BOOK OF THE DEAD, The. The lit eral translation of the hieroglyphic title is: °Coming Forth by Day." Modern Egyptolo gists have adopted the name given by Lepsius: Das Aegyptische Todtenbuch, °The Egyptian Book of the Dead." That title, however, is con sidered unsatisfactory, for the simple reason that it is not one single book dealing exclusively with funeral ritual, but is a collection of books and chapters treating of psychostasia in the °Double Hall" before Osiris; the peregrinations of the Ka in the °valley of the shadow of death"; the Osirian doctrine of resurrection, etc.
No better laconic definition of the Book of the Dead can be given than that of the late Sir Peter le Page Renouf. He says: "It is not a book in the usual sense of the word; it is not a literary whole, with a beginning, middle and end; it is a mere unmethodical collection of religious compositions (chapters) as independ ent of each other as the Hebrew Psalms." Part of the Book of the Dead is of remote antiquity, dating back to the pre-dynastic period. There are numerous late copies of it in the museums of Europe and of this country, but the best and most complete copy is the Papyrus Ani, in the British Museum. It contains 186 chapters, and is beautifully illuminated; and, although about 3,400 years old (belonging to the XVIII Dynasty), it is well preserved. A facsimile of that Papyrus was published by order of the trustees of the British Museum, and translated (1895) by the eminent Egyptolo gist, Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge. Several excellent translations have been made into French, Ger man and English of various papyri of the Book of the Dead. There are several versions of the book extant. That of Heliopolis, which was subjected to numerous modifications and re censions, is considered the most ancient; then the Theban version of which the Papyrus Ani is an example— dating from the middle of the XVIII Dynasty. These two versions are writ ten in hieroglyphics, in vertical columns and in cursive linear style. Two other versions of a
later period are written in hieratic as well as in hieroglyphic characters. Complete translations of the Book of the Dead were made by Birch, Brugsch, Pierret, Pleyte, Massy (Davis, from the French translation by Pierret), Le Page Renouf and Budge.
The style of writing and the vignettes, repre senting embalming, funeral processions, weigh ing of the heart, etc., have undergone great changes in the course of time, and the texts of some of the Theban school in the XVIII Dynasty differ materially from later produc tions; i.e., the Papyrus Ani (Theban recen sion), contains 186 chapters, and the Turin papyrus, of a later period, contains only 165 chapters.
The late Sir Peter le Page Renouf, for many years keeper of the Egyptian antiquities in the British Museum, says: °Out of many manuscripts which are extant, no two contain exactly the same chapters or follow exactly the same arrangement." The earliest texts before the XVIII Dy nasty are fragmentary, inscribed on the walls of tombs, monuments, sarcophagi, mummy car tonages, etc. The plate is one of the numerous presentations upon the walls of the Egyptian tombs of that period, many of which have been faithfully reproduced in the magnificent vol umes of the Description de l'Egypt, and in Lepsius, etc. It represents part a of tomb XXIV, now in the Sepulchral Chamber of the Royal Museum, Berlin, showing Prince Merab, son of Khufu, the builder of the great Pyramid of Gizeh (about 4000 years P.c.) enjoying him self after his beatification with the same good things he was accustomed to have in his for mer life.
The sum and substance of the Book of the Dead is chapter CXXV, generally considered the most ancient. It is always connected with a vignette, which depicts the beatification of "The Osiris," in the presence of the presiding deities in Amenti, when the "Negative Confes sion" and the weighing of the heart of the dead before the supreme deity in the nether world takes place.