Egyptian Book of the Dead

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Scene from the Book of the Dead

The Egyptian Book of the Dead (title in Ancient Egypt: prt m hrw “[Book of] stepping out into the daylight” or “ going out during the day”) is a collection of spells , incantations and liturgical instructions. A compilation was published in 1842 by Karl Richard Lepsius as the "Book of Death of the Ancient Egyptians" based on the great Ptolemaic manuscript from Turin . This name was retained by Édouard Naville , who published a collection of these sayings from manuscripts of the New Kingdom in 1883 .

Unlike the Books Amduat , cave , Grüfte- and Book of Gates , the deceased asks as Ba-soul for entrance into the underworld . The deceased is a "member of the non-royal inhabitants of the earth" and son of Osiris in the wake of "the bull in the west". The various gates serve to protect Osiris, since only those deceased who are "pure and know the names of the gates" are allowed to enter the underworld.

Before the Ba soul can unite with its corpse ( mummy ) in the underworld, numerous tests must be passed. The final is the judgment of the dead , which judges the achievements in life and, according to a positive assessment, allows the Ba-soul of the deceased to be transferred to "the entourage of the sun god Re ". In the 18th dynasty the custom developed to write this saying on papyrus and put it in the coffin or wrap it in the mummy. The tradition of the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead ended in the Ptolemaic period.

Emergence

Already around 2500 BC In the 5th dynasty and 6th dynasty , the first sayings of this kind were written; they were placed on the inner walls of the pyramids' burial chambers and are therefore referred to as pyramid texts . At first these sayings were only accessible to pharaohs . Towards the end of the Old Kingdom there was a change. The sayings and rituals that were previously only practiced in the large initiation centers were from now on also accessible to other people.

Around 2000 BC For this reason, such texts were also widely placed on coffins. These texts, although often identical to the pyramid texts, are called coffin texts . In the 17th dynasty , religious texts relating to the dead were occasionally written on shrouds. The papyrus scroll has been the normal medium for the book of the dead since the 18th dynasty .

The creation of the Book of the Dead as a collection of around 190 sayings goes back to a large extent to this period. How important the rituals were is shown in an excerpt from a rubric in Chapter 162 [3]. It is about a saying that is to be placed on a papyrus roll under the head of the deceased to let him feel warmth in the afterlife :

O Amon , Amon! From the vault of heaven
Do you look down to earth?
Turn your radiant face to the rigid, lifeless shell
Of your son, the beloved!
Make him strong and victorious
In the lower worlds!

This saying was a great mystery for the ancient Egyptians . Once it was made out, no one should ever see it again before or after the funeral of the deceased, and the Egyptians believed it would have been dreadful if it had become common knowledge. Therefore it was necessary to hide it from the funeral, as its name was also: "The saying of the hidden abode".

content

Judgment of the dead : The dead Hunefer kneels in the narrow frieze above the main scene praying in front of 14 deities: Re , the ninth of Heliopolis (except Seth ) and personifications of Hu ("saying"), Sia ("knowledge") and the "southern", " Northern "and" Western ways ". The jackal-headed Anubis leads the dead Hunefer to court. Kneeling on the pedestal, he weighs the heart of the deceased against the pen of the mate ( psychostasy ), while Ammit waits to see whether she should eat the heart of the condemned dead man or not. Thoth records the result. In the end, Hunefer, who passed, is presented by Horus the Osiris , who sits in his shrine with Isis and Nephthys . His throne stands on Lake Natron, from which a lotus flower grows, on which the four mummy-shaped sons of Horus stand (Papyrus of Hunefer (19th Dynasty), British Museum ). The idea of ​​the judgment of the dead was initially limited to the Pharaoh himself and his closest confidants. In the Middle Kingdom, after a successful examination by the judgment of the dead, the Ba-soul as the bearer of the immortal forces in the hereafter should be reunited with the body of the dead. The soul, often depicted as a bird, first had to endure a journey through the underworld threatened by demons and other dangers. In the New Kingdom, the judgment of the dead received canonical regulations for the first time. The possible "charges" were now known, life before death could be adapted to the laws of the court of death. The court was presided over by Osiris; 42 judges of the dead (Gaugötter), also perceived as demonic, decided which Ba souls were allowed to enter the Duat , the afterlife. If it failed, there was a risk of staying in the Keku-semau , the darkness that could not be reached by the life-giving rays of the night sun. Possession of the Book of the Dead already represented a magical protection to pass the 82 negative confessions of guilt according to chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead. The book of the temple , which probably originated in the Middle Kingdom and contains similar negative confessions of guilt for priests, served as the forerunner of the Book of the Dead 125 .

