier private people. Some of these spells were later copied into the Book of the Dead. Seen this way, the book grew out of a long tradition rather than appearing all at once.

The Egyptians called these texts the Spells of Coming Forth by Day. The phrase suggests moving out of the tomb into daylight, much as the sun rises each morning. Scribes wrote the spells in cursive hieroglyphs on papyrus, with black ink for text and red ink for titles and dangerous names. Copies range from about one metre to forty metres long. The purpose, in the tradition, was to protect the dead and help them live again.

The Papyrus of Ani was made around 1250 BCE for Ani, a scribe of Thebes. It is about 24 metres long and is often called the finest surviving Book of the Dead. It was found in 1888 and acquired by E. A. Wallis Budge for the British Museum, where it remains. Because it is so complete and so beautifully painted, it is the version most readers meet first. Scholars note that older translations of it are now considered outdated.

Egyptian texts describe a person as more than a body. There is the name, called the ren. There is the ba, often drawn as a human-headed bird, and the ka, a life force. There is also the shadow, the heart, and the akh, a transfigured spirit linked to light. The number of parts changed over time. Several Book of the Dead spells aim to keep these parts safe, so the person can stay whole after death.

The Opening of the Mouth was a ritual in which priests touched the mummy, or sometimes a statue, with special tools. The aim was to give back the senses, such as breathing, speaking, seeing, and eating, so the dead could face the afterlife. A priest called the sem priest took the lead. A Book of the Dead spell lets the dead person speak the opening for themselves. It begins with the words “My mouth is opened by Ptah.”

The Duat is the Egyptian underworld, a dark realm of gates, guardians, and gods ruled by Osiris. In Egyptian belief the sun god Ra crosses it each night in twelve sections, one for each hour. He must face the chaos serpent Apep and is reborn at dawn. Other texts, such as the Amduat, describe this in detail. The Book of the Dead lets the dead person join Ra’s voyage and rise with him.

For the Egyptians, the heart was the centre of thought, feeling, and character. Spell 30B asks the heart not to speak against its owner at the judgment. The spell was often carved on a heart scarab, an amulet placed on the body and bound under the mummy’s wrappings. In the tradition, the heart could testify, so it needed protection. Modern readers often take this as a picture of conscience and honest self-knowledge.

Spell 125 describes the central judgment scene. In the Hall of Maat, Anubis weighs the heart on a scale against the feather of Maat. Thoth records the result. The deceased also addresses forty-two divine assessors, naming wrongs they did not commit. If the heart is light, Osiris receives the person. If not, the monster Ammit devours it. Spell 125 is first known from around 1475 BCE.

After a successful judgment, the dead hoped to reach the Field of Reeds, called Sekhet-Aaru. It was pictured in the east, where the sun rises, as a rich, green land ruled by Osiris. Spells 109, 110, and 149 describe it. In this vision the dead farm, harvest, and live in peace. Small helper figures called ushabtis, with Spell 6 on them, promised to do the work. The Field of Reeds shows the Egyptian hope for a good life continuing.