Did you know that no two copies of the "Book of the Dead" are the same,
and each was personalised to the person it was buried with?
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"The Egyptian Book of the Dead." Don't forget, the easiest way to support us is by giving this
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"The Egyptian Book of the Dead" or better translated, "The Book of the Coming Forth by Day,
or "Spells By Going Forth by Day" is a collection of spells that help a deceased soul
navigate the afterlife, and make it to the Field of Reeds, or paradise. The spells
detail what is to be expected after death, and gives the knowledge required to reach paradise.
There is a very common misconception that "The Book of the Dead" is like the ancient Egyptian
Bible, but it absolutely is not. It wasn't a book of the central beliefs of the ancient Egyptian
religion, nor was it ever standardised. Every copy of the "Book of the Dead" was different,
created for a specific person; like a manual to guide them after death. This manual helped the
deceased so they knew where to go, how to address certain gods, what to say in numerous different
circumstances, and how to finally reach the Field of Reeds, which was a continuation of life on
earth. Having a set of spells telling you what you needed to know was considered to be very helpful.
As early as the Third Dynasty of Egypt between circa 2670 and 2613 BCE, religious texts
have featured on sarcophagi and the walls of pyramids, and are known as the "Pyramid Texts."
These texts only featured in burials of kings and included spells and incantations which
would help the soul of the king ascend towards the heavens. Between circa 2400 and 2300 BCE,
texts inscribed on coffins to help the deceased navigate the afterlife were in part derived from
the "Pyramid Texts." There is evidence for the coffin text towards the end of the Old Kingdom
and these continued through the First Intermediate Period, and the Early Middle Kingdom. During the
Old Kingdom Period, only the king was guaranteed a continued existence in the next world,
but beginning in the First Intermediate Period and the introduction of the "Coffin Texts",
it appears that ordinary individuals were now thought to be worthy of eternal life - just
like the king. At some point before 1600 BCE, the spells were divided into chapters and by the New
Kingdom of Egypt, between circa 1570 and 1069 BCE, the "Coffin Texts" were replaced with "The Book
of the Dead" which was inspired by the earlier texts from the coffins and the pyramid tombs,
and as early as the 12th dynasty, between 1991 and 1802 BCE, "The Book of the Dead" spells and
accompanying illustrations were written on papyrus and placed with the deceased in their tomb.
"The Book of the Dead" gave the soul the fore-knowledge they needed so they knew
what to expect every step of the way. With the popularity of the Osiris Myth in the New Kingdom,
more and more people wanted their own "Book of the Dead" and the scribes obliged. Scribes,
who were experts in spells, were consulted to custom-make books for families or an individual,
and no two "Book of the Dead" were the same. If you were sick and you had the means to pay,
you would go to a scribe and have them write up a book of spells for you, for your afterlife. You
would tell the scribe about your life and the kind of person you were, and then they would surmise
the type of journey your soul could expect after death, and the appropriate spells to help your
soul would then be written down. Your own personal "Book of the Dead" would be entirely up to what
you could afford; the more money you had to spend on your book, the more spells it would include.
It would also affect the type of illustrations and the quality of the papyrus it was written
on. You could have as few or as many spells as you wanted- or could afford. In around 650 BCE,
"The Book of the Dead" was fixed at 190 spells but even then you could add or take away what
you wanted from your book. For example, a Book of the Dead for a woman named Tentruty
from the Ptolemaic Dynasty had the text of "The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys" attached to it,
even though it was never included as a part of the Book of the Dead. There was only one
spell that every single copy seems to have had, and that was what is now known as spell 125.
Spell 125 describes the judging of the heart by Osiris in the Hall of Truth (also known as the
Hall of Two Truths), as it was vital that the soul passed the weighing of the heart
in order to gain paradise, knowing what to say and how to act before Osiris, Thoth, Anubis and the
Forty-Two Judges was considered the most important information the deceased could arrive with.
The soul would be guided to the Hall of Truth by Anubis, where they would make the Negative
Confession, which was a list of 42 sins that the soul could honestly say they had never indulged
in. At this point, a soul needed to know very specific information, including different gods'
names, what they were responsible for, as well as names of the doors and the floor they had
to walk on. After the Negative Confession, the Forty-Two Judges along with Osiris, Thoth and
Anubis would confer, and if the confession was accepted, the heart of the deceased would then
be weighed against the white feather of Ma'at, the goddess of harmony and balance. If the heart was
lighter than the feather, the soul could then move on towards paradise, but if it was heavier, it
would be thrown to the ground and devoured by the goddess Ammut, and the soul would cease to exist.
At the end of the spell, the scribe congratulates himself on a job well done and for providing the
spell, the scribe was assured a favourable welcome in the underworld and a passage to paradise. After
answering all the questions correctly and having a heart lighter than the feather, the soul then had
to be kind to the surly Divine Ferryman who was in charge of rowing the souls across Lily Lake,
and they would find themselves in paradise. The Field of Reeds (also known as the Field of
Offerings) was exactly like the life the soul left behind, and they would be reunited with
lost family members and beloved pets. However, there were many times during the journey from
death to the Hall of Truth, through the Duat, or underworld, that could be an issue to a soul
and it is the spells in "The Book of the Dead" that were compiled to help the soul through these
challenges. For example, these are some of the titles of spells in the book to give you an idea
of what a soul could face on their journey: "For Repelling a Crocodile Which Comes to Take Away",
"For Not Dying Again in the Realm of the Dead", and "For Being Transformed into a Lotus",
just to name a few. The spells throughout "The Book of the Dead", no matter what era
the texts were written or collected in, promised a continuation of one's existence after death.
Just as in life, there were trials and there were unexpected turns in the path,
areas and experiences to be avoided, friends and allies to cultivate,
but eventually the soul could expect to be rewarded for living a good and virtuous life. What
do you think of the Field of Reeds? How does it relate to your own vision of the afterlife? Let us
know what you think in the comments below! If you enjoyed this video make sure to give it a thumbs
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