The Egyptian Book of the Dead is an important testimony to Egyptian mythology . It shows that death was not only an important part of everyday life, but also that people had a completely different idea of ​​death than they do today. Many of the sayings are supposed to help the dead to become divine, to be able to lead a life in the hereafter as before in this world and even to intervene in the relationships between gods (for example the battle between Seth and Horus ). The goal of the dead is also to achieve immortality in the hereafter, which was not a matter of course, and to be able to transform oneself into any creature - through respective magic spells. The Proverbs should continue to convey to the deceased:

  • protect from demons
  • protect from traps of the gods
  • to save from the lake of fire, from hell
  • enable to commute between this world and the hereafter
  • enable to live in the hereafter
  • enable to use water, food, offerings etc. in the afterlife
  • Guide to the afterlife through geographical knowledge of the places in the afterlife, the names of the gods and important objects (such as the gate to the afterlife)
  • equate the gods and make them known

Despite fundamental differences between the ideas of the current religions of death and the ancient Egyptians, there are parallels. Among other things, the “negative confession of sin” can be read in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. The deceased reported to the 42 judge gods at the judgment of the dead which outrages he "did not" commit:

I did not cause people to suffer
Coercion and violence against my relatives.
I have not put wrong in place of right
Still kept in touch with evil.
Negative confession of sin I, from: Chapter 124 [3]

Many of the Proverbs have a rubric that describes their purpose and how they should be recited . An example from Chapter 135 [3]:

Knowing this chapter, the deceased will become a hallowed spirit in the underworld;
he will not die there a second time; Sitting at Osiris feet, he will receive his food there ...

Judge of the dead

There were a total of 43 different gods in the judgment of the dead in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, who judged the dead in the Hall of Complete Truth . Each deity had an individual name and was responsible for a specific crime. These ranged from murder and greed to religious transgressions such as blasphemy or damage to the image of a god. In addition, each judge of the dead was listed according to geographic region or some other defining characteristic. Some names also reminded of known gods, e.g. B. "You with the beak [...] from Hermopolis" (=  Thoth ) or "White tooth" (=  Sobek ).

Even in the pyramid texts , judgments on the other side were possibly pronounced by a divine tribunal (PT 317, PT 386). However, there have only been clear indications since the coffin texts and in the Book of the Dead. Only there was the judgment passed as the decisive point when the deceased entered the afterlife. In Proverb 125 the deceased had to protest his innocence by confessing his sin negatively in front of each of the 42 adjunct judges.

Representations of the judges of the dead can often be found on vignettes of the 125th Book of the Dead, whereby mostly only a representative selection of the deities is shown. The gods are usually depicted crouching as a "seated deity" or standing and either carry knives or mate feathers as judicial symbols.

See also

literature

Standard editions

  • Richard Lepsius (Ed.): The Egyptians' death book . Based on the hieroglyphic papyrus in Turin. Georg Wigand, Leipzig 1842 ( digitized [accessed February 17, 2016]).
  • Edouard Naville : The Egyptian Book of the Dead of the XVIII. to XX. Dynasty. Compiled from various documents and issued. Introduction (introduction, description of the texts, comments on the chapters, hieroglyphic index on the chapters) and 2 volumes (Vol. 1: Text and vignettes. Vol. 2: Variants. ). Asher, Berlin 1886.

