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Is the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead a Curse?

The Book of the Dead is the most famous document handed down from ancient Egypt, and it is a funerary object in ancient Egypt. These are some spells used to help the dead survive the difficulties in the afterlife and gain eternal life. Usually these spells are written on papyrus and placed in coffins. Before putting in the coffin, the incantation can also be read by the priest. Usually, the ancient Egyptian mummy was buried with a mysterious “Book of the Dead”. There are some suggestions for people to enjoy the second half of life comfortably.

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Unearthed by British archaeologist Flinders Petrie in 1899 while investigating the site of Cajon City, it is a papyrus book of the dead during the 19th Dynasty.

The text and pictures of the Book of the Dead are all written on a kind of papyrus. Egypt is rich in a kind of plant papyrus. Its stem can be cut and flattened, and it can be written after splicing. It has become the earliest papyrus. Some books of the dead are very long. An “Ani Papyrus” collected by the British Museum is 24 meters long and has colorful illustrations.

This “Book of the Dead” is also very finely made, and all the pictures illustrate the trial of the dead by Osiris, the god of the underworld. Below this painting, Osiris with the head of a beast is in charge of the balance of life, and the monster with the head of an eagle is recording the merits and demerits of the dead. The men in white on the left are the family members of the deceased.

In the painting, the wolf-headed man seems to be adjusting the accuracy of the balance with Anubis, the god of death. The deer-headed secretary and god of writings Thoth is waiting to record the measurement results. The baboon squatting on the balance pillar is Thoth’s. avatar.

The man “She” standing facing Anubis and the birth brick shaped like a human head above him are two manifestations of Ani’s ultimate destiny. character traits.

On the left side of the picture, Ani and his wife are anxiously watching the ceremony. There is also a jury composed of twelve gods above the picture. The whole picture depicts a world where gods and humans coexist, reflecting the ancient Egyptians’ devout belief in gods. This work represents the characteristics of ancient Egyptian painting art.

The most famous incantation in the whole book, the main idea is that after death, people will be judged before Osiris, the god of the underworld. He must carefully deny all possible crimes and name the 42 judge gods of the underworld one by one. name. In this way, one can be acquitted and enter into eternal life. From the denial of the dead, the general social norms and moral standards in ancient Egyptian society, the Book of the Dead is not only a religious document, but also an important material about society and thought.

Artistic features

In ancient Egypt, it was used to help the dead overcome difficulties in the afterlife and obtain eternal life, usually written on papyrus and placed in a coffin. However, the incantation may also be read by the priest before being placed in the coffin.

For the ancient Egyptians, the two-dimensional image will also be turned into a three-dimensional object under the action of magic power. Therefore, in the two-dimensional works used to accompany the dead into the afterlife, it is necessary to fully express the object and emphasize its important parts so that it can In the future, I will restore the original form perfectly. When depicting characters, the ancient Egyptians always depicted their body contours clearly and completely, and showed their various parts in their most complete state.

Therefore, there is no fixed-point perspective in ancient Egyptian paintings, and it is not limited to the one-sided observation of human eyes. The standard human form is: the head with front eyes on the front side, and the legs on the side under the front torso. Objects viewed vertically do not overlap, and are always lined up one by one and layered.

The ancient Egyptians also determined the size of things in the painting according to their status in their minds. For example, in this work, the god Anubis, the Ani couple, etc. are shown to be taller than other characters because of their important status .

Ancient Egyptian painting art mostly depicts scenes, real life, or the society of gods. In terms of expression, it uses straight and concise lines to describe things, almost reducing the image to a symbol as a carrier of life; the color of the picture is simple, Add a little blue and green to the brown, white, yellow and red tone; when expressing characters, stick to a fixed proportion of the shape, the skin color of men who work outside is mostly brownish red, and the skin color of women who handle housework is light yellow or light red , the characters have very few facial expressions, their postures are dignified and rigid, and their arrangement conforms to the rhythm.

Historical origin

Egyptian religion originated from the worship of clan totems. The clan totem is the patron saint of the primitive clan, including the worship of animals, plants or some mysterious power considered to be one’s own ancestors. Totems were originally marked on various utensils or buildings. The religion of ancient Egypt developed from these totem worship.

In ancient Egypt, the god with national significance was Osiris, the god of the Nile. The ancient Egyptians believed that people had to go through the trial of Osiris after death. In order for the soul of the deceased to pass this trial, the family of the deceased had to compose poems, prayers, arguments and spells praising the merits of the deceased, and put them in In the coffin of the deceased, to appease the soul of the deceased. This kind of book of the dead is often very delicately made, with pictures painted on it. The colorful “Book of the Dead” we admire here is one of the fine works of this kind of cultural relics.

The habit of putting the Book of the Dead in the coffin has a long history in the tomb history of ancient Egyptian rulers. In the period of the ancient kingdom, they were called pyramid books. These things can only be preserved for a long time in sealed coffins, so what are found today belong to the tombs of emperors. During the Middle Kingdom, the Book of the Dead was changed to be written on the coffin wall, called the Book of the Coffin; by the time of the New Kingdom, the Book of the Dead was a long scroll containing many chapters.