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 (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~110,000 words · 528 passages
Cite this work
- APABook of the Dead. (n.d.). The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) [Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)]. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/book-of-the-dead/the-egyptian-book-of-the-dead-papyrus-of-ani
- MLABook of the Dead. The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) [Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)]. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/book-of-the-dead/the-egyptian-book-of-the-dead-papyrus-of-ani.
- ChicagoBook of the Dead. The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) [Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)]. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/book-of-the-dead/the-egyptian-book-of-the-dead-papyrus-of-ani.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
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 Wallis Budge's translation of 1895 is the one that spread the text in the West and is much superseded: it is reliable as a historical document of its own time, not as current philology.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.
not have [I] acted with a double intent Grant that I may be like the favoured ones who are 1 In British Museum papyrus No. 9901, the speech of Horus reads : — tet an Heru nef tef ' - f ua men^ en Un-nef er mdkud Saith Horus the avenger of his father, heir veritable of Un-nefer : I am come her bes - nek Ausdr Hu-nefer du - f sap md mdx& du pa to lead to thee Osiris Hu-nefer. He hath been judged in the scales, the tex hui er duset-f weight of the balance resteth (?) upon its place. B.D. Chap. I.] THE PAPYRUS OF ANI. 19 dm-x ei -k Ausdr hesi && en neter nefer tner en neb about thee, an Osiris favoured greatly of the god beautiful, beloved of the lord 1 ft « -mi- fc-vis 2i*a taut suten an mad meri - f Ant madyeru of the world, the royal scribe veritable [who] loveth him, Ani, triumphant Jfca. yer Ausdr before Osiris. PLATE V. ha em reu nu pert em hru seQes The beginning of the chapters of coming forth by day, and of praisings seyu pert hait em Neter-yert yut em and glorifications, of coming forth from and going into the under-world glorious in ,o Amentet nefert fetet hru en qeres aq emyet pert Amentet beautiful ; to be said [on] the day of the burial going in after coming forth. tet an Ausdr Ani Ausdr an Ani dnet' hrd-k ka Saith Osiris Ani, Osiris, the scribe Ani : Homage to thee, bull of Amentet an Tehuti suten )ieh dm - a nuk neter aaa Amentet, behold Thoth, the king of eternity, [is] with me ! I am the god great 20 THE BOOK OF THE DEAD. [PLATE V. *»#*# /#*/ abai - »# ker-k nuk ua em ennu en enen in the boat. I have fought for thee. I am one of those neteru tta'at semad^eru Ausdr er X e f ia " /" ^ fW gods, the divine chiefs [who] make to be victorious Osiris over his enemies [on] day put en ut'dt tetet nud dmtu 1 - k Ausdr nuk [ud] that of weighing of words. I am thy advocate, Osiris.…