The Book of the Dead is the modern name for a collection of about 200 spells that ancient Egyptians had buried with them to help them through the dangers of the underworld and reach eternal life. The Egyptians called it the Spells for Going Forth by Day.
What it is
It is not a single book. From about 1550 BC, in the New Kingdom, people who could afford it commissioned a papyrus scroll with a selection of spells and pictures, sometimes with their own name and portrait. The texts grew out of the older Pyramid Texts, carved inside the pyramids of the Old Kingdom, and the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom.
What the spells do
Some spells protect the dead from snakes, crocodiles and demons. Others give them the right words to pass through the gates of the underworld, or let them take the form of a bird or a lotus. The most famous, Spell 125, describes the judgment of the dead, when the heart is weighed against the feather of Maat, the goddess of truth. The dead person declares 42 times that they have not done wrong, the so-called negative confession.
Where to see it
One of the finest copies, the Papyrus of Ani, is in the British Museum in London. In Egypt, scenes from the Book of the Dead and related texts cover the walls of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. Read more about the afterlife and judgment.