Translations

  • eclectic translations
    • The Egyptian Book of the Dead. Translated and commented by Grégoire Kolpaktchy. 2nd Edition. Barth, Weilheim (Obb.) 1970.
    • Erik Hornung : The Egyptians' Book of the Dead. Artemis-Verlag, Zurich a. a. 1979, ISBN 3-7608-3658-5 .
  • diplomatic translations

Rows

  • Manuscripts of the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead , 11 volumes, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1995, ISSN  0948-8650 :
    • Volume 1: Irmtraut Munro : The Book of the Dead of Jah-mes (pLouvre E. 11085) from the early 18th dynasty. 1995, ISBN 3-447-03685-0 .
    • Volume 2: Irmtraut Munro: The Book of the Dead of Bak-su (pKM 1970.37 / pBrocklehurst) from the time of Amenophis II. 1995, ISBN 3-447-03686-9 .
    • Volume 3: Irmtraut Munro: The Book of the Dead papyrus of the high priest Pa-nedjem II: (pLondon BM 10793 / pCampbell). 1996, ISBN 3-447-03843-8 .
    • Volume 4: Irmtraut Munro: The Book of the Dead of Night Amun from the Ramesside period: (pBerlin P. 3002). 1997, ISBN 3-447-03951-5 .
    • Volume 5: Ursula Verhoeven : The Book of the Dead of Monthpriest Nespasefy from the time of Psammetich I .: pKairo JE 95714 + pAlbany 1900.3.1, pKairo JE 95649, pMarseille 91/2/1 (formerly Brunner Collection) + pMarseille 291.1999 , ISBN 3-447-03949-3 .
    • Volume 6: Barbara Lüscher: Das Totenbuch pBerlin P. 10477 from Achmim: (with photographs of the related pHildesheim 5248). 2000, ISBN 3-447-03952-3 .
    • Volume 7: Irmtraut Munro: The Book of the Dead of Pa-en-nesti-taui from the reign of Amenemope: (pLondon BM 10064). 2001, ISBN 3-447-03950-7 .
    • Volume 8: Martin von Falck: The Qeqa Book of the Dead from the Ptolemaic period (pBerlin P. 3003). 2006, ISBN 3-447-05298-8 .
    • Volume 9: Irmtraut Munro: The Book of the Dead papyrus of Hor from the early Ptolemaic period: (pCologny Bodmer Foundation CV + pCincinnati Art Museum 1947.369 + pDenver Art Museum 1954.61). 2006, ISBN 3-447-05376-3 .
    • Volume 10: Irmtraut Munro: The Book of the Dead papyrus of the Ta-shep-en-Chonsu from the late 25th Dynasty: (pMoskau Pushkin Museum I, 1b, 121). 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-05875-9 .
    • Volume 11: Burkhard Backes: Drei Totenpapyri from a Theban workshop of the late period: (pBerlin P. 3158, pBerlin P. 3159, pAberdeen ABDUA 84023). 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-05810-0 .
    • Volume 12: Irmtraut Munro: The Book of the Dead papyri of the couple Ta-scheret-en-Aset and Djed-chi from the Bes-en-Mut family. 2011, ISBN 978-3-447-06462-0 .
    • Volume 13: Susanne Töpfer, Marcus Müller-Roth: The end of the tradition of the Book of the Dead and the transition to the book of breathing. The books of the dead of Monthemhat (pTübingen2012) and Tanedjmet (pLouvre N 3085). 2011, ISBN 978-3-447-06460-6 .
  • Studies on the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead , 17 volumes, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1998–, ISSN  1430-9726
    • Volume 1: Svenja A. Gülden, Irmtraut Munro: Bibliography on the ancient Egyptian book of the dead. 1998, ISBN 3-447-04077-7 .
    • Volume 2: Barbara Lüscher: Investigations into the Book of the Dead Spruch 151. 1998, ISBN 3-447-03968-X .
    • Volume 3: Ursula Rößler-Köhler: On the history of the tradition of the Book of the Dead between the 17th and 22nd dynasties (Tb 17). 1999, ISBN 3-447-04194-3 .
    • Volume 4: Horst Beinlich: Das Buch vom Ba. 2000, ISBN 3-447-04275-3 .
    • Volume 5: Irmtraut Munro: Occurrences of pronouncements on Book of the Dead witnesses of the Third Intermediate Period. 2001, ISBN 3-447-04477-2 .
    • Volume 6: Martin Andreas Stadler : Der Totenpapyrus des Pa-Month: (P. Bibl. Nat. 149). 2003, ISBN 3-447-04651-1 .
    • Volume 7: Irmtraut Munro: A ritual book for gold amulets and the Book of the Dead of the Month-em-hat. 2003, ISBN 3-447-04778-X .
    • Volume 8: Christina Geisen: The dead texts of the lost coffin of Queen Mentuhotep from the 13th dynasty: A text witness from the transition from the coffin texts to the book of the dead. 2004, ISBN 3-447-04779-8 .
    • Volume 9: Burkhard Backes: Word index for the late Book of the Dead (pTurin 1791). 2005, ISBN 3-447-05258-9 .
    • Volume 10: Joris F. Borghouts: Book of the Dead [39]: from shouting to structure. 2007, ISBN 978-3-447-05228-3 .
    • Volume 11: Book of the Dead Research. Collected contributions from the 2nd International Book of the Dead Symposium Bonn, September 25-29, 2005. 2007, ISBN 978-3-447-05470-6 .
    • Volume 12: Holger Kockelmann: Investigations into the late Book of the Dead manuscripts on mummy bandages. 2008, ISBN 978-3-447-05746-2 .
    • Volume 13: Bibliography on the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-05865-0 .
    • Volume 14: Equipped with the writings of Thoth. Festschrift for Irmtraut Munro on her 65th birthday. 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-05876-6 .
    • Volume 15: Daniela C. Luft: Lighting the torch: Investigations into Proverb 137 of the Book of the Dead. 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-06014-1 .
    • Volume 16: Annik Wüthrich: Eléments de théologie thébaine: les chapitres supplémentaires du Livre des Morts. 2010, ISBN 978-3-447-06235-0 .
    • Volume 17: Going out during the day. Collected writings on the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. 2012, ISBN 978-3-447-06765-2 .

