Egyptian Book Of The Dead Summary

The Egyptian Book of the Dead was said to be written about 2025 BC. The Egyptians initially started to write the spells inside the tombs around 1650 BC. This particular book was derived from royal Egyptian families. The Egyptians called this book “Reu nu pert em hru”, which means The Chapters of Coming Forth by Day. The reason for this book was intended to help each soul into the afterlife. They began writing the spells and rituals on the inside of each tomb. It was also known that they would include valuables and items that showed as wealth into the tomb as well. This was so important to them because to get these spells for their funeral service was very difficult; the Egyptian had to be wealthy. This refers back to why it was so important in their type of lifestyles to be at the top, such as an official or ruler so that they could gain those items of value. Because of the large expense of these scrolls and spells, the mass majority did not get the opportunity to be aware of the guidelines and sense of direction for travels to the underworld because they could not afford it. Egyptians spent most of their lives collecting these valuables so that they could take those things with them to the underworld. It was important to follow each ritual precisely to insure safe travels as they journeyed into the underworld. The aspect of this book was not only on how to get there, but on how not to die twice; dying in the underworld was a big possibility. If they did not pass each step along the way, they were not given an afterlife.

This book was based off of a set of hymns; praising to the gods.

The first hymn was to Osiris. He would call up the king of the underworld to show him that there was a new soul traveling through. A presiding priest would then give the soul back their speech, internal organ functions, sight, and the movement of limbs. Following directly after this step the priest would continue to read specific scripts of the book. On many occasions, priests and temple staff would perform the role of different gods. It was believed that the soul starts its travel after the first night of death. They would carry on the ritual with saying a prayer to the goddess of birth and death, Ani. Then the god of scribes, Thoth, would make a speech to the incoming soul. The rituals and spells they had to know were to get them into the underworld. It gave them a sense of answer so they could get passed all of the obstacles they had to overcome, such as all of the gods. The gods were considered to be half human, half animal. At one point through the journey, they would be stopped; they had to have their heart weighed. This was called the “judgement of dead”. If the heart was lighter than a feather the dead was allowed to go into the underworld, but if it was not the Eater of Souls would consume the deceased. Along this journey each soul had to be careful because evil spirits would try to take them off of the path to the underworld. The soul would recite certain spells to ward off the bad

spirits.