WEE ORE 385 
THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 1899. 
THE BOOK OF THE DEAD. 
The Book of the Dead. Facsimiles of the Papyri of 
Hunefer, Anhai, Kerasher and Netchemet, with Supple- 
mentary Text from the Papyrus of Nu, with Trans- 
cripts, Translations, &c. By E. A. Wallis Budge, 
M.A., Litt.D., D.Lit., Keeper of the Egyptian and 
Assyrian Antiquities, British Museum. Pp. xi + 64 
(fol.) + 98 plates. Printed by order of the Trustees. 
(London, 1899.) 
INCE the beginning of the present century the 
“ Book of the Dead” has occupied the attention of 
the learned world, and has been a subject of study among 
all those who take an interest in the religious beliefs of 
the ancient races of mankind. The earliest publications 
on the subject took the form of somewhat inaccurate re- 
productions of papyri on which the text of the “ Book of 
the Dead” was written ; and, though much speculation 
existed as to the nature of its contents, it was not until 
well on in the present century that the foundations were 
laid for its correct interpretation. Champollion had 
made careful studies of the whole of the texts of the 
“ Book of the Dead” to which he had access ; and, from 
the translations of detached passages which are found 
scattered in his writings, it is clear that he recognised the 
general character of the composition. But he never 
translated a section of any length, and the fact that he 
termed the “ Book of the Dead” “le Rituel Funéraire ” 
of the Egyptians showed that he had not correctly grasped 
its aim and object. More than thirty years later De 
Rougé adopted Champollion’s title for the work, but 
since that time it has come to be recognised by all that 
the composition is not a collection of ritual texts, and 
that a more general phrase such as “‘ Book of the Dead” 
is a more suitable title for the work. 
The title “Book of the Dead” may be traced to 
Lepsius, who in 1842, under the heading “ Das Todtenbuch 
der Aegypter” published the text of a papyrus at Turin, 
which contained one hundred and sixty-five sections or 
chapters of the work. The ancient Egyptians them- 
selves did not number these chapters, and no two papyri 
contain exactly the same chapters, nor are they always 
arranged in the same order. Lepsius, huwever, num- 
bered the chapters as he found them in his papyrus, and 
though the text he published does not belong to the best 
period of the development of the ‘‘ Book of the Dead,’ 
his numbering of the chapters has been retained in 
subsequent editions of the work. It was retained by 
M. Naville in his great work on the papyri of the eight- 
eenth to the twentieth dynasties, which was published 
in 1886; and it has also been retained in the recent 
important publications issued by the Trustees of the 
British Museum. 
In order to indicate clearly the importance of the 
volume before us, it will be necessary to give a brief 
account of what the “ Book of the Dead” is. It consists 
of a collection of chapters or separate compositions of 
different lengths, which are found in Egypt inscribed upon 
pyramids, upon the walls of tombs, upon sarcophagi, and 
NO. 1556, VOL. 60] 
coffins, and amulets that were buried with the dead ; it is 
also found written upon long rolls of papyri which were 
placed in the tomb with the deceased. Stated briefly, 
the object of all these compositions was to ensure the 
preservation of the dead man’s body and to secure his 
welfare in the world beyond the grave. Dr. Wallis 
Budge has recently put forward a theory as to the process 
by which such powers became ascribed to this collection 
of compositions, which are conveniently classed together 
as the “ Book of the Dead.” He has pointed out that in 
the earliest period of Egyptian civilisation the dwellers 
on the Nile, as is evident from recent excavations, were 
in the habit of carefully preserving the dead bodies of 
their friends and relatives. Even at this early period it 
is clear that the Egyptian hoped to live a life after death, 
and that the life he looked forward to he imagined 
would be very similar to that he lived on earth; 
and it is also clear that to attain this future life he 
believed that it was absolutely necessary to preserve his 
body from decay. The earliest graves in Egypt show 
that the Egyptians of that period, like their descendants 
of later date, endeavoured to attain to the future life by 
the embalming of the body. The recently excavated 
prehistoric graves, in which, along with flints, bronze 
implements and pottery, the skeletons of human bodies 
have been found lying on their sides with their knees 
bent up on a level with the chest, furnish evidence that 
even at the dawn of history the inhabitants of Egypt 
embalmed their dead ; for many of the bones found in 
the graves show traces that the bodies to which they 
belonged had been treated with substances used in em- 
balming. But it was clear to the ancient Egyptian that 
bodies, even when embalmed, were accessible to the 
attacks of foes and to the ravages of wild beasts. And 
so, in course of time, men raised pyramids about the 
dead to protect them, or buried them in chambers hewn 
out of the living rock. But the most carefully constructed 
tomb could not wholly prevent decay, and there was always 
danger of damp getting to the tomb, or of the body fall- 
ing to pieces from dry-rot. According to Dr. Budge’s 
theory, the Egyptian now called in some other power 
besides his own to prevent the destruction of the body, 
and, while he still continued to embalm his dead, he 
assigned to the priest the task of finding some means by 
which decay might be prevented. To attain this end the 
priest pronounced certain words and formule over the 
body. These formule, Dr. Budge considers, formed the 
foundation of the ‘Book of the Dead” of later times. 
As was but natural, they gradually increased in number 
and complexity, and developed with the changing 
civilisation of the race; with them were incorporated 
beliefs belonging to various periods in the long course of 
Egyptian history, and opinions held by quite different 
schools of thought. But the object of all these various 
compositions was the same, namely, to benefit the 
deceased man beyond the grave. They were intended 
to give him all he would want in the future life, they 
would ensure him victory over his foes, and they would 
enable him to safely reach the abode of the blessed, 
where he hoped to live happily in the future. 
The importance of a careful and comparative study of 
these numerous forms of the “ Book of the Dead” fora 
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