Art Museum Journal

In use from 1600 B.C. to the 1st Century A.D., the mysterious Book of the Dead, also known as the Book of Coming Forth by Day, is a collection of prayers, hymns, incantations and instructions that provided the deceased Egyptian with a means of safe passage through the dangerous underworld to the perfect afterlife. The British Museum's ticketed presentation traces the spells' development over time through numerous papyrus and linen scrolls, each decorated with colorful illustrations of the ancient Egyptian netherworld's landscape, gods and demons. The hieroglyphic texts describe important events in the soul's journey after death, most importantly the Weighing of the Heart, a ritual by which the dead were judged.
 
Renowned for its visual clarity, the complete 37-meter Papyrus of Hunefer (ca. 1285 B.C.), the longest Book of the Dead in existence, is accompanied by similar light-sensitive documents. Painted sarcophagi (coffins), masks, statuary, religious amulets and jewelry elucidate the Egyptians' religious beliefs associated with mummification. Recent findings about the funerary text are delivered by means of interactive technology.
 
Sources
Faulkner, Raymond O. The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead (rev. ed.). London: The British Museum Press, 1985.
 
Hornung, Erik. The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999.
 
Russmann, Edna R. Eternal Egypt: Masterworks of Ancient Art from the British Museum (exh. cat.). New York: American Federation of Arts, 2001, 194-203.
 
Taylor, John H. and Nigel C. Strudwick. Mummies: Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt... Treasures from the British Museum (exh. cat.). Santa Ana: Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, 2005.