Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Selection or partial work
- Authorship:
- Anonymous or composite
- Condition of the text:
- Some scanning errors
- Extent:
- ~110,000 words · 528 passages
Cite this work
- APABook of the Dead. (n.d.). Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/book-of-the-dead/the-egyptian-book-of-the-dead-papyrus-of-ani
- MLABook of the Dead. "Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/book-of-the-dead/the-egyptian-book-of-the-dead-papyrus-of-ani.
- ChicagoBook of the Dead. Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/book-of-the-dead/the-egyptian-book-of-the-dead-papyrus-of-ani.
What it is about
The Egyptian 'Book of the Dead' in the version of the Papyrus of Ani, of the thirteenth century BC: the set of formulas meant to accompany the dead through the other world.
Context and history
The title is modern Egyptologists'; the Egyptians called it the 'Book of Coming Forth by Day'. It is not a single book nor a scripture with a fixed text, but a repertoire of some two hundred-odd chapters from which each papyrus copies a selection, commissioned and paid for according to the means of the deceased. Ani's, a scribe of Thebes, is among the longest and best illustrated that survive. The central chapter is 125, the judgement: the dead man's heart is weighed against the feather of Maat, and there he recites the 'negative confession', the list of what he has not done. Wallis Budge's translation of 1895 is the one that spread the text in the West and is much superseded: it is reliable as a historical document of its own time, not as current philology.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
Behold Osiris, the scribe of the holy offerings of the gods all, Ani ! Saith he, dnet' - hrd - k l - Qd em %eperd x e P er( * em qemam neteru Homage to thee, who hast come as Khepera, Khepera as the creator of the gods. %ad - k uben - k pest mut - k yaa - 0d em suten neteru Thou risest, thou shinest, making bright thy mother, crowned as king of the gods, dri - nek mut Nut data - s em drit nini seiep - tu doeth to thee mother Nut [with] her two hands the act of worship. Receiveth thee Manu em hetep tiept - to J/iof/ *r /nz /# - / ^k Manu with content, embraceth thee Maat at the double season. May he give splendour us em maa-yeru pert em ba dnyi er maa and power together with triumph, [and] a coming forth as a soul living to see Characters over which a line is printed are, in the papyrus, written in red. THE BOOK OF THE DEAD. [PLATE I. Heru-yuti en ka en Ausdr an Ant maa-yeru ^er Ausdr { HorUS h°o f rSj e nf OUble } to the ka of 0siris > the scribe Ani > triumphant before Osiris. fet - f d neteru nebu nu Het-ba utau pet ta em Saith he, Hail gods all of the Soul Temple, [ye] weighers of heaven [and] earth in mdyait tdtdu ka t'efa Ta - tu - nen ud art the balance, givers of food [and] abundance of meat ! [Hail] Tatunen, One, maker of £A*aai t in 1*. n:^ t^ tememu paut neteru rest mehtet dmentet dbtet mankind [and of] the substance of the gods of the south, north, west, [and] east ! ^^OkM-^?J - s: nil f 1 p dmmd dau en Rd neb pet dOi dn^ utfa send Ascribe praise to Ra, the lord of heaven, the Prince, Life, Strength, Health, 111 *lrrr JUHI- J« &. art neteru tua - ten su em dru - f nefer em %dd - f em Creator of the gods. Adore ye him in his Presence beautiful in his rising in dttet tua - tu heru tua - tu *%eru the dtet boat Shall worship thee the beings of the heights, shall wo