Further secondary literature

  • EA Wallis Budge (Ed.): The Book of the Dead. The Papyrus of Ani in the British Museum. Longman, London 1895, (numerous editions and reprints, partly as: The Egyptian Book of the Dead. ).
  • Hermann Grapow : two-way book and book of the dead . In: Georg Steindorff (Hrsg.): Journal for Egyptian language and antiquity . Forty-sixth volume. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig October 1909, p. 77–81 ( digitized [accessed April 12, 2016]).
  • Marcus Müller-Roth, Michael Höveler-Müller (ed.): Limits of the Book of the Dead. Papyri between grave and ritual. Marie Leidorf, Rahden (Westf.) 2012, ISBN 978-3-89646-067-7 .

Web links

Wikiquote: Egyptian Book of the Dead  - Quotes
Commons : Egyptian Book of the Dead  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: English translation of the Papyrus Ani according to EA Wallis Budge  - sources and full texts (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans Bonnet: Lexicon of the Egyptian religious history. 3rd, unchanged edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , p. 824.
  2. ↑ Jan Assmann: Libraries in the old world, especially in ancient Egypt . In: Susanne Bieri, Walther Fuchs (Hrsg.): Building libraries. Tradition and vision . Basel, Boston, Berlin 2001, pp. 33 ( core.ac.uk [PDF]).
  3. ↑ Joachim Friedrich Quack: The book from the temple. Heidelberg University website.
  4. ↑ Spruch 125, in: Erik Hornung: The Egyptian Book of the Dead. New edition. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf / Zurich 1998, ISBN 3-7608-1201-5 .
  5. ↑ a b Richard H. Wilkinson: The world of the gods in ancient Egypt. Belief, power, mythology. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2003, ISBN 3-534-17268-X , p. 84.