386 
yight understanding of the religion of the ancient 
Egyptians is obvious, and the first step towards such a 
<omparative study is to acquire all texts available for the 
purpose and to make them accessible to the numerous 
‘students, who in England, and on the continent, and in 
America are now devoting so much time and labour to 
the comparative study of religion. For many years the 
Trustees of the British Museum have had this object 
in view, and they have issued a most important series 
of facsimiles and works dealing with the “ Book of the 
Dead” ; the series was begun under the editorship of 
the late Dr. Birch, and has recently been continued 
under that of Dr. Wallis Budge, who has succeeded 
him in the keepership of the Egyptian and Assyrian 
antiquities at Bloomsbury. Of these publications, the 
“Egyptian Texts from the earliest period from the 
Coffin of Amamu,” which were published in facsimile 
with a translation by Dr. Birch, belong to the recension 
of the “ Book of the Dead” which is found written upon 
coffins during the eleventh and twelfth dynasties ; while 
the “‘ Photographs of the Papyrus of Nebseni” placed in 
the hands of scholars one of the finest and most com- 
plete texts of the Theban recension of the work then 
known. In the year 1888 Dr. Wallis Budge, while in 
Egypt, acquired for the Trustees the famous Papyrus of 
Ani, which, dating from the second half of the eighteenth 
‘dynasty, is the most perfect and best illuminated of all 
papyri of the “ Book of the Dead.” Two years after its 
‘discovery it was published in facsimile, and in 1895 a 
second edition of the facsimile was issued, together with 
a translation and introduction from the pen of Dr. 
Budge. The texts thus published illustrate the history of 
the “ Book of the Dead” in the period which lies between 
B.C. 2600 and B.C. 1700. 
The volume just issued by the Trustees supplements 
these previous publications. It is larger than any of its 
predecessors, giving facsimiles, transcripts, translations, 
&c., of no less than five complete papyri of the “ Book of 
the Dead,” including a copy of the “‘ Book of Breathings,” 
a late form of composition to which the “ Book of the 
Dead” was eventually reduced. These documents are all 
fine examples of the work, and they date from the begin- 
ming of the eighteenth dynasty to the end of the Ptol- 
emaic period, that is, from about B.C. 1650 to B.C. 100, 
The series of publications on the “ Book of the Dead,” 
that has been issued by the Trustees at intervals during 
the last thirty-three years is therefore now complete. 
In describing the contents of the volume it will not 
be possible within the limits of this review to do more 
than indicate roughly the general characteristics of the 
various papyri and the bearings each one has on the 
problems connected with the history and development of 
the great funereal work of the Egyptians. The first 
papyrus in the volume is that of Hunefer, an overseer of 
the palace and superintendent of the royal cattle, and 
“‘yoyal scribe ” in the service of Seti I., King of Egypt 
about B.C. 1370, It is not a very long papyrus, but its 
vignettes are singularly beautiful. No other papyrus of 
the nineteenth dynasty is so finely illustrated, and as an 
artistic work it may be said to rank very little below the 
Papyrus of Ani. Perhaps the most interesting of the 
larger vignettes is the scene before the tomb on Plate 7. 
Gy the door of the tomb is set the sepulchral tablet of 
NO. 1556, VOL. 60] 
NATURE 
| AuGuST 24, 1899 
the deceased, and in front is seen the mummy of 
Hunefer, supported by the jackal-headed Anubis, one of 
the chief gods of the dead, who presided over the em- 
balming of the mummy and accompanied the deceased 
into the presence of Osiris. Hunefer’s wife and daughter 
kneel weeping at the mummy’s feet, while behind are 
three priests performing ceremonies for the dead man’s 
benefit and burning incense. Of the smaller vignettes 
the most interesting is the one at the very end of the 
papyrus, attached to Chapter xvii. (Plate 11) ; the vig- 
nette represents a cat, in front of the Persea tree, cutting 
off the head of a serpent, and symbolises the rising sun- 
god slaying the dragon of darkness—a legend that finds 
a place in the mythology of many other races. 
The second papyrus in the volume is that of a lady 
named Anhai, who was attached to the college of Amen- 
Ra at Thebes, and who lived at the end of the twentieth 
or at the beginning of the twenty-first dynasty, ze. about 
B.C. 1100. The vignettes are of an unusual character, 
and show that under the influence of the priests of Amen 
the “Book of the Dead” was illustrated with scenes 
which do not belong to it by right, but are drawn from 
other works dealing with the Underworld. Of the 
vignettes an interesting one (Plate 6) shows the lady 
Anhai binding up bundles of wheat and performing other 
duties in the Elysian fields. Another vignette represents 
the creation of the universe (Plate 3), and is an interesting 
variant to the similar scene depicted on the sarcophagus 
of Setil. The third papyrus is that of Netchemet, who 
was in all probability the daughter of the priest king 
Her-Heru-sa-Amen, who ruled over Egypt about B.c. 
1oco. This papyrus is inscribed in hieratic, and as it 
has not the beauty of colouring of the two first papyri in 
the volume, it has been reproduced in a series of half- 
tone blocks. The papyrus of Kerasher, the fourth in the 
volume, is inscribed with a copy of the “ Book of 
Breathings,” a late form of the ‘* Book of the Dead,” 
dating from the late Ptolemaic or Roman period. 
So far as the text of the “ Book of the Dead” is con- 
cerned, by far the most valuable of the five papyri is the 
last in the volume, for it contains a number of chapters 
that have not hitherto been found in the Theban Re- 
cension, in addition to a good deal of rarely-found as 
well as quite new material. Nu was an officer in the 
house of the overseer of the Chancery, and the son of 
Amen-hetep, and the papyrus dates from about B.C. 1650. 
It is the oldest illustrated copy of the “ Book of the 
Dead” that is known. 
We have only been able to give the briefest sketch 
of the contents of this very valuable book, but what we 
have said will suffice to indicate its importance, inasmuch 
as it presents a mass of new material for the study 
of the ancient Egyptian religion. Moreover, two out 
of the five papyri are written in the hieratic character, 
which of course is a sealed script to all but a few 
experts. Dr. Budge, however, has furnished them with 
transcripts into hieroglyphics, so that the book may 
be used as a chrestomathy by those who would ac- 
quire a knowledge of this interesting but difficult 
form of Egyptian writing. Of the value and interest 
of Dr. Budge’s introductions and translations, appended 
to the various papyri, it is unnecessary to speak at 
length, for even before the publication of this work 
