NA TURE 



in 



THURSDAY, FEBRUARY lo, 1898. 



THE BOOK OF THE DEAD. 

 The Book of the Dead. The Chapters of Comino Forth 

 by Day. The Egyptian Text according to the Theban 

 recension in hieroglyphic edited from numerous papyri., 

 -uiith a translation., vocabulary, &^c. By E. A. Wallis 

 Budge, Litt.D., D.Litt., F.S.A., Keeper of the Egyptian 

 and Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum. In 

 three volumes. Pp. cciv + 354 ; xl + 517 ; vii + 386. 

 (London : Kegan Paul, 1898.) 



IN the first of the Gifford Lectures for 1896, Prof. 

 Tiele gave an admirable sketch of the method of 

 work which the student of the modern science of religion 

 must pursue if he is to achieve any lasting results. The 

 process is a long one, for he must acquaint himself with 

 the whole field of religion and be master of the material 

 with which he works ; and he should, in the Professor's 

 opinion, have taken part himself in exploring and clearing 

 the ground, and have studied at least two religions in the 

 original sources. We fear that for many workers in this 

 comparatively recent field of study the lecturer's words 

 came as a counsel of perfection. But even working by 

 Prof Tiele's high standard, the range of study is so broad 

 that the student of religion can obtain only a small pro- 

 portion of his information at first hand, and for the 

 greater part of his material must make use of the labours 

 of others ; in the wider field of anthropology, which in 

 one sense includes the science of religion — though Prof 

 Tiele would not here agree with us — the range of study 

 is still more extensive. For information respecting the 

 culture, customs and beliefs of savage and undeveloped 

 races of the present day, the student must consult the 

 works of travellers, missionaries, and trained collectors 

 and explorers ; while for the beliefs of the ancient nations 

 of the world, he necessarily to a great extent depends on 

 the translations made by scholars who have devoted their 

 energies to the interpretation of the sacred books and 

 documents that have come down to us. Prof. Max 

 Miiller's " Sacred Books of the East," for example, supply 

 him with ample material in his examination of the beliefs 

 of the ancient Aryan races ; though it must be admitted 

 the religious works of many other ancient nations still 

 need trustworthy translations. The want of such a trans- 

 lation of the great religious work of the ancient Egyptians 

 has long been felt, but it is now met by Dr. Wallis 

 Budge's translation of the " Book of the Dead." 



The importance of the "Book of the Dead" in its 

 bearings on the religion of the ancient Egyptians cannot 

 be over-estimated. Including as it does their whole 

 system of belief, it is our principal source of information 

 on the subject. It is true that collections of moral 

 precepts, hymns and prayers to the gods, mythological 

 texts and legends, all contribute something to our know- 

 ledge ; but the collection of compositions, to which the 

 title "Book of the Dead" has been applied, is in itself 

 the embodiment of the Egyptian's creed, and* from it 

 alone can any true understanding of his religion be 

 obtained. For many years the work was known only in 

 publications of single papyri of diflferent periods, the 

 most important of which was that published in 1842 by 



NO. 1476, VOL. 57] 



Lepsius, whose numbering of the chapters has been 

 retained by all subsequent editors. It was not until 

 more than thirty years later that any complete edition of 

 the work was contemplated. In 1874, at a meeting of 

 the International Congress of Orientalists, a scheme for 

 such an edition was projected, and M. Naville under- 

 took the work. Confining himself to papyri of the 

 eighteenth to the twentieth dynasties, during which 

 period the finest papyri of the " Book of the Dead " were 

 written, he in 1886 produced a critical edition of the 

 Theban recension of the work, which he published with 

 an introduction but no translation. In the new edition of 

 the work just issued. Dr. Budge has added considerably 

 to M. Naville's text by using some unique papyri — which 

 have been acquired during recent years by the British 

 Museum. In another volume he has published a com- 

 plete vocabulary to the text, which will prove of great 

 service to Egyptologists. But the volume which marks 

 the greatest advance on previous editions, and with 

 which we are here concerned, is the one in which Dr. 

 Budge gives a complete translation of the text, a work 

 that has long been needed, but which he is the first to 

 have accomplished ; the translation is preceded by an 

 introduction, in which he deals with the origin, aim and 

 contents of the " Book of the Dead," and states the 

 conclusions at which he has arrived as the result of many 

 years of study. 



The many points suggested by such a work cannot be 

 adequately treated within the limits of a review, and it 

 will be necessary to confine our attention to certain parts 

 of the introduction where Dr. Budge has developed his 

 theories with regard to the " Book of the Dead." One 

 of the most important chapters of the introduction is 

 that devoted to the history of the " Book of the Dead." 

 The four main recensions of the work have long been 

 recognised by scholars, that of the Old and Middle 

 Empires, the Theban version, the version of the 

 twentieth dynasty, and the text of the Saite and Ptole- 

 maic periods. Dr. Budge, however, strikes out a novel 

 line in his sketch in the history of the work, by going 

 back beyond the time of the pyramid-builders of the 

 fifth and sixth dynasties, and seeking in the remains of 

 prehistoric Egypt the causes that led to the subsequent 

 development of the work. In the graves recently ex- 

 cavated at El-'Amrah near Abydos, which possibly be- 

 longed not to the Egyptians themselves, but to their 

 predecessors in the land, were found skeletons showing 

 traces indicating that the bodies to which they belonged 

 had been embalmed. This custom of preserving the 

 bodies of their dead, which we thus find in existence at 

 the dawn of Egyptian civilisation, lasted without a break 

 through the whole period of the nation's history down 

 to the fourth century A.D. In what way it gave rise to 

 the " Book of the Dead" is best described in Dr. Budge's 

 own words : — 



" As time went on the embalming of the dead was per- 

 formed in a more elaborate manner, and at the same time 

 the last resting place of the mummified body was chosen 

 more carefully and wrought with greater attention. At a 

 very early period the wealthy discarded the use of holes 

 in rocks and caves as tonibo, fux .n these the bodies 

 were accessible to the attacks of enemies, and wild 

 animals and serpents ; and the same objection was, 



